Chapter 81: The Fifth Wave of Enhancement
Corvus Glaive's round trip took only three days. He stayed overnight to visit his family, then immediately returned to Celestial Island.
He handed over Phastos's upper cervical vertebrae, salvaged from the river, to Ryan and returned to his patrol duties without a word.
Ryan wanted to tell him to rest, but seeing Corvus's emotionless expression, he abandoned the idea.
He brought Phastos's upper cervical vertebrae to the laboratory, used an adamantium saw to split the bone in half, then employed an extraction device to draw out bone marrow samples.
"Phastos's upper cervical vertebrae definitely contain Celestial genes and the cell membranes that conduct cosmic energy."
"Now I need to confirm whether my own upper cervical vertebrae contain Celestial genes."
Confirming the difference between the Eternals' mental and physical abilities was crucial to Ryan, as it represented a significant advancement in his research on Celestial genetics.
Next, Ryan prepared to use the robotic arm to extract bone marrow from his own upper cervical vertebrae.
Unlike drawing blood, extracting bone marrow required extreme precision. Before beginning, Ryan took multiple X-rays of himself, marking them carefully and calculating exact puncture angles. Even a millimeter's deviation could prove catastrophic.
Ryan secured himself to the chair to prevent any involuntary movement that might cause the needle to shift.
Then he programmed the robotic arm to begin the puncture and extraction.
"Gah!"
"Damn it."
The pain was real—excruciating, in fact—but he couldn't use anesthesia.
Regardless of whether anesthetic would even affect his enhanced physiology, if it did work, how could he continue monitoring the experiment while unconscious? He had to endure it.
As the needle penetrated, Ryan could actually hear the scraping sound of metal against bone.
Whirr, whirr, whirr!
The robotic arm activated at full power, rapidly extracting bone marrow from the upper cervical vertebrae.
Afterward, Ryan sealed and disposed of the hemostatic materials and cleaned the needle, then placed the bone marrow sample under a microscope for comparison.
"Interesting. There's nothing here."
The last time he'd fused with Celestial genes, it had been in his lumbar vertebrae. After that successful experiment, Ryan could sense cosmic energy but was unable to actively channel it. Later, he'd sought out Ajak to learn proper utilization techniques.
Now it appeared the issue wasn't his inability to mobilize cosmic energy in general, but rather his inability to channel it mentally. The integration of Celestial genes into his lumbar spine had automatically categorized him as a physical energy user.
He'd assumed that incorporating Celestial genes would transform his entire body uniformly, completely overlooking the fact that cosmic energy could be divided into two distinct branches: physical and mental.
"If I integrate Celestial genes again, this time into my upper cervical vertebrae, will there be rejection?"
"Probably not." Ryan shook his head.
This wasn't mere speculation—he had evidence: the Alpha Deviant Kro, currently frozen in the specimen freezer.
During his autopsy, Ryan had discovered a unique feature: each of the creature's tentacles connected directly to its spine.
Kro had absorbed the energies of Ajak and Gilgamesh through these tentacles.
Both the upper cervical and lower lumbar vertebrae of the Deviant contained Celestial genes and energy-conducting cell membranes, with no signs of rejection.
Based on biological gene sequence theory and the Celestials' own designs, Deviants originated from the same primordial human stock as Eternals. Using elimination by mutual compatibility combined with genetic inheritance laws, Ryan concluded he wouldn't experience rejection either.
Simply put, whether humans, Deviants, or Eternals—they were all variations of the same base species. It was the Celestials' deliberate genetic manipulation that had forced their divergent evolutionary paths.
However, before experimenting on himself, Ryan planned to test the procedure on his laboratory mouse.
The mouse, genetically enhanced with Thanos's serum like Ryan's own test subject, shared more genetic similarity with Ryan than it did with baseline humans.
The mouse, lying on the opposite side of the lab table watching cartoons on a tablet, was caught completely off guard when Ryan grabbed it.
"Squeak! Squeak!"
"Stop complaining. I'm about to make you smarter. You might even learn to talk."
"Squeak?"
Ryan still had substantial quantities of Celestial genes extracted from bone marrow. While he'd exhausted Phastos's supply, he'd also harvested the bone marrow of Ajak, Ikaris, and Gilgamesh.
He first compared the mouse's bone marrow composition with baseline concentrations, then prepared the appropriate dilution of Celestial gene serum.
The mouse's skin and muscle tissue were approximately as durable as a super-soldier's, but the needle could still penetrate its hide easily enough.
"Squeee!" the mouse shrieked.
Ryan quickly withdrew the injection needle containing the Celestial genes, then placed the mouse on the examination table for comprehensive data monitoring.
Pop.
The mouse's tail suddenly elongated dramatically, extending at least half a meter. It whipped twice against the metal table surface with audible clangs, then retracted the next second.
"Squeak..."
The mouse's eyelids drooped, and after several seconds its entire body began growing longer and developing denser fur, resembling a fuzzy ball.
"No humanoid transformation occurred. Genetic evolution proceeded synchronously, but in an animalistic direction."
"So because the Deviant contains beast DNA, they evolve toward bestial forms?"
"The tail structure is remarkably similar to a Deviant's tentacles."
"Physical data shows no significant abnormalities, but brain activity is still increasing. It's reached peak levels... now declining."
The mouse looked considerably rounder at this point, its four legs straight but still appearing to be lying down, its overall flexibility noticeably reduced.
"Squeak, squeak!"
Ryan then collected blood and bone marrow samples from the mouse.
Experiencing pain again, the mouse turned and glared at Ryan, its eyes clearly expressing irritation.
Ryan felt certain it was cursing him out, and probably using particularly colorful language.
"Alright, alright. Go back to your cartoons."
Ryan picked up the soft, plump mouse and set it down in front of the tablet. The mouse waved its paws as if expressing continued dissatisfaction, but seeing Ryan ignore it, the creature returned to watching its show with apparent contentment.
Ryan returned to his equipment and analyzed the mouse's blood and bone marrow samples.
"Energy-conducting cell membranes are present. The lack of visible cosmic energy manifestation suggests it doesn't yet know how to utilize it."
"Both upper and lower spinal columns contain Celestial genes. No rejection reaction detected."
The mouse's bloodline was undoubtedly one of the most bizarre on the planet. With Eternal blood and near-infinite lifespan, it hadn't evolved into either humanoid or monstrous form, retaining its current biological structure. This was excellent news for Ryan.
Ryan's greatest fear was unpredictable morphological changes after the enhancement procedure.
After all, he possessed human aesthetics and had no desire to transform into something grotesque.
"Celestial gene serum shows 36% compatibility ratio, 13.25% building block amino acids, one nutrient compound, five inhibitors, and one gene suppressor."
Ryan decided not to wait any longer and would immediately inject his upper spine with the Celestial formula.
To prevent accidents, he implemented multiple safety measures.
Click.
He engaged the laboratory's lockdown system, sealing it completely.
Ryan then positioned himself inside an adamantium containment chamber, preventing any potential rampage from destroying his laboratory again.
He activated the video recording system to document the experiment. If he lost consciousness during the procedure, he could review the footage later to identify any unexpected complications.
"Time: 2:39 AM on the 23rd. Ryan's fifth enhancement experiment. Objective: Injecting mental-type Celestial genes to conduct cosmic energy through cranial nerve pathway cell membranes, thereby achieving brain-based energy utilization."
The brain was arguably the ultimate frontier in biology, and it wasn't as simple as studying a tissue sample.
From the formation of our first sense of right and wrong, to learning mathematics, to comprehending the vast universe and abstract concepts—the human brain relied on that mass of neural tissue. Countless neurons contained not only vast knowledge repositories but also complex emotions, mysterious intuitions, and subconscious behaviors.
Even if Ryan became the world's foremost geneticist through his research, he still couldn't unlock that mysterious door—not even crack it open.
When it came to enhancing the mental capabilities of the brain, Ryan could only follow the Celestials' methodology in transforming the Eternals. There was no alternative approach.
"Heart rate normal, body temperature 98.6°F, blood oxygen content 97%. Beginning experiment."
A robotic arm slowly inserted a cold needle into the back of Ryan's neck. The transparent Celestial gene serum flowed through the tube, gradually absorbing into his bone marrow.
Because the upper cervical vertebrae consisted of two segments, a second injection was required.
Initially, Ryan felt nothing unusual, but with the second injection, the bone marrow infused with Celestial genes immediately activated.
Cell division accelerated exponentially, and stem cells began producing new blood at unprecedented rates.
The moment the fresh blood entered his brain, Ryan felt as if his skull had been struck by a taser. His eyes rolled back, and consciousness fled.
Thud.
The unconscious Ryan collapsed to the floor.
"Squeak..." The laboratory mouse turned its head, glanced over briefly, then tapped "Play Next Episode" on its tablet.
Even as Ryan lay unconscious, his brain—unobservable to any external instrument—was rapidly heating up.
The activity of his brain's neural networks reached unprecedented levels. His brain cells seemed to be boiling, and streams of cosmic energy surged through Ryan's neural pathways.
If one could observe inside his skull, they would see every nerve fiber and cerebral ventricle glowing with golden light.
The golden radiance flowed down through the ventricles to the primary nerve column, passing through the upper cervical vertebrae and flowing into his body, merging with the separate stream of cosmic energy already present.
Crack.
Something imperceptible broke, and the upper and lower spinal energy channels connected, allowing vastly more cosmic energy to converge within Ryan's body.
A thin layer of gold even manifested on his skin's surface, enveloping him like a chrysalis.
Not until two hours later did the golden light gradually dissipate.
When the glow faded, Ryan slowly opened his eyes.
A flash of gold glimmered in his pupils.
Ryan gradually rose from the floor, and a wave of force emanated from nowhere, spreading outward from his body as the epicenter.
CRASH!
The experimental equipment was blown aside, and trays of chemicals along with various beakers and test tubes on the laboratory table tumbled to the ground, shattering on impact.
End of Chapter 81
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