Chapter 376: Utan's Dawn of Human Transformation
Cheng Tian was decisive and efficient. After leaving Bazett, Mina, the Blind Combat Engineer, the Mammoth, and the Crimson Tyrannosaurus Rex to guard the laboratory, he prepared to depart directly with Irene.
Since the Heroic Spirit Contract had been updated, the recall ability between Cheng Tian and Bazett was now reciprocal. With Bazett remaining in the lab, Cheng Tian could return to the laboratory at any time, crossing any terrain, and could also summon Bazett to his side when necessary.
Regarding the Mohawk-haired man's suggestion about communicating with Fessenden, Cheng Tian left everything to Utan. He allowed him to handle it however he wished, as Cheng Tian himself was not an expert in any related academic field, and he would never meddle in matters where a layman tried to manage an expert.
However, what was interesting was that when the Mohawk-haired man provided a special line and connected to Fessenden via satellite video, Fessenden was startled by Utan's orangutan-like face.
Yet, before he could get angry about what he perceived as a 'prank,' Utan began to communicate with Fessenden, using both his hands and feet to type and speak with incredible agility.
And when Fessenden realized that the being on the other side was not a real orangutan, but an existence that had undergone some form of genetic atavism, the astonishment on his face was beyond words.
But as the two sides delved deeper into their discussion, especially when they touched upon specialized fields such as human atavism, genetic mutation, and gene fusion, both of them, by prior agreement, showed an expression of having 'found a kindred spirit.'
Fessenden even performed a dragon-human transformation on the spot.
According to the original plot, Fessenden's body actually incorporated two types of dinosaur genes. One was the Pachycephalosaurus gene, which allowed Fessenden to stably transform into a Pachycephalosaurus-human with greater strength, a stronger physique, and an incredibly hard head.
The gene of the Two-Headed Tyrannosaurus Rex was superimposed on the Pachycephalosaurus-human form, leading to a further, relatively unstable, berserk transformation.
However, at this current point in time, Fessenden had not yet reached that stage due to a research bottleneck in bloodline mutation. But the fact that Fessenden could stably switch between Pachycephalosaurus and human forms already gave Utan a true sense of hope—
The hope that he could stably switch between orangutan and human forms!
Not to mention, after being an ape for so long, Utan had even grown accustomed to having toes as nimble as fingers, making him somewhat reluctant to completely abandon his ape posture.
If he could achieve a dual-form switch, similar to a transformation, it would actually be the best possible outcome.
During Utan's fervent discussion with Fessenden, the progress of Utan's Bronze Side Quest also saw significant advancement. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this instance would most likely see the completion of this side quest.
This was indeed Cheng Tian's initial purpose for entering the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs instance, but after the plot became completely unrecognizable, Cheng Tian had actually given up, only to unexpectedly establish a relationship with Fessenden in this peculiar way.
Of course, this genetic mutation technology for stable switching between human and animal forms already involved Fessenden's core secrets. If Utan wanted to acquire this ability, he could only exchange it for technology that Fessenden would also find appealing.
For example... the genetic hybridization technology that could create entirely new species!
Genetic Hybridization: Template Skill. Allows the characteristics of different species to be reasonably mixed together to create new species.
When incubating ancient creatures, you can select a certain genetic sequence as the 'hybrid main body' to be incubated, and then consume additional genetic sequences of other species to add specified directional extra genes to the hybrid main body.
For every 1 portion of other species' genes (at least 10%) added to the hybrid main body, the final incubation success rate will decrease by 10%. You can add a maximum of 5 types of other species' genes simultaneously.
You can try to add super-power genes (Spades, etc.), but each super-power gene will cause the final incubation success rate to decrease by 25%.
Hybrid individuals hatched using this method will have a 99% chance of not possessing the ability to reproduce and have offspring.
When 'Orangutan Utan' is in an auxiliary work state, 50% of the failed hybrid individual materials will be recovered. (Utan Linkage Enhancement)
You can use the 'Dominate' skill on hybrid individuals, but hybrid individuals' resistance to Dominate is increased by 30%. ('Dominate' Linkage Enhancement)
Additional comment: Hybrid individuals will end up like ligers and mules.
As a professional research ape, Utan could also continuously learn relevant technologies while serving as the laboratory head. This meant that given enough time, even if Cheng Tian's template was removed, the relevant technologies would directly remain in Utan's mind.
And this technology should be more than sufficient to exchange for Fessenden's human-dragon switching technology.
Utan initially revealed his desire for human transformation, but the subsequent revelation of his hybrid breeding capability directly hit Fessenden where it hurt the most.
This feeling of being constrained by the other party was truly unbearable!
The already mad Fessenden even showed a fierce expression through the screen, which also made Utan become wary.
Now, both sides were vying to see who desired the other's technology more. Utan, for his part, had grown accustomed to being an ape and had another ten-odd days to wear down Fessenden. Utan wanted to see how long this balding doctor could maintain his composure.
And with the reliable Utan, Cheng Tian departed with great peace of mind. However, he did not use an NPC vehicle, but instead pulled out his own flying vehicle—
It was the transformable helicopter mech, 'Helion,' which had already been repaired in space!
Under normal circumstances, Cheng Tian would, of course, not be so foolish as to use this contraption for cross-regional flight, but with its fast-travel effect, this thing proved useful.
Although the cockpit was small, Cheng Tian and Irene could barely squeeze in. Cheng Tian rode Helion, and Irene rode Cheng Tian. It was simple; their posture squeezed in the cockpit was somewhat like two koalas embracing.
Comfort was completely out of the question; it was fast travel after all.
Incidentally, after leaving the 'Armored Warriors' instance, Cheng Tian's mech also showed remaining energy, and the previously unconsidered upper limit of mech activity was once again within the scope of consideration.
A mech with depleted energy cannot move~
Fortunately, Cheng Tian's mental command skill included a 'Supply' item, and fast travel did not consume Helion's energy. It was a matter of closing and opening their eyes, and the two could directly arrive at their destination, with Helion still at full energy.
Upon arrival, Cheng Tian did not land but instead activated the Dominate Radar and scanned each volcanic area one by one.
When Cheng Tian scanned a familiar humanoid mech silhouette over the area marked 'Mount Bromo,' he knew he had found the right place.