Chapter 65 - 64:100% Adaptability !
As Marthus was quickly sent away, the other new recruits were not satisfied and rushed over to ask Daniel Thompson if Harrison Clark could really wear the armor.
Daniel Thompson became flustered.
He hadn’t thought about this situation before, so he hadn’t given a definite answer. To his surprise, this trick worked in Harrison’s favor.
And it didn’t end there.
A score of twenty laps in thirty-seven minutes and eight seconds, even among veterans who have been training in armor for a long time, is considered top-notch.
Harrison took advantage of the situation, bringing it up in public and putting himself on the spot.
Daniel Thompson was in a tough position.
If he went back on his word, it would damage his credibility as a new recruit instructor.
Even if he wanted to refuse, he needed a convincing reason to do so.
But Harrison’s performance was genuinely excellent, and even Daniel Thompson believed that he could wear the Azure Dragon Armor right now.
Unfortunately, Daniel Thompson was just an ordinary instructor at the base and didn’t have the authority to let a newly enlisted recruit wear the most advanced individual soldier combat weaponry in the world today.
Daniel Thompson was in a difficult position.
Seeing Daniel’s predicament, Harrison decided to withdraw his request gracefully.
He admitted that he was very curious about the never-before-seen Azure Dragon Armor and really wanted to operate it himself to see what it felt like.
But he also knew that it was just a single piece of soldier armor and couldn’t change humanity’s fate.
A year later, everyone would still die without dignity.
But as a man, who wouldn’t want to pilot battle armor?
Especially state-of-the-art battle armor that no one has seen yet.
He knew that he would definitely get to pilot it within four months given his exceptional skill level, but by then it would hardly be new and exciting.
Of course, the earlier, the better, but since that couldn’t happen, he wouldn’t push his luck.
“It’s alright, Instructor. If it’s not possible, I was just joking. Never mind.”
Harrison’s sincere concession, in Daniel’s eyes, seemed to be a way of using a retreat to push forward.
Daniel Thompson was truly uncomfortable at the situation.
At that moment, his wristwatch-style personal terminal vibrated.
Daniel Thompson’s mind raced, connecting to the brainwave communication and hearing the voice of his immediate supervisor.
“Let this new recruit named Harrison Clark attend a political review. If there are no problems, let him start wearing Azure Dragon Armor training.”
Daniel Thompson was stunned, his mind shouting, “But Harrison is just a new recruit!”
“That’s why I just said he should attend the political review first. This is the General’s order. What’s the seventeenth military rule?”
“Never question the motives behind a superior’s decision.”
The brainwave communication automatically hung up, leaving Daniel Thompson’s face a little red.
He took a deep breath, “Harrison, you should go to the Political Department for a political review now. If there are no problems, from today onwards, you will start Azure Dragon Armor training ahead of schedule. However, you cannot skip the regular new recruit training. If everything goes smoothly, after you finish here every afternoon, you will go to the Individual Soldier Armor Training Department for extra hours.”
Harrison’s eyes widened, “Huh?”
His attitude collapsed.
He had played himself into trouble, losing his precious leisure time.
There were no surprises in Harrison’s political review.
He thought he was suspicious, but the information looked up by the Political Department was flawless.
Although he still couldn’t find out where his parents were, at least a corresponding source was found in the gene bank.
Only then did Harrison learn why a thousand years later, Private Harrison Clark had no family in his hometown.
It was rather sad.
This body didn’t have parents in the biological sense.
Starting a millennium ago, there were problems with the human birthrate.
This issue lasted for hundreds of years, not only remaining unsolved but becoming increasingly serious.
For the first two hundred years, it didn’t matter what kind of policies were in place to encourage reproduction. People from the 90s, 00s, and 10s generations thought it was too tough to have their own children, so they shouldn’t have kids to suffer with them.
In the following two to three hundred years, as technology gradually progressed and productivity increased, humans stepped into a highly-welfare society. Since then, people’s daily necessities were truly taken care of.
But these pleasure-seeking people found new excuses not to have children.
Raising a child is hard, but once they’re born, humans’ biological instincts won’t let them neglect them.
We shouldn’t be slaves to our genetic instincts; we should liberate ourselves!
That was the consensus of many people, so they still didn’t have children.
However, five hundred years ago, the World Government that had been established through unification made a decision to cut the Gordian knot.
With the complete maturity of artificial embryo cultivation technology, the World Government initiated a gene cultivation policy.
You can choose not to reproduce; you can also choose not to raise children. But you have to donate your genes and put them in the gene bank.
Every year, the government used a completely random combination, adjusted the male-to-female ratio, and turned the gene bank resources into embryos, then cultivated them into human beings.
When this policy was first introduced, it was met with numerous criticisms, and various ethicists vehemently opposed it.
But the World Government silenced others with just one sentence.
If we continue with this aging trend, humans will go extinct.
You have a big issue with that?
You object to artificially cultivated embryos, but you don’t want to give birth to me yourself?!
The most vocal critics were immediately silenced.
In the blink of an eye, another 500 years passed, and now the population had indeed rebounded.
Both the shift in beliefs and the effective implementation of artificial embryo policies played a role.
Harrison Clark himself was one of these new superhumans cultivated through such methods.
So, while he had a hometown, native soil, and genetically-related parents, neither party cared about each other and had never contacted one another.
Harrison, like many others in his generation, had no roots to speak of—a common condition in this age.
Everyone’s roots shifted from a narrow sense of hometown to the entire blue planet.
That night, in the biological training room, Harrison was immersed in a large, transparent liquid tank with even his head buried in the liquid.
Amazingly, he could open his eyes, breathe and remained conscious.
Outside the tank were Daniel Thompson and four busy white-coated researchers.
Daniel nodded at Harrison through the glass, and his telepathic communication reached Harrison’s ears.
“The maximum mobility pressure of the Azure Dragon Armor exceeds 20G, which will put tremendous stress on the human body. An ordinary person exposed to this level of acceleration would undoubtedly have their blood vessels burst and die instantly. Therefore, before each real-machine training or live combat exercise, all armored soldiers will inject a blood coagulant serum.”
“The coagulant serum greatly enhances the blood’s ability to carry oxygen and nutrients within three hours, but at the same time, makes the blood more viscous—making it possible for armored soldiers to withstand higher acceleration thresholds without any side effects.”
Harrison asked in his mind, “What about the brain? Wouldn’t that be affected by extreme acceleration as well?”
Daniel shrugged, “There’s also a drug for that, but it’s still in development with severe side effects: certain death. The symptoms are similar to the incurable disease ALS from a thousand years ago, so it’s not yet usable in the field.”
“Alright then.”
“Your political screening and basic physical tests are all fine. Theoretically, you’ll be able to withstand 20G acceleration after injecting the serum. But now, we need to do a full body examination to determine your adaptability to the serum. If it’s less than 60%, your dream of wearing armor ends here.”
“I get it. It’s like an allergy test.”
“Yes, a subcutaneous test throughout your body. Once you pass, you can begin your basic theoretical training tomorrow. Then, in about two to three months, you’ll score a 90 on the operation test, step out of the simulator and put on the Azure Dragon Armor.”
Harrison’s mental state continued to crumble.
Two to three months… I’m so busy, you know!
Whatever, I’ve come this far. I have to go through with it.
In his last visit, the large individual soldier armor he tried wasn’t this powerful in terms of mobility—basically, any robust man could wear it—so there was no need for this step.
Clearly, this was another advanced technology brought about by the latest evolutionary leap in technology, which didn’t surprise him.
After Daniel explained all the precautions, one of the researchers pressed a button, and dozens of probes in the tank began to release an orange-yellow liquid into the tank’s existing liquid.
The orange-yellow liquid dispersed throughout the fluid, enveloping Harrison like a mist.
Harrison began to feel a tingling itch all over his skin and involuntarily squirmed.
“I forgot to tell you, the first time you’re exposed to the serum, you might experience some discomfort and an irresistible itch. Scratching won’t help for it will only worsen the itch and soon the pain will make you faint.”
“When I first underwent the serum test, I struggled for over three hours in the tank, scratching myself until I fainted from the pain.”
“So my advice to you is, even if you feel itchy, don’t scratch. Hold out as long as you can. If not, start scratching now and let yourself faint sooner. Good luck, my brother.”
Outside the tank, Daniel wore a mischievous smirk as if saying, ‘You tricked me, so I’ll trick you too.’
Harrison wanted to curse, but Daniel had already cut off the communication.
All Harrison could do was open his mouth and release bubbles of agitation from his mouth.
Seeing his angry appearance made Daniel’s frustration with being forced to cooperate with Harrison vanish.
Just when Harrison suddenly stopped squirming, he closed his eyes and fell silent.
Daniel was taken aback.
Harrison had only endured for less than five seconds before becoming still!
Thinking something had gone wrong, Daniel quickly shouted to the researchers, “Stop it now!”
His voice was so loud it cracked, clearly heard by Harrison through the tank.
The lead researcher looked at the monitor’s readings with a puzzled face, muttering, “100%?”
Daniel was startled, “What? 100%? Is it possible for someone to have 100% adaptability to the blood coagulant serum? What’s the previous record? If he’s at 100%, why hasn’t Harrison moved?”
Daniel looked back at the tank and was astonished to find that Harrison had already opened his eyes and was waving at him with a mischievous smile.
Yes, the itch had suddenly vanished.
He didn’t know why this happened.
Comparing his experience to Daniel’s miserable three hours followed by fainting in pain, Harrison had it too easy.
The researcher, still puzzled, said, “the previous record was 91.73%. In theory, humans as mammals shouldn’t be able to reach 100%—the equipment must be malfunctioning!”
At this point, Harrison still didn’t know that he was breaking a world record for all of humanity.
All he knew was that he had outwitted Daniel once again.
Hearing the researcher’s words, Daniel was overwhelmed with mixed emotions.
He asked further, “If this is true, does it mean that Harrison has the potential to break the 20G acceleration limit of the Azure Dragon Armor?”
“Yes, if he wants to, he can achieve the strongest mobility in the history of the Azure Dragon Armor. I need to report this immediately!”
As Daniel looked at Harrison again, his eyes became slightly red.
In his understanding, with each step forward for human civilization, there was a greater likelihood of survival.
And this brat Harrison, without making a sound, had taken an incredible step for humanity.
At this point, the smug smirk on Harrison’s face suddenly seemed endearing to Daniel..