Dark Moon Era

Chapter 174: Lucky (2 in 1)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The cultivation class that the whole Fierce Dragon Squad yearned for had finally started.

Everyone in the First Reserved Camp knew that the cultivation class was the most important of all. It was only a single period of class. After the last class, if anyone had any questions or help that they required from the instructor, it would cost them Hope credits which came up to a hefty tuition fee.

It was this particular class that classified people into two different categories: those who passed the cultivation class like the supermen, the new humans, and the Purple Moon Warriors, and those who did not pass the class including the normal people, the average man, and the old humans.

The reality was always cruel. Everyone read about it in the information room, and perhaps it was the only thing that people in the Purple Moon Era could be proud of in front of the glorious old civilization.

Yang Kong was standing on the rostrum with a calm but serious look. He soon started the important cultivation class with a speech, “There is no pride or whatsoever in this. Maybe if the old civilization had achieved more breakthroughs in molecular biochemistry, their attention would have been more focused on the human body and they might have entered a new era that is similar to ours, hence creating a branch from their own times.”

Cultivation would always be related to power, but this class about cultivating was not like the usual training room filled with testosterone and all sorts of intense exercises. Instead, they were in a lab filled with beakers, vials, instruments, and test tubes.

Yang Kong requested the lab to be simply tidied up for him to set up the educational projector. The Fierce Dragon Squad sat on the floor and he requested them to listen wholeheartedly.

“First, look at this experiment.” Yang Kong switched on his projector which soon displayed an image. A set of glass instruments was displayed with a spherical glass seeming to be the most important equipment.

“This is the famous Miller-Urey experiment. It’s an experiment developed by a genius named Miller with the help of his mentor Urey from the old civilization. You can witness a great shift through this experiment.” As Yang Kong gave his lecture, he clicked the projector.

“This spherical glass container represents our planet’s primal environment. Back then, the atmosphere mostly consisted of hydrogen, methane, and ammonia. The boiling water here represents the phenomenon whereby the seawater evaporates into the air and these sparks represent the lightning in the air of the primal age. After the experiment is carried out for a week, here...”

The boiling and sparks in the projector then disappeared. Yang Kong enlarged the spherical container. The more he zoomed in, the closer the squad could see.

“Amino acid,” Yang Kong briefly explained, then he looked at the squad. “All of you have a fixed time for reading and learning every day, and you guys should know that becoming a Purple Moon Warrior has a strict requirement which is knowledge. If you guys don’t even know what amino acid is, it’d be best for you to leave the First Reserved Camp and report to the other camps.”

“I know. Amino acid is a type of organic matter. It’s one of the basic matters to construct life. Instructor, is this experiment trying to show us the process of transforming inorganic matter to organic matter?” Andy asked. In terms of knowledge, Vian, Christina, and Andy were better informed as they studied a lot.

They assumed that Tang Ling knew the least, but the truth was that he had the most knowledge. His memory was astonishing. He always simply flipped through books in front of people, but he actually memorized a huge chunk of the book and would think about what he read whenever he had the time.

“Nicely said, Andy. This Miller-Urey experiment is showing us that exact process. You must admire the miracles that happened during the primal age of our planet. It’s as though a pair of invisible hands used limited materials and the laws of nature to create life.” Yang Kong gave such a conclusion because life was not easy to create. All kinds of coincidence would lead to a misunderstanding or an illusion of how simple it was like how people said the universe intentionally created life for this planet.

Yang Kong then clicked on the projector again and a very small image popped up. After zooming in, the Fierce Dragon Squad was introduced to a single human cell.

“The human cell is the most basic unit in our body that makes us who were are. You can divide it into several parts: the cell membrane, the cytoplasm, and the nucleus. These are all just basic knowledge, but the point is...” Yang Kong continued to zoom into the image of the cell on the projector, concentrating on that particular spot in the cytoplasm.

Upon closer look, many microcellular structures in the shape of dots and tubes appeared.

“Organelle of the cytoplasm, also known as mitochondria. It’s what you guys are supposed to cultivate from here on.” Yang Kong took a pointer from his pocket and emphasized the mitochondrion.

His explanation stunned everyone. The lab was unusually quiet although questions flooded their minds as everyone showed the desire to learn more.

This was the power of knowledge that was always revered. Raw strength had no such power since it was always about suppression and force.

“You guys must be confused. Molecular biochemistry is as vast as the ocean. I can only explain it to you guys in the simplest and quickest way. If you cultivate but don’t know the theory, you won’t achieve anything.”

As he spoke, Yang Kong adjusted the projector again, and this time, an image of the ocean appeared.

“After a series of complicated changes, our sea was filled with life. Many single-cell organisms float in it Do note that it is hard to define life. Using the definition of the modern world, eukaryote is the simplest single-cell organism. What’s a eukaryote? The most important definition is that it has more than one chromosome. What’s a chromosome? Do I even need to explain that? It’s the genetic material of inheritance.

“The old civilization didn’t get to fully understand the birth of a eukaryote. There are many theories floating about, but they aren’t strong enough to be accepted by the academic world, but there is one theory that is widely accepted, which is that all life on our planet has a common ancestor.

“Let’s speculate what happened back then. In the vast and lively ocean, our ancestor, a eukaryote, consumed an archaeon. Miraculously, the independent archaeon wasn’t digested and it didn’t counter-consume the eukaryote.

“It was at that moment when they formed a strange symbiotic relationship. After that, their relationship progressed further and formed a much more complicated pattern called symbiogenesis. In short, they fused.

“They fused into what we call a composite cell. The consumed archaeon becomes the organelle of the cell which produces the chloroplast in plants and the mitochondria in our cells. Of course, plant organelles consist of mitochondria as well.

“There is a very complicated process in the transformation, and speculating from DNA molecular biochemistry, the ancestor of living beings might very well be that eukaryote which includes the genetic inheritance information.

“This is also the basis of your Genetic Chain. Isn’t it fabulous? Did you ever think of who tossed this material consisting of genetic inheritance information into our world? But that isn’t what we are discussing today. Today’s point is the mitochondria.

“What is the mitochondria? The old civilization said that it’s the energy source of the cell, a power plant, an energy generator. Mitochondria can be consumed, and it can even tell your lifespan. The weaker the mitochondria is, the closer one is to the end. The stronger it is, the healthier we are if we aren’t sick.

“However, if every single cell in your body is energetic, you won’t get sick that easily either. Do we train muscles or bones? Or our brain or organs? Neither. The true cultivation objective that is unique to this era is to cultivate every single cell in you. The one you should focus on is the mitochondria in the cell.”

Yang Kong sounded a little excited. He walked around to suppress the excitement in his heart, but the others were fueled up.

Yang Kong’s theory had opened a new door of possibility for them. It was a new way of cultivating, and compared to the physical training of the old civilization, this new method was much wider.

“Question. Since the old civilization discovered the miraculous mitochondria, why didn’t that achieve any breakthrough in the research? I can’t explain too much in this lecture but I can talk about the past of the old civilization just to show you guys that you are lucky.”

“Eternal life is a human’s eternal goal. Some scientists once thought of empowering the mitochondria to increase the human lifespan, but unfortunately, he discovered a terrifying fact instead of a brilliant result. After he meddled with the mitochondria, cancer cells started to change because strong mitochondria will cause infinite mitosis in cells and these cells won’t act normally. They will destroy and invade the normal cells, hence turning the cells into cancerous ones. I won’t be explicit in this experiment, but people feel like there is a hidden rule inside our body that’s stopping humans from seeing too much in this area which is how God created life.

“You guys are lucky because in this era, some rules and taboos are broken and the evolution is now messy, or rather, it accelerated exponentially. Maybe cultivation methods were invented to empower the energy source in your cell, the mitochondria.

“However, there are still rules around. You cannot infinitely empower your mitochondria. It all depends on your Genetic Chain and how much potential it has. The higher your talent is, the stronger your mitochondria can be empowered.

“I don’t know and I do not want to know what you guys saw during the talent test, but regardless of that, did you guys sense the existence of the shackle?” Yang Kong exhaled strongly, his fair face looking a little pinkish as if knowledge excited him the most.

No one in the Fierce Dragon Squad said anything, but their determined gaze on Yang Kong stated it all. They did feel the shackle!

At the same time, Andy and Vian took a peek at Tang Ling. So, is this* what the Genetic Chain determines within us? Then, Tang Ling...No, he should be the strongest among us!*

Tang Ling neglected all the sympathy since he was a lot more confident than anyone else.

Boys love to act strong. He might be able to achieve the highest point within his capability, and he might even have a serendipitous encounter, right? Vian thought. Her thoughts represented everyone else’s.

Of course, after Yang Kong’s lecture, Amir finally displayed a strong sense of confidence. He finally understood how powerful his five-star talent was!

After a sip of water, Yang Kong continued, “Now, do you guys understand how lucky you guys are? You are probably the luckiest! Strange mutations happen exclusively in this era and no one is able to explain what causes it. Because of the mutation, it broke the rules and brought us many unpredictable futures.

“Indeed, original evolution is a slow process. Even your Genetic Chain is constantly evolving. It will carry more and more inheritance information and become richer...No one knows how far can it go, but now the Genetic Chain has solved the secret and opened the path at the end which is the end of our current era. So, what about the next? Maybe there will be more people who will be able to discover where their Genetic Chain leads them and they’ll become stronger. As you grow, the shackles will increase, but it also means more significant development.

“Therefore, in conclusion, the core of cultivation is to empower every single cell in you! With the power, break all the shackles that are holding you down and grow ever further until there are no more shackles in your way.” Yang Kong kept his pointer and gazed over everyone excitedly.

“Yes, Sir!” The Fierce Dragon Squad stood up excitedly with clenched fists. A clear goal was set up in their minds, which was to locate the next shackle in their path of growth.

******

After the lecture about the theory of cultivation, Yang Kong gave the Fierce Dragon Squad some rest before carrying on with the real methods of cultivation.

When everyone was refreshed, they sat back on the ground.

Yang Kong magically took out a box, a wooden box, it looked very meticulously made. He put on a pair of gloves and carefully opened the box to find a book inside. Judging from the looks of it, it looked like a blue manual from ancient Huaxia in which papers were bound together with strings.

When Tang Ling saw the words written on the cover, his heart beat faster and the shock within him almost exploded. He quickly looked down.

The words that were written on the cover were...Thousand Satin Skill.

What did that mean? Had Kun foreseen this? How scary would that be?

Nonetheless, Tang Ling’s little reaction did not attract any attention, even from Yang Kong who was solemn as he took the manual out. He displayed it before everyone and placed it back.

“I suppose as New Moon Warriors, you have known a lot of Safety Sector No. 17’s secrets. I’ve told you all before that the sector has its own secrets. What do you think is the biggest secret of the sector? The Level 2 Sector Protection Machine? The Hope Barrier? The Tower? Or the Universal Source Rock? On second thought, the rock is not completely ours...Ahem...Now, let me reveal the answer.

“The biggest secret of the sector is this manual, the Thousand Satin Skill. It is originally the sector’s exclusive cultivation technique and is also the biggest treasure of the first castellan.

“Many stories revolve around it. What I can tell you now is that given the sector’s current defense level, we cannot fully protect the Thousand Satin Skill if it is a complete version or a version translated by someone very powerful. Nevertheless, the sector has to share this manual with other forces to achieve peace for the people.”

Yang Kong seemed a little upset when he mentioned the sharing.

The simple-minded Orston curled his fists when he heard that.

“Do you feel insulted? If you feel the insult, become stronger! After all these years, we still can’t take down the ruined battlefield, and the scale of the safety sector has remained stagnant. Our predecessors worked very hard for us. Even if they were insulted, they managed to keep the right to cultivate the Thousand Satin Skill for us unconditionally. This manual isn’t complete, but the first three phases are, and we have deciphered them thoroughly.

“You guys are also considered lucky, being able to cultivate such a high-level skill in our small safety sector. Therefore, before I start to explain everything, please remember what you’ve heard today. You guys being born in this era and being here in Safety Sector No. 17 are the two luckiest things that could ever happen to you.”

Then, Yang Kong turned the projector on again. The diagram of a human labeled with hundreds of pressure points plus a big paragraph of profound ancient Huaxianese came into their sight.

“You guys aren’t allowed to read this book in the box. It is just a symbolic icon and a manuscript. Based on your New Moon Warrior level of authority, all you are allowed to know is the first phase of the Thousand Satin Skill. You will make progress eventually. Exchanging merits for more cultivation content is also a fair trade here,” Yang Kong explained.

No one was being calculative about it since everyone was captivated by the martial skill that was being displayed on the projector.

What kind of skill is this? By cultivating it, I can empower every cell in my body?

Tang Ling’s breath sped up. Would his Thousand Satin Skill addendum make a difference in his and his friends’ cultivation?

Would he be stronger because of it? Never doubt items from the Mysterious Store.

On top of that, at that very moment, Tang Ling had a very strange thought in his mind. He thought of his disappeared memories and the blank in his life.

He started to suspect if he was originally a citizen of Safety Sector No. 17. Even if he was not, did someone intentionally put him in the sector?

If he was put in the sector, why? What for? Was it because of this Thousand Satin Skill?

Grandmother must have known something about me, and so did the uncle and aunt that took me in.

But why did they keep me alive at the cost of their own lives? Why do I have to be alive just so the veil of mystery can cover me and make me struggle blindly?