Grumbling about cosmic con artists and imaginary learning platforms, Vokey forced his attention back to the drab, oatmeal-colored textbook in his mind. If he was going to expose this scam, he needed more evidence. He mentally turned the page. The first chapter was titled, with profound simplicity, "The Mole."
"A mole?" he scoffed. "The fundamental unit of this universal power is a furry, blind rodent? Is this science or pest control?" He pictured a legion of moles, armed with tiny pickaxes, chipping away at the very fabric of reality. It was a suitably ridiculous image for a ridiculous power.
He read on, and his brows furrowed. The text wasn't about an animal. It was about a number. And not just any number. It was a monstrous, impossibly large number.
The Mole: 6.022×1023
Vokey stared, his mind struggling to even process the scale of it. He had studied celestial charts and knew the vastness of the stars, but this was a number beyond counting.
"Six hundred two sextillion," he whispered, the words feeling alien on his tongue. "What kind of cosmic hoarder needs to count things in sextillions? This 'Avogadro' fellow must have been compensating for something. Probably had a very small wand."
The textbook then offered a mercifully practical example: a calculation involving something called "Vitamin C" (C₆H₈O₆). At first, he scoffs at the mundane application—figuring out how many molecules were in a vitamin tablet seemed like the ultimate exercise in pointless precision. But then, as he followed the logic, a devious, brilliant idea began to form.
"Wait..." his eyes widened. "So if I can measure the mass of something... I can calculate the exact number of atoms in it?"
A slow, wicked grin spread across his face.
"I could tell the Earth Pillar Elder the precise number of silicate molecules in the rock he's sitting on. Not an estimate, not a guess—the exact number. The sheer, pedantic uselessness of that information would drive him absolutely mad. I love it."
As that thought of pure, malicious glee solidified in his mind, a new notification pinged from the System.
Sufficient Intent Acquired. New Skill Unlocked: Mole Vision (Level 1)
Suddenly, the world shimmered. A faint, glowing grid overlaid his sight, and when he focused on an object, a small text box appeared next to it, just like in his mental textbook. It was like having a scholar's notes hover in the air itself. Eager to test his new power, he focused on a loose stone on the floor.
The text box resolved: Item: Rock. Quantity: 1.
He blinked. "One? That's it?" He shifted his gaze to the heavy iron door of his cell.
The glowing text updated: Item: Door. Quantity: 1.
He looked at his own hand. Item: Hand. Quantity: 1.
His triumphant grin faltered, replaced by a deep, weary frown. His grand new power, his JARVIS-like analytical tool, could only count things by ones. It was completely, utterly useless. (Oh and what is JARVIS? Officially, the legends say it stood for Just ARather Vexing Intelligent Spirit. But as most storytellers and scholars tell it nowadays, the name was twisted into a new meaning: Jester's Arcane Replacement for Very Inconvenient Scrolling—basically a spirit-invoking spell for lazy invokers who couldn't be bothered to read their own scrolls.)
As if sensing his profound disappointment, another notification helpfully appeared.
Skill locked. To analyze composition and quantity in grams, moles, or atoms, please level up the core "Chemistry" skill.
Requirement: Unlock "Unit Conversions".