Chapter 368: Troubles That Would Arise

Chapter 368: Troubles That Would Arise

The business of ‘playing chess’ was not going to end soon. If Zheng Yichen wanted to get involved, he first needed to make some extra preparations, such as finding a chance to slip in… He thought about it and decided not to do that for now. It was too troublesome. Controlling one Alchemical Puppet in Kaja was already keeping him busy on two fronts.

If he added a new Alchemical Avatar, would he have any time left to handle matters with his main body?

His later plans had already changed. New studies needed time. When he was modifying the plan, the projects Zheng Yichen was involved in remained completely unchanged. After dealing with the current matters, Zheng Yichen did not return to his bedroom. He just slumped over and slept right there in the Laboratory. The Laboratory had a developed Magic air conditioning system. The temperature inside was the most comfortable for Zheng Yichen. Except for the lack of a soft mattress, there was no other discomfort.

He slept until noon the next day. When he opened his eyes, Zheng Yichen saw a black and white head busy with something in another experimental area. It was impressive that she could use those large experimental tools with her small stature.

“You’re awake. Look at the experimental results yourself.” Noticing that Zheng Yichen had woken up, Annie tossed a file to Zheng Yichen and continued with her own tasks. The tools in Zheng Yichen’s Laboratory were completely different in style from his Workshop. At first, using them felt strange, but after getting used to it, they felt very convenient.

For example, when mixing a certain liquid, just by using the Control Console to put the prepared Base Potion into the mixer, one could precisely control the proportions without wasting effort. Before, without this thing, precise control required using Mental Energy for fine adjustments. Now, just knowing the amounts was enough!

The transmission pipes of the tools had Magic attached, ensuring that liquids transmitted inside would not stick at all. Then there were things like microscopes. Using these also didn’t require consuming Mental Energy for fine control to capture changes. One could simply look using the simplest method. After a while, she planned to replicate a set of related tools from Zheng Yichen’s place.

“Efficiency is as high as ever.” Zheng Yichen opened the file and squinted his eyes to look at it. Whether it was intentional or not, Annie’s file was in the normal size used by Humans. When Zheng Yichen picked it up, he had to pinch it with two fingernails. He started reading directly from the last page. The experimental result was that the Semi-Awakening Potion had no problems and could be sold as a normal new product…

After reading the experimental results from the first page, Zheng Yichen had understood the specific effect of the Semi-Awakening Potion. It wasn’t much different from what he expected. Annie’s experiment had discovered more details that weren’t noticed before. The overall performance was still the same. It could temporarily activate a part of one’s ‘Bloodline’ power. After all, everyone had the potential to develop abilities. Even if their own generation didn’t have it, some ancestor in their lineage might have had a certain ability passed down. Even if it wasn’t from their father, it could be from their mother’s side.

Overall, the Semi-Awakening Potion maximally stimulated this part of the inherited ‘Bloodline,’ just like with the Lab Rats. Some Lab Rats showed Magical Beast traits after use. Humans… Well, who knows, maybe someone had Magical Beast Bloodline. Is that strange? Not strange at all. Modification in the Life Domain, if successful, meaning successfully passing the so-called ‘adjustment period,’ would indeed affect part of an individual’s ‘genes.’

Offspring would also inherit it. But because it was a product of modification, the inherited traits would degrade significantly, far inferior to the first generation. Some simply wouldn’t manifest at all. After all, it wasn’t a natural product and wouldn’t have the possibility of continuous optimization through reproduction. The related traits would only become thinner and thinner. This was the offspring’s body self-correcting this unnatural inherited trait during growth.

Generally, it was like this. But just like genes could mutate, perhaps some offspring would have such a genetic mutation, mutating to be extremely suitable for that modified inherited trait, producing a strengthening correction, becoming comparable to or even surpassing the first generation. In the descendants left by such an existence, the subsequent degradation would be much lower. That was no longer self-correction, but a thinning of the Bloodline. So, a lot of knowledge in the Otherworld seemed to be challenging Earth’s knowledge!

Take Oss as an example now. Having offspring now was impossible. After three or four years, once he, with those eyes, had offspring, his descendants could inherit some characteristics of his eyes. The effect certainly wouldn’t be as powerful as Oss’s, but it would appear more ‘natural.’

Therefore, some research in the Life Domain involved rather inhumane parts… Some researchers, just to obtain this ‘natural’ modified part after reproduction, specifically sought out excellent ‘Matriarchs.’ So, regarding Life Domain research… From Zheng Yichen’s perspective, this didn’t feel very comfortable, but in the Otherworld, it didn’t seem so out of place. In this world, one could buy slaves. Even if some Life Domain researchers spent large sums to find a ‘Matriarch,’ some people would choose to accept.

So, the hidden ‘gene’ fragments, the so-called ‘Bloodline,’ in people’s bodies in this world, Zheng Yichen didn’t need to research much. After learning these relevant key pieces of knowledge from Annie, he could conclude that those Bloodline parts must be extremely abundant. Even if most were too thin to revive, as long as they existed, they could be found.

The Semi-Awakening Potion had this effect. It could temporarily randomly amplify a certain segment of ‘Bloodline,’ making the physique temporarily compatible with this Bloodline. This was a temporary change. So, after the potion’s effect ended, that amplified part of the Bloodline would be corrected back by the returning-to-normal physique, returning to its original hidden state.

In short, the more obvious the Bloodline, the higher the chance of amplification.

To achieve the complete development result Zheng Yichen initially envisioned… required the assistance of two other important materials. Those materials’ main effect was to induce mutation in living beings. That stuff was basically not used in Magic Potions; instead, it was commonly used as a high-quality material in Life Domain research and modification processes.

It was precisely because there was too little related usage that Zheng Yichen had been unable to break the conflict between these two important materials for so long. He could only settle for the next best thing and develop this temporary potion. Even so, it was quite good!

“Hmm, since there are no hidden dangers, maybe… I should try it?” After reading the experimental data, Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but rub his eyes. Things that required two fingernails to hold were really tiresome to look at.

“It wouldn’t have much effect on you either.” Hearing Zheng Yichen’s mutter, Annie temporarily put down what she was holding, glanced at Zheng Yichen, and said, “The Dragon Clan’s Bloodline is too domineering. Any foreign parts mixed in would be devoured. Only a physique like Humans, average in all aspects, can contain such a rich variety of Bloodlines. If you used it, at most, your Scales would become a bit blacker… Hmm, although you’re not a Black Dragon, judging by the color of your Scales, you might have some relation to Black Dragons.”

“Oh? What about mixed blood?” Zheng Yichen asked.

“Mixed blood? Not to mention the difficulty, even if offspring were produced from mixed blood of different-colored Dragons, their Bloodlines would compete. The stronger side would completely suppress the weaker side, and the characteristics would completely transform to the stronger side. So, even mixed-blood Dragons would only produce single-colored Dragon species… As for mixed-colored ones, unless their parents had absolutely no difference in strength, exactly the same, it might be possible. But such existences wouldn’t choose to use a potion like yours.”

“?”

“A shared Bloodline allows such mixed-colored Dragons to possess two Talents. Such an existence would be foolish to choose to use such a potion and break their own balanced state. If you developed a finished Awakening Potion and gave it to such an existence, if it failed, it would be fine. If it succeeded, you’d have a huge grudge.”

For others, it was a rare good thing. For mixed-colored Dragons that almost never appeared, wasn’t such a thing specifically ruining their future?

Besides, this potion had very little effect, or even no effect at all, on beings naturally born with a certain ability. Because they already had obvious ‘Bloodline’ characteristics. Afterward, the chances of stimulating something that could surpass what they naturally possessed were not high. After all, the former was something they inherently had; the latter was forcibly stimulated. Just the interference greatly reduced the possibility of stimulation. If successful, with luck, rare dual abilities might appear. If it failed, even if a new ability could be obtained, it would cause their original ability to be interfered with and degrade.

“Time to discuss business!”

With the new Magic Potion developed and experiments completed, of course, it was time to start making money. The more money one made, the more one discovered there were places to spend it. Zheng Yichen controlled the Alchemical Puppet in Kaja and came to Qin’s place. Seeing his arrival, a Bar attendant guided Zheng Yichen to a private room. Qin was already waiting here. But this time, it wasn’t her true self he saw, but a top-tier Alchemical Avatar named Weak Sound.

“Here, a new product.” Already accustomed to the way of communicating with Qin, and both having sufficient understanding of each other, Zheng Yichen got straight to the point and placed a sorted file in front of Qin. Qin unsurprisingly picked up the file and read it. After reading about the effect of the Awakening Potion, she put down the materials and pondered silently for a moment: “Regarding the effects, since Annie confirmed them, I won’t doubt them. But once such a thing appears on the market, you’ll have quite a bit of trouble afterward.”

Originally, Zheng Yichen creating things like the Fixation Potion and Body Purification Potion was attention-grabbing enough. Now he had come up with this even more special Semi-Awakening Potion… Wasn’t he afraid of people constantly watching his every move?