Chapter 64. Bullet Time!

I thanked ‘Snipe’ for his assistance, and weapon before he left. I was left alone inside the range again. ‘Ok I only have today to train for this before the attack happens. My bullet time is the move I need to practice right now. Specifically the recoil of turning it off. I need to be able to get used to the nausea, or be able to turn it on and off quickly enough to not suffer any problems.’ With that in mind, I made a plan to train turning on and off bullet time quickly. And after that keep it on for a full minute at a time to try and get used to the nausea.

I decided to train the turning bullet time on and off in quick succession. I started by changing the settings so they would pop up a training dummy every 10 seconds. I would have to turn on my Bullet Time on every one, and try to turn it off before the next dummy came out. I did this for the first 18 rounds my gun had. After that was done I noticed a lack of nausea. ‘So I can use this for only 1 second or less before getting affected. I’ve only tested it at 5% per minute power so any higher and it could be worse.’

I decided to lower the time between each dummy to only five seconds between each one to lower the time I had to prepare ‘Bullet Time’. After training on that difficulty tweak for the next 18 shots I was left starting to feel mentally tired. ‘It seems me going back and forth this quickly makes me tired mentally. While keeping it on for a while before turning it on makes me nauseous.’ After coming to that conclusion I had a choice to make. Either become better at turning ‘Bullet Time’ on and off to avoid nausea, and become better at dealing with mental fatigue. Or learn to keep it on for a while, and become more accustomed to the nausea.

“I choose…” Then I got a crooked smile. “Option 3” And just like that I chose my path. ‘If it is the decision of either, then I choose neither. I make my own path by thinking around my problems.’ I turned off the popping up targets and changed the settings again. “This will be a time trial with randomized targets around the town. I will remain in ‘2nd Gear’ then activate ‘Bullet Time’.” After telling myself what I was going to do I paused after changing the settings. ‘I’ve never gone ‘2nd Gear’ with ‘Bullet Time’ before. Is it even possible?’ After psyching myself up I was ready. “Only one way to be truly sure… 2nd Gear.”

I turned on my base level of 2nd Gear. After turning it on I began to put power into my frontal lobe for ‘Bullet Time’. After I did I noticed something. ‘There is much less lag than when it is just ‘Bullet Time’ by itself.’ I felt almost normal. Like my mind and body were in closer sync than with just ‘2nd Gear’ or with just ‘Bullet Time’ by itself. Especially more than ‘Overdrive’. I can really only control where I want to essentially teleport to when I am moving at full speed, but outside of that. My mind couldn’t keep up.

‘If I can combine ‘Overdrive’ with ‘Bullet Time’ maybe on higher power to compensate with the speed. I can be a true Raiju until I overheat.’ This thought made me giggle in anticipation. I turned off my ‘Bullet Time’ but managed to leave my ‘2nd Gear’ on. This threw me for a loop on my body being lagged, then in under a second feeling faster than normal. ‘I have to get used to this, and I have to do it soon.’ I got on the outside of the fake town, and got ready to run the course.

I started with the buildings closest to me. I would run in, activate my ‘Bullet Time’,  shoot at every target in the room, stop ‘Bullet Time’ and run to the next building. The training without the use of my quirk really helped me in getting used to my weapon. Doing that first made this training much easier. Like having a strong foundation of learning. I ran through the whole thing in hardly no time at all. I was starting to feel nauseous and dizzy, but it was manageable. It almost felt good. 'Who knew training hard enough to almost feeling like puking could be so satisfying?' I chuckled at my own thoughts and got ready for the next round.

I kept on with this style of training while getting faster each time. I was running out of battery quickly though. ‘I almost forgot I had one with how little I was using it over the last couple days. I have been spending about 2.5% per minute plus the 5% per minute spikes for only seconds at a time, and it is starting to show how much I can take from this.’ I was already down to 60% power after running through the course 3 times.

‘I can keep up ‘2nd Gear’ alone for an hour and a half, before 30%. ‘Overdrive’ for anywhere from that to just 3-5 minutes if I don’t overheat first. ‘2nd Gear’ plus ‘Bullet Time’ is probably around 30 minutes in the way I’m using it. If I kept it on, it would hold for about the same as ‘Overdrive’ at 10 minutes of power. Finally just ‘Bullet Time’ I could technically hold at 5% per minute for just under 15 minutes. I think I am on the right track for the best way to use ‘Bullet Time’ effectively.’

I kept on training for another round while others were watching me in the control room. They were told to watch me, and give information to ‘Snipe’ on what training I was doing. “I don’t understand this kid at all.” One person said to another with fear in his voice. He waited for a second to see me clear a room in under a second. “This was the kid who said he was only going to be the side-kick of the future #1? Who is the monster that this other monster will serve under?” At that question the others in the room felt a cold sweat running down their backs. They all had the same thought. ‘If this is the loyal Raiju… Then who is the Rajin?’