Chapter 108: Lineage
After leaving the traitors on the Boin Archipelago and warning Heracles to not trust them or provide them any help even if they are in a desperate situation, Alyssia and her crew were heading towards the next destination.
While she and Nica were busy researching further into the human and Mink races Lineage Factors increasing their understanding of everything, Nica found that she struggled with that kind of science and preferred to focus on the information that Alyssia had given her detailing many things including the raid suits, special electromagnetic weaponry and also further research into other things such as human pods, energy generators and ship modifications to cross the red line.
Although the raid suits were not needed yet, they could prove to be useful in the future when she is reunited with her crew.
Thanks to the research they had been modifying the guns belonging to Nica and some other tools while Alyssia focussed her efforts on her staff and greaves but also chose to create a pair of gloves that work with the staff design.
After drawing up the blueprints, the original design that was quite bulky had become smaller and fashionable but could not be underestimates because of the additional features built in.
Like the raid suits boots, the greaves now granted her even greater jumping and kicking power while in the air and had a booster on the back giving her even greater speed, they also helped with training and controlling her Electro better so she really looked forward to completing the final design and testing them out.
Since she was left to study the Lineage Factors she decided to focus on two separate routes to further increase her understanding of what should be possible and what should not.
She called this project 'Project Zero' and started research right away with many different samples, coming up with many failures but also some successes.
She wished to test what she could change, the limitations of those changes, the flaws of the Mink race or Sulong and many other things involving the Mink races family tree.
She found that many recessive genes were within each Mink belonging to their parents, grandparents and so on leading back to their ancestors, the Minks may not inherit the same beast type as their parents and there have been no signs of any Mink being a mix of two best types.
Minks may inherit one of their parents animal form body type but if they do not then they will take on the same form as someone within their own family tree and may end up looking nothing like their own parents.
However there was one thing that Alyssia found interesting was that while most of her and Nica's Lineage Factor had their ancestors information within ready to be passed down to their next in line, every single one of the recessive genes or Lineage Factors belonging to the family tree was directly connected to a more dominant gene or Lineage Factor.
Every true descendant had access to this gene or Lineage Factor which was their Sulong form but to access it, a lot of energy was needed and a special way to trigger the transformation was needed which most Minks were already aware of.
Gaining access to and studying the family tree and the Sulong part of it, Alyssia set aside two goals within Project Zero.
Number one was to figure out how to influence one specific form or gene set within the family tree to be able to choose which race will be born, the possibility of mixing different racial types and if the growth can be controlled and manufactured to get better results and finally if additional modifications can be added.
Each step required exploration into what should be possible and what should not with choosing a type of furry creature body type, mixing different races and adding body augmentations.
She was already gaining a lot of successes with each of these and was working on further exploring the possibility of combining those research into one possible new life form.
Number two was to figure out how to gain direct access to the Sulong Lineage Factor within the family tree and influence the birth of a Sulong.
Much like the Poseidon gene within the Fishmen which only appears once in many generations, the Sulong gene works the same but is ever rarer and rarely written about since they are born defective and have very low lifespans despite having high combat power.
Since it was even rarer but also something hidden deep within every Mink to gain access to, she was able to split up this part and research it.
The main task was to research into the whole of the Sulong Lineage Factor along with the transformation form and try to find a way to reduce risks during transformation and remove any of the races flaws like the energy management issues and the lack of control of their powers.
Thanks to the first part of the project she had gained more experience and was able to learn more about making modifications to the Lineage Factor itself and identifying various flaws or possible abnormalities that may begin to show resulting in a failure.
She had found that selecting a basic model body type within the family tree was the best way to about creating a new life form, this life form would be altered to immediately gain access to its Sulong form permanently upon creation while further research was done into the flaws and how to stabilise the form to make it safe.
The original form also had to be close enough to her own kangaroo Lineage Factor as possible to allow her to go onto the next project called 'Project White'.
Upon nearly reaching the next island, the first part of her research was coming up with far less failures than before allowing her to identify many things that would help her.
However she was still missing many ingredients and parts to continue with the next stage and help with further researching the second stage of the research.
She put down a piece if paper with her research notes and many complicated codes and genetic information she had collected.
It was as if she was back at her computer desk in her previous life when she was writing codes for various online platforms and games so she really enjoyed the feeling.
Many weeks ago her previous skill had evolved after having her programmer skill included within when she was busy studying the patterns within the Lineage Factor and identifying what each part is responsible for.
One of the main reasons why she was able to make such fact progress was because of her programmer skill that allowed her to grasp these complicated patterns and sequences hidden within the Lineage Factors.
On the top of the notes there was a part that was specially circled identifying the overall progress and success rates.
(Project Zero, Experiment X success rate calculated to be 87%, needs additional materials and equipment to ensure the experiment will not have any chances of having any abnormalities during embryo or growth stages.)
(Project Zero, Experiment Y success rate calculated to be 59%, needs further materials and equipment but also further experimentation to fully understand every little detail of the Sulong Lineage Factor.)
After finishing her report, she sighed. "I now know why Judge has connections with the underworld and works as a mercenary… this research is expensive and to gain rare materials that can allow these type of modifications making them become a reality is not something the average person can just spend on. However… after selling all of those ships and Sea Kings, I do not have to worry too much about this yet so long as I do not go crazy creating clone or mechanical armies. Although it does sound a little cool to have… my precious berries!"
The amount of berries that she would have to spend would not be a small sum but this research was something that had to be done to gain further understanding into her races Lineage Factor and Sulong.
She began to stretch and bend her body and went to complete her daily training plan for the day.
It would not be long before she had to prepare to dock on the new island so she needed to warm up a bit and go outside to get some fresh air.
She was quickly met with many welcoming stares from her crew who seemed to have taken her absence over the journey from the previous island as something to be sad about.
Usually she would train and guide them, cook them food and play around with them at times but perhaps they had taken that for granted before the traitors appeared on the ship.
They realised very quickly that Alyssia took them as her own people and that she had invested much of her time in them that could be spent in other places that can keep her busy.
Since she had been busy, they missed the old days when she had more time for them and treated them more warmly but they figured that Alyssia was either busy into her research or she was hurt by the betrayal so wanted to keep a certain distance for a while.
This distance let them realise how much she had done for them since she had known them all and let them realise what they had previously taken for granted.
Many of them wished to become even more loyal to her than before and try to lessen the distance once again.
Training time for her was usually the best opportunity they had recently to get into her good books once again and build a stronger bond as a crew.
However at the same time, many had to endure very harsh training that pushed them to their limits but afterwards the rewards were more than enough to make up for it.
Personally cooked food from her which was showing great signs of improvement with every meal and some extra treats from Boin Island to give them more energy to complete another torturous training plan.
Alfred lay on the deck gasping and wheezing after undergoing his own training while not far away Liushi and Jester had been knocked unconscious after being defeated by Alyssia.
Nica had a pained look on her face and felt like vomiting after running for so long along with Yvie and Li who had suffered the same fate.
Many others who wished to gain or regain her favour after the betrayal incident had also suffered a similar fate being left completely drained of energy.
However Alyssia calmly smiled as she looked towards the approaching island. "There is leftover food so heat it up if you wish to regain your energy. Be ready to dock the ship at the island."
Alyssia did not know her crews thoughts about her after the traitors broke her very few rules because she had been kept busy with her research.
She was a little hurt and angry over the betrayal but it wasn't enough to affect her relationship with the others.
Their attempts to get closer after she had been keeping some distance was misunderstood as them all wanting to work harder and wishing to undergo harsher training.
The result was a completely exhausted and wiped out crew leaving only Alyssia remaining with plenty of energy to spare.
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