In Sumeru, pretend to be a scholar

'So, it's possible that Golden City wasn't destroyed, but rather entered the shadows of the world?'

Wang Yan thought to himself.

As for where this shadow was, Wang Yan didn't even need to think; he knew it was at the end of winter.

The reason is simple: he has already experienced the events that happened before Nordkalli, and he has not seen the shadows of this world.

'It seems I'll have to go to Zhidong when I have time…'

A long time ago, Wang Yan took in Serene because he was craving her skills. Now Wang Yan also knows that Serene does know a lot, but without a foundation, she can't fully utilize her knowledge.

If Huang Jincheng truly fell into the shadows of the world and didn't download DingTalk, perhaps it still retained many technological achievements.

Thinking of this, Wang Yan pulled himself out of his thoughts, looked at Serene, and changed the subject back to the laboratory: "What's the use of adding this stuff? To dissolve the water slime?"

Previously, when Serene mentioned that she wanted to work on the [Earth Prototype], she explained the function of the [Earth Prototype] to Wang Yan.

But it was said in a very evocative way.

It is simply a life alchemy material that can absorb all life qualities, completely integrate them, and generate only one unified closed-loop life cycle, without the problem of multiple cycles repelling and rejecting each other.

“Yes, dissolve No. 001 and re-establish a new life cycle.” Serene nodded.

Wang Yan frowned: "What's the significance?"

According to Serene, it sounds like taking a person apart and then putting them back together.

Indeed, this is a remarkable thing, but... does a person change in the process? If no one changes, what is the point of doing it?

"Hmph." Serene snorted, "You just don't understand!"

"The key is not in dissolving, but in adding it after dissolving."

"The [Earth Prototype] will dissolve No. 001, forming a unified closed-loop life cycle. At this time, I can add other life traits into it. Based on the characteristics of the [Earth Prototype], the added life traits will not be rejected, but will be very harmoniously integrated into the life cycle of No. 001."

After a slight pause, Serene revealed a smug smile: "Didn't you want me to cultivate more super elemental life forms?"

"I had been thinking that simply accumulating elemental power is too resource-intensive, and using culture medium is also not enough to help elemental life forms break through one life level after another."

"So, is there any way to bypass the limitations of social class?"

"Then I realized it was possible; the key was the [geomorphic embryo].

Wang Yan listened and seemed to understand Serene's plan: "You want to use [Earth Origin Material] to dissolve the test subjects, and then add higher-level life characteristics to help them break through the limitations of their life levels?"

Serene instantly became happy, flew to Wang Yan's side, and affectionately nuzzled his face.

She liked Wang Yan so much that she didn't need a detailed explanation; just a few words were enough for her to understand completely.

Serene not only inherited the angels' obsession with appearances, but she also had a bit of an intellectual sensibility.

“That’s right. Since elemental life forms need a long time to break through the limitations of their life levels during the evolutionary process, I can directly add higher-level life traits to them. Using this as a key, or rather a shortcut, elemental life forms can break through much faster.”

As she spoke, Serene pointed to number 001 in the incubation chamber.

"For example, No. 001, after it dissolves, absorbs the [earth-borne material] around it that has been given the properties of turbid water. In this way, No. 001 can acquire the elemental properties of turbid water."

"Thus, it possesses the potential to evolve from a slime into a mud goblin."

"In fact, because it already possesses the characteristics of turbid water, the difficulty of its evolution will be greatly reduced."

At this crucial point, Serene's ears twitched proudly: "This is only the first step. Once this step is successful, we can use the characteristics of [Earth Embryo] to continuously add higher-level traits to elemental life forms until they reach the final hurdle of elemental life forms, [Dragon]."

"Evolve into a dragon?" Wang Yan couldn't help but question.

Wang Yan agreed with everything Serene had said earlier.

Adding advanced traits to drive the evolution of life forms—Wang Yan had seen this kind of plot many times in novels before his transmigration.

For example, some protagonists master the abilities of the second realm while still in the first realm, and these abilities help them break through more easily. These are all classic tropes.

Now it's simply a matter of replacing the protagonist with a slime or some other elemental life form.

It's easy to understand.

But if Serene says it can evolve into a dragon, then Wang Yan has to question that.

“Theory, theory, I’m talking about theory!” Serene wasn’t angry at being questioned, and said with a grin, “Theoretically, if you can get the Dragon King’s flesh and blood, then fuse the Dragon King’s flesh and blood with [Earth Origin Material], and then inject the fused [Earth Origin Material] into a super monster with suitable attributes, then this super monster will indeed have the path to becoming a [Dragon].

"However, the prerequisite is that the dragon king at the pinnacle of this element has already fallen; otherwise, even if this super monster possesses the strength to evolve into a dragon, it will be stuck."

The Dragon King's position is limited.

Furthermore, a dragon is the Dragon King; there is no such thing as a large group of elemental dragons, with the strongest one being the Dragon King.

The Seven Elemental Dragons are the Seven Elemental Dragon Kings. Nibelungen is the primordial dragon of light and is not among the Seven Elements.

Therefore, there is no doubt that Dvalin is the Dragon King.

Although He is weak and pitiful, and has become a servant of the Anemo Archon, He is indeed the Elemental Dragon King, standing at the pinnacle of Teyvat's wind elemental life.

After listening to Serene's explanation, Wang Yan nodded: "Being able to navigate all the way to the path of super monsters is already quite impressive!"

"Hehe, actually, it's not me who's amazing, it's Huang Jincheng." Serene didn't take credit, but explained, "Do you remember what I said about the [Primordial Man Project]?"

Wang Yan nodded: "Of course I remember. There were two. One was the universal evolution you were in, and the other was a plan to directly cultivate using the corpse of the Ice Dragon King. The latter failed, and the Big Bang turned the territory of Golden City into winter."

“That’s right, my inspiration actually comes from that failed plan,” Serene said. “The plan was essentially to use the flesh and blood of the primordial ice dragon as its body and light as its soul, with the aim of replicating the authority of the primordial beings.”

"I was thinking, if the flesh and blood of the Ice Dragon King can replicate the authority of the original humans, then could the flesh and blood of high-level monsters be used to cultivate high-level monsters?"

"Of course, because the system is incomplete, I cannot cultivate it from scratch. So, I changed my approach and cultivated it from low to high level."

"Water slimes can evolve into water shapeshifters, into murky water sprites, and even into the Aspect of Water, or even higher forms... as long as we can find the corresponding trait flesh or materials."

As Serene was speaking, there was a sudden movement in the incubation silo.

Their gazes immediately shifted to that direction.

The slime, enveloped in pale blue culture medium, seemed to be pulled by something, and its entire body suddenly shrank.

Then it melted.

It spread directly from a large, round water ball into a puddle of blue liquid, which lay flat on the bottom of the tank.

If it weren't originally a mass of water, this would look quite frightening.

Wang Yan went over and took a look.

Apart from the two little eyes that were always on the slime's face being gone, nothing else really changed; it just went from a puddle of water to a pool of water.

'Is that all?'

The moment he thought that, the surrounding culture medium changed.

The pale blue liquid and the floating grayish-white particles in the tank suddenly seemed to be sucked in by something, and all of them shoved into the blue liquid at the bottom of the tank.

The culture medium, which had been flowing slowly, disappeared within seconds, along with all the tiny particles of the proto-embryoside, dissolving completely into the puddle.

The jar was suddenly empty.

All that was left was a pool of dark blue liquid at the bottom.

“It has successfully absorbed the [Earthborne Embryo] with turbid water properties,” Serene explained. “Changes should occur soon.”

Wang Yan nodded without saying a word.

After a few seconds of stillness, the pool of blue liquid indeed began to move.

First, the middle part bulged up and formed a fairly large water ball, a deep blue color, several shades darker than the previous slime color.

Then two smaller water spheres popped up next to the big sphere, floating to the left and right.

The two little water spheres could move, floating around, looking like two clenched fists.

Wang Yan stared at it for a while, then turned around and gave Serene a thumbs up: "Great job, you did it."

The Turbid Water Spirit, or Turbid Water Illusion, is a life form born in the water veins in place of the Pure Water Spirit.

Its position is rather unique among elemental life forms.

In a natural environment, it is absolutely impossible for a slime to evolve into a smurf.

And now, this has happened right before Wang Yan's eyes, which clearly proves that Serene's experiment was successful.

Serene's face lit up with pride from the praise, and her little tail swished behind her like a windmill as she floated up to Wang Yan and rubbed against him several times.

“Of course.” She tilted her chin up. “How could there be a problem with the dough I made?”

As she spoke, her eyes kept glancing into the tank, looking at the three water spheres—one large and two small—and she became increasingly smug, even forgetting the medical check-up that should have been done immediately.

Wang Yan didn't remind her either.

But after watching it for a short while, something went wrong in the tank.

The large, dark blue ball in the middle began to sway restlessly, and the two smaller balls followed suit, spinning around the edge much faster than before, occasionally bumping into the cylinder wall.

When you bump into it, the glass makes a "thud" sound.

Serene's smug expression vanished instantly.

"Hey? Wait a minute, wait a minute, stop fooling around."

She floated over and peered at the tank wall for a couple of seconds. Then, she realized what was happening and immediately darted to the control panel. Her small hands manipulated the light barrier, and she pressed a series of buttons on the panel.

As soon as she pressed the last button, a new liquid gushed out from under the incubation chamber, slowly rising and enveloping the restless turbid water spirit once again.

Strangely enough, as soon as the water entered, the muddy water spirit immediately stopped bumping around and floated quietly in the middle. The two fists also stopped turning and just hung there.

The laboratory fell silent again.

Serene breathed a sigh of relief, floated back to the edge of the tank, looked at it for two more seconds, and then turned to look at Wang Yan.

Wang Yan was looking at her with his arms crossed: "What happened? Has Number 001 gone out of control?"

Serene's expression fell a little.

“It’s nothing,” she said softly, “It’s just…it doesn’t recognize us anymore.”

Wang Yan was stunned for a moment.

"What?"

“The new life created by the primordial embryo has its own independent soul and consciousness, and it does not inherit the original individual’s memories,” Serene explained. “Just like the Primal Man Project, the Primal Man created using the flesh and blood of the Ice Dragon King, if successful, will also have an independent soul and memories, and will not inherit the Ice Dragon King’s memories.”

“The original earth material is like a furnace. When iron ore is used to forge steel into a new sword, the sword will not retain the ‘memory’ of the original iron ore.”

Wang Yan hesitated for a moment: "This..."

This is somewhat inhumane.

Wang Yan cultivated elemental life in order to obtain the Origin Rune.

However, given his learning ability and his negligible cheat ability, theoretically he doesn't need to kill these elemental beings. As long as they use the Root Rune, Wang Yan can learn it.

However, this evolutionary method is now based on the erasure of individual souls.

Well... letting Wang Yan kill monsters doesn't really put him under any burden.

But he felt somewhat uncomfortable with this act of nurturing something in a laboratory, cultivating it little by little, and then erasing its soul.

In fact, before Wang Yan's time travel, there was a professional term for this situation: "human-experimental animal connection," which refers to the emotional bond that researchers develop with experimental animals.

However, this word is neutral and is neither good nor bad.

It may bring better welfare to animals, but it may also put researchers under psychological pressure when performing euthanasia.

Actually, I haven't seen enough of them.

For example, Serene was completely unaffected in this regard.

For her, biological experiments were commonplace, and slimes were not intelligent at all; they were just the lowest level of elemental life.

"Are you bothered by this?" Serene sensed the change in Wang Yan's emotions.

Wang Yan didn't hide anything, nodded, and explained his feelings.

Serene didn't mock Wang Yan for being emotionally fragile. She simply said, "Then I won't dissolve it anymore. Instead, I'll preserve its main body and perform a fusion of its characteristics. This way, I can retain its memories."

What was originally intended to be recast in the furnace has now been changed to adding accessories.

Wang Yan listened and shook his head: "It's okay, do whatever is convenient for you."

He's not some saint; the root runes are related to his core interests, and a little bit of reluctance isn't enough to shake Wang Yan's will.

Serene glanced at Wang Yan and nodded: "Okay."

But in her heart, she was thinking that she should improve the experiment to make Wang Yan more satisfied.