CHAPTER 709: CHAPTER 13: ABYSSAL EXPERIMENT

Sitting silently in battle is a novel experience for Wizards.

The Wizards at the front line fortify one layer after another, perfecting the defenses repeatedly. But looking at the plains and skies devoid of enemies, they always have a surreal feeling.

The Galaxy Mayflies have never been this tranquil.

At least not during that brief period of the filling wizard.

In the headquarters, the staff department Wizards are unusually idle, having nothing to do.

Every war report from the front line is of nothing happening, and the scouting party they sent out returns with reports of no incidents as well.

The Galaxy Mayflies have not made any large-scale personnel movements, nor have they withdrawn forces, dispatching most personnel to other battlefields.

Just like in previous intervals, the front line constantly patrols, while the rear builds insect nests and hatching pools.

It seems the two great figures have reached some truce agreement, I won’t attack, you won’t attack, everything is peaceful.

But the staff department knows well that war has just taken on a different form.

In the room, Richard’s body emits a constant faint buzzing.

Suddenly, a dull noise erupted.

Bang!

Richard’s right thumb exploded, the scales on the finger and all cells instantly disintegrating.

"Still not working?"

Richard scratched his head, a bit discouraged.

Though he was prepared for failure, three straight months of no progress was beyond his expectations.

So far, he hadn’t successfully altered a single fragment of the Life Core. All attempts led to cell disintegration and death.

He feels like he stepped onto a wrong path, where ahead isn’t the difficult road to truth but a solid wall.

Recording this failed experiment, Richard didn’t hastily continue experimenting; he began to contemplate his experimental path.

His current experimental strategy is intuitive enumeration, which is, based on the materials Lan gave him, engaging in nonlinear, illogical thinking to arrive at some idea.

In other words, it’s like "I reckon it should be like this."

This experimental strategy relies entirely on luck, being a least favorable choice. But as an Explorer, he has no other option.

Although Level 3 Creatures and Level 4 Creatures seem only one tier apart, from the Bloodline perspective, they don’t belong to the same species.

When a Level 3 Creature ascends to a Level 4 Creature, the Life Core undergoes a massive reorganization.

After reorganization, the Life Core becomes more complex than before, allowing cells to construct a powerful Level 4 Creature physique.

This complexity renders construction knowledge from the first three stages ineffective at Level 4. Many universal Life Core fragment interfaces in the early stages vanish at Level 4.

"But without this intuitive enumeration, what strategy should I use? Should I continue using extreme conditions and let the cells adapt naturally?"

Induced adaptation, this experimental strategy enabled Richard in the Three Rings Wizard period to create a transcendent physique comparable to Level 4 Creatures. But the Life Core of Level 4 Creatures is way more complex, making this strategy another gamble.

"Huh... really wonder how the Pioneers back then designed something like the Giant Dragon." Richard muttered.

Giant Dragons have the ability to store other powerful creatures’ life information, then integrate and give birth to new offspring.

This ability essentially is no different from Life Editing...

Giant Dragon?

A flash of inspiration suddenly occurred in Richard’s mind.

The Giant Dragons can collect formidable life information and integrate it to create new offspring. Does this mean he can use this characteristic to create a physique with Dragon Blood as the main body?

Since he’s already planning to integrate other creatures’ Bloodlines, why not go all out and directly switch to a Giant Dragon’s body?

But soon, Richard rejected this plan.

"The Rule Body has already merged into this body; changing the body would require rebuilding the fusion with the Rule Body.

It’s too slow."

But the idea of switching to the Giant Dragon body opened up a path for Richard.

Creatures capable of information integration not only include Giant Dragons; Abyss Demons are also a Race capable of integrating other creatures’ life information.

And as Richard thought deeper, he suddenly realized that this integration by Abyss Demons is exactly what he’s researching now?

It’s just that the Abyss Demons’ main Bloodline is Abyss Demons, while his is human.

A dark red Power of Abyss suddenly appeared in Richard’s palm; for a long time, Richard was not accustomed to using the Power of Abyss in battle. Apart from considering it as a combat trump card, his high vigilance towards this power is also part of the reason.

But now... the benefits of the Power of Abyss have outweighed the risks.

Richard looked at that strand of the Power of Abyss, his expression becoming very conflicted.

He was weighing whether it was worth it.

The Abyss is not a toy, if it plays out wrong, he could be corrupted by the Abyss Erosion, becoming a Demon Lord of the Abyss.

But if he doesn’t use the Abyss, relying on this luck-based approach to research.

He might spend decades or even centuries before making any progress.

In his heart, two different thoughts were in a battle of heaven and man.

After a long time, Richard exhaled a long breath, his eyes becoming calm and determined.

He said to himself, "The path to acquiring strength inevitably accompanies risks. In this war, having no strength is absolutely not viable."

"Let’s give it a try, Richard."

...

The Power of Abyss is a peculiar energy, in past experiments, this energy exhibited complex characteristics.

This complexity made Richard once doubt that this thing was not energy, but the external projection of the Abyss Rules, these Illusion Rules in the Material World.

The Power of Abyss possesses a benign inducement ability, and also can conduct life editing more effectively. The advanced application of the Power of Abyss had once been on Richard’s research list.

However, any benefit comes with risks.

Although life editing and life inducement conducted by the Power of Abyss are faster and more effective, it also deepens the level of abyss transformation of the flesh.

And the irreversible characteristic of abyss transformation determines that this is an act with great risks.

If the balance of abyss transformation is broken, then he will inevitably become an Abyss Demon.

Before conducting the experiment himself, Richard contacted Jimmy through the Teleportation Gate.

From Jimmy, Richard learned that the Physique Crown had indeed researched the Power of Abyss and made considerable progress.

But later, because the path of the Abyss was not the one Physique Crown wanted, the research on the Abyss stopped.

With the permission of the Physique Crown, Richard successfully exchanged a substantial amount of war merit for their research on the Power of Abyss.

"The Power of Abyss is a troublesome force, when conducting erosion experiments, you had better protect your soul to ensure that before the new balance forms, the soul is not completely eroded by the Abyss.

Otherwise, I can only add you to the specimen library."

The suggestion from Physique Crown, even across hundreds of Flowing Light Years, made Richard shiver, becoming an Abyss Demon is no longer a Wizard, and he, who holds so much information of the Wizard Civilization, would definitely be purged once transformed into an Abyss Demon.

"Thank you for your suggestion, Dean."

With the Dean’s research data, Richard’s study of the Power of Abyss began to proceed smoothly.

According to the research of Physique Crown, the Power of Abyss is certainly not a simple force. The Abyss Rules are a kind of Illusion Rules that can normally exist in the Material World, those magical characteristics possessed by Illusion Rules are also possessed by Abyss Rules.

Just as the Power of Nightmare can simulate various items, the Power of Abyss can irreversibly turn life into an Abyss Demon, and allow the Abyss Demon to evolve rapidly.

If there wasn’t the side effect of transforming into an Abyss Demon, then the Abyss Rules could simply be called Evolution Rules.

Based on this special nature, when conducting life editing with the Power of Abyss, Richard doesn’t need to control anything himself. He just needs to let the cells change under the influence of the Power of Abyss, then wait for the end result.

Soon, the new experiment began.

In Richard’s body, the buzzing sound representing life editing rang once again, but this time, his fingers didn’t explode but began to slowly deform.

Richard’s fingers began to slightly elongate and become stronger. His skin started to darken and then gradually lighten, a layer of Bone Scales spread from the base of his fingers, and Richard saw numerous golden patterns on these Bone Scales—these are the Magic Beast’s innate Runes.

This change lasted a day, during which Richard was immersed in the transformation of the Life Core.

The Power of Abyss was like a master sculptor of life, cleverly inserting all kinds of life information into seemingly impossible stable incisions.

This process usually takes more than a hundred years on an Abyss Demon and also needs intense wars as a catalyst. But in the case of life editing, this process is greatly accelerated.

Eventually, the fingers completed their final evolution and ceased to change shape.

After a day of transformation, this finger had become extremely abrupt. Its epidermis was still white, but on the skin was a layer of dense Bone Scales. It became slender, and its muscle and tendons underwent significant changes.

From the outside, it looked as if it was cut off from another creature and then stitched onto Richard’s hand.

Richard looked at this finger and suddenly twisted it hard. The next moment, a sound like tearing leather was heard, and the evolved finger was forcefully pulled off by Richard.

The intense pain at the break did not change Richard’s expression in the slightest, he put this finger into a container full of nutrient solution, and then started evolving it again.

This time, he needed to add some external conditions to the finger. He wanted to see if the ultimate evolution caused by the Power of Abyss would change due to the alteration of the external environment.