SWNOVELXO Chapter 425: Human Essence
Alex then started remembering how cultivation had worked so far.
Cultivators would allow their body to adapt to qi, then create a new organ to produce the qi itself. This could be counted as an external factor that had grown with Clara's standard.
But after someone reached the golden core, the next realm came from integrating things into one.
Then a realization came to him, 'Is this why Mingyue and I failed to break through?
The correct way was to put all power under our essence to break through. But our essence was now transforming from human to vampire progenitor.
This meant I should put it all under my vampire power?'
But our essence was now transforming from human to vampire progenitor. This meant I should put it all under my vampire power?'
The idea felt solid for Alex. The next realm he needed to reach was Spiritual Transformation, using the same concept since he was a vampire. This meant infusing the whole golden core into his vampire essence.
But different from cultivators, vampires' cores were their blood.
'How should I put my golden core under my blood then? Should I fuse it with my spine so it affects my blood flow, or is it something else?
But now that I think of it, are vampires' cores really their blood?'
Alex started examining his inner body, how qi and mana flowed inside, how lifeforce flowed throughout his whole body.
'Wait, lifeforce is the core of a vampire. It's not blood, but where does this come from?'
Different from qi, which only came from the core, lifeforce appeared from the mechanisms in his body. Every single breath he took and meal he ate contributed to the lifeforce.
He also could absorb it directly with higher efficiency, but it didn't change the fact that it was part of the system.
"Why are you in a daze like that?" Clara asked, feeling that Alex had some kind of epiphany from her information.
Alex didn't mind sharing his thoughts, but who knows if he could get more insight from her?
"As you said, cultivation is improving one's own essence; it's like a plant we pour water over, give it nutrients, and let it grow.
In that case, isn't every energy usable as a nutrient?"
"That is not true. Do you know why demonic cultivation is banned? It's not because of some bullshit of morality.
Every day, innocent people die while someone uses their strength to act as a wimp. The problem is not that. It's how their soul and essence are corroded.
The higher they are in the realm, the worse it becomes. The strongest one in the past is basically an abomination of monsters; if the judge didn't intervene, we would all be killed."
"I don't have access to their cultivation method, so I don't know. But considering other energy I tested with. That is not true at all.
If using energy corrupts your essence, that means the way you are using it is wrong.
Think of it this way, every single species has its own element and nature; the more compatible one is, the easier it will be to absorb, but if it doesn't, that just means you need to strip away the energy from the harmful elements and absorb it.'
"Stripping away energy?" Clara repeated the words.
"Is that even possible? I have been in the immortal realm for hundreds of years, spending it all on experimentation on alchemy; no matter what I do, separating their properties alone from the material is impossible.'
"That is different; what I mean is stripping away pure energy and diverging it. The plants you experiment on are different; they are not pure energy. It's a mechanism.
The easier way to think about it is the plant is a formation array that absorbs qi to create its own function.
Their cells and organs are what build the formation."
In Alex's eyes, now, everything can be compared to playing with a block or those Lego toys. They may have different terms, making them look complicated, but in the end, they are like lego.
The only different Lego is easy to assemble and disassemble; this one requires special care and tools to do.
"If only I could play around with it, I have learned about cells and many other things, but experimenting with it is different.
I cannot create artificial cells or move them based on what I want. Understanding and creating are completely different."
What Clara has done so far hasn't worked; she does succeed in making some changes, but rather than creating, it's more on mutating.
She was triggering a reaction by giving out different material.
"You cannot do that without using Cas9 enzyme and specialized, secret techniques or machines."
"Cas9 enzyme, what do you mean?"
"Since you say you understand about cells, you should also know its building block, DNA."
Clara nodded, "Yes."
"Now, to put it simply, Cas9 is like scissors used to cut apart what you don't want; next, you will need gRNA, which is basically just glue to put them together.
But it works similarly to the energy I said; you need to make sure the compatibility between each DNA block; otherwise, the DNA will be broken beyond repair or completely destroyed."
"Where do I get this? Do you have one?"
Read latest stories on empire
"No, both of the items I told you come from my world, and only some people have it. Also, a living cell fueled by qi and one that is not is completely different. A normal Cas9 or gRNA won't cut it."
Alex had tried this a few times, manipulating the DNA of goblins and monsters. He did it on purpose to find out the real essence of being from a scientific perspective.
But each time, he always failed. The DNA would become so fragile that it destroyed itself despite being infused with life energy.
It's like giving gasoline to a broken car. If the machine is not good, no matter what he does, everything will still be useless.
He will need to replace the whole thing before trying to infuse it.