Chapter 151 - 109: Why Was the Strength of the Ancients So Fierce?

Chen Jue jotted down the preliminary data Zhou Chuan had calculated for Seeing Bullets with the Naked Eye, planning to add it to his Strongest Human Training Plan data sheet when he got back.

Just because the eyes of an ordinary person couldn’t perceive 217 frames per second didn’t mean Chen Jue couldn’t.

With his panel, Chen Jue was determined to try this so-called Bullet Time in the future, no matter what.

Just like with grabbing the gold brick, the plan was to set a target value first, then slowly improve through eye massages and Pointing and Adding Points.

...

The second test was for the body’s reaction speed. The method was quite simple: react to the sound of a starting pistol.

According to the research Zheng Yuan had done beforehand, a normal person’s reaction speed is around 300 milliseconds. Only those who have undergone specific training, like athletes, can reduce their reaction time to between 150 and 180 milliseconds.

Scientists currently recognize the limit of human reaction speed to be 100 milliseconds. For instance, in a track race, if the time between hearing the starting pistol and beginning to run is less than 100 milliseconds (0.1 seconds), it’s ruled a false start.

However, since they were testing the reaction speed of Martial Artists, Zheng Yuan didn’t use a standard runner’s start as the benchmark. Instead, he borrowed a more advanced, head-mounted EEG monitoring device from a lab at Jiang University.

This was because changes in brainwaves were more direct and provided more precise measurements than physical reactions.

The control group, which included Zheng Yuan and a few others, went first. Their reaction speeds all clustered around 300 milliseconds. The slowest person’s brainwave response even reached nearly 400 milliseconds.

When it was time for Wu Fang and Chen Jue to be tested, their results were 180 milliseconds and 130 milliseconds, respectively.

After collecting this set of comparative data, Zhou Chuan began to analyze it seriously from the side. "Human reactions can be roughly divided into three types. The first is a reflex that bypasses the cerebrum and is processed in lower regions like the cerebellum, brainstem, and spinal cord. For example, the neural node that completes the knee-jerk reflex is in the spinal cord, so muscle movement can be observed in about 50 milliseconds."

"The second type is a conscious reaction, processed by the cerebrum. This process is more complex and requires around 200 milliseconds to complete."

"As for the third type, it’s a reaction that’s processed by the cerebral cortex but doesn’t enter conscious thought. The scientific community calls this unconscious processing system the ’Zombie System,’ resulting in what’s known as a ’Zombie Reaction.’ This kind of reaction takes around 100 milliseconds."

"Based on these two sets of comparative test data, it seems that Martial Artists, through long-term practice, can indeed achieve reaction speeds approaching a ’Zombie Reaction,’ making them roughly two to three times faster than an average person."

"Elite track and field athletes, after years of training with the starting pistol, perform at roughly this same level."

Everyone looked thoughtful after hearing Zhou Chuan’s analysis.

Chen Jue, in particular, was rather surprised to see his own reaction speed had reached 130 milliseconds.

This was because ever since he’d gotten the panel, his Spirit Attribute had been the slowest to improve out of his Three-dimensional Attributes.

Yet now he had measured a reaction time close to that of an elite athlete. This suggested that in addition to his recent high-intensity training stimulating his reaction ability, the Spirit Attribute also had a very significant effect on reaction speed.

’So, the scientifically recognized limit for human reaction time is 100 milliseconds?’

’If I keep increasing my Spirit Attribute, can I break that physiological limit?’ Chen Jue wondered to himself.

...

After the reaction speed test, the next test was for wrist strength.

The testing machine was a desktop device resembling a joystick. To measure wrist strength, one simply had to secure their arm and use their wrist to move the joystick.

First, Zheng Yuan’s control group went up for the test. Their results ranged from a low of 35 kg to a high of only 42 kg.

When Wu Fang, the Martial Hero Level representative, took her turn, she only managed a result of 55 kg, which wasn’t especially remarkable.

After all, compared to grip strength in the fingers, the wrists are clearly a part of the body that gets exercised less often.

Chen Jue went up to give it a try. He found that when he forcefully flexed his wrist, his vestigial palmaris longus muscle bulged noticeably. Clearly, this muscle, related to his Climbing Skill, gave a significant boost to his wrist strength.

And after he moved the joystick, the number "85 kg" flashed onto the machine’s screen—a result that was more than double that of Zheng Yuan and the others in the control group.

Evidently, his recent training of the Climbing Skill had been a great help in increasing his wrist strength.

"Holy shit! Brother Jue is a beast!"

"85 kg of wrist strength? I feel like you could lift my entire body with just a flick of your wrist!"

"I bet Brother Jue could enter an arm-wrestling competition!"

Zheng Yuan and his boisterous roommates crowded around. Immense physical prowess holds a powerful attraction, even for members of the same sex.

How else to explain the saying? "Work out a little to attract the ladies; work out a lot to attract the bros."

Even Wu Fang’s eyes sparkled when she saw the test result. She thought to herself, ’Amazing! Master Chen really surpasses ordinary people in every single test. I wonder what his training routine is like?’

Wu Fang was curious. It had been less than two months since she’d first met Chen Jue, but the difference in him between then and now was so stark it was as if he had been completely transformed into a new person.

As for Zhou Chuan, the resident academic fanatic, his interest was also piqued when he saw the 85 kg wrist strength result. He felt that this auditing upperclassman he knew was a living physiological treasure trove!