Chapter 70: The Mechanical Arm Simulator Armor

Chapter 70: The Mechanical Arm Simulator Armor

Three days later, Chen Feng passed the basic theory exam for Azure Dragon Armor control with a perfect score.

After looking at those ridiculously difficult textbooks, turning his attention back to practical matters was pure bliss, like returning from hell to heaven. He only needed to focus on how to issue commands in his mind and how to coordinate with the Azure Dragon Armor.

The core mechanism of the Azure Dragon Armor was bioelectric control.

The principle behind human movement was actually quite simple.

When the brain wanted a certain joint to perform a specific action, it would issue a command. This command, in the form of a bioelectrical signal, traveled through the nervous system to the numerous nerve fibers of the target muscle group. It then split into countless finer bioelectric signals, stimulating ATP in different areas to release energy, controlling the contraction or relaxation of countless muscle fibers, thereby causing the muscle group to exert force.

This vast and precise process of signal and energy transmission ultimately resulted in external actions, which could be as small as wiggling a finger or blinking an eye, or as intense as a hundred-meter sprint.

The coordination process between the Azure Dragon Armor and the operator lay precisely in the internal sensing system’s detailed and dynamic capture of the operator’s internal bioelectric field.

By modeling the bioelectric field, it could quickly detect its subtle changes and achieve movements almost perfectly synchronized with the human body.

The main structure of the Azure Dragon Armor consisted of three layers. The innermost layer was the bioelectric field sensing membrane. Next was the flexible metallic community, completely different from gear and rod transmission structures, which served to provide coordinated power and protect the human body.

The outermost layer was armor that combined certain toughness with super strength. The armored parts covered the limbs and main torso, and there were retractable, concealable Alloy Blades on the forearms.

Operators did not need to control the giant mecha like in the old days, constantly issuing commands with hands, feet, or mouth, and then waiting for about a tenth of a second of delay each time for the corresponding action.

The Azure Dragon Armor basically followed the operator’s thoughts.

This improvement greatly simplified the difficulty for operators to control the Individual Combat Armor, but it also placed higher demands on the operator’s physical constitution.

The theoretical knowledge Chen Feng learned over these three days mainly included methods for reading parameters, the meaning of parameters, understanding his own and the armor’s status, overload control, energy distribution methods, and other practical skills.

He did not need to understand why or how the Azure Dragon Armor moved, the method and process of signal transmission, nor did he need to learn repair and maintenance. Specialized personnel handled those.

Because the Azure Dragon Armor was designed as a semi-integrated assembly, if a part or component broke, that specific part was removed and replaced with a new one. The old, broken part was sent back to the factory for repair.

That was where the professionals gathered.

Everyone’s life and energy were limited. Operators did not need to learn these things, and they couldn’t learn them anyway.

“Your learning progress is a bit faster than I imagined. I originally thought you would need at least five days just to pass.”

Hearing that Chen Feng got a perfect score, Ding Hu told all the other new recruits to self-study and immediately ran to the practical training courtyard.

Chen Feng remained calm. “It’s alright.”

In the past, he would have definitely bragged about his intelligence.

But after being humbled by the junior high school textbooks, he learned to be low-key.

Take the white-coated Professor Ouyang standing not far away, for example, who was said to have an IQ of up to 170.

But even Professor Ouyang struggled to rank in the top ten of his college class. It was quite pitiful.

“Chen Feng, do you want to go back and rest now, or go directly to the Simulator training room over there to get on the machine?”

Professor Ouyang walked over and asked.

Chen Feng rubbed his hands together, his face showing excitement. “Directly to the machine. I can’t wait.”

The three of them walked side by side towards the training room.

Chen Feng asked, “Does the Simulator require an injection of Coagulation Serum?”

“No. You’ll see in a moment.”

Entering the training room, Chen Feng realized that this so-called training room was actually a metal-walled hall that seemed almost endless.

Inside the hall, two rows of metal boxes, each five meters on a side, were arranged from the inside out. The upper front part of each box had a number painted in green, from one to twenty.

“These twenty Simulators are the equipment our Base takes the most pride in. Globally, there are no more than five bases with more Simulators than us.”

Professor Ouyang boasted, his face glowing.

He checked the indicator board again. “Numbers eight and sixteen are currently free. Which one do you choose?”

“Is there any difference?”

“No.”

“Number eight.”

Chen Feng decisively chose the lucky number.

The three arrived in front of the square box. After Professor Ouyang performed some operations, a small door on metal box number eight popped open with a pfft sound.

“Walk inside.”

Professor Ouyang pointed to the doorway.

Chen Feng was puzzled. “Aren’t you coming with me? No one is teaching me how to use this thing.”

“You’ll understand once you’re inside. You won’t need to strain your brain.”

Chen Feng walked through the door. As soon as it closed behind him, he saw eight mechanical arms holding up a humanoid metal construct about two meters and eighty centimeters tall, moving it towards him.

Professor Ouyang’s voice sounded in his ear. “Take off your jacket, then put your hands and feet into it like putting on clothes and pants. Don’t worry, all the inner lining structures are thoroughly disinfected after each use. You don’t need to worry about catching someone else’s skin disease.”

Chen Feng did as instructed, inserting his hands and feet into the openings of the metal construct.

Then he could feel the wrapping tightening and automatically adjusting its structure according to his body shape, perfectly encasing him without putting pressure on his breathing.

Only his head was left exposed. Then a fully enclosing large helmet was brought over by another mechanical arm and placed on his head.

Recalling the operation manual, Chen Feng issued a command in his mind. The front panel of the helmet quickly became transparent. He then noticed dozens, even hundreds, of mechanical arms floating towards him from various angles. They connected to the Simulator armor and slowly lifted him into the air.

“Now you can try to recall the manual and perform some basic walking, running, and jumping movements. For every action you make, these mechanical arms will cooperate with the Simulator armor to assume the corresponding posture. Also, you might feel a slight sense of pressure and weightlessness. This is trying to replicate the real wearing experience of the Azure Dragon Armor as much as possible, but it’s already significantly reduced. The maximum acceleration won’t exceed 5G, so no Serum injection is needed.”

“Once you fully adapt to the operation and can complete the individual combat assessment in the holographic VR projection, scoring over ninety points, then you can leave the Simulator and put on the real Azure Dragon Armor.”

Chen Feng suddenly understood.

He had previously fantasized that a so-called Simulator might directly stream data into a person’s brain, operating like the holographic games described in novels.

Now it seemed that was not the case.

Even after a thousand years of technological development, they dared not easily tamper with the internal structure of the human body.

Embedded brain chips probably had some unresolved side effects, so they hadn’t become mainstream technology.

“Chen Feng, I’m rooting for you. Try to finish this in just two months. Start by learning to walk. Back when I started with the Azure Dragon Armor, it took me over a week just to barely stand steady.”

Ding Hu chuckled from outside.

Remembering the embarrassing mistakes he made when first encountering the Azure Dragon Armor, he looked forward to seeing Chen Feng go through the same.

Chen Feng completely failed to anticipate Ding Hu’s mischievous intent and only replied in a muffled voice from inside the armor, “No problem, but two months is too long. I’ll finish as soon as possible.”

“I’m syncing your training simulation signal to our team. Several other guys told me they really want to see you and learn from you.”

Ding Hu snapped his fingers with a snap.

On the other end, the new recruits under his command were gathered in a small viewing room.

A light screen projected out, forming a three-dimensional projection on the left side of the floor at the front of the viewing room.

The many new recruits saw Chen Feng wearing the Simulator armor, suspended in mid-air supported by numerous mechanical arms.

Simultaneously, Ding Hu’s explanatory voice sounded in the room. “Everyone, pay attention and learn. Every outstanding new recruit dreams of the day they can wear the Azure Dragon Armor. The image you see on the left now is the live view of Chen Feng. In a moment, another projection will appear on the right. It will be a top-down, distant-view three-dimensional image, showing the training scenario simulated within Chen Feng’s Simulator.”

“In actual combat, the external environment is never static. In different battlefields, we should have different response modes. Mountains, forests, deserts, space, oceans, the sky, the Moon’s surface, inside starships, the outer hull of Warships—all could become our battlefields.”

“Each different environment will have different terrain, visibility, obstacles, temperature, and even gravity. So don’t think it’s just simple walking; there’s a lot to learn here too.”

Ding Hu said these words both for the new recruits and, even more so, for Chen Feng.

Chen Feng performed exceptionally. Ding Hu intentionally wanted to use Chen Feng to stimulate everyone’s fighting spirit, especially Pang De’s.

Of course, it wasn’t possible for everyone in his team to wear the Azure Dragon Armor. The basic physical requirements were too high, and there was also the issue of adaptability. But as long as he could make everyone work harder, and more people could reach the basic standards for shipboard soldiers and board a Warship, that would be a tremendous success.

“Alright, Chen Feng, you can start moving now. First, choose the most basic flat farmland terrain.”

Ding Hu instructed, then happily waited for Chen Feng to make a fool of himself.

Farmland looked flat, but the soil was soft. Stepping on it would cause a certain degree of sinking.

The ten mechanical arms supporting under Chen Feng’s feet would perfectly simulate that stepping texture.

Chen Feng was definitely going to mess up and fall flat on his face!

That would be delightful.