Chapter 1256: with translation of chapter title

NO．160：Guinea pig only needs to drink the medicine to be fine.

As everyone knows, in the Holy Terra Federation, or rather, on Earth, the foundation of the earliest developing civilization is the divinities themselves.

Those who first became self-aware and first organized information established the most primitive family system.

But their numbers remained scarce; even with nearly infinite time, a group with too low a base cannot give rise to diverse thoughts.

This is a fact that even those divinities and demons who claim wisdom as authority cannot avoid.

Although among them there are beings revered as omniscient and omnipotent, in practice anyone who has read the records understands.

In the end, the group that perfected and expanded civilization turned out to be once undervalued, and even humans whom some divinities had high hopes for.

Nevertheless, the development of human civilization has always proceeded by standing on the shoulders of giants.

This statement is both abstract and literal—early myth records worldwide contain godlike giants, some pure brutes, some wise sages, but that's not the point; the point is that because early 'research' inevitably mixed in the divinities' knowledge, the source-energy techniques once collectively called mysticism, immortal arts, divine arts, etc., were excessively useful before the great environment deteriorated.

At the same time, they were also overly relied upon.

Before countless transmigrators arrived bearing various cultures and technologies, the human civilization here on Earth had always followed a fantastical path whose main line was source energy, with hardly any exploration in other directions.

Even the field of pharmacology held magic elixirs and immortal pills in highest esteem.

Potent drugs produced by combining special medicinal ingredients with special refining methods completely outclassed the efficacy achievable from ordinary medicinal materials, ingraining this pursuit into the instinct of every pharmacology researcher.

But since the factor of 'great environmental deterioration' has been mentioned, all medical students studying history must also confront the dark-era exam point where, after the decline of the age of gods and the depletion of spiritual energy, those special medicinal ingredients became ever scarcer.

Medical practitioners unable to resist the tide of the times naturally turned their gaze to mundane substances that had once shown some efficacy but now proved unsatisfactory.

It was precisely during that period that much knowledge and technology from otherworldly visitors gained attention, and some earlier medicinal records were likewise 'rehabilitated,' causing the history of ancient medicine to veer in another direction for a time.

Until repeated wars drove technological development to the point where they could interfere with a planet's local environment, thereby enabling a phenomenon akin to the revival of spiritual energy.

Thus, the extraordinary plants preserved only in ancient records and in the little treasuries of old divinities finally got a chance to be re-cultivated.

The traditional pharmacology that had been crawling along and even suffered a generational break also managed to make a comeback.

Now, it is already several hundred years later.

The long-standing interaction between traditional and technological pharmacology—already mutually cooperative yet equally competitive—remains undecided to this day, merely adding to the burden of medical students and giving Representative Qianming plenty of material to complain about new industry regulations.

But obviously, today's focus is not Representative Qianming, but this Miss Ailisuzhi, who strictly speaking counts as a medical student but is absolutely more than just a medical student.

What exactly is Ailisuzhi's research specialty? This is a question many people have wanted to ask in the past, including the relevant victims; many who have heard her name will, after their surprise, arise with this doubt.

Considering only drug development, most would guess her major to be something like 'inorganic/organic chemistry' or 'natural product chemistry,' but clearly, Ailisuzhi, whose goal is 'exploring the possibility of speed for horse girls,' engages in specialties beyond merely 'new chemistry.'

For example—'Alchemical Potionology,' 'New Chapter of Elixirs,' and similar specialties belonging to the grand system of traditional source-energy studies.

This belongs to the application of extraordinary plants in traditional source-energy, distinct from modern chemistry, and frankly speaking, it's not a field young people can easily dip into.

Ailisuzhi was no exception.

Although at Central Tressen, among her senior and junior peers there are gifted individuals who can achieve professional‑level astonishing results in their respective interests, presenting an air of invincibility that wins over others for decades or even centuries from just a few years' effort, and she herself is not lacking—her current achievements already surpass those of others by far.

But, the target she chose is still too broad.

Pursuing the limit of the physique, accurately speaking, is the extreme attainable under the current URA Association's rules given relative fairness—to achieve this goal, even if she does not truly need to concoct external magic potions, she still must ponder their principles, clarify how their medicinal potency is constituted, and how it is applied to the human body through processing.

The previously mentioned 'traditional and technological pharmacology have long been mutually cooperative' precisely encompasses this line of thought, and putting such an idea into practice obviously requires a great deal of time and practice.

Indeed, in this era, acquiring information is not a high barrier; pure theoretical guidance even offers countless shortcuts, but the aspect of technical experience is a problem that cannot be solved for someone who, before her career, was a horse girl.

She cannot accept prosthetic augmentation, nor can she cultivate other source‑energies that would impede the deployment of the Three Goddesses' abilities.

Thus she can only accumulate through solid, down‑to‑earth effort.

The result of such accumulation is that nowadays you hardly ever see Ailisuzhi touching alchemical or elixir‑making operations.

Even if her previous glowing and dark vapors were already quite fantastical, they certainly fall within the realm of pure modern medicine.

Not even mixed with extraordinary plants.

Because she still lacks mastery.

She lacks crystal cores and also lacks sufficient practical proof; even if the school rumors speak of a particularly terrifying 'evil scientist,' they would not let classmates or alumni drink a drug whose danger she herself is unsure of.

Such self‑restraint remained unchanged until two days ago.

That day, she received help from a feathered serpent maiden who does not wish to reveal her name.

That feathered serpent maiden came from another world, visiting the forces employed by this world's peoples, and curious whether those peoples bear such a 'curse,' so she gathered especially much data in this regard, as if to submit an outstanding contribution to the pharmaceutical company she was then affiliated with.

In fact she did indeed submit a portion of it, but what matters is obviously that she reused the harvest she originally obtained.

—She handed over a large part of her experimental records, handwritten notes, to Ailisuzhi.

This essentially is just her, upon joining a new small group, habitually trying to curry favor with the resources at hand.

It is merely a kind of 'gift as a greeting token to show sincerity, but one must give a bit more, then wait to see if the recipient finds it improper yet hard to refuse, or else panics,' a bad taste founded on friendly behavior, but when placed on Ailisuzhi it is clearly another matter.

She will not panic over such things.

Nor will she refuse because the gift is too heavy to be proper.

Only those who fail to recognize their own worth would feel so frightened by sudden sponsorship; Ailisuzhi has always been overconfident.

She will only say: 'Sponsor me and you won't regret it.'

Then, after a few days, she will present you with her freshly crafted masterpiece.

Just as now, the feathered serpent can at the same time receive an adorable and fragile photo collection of that deity reduced to a fluffy little mouse, and laugh till her branches shake on the chair.

And she herself gazes satisfied at that demon guinea pig, already lifting its hand to poke the light screen, its whole body having grown two sizes larger, circling her experimental sheet.

The second stage of soul synchronization went smoothly, the physique showing further expansion.

Stage summary: consistent with the test results.