Soul of Burning Steel

"Master Nostradamus, please be sure to persuade the Earl..."

Starfall 839, May 5th, evening, Wanjie Sacrificial Site, Yanhai Underground Cavity Practice.

In the lobby of the institute, a white-robed researcher begged the person beside him in an almost prayerful tone: "This is a joint institute after all, so be careful as much as possible. He is a legendary powerhouse who is not afraid of experiment failure, but we No, if one fails, the entire cavity will be implicated..."

The researcher's tone was sincere, even a bit crying, and behind him, there were quite a few researchers nodding in unison with lingering fear.

"Yes, yes, exactly!"

"Although I know that every powerful combatant is a master of manipulating life force, I didn't expect..."

"It's really too dangerous, really, it's obviously unnecessary..."

Scattered words spread among the crowd, and listening to these words, an old sorcerer who seemed to have just been sent over and didn't understand the situation showed a helpless expression, he sighed, and said softly: "Okay, I see, you should be a little quieter." Then, he turned his head and asked the white-robed researcher suspiciously: "What is Joshua doing again? And even if you are afraid of problems, you can just give your opinions, he still Very well spoken."

The white-robed researcher exchanged a glance with the other people behind him, then turned his head, and replied quite confidently: "We dare not!"

Afterwards, his tone quickly softened again: "Master, my lord Earl's experiment is too dangerous and immoral... Please let him stop the experiment, if it doesn't work, let His Majesty the Emperor come to persuade him... This is really a bit Beyond the realm of our thinking..."

——So you guys dare to comment on me?

Nostradamus, who was called by the emergency communication, frowned slightly, feeling that he seemed to be regarded as a typical example of being easy-talking—but unfortunately, he was really good-talking. So after listening to the complaints of the researchers, the old mage just shook his head and replied helplessly: "Israel? It's strange that he would persuade. Two guys who keep dragons as pets and have no people at home, they The danger in his eyes is completely different from that of your group."

"As for now... okay, I'll ask about the situation, but you guys, come up with a plan for the 'transformation of the alien ecological environment' as soon as possible. We will cooperate with the elves and the White Tower of Guantian, and let the teacher of nature personally create this perfect It’s not for you to waste resources.”

After finishing speaking, the old mage stepped forward and walked towards the practice room located in the center of the research institute amidst the echoes of a group of researchers. While walking, he whispered to himself: "These mages are too young and inexperienced. There is a lot of fuss about everything, I really should add more life experience..."

Soon, he entered the field that all the researchers of the Cavity Research Institute dared not approach, opened the door of the fourth practice room, and the thick air began to exchange.

"Joshua, why did you suddenly change your temper and start experimenting—"

Nostradamus was about to speak, and asked his friend what the hell was going on, how could he scare the group of researchers talking and laughing with the undead, and dissecting monsters alive, but just as he walked into the practice room, he saw clearly When things were placed in layers around him, the old mage couldn't help but gasp.

"The truth is above, what the hell is this?!"

What appeared before the eyes of the old mage was densely packed, quietly stacked 'bodies'.

human body.

The silver square practice room is actually located in a small artificial demiplane, connected to reality through the magic gate, and can directly cut off the magic connection when necessary, so as to avoid the result of the failed experiment from contacting the outside world. Because of this, the area of ​​the practice room is actually very large, as large as a medium-sized city square.

But now, in such a huge area, there are many translucent spindle life-supporting crystal cabins densely packed, and inside of them are 'bodies'.

The reason why we don’t say it’s a corpse is because these bodies are still alive. Nostradamus sensed that these bodies can still breathe, and the metabolic cycle is still going on in the body. Groups of silver light clusters are flying in mid-air, that is Many silver goblins are happily supplementing the necessary nutrients for each life-support crystal cabin to maintain its activity.

If it's just the body, it's not enough to shock Nostradamus. He is also a legendary strongman who has experienced the orc battlefield.

What really made him speak were all kinds of strange and strange humanoid creatures mixed among these similar human bodies.

Among them, there is a prosthetic human whose body is partially replaced by a puppet structure, and the biological part coexists with the machine.

Among them, there are bodies that are completely replaced by mechanical puppet structures, only the brain, brainstem and spine exist - and even these have partially assimilated synths.

In addition, there are part of the body assimilated with monsters, almost wild beasts, with internal organs that have been replaced with artificial superhuman organs, and basically only the outer shell is the original product—even the brain has been replaced. A purely mechanical existence replaced by a mana mechanical structure.

Numerous various and strange human models were placed in the crystal cabin. They closed their eyes and spewed out a series of bubbles from time to time, as if they were breathing. Undoubtedly, these bodies were all alive, and none of them died.

And in the center surrounded by these human bodies, in the center of the fourth practice room, a man who was sitting on a chair, who seemed to be thinking about something, noticed the arrival of his friend, he slowly stood up, turned his head, and said with some surprise : "Nostradamus? Why are you here?"

"I was called over—that group of researchers were so scared that you almost cried."

The old mage passed through the crystal cabins. He came to Joshua and looked around the whole practice room with a serious expression: "I was still wondering why, but now I can explain... what are you going to do? Human body Experiment? You don't need to do this kind of thing long ago, do you?"

"Of course not, where are you thinking... I am thinking of a suitable new body template for the Guardians."

Joshua waved his hand, looking a little embarrassed: "I accidentally made too many, so I have to save them all first, and wait for William and the others to come and see which one is more suitable."

"For the Guardians? Indeed, that would explain it."

Nostradamus immediately realized that the person in front of him was indeed the guy responsible for creating the new bodies of the guardians of the large information base. He possessed the power of creation, let alone a mere human body. time issue. It's just that the arrangement of this body is too intrusive, it's almost like a pile of corpse specimens soaked in antiseptic.

And, the most important thing is not this.

"Joshua, it's just to create new bodies for the guardians. There's no need to do such... redundant experiments, right?"

Nostradamus slowly approached a crystal cabin pillar. He stared at the artificial body in which the star had undergone organ transplantation and mechanical transformation of monsters. He suppressed the slight dissatisfaction in his heart, and said in a solemn tone: "Humans... are not like that. Those guardians transformed themselves into non-humans, and we want to turn them back into human beings instead of turning them into another kind of non-human."

Perhaps, it is precisely for this reason that those researchers who are not afraid of anything are so afraid of this practice room. They are not afraid of these bodies that are simply alive but do not have self-will, but are afraid of these individual bodies. The meaning behind the body.

When Joshua heard the words, the expression on his face gradually restrained and became serious, he frowned, and asked rather puzzled: "Is there?"

It's just prosthetic body modification, consciousness uploading, a little bit of genetic modification and cloning engineering, and at most some monsters, or the transplantation of artificial biological organs-isn't this a normal thing?

"It's not normal at all."

As if noticing the doubts of the representative behind Joshua's expression, Nostradamus shook his head cautiously. He walked up to the warrior, glanced at the surrounding crystal cabin, and pointed to a metal skeleton whose spine was covered by a series of metal skeletons. Instead, the eyes were replaced with mechanical prosthetic eyes, and he said solemnly: "This kind of transformation should not be decided by you for them, but should be decided by themselves. Even if it is not easy to use and is very fragile, we should try our best to Possibly providing them with the first human bodies."

"Actually, it's not just for the guardians,"

In this regard, Joshua scratched his head, feeling a little helpless - because the old mage was too righteous, he didn't know whether to tell the following plan.

——After making the body for the guardians, on a whim, he planned to deduce the life sublimation process of everyone in the world of Mycroft... a kind of sublimation that can be popularized and allow everyone to obtain a certain amount of extraordinary power process.

On a whim, he wanted to try to create a 'primitive body' with a perfect gift of extraordinary power.

And the result of this kind of recommendation is that there are a total of 1,179 bodies with completely different physical structures, but roughly all of them maintain humanoid bodies.

Whether it's prosthetic body modification, consciousness uploading, cloning, genetic modification, or organ transplantation, it's just a daily routine for Joshua. Whose child does not have to go through several gene corrections since childhood? The prosthetic body implantation and mechanical body are only part of life for soldiers, and everyone has the right to freely assemble body components and organ functions.

But isn't this kind of advanced ethical concept too much for them? Should it take a few more years to reverse the public impression bit by bit.

In fact, it is not the case - Joshua doesn't think so.

Whether it is Nostradamus or other Mycroft researchers, they just haven't turned the corner. The transformation they feel uncomfortable now has actually started thousands of years ago, and is subtly changing the entire Race.

What is the difference between the so-called prosthetics and the alchemists who use magic constructs to replace their own bodies? Even Barnier has a prosthetic eye, a magic item? And animalization, genetic modification, and even cloning, to put it bluntly, don't they mean transplanting the internal organs of monsters, modifying their own life forms, and duplicating their bodies as backup alchemists and magicians? Among other things, Joshua knew that there was an alchemist in his exploration team who was following such a path.

And the synthetic human and will upload that made Nostradamus express his obvious disgust, to put it bluntly, is nothing more than the lich's phylactery, the soul lich - in fact, his own soul's ultimate intention can be compared with this The same things are nothing more than different carriers, one uses magic power and the other uses machinery, each has its own advantages and disadvantages, that's all.

The supernatural beings in the world of Mycroft have already done these seemingly strange things that are actually exactly the same... because in the final analysis, what everyone wants to do is the same thing, that is, the evolution of human beings .

The speed of natural evolution, even with the acceleration of magic power, is calculated in thousands of years. As far as human beings are concerned, their physique and extraordinary strength have not changed for tens of thousands of years-if you want a big change, At least hundreds of thousands of years will pass, and after Mrs. Micro's entire race enters the void, then humans should naturally evolve the ability to better adapt to the void, as well as more powerful extraordinary talents.

But at that time, the ashes of human civilization may be covered with tropical rainforest, let alone evolution... The speed of natural change is too slow. As long as civilization exists, human beings will never stop transforming themselves , They will use various methods to speed up their own evolution and strengthen the process, whether it is vaccines, antibodies, or implantation of existence similar to black mist like the sanctuary civilization, or transforming themselves into half-magic and half-mechanical life forms are the same things.

Even the three extraordinary power cultivation systems of magic, battle qi and holy light can almost be regarded as the road and process of human beings gradually transforming themselves and gradually sublimating themselves.

The reason why Joshua wanted to design the 'primarch' was to try whether he could use his own rich experience to directly create a transformation route that could be popularized to the vast majority of human beings without any future troubles. He wanted to artificially Accelerating this process, raising the starting foundation of human beings, so that all human beings are born with a certain amount of extraordinary power, and become a "silver race" with silver-level strength as soon as they grow up.

He wanted to achieve what should happen step by step over hundreds of years in one step - but now it seems that taking too big a step may only be scary.

"It seems that we can only change the name of these transformations and put them in the strengthening exchange list... Thinking about the perfect human body, let's wait a few years."

The soldier thought of this, but he was not particularly anxious. He knew that with the passage of time, the tide of magic and chaos would gradually hit, and these meaningless fears would dissipate like smoke and dust. At that time, human beings must sublimate as soon as possible. , Become stronger, and no longer have any extra time and energy to think about extra problems.

"Although it is a bit excessive, it is still wrong."

At the same time, after looking around the fourth practice room, Nostradamus couldn't help asking a little strangely: "Joshua, if it's just exploring human body modification, those researchers shouldn't be so scared—— After all, they are all gold-level mages, there is no reason to be so timid... What are you doing? Their expressions seem to think that you will blow up the entire cavity."

"Probably because I caught a small void giant and dissected it."

Joshua said lightly, and he motioned the terrified old mage to raise his head and look at the experimental platform behind him.

There, on the steel plate shrouded in hazy steel mist, there was a piece of dark gray biological tissue that was wriggling, twitching, and continuously forming various joints, mouthparts, and translucent cysts of flesh and blood. , although it was cut open, it was still alive. Countless steel forces turned into probes and liquid, and went deep into this indescribable tissue to analyze its structure. And above the numerous tumors and exposed ganglia, there are densely packed golden eyeballs wriggling crazily—but these seemingly terrifying visual organs reveal an extremely frightened look.

'help me! ’ Nostradamus seemed to have heard such a voice.

"Some time ago, I went back to the world of Siberia to check the situation, and found that there were many small void giants appearing in the void there, so I caught one and brought it back—of course, this is only a part of flesh and blood, and its body is still in my body The suppression there is very good."

Joshua stepped forward, and patted it gently, which was wriggling crazily, as if he wanted to split and spread, spread his body, and assimilate the flesh and blood of the giant void beast on the experimental platform. The warrior looked at the opponent as if in shock, and stopped. After taking all the actions, I continued to speak: "To be honest, I just wanted to see if the flesh and blood of the Void Behemoth could be transformed into some useful biological weapons, but in the end, I found a lot of interesting information. "

"what's the message?"

Swallowing, Nostradamus stared blankly at the gray-eyed mass of flesh and blood of the Void Behemoth, who seemed to have completely given up thinking, and asked subconsciously, "Could it be related to the evil god?"

And Joshua nodded happily: "That's right."

"It is related to the evil god."

The new volume is still refining the outline, so the update is relatively slow.