Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 278 - 76: Adaptation to Power Armor

"Do you think, are we, tricked?" Sigrdrifa panted.

"What, tricked?" Eleanor asked wearily.

"This damn Power Armor!" Sigrdrifa cursed intermittently.

The two had lost count of how many rounds they had run around Fire Island... roughly it must have been hundreds of rounds, and that too while equipped with the cumbersome Power Armor.

Yes, cumbersome. Although the Power Armor looked very powerful and dominating, and it provided great defensive power and enhanced propulsion, the cost was a decrease in control power and agility.

A normal person could easily hold an egg, but with the Power Armor, they always ended up crushing it carelessly. Trying to run and stop precisely in front of a tree always ended up with them not braking in time and crashing into it.

Moreover, even though their bodies had already reacted, the movement of the Power Armor was always a fraction late.

Aske had explained that the decrease in control power originated from the Power Armor’s enhancement of the wearer’s own strength.

For instance, if a person could control their punching strength to about 0.1N, assuming the Power Armor amplified their strength by 100 times, the error in force would become 10N.

Similarly, the decrease in agility was also due to a longer reflex arc.

Normally, humans send signals from the brain, then the body starts to move.

But when wearing Power Armor, the signal is first sent from the brain, then the body starts to move, followed by the signal being captured by the internal servo systems of the Power Armor, the servo systems then issue commands, and finally, the corresponding parts of the Power Armor start to move.

With so many additional steps, agility naturally became duller, sometimes the reaction time even reached up to 0.7 seconds. For the average Knight, this would be trivial, but for a leader like Aske with consistently high standards and strict requirements, it was an intolerable fatal weakness.

The solution to the former was simple, perform repetitive and extensive practice to enhance the manipulator’s own control ability.

The solution to the latter issue was more complex, one needed to enhance preemptive awareness, that is, calculating the amount of lead time to provide a buffer.

For example, if they originally had to start applying force to stop 0.5 meters before the endpoint when running, now they might need to start at 1 meter.

The corresponding improvement measures were to increase the transmission sensitivity and signal transmission time of the servo systems, for which Hood and Nora had to collaborate extensively, upgrading the electrical signal system to a faster optical signal system, optimizing the encoder’s conversion efficiency, and making a large number of complex modifications that those not specialized in mechanical control could hardly understand.

Simply put, it was sacrificing the Power Armor’s own stability to enhance the user’s operability.

Because of this, Sigrdrifa and Eleanor struggled even more. With more and more details to master, their originally obedient Power Armor also started to "rebel", driving these two girls who had just started handling it nearly mad.

Not to mention their ongoing research of "Trinity Tactics" and "Barbarian Tactics", even simple maneuvers like a concealed double-attack or extreme sudden directional change, movements their bodies could have easily performed, became incredibly difficult inside the Power Armor.

"In summary, we just need to practice more," Aske concluded at last.

Eleanor and Sigrdrifa listlessly stood up and walked back toward their Power Armors, ready to start another practice session.

Seeing the two in extremely low spirits, Aske felt quite helpless. He certainly knew the flaws of forcing growth, but now it was necessary to let the two girls master the driving of Power Armor as soon as possible, to increase the team’s overall survival chances in the impending supernatural war with the Church Court after the civil war within the Empire had ended.

"Remember," he said from behind them, his voice low, "it’s not about you adapting to the Power Armor, but making the Power Armor adapt to you."

————————

The Wolf Family’s envoy still remained inside the Weisbach Palace.

After losing the Knight Fighting, the Duchy’s Nobles and Knights looked at them much more kindly.

After all, the weak need not be feared.

More blatant probes followed, and Viscount Heinrich from the Wolf family was beside himself trying to cope, cursing the Cangqing Sword Mercenaries a hundred times in his heart.

He also wanted to severely reprimand Meyer, who had lost to Aske. However, after failing to fulfill the contract, Meyer had promptly returned the advance payment to the Wolf family envoy and had taken off with his swordsmen.

Taken off... freewēbnoveℓ.com

He first went to the Richartnal Knights, where he sincerely apologized to his teacher — he finally understood what fetters his teacher had referred to and rediscovered his path to advancement and growth, deciding to thaw the ice with his teacher and former companions.

This brought great solace to Old Richartnal, who then composed a poem on the spot, making the other swordsmen feel ashamed.

Facing Meyer, a former traitor who had saddened their teacher, all they had ever done was hurl insults and accusations.

However, the moment Chief Aske stepped in, he re-taught Meyer how to behave, prompting the swordsmen to introspect in shame.

Indeed, the Chief was always a leader, for even his swordsmanship led others towards goodness, making us feel utterly inferior.

Then, this future square Sword Saint went to Aske and sincerely apologized.

"I was indeed too arrogant before," Meyer calmly said, shaking his head. "Having been defeated by you, Chief, I now understand the truth that ’life is limited, but swordsmanship is boundless.’ The previous me, who thought he was invincible, is now simply laughable."

"Mmm, it’s good that you’ve come to realize this in time," Aske was not surprised, as Meyer had been normal when he first encountered him in his past life.

This younger, more impulsive Meyer was new to Aske, and therefore, he didn’t harbor much resentment towards his arrogance.

"I hope to learn from your superior skills again in the future." As Meyer was about to take his leave, he suddenly remembered something and warned him, "Among the Wolf family envoys, apart from Viscount Heinrich himself, everyone is a Transcendent. Please be careful."

"Everyone is?" Aske frowned.

"Yes. I possess the ’Weakness III’ Sequence, which allows me to spot others’ weaknesses," Meyer explained. "Ordinary human weaknesses are primarily the heart, abdomen, ribs, perineum, throat, and such."

"If it’s a Physical Transcendent, due to their enhanced physical power, their overall weaknesses are much fewer than ordinary humans. If it’s a Spiritual Transcendent, vulnerabilities like the temples and the back of the head become magnified, and striking their skulls causes them much more harm."

"From my long-term observation, besides team leader Viscount Heinrich, all his attendants have different weaknesses compared to ordinary people, implying they are all likely Transcendents to some extent."

"Can you tell if they’re Physical or Spiritual?" asked Aske. Since the other party was openly sharing intelligence, he was keen on pursuing more useful details.

"They seem to be predominantly Spiritual," Meyer hesitated, "and also, I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination."

"On the way to Mingxing City, I thought I saw one of them conversing with a field rat scurrying along the ridges."

"Conversing?"

"Mmm, it seemed like they were communicating," Meyer said uncertainly. "Maybe I was mistaken, and they were just fooling around with the animals."

"I understand," Aske nodded, thanking him. "Thank you for the information."

Meyer nodded and left. Aske watched him go, and then Medea’s voice came from behind him:

"Is it the ’Rat’ ability that Peggy needs?"

"As far as I know, ’Rat I’ allows possession in rats and simple communication with them. ’Rat II’ starts to influence the will of rat swarms, making them follow the Transcendent’s commands."

"’Rat III’ can even establish connections among multiple rat swarms, thereby controlling a horrifically sizable rat army. Of course, no matter the numbers, they are still just rats, hence their combat strength is weak, which is why few escalate to ’Rat III’ level."

"So, it’s very likely they possess ’Rat I’ ability," Medea confirmed. "That means there’s definitely a Hussite among them."

"According to my mind-reading results, what he said is indeed true," she shrugged, concluding the discussion.

Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)