novelsite Chapter 61 Breakthrough
Chapter 61 Breakthrough
Late at night, in the sixth maintenance bay/test area
Wang Zhengyang stood in the center of the cabin, eyes closed and focused. His 0.55% awakening level circulated within him, and the warm, substantial "liquid metallic sensation" was clearer and more tangible than ever before. He could feel the Caldova engine's coupling with his nervous system becoming increasingly tight; each breath was accompanied by a faint energy pulse, as if his body was being gradually modified to match the mechanical core left behind by an ancient civilization.
He first focused all his attention on expanding the range of his perception.
Consciousness spread outwards like an invisible tide. Sixteen meters—this was the absolute boundary he could clearly perceive at the moment. Within this range, the metal's existence was like an extension of his own limbs, every detail clearly visible.
But he was pursuing more than just "clarity". Wang Zhengyang began to try a technique he called "boundary penetration": he gathered and condensed his originally diffuse perception into several extremely thin but tough "perception probes", and slowly probed into the blurry perception chaos area sixteen meters away.
On the first attempt, the probe was extended to 16.5 meters, and the feedback information began to be distorted and warped, as if observing an object through a thick layer of frosted glass.
The second time, he adjusted the frequency and intensity, slightly matching the probe's "vibration mode" with the metallic background resonance of the surrounding environment, successfully extending the effective tactile range to seventeen meters. However, the cost was enormous; the intense mental strain caused him to experience bouts of dizziness.
Third time, fourth time...
Sweat soaked his temples and back, and a throbbing pain shot through his temples. This wasn't physical exhaustion, but rather a weariness that reached the depths of his soul after his mental strength had been stretched to its limit. Each extension beyond the boundary felt like forcibly prying open an invisible barrier with his willpower; the further out he went, the more the resistance increased exponentially.
But on the seventh attempt, the breakthrough occurred.
Awakening level: 0.56%.
During a period of profound reinforcement, the numbers subtly begin to move. Intensive creative mechanical intervention is the best catalyst for growth.
It wasn't that his perception range had expanded dramatically again, but rather that his understanding of the "boundary" itself had undergone a qualitative change. Wang Zhengyang "saw" that the clear sixteen-meter boundary was not an unchanging iron wall, but rather more like the "main lobe" of an energy field. Beyond the main lobe, there were rapidly decaying but undeniably present "side lobes" and "back lobes." He couldn't precisely perceive or manipulate the side lobes, but he could capture some extremely vague, echo-like "premonitions of existence."
"The effective and clear perception boundary is stable at sixteen meters, but the early warning perception range has irregular 'extended tentacles,' reaching as far as eighteen meters." Wang Zhengyang recorded in his training log, wiping away warm liquid that dripped from his nose. "These extended tentacles cannot distinguish target details, but they can warn of 'a metal object approaching' or 'severe metal deformation in a specific area.' The strategic significance outweighs the tactical precision."
This means that in complex environments or encounters, he can "sense" armored vehicles around the corner or weapons deployments upstairs earlier than the enemy, even if he cannot see or hear them yet.
The control range extended from five meters to 5.5 meters; this half-meter improvement opened up a new dimension of training for Wang Zhengyang. He set three training targets at 5.4 meters, right on the edge of his control limits:
Miniature gear set: A set of precision miniature gears (module 0.3) made of brass, required to complete the entire process of meshing, rotating and disengaging without contact.
Shape memory alloy wire: A piece of nickel-titanium shape memory alloy wire with a diameter of only 0.2 mm needs to be manipulated to form three preset complex three-dimensional structures in sequence.
Suspended steel ball: A bearing steel ball with a diameter of 5 mm is required to always remain in absolute suspension one centimeter off the ground, while resisting slight airflow disturbances caused by human intervention.
These three materials differ, their inertia varies, and the required force patterns are vastly different. Simultaneously and precisely controlling them is the ultimate test of multi-threaded processing ability and mental precision.
On the first attempt, the shape memory alloy wire snapped out of control midway through deformation, nearly hitting nearby equipment. The micro-gears meshed, emitting a piercing screeching sound. The steel ball wobbled violently before falling to the ground.
"Insufficient synchronization rate, force field interference." Wang Zhengyang calmly analyzed the reasons for the failure. Maintaining three independent control force fields at the same time will produce slight mutual interference between them, especially at the extreme distance, where this interference will be amplified.
He adjusted his strategy, no longer dividing his consciousness into three equal parts, but instead constructing a dynamically balanced "force field network." Using the levitating steel ball as a stable reference point, gear manipulation and alloy wire deformation act as two relatively independent sub-threads, but their force field output intensity and frequency are constantly fine-tuned to match the reference point, canceling out mutual interference.
This requires the brain to perform four sets of complex operations simultaneously: independent control of three objectives, plus a dynamic coordination system.
Time ticked by. Veins bulged slightly on Wang Zhengyang's forehead, a sign of heightened mental concentration and his brain operating at full speed. He could clearly feel multiple processing cores of the Caldova engine deep within his consciousness working at full speed, processing massive amounts of real-time data.
Gradually, the movements of the three targets began to become coordinated. The gears meshed and rotated smoothly, emitting a nearly silent, smooth sound; the shape memory alloy wires gracefully changed into preset spiral and wave shapes; the steel ball was steadily suspended in the air, and even when Wang Zhengyang fanned it with a book, it only swayed slightly and was immediately corrected by an invisible force field.
"Three-thread extreme distance control, synchronization rate increased to 91%, force field interference loss reduced to 15%." He recorded the results, then felt a strong wave of dizziness and had to hold onto the worktable. Blood dripped from his nose again, a sign of a slight rupture in his mental capillaries. But a sharp light gleamed in his eyes—this level of control precision and stability meant that in actual combat, he could simultaneously and silently lock the safety of three enemies' weapons, or cause three key components of a complex machine to "accidentally" fail at the same time.
On the workbench lay the last batch of composite armor plates to be installed tomorrow. These plates had already undergone preliminary processing, but Wang Zhengyang was going to use his special ability to give them a final "microscopic enhancement."
He selected a piece of armor plate located in a key area of the chest and abdomen, and placed his hands lightly on it, allowing the mechanical affinity to penetrate into the crystalline world of the steel.
This time, his goal was not just to fix the flaws, but to proactively "adjust the structure." With the support of 0.56% awakening level, his consciousness was able to intervene more deeply in the arrangement at the atomic level. He guided the grains to grow along the direction most conducive to dispersing the impact force, constructing countless tiny "energy dissipation structures" at the microscopic level; he guided carbon atoms to gather around the microscopic defects inside the material, forming a dense reinforcing phase, turning defects into reinforcing points; he even tried to induce the formation of an extremely thin but exceptionally tough "texture layer" about 0.1 millimeters below the surface of the plate, like adding an invisible lining to armor.
This process was slow and arduous, more than ten times more complex than simple repair. Each square centimeter of enhancement required precise guidance and energy injection into a massive number of atoms. Sweat quickly soaked his clothes, but his gaze remained focused, his breathing maintaining a characteristic rhythm, minimizing physical and mental exhaustion.
As the enhancement process progressed, a mutation occurred.
As he focused his consciousness intently on this extreme microscopic construction, the Caldova Engine seemed to be activated by this act of "creation and enhancement," operating more actively and deeply. His superpowers were no longer a one-way output; while modifying the armor plates, they also seemed to draw some kind of "feedback"—an extremely faint, harmonious resonance produced when the material structure approached perfection. This resonance formed a wondrous harmony with his mental fluctuations, which in turn nourished and stimulated the gene engine itself.
This armor plate, enhanced by supernatural abilities, has an increased surface hardness of approximately 8%, a 12% increase in toughness, and a significant improvement in resistance to repeated impact fatigue. More importantly, Wang Zhengyang can sense that this armor plate seems to have established an extremely weak "connection" with him, as if it has become a small anchor point in his supernatural abilities.
Integration and ultimate breakthrough
After completing all the training and practical processing, Wang Zhengyang sat cross-legged and entered into deep meditation.
He repeatedly replayed, savored, and assimilated all his experiences of the night—the epiphany of boundary penetration, the hardship of manipulating three threads, the profound resonance with matter during microscopic enhancement—in his consciousness. The Caldova engine, like a sophisticated furnace, refined and purified these experiences, transforming them into a part of the foundation of his own abilities.
A sense of complete harmony arose spontaneously. Perception, manipulation, enhancement... these abilities were no longer isolated skills, but part of an organic whole. He gained a deeper understanding of the "boundaries" of his own superpowers, not only the boundaries of distance, but also the boundaries of precision, complexity, endurance, and the depth of interaction with the material world.
At this peak moment of perfect understanding, the numbers on the screen deep within my consciousness began to jump again.
Awakening level: 0.57%.
There were no earth-shattering changes, only a natural and solid foundation. The "extended tentacles" of perception became clearer and more controllable; the stability of the three-thread control was solidified; and when interacting deeply with metallic materials, the subtle resonance became slightly more pronounced.