What kind of effect did a genetic mutation have on a living creature?
One only had to look at how giant pandas had changed from carnivores into omnivores that primarily ate bamboo.
The loss of activity in just a small part of their taste-related gene sequences had left them unable to taste the savory flavor of meat, prompting them to change their eating habits before their digestive systems had finished evolving.
Moreover, giant pandas digested and absorbed very little of the bamboo they ate, leaving them chronically malnourished in the wild, which in turn affected their fertility and reproduction.
If changes to taste-related genes could have such astonishing effects, the consequences for Claymores, whose genes were extensively replaced with those of the Dragon's Descendants in an extremely short period, hardly needed mentioning.
The only saving grace was that humans possessed a neuronal system capable of producing a powerful sense of self—the brain.
As a result, their memories as humans did not disappear after awakening. Instead, those memories clashed violently with their altered genes.
That was also why many Claymores suffered from clouded consciousness, confusion, or even uncontrollable behavior after awakening.
After all, the vast majority of human emotions were governed by hormone secretion.
And genes played a major role in that process.
When those genes underwent a fundamental transformation, the entire person naturally underwent drastic changes as well.
Rather than saying a Claymore's utterly different behavior before and after awakening reflected a transformation from human to monster, it was more accurate to say she had rapidly mutated from one intelligent species into another.
The rare few with strong minds and wills might allow their powerful human sense of self to remain dominant.
More often, however, biological instincts intensely stimulated that sense of self, ultimately causing a fundamental change and severing