Chapter 168: Chapter 167 The Significance of Impurities
Richard quickly grabbed more mice and came back, starting to design experiment after experiment, conducting control tests, variable control tests, and repeating tests.
Ultimately, Richard discovered some conditions that were a bit more complex than he imagined.
For example, the performance of the little mice wasn’t just about the strengthening of fear signals. More accurately, it was the acceleration of nerve signal transmission speed. Put simply, the little mice reacted faster, able to respond to external stimuli in shorter times, which is why they were able to continuously dodge the scalpel’s attacks.
Richard wasn’t sure what the principle behind it was, but it was far more important than any “One-eyed Frenzy Potion.”
In other words, the deep blue extract from the blood of the “Griffin Seven-colored Bird” that One-eyed considered an impurity was not impurity at all, but a treasure, worth more than the entire “One-eyed Frenzy Potion.”
Enhance reaction speed!
This wasn’t just about being faster by a fraction, sometimes it could be overwhelmingly effective.
Like the difference between 59 and 60, 99 and 100, it represented two different worlds.
Generally speaking, nerve signal transmission within the human body is around the level of 100m/s, leading to a certain delay before the body can take action, even if the brain has already reacted to something.
Therefore, all explosive movements require a startup, a reaction time.
For instance, in the short-distance races on modern Earth, from the time the starter’s gun is fired to the moment the athletes begin running, the process must exceed 0.1 seconds, which is the scientifically calculated reaction threshold. If the start is under 0.1 seconds, it’s directly ruled as a false start, leading to disqualification.
What if this startup, this reaction time, were reduced, for instance, by one-fifth, one-third, or even one-half?
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It would be terrifying.
In battle, especially close combat, sometimes being a split-second faster could determine victory or defeat, so if every move could be twice as fast as the enemy’s, it would be complete mockery.
“How does this deep blue blood extract work exactly? How does it manage to speed up nerve transmission?” Richard’s eyes flickered as he speculated, “Does it cover ‘Lang Fei’s knot,’ speeding up the nerve fiber’s transmission speed? Or does it change the neurotransmitter’s transmission process?”
Generally, nerve signal transmission in the human body relies on the transmission through nerve fibers, which are made up of multiple neural cells. A neural cell can structurally be divided into two main parts: the cell body and the neurites. Neurites are further divided into dendrites and axons. Function-wise, a neural cell can be divided into four sections: the Receiving Area, Trigger Zone, Conduction Zone, and Output Area.
When a neurite receives a signal or stimulus from another cell, the Trigger Zone (dendrites) first generates an action potential, which is rapidly transmitted through the Conduction Zone (axon), reaching the Output Area (axon terminal).
The Output Area synthesizes neurotransmitters and encapsulates them within synaptic vesicles, through which neurotransmitter molecules diffuse to the Receiving Area (dendrites) of the next neuron cell.
The receptors in the Receiving Area of the next neuron cell combine with the neurotransmitters, causing biochemical reactions, and consequently, an action potential appears in the Trigger Zone of the subsequent neuron cell, continuously passing the signal onwards.
To accelerate the speed of nerve transmission, generally speaking, there are two methods.
First, speeding up the “Conduction Zone” process.
Second, speed up the process from the “Output Area” to the next neuron cell’s “Reception Area.”
The best way to achieve the first method would be to reduce signal attenuation, something vertebrates have a significant advantage in.
One could imagine the whole nerve as segments of electrical wires (neuron cells) connected together, with the electrical signal weakening as it travels through each segment. The cheat vertebrates have over other life forms is that they have an insulating sheath called the myelin sheath wrapped around these wires, ensuring that the signal strength diminishes very little, allowing for faster transmission.
However, the problem is that the myelin sheath is not tightly packed; there are gaps in between. Under a microscope, they appear as segments, and the gaps between these segments are called “Nodes of Ranvier.” The exposed wires (nerve axons) are still vulnerable at these nodes. If the number of “Nodes of Ranvier” could be reduced, then there would be less exposure of the wires (nerve axons), and signal transmission would be faster.
To implement the second method, the best way would be to change the way neurotransmitters are transmitted. This process involves the production of neurotransmitters, encapsulation, diffusion, reception, binding, and response, which is extremely cumbersome. If it could be optimized, even just one step, when considering the transmission across thousands of neuron cells, the acceleration would be significant.
So how exactly does the deep blue liquid function? Through which method does it speed up the neural response?
Richard’s eyes sparkled as he thought quickly and ultimately decided to test it himself.
Taking a deep breath, Richard picked up the concoction of “Richard’s unknown potion,” took a tentative sip, closed his eyes, and intently sensed the changes. After a while, he took another sip, increasing the dosage to continue sensing more deeply, invoking his spiritual power to perceive.
Changes occurred, and Richard’s brows gradually furrowed.
After a moment, Richard’s brows relaxed, he opened his eyes, and with a sparkle in his gaze, he looked at his hands and muttered to himself, “Is that how it is?”
In Richard’s perception, speeding up neural transmission was not based on the first or second method, but rather an unprecedented third method.
Spiritual transmission is about signals, not any specific substance. In theory, as long as the signal is successfully transmitted, causing the brain to react, and then passing that reaction signal to the corresponding part, the process itself is irrelevant.
Through countless years of evolution, the entire animal kingdom has developed a sophisticated and complex nervous system for this function, including structures of various sizes.
But… what if this system was discarded?
It’s like transporting a load of goods. There’s already a well-developed railway system, which is efficient, but while it’s efficient, it also limits further development. Would it be better to switch to airplanes for air transport instead?
Richard couldn’t be completely certain yet, but he already had some vague guesses: the reason the potion sped up neural reflex speed might not be due to the transmission of electrical signals by neuron cells, but rather it relied on the creation of a special substance for transmitting signals.
This substance didn’t exist on modern Earth; it was akin to a specialty of the current world, similar to free “Energy Elements.”
Free “Energy Elements” could travel through the body’s channels (blood vessels, nerves), reach a specific state, and then be stimulated and released outside the body to take effect.
The special substance produced could similarly travel through the body’s channels, being attached to the nerves but not completely bound by them. It would find the shortest, fastest route, transmitting to the brain at speeds exceeding that of neural signals, and then sending the signal back.
It could be simply understood that if the nerves were a regular broadband line buried underground (within the body), while this broadband line wasn’t too slow and had a decent speed, it wasn’t the fastest and had some delays. Later, along the buried line, a new fiber optic broadband was put in place, vastly increasing speed to explosive levels, and reducing delay dramatically.
Although this fiber optic line was temporary, requiring the potion to manifest and having a certain duration, it was costly and not feasible for constant everyday use. But when used appropriately during its limited uptime, it could have unimaginably powerful effects.
Unimaginable effects!