Chapter 999 - 998: Unstable

Chapter 999: Chapter 998: Unstable

In the Cecil Clan, a Priest might not necessarily know the Holy Light, a nun might not know how to heal, stealth users often wield two-handed greatswords and Power Cudgels, and even the peak beauty of the elf race might actually be bald—thus, it’s quite normal for a "Singer" not to sing.

But Gawain stood there pondering for a while and still felt something was off...

But whether it was right or wrong, it didn’t matter; after all, few things on this land adhered to a normal style. Having seen the cyberpunk Dragon Kingdom, Gawain’s compatibility with eclectic styles was unprecedentedly high.

No matter if the style was right or not, as long as it worked.

He looked at the young tester in the middle of the test venue, who was currently helped by a few technicians to connect the magic symbol panels and the Magic Transmission Terminal. Another technician approached a nearby storage box, carefully taking out an apparatus that shimmered with a silvery metallic sheen and resembled a spine—Neural Thorn.

A technician came over to Wendy, first bowing to Gawain and then reporting to Wendy: "The tester’s equipment has been checked, and both personnel and equipment are in good condition. We can start the experiment at any time."

Wendy nodded, glanced at Gawain, who grunted, "Then begin the test... let me see the results of your efforts so far."

"Begin connecting the Neural Thorn," Wendy immediately turned to her assistants, "Prepare the neural signal amplifiers and the helmet!"

The technicians started their work, and Gawain saw the technician holding the Neural Thorn move to the center of the site, cautiously attaching the silvery metal-shining "artificial spine" to the test subject’s neck contact point. Another technician came over with a peculiar-looking helmet, which consisted of multiple layers of metal sheets and remarkably covered even the eye area, while other people began to activate the various testing equipment and safety devices surrounding the area.

They obviously had done this more than once, as they prepared for the test within mere minutes.

The technicians left the central area, leaving only the young tester standing there with the Neural Thorn quietly hanging down his back. The strange helmet obscured his eyes and skull, with its back closely connected to the Neural Thorn via some soft material—he was waiting for further instruction, while Wendy explained the purpose of the equipment to Gawain: "We specifically designed a Neural Thorn. It’s more sensitive than conventional models and allows the Psychic Singer to sharply detect abnormal psychic pollution, though this imposes a certain mental burden, requiring ordinary people to undergo training to withstand the stress from this additional perception...

"The Psychic Singer’s set comes with a series of resonance plates that, under the control of the Neural Thorn, can release specific high-frequency or low-frequency Magic Shock, spreading the effect of the ’Song of the Deep Sea.’ To further enhance its effect, we designed a set of three neural signal amplifiers which haven’t been activated yet; you will see them shortly.

"...The helmet contains numerous neural contact points, enhancing the connection efficiency between the Psychic Singer and the set, and also providing some protective measures..."

Gawain listened quietly, finally unable to resist asking: "Why are the eye area covered with armor plates on the helmet?"

"...To prevent mental derangement," Wendy stated seriously, "In tests, we found that the Psychic Singer’s perception not only significantly enhances but also produces various ’extrasensory phenomena’ differing from humans. This involves a very complex neuro-soul interaction process. Results showed this extrasensory perception causes the Psychic Singer’s vision to mutate, allowing them to see many things... they shouldn’t see, which might bypass mental defenses and breach their rational barrier.

"After all, although the Psychic Singer is a soldier against psychic pollution, they are still mortal, no stronger than ordinary people once their defenses are breached.

"So we designed this visual suppression device—the armor plates not only physically obscure the user’s vision but also temporarily block the brain’s processing of visual signals through the helmet’s neural contact points, effectively preventing psychic pollution symptoms caused by visual contamination. This is much more effective than ’closing their eyes.’

Aunt Heidi couldn’t help but interject: "What about their vision then...?"

"Don’t worry," Wendy smiled, "Even though their eyes are covered, the Psychic Singer can indeed ’see.’"

Speaking, she raised her hand to wave to the young man in the center of the test site, who immediately raised his head and waved back—as if his vision was unaffected.

"Yes, I can ’see,’" the young tester said with a smile, his tension seemingly fully eased, "and much clearer than with eyes."

Gawain suddenly became curious: "What does the world look like in your eyes?"

"Well... it’s hard to describe. I can simultaneously see everything in all directions, including the ground I’m standing on," the young tester thought for a moment and said earnestly, "It’s a direct perception, all information is directly presented in my mind. However, the things I see are almost colorless, only varying degrees of gray and white, which takes some time to adjust to."

"The only ’color’ that a Psychic Singer can see under such conditions is the ’color’ of psychic pollution," Wendy explained beside him, "This conclusion was reached with Nariteer’s help during simulated tests, but the actual effect still needs to be verified in actual combat, as Nariteer no longer possesses true ’pollution.’ The difference between the godly power she simulates and the divine nature in the real world is still uncertain."

Gawain nodded in understanding, then exhaled softly: "I see, can we proceed to the next step now?"

Wendy immediately looked up at the tester in the center: "Mr. Aix, are you ready?"

The young man, addressed as Aix, gestured a ready signal: "Ready to start anytime."

"Then activate your set—from the three neural signal amplifiers stored in the start room," Wendy nodded, "Everyone else prepare to start recording monitoring data and be ready to provide magic countermeasures at any time!"

With Wendy’s words, the tester in the center began his actions—adjusting a joint on the Magic Transmission Terminal first, then magical halos suddenly flowed across his whole outfit. As the magical surge gradually increased, he seemed to lose the restraint of gravity and began to float slowly in the center of the venue!

After a few seconds of floating, he waved his hand outside the field.

On a table in the corner of the laboratory, three diamond-shaped metal devices, each about the length of a forearm, immediately flew up. They passed straight over the staff on site and arrived behind the tester. Accompanied by the movements of the tester’s hand, these metal devices unfolded their mechanical structures, blossoming like flowers with hard lines. Tiny golden sparks leaped and flickered between the "petals," making crackling sounds. Subsequently, they began to hover and fly around the tester, behaving like some kind of agile creatures.

This scene made Gawain open his eyes wide with surprise, and then he immediately understood: This was the effect of the Neural Thorn.

It was precisely the last step he had envisioned a long time ago for allowing ordinary people to break through the limitations of the Transcendent, the final step to truly "release" spells for ordinary humans - directly controlled by the user’s thoughts and magical power without relying on buttons and pre-set spell moulds, enabling ordinary human beings to truly perceive and manipulate Magic Power!

Now, this link has already been realized.

"Very good, the tester’s state is stable, and each device is functioning normally... The Neural Thorn’s feedback signal is clear and stable, and the brainwave readings are normal..." Yuri, who was monitoring the data nearby, said while directly sensing the magical surges in the scene with his magical power, "Now let’s increase the load. Mr. Aix, please try to activate the Psyche Echo, and let us see the effect of the Song of the Deep Sea."

The tester floating in mid-air nodded and then slightly raised his arm to clench his fist. A sound like low-frequency noise immediately came from the three neural signal amplifiers floating behind him, and this noise lasted for a very short time before reaching a frequency that human ears couldn’t pick up—it sounded like it disappeared, but Gawain was certain that the "Song of the Deep Sea" had already started operating and was covering the entire room because he keenly sensed a ripple of Magic Power in the air, while a slightly invigorating and clarifying force was slowly permeating everyone’s mind.

"Does this seem to be going well?" he couldn’t help but say to Wendy beside him, "But I heard there are stability issues with the prototype soldiers?"

"Yes, there are stability issues, what you’re seeing now is just the minimum load, barely able to resist unconscious, non-directed mental pollution, but as the load increases, the prototype soldiers will quickly lose control over the Neural Thorn..."

While speaking, the test project had already moved to the next phase. After collecting enough data, Yuri signaled the tester in the field to increase the intensity of the Psyche Echo. Gawain clearly felt a more powerful Magic surge in the room, and he even experienced an illusion of slight itchiness on his skin - but all this lasted for less than a few seconds.

Accompanied by a burst of high-frequency noise, the suit on the tester’s body suddenly flickered unstably, and the Neural Thorn that had been floating in mid-air with the person also extinguished instantly. The young man seemed to struggle to regain control over the Magic Power, but without the assistance of the Neural Thorn, he only barely buffered in mid-air before falling back to the ground.

Fortunately, the height he was floating at was only slight, so this drop of a dozen centimeters didn’t cause any harm. He just staggered a bit before regaining his balance, then dejectedly removed his helmet.

"I lost control," he said apologetically, "I’m sorry, I tried my best to maintain the energy balance, but it seems there’s a part of the Magic Power beyond my perception..."

"You did very well, Mr. Aix, this is a technical issue at the current stage, and it’s something we need to solve moving forward," Wendy sighed softly, "Go rest for now, the next test is tomorrow."

"Alright, Lady Wendy."

Gawain watched all this from the sidelines, and after the tester left, he slightly furrowed his brows and looked at Wendy: "What’s the cause?"

"Controlling Magic Power is something that comes effortlessly to seasoned Transcendents, but for ordinary people, it’s an entirely different concept," Wendy sighed, "Even though the Neural Thorns provide them with the ’physical foundation’ to perceive and control Magic Power, their minds, their thinking habits, their neural responses, all require a long process of adaptation and adjustment before they can grasp this matter."

"...So it means that enabling ordinary people to perceive and control Magic Power is far from sufficient, and their nervous systems... can’t comprehend this thing?"

Wendy nodded: "It’s like suddenly installing an additional set of limbs on a person, and these limbs are several times more complex than their original four limbs—the nervous system needs a very long time to figure out how to control these additional ’organs,’ and the human mind itself requires a long period to adapt. Of course, effective training methods could potentially greatly shorten this adaptation process, but developing this training method itself takes time. At least for now, we have no clues—I know how to educate Transcendents, but no one knows how to teach a completely ordinary person who has never used Magic Power to cast spells."

Aunt Heidi slightly furrowed her brows: "...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?" Gawain couldn’t help but ask.

"Yes, seasoned Transcendents, like Mages and Knights, can release the ’Song of the Deep Sea’ with the Psychic Singer’s suit without any training," Wendy shrugged, "but that defeats the purpose; the original goal of the Neural Thorns was to let ordinary people master Magic Power, and now ordinary people are being kept outside the door."

"Indeed, it’s somewhat ironic..." Gawain reluctantly agreed with Wendy’s point, "But if there’s absolutely no other way, we might have to temporarily train a group of Mages to become Psychic Singers—we urgently need these special soldiers now."

"I understand your meaning, I’ll devise a plan for this," Wendy sighed, then suddenly seemed to remember something, "However... I suddenly thought of something."

Gawain and Aunt Heidi spoke in unison: "What did you think of?"

"We don’t know how to quickly impart Magic Power skills to ordinary people, but Typhon... They’ve been researching mass-producing Transcendents for many years," Wendy said as she pondered, "Of course, their mass-produced Transcendents need to be selected and trained from a young age to take shape, but this is based on becoming a formal Mage equipped with positive combative force. Putting that aside, they have mature catalytic potion technology that can be used to reconstruct the human nervous system, special magic rituals to enhance the Magic senses of those with low talent, as well as mature rapid training methods and Magic stimulation techniques that can allow people new to Magic Power to quickly master the skills...

If we only need to ’familiarize’ ordinary people with Magic Power and let their nervous systems ’adapt’ to it, these technologies might be useful to us."

Wendy’s words made Gawain and Aunt Heidi fall into contemplation simultaneously.