章節 29: Meaning And Flaws Of Speed
"Even after all of these years and all of these decades, I can still enjoy simple things like this." The thought itself probably is not very special, but it feels right.
I was sitting atop the roof of my mansion while Wayne did his afternoon patrol. I held not one but six eggs with three in each hand while making or at least attempting to make fists with the limited space I had.
An entire week had passed by before I was even able to lift one in my arm after two weeks. I could hold two in my hands, and by the third week, I could hold three.
Right now, I'm currently juggling all six of them while focusing my telekinesis to form various objects in front of me. The enhancement to my mind from this jump was almost as significant as the increase I received from gaining access to NZT.
But what I've noticed is that even with my increased intellect, I honestly didn't feel more intelligent. I can understand more things and calculate velocity and trajectories and various mathematical equations in nanoseconds, but I lack cunning.
A proper master planner could probably run rings around me, not to mention some of the various scammers and fixers across the multiple worlds.
Even with all the time under my belt, I don't think I could plan for anything past the next decade.
As I finished the lunch that I was eating, I checked on the various reports that I was getting from the company, which was ironically called Limitless Real Estate Development.
My parents had changed the name from Davenport Inc. to Limitless after I gave them the recommendation in order for them to rebrand. Most of the time, when I'm discussing the name, I usually call it LED. I'll tell you what about the monopoly man is definitely making waves across the city's economy.
However, one drawback of this world was definitely the repeated attempts from Megamind to try to kidnap me as well as that reporter Roxanne. In his words, his mind told him that if he could defeat me, a younger version of Metro Man or at least one that has much less experience, he could beat my brother.
So I have officially been deemed Megamind's test dummy. He hasn't actually been able to kidnap me, but he has a kidnapped Roxanne at least twice in these past three weeks.
The first kidnapping was to lower out my brother, who ironically enough did not even know the woman's name until around the 10th kidnapping.
But for as ridiculous Megamind usually is, his tech is very advanced, as when I calculated the possible radius of his strongest explosive. It made the Bomba look like a firecracker.
He was never able to detonate it because Wayne threw it into space, and he also made sure that the shockwave wouldn't hit any of our surrounding satellites. When Wayne asked Megamind why he was even working on a bomb like that in the first place, he simply said that he wanted to test it on Metro Man.
Not even a month into this jump, I can already understand why Wayne wanted to give this up within the next year because, to be honest, dealing with Megamind is annoying because while none of his plans actually result in collateral damage or at least collateral damage-related deaths which I attributed to the logic of this world, it was not exactly relaxing.
That same logic also kept Megamind from actually suffering real consequences as he was always just thrown into the same prison cell every single time, along with his villainous friends.
Yes, you heard me right. Megamind actually has friends in there, at least if you could call that loose band of criminals and thieves friends, that is. The entire group was about as intelligent as your average human, but that does not dismiss them as threats.
There were four members in total, with the lava monster behemoth along with Lady Doppler, a weather manipulator, what looked to be some death night wannabe, and a mime.
I asked Wayne about them, but he just told me not to worry about them as, unlike Megamind, they quite literally lack the combined IQ actually to escape the prison, and Megamind himself often forgets about them anyway.
Thankfully, the drawback that makes me get kidnapped more often only applies to Megamind and not the entire group, as having to deal with a lava monster on a biweekly basis would not exactly be fun.
But I was actually tempted to test myself against something, especially with my new strength and speed.
Last week, I was able to experience what was assumed to be my top speed, and wow, just walking around the city and seeing everything frozen in place was surreal. I nearly explored every single part of the city. Wayne was following me, obviously to make sure I didn't cause any damage, and my face must've resonated with him as he was smiling the entire time.
I also learned something quite interesting about this version of Superspeed as well. Everything itself doesn't seem to be moving. I myself feel like I'm moving at normal speed, so when I try to read a book, I quite literally read through it. I was certainly faster than a normal human being, but it was quite literally just flipping through the pages.
This really puts into perspective how lucky I am to have a perfect photographic memory because I could just flip through the entire pages and remember the whole book off the top of my head, and NZT just makes it way too easy to recall information.
"Having fun, Carter?" Wayne asks as I grab another book just to expirience superspeed.
" It's definitely something Wayne. I'm surprised you could get through your day at that speed. If you couldn't control how fast you perceived a time, this would be like hell." Wayne grimaced but didn't disagree.
"Well, I would like to think of it as truly being able to enjoy every second of life, Carter, and trust me. It was definitely bad. The first time, I went super speed. Remember that time we were playing baseball in the yard, and you kept thinking I had some kind of teleportation power when I kept appearing behind you?" I was not able to meet his eyes as he said this.
" Wayne, we were seven years old, and you know how much of a superpower theorist I was, and still I am." It's mostly an excuse, however, as Wayne just keeps that smug expression of his.
" It wasn't all funny games as it took me three days to actually learn how to slow back down, so every time you thought I was appearing behind you, I had run circles around the entire city, which for you felt like seconds but for me, it was hours." As he says this, we sat down at a nearby table.
" So, how exactly did you learn how to slow back down?" Wayne just looked off into the distance as he ate his sandwich.
" It wasn't so much learning how to slow down but more learning how to perceive as every time I try to learn or at least try to slow myself down. It didn't do anything. I was honestly scared for one of the first times in my life, so I just went to the park, laid down on the ground, and stared at the sun."
" You know, you're lucky your eyes are as vulnerable as you are. I don't exactly want my brother to go blind. but I do admit that one time Megamind created a flashback so powerful that it blinded you for a couple of hours was quite funny." The smile on my face was met with a groan from Wayne as he continued.
" So I was just laying down on the ground, and then it hit me: when we think about how the planet rotates on its access, we never assume how fast it's really moving, so I just attributed that idea to my own speed and focused not on how fast I was going, but I perceived how fast I could or could not be going. And at that moment, I didn't think to go slow. I just simply thought that I was already moving at that speed."
As he says this, he quite literally slows himself down mid-sentence just, I assume, to annoy me, as each one of his words continued to slow itself down and then speed itself up as he neared the end of his sentence.
After saying this, I placed the book back on the bookshelf, and Wayne finished his sandwich and as we got up, I put a hand on his shoulder.
" Thanks for this, by the way." it was simple gratitude, but to Wayne, it seemed like the world.
He then pulled me in for a hug, and as we did so all he said were three words.
" Always, Carter, always." I do admit I did get a bit emotional during that time as I never had siblings before this.
I almost felt guilty over the fact that I wasn't really his brother but just another oddity introduced through the jump chain, but the thought left as quickly as it appeared.
There was no time for insecurities. I just had to keep moving forward.
Returning to the present, I walked back into the mention after prepping some dinner for the two of us when he got back, and after putting the meals into the fridge, I went back into my warehouse and threw one of the doors, which led to my farms.
As soon as I did so, I was immediately accosted by a sheet of fabric.
" How goes productions, Silk?"
Silk, somehow managing to hold a clipboard and wearing glasses, begins to mouth off some of the various gains.
" Well, my friend, the various animal farms are producing as per our usual percentage and thanks to the drawback no longer being in play. We don't have to worry about the 20% Lawson profits from the wild animals trying to eat our crops and our animals. Other than that, the magical herbs that you've planted have finally begun to show some progress, but they are quite basic."
Silk then handed me the clipboard, showing me the various numbers and percentages, and everything seemed in order; after nodding a couple of times, I handed the clipboard back to him and left him to manage the farm.
Thankfully, the NPCs that I was able to hire from the Farmville jump remained, and while I was somewhat worried that I was basically using a slave workforce, all of the workers that I had turned into robots as soon as I exited that jump.
But for now, it's time for me to make my three wishes for this jump. So, as I left the farms, I headed back into the warehouse and grabbed the old genie lamp that I took from Aladdin.
Rubbing it slightly, blue mist then began to emanate from the lamp, and from it came a new genie.
The genie's form was ever-changing as the blue smoke kept appearing from the lamp and forming what looked to be a humanoid upper body.
The figure then collapsed into what looked like a female shape. As it somehow stretched itself out to ridiculous proportions, she yawned and looked around upon seeing me, tilting her head in curiosity.
" So you're my new master, huh? Well, it couldn't be worse than Ozpin and that witch. Now speak your wishes so that I may return to my nap. I will have you know that I need decades of beauty sleep." The woman then reached down and grabbed one of my apples and ate it.
" Well, for one, I would like to say thank you for agreeing to do this. I very much appreciate it-"
" Yes, yes, I understand. Trust me. The boss wouldn't give me to someone he does not trust, which is also surprising. He is very kind. His trust is not earned very easily. No, feel free to speak your wishes, but do take heed of the rules. No manipulating free will nor directly killing someone or indirectly for that matter. Oh, and don't try to do that smart thing of wishing for more wishes."
Taking a moment to think over my wishes, I took out the list I had made during the Farmville jump, and while I could just wish for more powers, I feel as if that would be cheap for this setting, as I am quite literally invincible.
It may be a bit childish, but I don't want to rush this journey, so I mostly just stuck to wishing for more conceptual defenses rather than reality-warping powers, as I can get those from other jumps, and they would take the purpose out of them.
"Well then, if you wish to know my wishes, I shall speak them. For my first wish, I desire to be able to travel through the vacuum of space, for the second, I wish to be immune to abilities trying to erase my existence. For my final wish, I wish that my DNA could never be copied nor stolen for me to be used against me." After saying my wishes, the genie nods in understanding and simply snaps her finger.
A slight blue glow emanates from my being, and as I feel the changes take effect, a small smile makes its way to my face. Thanks to my power-suppressing immunity, every one of these wishes becomes immutable the moment they become a part of me, so the defenses themselves cannot be manipulated.
"Well, I see that you are happy with your wishes. That's good now. Since we are done here, I am going to return to the lamp as I am due my beauty sleep." But before she's able to disintegrate into smoke and return to the lamp, I do ask her one question?
" I hope this is not rude, but what exactly does it look like in there?" The genie seems almost puzzled by this but laughs while wiping a smoky tear from her eye.
" Out of all of the questions you could ask, you ask about my living conditions. It seems that your family's real estate business has definitely affected your priorities. But don't worry, the inside of the lamp is actually its own pocket dimension, as the boss does not create anything that is not perfect or at least the closest thing to perfect. Oh, and before I go, my name is Jinn. Feel free to use it next time."
The woman then disappears into the lamp, and the warehouse remains silent while I ponder how the heck someone was able to fit an entire pocket dimension within a lamp that is barely the size of my hand.
I have read up on some science fiction, like The Culture and Rick and Morty, along with Star Wars and Star Trek, but such feats still do amaze me.
But knowing that I will eventually be able to access such technology in the future does bring a bit of excitement into my being before I refocus myself and return to my mansion,
But as soon as I do so, I hear an explosion in the distance and focus my sight on the source of the blast. Megamind and my brother are duking it out in the middle of town again.
Taking out my phone, I called the good old Monopoly man and told him to prepare some of our damage control protocols for such things as this.
(Sorry for the delays in chapters as life these days has been kicking my butt to say the least as I'm not allowed to swear on WebNovel the best way I could describe my current condition is that I've kind of hit a rut. Is it possible to have a midlife crisis when you're not even in the middle of your life?)
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