For the next few hours, Li Ang engaged in a series of physical tests in the Alchemist's Workshop, including shuttle runs, bench presses, squats, and flexibility tests such as the seated forward bend.
Miss Chai donned the white lab coat Li Ang had manifested for her and put on researcher glasses. With pen and paper in hand, she used a multi-parameter portable monitor purchased from a popular online retailer, along with various instruments Li Ang had pilfered from the Distorted World Underground Laboratory, to record his physiological data in real-time.
Electrocardiography, electroencephalography, core temperature, skin temperature, nerve conduction velocity, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, oxygen consumption and oxygen debt capacity, sweat metabolism rate, and lactic acid accumulation...
Combining the physical test results with the physiological data, Li Ang continued to patch up and improve upon his original biological framework, repairing flaws and perfecting details.
For example, he increased the villous surface area within the olfactory mucosa to enhance olfactory nerve density and expanded the surface area of auditory hair cells. He also strengthened ligament toughness, adjusted collagen fiber alignment in knee cartilage, altered fingerprint patterns, fortified hair follicles to prevent easy hair and body hair loss, and enhanced sweat gland heat dissipation. These modifications were all rather basic and concealed, unlikely to be identified as anomalies.
For reasons of concealment and a certain attachment to his human form, Li Ang still retained a human appearance.
However, due to changes in bone weight, muscle density, and the number of organs, Li Ang's body weight had soared, becoming severely disproportionate to his outward appearance. But as long as he was careful, it shouldn't be noticed.
The human physique is far too small and spatially constrained, limiting its capacity to host additional functions. Yet, the "Origin of Life" itself still holds vast, unexploited potential.
For instance, he could view his own human body as a large machine composed of countless parts. By cultivating organs with various distinct functions, he could swap them out as needed, like plug-and-play components, depending on the environment.
Arms capable of emitting electricity like an electric eel;
ears that can perform echolocation like bats;
vast, thin-membraned wings equipped with Asynchronous Muscles, capable of ultra-high-speed vibration, akin to those of a highly specialized fly;
glands that could eject columns of fire like a Western Fire Dragon (a pair of glands, one spraying butane, the other high-pressure gas);
green skin capable of photosynthesis like plants;
fins, gills, a tail, poison glands...
During combat, other players might retrieve various equipment and items from their inventories.
Li Ang, however, would retrieve eyeballs, ears, arms, thighs, and wings from his inventory, assembling these diverse organs onto his body as if constructing with Lego bricks...
The mere thought of that scene was quite appealing.
However, ideals are grand, but reality is harsh.
At present, this was as far as Li Ang could go in modifying his own body; he was temporarily unable to proceed further. Even if he were to cultivate specialized organs, his brain would not be able to adapt promptly and control them as if they were his own limbs.
Problems with his limbs and torso could be remedied with a "Miniature Life Potion," but if his brain malfunctioned, it would be game over.
"More drastic and exaggerated modification plans will require initial experimentation on other animals. Hypothesize, conjecture, experiment, verify—explore step by step," Li Ang murmured, retrieving the "Automated Pet Box" from his inventory.
The three-meter-long Breeding Box was filled with the bloodwater previously poured from the bathtub. It evidently treated the human cells and bacteria in the bloodwater as the primary organisms for cultivation, automatically simulating the optimal temperature and humidity for cell growth.
Li Ang took a small bloodwater sample for preservation and then paid 1,000 Game Coins to upgrade the "Automated Pet Box."
After the upgrade, the Breeding Box remained Rare Level quality with no change in appearance, but the bloodwater level inside dropped drastically, leaving only a small puddle in the corner.
So the internal space has been expanded tenfold?
Quite curious, Li Ang lifted the glass lid and peered inside. He discovered that the interior had transformed into a large space, 30 meters long, 20 meters wide, and 15 meters high.
Six hundred square meters, just a bit larger than a basketball court. This space should be more than adequate.
Li Ang thought for a moment, then fetched a small piece of pork from the fridge. He tried to toss it into the Breeding Box but found it couldn't be done directly. Instead, he had to hold the pork while pressing the glass lid of the Breeding Box. After spending several tens of seconds in a trance-like state, he used his mind to transport the pork to a specific spot inside.
That made sense. After all, the item was called the "Automated Pet Box," and with an internal height of 15 meters, directly dropping something in could easily kill many animals.
Li Ang experimented further and discovered that inanimate objects like fertilizer, soil, and kitchen knives could also be transported in. To remove them, he similarly had to press the surface of the Breeding Box and use his mind to retrieve the items.
If inanimate objects work, what about living ones?
Li Ang went downstairs, pretending to take a walk, and caught a few mosquitoes and small birds in the residential complex. After returning upstairs, he experimented again and found that living beings, including himself, could also be transported in and out.
However, it seemed only the owner of the "Automated Pet Box" could enter and exit freely. Animals inside could not leave, even if they wished to.
If not for the nearly one-minute channeling time, this Breeding Box could serve as an oversized backpack.
Li Ang went downstairs, got on his bicycle, and rode to a desolate area on the outskirts of Yin City late at night. With Miss Chai's help, he dug up large amounts of various soils and plants, transferring them all into the Pet Breeding Box.
The Breeding Box's transfer function could not affect parts connected to a larger whole.
For example, Li Ang couldn't simply touch the road surface with one hand and the Breeding Box with the other to transfer the entire road into it. He would first have to tear up a complete section of the road, separating the pavement from the underlying soil.
Otherwise, this item would be too powerful. For instance, a player wanting to destroy a dam could go to an underground parking lot and use the box's transfer effect to directly remove the dam's foundation, causing a flood to breach it.
Furthermore, the Breeding Box could not transfer animals moving at high speed. For example, if a Tiger pounced at Li Ang, he couldn't just touch its fur to transfer it into the Breeding Box; the animal had to be completely still.
There were many such limitations, and Li Ang spent an entire night figuring them out.
Afterward, he collected plenty of water from a small stream and transferred it into the Breeding Box. Then, he cleaned his somewhat dirtied clothes and returned to his home in Yin City.
For the next few days, aside from attending school as usual, Li Ang immersed himself in the "Automated Pet Box."
He constructed a forest with a small pond inside the Breeding Box. The primary vegetation consisted of trees, accompanied by a small number of shrubs and herbaceous plants.
As for animals, there were small birds, small rodents, earthworms, Slugs, snails, conches, crabs, clams, locusts, cockroaches, flies, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, and beetles...
Even though the "Automated Pet Box" had powerful Special Effects, its ecosystem struggled to achieve a sustainable cycle, with successive generations of flora and fauna being eliminated and dying out.
Earth's current rich ecology stems from vast timescales and immense spaces, which provide high fault tolerance and infinite possibilities. The flow of time inside the "Automated Pet Box" was consistent with the outside world, and its internal space was only 600 square meters. Attempting to construct a perfect, thriving, multi-species ecological cycle within it was inherently difficult.
Fortunately, Li Ang's primary purpose for using the "Automated Pet Box" wasn't to create a personal ecological park. His sole reason for constructing an ecosystem inside the Breeding Box was to explore the infinite possibilities of the "Damaged Origin of Life."