Chapter 79: Windgun's Introduction to Life Sciences
Zhou Ning stood stunned for a long moment, certain he had misread it.
Information about Windgun had been incredibly scarce in his past life. Only players who received a specific quest ever learned anything about his deeds, and only then through brief quest descriptions.
He never imagined he would find one of Windgun's books at an ordinary stall selling occult texts. The coincidence felt like a strange twist of fate.
A closer look confirmed he was right. However, "Windgun" wasn't listed as the author, but was part of the book's title.
Taking a calming breath, Zhou Ning walked over coolly, picked up the book, and gently opened it.
The book was about four hundred pages long, its title reading, Windgun's Introduction to Life Sciences. It was written in the Ruins language, a script notoriously difficult for most Braxtonians to read.
As for the content, the first dozen pages consisted of his research theories. The text was dense with rare words in the Luines script, making a dictionary essential for a complete reading.
Zhou Ning mentally converted the sentences he could recognize into Old Faric. Applying the decryption method from Puppet Alchemy, he rearranged the words into lines of two, four, six, or eight. Sure enough, the text became readable.
I can't believe he was so consistent, still using the same encryption method, Zhou Ning thought.
Just as he was about to turn a few more pages, the owner of the used bookstall, a middle-aged man with graying hair, finally lost his patience.
"Hey, friend," the owner coughed loudly. "If you're not going to buy it, put it down. You've been standing there reading for ten minutes."
"Sorry," Zhou Ning said, startled out of his focus. He held up the book. "How much is this?"
"Forty-two Roshen," the shopkeeper said after glancing at the title. "It's a medical text from the Old Faric period. A one-of-a-kind copy. The price is a bargain."
As a man of means, Zhou Ning couldn't be bothered to haggle and simply paid the price.
Having closed a deal, the stall owner smiled. "Are you a medical student at the nearby university? I have a set of medical books written by Brian. Interested?"
Zhou Ning shook his head. He scanned the bookstall again but couldn't find a second book in the same series. To be thorough, he asked the stall owner, "Do you have any more books by Windgun? I'd pay a high price."
"No," the stall owner said, shaking his head. But the mention of a high price seemed to have an effect. He hesitated. "Tell you what. I'll keep an eye out in the second-hand book network. Leave me your contact info, and I'll send word if anything turns up. But I'll tell you now, it won't be cheap."
"Alright." Zhou Ning gave a slight smile and wrote down the address of his alchemy lab for the man. The power of money, he sighed to himself.
After leaving the stall, Zhou Ning took a tour of the surrounding market. According to Jasmine, some spiritual items could be found here. Certain silver items of a particular age could replace mithril for crafting talismans with special powers, a fact Zhou Ning knew from his Mysticism skill.
He spent the next half hour wandering through the market. Following Jasmine's guidance, he purchased some old silverware and other special materials, spending nearly ten Vectra. Unfortunately, the unknown artifact he was searching for was nowhere to be found.
Frankly, for a market specializing in mysterious items, it held a lot of interesting sights, especially now that supernatural powers were making a full resurgence.
There were fortune-tellers using crystal balls for divination, magicians performing bizarre tricks, and witches casting spells. In Zhou Ning's opinion, many of them showed traces of genuine mystic arts, though they were all clearly novices.
It seems I've become a high-level practitioner without even noticing, Zhou Ning thought with a wry smile as he headed for the exit.
It was nearly ten o'clock by the time he took a public carriage back to the University of Wake Forest.
With the school year about to begin, the campus was no longer as deserted as it had been a few days ago, and the boulevards were full of students coming and going.
I have to admit, I'm quite charming, he mused. In the five-minute walk from the gate to the dorms, I was approached seven or eight times.
Back in his room, he was surprised to find John—a rare sight. His roommate wasn't out partying but was instead sitting at his desk, writing furiously.
"What are you doing?" Zhou Ning walked over and asked curiously.
"Writing a business plan. I'm starting a new venture," John said without looking up. "My dad agreed to it. As long as I can produce a viable plan, he'll invest another ten thousand Vectra."
Zhou Ning was speechless.
And here I was, thinking I was rich with over two thousand Vectra, he thought. Compared to John, I'm practically destitute.
John paused in his writing and looked up.
"I was going to ask you to go into business with me... but never mind," John said, smiling and shaking his head. "I know a transcendent like you isn't motivated by money. You wouldn't want to be tied down to a little shop."
What? Why not? Zhou Ning thought, bewildered. You tempted me with your filthy lucre before! How can you give up now without even trying to persuade me?
After chatting with John for a few more minutes, Zhou Ning took a comfortable shower, then walked into his room while drying his hair. He took out a pen, paper, and the Luines dictionary from his drawer and began to decipher the contents of the book.
Factoring in the time spent consulting the dictionary, it took Zhou Ning nearly five hours to decipher the four-hundred-page book. It wasn't until around three in the morning that he finished.
Without hesitation, Zhou Ning picked up the decrypted translation and began to read.
Frankly, the contents left him both disappointed and shocked.
The book described Windgun's journey after he discovered puppet alchemy. He had become fascinated by the art of creating life. He theorized that everything in the world, great and small, was fundamentally the same. Humans and stones were composed of the same basic substance, merely existing in different forms. With the correct formula, he believed, one could be transformed into the other.
To prove his theory, he had tried every means possible to learn medicine. Through countless anatomical experiments, he mastered the structure of the human body and the location of every organ. After making his preparations, he officially began his attempt to create the first alchemical life.
A year later, he succeeded. By combining pure earth, "primordial life," and human semen, then adding blood over a period of forty days, he managed to cultivate a transparent, humanoid life-form. Although the creature died after only three days, Windgun felt he had found the right path.
The following section described in lengthy detail Windgun's various research methods into alchemical life, including experiments on some supernatural creatures. Though Zhou Ning didn't fully understand it all, he was deeply shaken.
Just then, a prompt appeared on his panel:
[Through reading, you have learned Life Alchemy (Elementary).]
"Life Alchemy?"
Zhou Ning glanced at the skill but dismissed it for the moment. Thanks to Holweg and the Life Alchemy Society, that entire school of thought had left a sour taste in his mouth.
He continued reading.
After conducting extensive research, Windgun felt the time was ripe and attempted to create the legendary supernatural creature—the dragon.
What shocked Zhou Ning most was that, according to the text, Windgun had actually succeeded. After a long period of research, he had used his extraordinary alchemical skills to create a dragon.
Then came the final paragraph of Windgun's text:
"I once read that a fierce battle took place between the gods. One god was wounded by another, and his spilled blood formed a lake. If gods can bleed, then a curious thought occurred to me: what is the structure of a god's body? Do they possess organs like we humans do? And now, I have the perfect opportunity to find out..."
The text ended there.
At that moment, Jasmine couldn't help but sigh in his mind. "Goddess of the Sun, this Windgun is both a genius and a complete lunatic."
---
⭐ $5 Tier – Early Access!
Stay 50 chapters ahead of public releases on RoyalRoad, Webnovel, and Scribble Hub.
Latest available chapter: 142.
⭐ $10 Tier – Super Early Access!
Stay 100 chapters ahead of public releases on RoyalRoad, Webnovel, and Scribble Hub.
Latest available chapter: 192.
📖 Chapters are uploaded as soon as they're completed, so you'll always stay ahead of the curve.
💖 By joining, you'll be directly supporting the story while enjoying exclusive early access.
🔗 Patreon link is in My Profile/About.
⚠️ Please select your membership carefully, as I have multiple novels ongoing.
🍎 If you're on Apple, consider subscribing through your browser instead — it's cheaper for you, and I'll receive payments faster.