The moment I heard the term "prototype," my first reaction was that it sounded incredibly impressive!
That was because I had absolutely no idea what it meant, and experience told me that anything I heard from Tawell and her fellow scientists that I completely failed to understand was always incredibly impressive—though, come to think of it, I found everything they talked about impressive.
"What exactly is a prototype?" I couldn't help asking Sandora. We were currently on our way to the Research Center, accompanied as usual by Lin Xue and Aurelia. Since returning from Kai Lu Da Ke, we had remained in Shadow City instead of going back.
Sandora thought for a moment, seemingly considering how to explain a term that obviously required a mountain of background knowledge. Then she pointed at herself. "A Jun, do you know the lifeform of the Shilin Apostles?"
"Oh, semi-energy constructs." I nodded. "Amorphous lifeforms. Their basic physical units seem to exist in a state somewhere between matter and energy. They can be individually 'customized' as needed, which gives them extremely strong evolutionary and enhancement capabilities. I think that's why Shilin Apostles can include both physical lifeforms and energy lifeforms, even though those two completely opposite forms of life belong to the same race..." As I spoke, I couldn't help drifting off-topic. The Shilin Apostles' lifeforms had amazed me from the very beginning, so I had spent quite a long time studying them back then—for example, giving Pandora physical examinations... ahem, chatting with her and such. So I was unusually well-informed in this area.
"That's right. Amorphous lifeforms, tailored to the needs of warfare and evolution, and capable of 'customizing' their own bodies." Sandora nodded. "You also know that the Shilin Apostles have many sub-branches, and the differences between them are so enormous that