Transformers were a very special race. Their reproduction took place in two stages: first, they constructed a protoform (P.S.: a Transformers infant, though without a soul injected into it, its actual state was much like what humans called a vegetative patient); then, they injected a spark into the body (P.S.: a spark was equivalent to a human soul), turning the protoform into a true living being.
Once it became a true life-form, the protoform would reorganize its bodily structure under the latent influence of its spark, completing its first external transformation.
Dilos did not know how protoforms were created by the Transformers on Cybertron, but he knew how Transformers sparks came into being.
There were four ways for a Transformers spark to form.
The first, and also the most primitive and efficient method, was for the AllSpark to directly grant a spark to a protoform.
The second was a somewhat more ancient method, but it was no less efficient: using the Matrix of Leadership to grant a spark to a protoform.
The third method was fairly modern, though its efficiency was not very good. It involved injecting a high-energy substance containing special frequencies into a Transformers protoform and slowly completing the process. The entire procedure consumed far too much energy, and its efficiency in producing a new generation was poor as well, so the Transformers had abandoned it.
The fourth was for Transformers to nurture sparks themselves. There were two ways for a Transformer to do so. One was for a single Transformer, after absorbing enough energy in a certain environment and through a certain process, to use its own spark as a catalyst and directly cultivate a new spark within itself. (P.S.: like asexual reproduction.)
The other required two Transformers to complete it together, and the process was called