Narrowing my eyes, I focused my eyesight as much as possible, using my telescopic vision to observe the CCTV lens as the small internal object flickered.
It was common knowledge that the human eye can only perceive about 15 individual visual images per second, meaning the human eye has a 15 fps frame rate.
Or at least that was the case for Level 0 basic humans; with my stats as high as they are, my ocular framerate is upward of 90 to 120 Fps, thus my ability to track fast-moving objects with ease.
Now, in the case of the CCTV camera down below, I was able to notice the flicker of the lens to the point that I could count, and soon enough, I knew that it was clocking at between 20 and 30 fps, a baseline standard.
’Ok, grainy 1990s camera quality with 30fps…..shit…’ crunching the numbers in my head and using a basic algebraic equation, I worked out that I’d need to move between 447 mph to 671 mph, an impossible feat given my current stats.
’Even Brenden at his peak with all his skills active maxed out around 400ish miles per hour….ehhh, well, it looks like I can’t outspeed the camera, but using the shadows and taking into account the shitty visual quality, I should be able to show up as an indecipherable blur.’ Sitting down, I dangled my legs over the edge of the rooftop and began massaging my quads and calves.
Running at my top speed for several minutes was going to be extremely taxing on my legs, so I needed to get the blood flowing and loosen up the muscles.
As I did this, I glanced around at the sky, taking into account the position of the moon and stars to get a rough geological location. I knew that it was approximately 6.8 miles as the crow flew southeast of downtown Manchester to Hyde, and using the faint City lights in conjunction with the moon’s light, I scanned through the paper map I had swiped and plotted out my course.
It had been quite a while since I needed to navigate with a map, but it was just like riding a bike; years of wilderness survival training and map reading came back in an instant as I plotted my course using the stars and lunar positioning.
Soon enough, I was ready to go, so I began cycling particles into my lungs, heart, and legs. I planned on sprinting the full way there, without stopping, avoiding all the CCTV cameras along the way.
But there was something I needed to do first, and after digging through my inventory for a second, I pulled out a Velcro belt. Now, this belt wasn’t any normal belt; no, it was one specifically meant for professional paintball.
On the back, it had elastic bands for holding tubes or pods of paintballs, but for me, it was going to hold water bottles filled with particle water.
If I were going to push my body to the limit, I’d need not only to take care not to shred the muscles of my legs but also nourish them with a constant flow of fresh Particles.
Like this, not only was I covering the distance and testing my limits, but it could also be viewed as a form of training for my legs.
By no means am I a masochist; while I don’t mind pain and am fairly tolerant of it, that doesn’t mean I enjoy it, so while my actions may be slightly destructive, borderline wreckless, that didn’t mean it wasn’t a calculated risk.
Slotting the bottles into the belt, I adjusted it so that it fit comfortably around my hips and took a runner’s stance.
Closing my eyes to focus my mind, I steadied my breath and activated my talent.
’Psy-Kinesis, Augmentation Second Stage’ Instantly, the muscles in my legs bulged as the mixture of blood and particles flowed freely, strengthening them in the process…then…I kicked off the ground and launched myself forward with such force a spiderweb of cracks spread out across the roof of Piccadilly Station.
Pumping my arms, I instantly arrived at the far end of the train station, and facing southeast, I leapt into the air, zipping through the cool night sky like a bullet before landing on a building across the street and continuing forward without breaking my stride.
Was it challenging to do? Yep, it sure was because my instincts told me to roll, but instead, I continued to stay in motion so as not to lose my momentum.
Bounding from one rooftop to another, I whizzed through the air, carefully picking my landing spots and using my height as a means to avoid the CCTV down below.
Luckily, I was in downtown Manchester, where the majority of buildings were four to five stories tall. Still, within two minutes, those larger buildings began fading into the background, giving way to suburbia, which means houses.
Yet I didn’t slow down, and although my altitude dropped, that didn’t mean I wasn’t sticking to rooftops, only that I needed to be lighter on my feet as I ran across the houses.
The transition from City buildings to residential homes was relatively seamless. Eventually, I was back on solid ground, weaving in and out of people’s backyards, leaping over fences, avoiding family pets, and chugging down a full bottle of particle water roughly every 30 seconds. I traversed through the outskirts of Manchester until I finally came to a small treeline spanning around a smaller golf course than I had gone through back in Edinburgh.
According to the map I had, this golf club marked the 60% point between the City and Hyde, so I picked up the pace and stuck close to the ground while running.
Thankfully, the further away from the big City I got, the more sparse the CCTV cameras became until finally, after only four and a half minutes, I arrived at a large park aptly named Hyde Park.
My arrival couldn’t have come soon enough because the instant I realized I was in the clear and there wasn’t a single person in sight, a burning pain tore through my legs, causing me to collapse face-first onto the ground as I lost all feeling in both.
Rolling over onto my back and panting heavily from exertion, all I could do was stare at the sky and groan…
"Ow…."