FUCKING AMAZING GUYS! You really blew it out the water with the Following and Favoriting!
fiction/89249/though-tribulation-falls-counter-systemreality
I can't offer anymore deals at this point, still cooking, but if you'd like to still help, all you need to do is make an account, follow and favorite the work, then you could read it, or you could just ignore Royal Road.
Thank you all again for your great support of OstensibleMammal!
Mercer knew at least one line of research he was determined to carry out. When he met with his research team the next day, he solicited advice and a group discussion.
He made it clear his main line of research was the link between calorie intake and quirk usage since their emergence.
One researcher in the crowd heckled Dr. Mercer. The easy atmosphere allowed for dissent. "Isn't this strictly social scientist stuff?"
"It would be, if you looked at it narrowly. No one's ever done it like me."
Mercer pointed out to the confused audience how even using Riken's international database trying to find past, present, domestic and nothing in the mainline studies or research quoted by academia orthodoxy in related fields.
One of the few historians on the team, Takaaki Yoshimoto, elaborated on this discrepancy.
Taking out a cigarette and inhaling deeply, Yoshimoto explained the historical reasons why. "You'll often see the same pattern repeating through the times after Quirk Emergence. The rush to weaponize metahuman abilities, or the dash to rebuild." He was contemplative as he remembered his own youth and learning about how the world just kept crippling itself.
After a pause and puff, Yoshimoto continued. "There was no time or real funding to properly study topics that weren't deemed important enough. I'm sure that was even the same for you Dr. Mercer. If it didn't make money, I'm sure it would be disregarded. Everyone was focused on immediate, practical effects. Eugenics saw a massive resurgence that we've only relatively recently, only the last few decades, have tried to truly handle."
"Many nations were busy trying to weaponize quirks, or focused on not dying or losing to another nation. Everyone knows when it comes to budget cuts, science and research always get on the chopping block. All the money goes to social services or the military. Science is easy to ignore unless it's related to weaponry or immediate gains. That's why comparatively, robotics and artificial intelligence development was even faster to roll out. Too much manpower loss led to its fast evolution. Deploying advanced cannon fodder to grind down the most powerful quirk users was a benefit to the richer but lower metahuman populated countries during those conflicts. "
Yoshimoto's tone became more melancholic as he thought back to the people he remembered so long ago. What they experienced, what their families told them as a child. The sleepless nights as a teen reading about the decline of the world.
"The chain of knowledge was broken. The world's scientists relied on an unbroken continuity of knowledge from the foremost in their field. The finest teaching of the next generation was extinguished." He finished with a lament.
The assembly was silent, barely a whisper of discussion. To have it said so bluntly discomforted them. They lost so much time and progress. The geniuses that would have made a better world, instead were regaled to dying in some useless conflict, or stuck as a low level worker their entire life.
Could they imagine their lives if they hadn't pursued their fields? Instead, stuck to a menial job forever?
One of the doctors chimed in with their own nuggets of knowledge. It was as much to break the silence as it was to add to the discussion.
"Additionally, when there were periods of food insecurity, everyone got hit hard. It's like asking if mutant types are more susceptible to cancer when there's radiation everywhere. You can't establish a baseline anymore. The worst cases just get seen as an extension of the suffering. Quirks didn't occur in a single people or ethnic group, it seemingly hit the world in a single "wave" at once, spreading from China to all over the world. So there was no single area that could exist without metahumans in society. No single pocket of quirklessness to study it in peace."
One of the engineers, feeling left out, added their two cents. "Various global treaties after the devastation of various Quirk Wars heavily restricted Quirk use. Similar to tariffs, it was to also prevent certain metahuman abilities from destroying economic industries. Legal Quirk use for many projects can't constitute more than 15% of production or work use. The only exceptions are applying for an expensive and heavily regulated permit. Who wants to spend grant or research money on maximizing or analyzing the use of Quirks in-depth, when it isn't profitable or applicable? Most of the money is in the support industry, and most of them don't have abilities that benefit their work regardless."
A physicist even joined into the discussion. "Quirks already seemed to break the laws of thermodynamics. The greatest feats of our time output more energy than a single person could consume in their entire lives. Where else could the energy be coming from?" She shrugged. Mercer filed that tidbit for later. It did sound suspicious.
Alex took in their explanations with satisfaction. "So what you're all saying is, we've got an untapped field of potential we don't have to compete in?"
Everyone took a moment to take in the implications. They'd be breaking new ground. With the world lagging behind, they would be the force to bring something new. They could write the next generation of textbooks on these efforts! Even those not as enthused or wondering how they could offer their expertise could see how this would advance their careers. Having their name in the authorship or even an acknowledgement would be a big boon.
So it was no surprise when the groups decided to pursue two additional lines of research, apart but running parallel to Mercer's.
Mercer expanded the reach of his research. This would include export/imports of direct consumer goods related to the food fields. The subtopics which would also be encompassed would be closely linked issues. Hunger and poverty rates divided by the three categories of quirks. And finally, crime rates based on available food social programs in Japan, controlling for wealth and education.
Group Two, made up of kinesiologists and nutritionists, wanted to pursue practical nutrition science. They wanted to see calorie burning between different quirk categories and putting in practical experiments under a variety of experimental groups.
Finally, Group Three wanted to go the deepest out of all of them. Made up of geneticists, hematologists, and chemists, they wanted to study the genetics of hunger, starvation, and its effects on the three culturally differentiated categories of quirks. They would be broadly looking at differing levels of mitochondria between mutant types, emitter and transformational quirks, along with their respective metabolism.
Much of the researchers and scientists who weren't that applicable would help wherever they could. It could be as simple a data entry to actually finding the people needed to run the experiments. Everyone was onboard to do something, and found their way into each group one way or another.
The research groups began screening applicants responding to the calls for volunteers. They had a healthy cross section of the population given the allure and mystique of Alex Mercer technically helming the research groups.
Honestly, the only perks people would receive was an unlimited paid for budget for meals. However, there were obvious stipulations.
They had to stay on the prescribed diets or be taken off the endeavor entirely. The people involved had to come in once a day for study and experiments. The transportation would also be paid for, lessening their burdens.
Even with the strict demands, people were happy to be a part of something bigger, especially those who needed those extra calories. It was a win for everyone.
Alex Mercer felt like he was finally in his proper groove. Was it as exciting as the projects he did centuries ago? No, and the world was better for it. Maybe more interesting projects would come after. But the work of science found its greatest discoveries in the most unlikely of places.