Cosmic Life Sciences Institute

"If your ambition rivals that of a genius, and you know how to create value through innovation, then you belong in the Technology Department! Join forces with the Intelligentsia Guild!" Every researcher who successfully makes it into the Life Sciences Institute remembers the exact moment the director's finger pointed their way. The vision of "success" sending shivers down their spine, the staggering R&D budgets making their head spin. In this research institute jointly established by the Technology Department and the Intelligentsia Guild, thinking is the most important work, and inspiration is a researcher's most irreplaceable asset. Scholars peer through microscopes to deconstruct and refactor the building blocks of universal life, then tip the scales of the market, jotting down in their reports exactly how many pounds and ounces they are worth. Maximizing results at all costs tends to send academia into overdrive: a relentless surge of audacious experiments that constantly skirt the gray areas of ethics. Cross-species hybridization, gene editing, species creation... Every living thing in the universe is fair game for the Life Sciences Institute. There used to be a joke passed around among the staff: When you walk past a darkened laboratory, you never know whether the one opening the door next will be the researcher... or the research subject. Among the many widely circulated rumors and legends, the head of the Technology Department, Yabuli, has always been one of the central figures. As an elusive bigshot, everyone's heard her name, yet precious few know what the major experiment she spearheads actually entails. People gaze toward the core focus of the Life Sciences Institute with a mix of awe and trepidation, and every violent tremor that erupts from within sparks a fresh wave of feverish speculation. The Life Sciences Institute never responds to such questions. Beneath the surface, undercurrents churn, while researchers contribute their ruminations day after day. Until the collision of inspiration strikes a spark, and outlandish fantasies are forged into reality through fierce debate. Only then does everyone breathe a collective sigh of relief. Even with closed eyes, they can already see the cosmic tomorrow reshaped by their own hands.

Ever since the IPC successfully salvaged Planarcadia, "Wishpower" has become one of the hottest research topics at the Life Sciences Institute. After years of study, simulating Wishpower-rich environments, and even producing wispae, is no longer a difficult issue for the Life Sciences Institute. On the bustling production line, a newborn wispae can see nothing but the hurried, shuffling boots of researchers and a conveyor belt stretching toward the infinite beyond. This is where it was born, and this is the industrialized assembly line to which it will devote its entire life in service of the Interastral Peace Corporation. The patent documents of the Life Sciences Institute describe the "nurturing" process as follows: Wispae, who transport goods on assembly lines year-round, undergo rotational balance training in centrifugal containers during their unconscious cultivation period; the wispae responsible for stepping on buttons to provide production power can potentially reach a bounce height of over fifty times their own size if stimulated by a mild electric current; and those rare wispae with exceptional talent may even be further conjured into highly valuable products... A massive amount of consumables is glossed over in a single stroke, and the researcher concludes at the end: "Nurtured by the IPC, every seemingly weak wispae will transform and become the highest quality, most valuable laborer and commodity." The Life Sciences Institute housed the wispae's work and living quarters within elegant glass enclosures, showcasing them as a crowning achievement of new-era bioengineering. Grateful for the IPC's benevolence, these tame wispae came to believe that here, "you were born to labor," and that here, "the humblest imagenae keep the grand Life Sciences Institute running." Some researchers liked to lean against the glass and watch them whenever fatigue set in. They would see swarms of wispae converging in waves, see the ceaseless churn of conveyor belts rolling toward them... And then, the person pressed against the glass might catch a glimpse of their own reflection staring back.