Chapter 225 - Chapter 225: Chapter 225: Electric Mastery Flight (1/2)
Chapter 225: Chapter 225: Electric Mastery Flight
Translator: 549690339
From the memory fragments of the mutated spider he had acquired, Xiang Kun knew that it had attacked, and devoured two mutant plants.
The first mutant plant was a tree, which seemed to be capable of secreting a liquid on its trunk that attracted certain mammals. When these animals appeared to use their tongues to lick the fluid on the tree’s trunk, the tree would extend tiny thorns into the animals’ bodies to suck their blood. During this process, the animals being drained of their blood were not aware of it.
When the animal finished licking the liquid off the tree’s trunk, the blood-sucking process would stop. The animal then could be seen obliviously leaving the scene, visibly weakened and dazed, even stumbling and staggering. Although the memory fragments from the mutated spider didn’t contain what happened to these animals ultimately, Xiang Kun could infer that they wouldn’t survive long.
From the memory fragments of the mutated spider, Xiang Kun saw three instances of this scenario. It was evident that the mutated spider had taken an interest in that tree, observing it covertly for a while before making its move.
In the memory fragments of the mutated spider, Xiang Kun did not find how it specifically dealt with that mutated tree. However, he did find an image of a tree encased in loads of spider silk, with its branches being manipulated and controlled. The mutated spider had extended its sharp elongated mouthparts into the tree trunk, absorbing something.
The other mutant plant was a vine, which attracted other animals by bearing fruit. In contrast to the mutant tree, this mutated vine had a significantly stronger ability to fight, besides its deceiving attribute.
Just as Xiang Kun had experienced corrosive liquid, this mutated vine had it too. However, the lethality of the liquid was not as strong as when a mutant spider had set a trap for Xiang Kun – it had later evolved and integrated its own venom mechanisms.
Nevertheless, in the memory fragments, Xiang Kun viewed an extremely fierce battle between the mutated spider and the vine. The spider’s body was obliterated by half, leaving just its head and its two front limbs entangled tightly with a mass of vines.
From the fragments of the memory, he couldn’t even distinguish who had won or who had consumed whom.
Of course, these memory fragments were acquired from the mutated spider, which was enough to indicate who survived at the end.
From the memory of the mutated spider, Xiang Kun saw parts of the spider’s body and occasionally its reflection on the water surface. He could tell that before the spider disposed of the mutated tree, its size was half of what it was later, its mouthparts had significantly changed, but there were no green roots or the like on its body. When it was dealing with the mutated vine, it had grown to about the size of a washbasin, and there were no green roots on its body then either.
Xiang Kun deduced that the mutated spider had first dealt with the mutant tree, then devoured the mutant vine. The green roots growing on its body, those weird “Transformation Branches” and “Reconstruction Branches,” were evolved and acquired abilities that happened afterward.
In the fight with the mutated spider Xiang Kun did not discover that it had any abilities of the mutant tree, and he didn’t come across any evidence of its use in the spider’s memory fragments either.
Thus, Xiang Kun inclined toward the conclusion that the mutated spider did not acquire the mutant tree’s abilities. However, after gaining some of the mutant vine’s abilities, its body had undergone major mutations, such as the green roots extending from its body.
From this, Xiang Kun believed that for a mutant to gain another mutant’s unique abilities through blood, unless they were of the same kind sharing a similar structure, it would require major body mutations for rapid adaptation.
Just like directly plugging into a computer a peripheral, instantly giving it a particular function.
After Xiang Kun drank the blood of a certain mutant, it was equivalent to dismantling and selling it, exchanging it for money, and upgrading his own “computer” configurations. As for new abilities, he had to first comprehend their principles and then make improvements according to his own situation.
The functions achievable by his own “hardware” could turn real after modifications to the “software.” Those he couldn’t accomplish, then slowly buy parts for the “hardware” modification, bring out those functions without drastically changing the form…
Without a doubt, in terms of difficulty, modifying would be a lot harder than plugging in. Moreover, the actual functionality might not necessarily surpass those instantly gained, or the performance of the capabilities might differ.
However, there is one thing that the former cannot compare to, and that is compatibility, as well as the possibility of deriving and expanding other functions based on known principles and strengthening existing functions.
For instance, Guo Tianxiang’s “Direct Eye Projection of Self-Fear” evolved into “co-manifestation” when it came to Xiang Kun. Although the mode of expression is different, its influence is actually stronger.
Xiang Kun hypothesized that the reason he has not yet been able to acquire Guo Tianxiang’s ability to hypnotize people directly with sound is likely due to a conflict between his original body structure and certain abilities with this hypnotic capacity. Once he identifies and resolves these specific clashes, he should be able to master this ability or derive other related abilities.
Returning to the mutated spider, after studying its memory fragments and later viewing related information about spider flight, Xiang Kun believes its flight relies more on the electric field. Xiang Kun thinks there is a definite possibility of achieving this without changing his body structure.
Over a hundred years ago, people discovered that “spiders can fly”.
People sometimes find a swarm of spiders suddenly appearing on the deck of a sea-going vessel, carried over by the wind. These spiders can ride the wind for dozens or even hundreds of miles, moving from one place to another, even “crossing oceans to see you”.
Observations revealed that some small spiders would climb to high places, raise their abdomens, spin a silk thread, and then let the wind “pull” the thread, dragging the spider into the air. People began to view the flight behavior of spiders as the exploitation of air currents, with the silk thread acting more like a parachute.
However, last year, researchers Erica L.Morley and Daniel Robert from the University of Bristol proved via artificial electric fields that spiders not only harness air currents but also use the earth’s electric field for flight.
They placed spiders in a sealed container isolating air flow and external electric fields, and then applied an electric field inside it with the same intensity as the natural environment.
They then observed that, even without air currents, the spiders still took to the air. Moreover, they were able to control the velocity of the spiders’ flight by adjusting the electric field’s strength.
Through further observation and experimentation, they found that the spider’s leg hairs can likely detect the electric field. At the opportune moment, they would “shoot” silk into the air, and the silk’s tip carrying a large number of negative charges would use the ambient electric field for flight, harnessing electricity to fly.
However, this only works for very small spiders. After all, the lift obtained by using the silk thread to borrow from the electric field is actually quite limited.
The mutated spider is definitely not categorized as a “small spider”, and its body is not light enough, hence, to take flight, it needs far more force than an ordinary small spider, something that cannot be achieved by merely releasing a silk thread.
Therefore, the mutated spider was unable to take off directly when being pursued by Xiang Kun before. It had to run to the edge of a cliff. After vaulting into the air, it then found a way to utilize the electric field to aid in its glide.
However, on that night during a thunderstorm, the mutated spider had access to a stronger power source.
The electromagnetic circuit between the earth and the ionosphere is called the atmospheric potential gradient. Normally, this electric field is 100V/M, but during thunderstorms, it can reach 10000V/M or even higher.
It must be that the mutated spider has evolved a special structure that allows it to “charge” itself in thunderstorms, enabling its body surface to carry sufficient charge. Then by borrowing this force, it rises, the strong charge ionizing the surrounding air, causing it to glow and appear like a UFO.
Moreover, based on its flight state, it is evidently able to very accurately control its flight direction and condition.
Although the memory fragments derived from the mutated spider obtained by Xiang Kun included scenes of it harnessing electricity to fly, it is not yet known how it “charges”, how it controls flight, and how this ability evolved.