Thank You,
Knight Teir: "Rue Ryuzaki", and "Tyronter"
For Becoming A Member On My Pa'treon. The Emperor Protect.
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The team of experts studied the footage with faint smiles tugging at their faces.
"It seems Tony was really distracted back then."
"I can't tell what this cutting-edge tech was supposed to do."
"It's definitely not some ordinary business deal that could make Tony so eager to cooperate, right?"
"At that time, Tony was still carefree. I guess he hadn't felt the weight of the world on his shoulders yet."
"Indeed, the changes before and after are remarkable."
Their quiet discussions filled the room. This particular memory fragment didn't seem special at first glance, just another scene. But the pen in historian Johan's hand paused mid-sentence.
The view shifted suddenly, and the next moment, he appeared in a suite.
[ Tony, in pajamas, exclaimed in surprise: "No way! I thought it was just an idea!" ]
[ Maya, looking at her computer, smiled softly. "It used to be." ]
[ On her screen, a detailed image of a human brain appeared. Maya continued: "If my calculations are correct, we can access the region of the brain responsible for self-healing and rewrite it." ]
[ Tony steadied himself, placing a hand on her shoulder. "That means you've cracked the genetic operating system of an organism?" ]
[ Maya nodded. "Yes." ]
[ Happy brushed his fingers over the leaves of a nearby potted plant, and Maya instantly frowned, "Can you not touch my plant? That's not-" ]
[ Tony interjected. "She doesn't like being touched. Don't." ]
[ "Come on," Tony said, motioning toward the bedroom. "Let's continue in there." ]
[ Maya followed, replying as they walked. "So far, we've only tested it on plants. I call it the Extremis... but it still needs-" ]
[ Tony interrupted. "To be tested on people?" ]
[ Maya's eyes gleamed. "Exactly. And if successful, it could regenerate necrotic tissue. Disease prevention, even limb regeneration!" ]
"Wait, what did I just hear?"
"Rewriting brain self-healing areas? What kind of sorcery is that?"
"Bioengineering? Medical technology? Sounds insane!"
"I thought they were just chatting, but this is next-level genius talk!"
"Extremis? Activating dead tissue? Regrowing limbs? That's unreal!"
"If that's real, soldiers on the battlefield wouldn't even need medics anymore!"
"Who is this woman? Her research sounds groundbreaking."
"If this gets developed, it'll change everything."
"This might be even more valuable than Tony's suit."
"What about side effects, though? They've only tested plants, right?"
"Oh, I get it now. No wonder Maya didn't want Happy touching her plant, it's her experiment!"
"This is unbelievable! To think something like this was being developed during the Terra Earth era?"
"From what we saw earlier, this must have been right before the final battle, unfinished at the time."
"I wonder if more clips will surface…"
Human Potential Development Organization.
Ashton frowned, mirroring the tense expressions of his colleagues. The reach of this so-called Extremis was staggering. Its described effects, resurrecting necrotic tissue, even regenerating limbs, sounded far beyond the transformations that made Rogers from a frail man into a super-soldier. Reborn from a severed limb? Impossible. Not even the Hulk could do that.
One researcher scoffed. "We've theorized similar ideas before, but thinking about it and achieving it are worlds apart."
The room was full of some of the brightest biological and medical PhDs in the Federation, each of them a master in their field. The dream of limb regeneration was universal among them, but after decades of study, their progress remained limited to lizards' tails and amphibian cells.
Another laughed mockingly. "Recoding a brain's self-healing zone? Cracking the genetic code? That's pure fantasy. Darwin himself would've called it heresy."
Ashton's brows furrowed. On the Terra Federation, such a "self-healing zone" had never been documented. The coordinates on Maya's computer didn't even line up with any known brain map, more like an overlap with the left hemisphere.
"The brain remains the most mysterious region of the human body," someone said solemnly. "It's the hardest to study, yet the one we most desire to master."
Ashton nodded slightly. "The cerebral cortex does contain distinct areas, but a so-called self-healing region? That's unheard of."
Modern research, he recalled, was still based on Brodmann's early mapping of the cortex into distinct regions based on cell structure and density, vision, movement, language, and higher motor control.
"So where would this hidden self-healing zone even fit in?" one scientist muttered.
Kayden Khan, Ashton's assistant, suddenly spoke up. "Could it be that their terminology differed from ours back then?"
"Mr. Ashton, look, Tony mentioned decoding the genetic operating system. Maybe he meant the same thing we now describe as self-healing potential."
Once, Kayden had been a genetic researcher in a past life; her knowledge of gene systems was unparalleled.
Ashton smiled faintly. "Go on."
She hesitated, then continued, "Self-healing is the body's intrinsic, balanced mechanism of recovery. It suppresses self-destruction and decay. Every organism, humans included, possesses an innate self-healing system to resist external physical, chemical, and microbial damage. For complex life forms, this system includes subsystems: immune response, stress regulation, repair and regeneration, endocrine balance…"
Realizing she was getting too technical, she rephrased. "In simpler terms, self-healing has three attributes: heredity, independence, and variability. It's encoded genetically, passed down naturally through DNA."
Her gaze shifted to the live broadcast screen, her voice dropping into awe. "If those researchers could already manipulate gene fragments directly, then by altering heredity itself, they could enhance self-healing exponentially."
She hesitated. "So… maybe Maya's theory wasn't impossible after all."
But she quickly shook her head. "No. The complexity of genetic manipulation is astronomical. Even targeting a single trait could take decades. The Terra Federation's current peak is limited to gene-targeted therapies for isolated diseases."
After a pause, she admitted quietly, "Honestly, what Maya described is even harder to achieve than the transformations of Rogers or the Hulk."
A murmur swept through the room. Most didn't grasp the full science, but they understood one thing: this kind of genetic control was practically impossible.
Ashton didn't rush to a verdict. Instead, he smiled faintly. "Kayden is the expert here. I encourage everyone to discuss these theories with her. Because if humanity ever does achieve true self-healing… it will redefine life itself."
Heads nodded solemnly. Broken arms, shattered legs, regrown effortlessly. The implications for the Terra Federation were immeasurable.
"Extremis…" Ashton muttered, "I wonder if the Immortal Warrior memory archives contain more related fragments…"
Suddenly, he sat up straight. His eyes locked onto the screen. Everyone behind him froze.
Kayden's eyes widened. "This… this can't be!"
Playback: Past Memory.
[ Maya entered the room with Tony after scolding Happy for touching her plant. Angrily, Happy snapped off one of its branches. ]
[ Seconds later, the plant glowed with fiery, lava-like veins, and the severed branch regrew, identical to the one destroyed. When the glow faded, the plant stood whole again, as though nothing had happened. Only the broken branch on the floor remained as proof. ]
Kayden's face drained of color. Around her, jaws dropped in disbelief, "The… the plant regenerated?"
All eyes turned to her. She had just declared it impossible, at least decades away. She swallowed hard, unable to form an explanation.
Ashton's expression, however, turned sharp with excitement, "Extremis… what an incredible discovery."
Leaning back in his chair, he said firmly, "Kayden, I'm assigning the Extremis research to you. There may be no immediate results, but if it succeeded once in the Earth era, it can succeed again."
Kayden nodded silently, though her mind swirled with disbelief. It would be a task nearly impossible, but worth every ounce of effort.