Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“What would happen if you enlarged a cockroach 100 times in equal proportion?”
On the podium, the teacher with thinning hair gazed at the classroom, waiting to hear the students’ opinions.
“It will eat a chicken!” As soon as the teacher finished speaking, a voice came from the corner of the classroom.
“Hahaha…”
In an instant, the students in the class burst into laughter.
The kind-faced teacher didn’t get angry. Instead, he laughed along with the class and gave a nod. “Okay, you’re substituting your idea into the cockroach. Anyone have any other ideas?”
“That cockroach will probably become a few meters tall, so I think one chicken will not be enough to feed it!”
The students laughed again.
The teacher nodded and chuckled. “Good. Continue!”
“As the size of the cockroach becomes larger, the gravity it bears also becomes heavier. I think it will be crushed to death by gravity!”
“That’s not necessarily true. It becomes proportionally larger, so its skeleton can certainly hold up to gravity!”
“…”
The teacher looked at the students who spoke positively and was pleased. He replied: “There is a concept in biology called ‘anisotropic growth’, which means that there is a quantitative relationship between biological characteristics—such as behavior, morphology, and the energy requirements of organisms—and their body size. In other words, organisms change quantitatively as their body size changes. The change in size is quantitative, but the change is not in equal proportion!”
As he spoke, he began to write a formula on the board with chalk.
“This concept was first introduced by Julian Huxley in 1932, and it can be expressed by a mathematical formula: E=70M^3/4.
“The form and size of organisms grows linearly, and this relationship is determined by the square-cube law. That is, when the length of an organism doubles, its surface area will be four times as large, and its volume and mass will be eight times as large…”
Upon hearing the explanation, Du Gang’s mind wandered. To be exact, he focused his attention on a virtual panel that suddenly appeared in his mind.
[Du Gang
First Order Ancient God]
Ancient God; a species that could grow indefinitely!
Theoretically, with enough energy, it could even take down stars, devour the moon, and grow to the size of a planet…
Below the description was an attribute panel.
The first row, named ‘First Order Ancient God System’, had lit up, and in the square brackets after it was a bleak string of remarks: [Upgrade requires 10,000 energy points.]
Ancient God System?
As soon as Du Gang pondered, a stream of information emerged.
[Ancient God System of Growth
First Order: 10 meters in height (Limit)
Ignores the negative effects caused by the human body after transformation.
Current Available Time Per Day: 10 minutes
After the completion of the first order, the transformation time limit will be lifted.]
The attribute panel was more like a skill tree. The Ancient God System was at the top. Below it, on the second row, were eight branches of systems in total.
Systems: nervous, locomotor, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, endocrine, urinary, and respiratory.
At that moment, the eight branches in the second row were dull in appearance, and Du Gang knew that they hadn’t been activated yet.
And at the end of each branch, there was a note: [Activation requires 100 energy points.]
At the same time, he had a vague feeling that he could transform into a ‘giant’ right now if he wanted to.
However, he resisted this impulse and didn’t dare try it in the classroom.
He opened his eyes and his biology teacher was still lecturing.
“If this cockroach weighs only one gram and has a volume of 1 x 1 x 1 = 1 cm3, then it needs to bear only 1 gram of weight per square centimeter of its cross-section.
“After enlarging it a hundred times, the volume becomes 100 x 100 x 100 = 1,000,000cm3, and if the density doesn’t change, its weight will increase to 1,000,000 grams. Although its cross-sectional area increases accordingly, it only increases to 10,000cm2, so what does this mean? It means that the weight required to bear each square centimeter of cross-section has increased by a hundred times!
“So, if this cockroach grew a hundred times larger, it would be crushed to death by its own weight!”
Upon hearing the explanation, Du Gang frowned and raised his hand to ask a question, “Teacher, then what should it do to survive after increasing its size?”
The teacher smiled and wrote two words on the blackboard: locomotor system.
“What I said about it being crushed by its own weight is only the effect that the locomotor system has on it. Apart from that, it will still suffer the effects of the other systems…
“According to the square-cube law, as the cockroach gets bigger, the oxygen it needs grows dramatically. The growth of the surface area of the gas-exchange part also cannot keep up with its growth in volume…
“So, on Earth, if a cockroach becomes a hundred times bigger, it will die from a lack of oxygen, in addition to being crushed…”
Soon after, the teacher wrote down another two words: respiratory system.
Du Gang was taken aback and subconsciously murmured, “Is there a way to solve the problem of oxygen deprivation?”
The teacher discovered his fascinated look and nodded pleasingly, saying: “It is not impossible. If the cockroach has more trachea to expand the amount of oxygen absorption…
“In addition, if the oxygen level contained in the earth’s air rises, it will also be able to provide the cockroach with more vitality…
“Scientists have found that in the age of dinosaurs, creatures were enormous, and one of the reasons for that may have been the very high level of oxygen in the atmosphere…”
At that moment, one of the other students asked, “Teacher, if our oxygen levels increase now, will I be able to grow taller again?”
The teacher narrowed his eyes and spoke with a big smile. “If you disregard the oxygen toxicity and happen to still be in the developmental stage with increased oxygen levels, it is indeed possible for you to grow taller under the influence of this environment…
“In this environment, plants grow faster, bigger, and taller compared to animals! Of course, in this oxygen-rich environment, our next generation will also be taller and bigger!”
The teacher spread his hands apart and smiled. “That’s it for today’s lesson. Next lesson we’ll talk about the reproductive and urinary systems…”
“Reproductive system… Heh, heh…” the students blushed and snickered.
“Students, before I go I have a question for you: what is a germ cell? Please go home and read up on it in your textbook to understand what a germ cell is. I will ask another interesting question in the next class…
“Okay, class dismissed!”
The students stood up at once, bowed, and said in unison, “Goodbye, teacher!”
The teacher nodded, turned around, and left the classroom.
Not long after the teacher left the classroom, a student suddenly shouted, “Hey, check out the news on your phone!”