4.6 Billion Year Symphony of Evolution Vol 2 Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty Seven The Process of Greening
So that was how it was … … the organisms below relied on this to survive .
As Lin thought about this, it had the Leviathan swim down along the crystal pillar . The surrounding light gradually became dim and cold as it went deeper but this enormous crystal was still blindingly bright and warm . The crystal mountain channeled the light of day into the darkness of the ocean .
When Lin returned once again to the crystal forest at the bottom, it saw an incredible scene . Other than the scattered crystal debris, all the whole crystals growing on the floor shone with glittering light . While the light they gave off couldn’t rival the light on land, it could compare to the stars during night .
The crystals warmed this cold region of water .
Many organisms that Lin had never seen during nighttime appeared here . There was a kind of single red cell . They stuck to the flashing crystal barrier . Lin recognized it as another kind of cell that consumed light . The crystal bacteria Lin usually saw during night were much rarer now .
These little organisms that lived here became active at this time . Large numbers of flat fish pa.s.sed through the crystals, and so did many trilobites, as well as other tentacle-shaped organisms . Lin could occasionally see one or two small ice crystal monsters among them . The ice crystal monsters seemed to feed on the red cells, but Lin didn’t see a large ice crystal monster like the one that attacked Leviathan .
Maybe the little ice crystal monsters would leave here after they grow up?
All the organisms living here had a trait in common . Their sh.e.l.ls were made of crystals, but their crystals were unlike other crystals . Their sh.e.l.ls did not seem to absorb light nor heat . Maybe, they had been modified specially and this was why the big ice crystal monster had dared to jump onto land and attack Leviathan .
This was a good place to build a base . Using these crystals, Lin could create many special things … …
The Leviathan swam to a shining crystal . It released a special type of cell called the “green algae ball . ” In reality, this was just a collection of light-eating cells . Lin had the green algae ball get close to the crystal and immediately felt photosynthesis respond . The chlorophyll started to activate and create nutrients .
As expected, the light of the crystals could be used . All light could be used?
Lin was very satisfied with this . It would start to build the base here .
Lin did not plan to put any base seed into the crystals . Instead, it had the base seed float in the air . Then it made a hole in the crystal and shoved the photosynthetic cell inside .
The photosynthetic cells could create a lot of oxygen in addition to nutrients . This appeared very profitable . Lin also build some “rearing rooms” inside the Leviathan and used the lanterns to shine on its own cells to obtain oxygen and nutrients at the same time .
Because the work on the crystal would be enormous, Lin planned to have the Leviathan stay here for a while .
… … Wait, if that was the case, it would rather … …
Lin planned to change all the bases and connect them together into an enormous system .
Right now, Lin had seven bases, the main base, the sea abyss, the corals, the water surface, the ice pillar … … and this crystal area .
If it used cell tubules and chitin pa.s.sages to connect all the bases, then Lin would possess an enormous number of cells . Its intelligence would increase another step .
Lin had not increased its intelligence for a long time now . Maybe because it did not have enough cells? When Lin had more than two billion cells, it felt there was nothing to increase .
Its ability to compute seemed to increase but Lin wanted to obtain more new terms and understanding of the surrounding environment .
How about building an enormous base? That would be very complicated … …
Leviathan’s journey would temporarily stop but it would still continue to travel . Right now, Lin would build a base, the biggest base in its history .
Right now, all the existing bases had completely grown . From the outside, they were pyramidal in shape . They would frequently release devourers and other type of cells to gather food . When they grew to a certain point, they stopped growing . Now, Lin had them dissolve the armor around the base, and start to rebuild themselves in a “carpet method . ”
What was the “carpet method?” It was to have the photosynthetic cells grow along the sea bed like carpet until they stretched and covered all . Lin planned to connect all the regions together, merging all the bases, and forming an enormous base .
This way, this entire seabed would belong to Lin .
While it would take a long time, Lin prepared to start now . The main plan was for the gland cells to first secret a layer of flat sh.e.l.l . Then the photosynthetic cells would spread evenly on the sh.e.l.l . This structure would continue to grow until it covered the seabed and all areas with light .
This way, Lin would have laid out a green carpet over the entire seabed and possess endless power! Lin could not cover those deep and lightless areas . There was no meaning .
LIn could call this plan the “Greening Seabed . ”
As to these crystals, Lin first planned to create some crystal cell types . However, no organisms posed a threat to Lin at this moment, so Lin did not worry too much about the development of its types .
Also, facing abiotic disasters, the strength of cell types were useless .
Other than being soldiers, these crystals could also be used in the “Greening Seabed” plan . Lin could dissolve them and spread them on the sea bed . Then Lin could shove in the photosynthetic cells . This way, under the help of the crystals, their efficiency for absorbing light would be high .
Lin did not know how much crystals there were . But it was fine if Lin used them all up as Lin was not reliant on the crystals .
Other than these glowing crystals, the surroundings were dark due to the ice layer, and could not support photosynthetic cells . So Lin had the Leviathan create transporters to transport the crystals here to other bases .
Lin only took the crystal pieces that did not glow . As to the glowing ones, it would shove the photosynthetic cells in . There was no need to move them away .
Lin did not plan to move this enormous mountain of crystal . It felt that damaging such a beautiful thing would be a pity . Also, it was hot, and troublesome to move .
Then, the “Greening Seabed” started .
This was a long process … … Leviathan could rest for a while after travelling for so long .
Lin’s mental scope was large . It could have all the cells do different things at the same time or look at different areas through all the different eyeb.a.l.l.s .
The second layer of the green carpet was white hard sh.e.l.l, and the photosynthetic cells were placed between the first and second layer . Underneath the second layer were all the organs and soldier units who could enter and leave through small openings in the sh.e.l.l .
The greening seabed started in the surroundings of every bases, and then grew slowly . It would take a long time to cover the entire seabed in photosynthetic cells . Lin did not have that much nutrients . It could only slowly build as it obtained nutrients . While it was building, it also had to defend against attacks from other organisms . Lin needed to create large numbers of guards .
Lin did not have that base which had large numbers of green cells do anything . It floated there and continued to observe wild green cells and the movement of the water surface .
As to the main base on the island, Lin first had it create an enormous shield to cover the entire base . Then it filled the base with water . After doing this, Lin would study how to make photosynthetic cells on land .
Lin’s photosynthetic cells would be killed by ultraviolet light . Presently, it had not found any method for photosynthetic cells to absorb light on land or even near the water surface .
No matter what, these would all take a long time .
Leviathan temporarily stayed at the crystal area . When everything was finished, it would travel again .
As night and day pa.s.sed, Lin’s work slowly advanced .
“Time” was a unit . Right now, Lin could only use day and night to measure how much time pa.s.sed .
Lin found there should be a new term used to describe “time” because it found a special word in its thoughts: “year . ”
Lin had knowledge about year . One year seemed to be 365 days and nights . And this “year” seemed to represent the revolution of the world . For example, near the end of the year, the temperature would turn cold, the water would turn to ice . Yet when the year started again, the temperatures would warm up .
Many of the changes in environment could be predicted by what time of “year” it was .
But this seemed to be false .
Because Lin found that sometimes the water would freeze in the middle of the year, sometimes at the end or the beginning . In conclusion, year was not accurate .
What was going on? Would the terms in Lin’s thoughts contain false information? Did this mean that Lin could not trust these terms?
Lin did not know . But at least “year” could describe 365 days and night . Lin would use it temporarily to describe long period of time .
Lin feared it would take many “years” to complete this entire project .
Translator Ramblings: I couldn’t find a good video or image about stromatolites but microbial mats and biofilms are very cool things .