In Cecil, priests did not necessarily know how to use the Holy Light, nuns did not necessarily know how to heal, stalkers usually used two-handed greatswords and powered bludgeons, and even the most beautiful elves could be bald. In summary, it was normal for a 'singer' not to know how to sing.
But Gwen stood there and thought for a long time, and still felt that something was wrong …
But if it was not right, then so be it. After all, not many things in this land were normal. He had seen the Cyberpunk Kingdom of the Dragon, and at this moment, Gawain's compatibility with the issue of style was unprecedentedly high.
It did not matter if the style was right, as long as it worked.
He looked at the young tester in the middle of the test field, who was now connecting the runic boards and testing the magical terminal with the help of several technicians. Another technician came to a nearby safe and carefully took out a device that looked like a spine, shining with a silver-white metallic luster — the Neural Thorns.
A technician came to Venti, bowed to Gwen, and then reported to Venti, "The tester's equipment is checked, the personnel and equipment are in good condition, ready for the test at any time."
Venti nodded and looked at Gwen. The latter nodded and said, "Then let's start the test … Let me see your results so far."
"Start connecting the Neural Thorn." Venti immediately turned to her assistants. "Prepare the neural signal amplifier and helmet!"
The technicians began to get to work. Gawain saw the technician with the neural thorns come to the center of the field and carefully attach the silvery-white 'artificial spine' to the contact point at the back of the testee's neck. Another technician came over with a strange-looking helmet. The helmet was made of several layers of metal sheets. The most peculiar thing about it was that it completely covered the eyes. Then, someone else began to activate all kinds of testing equipment and safety devices around them.
They had obviously done this more than once. In just a few minutes, they were ready for the test.
The technicians left the center of the field, leaving only the young tester standing there. The nerve thorns behind his head were hanging quietly on his back, and the strangely shaped helmet covered his eyes and skull. There was a soft material at the back of the helmet that was tightly connected to the nerve thorns. He was waiting for further instructions. In the meantime, Wendy explained the function of the equipment to Gawain. "We have specially designed a type of nerve thorns. It is more sensitive than the conventional model and allows the psionic singer to keenly sense abnormal spiritual contamination. However, this also causes a certain mental burden, so normal people need to undergo training to withstand the pressure of this additional perception …" Wendy explained to Gawain the function of the equipment.
"The Psionic Songster's suit has a series of resonance plates. Under the control of the nerve thorns, they can release certain high-frequency or low-frequency magic vibrations. That's how the effect of 'Song of the Deep Sea' spreads out. To further enhance its effect, we have also designed a set of three neural signal amplifiers. The amplifiers have not been activated yet, but you will see them later.
"… There are a lot of nerve contacts inside the helmet to further enhance the efficiency of the connection between the psionic singer and the suit. At the same time, it also has a certain protective function …"
Gwen listened in silence. Finally, he could not help but ask, "Why is the helmet covered the eyes with armor plates?"
"… To prevent mental disorder," Venti said solemnly. "During the test, we found that the psionic singer's senses are not only greatly enhanced, but also different from human beings' ESP phenomena. This involves a very complicated neuro-soul interaction process. Judging from the results, this ESP has mutated the psionic singer's vision. They will see a lot of … things they should not see, and these things are likely to bypass the mental defense and penetrate the barrier of their rationality.
"After all, although the psionic singer is a soldier against mental corruption, they are still mortals. Once their defense is penetrated, they are not much stronger than ordinary people.
"So, we designed this visual suppression device. Those armor plates not only physically block the user's vision, but also temporarily block the brain's processing of visual signals through the built-in nerve contacts of the helmet. This can prevent the phenomenon of mental pollution caused by visual pollution to the greatest extent. This is much more effective than 'closing the eyes'. "
Heti could not help but interject. "Then their vision …"
"Please don't worry." Venti smiled. "Although their eyes are blocked, the psionic singer can actually 'see'."
As she spoke, she raised her hand and waved at the young man in the middle of the test field. The latter immediately looked up and waved back as if his vision was not affected at all.
"Yes, I can 'see'," the young tester said with a smile. His nervousness seemed to have completely eased. "And it's clearer than with my eyes."
Gwen was suddenly curious. "What does the world look like in your eyes?"
"It's … hard to describe. I can see everything in all directions at the same time, including my back and the ground under my feet." The young tester thought for a moment and said seriously. "This is direct perception. All information will appear directly in my mind. But almost everything I see has no color, only varying degrees of grey. This will take some time to get used to. "
"The only 'color' that the psionic singer can see in this situation is the 'color' of mental corruption," Venti explained. "This is the conclusion of the simulation test with Naretil's help. But the actual effect has to be tested in actual combat. After all, Naretil no longer has the real 'corruption'. The difference between the divine power she simulated and the divinity in the real world is still uncertain."
Gwen nodded and then exhaled softly. "I understand. Can we move on to the next step now?"
Venti immediately looked up at the tester in the middle of the test field. "Mr. Eckstedt, are you ready?"
The young man called Eckstedt raised his hand and gestured that he was ready. "We can start at any time."
"Then activate your suit. Start by activating the three neural signal amplifiers in the room," Venti said, nodding. "Everyone else, get ready. Start recording the monitoring data and be ready to provide magic countermeasure at any time!"
As soon as Venti's voice trailed off, the tester in the middle of the test field had already begun to move. He moved a certain joint on the magic terminal, and then the surface of his suit suddenly flowed with a halo of magic. As the magic response gradually increased, he began to float slowly in the middle of the test field as if he had lost the shackles of gravity.
After a few seconds of floating, he waved his hand outside the test field.
On a table in the corner of the lab, three diamond-shaped metal devices about the length of a forearm immediately flew up. They went straight past the staff and came to the back of the tester. With the movement of the tester's hand, these metal devices unfolded their respective mechanical structures and bloomed like some kind of rigid flowers. There were also fine golden sparks jumping and flashing between the 'leaves', making crackling sounds. Then they began to fly around the tester like some kind of flexible creatures.
This scene made Gwen's eyes widen in surprise. Then he immediately understood: this was the effect of the neural thorns.
This was what he had envisioned a long time ago, the last step for ordinary people to break through the limits of the Transcendent, the last step for ordinary people to be able to truly 'release' spells. Without the help of buttons and preset spell models, the last step was directly controlled by the user's thoughts and mental power, allowing ordinary people to truly perceive and control magic power!
Now, this step had been realized.
"Very good, the tester is stable, the devices are working normally … The neural thorns feedback signal is clear and stable, and the brainwave reading is normal …" Yuri, who was monitoring the data next to him, said while directly sensing the magic waves with his mental power. "Now let's increase the load, Mr. Eckstedt. Please try to activate Psionic Echo and let us see the effect of Song of the Deep."
The tester, who was floating in the air, nodded, then raised his arm slightly and clenched his fist. A low-frequency noise immediately came from the three neural signal amplifiers floating behind him, and the noise only lasted for a short while before it reached a frequency that human ears could not pick up. It sounded like it had disappeared, but Gwen was sure that Song of the Deep had started to work and was covering the entire room because he keenly sensed that the magic in the air was rippling, and a slightly invigorating and sobering power was slowly seeping into everyone's heart.
"Looks like it's going well?" Hao Ren could not help but ask Venti, who was next to him, "But I heard that the prototype soldier has a problem with its stability?"
"Yes, there is a problem with its stability. What you see now is just the lowest load, barely able to resist the unconscious and undirected mental pollution. But as the load increases, the prototype soldier will soon lose control of the neural thorns …"
While they were talking, the test had entered the next stage. After collecting enough data, Yuri signaled the tester on the field to increase the intensity of Psionic Echo. Gwen clearly felt a more powerful magic in the room, and he even had the illusion that his skin was slightly itchy, but all this lasted less than a few seconds.
With a burst of high-frequency noise, the tester's suit suddenly flickered, and the neural thorns floating in the air with the tester were instantly extinguished. The young man seemed to be trying to regain control of his magic, but without the help of the neural thorns, he barely managed to cushion his fall in the air before falling back to the ground.
Fortunately, he only floated a little bit higher, and the fall of more than ten centimeters did not cause any harm. He just staggered for a moment and then stood firm, and then took off his helmet in frustration.
"I lost control," he said apologetically. "I'm sorry, I tried my best to maintain the energy balance, but it seems that some of the magic is beyond my perception …"
"You have done very well, Mr. Eckstedt. This is a technical problem at this stage, and we need to solve it next." Venti sighed softly. "Go and rest first. The next test will be tomorrow."
"Yes, Madam Venti."
Gwen watched all this from the side. After the tester left, he frowned slightly and looked at Venti. "What's the reason?"
"Controlling magic power is easy for senior Transcendents, but for ordinary people, it's a completely different concept." Venti sighed. "Even if the neural thorns give them the 'physical foundation' to perceive and control magic power, their minds, their thinking habits, and their neural reactions need a long process of adaptation and adjustment to master this matter."
"… That is to say, it's not enough for ordinary people to perceive and control magic power. Their nervous system … can't understand this thing?"
Venti nodded. "It's like suddenly installing an extra set of limbs on a person, and this set of limbs is far more complicated than his original limbs. It takes a very long time for the nervous system to figure out how to control these additional 'organs', and the human mind itself also needs a long time to adapt. Of course, effective training methods may greatly shorten this adaptation process, but it takes time to summarize the training method itself. At least we have no clue yet. I know how to educate Transcendents, but no one knows how to teach an ordinary person who has never used magic power to cast spells. "
Heti frowned slightly. "… I'm afraid we don't have that much time."
"… Are there any 'special talents' who can quickly adapt to the neural thorns without training?" Gwen could not help but ask.
"Yes, senior Transcendents, such as mages and Knight, can release the 'Song of the Deep' with the help of the psionic songers without any training." Venti shrugged. "But this is meaningless. The purpose of the neural thorns was to let ordinary people master magic power, but now ordinary people are being shut out."
"Indeed, it's a bit ironic …" Gwen reluctantly agreed with Venti. "But if there is no other way, we can only let a group of mages receive temporary training to become psionic songers. We are in urgent need of these special soldiers now."
"I understand what you mean. I will come up with a plan." Venti sighed. Then she seemed to have thought of something. "But … I suddenly thought of something."
Gwen and Heti asked in unison, "What did you think of?"
"We don't know how to let ordinary people quickly master magic power skills, but Typhon … they have been in the field of mass-producing Transcendents for many years," Venti said as she thought. "Of course, their mass-produced Transcendents need to be selected from young and trained over a long period of time. But this is based on the standard of becoming a formal mage and having combat ability. Putting this aside, they have a mature catalytic drug technology that can be used to reconstruct the human nervous system, a special magic ritual to enhance the magic perception of those with low talent, and a mature rapid training method and magic stimulation technology that can allow people who are new to magic to quickly master the skills …
"If we just want ordinary people to 'familiarize' with magic and let their nervous system be able to 'adapt' to magic, then these technologies may be useful for us."
Venti's words made Gwen and Heti ponder at the same time.
(End of Chapter)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
