Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 774 - 665 [Biological Armor: Light Spirit Circuit]
Rumble...
Spring thunder rumbled across the sky, bringing the first rainfall of Sea Origin Calendar 189 slightly earlier than usual.
However, the Witchcraft Garden temporarily residing on Long Island remained unaffected by the external weather, maintaining its most habitable status from start to finish.
Trickling...
Aiven held a brilliant golden liquid in his hand, which slowly flowed through the two cylindrical glass incubation chambers filled with high-energy nutrient solution in front of him. Though the changes were not apparent in the macrocosmic world, it had already made specific adjustments to the genetic sequence of the items in the incubation chambers during this process.
At this moment, this golden liquid, edited from the known biological "Golden Chain" elements of the Vitalist School, had undergone significant changes compared to its original state.
After originally gathering gene fragments from the Giant Dragon, Thunderbird, Demonized Shark, Demonized Gray Wolf... Aiven himself, Angie, his sister, and Olivia, this golden light seemed to be on the verge of forming some kind of tangible object. However, due to the "puzzle pieces" being too few, it remained a fragmented glimpse, never revealing its full picture.
But after Aiven and Angie spent an entire winter using the energy from the Bronze Talisman (Life Authority of the Feathered Serpent God) to continuously sacrifice to the Blood Chalice and deciphered the blood of over a thousand powerful demonized creatures from the Demonized Creatures Encyclopedia.
They seemed to reach a certain critical point, and that elusive form finally showed its true self. It was a spear with a helix structure, a spiral long handle with a double-edged tip.
However, it was still quite illusory, far from fully formed, and it was difficult to predict what abilities it might possess once completely formed. The two speculated that it was not only because the sequencing project of blood and flesh organisms was far from complete, but also because the elemental creatures had to be followed up on later.
Nevertheless, just the empowering force that the Golden Chain imposes on genetic information was already quite formidable.
"Haha, it's a success!"
Looking at the two cylindrical glass incubation chambers in the middle and the two constantly churning mercury-like liquids, Aiven put away the golden liquid in his hand and clapped with a smile.
Olivia and Angie, who had already been prepared in the laboratory, immediately surrounded him.
The two girls, dressed in matching white night gowns and wearing wooden slippers, half-bent their graceful bodies and gazed curiously with wide eyes at the Tier 3 Biological Armor, Light Spirit Circuit, independently completed by Aiven!
"Teacher, although this is biological armor, it seems more like an inorganic metal than 'venom.' Was it really made using organelles?"
This was crucial to the process of deciphering the Blood Chalice and still represents another independent set of hereditary substance carriers aside from nuclear DNA within a living organism — mitochondria.
Having exhausted most of the biological material in this world, they could almost confirm:
Mitochondria are the only places where aerobic respiration occurs in biological cells and are universally found as a type of organelle in the vast majority of organisms in this world.
Yet, the genetic information contained within them is completely different from the nuclear DNA in the cell nucleus.
It's just because, similar to the bacteria over one kilogram in our human intestines, in essence, they too are a kind of foreign entity, except they go further, directly entering the cell's interior.
For now, Aiven did not have the energy to investigate the deeper biological evolution of this world, but combining the memories in his brain allowed for a rough inference similar to the evolution on Blue Star.
In ancient times, due to some fortuitous coincidence, oxygen produced by organisms like cyanobacteria poisoned most anaerobic microorganisms, causing the first great extinction in biological history.
Only a few types of bacteria found their unique way to not only avoid being poisoned but to use this toxic gas, oxygen, to produce energy and survive.
Subsequently, one of those surviving bacteria was ingested into another ancient single-celled organism but wasn't digested or decomposed; instead, it continued to function within the single-celled organism.
Consequently, that single-celled organism not only became immune to "toxic gas" damage but also gained much more energy than before, allowing it to evolve more complex structures and diverse functions.
Thus, it sped along the grand avenue of biological evolution, leaving other organisms of its time far behind.
And that ancient single-celled organism eventually became the ancestor of eukaryotes (including plants, animals, and fungi) such as humans, while the engulfed bacterium became the mitochondria within cells.
The ancient bacteria, renamed as "mitochondria," eventually formed a new "symbiotic relationship" with higher organisms.
Mitochondria absorb oxygen and fuel from the surrounding cytoplasm, allowing them to "burn" within and use the chemical energy produced to power all energy-requiring activities within the cell, acting much like mini-engines inside cells.
Thus, in a normal human body, each cell contains an average of 1000-2000 mitochondria, and energy-intensive tissues such as the heart, brain, and retina contain 10,000 mitochondria per cell.
In the cells of physical side transcendents and various demonized creatures, the number of mitochondria is excessively high, and not only in quantity but also in quality, far beyond the reach of mortals.
This is also one of the primary sources of power for many physical side transcendents, including the Branded Swordsman, whose origin is the Life Magnetic Field.
And Aiven, who had gradually reached the Tier 3 Limit in every aspect of his physique, was among the elite. Due to his specialization, he was stronger than many Titled Knights who had already turned to the Path of Will and Virtue!
Besides providing energy, mitochondria also participate in other cellular activities; for example, they can control signal transmission between cells, cell differentiation, and the life cycle, among others. In other words, enhancing mitochondrial efficiency can increase cell vitality and extend cell life.
Aside from those Wild Mages who wandered aimlessly without any guidance, for wizards of the orthodox Wizard School, dual-cultivating the path of the Knight in the early stages is a common practice.
Both Olivia and Angie, while already having reached the level of seasoned Official Wizards, had their physical conditions advance to a level close to the Tier 2 Peak.
But like most wizards, that was almost the end. Advancing further through the orthodox path was nearly out of the question.
However, with the accelerated progress in the research of the [Golden Chain], a new option was provided for them.
Although the universalization of the [Bloodline Plugin] remains far off, Aiven, based on [Symbiotic Transformation] and the ultimate empowerment of the [Golden Chain], completed the [Symbiotic Armor: Light Spirit Circuit] of various models of "Venom" armors that surpass all limits and are only at the Tier 2 Peak.
The key point is, as a semi-implantable symbiont, the [Light Spirit Circuit] is far more gentle than those previously with independent consciousness like [Activated Beast Hide], and even the two girls with just Tier 2 physical conditions can equip it.
In fact, this new equipment was custom-made for the two of them, a masterpiece completed only after extensive effort and continuous adjustments by this Upper-Rank Wizard, Aiven.
Typically, the base sequences of mitochondrial DNA in the offspring of a mother are consistent. However, there may be cases in which an individual's body contains two or more different base sequences, known as heterogeneity.
This phenomenon is also prevalent in the bodies of ordinary humans.
Each mitochondrion has 37 genes, which encode only 13 proteins. These proteins form the core function of the mitochondria—the electron transfer chain! The other 1500 proteins that make up the mitochondria are encoded by 30,000 genes in the cell nucleus.
Thus, there naturally arises the question of compatibility between mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA, meaning the proteins coded by both must fit together "seamlessly" for the mitochondria to function normally in energy production.
With current technology, using the [Genetic Hound] to directly perform genetic modifications on their somatic cells isn't an issue, and Olivia and Angie fully trust his techniques.
However, Aiven is very cautious about directly performing surgery on human genes in this way.
Therefore.
Considering mitochondria themselves are symbionts from ancient evolutionary history, he boldly replicated a large amount of mitochondria from his own body belonging to the [Branded Swordsman], and then made targeted adjustments to their genetic information in comparison to the girls' genomes.
While maintaining powerful effects, these mitochondria had a compatibility rate of over 96% with their nuclear DNA.
Being high-end bespoke products, each piece of the [Symbiotic Armor: Light Spirit Circuit] requires Aiven to put in massive amounts of focus for fine-tuning, making them unique in this world.
Moreover, the primary raw materials also include hidden bloodline secrets from his own body, so Aiven currently has no plans to produce a third piece.
The two girls feel the same way, being not at all interested in allowing any foreign DNA entering their cells apart from Aiven's, even if it could be removed at any time.
Sizzle——
The petri dish slowly rose, revealing the bioluminescent armor within. Turning to Olivia and Angie, Aiven encouraged:
"Come, give it a try!"
"Mm!"
The two girls exchanged a glance, suppressing the slight nervousness in their hearts, then slowly extended their palms towards the [Light Spirit Circuit] in front of them.
The next moment, mercury-like luminous quality composed of tiny suns gently merged into every cell of their bodies through their slender fingertips.
Soon, their already jade-like skin began to glow from the inside out, weaving into radiant geometric patterns on the surface of their exposed skin.
In Aiven's "Spiritual Vision," the two strong Life Energy Fields became even more dazzling.
"Oh, so warm!"
"It feels like an inexhaustible power is surging from within my body!"
After about half an hour, the somewhat extended first-time fitting was finally completed.
Snap——!
Aiven, with eyes blazing as if admiring two perfect pieces of art, snapped his fingers and suggested to them:
"Shall we go and practice a bit?"
Upon hearing this, the graceful eyebrows of Olivia and Angie simultaneously arched.
