Chapter 6914 Experiments of the Elder Gods
Chapter 6914 Experiments of the Elder Gods
Ves did not care too much about his phase lord cultivation, but that did not mean he neglected it entirely.
As the Red War continued to press red humanity back, it became increasingly more important to grasp as much power as possible.
As a mech designer, Ves ordinarily shouldn't be so obsessed over strengthening his personal combat capabilities.
Yet he knew from previous experiences that he could not always get what he wanted. His habit of making risky decisions did not help matters either.
For example, he should have made preparations to withdraw the rear of human-occupied space like many others. That would have enabled him to minimize contact with dangerous enemies and reduce the need for strong personal protection.
Yet instead of making this common sense decision, Ves willfully did the opposite!
He, a mech designer of great renown and success, instead chose to accompany the Premier Fleet closer to the frontlines where dangerous aliens sowed death and destruction on a genocidal scale.
Ves could not even properly articulate all of the reasons why he wanted to accompany the troops to the forefront of the ongoing Red Tide Offensive.
He was lucky that his leadership of the Larkinson Clan was so strong that no one actually bothered to question his dubious decision.
His subordinates all assumed that it was part of his secret master plan or that everything would magically work out in the end.
Aside from his wife, the Larkinsons could not conceive of the possibility that Ves was so broken that he had become a slave to his own impulses.
A strong part of himself sought excitement rather than tranquility.
The mere thought of behaving like other sensible mech designers was anathema to his psyche.
He vehemently rejected the thought of resembling those old geezers who lived such boring lives that their inspiration had evaporated a long time ago. Their thinking had become so fossilized that it was impossible for them to come up with groundbreaking innovations that put the mech industry ahead of the rest.
In any case, Ves had always gained lots of inspiration on the battlefield. Many of his celebrated works could be traced back to insights derived in the middle of an ongoing engagement.
He had always been a person who thrived under pressure. Perhaps subjecting himself to the dangers of battle was a way for him to stimulate his imagination and trigger his own inspiration.
In any case, since the mechers and the fleeters were too preoccupied to prohibit him from going through with his risky decision, Ves needed to make sure he was prepared to defend himself if the enemy somehow managed to force him into fighting.
"How soon will you be able to arrive and implant the prepared phasewater organs in my body?" Ves asked the vice director of the Larkinson Biotech Institute.
"We can arrive in 2 weeks at the earliest." The physical projection of Maria Abselon replied. "We have been preparing for this operation for months. If you give us more time, we can continue to monitor the health and the expected performance of the synthesized phasewater organs. Due to various reasons, they are not grown from scratch, but converted from the remains of the salvaged alien phasewater organs. This was the best way for us to maintain the metaphysical qualities that are nearly impossible for us to replicate in lab conditions."
Ves already knew that the process of creating the new human-compatible phasewater organs entailed the act of cannibalizing the original alien phasewater organs. This was an irreversible destructive act that was impossible to recover from if they made any mistakes.
Perhaps the Phase Lord Department of the Red Collective had become good enough to grow new phasewater organs from scratch, but the Larkinson Biotech Institute was nowhere near that level.
The Larkinson biotech researchers could only use the existing alien phasewater organs as the frameworks of new organs that were especially designed to minimize compatibility issues with Ves' physique.
The new organs weren't even all that suitable for other phase lords. Even if their enhanced bodies allowed them to avoid a lot of compatibility issues, it was still not wise to rely on organs that were designed to work best with others.
Although the research teams of the LBI barely knew what they were doing when conducting research on phasewater organs, Ves was willing to put his trust in his experts.
"Under normal circumstances, I would agree with you that we need to be cautious about stuff like this. We are working with completely new stuff that has a direct influence on my health and future." He said. "However, we can't afford too many delays during this day and age. I would rather complete this round of upgrades sooner rather than later. Is it better to implant all of the new organs in my body at the same time, or is it more advisable to do it sequentially?"
The latter is the safest option by far." Maria said. "However, our research into phase lords tells us that the former is also viable. As long as your true body is strong and healthy enough to withstand the successive pressure of hosting new phaseater organs, the complications are relatively mild. The fact that the new phasewater organs are based on your own DNA provides us with additional guarantees."
"Then let us try to get everything done within a single operation if possible. I believe in my own physique, and if anything goes wrong, I am sure that you and other doctors will step in if complications arise."
Adapting to 4 new phasewater organs sounded like a serious burden, but he believed he should be able to persevere.
At worst, he could always instruct the doctors to take the phasewater organs out again.
"There is one other issue, sir."
"What is it, Maria?"
"The implantation of the phasewater organs cannot be held in a regular operating theater. We will need to cut into your body first. Your actual one. You will need to prepare a suitable chamber and acquire the necessary instruments, some of which may end up becoming as large as your previous cabin."
"Does the operation need to be held in a specialized room?"
"Yes."
"Can you do it aboard the Tortuous Scream?"
"We advise against that." The woman shook her head. "Your true body is fairly large. There are too few compartments on the warship that can accommodate you. Another issue is that we do not know what will happen if you react in a more violent fashion. If you completely lose control, you can tear up the ship from the inside. It is better to hold the operation on a planet and in an isolated location."
"Hm, you have made your point. Your concerns sound valid enough, and it is indeed better to prepare for accidents. You can contact my assistant to make the arrangements."
After getting that out of the way, Ves and Maria Abselon spoke a little more about the research relating to phase lords.
"We are beginning to develop our own understanding of what phase lords are and how important it is to develop stronger phasewater organs. Have you ever asked yourself why the personal evolution process of the phase whale race can also be practiced by other organic races? From the perspective of exobiologists, this sounds as strange as humans being able to eat all of the foods that are normally ingested by phase whales."
Ves blinked. He never really thought about this issue. Now that she had brought this matter to his attention, he had to agree that this situation sounded a little suspicious.
"What are your ideas, then?"
"We can only conclude that the phase whale race and their physical cultivation method are both artificial. They did not emerge through natural evolution. Too many variables preclude this possibility. The phase whales call themselves the descendants of the 'Elder Gods'. We surmise that the latter are their literal creators. They may have disappeared, but their experiments have lived on. Perhaps the aliens have preserved records that can prove this theory."
Her idea did not sound far-fetched to Ves. He recalled during the early days of exploring the Red Ocean that he and his clan stumbled upon a phase whale enclave that turned out to be an abandoned experimental site.
The fish-whale race that a phase whale originally developed in order to tackle low reproduction rates had taken a life of their own in the small and resource-poor interior.
Numerous fish-whale kings had claimed their own territories and maintained conflict with each other that lasted for a million years and maybe more!
The entire place came across as unhinged and deranged to Ves. It was already a minor miracle that the fish-whale race partially transcended from their roots as experimental subjects and created a semblance of civilization in an isolated pocket space.
Ves eventually managed to loot a lot of phasewater as well as convert the Phase King into a design spirit.
He also came away with the knowledge that the creator of the pocket space attempted to do to the fish-whale race what the 'Elder Gods' had done to the phase whale race.
"What do you think the 'Elder Gods' had in mind when they created the phase whale race?" Ves asked.
"We do not know. It depends on who they are and what they are missing. We can only loosely speculate that the Elder Gods have developed an interest in phasewater. Perhaps they saw enough promise in them that they sought to create a new race that can inherently absorb phasewater and gradually transform into a superdimensional being. We believe they may have completed their objectives and left the Red Ocean for unknown reasons."
Ves picked up an important clue from those words.
"Do you think that phasewater became available first and phase whales only emerged later, or do you think it is the other way around? According to the native aliens, phasewater is godblood."
Maria Abselon pressed her lips in thought. "This is a chicken and egg problem as far as we are concerned. On the one hand, phasewater can be produced through alternative means to relying on the PPS of a greater phase leader. Phasewater is so strongly tied to the phase whale race that it is impossible to treat them in isolation. As far as we are aware, no other galaxy contains phasewater in significant quantities, which makes it more difficult for us to conduct comparisons and draw conclusions."
Was the presence of phasewater completely dependent on the phase whale race?
Ves personally did not think this was the case, but he was not too sure about this conclusion.
"What does that mean for humans who attempt to embark on the same method of body cultivation?" He asked.
"It is strange, but interesting. Since other alien races can cultivate their own phase lords, humans should be able to do so as well. Your transformation along with the rise of the Ur-Titans and Flesh Choppers unquestionably proves that phase lord cultivation is universal. This should be impossible if it is a product of natural evolution. Our conclusion is that the Elder Gods are composed of alien researchers of great intellect and advancements. I would certainly not wish to make contact with them. They can easily crush our civilization if they have not regressed."
Who were the Elder Gods? Why did they abandon a dwarf galaxy that was filled with strategically valuable phasewater? Had they truly abandoned the Red Ocean and their experimental subjects, or would they return one day to see how their creations had fared?
There was too little reliable information about the Elder Gods in the libraries. Ves saw little point in wondering about them when he had more pressing enemies to be concerned about.
"Since phase lord cultivation is so universal, do you think that it is good for humans to practice it? Or do you think we are making a mistake by adopting the methods of a strange group of aliens?"
"Biotechnology is all about adapting the unique or powerful processes of other races for our use." Maria Abselon replied. "We believe in the righteousness to study the unique strengths of the native aliens and develop methods to harness this power. As long as there are no obvious safety concerns, we are curious to see how far you can go with this. You have the potential to develop the body of a physical superbeing. When your true body expand to the size of a planet… will you still be able to retain your human identity and cognition?"
"Good question."