Life Alchemy, the Descent of God

"It shouldn't be like this. It shouldn't be like this. How can the mind be so foolish?"

"They simply have no creative ability. It feels as if a huge piece of their souls is missing. Is the mysterious field of creative consciousness something we haven't touched yet?"

"There's a problem with the brain's construction."

The Emperor and the two faction leaders continued analyzing.

They simply could not find the correct blueprint for the brain.

So they stopped looking for it.

A life consisted of a brain and a body.

Since researching the brain had led nowhere, they began studying the body.

First-generation elves had green skin all over, and their stiff bodies were relatively hard, but their light energy absorption efficiency was low.

Second-generation elves had soft skin, agile movements, green hair, and half-flexible willow branches. Their light energy absorption efficiency was high, already comparable to that of ordinary plants, though they still needed to eat a small amount of food every day.

Through the combined efforts of their eight thousand Saints, the elves' bodily structure was pushed forward again and again.

The common elf skeletal code, muscle code, accelerated growth code...

And other universal basic life codes had already become clear and transparent before their eyes.

At that moment.

Countless elves below were worshipping atop the Life World Tree.

The scholars had shed their enormous elf-shell mecha, revealing their true brain bodies: cellular humanoids constructed from forty thousand Single Cells.

One by one, the strange, large-particle, pixelated humanoid wizards worked in the microscopic laboratory hall that could only be seen under a microscope, holding bizarre test tubes and conducting research.

These were specially made Single Cell test tubes, each containing a segment of DNA.

The spherical, round-bottomed flasks were placed on transparent green Cell Walls and neatly arranged. A gene fragment floated inside each Cell Bottle, representing eye color, skin color, muscles, bones... these codes.

"Bring me the eye-color Cell Bottle numbered thirty-seven, and the skin-color Cell Bottle numbered forty-nine." The leader of the Human Reason Faction spoke calmly.

A sage nodded, took the two test tubes, and shook the short gene chains inside. "This ratio should work, right? The body of the third-generation elves should be a fairly perfect creation, incredibly stable and complete."

By now.

They had systematized the study of life genes.

And named it "Life Alchemy"!

Just as Newton had laid the foundation for the towering edifice of classical physics.

They had entered an entirely new field and laid the foundation for the towering edifice of classical biological alchemy.

"It's a pity. [The body] has essentially no secrets left before us. All that remains is accumulating new gene fragments. But [the brain] still cannot completely create true consciousness and souls."

They could already mold bodies however they pleased, but the mysterious realm of the brain that housed the soul was the part that fascinated them most.

Their explosive civilization had hit another bottleneck!

It once again fell into a period of stagnation, waiting for technological accumulation and climbing higher and higher until it could leap over the Dragon Gate and ignite the third great explosion of civilization.

Meanwhile, Li Qing "observed" them conducting experiments with flask after flask, as if he were watching the most primitive and wicked wizards.

It was simply absurd!

In Li Qing's words: "These guys were already so fierce when they didn't have brains. Now they're killing everything in their path!!"

These bacteria had entered the realm of creation through biological experiments combining "DNA Cell Bottles," completely surpassing the organisms on Earth.

But this still wasn't enough!

Outside the laboratory, Li Qing gazed from afar through the glass window, suddenly revealing a trace of curiosity.

"I'm going to give you another push. You already have DNA memory, so how can you not have a DNA Computer? Let's see where your limits lie."

DNA Computers had appeared long ago. Some people simply had no idea how insane the cutting-edge technological race among modern human nations was.

They even believed that anything not yet widely available for civilian use did not exist, and was merely an urban legend.

On October 26, 2021, China's quantum-computer research achieved another breakthrough. "Jiuzhang" and "Zuchongzhi" were hundreds of millions of billions of billions of times faster than supercomputers.

Since the nation had even developed quantum computers, it naturally had DNA Computers as well.

DNA storage and DNA computation were currently the most promising biological research projects in the biological sciences.

In 1994, James Watson built the first DNA computer.

In 2004, a DNA Computer appeared at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

In 2009, the Beautiful Nation used Escherichia coli to develop a bacterial computer.

In October 2011, the Land of the Setting Sun used bacteria to develop biological logic gates. Logic gates were the basic components of silicon circuits, which meant that biological computers could be fully realized.

In theory, a 1.5-milliliter test tube could hold one trillion DNA Computers, with a processing speed of one billion operations per second and energy consumption just one-billionth that of traditional computers.

If it succeeded, all you would need to do was stick on a bandage, and you'd have a portable computer!

Although, in terms of both size and computing power, this kind of computer would still be utterly crushed by the quantum computers next door, which was why quantum computers remained the main focus for now.

But now?

DNA memory modules had already appeared. They could give DNA Computers a try.

Li Qing felt somewhat excited, as if he were unveiling a layer of unprecedented mystery. If any scientist were here, they would go mad!

"Since they're already my people, I'll tell them the principles behind DNA Computer technology. It's not that their technology hasn't reached the necessary level. They simply never thought in this direction and have no awareness that computers exist."

At this moment.

The other sages were all conducting research. Only Sacred Dragon was slacking off, sleeping in the church.

And in his dream, he received a Divine Oracle. A gentle figure bathed in radiance spoke to him of some extremely profound divine revelations.

At this moment.

Sacred Dragon summoned them and said:

"God says that you humans who have lit the Sacred Fire on the earth may need a little guidance."

"God will bring the Book of Revelation."

Soon, all the wise men of the civilization gathered here.

Before the Crystal Wall, they prostrated themselves in worship and began conducting a religious ceremony, calling for God's descent.

Below the World Tree, as well as on some of its trunks and branches, the elves living in their elf tribes all looked over.

"What are the gods worshipping?"

Although the beings who had created them had never called themselves gods, in their eyes, they were already gods in every sense of the word.

But now the gods themselves seemed to be worshipping, bowing before an even higher god.

Leaving aside the unrest among the primitive elf tribes.

Li Qing prepared the setting for a lecture.

He had not wasted these past few days.

He had welded steel plates over the entire back half of the living room.

Furniture?

There was no such thing.

The entire living room was empty, enclosed by walls of silver steel plates.

Then he considered that they no longer needed Consciousness Waves and had evolved eyes, ears, mouths, and noses. They could directly see Li Qing's vast and enormous form, which was no small matter.

Gods had to be mysterious and impossible to look upon.

So he prepared an ultra-powerful flashlight, placed it behind his head, and shone it at them, blinding their eyes while enveloping himself in a hazy golden Holy Light.

But hurting others would ultimately hurt himself.

To prevent his own eyes from being blinded, Li Qing put on the sunglasses he wore at all times anyway.

At that moment, he sat in a black executive chair, looking down through the glass window as he preached to them.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The entire world was illuminated.

All they could see beyond the enormous Crystal Wall was a god seated on a black divine throne, countless silvery chaos reflecting behind him. Endless golden divine radiance shone from the back of his head and pierced through the Crystal Wall. It was sacred and magnificent, illuminating the emerald forests and rivers across the entire land.

Not to mention the mortals on the ground—even the beings at the Saint Position felt as if their eyes were about to go blind under the combined effects of the reflected light from the silver steel walls and the powerful flashlight. They dared not look directly at the god.

Emperor Minis left behind a description of that sacred scene in later generations, one he never forgot for the rest of his life: "Before this, we could only sense God through Consciousness Waves in a black-and-white world. We never imagined that only after seeing the colors of the entire world in all their dazzling variety would we discover that God's descent was so dazzling! Behind Him was an enormous golden divine halo radiating endless brilliance. God cannot be looked upon directly!"

Li Qing watched them lie on the ground with their eyes closed, worshipping and praying.

He felt somewhat satisfied. That's right. Don't you dare raise your heads to look. Then he began organizing his thoughts.

What he had to say was very brief: the principles of logic-gate circuits, the various software and hardware principles of modern computers, and the basic principles and technologies of DNA Computers.

But he could not express it that way.

Circuit diagrams?

Logic gates?

There was no way he could put it like that.

That wasn't theology!

Beyond the Crystal Wall, endless silvery reflected radiance covered the walls. The god seated upon the throne of chaos spoke:

"These are intricately drawn Divine Rune patterns, containing the truths of the world."

"This is a scripture. Draw its patterns, inscribe divine incantations, arrange magic formations, and magic circuits. It can become a divine artifact, with a spirit of its own gestating within."

While speaking words of superstition, he taught a scientific lesson on computer principles and the complete world of circuits.

To them, however, it was utterly intoxicating!

The words that followed were even more enlightening, confirming their direction of research and giving them the key to push open that door.

God continued expounding the truth. At the end, He left them with a sentence that set their hearts surging:

"When you comprehend the truth, condense this sentient divine artifact, and wield your own exclusive divine artifact, you will become the lowest of gods!"

God!

Become gods.

Their hearts burned with fervor.

This was also the great promise Li Qing had drawn for them.

These fellows had already ruled this world. They wanted to call themselves gods but feared offending the Outer Gods, so they only dared to call themselves Saints.

If they truly developed biological computers, what would it matter if they called themselves gods?

After finishing his lecture, Li Qing left.

They indeed went mad.

One day later, they began copying his example and produced the simplest logic gates. Integrated circuits appeared within their biological bodies, and they named them Divine Runes.

Three days later, they built a simple calculator capable of ordinary calculations. They called it the first-generation artifact spirit, possessing rudimentary intelligence.

Six days later, they created a simple computer capable of assisting with calculations. They called it a Divine Treasure Tool.

This was all very scientific. One month later.

After uninterrupted research, combined with the various computer-principle materials Li Qing had provided, they finally succeeded.

They put on their elf shells and transformed into elves. Each of them created their own lifebound divine artifact. Some made crowns and wore them on their heads. Some made scepters and held them in their hands. Some made necklaces and hung them around their necks.

"Incredible! Specific magic circuits can create a form of auxiliary intelligence. That is a lifebound artifact spirit. We have our own exclusive divine artifacts!"

They had embarked upon another path.

"We have become lesser gods!"

They shouted atop the Tree of Life. Their intelligence had undergone a second increase in computing power, and civilization erupted into its second great explosion.