Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 479 Living Test
The alien captives captured at the Ice Sea Exploration Base were quickly and safely transported to Spark City via a long-distance teleportation array.

In order to ensure the safety of the next series of live experiments, Harvey specially cleared out the castle's underground laboratory, leaving more than half of the area for experiments. After all, after absorbing the ancient magic core, he has acquired the special ability to control the energy-absorbing beetles in the underground mineral veins, which is enough to drive hundreds of thousands of huge magical insects to suppress most experimental accidents.

The dean of the Academy of Magical Sciences, the head of the experimental team, and the two chiefs of the alchemy laboratory were almost all present. The dean of the medical institute, Egno, also hurried over, leaving behind his potion research and development experiments... Even if they did not participate in the experiments themselves, most of the senior officials in Spark City did not want to miss the opportunity to observe the enemy up close.

Since the captured alien captives were not the expected Black Water Monsters, but a completely new "species" that did not carry Black Water weapon tanks at all and purely controlled and released strange red light attacks, Harvey and his team had to make temporary changes to the experimental preparations they had made in advance.

The living captives were kept frozen throughout the process and sent to the laboratory. For safety reasons, Egno injected them with a large dose of anesthetic. Their limbs and necks were tightly tied to the laboratory table with buckles and shackles made of hard phantom copper.

When Harvey arrived at the laboratory, Egno and his two half-elf apprentices were carefully performing the most basic testing projects.

This was the first time Harvey had seen this strange alien race up close - they did have limbs, torsos and heads like humans, but their bodies were obviously more slender, and their joints looked slightly swollen and twisted, indicating that their limbs had a more flexible range of motion... No wonder they had powerful melee abilities comparable to bloodline warriors.

The rough, seamless skin covering the entire body was the part Harvey focused on. Not only could it withstand most magical attacks, but even ordinary swords and axes could hardly break it. Only kinetic energy weapons like magic gun bullets, with their super-high speed and strong penetrating power, could penetrate it...

He personally examined the dozen or so bodies that were brought back, and they were indeed killed by bullets in the head, chest and other vital parts. However, after the skin was damaged, the flesh and blood inside were quickly exposed to the air, turning into rotten and foul-smelling black pus that flowed out of the bullet holes.

After hearing that the Royal Guards had seen the bright red flesh and blood spurting out after the skin was penetrated during the trapping operation, they could at least rest assured that the other party was a carbon-based creature like themselves.

"Look, sir! The deep red sacs on both sides of the head are obviously part of their bodies, not attached after the skin is covered..." Although Egno had seen a lot in Alaye in the past, this was his first time dealing with such a living alien creature that he had never seen before. He couldn't help but speak with excitement and trembling in his tone.

"Although sealed by the freezing spell, these two sacs still have a slow rhythmic agitation... I suspect these are their breathing organs, similar to our lungs!"

Harvey raised his hand and gently pressed it against the frozen creature's chest. After feeling it for a moment, he shook his head and said, "They can't be called lungs...these are probably gills!"

Chris came up and asked in surprise, "Gills? Are they a variant of the sea creatures?"

Arturo shook his head. "We've dealt with the Sea People before... They're a humanoid race like the Orcs, and their body structure isn't much different from ours. At most, because they spend so much time in the sea, they've developed webbed feet and arms for paddling... The Sea People live on islands and reefs, so they don't have gills."

Harvey turned to Egno and asked, "Have you noticed that their body temperature is very low?"

Egno nodded, pointed to the notebook in his hand, and said in a deep voice, "Indeed, although I'm not sure if it's because the skin blocks the body heat, but the surface feels cold to the touch... almost like a cold-blooded animal!"

For a moment, Harvey could only think of some ancient amphibians like monitor lizards. Low body temperature means a slow metabolism, which in a sense means that they have a strong ability to adapt to the environment. This is probably one of the main reasons why they can adapt to the frozen deep sea and land amphibians.

Similarly...freezing cannot kill them completely, at most it can only make them fall into a short sleep.

Chris rubbed his hands together, exchanged a glance with Arturo, and said excitedly, "Mere observation won't yield any useful answers... My Lord, should we begin the dissection?" Egno held him down and shook his head vigorously, "Be careful! Once the skin is broken, the recipient will soon die when exposed to the air, and the internal body will decay as well... We only have three living specimens!"

"How do they communicate?" Harvey's mind was full of thoughts and ideas, and he suddenly turned to look at the captain of his personal guards.

"These guys are like mutes. They don't make any sound whether they move or fight... We can't tell whether they have language or not." Tommy replied with a frown.

"I'm afraid we need to thaw it and let it wake up slowly..." Harvey said slowly.

……

The Royal Guards immediately brought in dozens of huge steel protective shields and consciously erected them around the experimental table, mainly to separate Harvey from the experimental subjects. Everyone present unanimously opposed Harvey's personal participation in the experiment, and entrusting the task of awakening the target to the two alchemical life forms, Arturo and Asdalen, was obviously the safest choice.

Harvey naturally had no choice but to obey, and was surrounded by his personal guards holding huge shields and moved away from the experimental area. At the same time, he also allocated a part of his mental power to control the experimental alchemy beast to slowly approach, using the alchemy beast's vision to closely observe the reaction of the awakened target.

After clearing the area, Harvey gave the order from a distance, "Let's get started."

"Yes!" The two alchemical creatures nodded at the same time, picked up the awakening potion provided by Egno, and gently inserted it into the deep red sac behind the ear - this is the only part of the body exposed outside the skin, and the medicine can be injected into the body without piercing the skin.

In less than ten minutes, everyone discovered that the target receptor's originally shriveled sac suddenly filled up and bulged. Then the target seemed to wake up completely, and the uncontrolled trembling of the body turned into violent struggles with such great strength that the entire experimental table was banged.

"He's still a flesh and blood body. Without magic power to command, he can't escape the shackles made of phantom copper..."

Before Arturo could finish his words, the target's dark, rough body suddenly struggled hard, and countless tiny red lights like earthworms emerged from the surface of the skin, eventually twisting and converging together... turning into a red lightning as thick as an arm that rushed towards the ceiling of the laboratory.

The solid obsidian ceiling of the laboratory was as solid as a rock. After being struck by the huge lightning, only a few wisps of dust fell, but the exploding plasma fell back to the ground and hit the three alchemical creatures standing next to the laboratory table - including the humanoid alchemical beast controlled by Harvey.

The magic inscriptions on the three people's bodies suddenly lit up, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably... Arturo, who was closest to them, stumbled and fell heavily to the ground, while Asdalen grabbed the alchemy beast controlled by Harvey and retreated several steps before he stabilized himself.

"What happened to Dean Arturo?" everyone screamed.

Asdalen quickly stepped forward to check, and after a sigh of relief, he turned around and said, "It's okay. It seems that the power core was hit by some unknown energy flow. It's just overheated and dormant..."

(End of this chapter)