Chapter 1964: Sequencing Core

After leaving Iolum, Xia Duo did not return directly to the Tower of Time, but instead made a trip to Jilan Tower.

Aside from visiting the four Mages from the Tower of Time who were "studying abroad" there, his main purpose was to come and take over the abandoned Plane mentioned by Iolum.

The Bloodline Sequencing Project was currently still in its early sequencing stage, and the work consisted basically of some repetitive experiments, but for the four new Mages sent by the Tower of Time, this was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for learning and progress.

When Xia Duo saw them in the Reception Room, although their faces showed signs of fatigue, they wore constant smiles, and there was a certain spirited air between their brows.

Seeing this situation, Xia Duo knew that these people were doing quite well at Jilan Tower!

"President, why have you come?!"

"I came to Jilan Tower to handle some business, and stopped by to see you all."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Xia Duo took the opportunity to ask about their progress in the Bloodline Sequencing Project. Regarding this question, the four looked at each other, and ultimately, Asitusi, the eldest among them, stood up to answer:

"President, thanks to the Flesh Proliferation Magic you provided, the Sequence One branching project we are currently in is advancing rapidly. We expect to complete all sequencing in another year or two. As for the other branching projects, we have also learned about them; we don't know the specific progress of Sequence Two, Three, and Four, but it is still much faster than in the past. Additionally, there is the more core Bloodline Sequence Identification Project, which we have yet to truly come into contact with."

"If I were to have you select personnel from the Tower of Time to carry out independent sequencing work for the Sequence One project, would you have the confidence?"

"Yes!"

Asitusi answered very loudly, but immediately revealed a troubled expression, "But the bloodline samples we use in the laboratory now all come from the core project. Without samples, even if we could test, it would be useless!"

"I know."

Xia Duo was of course aware, not just because he had heard Huo En talk about the many difficulties and pain points within the Bloodline Sequencing Project, but more because he had an understanding of the Human Genome Project on Earth, which was somewhat similar to this.

His memory of Bloodline Ability allowed him to perfectly reconstruct every scene from his high school biology class back then. He remembered clearly that the teacher had emphasized that the most core step in the Human Genome Project was the establishment of a genetic map.

Only on this foundation could there be gene identification, gene positioning, and the subsequent work of determining base sequences for specific genes.

The subsequent sequencing work was tedious and boring, but the true core of this massive project was still at the beginning of the workflow; the further forward, the more core it was.

This point was the same when applied to the bloodline sequencing at Jilan Tower.

According to the sequencing process Xia Duo had learned about, Jilan Tower first had to identify specific sequences within the bloodline, such as Sequence One, Two, Three, Four, and so on.

Similar to genes on Earth, but different from genes, Xia Duo had personally verified that the essence of a bloodline sequence was not a specific substance, but a special existence similar to a spell, constantly maintaining an interactive state with the Magic Net.

But if the Magic Net were isolated, the bloodline would naturally gather elements and undergo various hidden and complex changes.

The most core part of these projects was, without a doubt, how to determine that a certain part of the bloodline was a sequence with a specific function.

According to biological knowledge from Earth, Xia Duo speculated that the Tower of Time might be judging based on the differences between different bloodline samples, and perhaps some human intervention factors needed to be added.

In other words, even if the Tower of Time possessed the relevant technology, it did not have such a research environment.

Actually, if one wanted to study the Bloodline Domain, it would be best to go to Calimshan in the south; almost everything there was related to wind element bloodlines, which happened to allow for the elimination of variables.

A research environment like Jilan Tower, which gathered many completely different bloodlines, was actually more suitable for the middle and late stages of bloodline research.

The early stage still had to prioritize rapid entry.

Of course, if there were no such complex research environment, perhaps Jilan Tower would have learned from Calimshan and focused on one type of bloodline, rather than starting the Bloodline Sequencing Project and wanting to understand all the secrets of bloodlines from the root.

For Xia Duo, the Jilan Tower approach was undoubtedly more to his liking.

The Calimshan type, although it appeared to have sublimated a relatively complete magic system from bloodlines, was ultimately biased at the root.

Perhaps one could eventually see the truth, but it would undoubtedly involve taking many detours.

It was similar to the celestial deferent-epicycle model on Earth; compared to modern astronomy, it was not to say that the former was necessarily wrong. At least in that era, the deferent-epicycle model was still extremely advanced.

Even in the era Xia Duo was in before he transmigrated, the deferent-epicycle model could only be called outdated, not wrong.

"The Great Dao is simple"!

This phrase actually contained a very profound scientific philosophy; not only were basic principles, methods, and laws easily described in a sentence or two, but it also implied the principle in scientific research of "entities should not be multiplied without necessity."

After chatting with Asitusi and the other three for a while, Xia Duo received a Sending from Bulundesi—saying that Huo En had important matters to handle and could not receive him personally, and that he would be the one to execute the handover of the Number Nine Experimental Plane.

Xia Duo roughly guessed what Huo En might be busy with; perhaps he was preparing for Master Eriwen's Ascension Ritual, so he sent a Sending to Bulundesi to meet in the Reception Room.

Afterwards, Xia Duo encouraged Asitusi and the others a few more times and let them go back to work. Almost at the same time the four left, Bulundesi arrived.

"Lord Xia Duo, I am truly sorry; this time I will be the one to handle the handover with you."

"It doesn't matter; everyone has times when they are inconvenienced. I haven't taken it to heart."

Bulundesi did not explain what Huo En was busy with, and Xia Duo did not press for an answer. The handover was completed quickly. As for renting the abandoned Plane from the Seven Towers, Xia Duo did not need to pay anything; Iolum had already resolved it for them.

What Bulundesi produced was a small Standard Arcane Crystal, its interior filled with a large number of complex Arcane Geometry patterns. Seeing this, Xia Duo's gaze could not help but sharpen.

He did not expect the Seven Towers to give him the Plane Coordinate directly, rather than a Portal. Of course, giving a Portal versus giving the coordinates made no substantial difference to Xia Duo's desire to understand a Plane.

But looking at it from another angle, giving the Plane Coordinate meant sharing the Plane, not just renting it.

He did not know if this was something Iolum had arranged in advance, or if the Seven Towers were already exerting their strength for Master Eriwen's Ascension Ritual!

Xia Duo was more inclined toward the latter; after all, if it had been arranged by Iolum, he would not have been told about renting earlier. But regardless, since the Seven Towers intended to show goodwill, he would just accept it.

In any case, he did not intend to disrupt Master Eriwen's Ascension Ritual, and as for what would happen later, that would be for later.