Dottore's theories were still rough around the edges.
Though he'd added plenty of his own ideas, they were built on the sage's early frameworks.
"Treat the human body like a machine," Dottore had theorized. "Each part is a component. If one breaks, replace it with something better. I could even craft a so-called god."
Bold? Sure. But Reisen Riou was unfazed. He could, in theory, ascend to godhood himself—Vision-holders all could.
Not that he cared much for it. Every night, he was either beneath a god or on top of one.
He'd toyed with a Gnosis a few times too.
Sure, a Gnosis held the knowledge for godhood, but without the foundation, you'd be pathetically weak.
For true gods, a Gnosis was 1+1>2. For mortals? 1+1<2.
Plus, a god's authority was eternal, theirs forever, even in death.
Gnosis-born gods? One slip, and it's gone. Fake divinity.
Ahem. Back to Dottore's lab.
Reisen arrived without a hitch. Per his rules, no labs—except his own Serenitea Pot testing ground—were allowed in Inazuma City.
So, even Shogunate labs were out in Hanamiita, the city's outskirts.
Before hitting Dottore's lab, Reisen skimmed his research progress.
Dottore started by repeating old Sumeru experiments, likely his past work.
Once Inazuma's scholars adapted, he pushed forward fast.
Fifteen days ago, he hit a bottleneck, solved by human trials—Shogunate labs could request death-row inmates from the Tenryou Commission.
Inazuma's ethical line was lower than the Akademiya's, thanks to the nobles' loose morals.
Three days ago, another issue cropped up, but Dottore sidestepped it with a clever workaround the next day.
Reisen could only marvel. Genius, that one. Lightning-fast problem-solving.
Inazuma's scholars? They'd take a year, maybe two, to crack either problem.
Not laziness—pure skill gap. Soul-crushing.
"Hmm, here we are," Reisen said, strolling into the Shogunate's research institute like a boss inspecting his domain.
He didn't head straight to the physiology lab. First, he hit the agronomy lab, tweaking some soilless cultivation seeds, then sauntered to Dottore's turf.
"You the new scholar?" Reisen asked, eyeing Dottore.
"Yes, Dottore. Honored to meet the Distant Wisdom," Dottore said, calming his nerves. One look at Reisen, and he knew this Inazuma trip was worth it.
"Human physiology's no walk in the park," Reisen said, then dove into a chat.
After talking, Reisen gauged Dottore's level.
Physiology theory at LV7, with some fields hitting LV8, but most stuck at LV6.
Reisen's eyes lit up. With some grooming, this guy could hit sage-level, maybe even LV9, brushing the inhuman.
But his excitement spooked Dottore.
He'd suspected the Distant Wisdom knew physiology, but this deep? How many bodies had he dissected to know every muscle, every bone?
By the end, Dottore laid out his Akademiya-rejected, "heretical" theory.
"The body-as-machine idea? Not wrong," Reisen said with a grin. "Organs and parts do work like components in cycles. But it's limited. Try explaining it from a higher dimension."
"Theories are tricky, though. Keep following your path. In a few years, there's a big project you might join."
"You're right, my lord," Dottore said, hesitating. "But research materials…"
"You're thinking too small," Reisen chuckled, clapping his shoulder. "I'll grant you higher One System, Ten Thousand Minds Machine access. You'll see what's possible."
Reisen had long mastered body-crafting—Revival required full-body reconstruction. Splitting off partial techniques was child's play.
For drug tests, he'd whip up weakened, youthful dummy bodies.
If it weren't so ethically dicey, he'd have spread the tech already.
He gave Dottore access to organ cultivation data: preservation, stem cell induction, elemental organ enhancement, transplantation, rejection suppression—hundreds of supporting techniques.
They chatted organs, solved a couple of small issues, and Reisen left.
He had bigger fish to fry.
Like his and Raiden Ei's "make-a-person" project.
Youkai and gods had reproductive barriers. Though both thought their skills could bridge it, repeated failures showed the gap was massive.
So, they ditched self-modification for creating a new being.