Chapter 84: Superhuman Research

The five-day holiday quickly passed, and people began a new cycle of work. The break hadn’t diminished their drive; instead, it ignited a greater passion for their duties.

For the past year, everyone had been working at an intense pace. This was their first extended break. Many felt a sense of emptiness after just two or three days of leisure. The five-day rest felt almost too long, and by the end of it, the idleness left them restless and eager to return.

The workaholics were already itching to make their mark in the laboratories once more.

A new year meant new beginnings. Although Jason had countless responsibilities to manage, he had to set aside time for his regular Parahuman physical examination.

He had been through this test countless times before.

Humanity had studied the Perfect Element for thirty years, and even the most clueless researchers had figured out a few basic principles. Jason planned to use this visit to catch up on the latest breakthroughs.

His current IQ hovered around 165, up from 150 during his test a year ago. This indicated that his brain grew sharper with use, and projections suggested it could eventually reach 170 or even 180.

The theoretical limit for human intelligence was around 230. He couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever reach that pinnacle.

Ordinary people also experienced this phenomenon where mental exercise sharpens the mind. The baseline intelligence for an average human was around 100, but higher education or consistent mental conditioning could elevate that. A strong university graduate might test around 120 or 130.

Therefore, logical thinking and cognitive capacity could be trained. Jason was currently in a stage of rapid intellectual growth.

All physiological indicators for a Superhuman far exceeded those of a regular person, pushing their natural limits to entirely new heights.

For example, an ordinary person’s maximum threshold for unbroken concentration was about an hour and a half. After that, the brain fatigued and the mind would naturally begin to wander. This biological response couldn’t be overridden; the brain forced itself to rest. That ninety-minute mark was a hard limit for the standard human mind, immune to sheer willpower.

But Jason was different. He could maintain intense focus for extended periods. Only fundamental physiological needs, like hunger, could break his concentration. This extraordinary trait was exactly why he could absorb massive amounts of information in such short bursts and manage the entire spaceship with seamless efficiency.

Naturally, Jason held incredibly high hopes for the Perfect Element. Every new discovery about it offered a little more hope for humanity’s survival. Just imagine: if 50,000 people all transformed into Superhumans, each boasting an IQ of 160 or 170, their collective intellect would be staggering, and their lifespans significantly extended. If that happened, technological barriers, the Great Filter of life, and all other existential threats would become trivial.

Lost in thought, he walked into the Superhuman Research Laboratory.

When the Federation first established the Lunar Base, the primary objective had been to study the Perfect Element and Superhuman. Because of this, the Superhuman Laboratory was initially the absolute core of the Lunar Base and its largest biological research facility. As humanity’s sole Superhuman, Jason was a frequent visitor.

The lab was situated in a zone calibrated to 0.28 times standard gravity, the exact environment where the Perfect Element exhibited its highest level of activity.

Over a thousand senior scientists had once worked within these walls. However, with the establishment of the new administration and the shift of operational focus to the Noah, most of those researchers had been reassigned to other vital positions.

Still, a dedicated team of core researchers remained in the lab.

The person conducting his examination today was an American woman in her thirties named Kelly, who had long, sweeping brown hair. Even hidden beneath a standard white medical coat, she had a striking, curvaceous figure and a famously domineering personality.

Jason used to get a bit nervous around her, but he had slowly grown accustomed to her manner. After all, he couldn’t even count how many times he had endured these routine check-ups since childhood muscle stress tests, blood draws, cardiac monitoring, brainwave scans, and the list went on. A full battery of tests took half the day.

He had no choice. Sacrificing a little time was necessary for the sake of science and unraveling the mysteries of the Perfect Element.

As the examination wrapped up, Kelly poked Jason’s chest with her index finger and offered a teasing smile. “Mr. Jason, you are in phenomenal shape. All vitals are perfectly normal. Your cellular activity is three times that of a standard human, and your neural response time is ten times faster. It really makes me wonder about your stamina in other areas…”

“Cough, cough!” Jason aggressively cleared his throat to change the subject, desperate to stop her before she said anything completely outrageous.

Kelly just laughed. She didn’t mean anything serious by it, but she thoroughly enjoyed teasing the leader of their entire civilization.

She was actually one of the very few elite parapsychologists on the Noah. She was brilliant at her job, but she had absolutely no filter, always taking the opportunity to playfully harass Jason whenever he came in. It was all harmless banter, though.

Jason used to find her overwhelmingly embarrassing, but he had learned to either avoid her when possible or simply ignore her teasing when cornered.

“Alright, let’s get down to business!” Dr. Roman, who was standing nearby, finally intervened. He looked at Jason seriously. “Jason, we now suspect that the success rate of bonding with the Perfect Element is directly tied to parapsychology.”

Jason was taken aback. “What have you discovered?”

Now that they were discussing official business, Kelly dropped her playful demeanor entirely. “Because you are a psionicist yourself, we hypothesize that only individuals with telepathic potential can successfully become Superhumans.”

She paused, looking at him intently. “That warm, sun-like presence we’ve all been feeling in our minds… it was caused by you, wasn’t it? That sensation first appeared about six months ago, right around the time humanity first ventured out into deep space.”

“What exactly happened back then? We need you to tell us.”

Jason froze for a fraction of a second before recovering his composure. He furrowed his brow, casting his mind back, and began to describe the vast, dark void he had witnessed that day, a space where every individual human consciousness appeared as a faint star.

“So, ordinary people are the small stars, and you are the sun?” Kelly and Roman listened in stunned silence, both sinking into deep contemplation.

After a long pause, Kelly rubbed her temples, looking genuinely distressed. “What does this even mean? An ocean of the mind? Does a literal ’soul’ actually exist?”

Roman just shrugged, looking completely out of his depth. He was a brilliant biologist, but these metaphysical mysteries were entirely outside his wheelhouse.

Kelly sighed heavily. “Humanity’s exploration of natural science might have taken its first or second steps… but when it comes to the science of the mind, we know next to nothing. We are still stumbling around in the dark ages.”

“Exactly,” Roman agreed. “Our current understanding of the natural sciences simply cannot explain a vast number of phenomena.”

What is human consciousness? What defines the ’self’? What is ’I’? These concepts remained incredibly difficult to quantify with modern science. Jason listened intently as the two researchers debated, absorbing a wealth of fascinating new theories.

As they explained, it appeared that when the Perfect Element was introduced to organisms possessing ’self-awareness’, like complex multicellular animals, it almost universally resulted in their death.

However, when introduced to organisms lacking a sense of self, such as plants or single-celled organisms, the integration process succeeded.

“Therefore, we can infer that ’self-awareness’ is the primary factor preventing the successful integration of the Perfect Element!”

“The problem is, we have no scientific definition of what self-awareness actually is,” Roman said, throwing his hands up in frustration. “Which means research in this direction has effectively hit a brick wall.”

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