25 The More You Know 2: Electric Boogaloo

(A/N: Everyone, take a seat 🤓)

All electromagnetic radiation is light, it just happens that humans are only capable of seeing so much of it. And, as with anything possessing an electric charge, sunlight consists of electromagnetic waves that travel through space and matter, radiating energy.

The mere phenomenon in which we humans experience sight is just a reflection of a range of wavelengths from sunlight.

To be specific, the human eye is capable of processing wavelengths between 380 and 700 nanometers. What the human eye sees between these wavelengths are the colors that bring life to our world: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, and all their variations.

Red light is the one with the longest wavelength, thus, contains the least amount of energy in the visible spectrum while violet is the opposite. So, as the wavelength decreases and energy increases, you will move from red to violet. This is the reason red light is quickly filtered from water the deeper it goes and becomes harder to see.

Translucent objects allow these rays of light to pass through them while others reflect them.

The grass is green because it absorbs all other light in the visible spectrum and reflects green, which is a color that our eyes can pick up. White reflects all colors and that is why it is recommended to dress in such color on sunny days whereas black absorbs all light. The sunlight contains energy that translates to heat and will make you sweat more.

Hence, if a redfish is hit by sunlight deep underwater where there is still some semblance of it, which is around 200 to 1000 meters, it will absorb all light and reflect red… a light that isn't visible anymore at such depths.

There is another solution to being able to hide in the deep sea from predators which is to be transparent, but adapting every single organ, cartilage, muscle, and brain matter to be such is more costly than just being red.

Now, what if an animal could produce red light in the deep sea where most aquatic life is blind or has defective sight due to water pressure?

An apex predator with a wallhack.

This is why red coral devils are dangerous in the water. They have reigned most of the sea and have no reason to stop growing bigger for fear of becoming larger targets for other predators.

It possesses sharp teeth, strong limbs with steel-like claws, and armor capable of holding up the transition processes where it travels from the deep sea to the surface in seconds. They appear to be lone wolves in the sea as their unapologetic, aggressive behavior towards their species shows they have no remorse for anyone.

The one reason it even bothers to come out during the day is that its strong coral armor isn't for show, it does go through a photosynthesis-like process and recharges its energy to use the glowing veins in its body as a light source when it goes back to the deep sea.

As for the blue coral devils, the counterpart of the red ones, they have adapted to act in groups and have developed a skill that makes them invisible in water and is sensible to all light as a response to the red's searching light.

They are skinnier and, overall, share the same physical features. However, they seem to manipulate soundwaves, similar to my Ichos blood code, and can make themselves invisible to most sightless monsters as well as be the best predators at night, as they are best at hunting in environments where sunlight is null.

A chemical that seems to harden ichor in their claws and teeth makes them efficient in short confrontations.

Red and blue coral devils seem to oppose each other's behaviors despite their similarities.

Their abilities might seem abnormal, but such feats are found all over nature, just not to this extent or extreme.

The process of dispersal and reassembly that revenants go through is not something new, the concept of the body returning to a previous state when suffering too much damage existed long ago.

Turritopsis dohrnii, a jellyfish, has similarly attained immortality.

Most mature jellyfish live in masses for the purpose of reproduction. They release countless sperm and eggs, allowing them to be reproduced in mass effortlessly.

The fertilized egg grows into a small larva that will attach to a surface before forming a polyp. It looks similar to a plant with a long stem and bulbous head that has a mouth in which it will eat through the new hole and use the tentacles around its head to grab food as well.

After enough nutrients are consumed, the polyp will become a stack of cloned, nearly jellyfish. When the most mature one is ready, it will be released and float into the water to eat and grow into a medusa, reproduce, and die, continuing the cycle.

But those are normal medusas. Turritopsis dohrnii treats death as nothing but an inconvenience. The tiny jellyfish will send all of its cells back into a younger state once it receives too much damage or suffers high amounts of starvation and stress.

It goes back into a bubbly structure similar to a fertilized egg of a normal medusa and sticks to a surface before transforming into a polyp to eat nutrients again, recuperating and growing into a medusa and so, the cycle continues.

This jellyfish contains no stem cells to proliferate and produce more stem cells, it does not need to create specialized cells. Instead, it goes through a process called cellular transdifferentiation in which it repurposes a cell of one type into another one. Cartilage cells transform into skin cells or are converted into muscle cells. It does not need stem cells like most organisms to function.

Its cells will never die. The organism will never cease to function. It will never decompose. It will be everlasting.

And it's not just that. Lobsters are just as close to immortality, however, they would still die due to external factors or by growing too big.

All beings are made of cells, and all of us have thousands of millions of cells in us going through the process of replication. The issue is that cells can only be replicated so much before they ultimately die.

However, for lobsters, it is different.

Telomeres prevent the strands of DNA from becoming undone and accidentally fusing, something that could lead to the degradation of DNA and mutating into something like cancer cells.

Through every division that a cell goes through, a part of the Telomere is cut off in the process until it eventually is unable to keep critical information intact through the procedure which leads to cell death. If the cell doesn't die off as it is supposed to, it will not be able to replicate the DNA properly and mutate… But not for this delicious crustacean.

If Telomeres were to be repaired, it would mean that the organism wouldn't have to worry about DNA degradation or cell death unless it came from external factors.

Lobsters don't have such a problem, they produce an enzyme called Telomerase which repairs the Telomere that is cut off per cell division. Meaning that it is virtually immortal as no critical data of the DNA will be lost through cell division. This miraculous enzyme is also created by humans during their embryonic state and it is never used for the rest of their life.

With this, lobsters seem to live in a constant state of renewal in which they almost grow without limit and only succumb due to the amount of energy needed to molt every year. Since they grow a new shell almost yearly early on before the need for it slows down significantly as they get older, once they live for decades and increase in size the process will become too taxing, and die in the process.

Many animals possess a key to immortality.

Keys that the BOR Parasite knows how to use very well. Not only is it able to replicate such phenomena in the human body, but it also bestows incredible strength and powers.

Our organs are in a constant state of renewal and are improved upon by the parasite, making the most deadly poison in the world a mere inconvenience to us. Do we receive too much damage? Just disperse and reform somewhere safe.

Louis was kind enough to let me learn some of his research about the BOR Parasite. He might be looking for blood beads and their source, but he hasn't slacked in other studies and compiled every bit of info he could find about what makes revenants function.

While he has some deep knowledge of the organ we have in our chests, there is one thing he has yet even figured out, not even coming close to comprehending just yet.

"Ichor," I noted.

"Indeed." The researcher a few meters away from me nodded, a ball of fire condensed in his hands which turned into the shapes of numbers. "The feats that we all have seen until now are technically possible with further research and advance science just a few years more, but Ichor has closed the gap and then some."

Super strength, senses, and other abilities being overhauled were technically possible with science and few of them were already a thing in this world before it went to sh!t.

But the things that Ichor does? Not a damn clue. Fire manipulation, telekinesis, and control over soundwaves, some powers didn't seem possible as they didn't even exist in nature to this extreme until humans messed with them.

Even strengthening blood codes aren't a simple case of 'oga booga muscle more STrOnk! RAAAAH!'

Louis has tried to understand what goes through Yakumo's body while he uses his blood code. It appears that the ichor in his body is transformed into something similar to Actin and Myosin which are the proteins that form the basis of muscle contraction inside the body.

Their effect is much more potent and that is as far as Louis has gotten. The chemicals and proteins that coat Yakumo's inner workings when using his gifts will quickly decompose the moment they are taken out of his system. Not even putting them in a container with Yakumo's blood and ichor samples seems to work.

Hmm… Ichor, the substance created by the bioengineered organ, is still a mystery. Guess that the name chosen was such for a reason. The term 'Ichor' comes from Greek mythology, it pretty much refers to the lifeblood that travels through the veins of gods and immortals.

We are not anywhere near gods, much less the God, but are close to immortals in that aspect at least.

Most of what Louis has learned is through experimentation as its structure simply has no similarity to anything he has seen. Almost like it shouldn't exist. It stays in a liquid state, doesn't evaporate, not even in a vat of lava, doesn't freeze at the coldest temperatures, won't crystalize under any kind of pressure, and doesn't decompose.

It is only when a BOR Parasite makes use of it that it does something more than being an enigma to researchers like Louis.

"I guess we will find out more later." I had no reason to rush him. I already had trouble understanding how deep the rabbit hole of science in Code Vein went. It was only about three decades more advanced than my world, but it was leaps and bounds beyond it.

Louis' oddly shaping fire abruptly condensed once it formed the number 10 before shooting the Shankunetsu Hadouken toward me.

I circulated the fire between my hands that I had been shaping to imitate Louis' actions until now and condensed it around my arms like gloves, catching the flame the size of a soccer ball, a rather small size but the heat it gave off was absurd.

I train my control over Apoz almost daily since I have been here, I'd say I have some reasonable control over my ichor usage when it comes to other gifts like waves from Ichos and flames from Prometheus because of it as well.

That is why I'm in the training area with Louis, Io, and Rin while Yakumo and Oliver are duking it out in the battle arena.

There are revenants with similar blood codes. And if those blood codes have gifts that lets one control an element, that doesn't mean they are all powerful when surrounded by said element. We aren't benders like in Avatar, we are revenants with elemental powers, that is it.

Louis can control fire and so can I. But that is only fire produced by ichor, hell, even fire produced by ichor that isn't yours can't be controlled. A natural fire that consumes oxygen or other combustibles is not under our control either, not even if we are burning with it.

Lucky for me, taking over a fire that isn't your own can be done. It requires some Ichor to be imbued in it and an appropriate amount of concentration. If done properly, you will save ichor and do not need to summon it on your own.

With Louis' help, I have been training in my control by changing the shapes of my blaze as well as overpowering the fire he throws toward me.

As soon as I caught the flame in my hands, I could still feel it fighting my fire, unwilling to submit despite the ichor I was pouring into it to make it my own.

It didn't feel exactly hot, but I have been sweating buckets. I felt the beads of sweat falling down my face sizzle before turning into steam. My face would've turned into charcoal if I was human.

The ichor in my body was directed towards my arms before exiting my pores as fire, their ignition process immediate, almost as if they had a combustible reaction to oxygen even if that wasn't the case.

The reddish flames twisted like coils before gathering into my hands and engulfing the orange flame still fighting for freedom. I desperately fought against it as Lous began to create a new sun between his hands, it was almost time to begin the new countdown, and if I didn't manage to subjugate the flame between my hands, he will explode it to set me on fire…

once again...

He is better than me when it comes to manipulating fire, obviously. I know he isn't using all of his focus at all since I'm working on multitasking more than control itself as I even have Apoz active at the moment. But that doesn't mean he is letting me off easy, no one has been since I stepped foot in this place.

"Seriously… how far has your control of fire gone?" I asked with a mixture of helplessness and hope. I did want to know how far this fire blood code can be taken. Louis has worked on it for years.

"Hm… You seem to grasp some terms of science well enough. Do you know how plasma works?" The researcher mused as if it was a small matter what he was about to share before beginning to shape his fire into numbers again, shapes that I had to imitate well if wished to keep my visage from melting.

"... never mind, we will get there when I'm ready." I was already feeling my thought process muddle over the info I was already given about the environments and monsters from the Dried Up Trenches.

This world was much more depth than the one in the game. Every bit of information was good to have no matter how insignificant it may be if it helped me understand the powers and abilities at my disposal better. I can't slack off when the one guy ready for war was ahead of me by years in preparation.

"The team is ready for extraction!" Davis announced as soon as he entered the training area. He now has an office in Louis' study room where he will oversee some operations as we are now his team, this place has officially become a secondary office of his.

Louis dispersed his fire which meant that I could finally stop feeding my ichor to the growing sun in my hands. Gathering such an amount of heat was enough to make the training area a bit hotter.

"We only had three minutes left of training. I guess I will let you off this time." Rin 'kindly' said as her little carnival ball game was cut short.

She used her blood code to create some weird bouncing balls that ricochet all over the place and had Io help her in my training. They try to hit me and stop my concentration so I have to stop them preventively with my Apoz which I can now solidify slightly, but nowhere near enough for it to defend me from real attacks, and stop their attempts.

Only thanks to Ichos' passive augmentation of my senses could I keep up with all of this training.

You see, I might have immunity against my fire, but not from Louis' fire. If I even get hit or lose concentration, this little funny thing where I'm burned alive happens…

You know, the psychopathic behavior of these people can be excused only so much by their immortality…

The Apoz that had been floating around me in the form of flat disks to stop the onslaught of Rin's pellets gathered around my arm again, coiling like a snake. Its weird myriad of colors that mainly settled in a dark purple tone looked like an overpriced and flamboyant accessory.

Time to get back the team from their expedition.

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Word Count: 2,948

Damn, learning science and biology be so fine, and then boom! Scientists name an old fossil from the Cretaceous era "N!g€rsaurus"!

Anyway, I know that the Turritopsis dohrnii also does the Telomere reparation bit as it also produces Telomrase thing but it sounded more impressive from the lobster.

You know, cuz, between the nature grocery plastic bag that sh1ts and cǓms all over the place while huddling with its own kin and an ocean mecha spider that only dies because the universe wasn't vibing with its big d!ck energy since it was too chad for its soy taste, the human is more likely to want to relate to the latter. (Not sorry for making you read the last part :D)

Kek!

But seriously, between the anatomy of a jellyfish and a lobster, humans are way closer to the latter. That is why I find it more impressive.

Main Sources for the explanation of Coral Devils and immortality granted by the BOR Parasite:

What's bright red and invisible? - NOAA Ocean Exploration (It's a PDF)

The incredible way this jellyfish goes back in time - made by - [Real Science] on Youtube. (It's a video… duh!)

Can Lobsters really not die of old age? - made by - [Today I found] in Youtube (Video as well.)

What is a telomere? - made by - yourgenome.org (It's a website that isn't Wikipedia :0)