My health recovery is incredibly fast.

To better protect the secrets of the Western Continent, all alchemists specializing in rare artifacts who graduate from Starry Night Academy will become students of Master Kolas during their advanced studies.

This was the exact information Anru had received from Sylvia.

After Anru entered the outer teaching area, Xia Zuo was left alone at his home in Poseidon City.

He would visit Janice on weekends, and spend the rest of his time in the Lumington University laboratory, tinkering with erox and raw materials for alchemical bionic systems.

Together with Hillenburg, he drafted a very detailed research and development plan, and the paper documents alone filled two filing cabinets.

Every day, they immersed themselves in massive amounts of experimental parameters and data, their bodies surrounded by the smell of oil. Finally, in the middle of the third month after starting their research and development work, the two created a set of bionic lungs that met their expectations.

One set consists of two copies, one with an energy transfer rate of 0% and the other with 100%.

Xia Zuo quietly calculated the expenses, which amounted to approximately 25 citizen points, 3 points more than Hillenburg had initially estimated.

But Hillenburg's wallet, like his knowledge of marine alchemy, was unfathomable, showing no signs of financial strain.

It seems that a normal master-level alchemist really isn't short of money...

On Saturday morning, Xia and Zuo arrived at the teaching area of ​​the outer hall.

The day before yesterday was the deadline for submitting research results, and today is the day the temple will assess the research results of each group.

The same bionic part may be being developed by several groups simultaneously.

Hillenburg's team had three competitors.

Xia Zuo has studied the alchemical products of his competitors. He has to admit that the alchemical school is full of talented people, and those who can participate in the bidding are all extraordinary.

The product of the Hillenburg team was modeled after the lungs of the tiger-headed demon whale, and drew inspiration from the body structure of monsters, making extensive use of biological and monster materials.

There are two similar competitors, which are modeled after the Flame Salamander and the Wind Cannon Frog, respectively.

The remaining competitor adopted a modular, all-metal construction, turning the lungs into a metal Rubik's Cube.

Each small metal cube on the surface is a tiny air pump and airbag encased in hard metal, relying on the protective properties of the metal for pressure resistance and puncture protection.

Hillenburg had practiced the [Eye of Kolas] meditation technique. He seized an opportunity to unleash his azure eye and observe the hardness of the metallic lungs...

It's around level 100.

It's staggering.

Withstanding the water pressure at a depth of 1,000 meters underwater is not a problem.

The only drawback is that it has zero automatic repair capability, and the damaged metal cubes need to be replaced manually.

Of these four research groups studying bionic lungs, which group has the best chance of winning?

That's hard to say.

Xia Zuo and Helenburg entered the assessment site and sat behind the podium. On either side of them were other groups, and opposite them was the Outer Temple Master in charge of judging the bionic lungs. The chief judge was Master Adanavados. In the four culture tanks in the center of the venue, the research results of the four groups were placed respectively.

Throughout the assessment process, the elemental servants controlled the robotic arm to test the bionic lung according to the predetermined assessment steps, without any human intervention, thus ensuring fairness as much as possible.

The first step is to test the basic functions of the bionic lung.

Pumping efficiency, air tightness, ventilation performance of air exchange, stability during high-frequency exchange, and stability in abnormal body positions, etc.

Abnormal body positions refer specifically to all postures other than standing, including hanging upside down, inverted positions, pendulum movements, etc.

This stage of the test will give a comprehensive score. As long as the score is over 80 points, you can proceed to the next stage of the test.

The test on abnormal body positions is more difficult and accounts for the majority of the score.

All three groups that used biological materials achieved a total score of 92 or higher.

The Hillenburg team's performance in terms of stability was slightly flawed due to the slightly higher weight of their bionic lungs, resulting in a second-place overall score of 95 points, 2 points lower than the first-place Wind Cannon Frog team.

The lowest scorer was undoubtedly the Metal Cube team. Their pure metal lungs were too heavy, their inertia was very pronounced, and their stability in abnormal positions was the worst. They scored 86 points, barely passing the passing mark.

Chapter 65 Metal Repair, Active Defense

The second step is stress testing.

The test is conducted in two steps: external pressure test and internal pressure test.

External pressure refers to the use of external force—a hydraulic metal clamp with adjustable pressure area and pressure magnitude—to compress the bionic lung from the outside in through various methods such as striking, pressing, heavy pressure, and continuously increasing pressure.

There are many approaches to resisting external pressure.

The Hillenburg team used hexagonal honeycomb alveoli to distribute pressure, diverting the pressure from the point of impact to the surrounding alveoli, so that the bionic lung is evenly stressed. At the same time, it increases the internal pressure of the small alveoli on the periphery of the lung to counteract the external pressure.

Xia Zuo originally thought that this bionic lung with this structure would definitely win first place in the external pressure test.

However! The results of the external pressure test were somewhat unexpected.

Surprisingly, the Burning Flame Salamander team won first place.

Hillenburg was also somewhat surprised. He frowned and pondered for a long time, comparing his own anatomical diagram of the Flaming Salamander with the diagram he had created. He couldn't figure out how the group had done it.

Fire salamanders are commonly found in volcanoes.

The Blazing Fire Salamander is a demonized version of the Fire Salamander.

In addition to feeding on magma and being able to swim deep into the earth's crust in magma, the Fire Salamander also possesses many unique abilities such as immunity to fire damage and control, the ability to manipulate flames, and optical invisibility in volcanic environments.

Volcanoes are products of high pressure, and volcanic eruptions are a manifestation of the extreme pressure within the Earth's crust.

To withstand high temperatures and pressures, the fire salamander's lungs are structured like a spring ball, exhibiting exceptional elasticity and resilience.

However, the inherent stability of this lung structure is not as good as that of the tiger whale's lungs.

Unless… the Fire Salamander team spared no expense and used tanning agents and biological materials with a toughness level exceeding 100?

Hillenburg could only think of this one reason...

After hearing his guess, Xia Zuo clicked his tongue in amazement... Sure enough, when it comes to bidding, the intensity of the competition knows no bounds...

During the internal pressure test, two air supply tubes hang from the top of the incubator and are connected to the bionic lungs, continuously injecting air into it.

This step also tests the lung capacity of the bionic lung.

All four groups passed and moved on to the third stage – the compatibility test.

Whether in the fields of science or alchemy, air is a necessary condition for human survival.

For a bionic body, air is just one of the gases that needs to be inhaled.

The bionic body contains nearly a hundred alchemical bionic systems, more than half of which require regular inhalation of specific oil-based mists to replenish the bionic system's energy reserves or for maintenance.

A bionic lung must be able to store different oil-based aerosols independently and stably, and deliver specific aerosols to specific bionic systems according to the host's instructions.

Xia Zuo developed dozens of erogenous substances to serve as signals for delivering specific oil-based aerosols.

At Hillenburg's request, he developed an equal amount of bait as a backup.

If Nyxat equips his bionic body with a new alchemical bionic system, then the oil mist of the new bionic system can be used as a signal transmission device with the spare bait.

This is a pre-service that fully considers the client's need to expand their physical functions, enabling the Hillenburg team to score higher in the compatibility test.

But they still couldn't get first place...

The winner of this round was the Metal Cube team, whose small squares were designed for the categorized storage of oil-based aerosols.

After finishing second for three consecutive rounds, Xia Zuo and Hillenburg saw hope of winning the trauma test round.

This stage will only test bionic lungs with a 0% energy transfer rate, because bionic lungs with a 100% energy transfer rate are too expensive.

The trauma test was conducted in more than a dozen steps, testing various types of trauma such as abrasions, bruises, and cuts. By the time the final step, testing the resistance to a fatal blow, was reached, each bionic lung was already covered in wounds.

At this point, bionic lungs with self-repair capabilities emerged.

In the bionic lung developed by Hillenburg's team, new small alveoli proliferated from the large alveoli to replace the damaged ones.

The bionic lungs of the Blazing Fire Salamander team rotated the lung lobes, flipping the spring-ball-shaped lungs over so that the alveoli that were originally located on the inside could be flipped to the outside, thus taking the fatal blow in place of the damaged alveoli.

The bionic lungs of the Wind Cannon Frog team resemble a nested balloon. When the outermost alveoli are injured, they detach, and the inner alveoli enlarge to become the new outer alveoli.

The bionic lungs of the Metal Cube team do not have a self-repair function, and this stage does not allow manual replacement of damaged metal cubes; they can only use damaged metal cube alveoli to participate in the test.

The culture jar was changed from being placed vertically to being placed horizontally.

The elemental servant retrieved a primal rifle, inserted the barrel into the base of the incubation tank of the Blazing Fire Salamander team, and aimed the muzzle at the bionic lungs.

This test will use [Sharp] magic bullets with a power of 150 points to shoot at the bionic lung. Three shots will be fired in quick succession, each aimed at a vital part of the bionic lung.

The elemental servants began charging the elemental rifle... The earthy yellow energy surged into the magazine, coalescing into three bright yellow magical bullets.

"Puff puff!"

"Clang clang clang~"

The spring-spherical bionic lung had poor internal stability and was easily pierced through the bottom by a magic bullet. The bullet struck the top of the culture tank with three crisp sounds, and after a few seconds, its energy was exhausted and dissipated.

The Blazing Fire Salamander team, carrying their damaged bionic lungs, left the assessment hall dejectedly.

Next up is the Wind Cannon Frog team.

The nested, balloon-like bionic lungs, when the outer lung layer explodes, create outward wind pressure that can offset some of the bullet's impact force, or even deflect the bullet.

Theoretically speaking, with several nested, balloon-like lung lobes, there are several opportunities for the bullet to deflect.

It would be virtually impossible for three magic bullets to completely penetrate the bionic lung, which is nested in at least 15 layers.

"puff!"

"Clang~"

"puff!"

"Clang~"

"puff!"

"Clang~"

The Wind Cannon Frog team was lucky; all three bullets were deflected by the airflow and hit the culture tank when they pierced the outermost lung.

"Whoa~~" A joyful cheer erupted from the Wind Cannon Frog team, as the members high-fived each other in celebration.

However… their celebration was brought to an end by the Metal Cube team.

The lungs, shaped like a metal cube, have no vital organs.