"I've done all the basic experiments I can. Next is... the changes in the functional relationship between radiation and its effects on Shadow Talent."
Leo leafed through his experimental notes, reviewing his progress and meticulously recording every piece of data while following his schedule for the experiments ahead.
Rigor.
Care.
He did not expect a major achievement after just a few experiments, but every experiment had to be rigorous and meticulous.
Leo took out 0.1 milligrams of uranium-235. Despite three layers of protection and his powerful body, he could still faintly feel the radiation passing through him. Quite a few more cells were shattered by the radiation and became cancerous.
The shadow beneath his feet twisted and churned, slowly extending a black hand that tightly grasped the 0.1 milligrams of uranium-235 before quickly sinking back and returning to its original state.
The whole process resembled a great white shark leaping out of the sea to swallow its prey in one bite, then quietly returning underwater to digest it.
Leo stared unblinkingly at the quiet shadow, which showed nothing unusual, extending all his senses to carefully observe any changes.
Leo had previously experimented with having his shadow absorb other substances, but it had never reacted, as though it thought nothing of them.
Leo had originally thought the shadow could not fuse with other substances. This had only been a routine experiment, yet to his surprise, the shadow had actually taken the nuclear material and swallowed it of its own accord.
Thanks to his Shadow Talent, Leo's shadow had long since mutated into something half illusory and half corporeal. It possessed many abilities and had provided him with considerable help. In principle, it shared much in common with the Fire Elemental Spirit Alice summoned.
Now it seemed that the shadow's fusion with and absorption of other substances worked on the same principle as people needing food.
It was just that Leo had never encountered anything the shadow could fuse with and absorb before!
Leo crouched on the ground, observing the shadow's changes without so much as blinking, afraid of missing any detail.
But after watching and sensing it for ages, he discovered nothing. The 0.1 milligrams of nuclear material had merged into it like a drop of water merging into the ocean.
Shadow Talent had long since been put on Leo's list of experimental subjects, but his knowledge and strength had prevented him from proceeding. His current understanding of Shadow Talent remained superficial.
Now that it could undergo changes with nuclear material, this was the perfect opportunity to observe it as well!
Yet after three consecutive days of observation, there was still no change.
Leo's fingers moved slightly, and the shadow beneath his feet twisted as it crawled up his body.
It covered him like a pool of black fluid, swiftly merging with every cell in his body.
A sense of strength filled his body, and his fatigue vanished, as though he had suddenly slept for three days and nights after going several days without sleep.
Some cancerous cells in his body that had mutated under nuclear radiation began weakening and being expelled. Shadow Talent could reduce the adverse effects within his body by 50%.
Leo carefully examined the sensations.
The sense of strength was as it should be. The shadow stored some energy, and merging with his body raised his body's energy limit.
Fatigue also counted as an adverse effect, and Shadow Talent reduced it by 50%. That was also as it should be.
The cancerous cells were killed. That was also as it should be, since Shadow Talent actively reduced the attacks his body suffered.
Cancerous cells were a form of harm that attacked his body!
Compared to before, nothing had changed!
But the 0.1 milligrams of nuclear material had been fused with, had been eaten. Had it not caused even the slightest change?
When someone ate a mouthful of food, they could at least live a little longer, and they had to excrete it.
How could the shadow eat a mouthful of nuclear material without changing at all?
"Could it be that you gave it too little nuclear material to fuse with?"
Benji, who had not spoken for years, suddenly spoke up. From what he said, he had been silently following everything Leo did all these years.
"That's possible too."
"But since the shadow fused with the nuclear material, no matter how little there was, it should have had some effect. Minute changes in matter cause chain reactions, eventually producing a major change somewhere."
"Perhaps I'm too weak to observe it on such a minute level yet."
Leo picked up his experimental notes and recorded this. He firmly believed there had to be a change. The most likely reason he had not discovered it was that he was too weak to perceive it even after it had happened.
Leo did not give up. Instead, he measured and recorded his bodily data one item at a time.
If he could not observe the shadow's changes, he would observe his own body. If one set of data was not enough, he would gather more.
Several sets, dozens, hundreds, thousands...
A comprehensive comparison would eventually reveal where the problem lay.
"Why did you suddenly start talking? I thought you'd gone dormant."
As Leo measured his bodily data, he questioned Benji curiously.
"Your Shadow Talent comes from the most fundamental power of my world. I also want to see how it differs from mine," Benji said.
"All right. Since you're awake, stop pretending to sleep. Be my lab assistant for a while," Leo said.
"No problem. I can't do anything else, but when it comes to quantitative changes in your body, I know more than you do," Benji said.
Although Benji's words sounded rather odd, Leo did acknowledge that Benji, who possessed his body, had a more precise and comprehensive understanding of its changes than experimental measurements provided.
There was no helping it. Benji was a consciousness split off from a level-three life-form, after all. There were bound to be some differences!
Over the next few years, Leo experimented with having his shadow fuse with nuclear material. Starting from 0.1 milligrams, he gradually increased the amount to 10 grams, but the shadow showed no change whatsoever. It remained the same as ever.
Give it to me, and I'll take it.
Don't give it to me, and I won't ask.
There was not the slightest change.
But after three years had passed, Leo discovered a change when he picked up the experimental data on his own body.
The change was extremely slight. Without three years of supporting data, Leo might have needed a long time to discover it.
In his bodily data tables, the toxicity of his tonsils had increased by 1% compared to three years ago, his cells evolved 0.5% faster, and even his defenses had increased by an additional 0.7%. Other data also showed rates of change beyond the normal range.
Based on Leo's understanding of his own body, his tonsils' toxicity should have increased by 0.6% over three years, not 1%. There was an extra 0.4%.
The current 1% was clearly faster than the normal rate.
Moreover, the evolution of his cellular activity was also 0.5% faster.
A change in a single measurement might have been an error in Leo's understanding of his body, but changes in so many measurements were abnormal.
In terms of his body's outward performance, his attack power had grown 0.3% faster than the normal rate.
At the normal rate, his attack power should have risen by 10 points over three years. Instead, it had risen by 10.03.
A change of 0.03 points seemed almost equal to zero, yet this tiny change aroused Leo's suspicions.
His body's passive evolution process was already fixed, and all his bodily attributes were at the limits of a Wizard Apprentice.
During these years in the cave, no other external factors had caused changes in his body, which meant its rate of evolution was stable and unchanging.
Yet now there was a 0.3% change.
These figures were not just the results of experimental measurements. There was also data provided by Benji, and these were the results of comparing the two sets.
Errors in the data could therefore be ruled out.
The only variable Leo could think of that affected the changes in his body was merging with his shadow each time it ate nuclear material.
Because Leo wanted to sense the changes after the shadow absorbed nuclear material, yet could detect none through its appearance or energy tests, he could only have the shadow merge with his body and use his own body to sense its changes.
Over those three years, his body had spent half the time merged with his shadow.
This was the only way those three years had differed from his previous life.
Apart from this, Leo could think of no other factor that had affected his body's rate of evolution.
"Could the shadow's fusion with nuclear material accelerate my body's evolution?"
Leo forcefully wrote a question mark in his experimental notes.
Nuclear radiation stimulated cellular evolution-or rather, it did not stimulate cellular evolution at all, but destroyed cells and attacked genetic information indiscriminately.
Although Leo had listed using nuclear radiation to stimulate targeted cellular evolution among his experiments, that experiment had not even started yet.
At most, he had only performed some basic tests.
His strength severely limited the progress of his experiments.
Leo had originally thought he would have to wait until he advanced to level one before beginning the experiment. Yet now, all the information his body fed back indicated that after the shadow fused with nuclear radiation, it was actually accelerating cellular evolution!
Even harmful organs like his tonsils were evolving along with it!
In disbelief, Leo scribbled furiously in his experimental notes, recording every idea in his head. He hardly dared imagine how quickly he would advance if his conjecture was correct!
This was practically giving him double experience for leveling up.
Just tell me, wouldn't you be scared with a cheat enabled?
"As expected, the most fundamental Shadow Talent really is different."
After seeing the conjecture in Leo's experimental notes, Benji, that sour lemon, grew jealous yet again.
"What, has nothing similar ever happened in your world?" Leo asked.
"I've never heard of it. Even our supreme god's Shadow Talent falls far short. Our Shadow Talent is fixed the moment we awaken it. It never changes afterward," Benji said.
"Your supreme god?"
This was the first time Leo had heard that term from Benji. Leo knew there were gods in Benji's world, but he had never inquired about their gods.
Although wizard knowledge explained that gods were merely life-forms on a higher level and there was no need to revere them, at least ten thousand, if not a hundred thousand, gods had died in wizard expeditions, and many wizard factions even put gods on display for everyone to visit.
But Leo knew his strength was limited, and knowing a little less was also a good thing. If the god of Benji's world was omniscient and omnipotent, and learned of Leo while Leo was learning about him, wouldn't that end badly?
Keeping a low profile while weak was not fear of death, but knowing reverence!
"Our supreme god... I'll tell you once you reach level one." Benji sounded somewhat dejected. He knew the end of their god would not be too far off either.
"All right. Once I reach level one, there'll be plenty of things to arrange properly."
Leo had no interest in any gods for now. Those were all matters for after he reached level one. Right now, he only wanted to complete his conjecture.