21st Century Necromancer

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Although the Blood River is one of the most important abilities of a Blood Knight, Jounouchi Hiromi wasn't particularly concerned about it. After all, she had Xiao Lan, a legendary giant dragon mount. Thus, her need for combat power wasn't particularly urgent.

The reason she considered it and hoped to create her own Blood River was simply because she had felt dissatisfied with her lack of combat power during the fight in Kanazawa.

However, compared to her craving for combat power, the artificial womb experiment was what truly occupied her mind at the moment.

While Mr. Chen Yu had arranged for Kyuuzai Ryousen to help Jounouchi Hiromi customize experimental equipment, he himself had also created the same in the now-completed Mage Tower within his Necromantic Space, using his own magic laboratory.

Compared to those produced by modern technology, the experimental equipment created through magical alchemy wasn't inferior in any way; the difference between the two was merely one of principle.

"Indeed, if the lighting isn't controlled, it will affect the embryo," said Jounouchi Hiromi in the laboratory of the Mage Tower, a hint of relief in her voice as she looked at the two culture flasks on the experimental bench used for contrast experiments.

In many respects, magic has its own unique advantages over technology. For example, with experiments like this one, you can use the power of spells to accelerate embryo development, shortening the process, which normally takes over twenty days, to just over five hours, accelerating time a hundredfold.

"Ultimately, the mother's womb is an environment without light. When my predecessors, the Necromancers, studied the Flesh Womb spell, they encountered the same issue. That's why they used flesh to build barriers that completely encased the embryos," Mr. Chen Yu wasn't surprised by this result. In fact, conducting light-shielding contrast experiments was an idea he had suggested.

"Mm, it seems that shading is necessary. However, observing embryo development is also essential during experiments," Jounouchi Hiromi said, even though she had roughly anticipated such results before the experiment. Sometimes, experiments need to verify the theoretical knowledge from books through actual experimentation and then adjust the experimental procedures based on real situations. "Do you think we should add infrared cameras, Mr. Chen Yu?"

"I don't think we should. The artificial womb should aim to mimic the mother's womb environment as closely as possible, rather than just serving as an experimental tool," Chen Yu shook his head, disagreeing with Jounouchi Hiromi's idea: "Rather than using a plastic bag or a glass jar, I actually prefer the concept proposed by Professor Liu Hongqing from Cornell University in 2001. His idea involved using biodegradable collagen and chondroitin to build a uterine-shaped scaffold and cultivating uterine lining cells on it, thereby growing an artificial womb.@@novelbin@@

This design is better at matching the state of the mother's womb, providing a favorable environment for fetal development. However, this concept also has its problems; the artificial womb cannot supply nutrients like the mother's body, nor does it have the mother's metabolic functions. It merely simulates the environment. Although it provides an environment similar to the mother's womb, it still lacks many essential functions.

Therefore, when Professor Liu Hongqing implanted mouse fertilized eggs into the artificial womb, although implantation occurred, the experiment was terminated before the end of pregnancy due to deformities. The artificial womb couldn't provide all the necessary conditions for the development of the embryo."

Jounouchi Hiromi naturally had her own opinions on this topic. Since the concept of the artificial womb was proposed, she had reviewed considerable research material: "On this point, I think the idea put forward by the Maxima Medical Center in the Netherlands is more rational, and my approach took inspiration from their design."

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They constructed an artificial womb filled with a liquid similar to amniotic fluid, complete with a blood circulation system. They connected the umbilical cord to an artificial placenta to provide the fetus with oxygen and nutrients, while striving to simulate the maternal environment as closely as possible, offering all the necessary conditions for fetal development."

Chen Yu did not want to judge which of the two artificial womb models was superior or inferior, as he saw drawbacks and areas of immaturity in both designs. However, he believed that both approaches were feasible.

Cultivating an artificial womb from endometrial cells to mimic a natural one was essentially in line with the concept behind the "Flesh Womb" spell.

But the same clear disadvantages existed for this design—because an artificially cultivated womb from endometrial cells would never be a complete maternal womb, lacking other necessary functions and unable to provide the embryo with sufficient oxygen and nutrients.

Of course, the "Flesh Womb" spell adeptly avoided this problem because the Necromancers directly cultivated a living organ from flesh, which not only could breathe on its own but also convert the flesh into required nutrients, fully guaranteeing everything needed for the development of the embryo housed within.

By comparison, the approach adopted by Jounouchi Hiromi, influenced by the Dutch method, seemed more practical and was consistent with the trajectory of human scientific development.

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"So I don't think it's necessary to install infrared cameras. There's nothing like that in a normal uterine environment, right? We can use other sensors to monitor the fetus's development," Chen Yu had initially never suggested to Jounouchi Hiromi to cultivate an artificial womb using flesh. Although doing so would have a higher success rate, in some respects, such a technique could easily provoke controversy as it fell into the realm of taboos.

In contrast, constructing an artificial womb from various instruments and equipment represented a model with successful precedent, and was more likely to be accepted by the public.

Therefore, Chen Yu simply did his best to help Jounouchi Hiromi perfect her design, rather than persuading her to consider an alternative concept.

"We don't have to worry about the nutrition for embryonic development; Professor Soda mentioned providing technical support. She has conducted research in this area and has formulas for nutrition injections ready to use," Jounouchi Hiromi said in agreement with Chen Yu's opinion, listing the issues to be resolved for the artificial womb experiment: "As for how to simulate the maternal womb environment, I think this is of utmost importance. It must be practically identical to the environment of a natural womb to ensure healthy fetal development."

"Therefore, before we officially begin the experiment, we must measure the various conditions of a natural womb to achieve absolute consistency." Simulating the conditions found in a natural womb was within the realm of current human technology, but to attain exact duplication, substantial measurement data was still required to support the experiments.

"Ah, that is indeed very important. I wonder if Professor Soda has any related material…" Jounouchi Hiromi noted down the various issues she and Chen Yu discussed in a notebook and then said to Chen Yu, "While we still have time, Mr. Chen Yu, let's run another experiment. I want to know the impact of various environmental factors on embryonic development."

"No problem," Chen Yu nodded, snapped his fingers, and summoned the Ghost Maid to clean the experimental apparatus, readying to begin a new experiment.

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