Upgrade (2)
An experintal field attached to the shelter research institute. I was enveloped in a peculiar sensation, one I had never experienced before in my life. To describe this feeling simply, I’d say I had beco aware of “electricity.” In martial arts novel terms, it could be said I had awakened “Qi.”
I extended my arm and clenched and unclenched my fist. Five fingers and forearm muscles contracted and released. Up to here, everything felt familiar. But now, there was an additional sensation. It was the electrical signal generated from my brain and spinal cord just before I clenched my fist.
The signal passed through my neck and shoulder, traveled along the ulnar nerve near my elbow, and perated the deeper dian and radial nerves. When the electrical signal reached each muscle and joint in my fingers, it spread like a lightning bolt captured in slow motion, scattering the brain’s commands in all directions.
I could vividly perceive the entire process.
“Why haven’t I noticed this before?” I clenched and opened my fist, twisted my neck, and jumped in place. Each ti, I felt the countless electric signals repeatedly generating and vanishing as they raced through the neural network in my body.
[You can now feel the workings of your neural network.]
“Is this an implant feature?”
[Correct. The implant in your body stems from a technology originally developed for expensive prosthetic limbs for wealthy disabled individuals.]
“I know. I once read an article about it.”
I had seen it in a Hustler magazine that a U.S. soldier gave when I was deployed to Lebanon. It showed an old man with prosthetic hands weeping tears of joy as he fondled the bare buttocks of two won.
A man who lost both hands in a tragic accident at the age of 9 and later beca a self-made millionaire. He could have sex, but he never experienced the sensation of touch from his hands. Then, an implant technology was developed, allowing perfect neural control, and enabling the prosthetic limbs to convey sensations. He could feel just like a real hand!
A photo of a man, who had never touched a woman's buttocks until he was over 60, crying with joy. The entire country was moved. The soldier who gave the magazine cried, I cried, and the Lebanese boy I passed it on to cried too.
[The implants and neural network have just begun to interact, so for now, you’ll only be able to ‘feel.' But as you get used to it, aside from acceleration, your overall physical abilities will improve.]
“This feeling is quite irritating. It’s like that nagging feeling when you’re trying to recall a mory but can’t… and it’s all over my body.”
[Bear with it. The implant inserted into your body is currently automatically mapping your neural network, which is why you feel that way.]
Since the installation of the acceleration implant, the nerves connected to it had been flashing signals continuously.
“How long will this neural network update take? At this rate, I’m not sure I can even sleep.”
[Another half a day, maybe? If the irritation is keeping you up, I have a good solution.]
“What’s the solution?”
[Just use up your stamina until you pass out. Normally, this would an moving intensely for a long ti and working up a sweat, but we now have a much more refined way to burn your stamina quickly, don’t we?]
It seed Artemis was talking about using the implant.
I focused my mind on the implant embedded in my spinal cord. The On, Off of the implant inside my body. I could feel how to use it as naturally as if it had always been there, like bending and extending my arm.
[I understand you’re excited about gaining this powerful ability, but be careful. Your muscles and bones haven’t changed. At worst, you could tear ligants or even break bones.]
Artemis warned .
Not just “break,” but “shatter.” She was seriously trying to scare .
“I’m aware.”
I had seen plenty of soldiers in active duty get carried away with new weapons or technology and end up dead. I was a combat engineer from a humble background with no implants.
Despite spending most of my career on deploynts, preferring to be out in the field, I had survived with all limbs intact. This spoke volus in many ways. Artemis knew my record well, so she didn’t push further with her warnings.
This was the first real test of the new power I had gained. A drone flew into the lab and approached . It was one of the Hornet drones that Artemis had developed for city security managent.
A pair of coaxial rotors were enclosed in a circular plastic guard, and beneath it were a battery, a cara, and a taser gun.
I could feel the implant inside my body, and the neural network connected to it. There was a kind of switch between the two, similar to a circuit breaker. Whether it was made of organic tissue or artificial prosthetics, I couldn’t tell. What was certain was that the breaker was currently off, but I knew how to turn it on.
Like lifting and lowering my arm, it wasn’t easy to explain to others, but I could make it work. At my will, the drawbridge between the implant and the neural network was lowered. As soon as both sides connected, lightning shot through my entire nervous system from the spinal cord.
Whoosh!!!
A strange sound echoed in my ears. In that instant, the world slowed down.
“Mmmmoooowoooorrr.”
A sound of awe, or sothing close to it, escaped my lips, but it didn’t sound human. I quickly stopped my mouth from twisting into that bizarre shape.
“Uuuuaaahhhh.”
But even stopping my lips wasn’t sothing I could do imdiately. Even though I’d given the command to stop, my mouth only closed after a noticeable delay. What I had ant to say was, “What the hell is this?”
I could see each rotor blade of the Hornet drone moving in front of . It was like watching the flapping wings of a fly captured by a high-speed cara. I felt like I could reach out and grab one of the blades. But unfortunately, my body couldn’t keep up with my accelerated consciousness.
My nose itched, and it took forever just to raise my hand to scratch it. Frustrated, I flipped the implant’s switch off.
Whoooom!!!
The strange ringing in my ears faded, and the world returned to its normal speed.
[How is it?]
“Didn’t the scientist in the lab recording said that the maximum acceleration was 2.5 tis? This feels way beyond that.”
The accelerated infected we encountered earlier had moved at speeds far beyond 2.5 tis, almost impossibly fast.
[That 2.5x figure applies when a regular human gets a crappy surgery from a dumb doctor using low-grade materials.]
Artemis’s assessnt was harsh.
[The test subjects we saw in the lab had the limiters that prevent bodily damage removed, and on top of that, they were mutated by the infection. That’s why they could move at such insane speeds.]
I've heard stories of mothers lifting cars to save their children trapped underneath, or n in a hypnotic state bending steel pipes. These are cases where the body's natural limitations were removed, allowing for extraordinary strength. However, not much is said about the consequences, like torn ligants or damaged muscles and bones.
“When I accelerate, my perception and awareness speed up, but my body can't keep up. I feel a bit faster, but it's nowhere near the 2.5x increase.”
[Your neural network is enhanced, but your muscles, bones, and joints are still the sa. If you push yourself in this state, you're guaranteed to get injured. That’s why your body's movents are limited to minimize the effects of acceleration.]
According to the records, the test subjects at the lab only had their nerves modified, without any strengthening of their muscles or skeletons.
“But the scientist clearly said that acceleration up to 2.5x was possible…”
Ah, co to think of it, they probably weren't worried about the test subjects getting hurt in that lab. They were likely just throwing people in for experints.
“I see. Yeah, if my body moved as fast as my perception now, I'd definitely break sothing—probably in more than a few places.”
[But even now, it's still highly valuable. In shooting situations alone, it would have trendous effects. And there's one more thing.]
Click—
Suddenly, the Hornet drone in front of aid its taser at and fired.
In that instant…
Boom!
Acceleration activated automatically, without my conscious effort.
The silver dart flew towards .
The thin wire connected to it.
The sparking chanism of the taser.
All of it unfolded before my eyes, fra by fra.
I moved to dodge the dart. Moving my body in an accelerated state felt like trying to move underwater at extre depths. Every step ca with a crushing sense of pressure.
If I moved slowly and didn’t resist the weight, it felt like a normal movent. But if I pushed against the intense pressure, I felt like I was moving ahead of ti.
As soon as I completely dodged, the acceleration ended, and the taser dart passed by my temple, missing it by just 5 centiters.
[I've programd it so that if a dangerous attack happens suddenly, acceleration will activate automatically. It should help in ergencies.]
“That makes sense!”
In a surprise attack, it would be incredibly useful no matter the situation. After all, on the battlefield, death often occurs in an instant, a split-second accident. Being able to calmly perceive that mont? That’s pretty much the sa as learning how to avoid death.
Afterward, I used acceleration several more tis as part of a training program designed by Artemis.
Moving my body faster than normal in an accelerated state consud a lot of energy, so even a short training session left utterly exhausted. Thanks to that, even though my entire nervous system was still sending out signals and flickering, I was able to fall asleep as if I had passed out.
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