"117: Newcomer Su Mo, Creating Life"

After learning the truth from Su Mo, both Kanzaki and Stiyl sank into deep depression. But after some time, they made a request — they wanted to return to Neccessarius in the Anglican Church to confirm everything for themselves. Even though Su Mo's words had mostly convinced them, they couldn't rest without verifying it completely.

After thinking it over, Su Mo agreed to let them go. It was better to let them confirm the truth on their own — that way they'd give up any lingering doubts and make future dealings much smoother.

Before leaving, Kanzaki hesitated for a moment, unable to hold back her curiosity. "I've heard that Academy City espers only possess a single ability. Your power should be something like gravity or gravitational manipulation. But back then, you directly interfered with space itself. How was that possible?"

She had been puzzled by this ever since their battle. Because she knew espers could only wield one ability, she had let her guard down, resulting in her crashing headfirst into the ground at full strength. Had it not been for the boost from her stigmata, she would've ended up with severe injuries. If she had known beforehand, she could have at least mitigated the damage.

Hearing her question, Su Mo raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You actually know about gravity and gravitational forces?"

"…Of course I do!" Kanzaki replied, somewhat annoyed by his reaction. "Even if I'm a magician and not a scientist, I still know what gravity is. I'm not an idiot!"

"Alright, you're not as clueless as I thought," Su Mo nodded, then casually explained, "Gravity itself is just the warping of spacetime. So in turn, using gravitational manipulation to affect spacetime isn't particularly difficult. Unfortunately, creating a wormhole still seems impossible — I don't know whether that's due to gaps in general relativity or whether I need to consider gravitons from quantum mechanics."

He spoke casually, his thoughts already wandering into different areas of theoretical physics.

"…" Kanzaki was utterly lost. She didn't understand a word of his scientific ramblings. But she did manage to grasp at least one thing: manipulating space could technically be seen as a byproduct of manipulating gravity. Though she found it astonishing that science could link such seemingly unrelated concepts, she was relieved to confirm that Su Mo still only possessed a single ability.

A single power was much easier to counter. Next time they met, she definitely wouldn't lose— Wait! He had just helped expose the Church's conspiracy. Did she even have a reason to oppose him anymore?

It was only then that Kanzaki realized this contradiction. Before long, she and Stiyl disappeared from sight. Though a round trip to Neccessarius wouldn't take more than a couple of days, time was pressing — Index's next memory purge was fast approaching, and they needed to act quickly.

At that moment—

Inside the living room, Index had just finished listening to the recording on Su Mo's phone and finally learned the truth. The people who had been hunting her all along were, in fact, her own companions. This realization left her utterly stunned.

But even as she struggled to fully grasp this revelation, another heavy cloud loomed over her heart. "They've already left," Su Mo said as he walked into the living room and approached Index. Before he could say anything else, the usually carefree silver-haired nun rushed over and threw herself into his arms, burying her face against his chest as her voice trembled with a hint of sobbing. "I don't want to forget you, Su Mo! I don't want to have my memories erased!"

Compared to her two pursuers, Kanzaki and Stiyl, what weighed on Index's heart even more was the fast-approaching day of her scheduled memory cleansing. That meant that all the memories from the past year—including all the time she had spent with Su Mo—would be completely wiped away. She would forget everything. Most of all, she didn't want to forget the one person who had treated her with such kindness.

Looking at her pitiful state, Su Mo couldn't help but chuckle softly. No matter how carefree she seemed most of the time, at the end of the day, she was still just a girl—and even she had things she feared. Without a word, Su Mo raised his hand and lightly chopped her on the head. "Don't worry. As long as I'm here, I absolutely won't let you lose your memories!"

"Really?" Index's eyes widened in disbelief. She had always thought this was something inescapable. Could it really be possible?

"Of course it's true. When have I ever lied to you?" Su Mo answered confidently.

"Mm!" Hearing this, Index finally relaxed. She nodded vigorously and gave him a bright, trusting smile. "I believe you, Su Mo!"

"Well then, thank you for trusting me, Miss Nun." Su Mo yawned and glanced at the clock. "It's late. You should get some sleep now." With that, he gently lifted the little nun up and carried her into the guest room.

....

....

Once Index had fallen asleep, Su Mo closed his eyes and entered the Mist dimension.

Opening his eyes, he found himself surrounded by the familiar white mist. Walking forward effortlessly, he soon reached the plaza. The moment he stepped out of the mist, he saw several versions of himself gathered around a newcomer wearing a military-style uniform with a pocket watch hanging from his waist—they appeared to be in the middle of some discussion.

"A newcomer?" the Su Mo from Index world muttered curiously. Though he was technically a recent addition himself, by now he was quite familiar with how this strange place operated. Without waiting for the others to explain, he casually reached out and placed his hand on one of the other Su Mos, immediately synchronizing and sharing abilities.

"Physical and mental enhancement aren't significant… no magical or spiritual energy either…" After a brief internal check, he found that the newcomer's abilities were only slightly above that of an ordinary human. His mental strength was considerably stronger than a normal person, but compared to his own already vast reserves, it was negligible. Is he just a normal person? he wondered.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, new knowledge suddenly appeared in his brain. "Alchemy?" The Su Mo from the Index world finally detected the difference. In no time, he deduced the newcomer's world of origin. "Equivalent exchange… this is the Fullmetal Alchemist world!"

"Exactly!" the Su Mo from Genshin world nodded excitedly. "I just recruited Venti into the team and was preparing to handle the Stormterror problem. I didn't expect such a nice surprise. With this new alchemical knowledge, I can practically call myself an alchemy master now. It'll be so much easier to collaborate with Sucrose and Albedo."

Hearing this, the newcomer Su Mo—who came from the Fullmetal Alchemist world—also nodded. "The basics of alchemy on Teyvat aren't much different from my world. It's all about understanding, deconstruction, and reconstruction. However, I specialize in the physical and chemical aspects. My knowledge of biological transmutation is limited. Both Sucrose's expertise in bio-alchemy and Albedo's mastery of creation delve into life sciences. If you can acquire their research, our alchemical applications would expand dramatically."

As he spoke about the alchemy of the Genshin world, even the Fullmetal Alchemist Su Mo couldn't hide his fascination. After all, in his world, creating life was strictly forbidden—any attempt at human transmutation was harshly punished. The act of creating life itself was an absolute taboo. He had never dared to try it. A single misstep could result in being devoured by that entity known as Truth and dragged behind the Gate—an outcome far too terrifying to risk.

Listening to their exchange, the Su Mo from the Fairy Tail world couldn't help but grow excited as well. "If we can obtain the knowledge of bio-alchemy and creation… doesn't that mean we could directly create life with alchemy?"

Watching their enthusiasm, the Su Mo from the DanMachi world looked puzzled. "Why are you all getting so worked up? Sure, creating life sounds impressive… but what's the point? It's not easy to create something stronger than yourself, and if it's weaker, what's the use? Look at the dungeon in my world—it spawns monsters every day, and most of them aren't exactly powerful."

The Index world's Su Mo shook his head and responded, "That's not entirely true. The symbolic significance of creating life alone is massive. If I could master such alchemy, I could use life-creation rituals to construct specialized formulas and tap into a portion of divine power. But that's just my perspective. I'm not sure why they're so excited."

As he spoke, he turned curiously toward the other two.

"Isn't it obvious?" the Fairy Tail Su Mo grinned mischievously. "Being able to create life means—" He deliberately paused for dramatic effect. "We can literally create living Pokémon!" Su Mo from the Genshin world immediately picked up, his voice full of excitement, as if waking everyone from a dream.