Exoskeleton mechs.
In the history of mech development, there was indeed a branch dedicated to this concept.
The idea was to design mechs that closely adhered to the human body, eliminating the need for cumbersome levers and buttons. Instead, the mech would move as naturally as the soul master's own body, an idea that once garnered significant enthusiasm among mech pilots.
However, while the concept of exoskeleton mechs was easy to understand, their actual construction proved to be incredibly difficult.
A mech of such size, designed to perfectly conform to human movements and rely entirely on energy flow for operation, required the soul master's limbs to directly control the mech's actions. This involved an immense amount of force conversion, making it impractical to fully integrate with the human body. As a result, various button- and lever-based control systems were developed to simplify mech operations, replicating combat techniques through these interfaces.
Of course, mech control systems were diverse.
Standardized mechs relied on these control mechanisms.
For personally crafted mechs, especially those at the red-rank level, mech pilots began attempting to return to control systems similar to exoskeleton mechs. However, this required not only bodily movement but also the use of powerful spiritual power to manipulate soul power and mech energy flowing within the mech, thereby driving its actions.
The true goal was to make the mech an extension of the body.
Just as raising an arm involves the coordinated effort of various muscles in the soul master's body—delving deeper, it involves the body supplying energy to contract specific muscles, and even deeper, it involves signals traveling through nerve cells to issue commands, ultimately resulting in the arm lifting.
Similarly, in a mech, spiritual power acted as the neural network, soul power or mech energy functioned as the biological energy within the soul master's body, and soul-guided arrays served as devices to convert energy into motion.
This required a high degree of integration between the mech pilot and the mech. Spirit-forged materials were the foundation, with spirit-infused alloys being ideal for achieving near-zero latency in operation.
Some mechs adopted a hybrid approach, combining both spiritual power-driven energy manipulation and traditional control mechanisms.
In summary, in the history of mech development, the theoretically optimal mech was one that adhered closely to the human body. However, due to technological limitations, only a few red-rank mech pilots pursued this direction. Most mechs still relied on button-based control systems.
The harmony between soul masters and mechs essentially meant adapting to the inherent discordance of these systems.
This imposed an additional limitation on becoming an exceptional mech pilot.
Exoskeleton mechs were simple and convenient, though they could no longer be considered true mechs in the conventional sense. Tang Wulin's exoskeleton mech, for instance, had relatively limited functionality and didn't meet the current standards for mech evaluation.
Nevertheless, it was undeniable that this was a powerful prototype for mech structure.
If the force conversion system of this exoskeleton mech were integrated into standard mechs, it would significantly raise the upper limits of mech pilots.
No, it wasn't about integrating the exoskeleton mech's force conversion system into standard mechs—it was about incorporating other elements of standard mechs into the framework of this exoskeleton mech.
In this way, the exoskeleton mech would become a true mech.
However, when that happened, the exoskeleton mech would inevitably become more "bulky." Without spirit-infused alloys, it would be nearly impossible to achieve the seamless control Tang Wulin demonstrated.
The audience's minds raced as they pondered the potential applications of exoskeleton mech technology.
At first, they were awestruck and astonished.
But as they analyzed the situation step by step, they eventually realized that its impact on the broader mech industry might be negligible?
The entry barrier remained high.
How many soul masters could afford a mech made entirely of spirit-infused alloys?
Even two-word battle armor users, with the financial means, wouldn't they rather invest in their future three-word battle armor?
Soul masters capable of becoming two-word battle armor users had a high likelihood of reaching the Soul Emperor stage in the future. They should have confidence in themselves, so aspiring for three-word battle armor was reasonable.
For now, it seemed that this technology could only be widely applied in the form of simple exoskeletons.
Watching Tang Wulin leap around on the battlefield, his Chaotic Windsplitting Hammer technique consistently stacking to around twenty layers, even though the rhythm was disrupted due to mismanagement of force, he was still able to restart the stacking process with the help of the exoskeleton mech—not from scratch, but from approximately three to four layers.
The gap in strength was evident here.
Even with the exoskeleton mech, Tang Wulin, despite dragging out the battle for a long time, still failed to exhaust Long Yue's stamina.
Long Yue was, after all, a Soul Emperor, with far denser blood essence and more enduring soul power. Each of his terrifying strikes also took a heavy toll on Tang Wulin.
Maintaining the Chaotic Windsplitting Hammer technique itself was an enormous drain on physical stamina. Imagine sustaining a force several times stronger than your maximum output in real-time and guiding that force—the energy expenditure was immense.
Tang Wulin left the arena with regret.
To the audience, his performance had been quite impressive.
Even En Ci viewed Tang Wulin in a new light, surprised that he could endure so long against Long Yue in his berserk state and retreat unscathed, only conceding due to exhaustion.
However, for Shrek Academy, this outcome brought immense pressure.
Long Yue was simply too terrifying.
Even Tang Wulin, in his current state, had been utterly powerless to resist.
Stacking the Chaotic Windsplitting Hammer to twenty layers!
Such power, yet he was still at a disadvantage.
The Mountain Dragon King was truly fearsome.
"Class Leader, this Long Yue hasn't even used his battle armor yet and is already so unstoppable. Are you really confident you can handle him in the upcoming match?" Wu Siduo asked, her face filled with worry.
Realizing her words might sound inappropriate, she quickly added, "I mean, in the team battle, if you can't use your mech, how will you deal with Long Yue?"
Upon hearing Wu Siduo's concerns, Xu Yuan showed no signs of worry. On the contrary, he appeared supremely confident.
"Don't worry. I've already said I can handle him, so you don't need to worry about Long Yue's pressure in the team battle."
Wu Siduo and the others exchanged skeptical glances.
Yuanen Yehui looked at Xu Yuan, her mind racing as she wondered what trump cards he might still hold.
Was his strength truly boundless?
At the same time, amidst her doubts, Yuanen Yehui hadn't forgotten about the exoskeleton mech.
Should she go to his room tonight and ask him?
Yuanen Yehui didn't think ill of Xu Yuan; she was just curious about his intentions.
Could he have something else to say?
---
Night fell
At the Star Luo Grand Hotel
As promised, Yuanen Yehui arrived at Xu Yuan's door and knocked.
"Come in."
"It's Yuanen, right? Come in and speak."
Xu Yuan opened the door and invited Yuanen Yehui inside.
"Xu Yuan, could you help me create a single set of exoskeleton mech like the one Tang Wulin has?" Yuanen Yehui got straight to the point, adding, "I don't know what I can offer in return, but if there's anything you need, I'll do my best to assist you."
"We're friends. There's no need for such formalities. If you really feel uneasy about it, just do me a favor."
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