Maya Hansen had once conducted an in-depth examination of Salomon's body at the cellular level.
That examination took place when the Praetorian Guard project was first proposed. Coupled with Maya Hansen's astonishing curiosity about the Arcanist's bodily functions, it gave her the opportunity to analyze Salomon's abnormalities, compare them with Asgardian physiology, and study the differences between their evolutionary paths. One of the many conclusions was that the ATP in his body far exceeded the normal figure of 50.7 grams. The biochemical cycles of the Calvin cycle, glycolysis, and the tricarboxylic acid cycle operated with astonishing efficiency. ADP bonded with phosphate groups at an incredibly rapid rate, while the enormous amounts of lactic acid produced by exertion were oxidized into carbon dioxide and water by his heart and skeletal muscles within an extremely short time. His abnormally powerful liver and kidneys could also maintain his blood sugar balance while he exercised.
Although a comprehensive study of his liver had not yet begun at the time, the Biological Laboratory of the City of Immortals had uncovered part of the reason. His mitochondria were extremely efficient at synthesizing high-energy phosphate compounds. In an ordinary person, such a highly efficient mitochondrial respiratory chain would indicate mitochondrial dysfunction and abnormal energy metabolism caused by a terrifying neurodegenerative disease. In Salomon, however, it became an advantage, because the other components of his body were equally unlike those of an ordinary human.
His mitochondria became a highly classified research subject for the City of Immortals and the many Biological Laboratories it had acquired. Research institutes unaware of the truth believed they had been assigned to analyze diseases involving defects in mitochondrial respiratory chain enzyme complexes. The Praetorian Guard was a project based on ordinary human bodies, replicating and imitating functions possessed by his body. Yet this