Stage One: Fixed Staring for 20 minutes (1000/1000)
Congratulations! You’ve completed Stage One!
Nice job… You’ve displayed concentration and patience well. The final stage will push your mental stamina and focus to the brink. Good luck.
Final stage: Perfect Stillness for 24 hours (0/1)
Remy gently massaged his eyes, squinting them. He frowned at Sensei Hayato who sat cross-legged opposite him in the dojo.
“My vision is blurry. Is that normal?”
“It is. Your photoreceptors have taken a beating and the Flow Site is starting to prepare your body for the mutation. You’re almost there, Remy-san.”
“What’s perfect stillness?”
“It’s exactly what it sounds like. For 24 hours, you must not move at all.”
“And if I do?”
“You must start again.”
“Oh,” Remy said.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, no. It’s just I used to do something similar every night as a kid because of my Eternal Insomnia. It doesn’t feel much like a challenge.”
Hayato chuckled. “Amelia said that to me too. I didn’t think she was serious. In that case, we should skip the usual training procedure for this. Usually, I practice shorter durations with students until they can manage the full twenty-four but if you’re anything like your sister, you should be just fine.”
“Amelia had no problems with the Final Stage?”
“No. She said it was the closest thing to sleep.”
Remy thought about Amelia’s last letter and a bittersweet feeling washed over him. His sister had clearly expressed her longing for death. Maybe the Final Stage of the Super Vision pathway allowed her to pretend like she was.
“It’s best to start the Final Stage in an isolated area where no one can bother you.”
“Where did Amelia go?”
“A flower field on the edge of town.” Hayato smiled. “I think you’ll like it. I made it myself.”
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The flower field exceeded Remy’s expectations. It was stunning, a mesmerising sight that no photo could do justice. Almost every flower which could blossom in Spring glistened under the intense glow of the sunlight. Their natural colours were arranged sporadically yet somehow artistically as if planned– maybe it was. Maybe Sensei had personally thought about where to place each flower. The diversity of vibrant colours felt infinite– snow whites, ocean blues, emerald greens and the list went on.
“The world is still beautiful… Trust me.”
Amelia’s last words hit Remy hard. When she was quickly bleeding out, he hadn’t been able to process the words and as the years progressed, he had forgotten them entirely.
But now he remembered. He sniffed, blinking away tears.
“Are we here yet?” Jay yelled. He wore a blindfold and gripped Remy’s shoulder with a vice-like grip. “I smell flowers! Am I right? I smell–”
“Stop yelling, idiot! You’re blind, not deaf!” Remy barked back, before sighing. “Yes, we’re here. Why are you tagging along again? You didn’t need to come.”
Jay scoffed. “Yes, I did Big Cuzzy. You’re about to get your first superpower. It would be disrespectful for me not to be here.”
“You would be doing me a favour if you didn’t come,” Remy muttered.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.
“No, I heard you. You said I would be doing you a favour if I didn’t come. That’s mean. Did you notice that? My Super Hearing is already kicking in.”
Remy rolled his eyes.
“Did you roll your eyes?”
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me, Big Cuzzy.”
“Let’s be real. You’re only here because you can’t spar with anyone blindfolded without it being classified as a brutal assault. Remember what we agreed– we both sit down in silence until my alarm rings."
“Yes, yes, yes, I know.”
They walked across the flower field, stopping at the centre where a circular flowerless patch of grass lay.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Are you ready?” Remy asked.
“Yeah.”
“Great.” Remy raised an arm and pressed a button on his Hologram Watch.
“Wait, what if it rains?”
“Then it rains and we suck it up.”
“Fair enough.”
Remy restarted the timer. “We start now.”
Five seconds later, Jay asked, “Wait, should we stand instead?”
Remy winced but successfully fought off the urge to slap his cousin. Sensei Hayato had taught him well. “No. Any more questions?”
“None.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
The twenty-four hours went by too fast for Remy. While focusing on the sound of his breathing, his mind first wandered to the livestream highlights Amelia had sent him. He had watched some of the videos so many times that he could visualise them entirely in his mind and even recall every word verbatim.
Then he reflected on Wide Awake’s superhero lessons. It was comforting to have Amelia’s expertise memorised. It was like her words were always there with him. He wondered if she was spectating his life from heaven just like how he always spectated her during every livestream. He considered creating a book based on the lessons to teach others how to be superheroes.
At the halfway point, which was signalled by a beep on his watch, Remy wondered if the pain of his sister’s death would ever disappear. Would it go away once retribution was achieved or would he have to wait till his own death?
He thought about Endless– the man who had tortured and killed his sister.
He thought about Phoenix– the man who had assisted in the torture by healing her on the brink of death numerous times.
He thought about Instant - the man who had abducted his sister.
He thought about all the top superheroes and the twisted ranking system.
And near the end of the twenty-four hours, Remy thought about what superpowers to strive for next. In the Super Era, opportunities were vast and no superpower could not be fought for. There were thousands to choose from. All it took was the means to find the Flow Site, a bundle of tenacity, and a heap of luck…
Beep, beep, beep.
Final Stage: Perfect Stillness for 24 hours (1/1)
Congratulations! You’ve obtained Super Vision! (lvl 1)
Skill obtained: Hawk Vision– the ability to see very far. Like a hawk. Great for spotting danger before it spots you. Perfect for avoiding conflict. A personal fav of mine
“Argh!”
Remy doubled over as a searing pain erupted in both retinas and a tingling sensation ran throughout his body.
“Big Cuzzy!”
“I’m fine,” Remy grunted, tightly gripping the grass. Amelia had warned him, even scaring him as a child, telling him it felt like “being stabbed in the eyeballs by a compass but much worse.”
His sister had not been lying. Nothing could have prepared him. But fortunately, the agony vanished after half a minute and the blurry flower field became extremely vivid.
Remy jumped to his feet and spun around, absorbing his surroundings like they were new. “This is amazing!” he yelled cheerfully, arms stretched out wide.
Jay stood up and tugged his shoulder. “What do you see?”
Remy grinned wide and began to walk. “I see the individual grains of dirt on the ground. I see ants. I see much further than before. I see birds in the sky. Birds in their nests on tree branches. I can even see Whisperwind’s town centre from here.”
“From here?” Jay asked incredulously
“Yes! I see people. I see…”
“What? What else do you see?”
Remy rubbed his eyes, praying he was hallucinating, his smile faltering.
“I see bodies on the ground. I see lots of vines.”
There was no point running. He could see more than enough destruction to know that it was far too late to do anything.
“What else do you see?” Jay croaked.
“I see dead students surrounding the dojo. I see destroyed Mechanical Wolves and other robotic beasts littering Whisperwind. Lions. Bears.”
They walked closer to the town in complete silence until Jay inevitably asked again, “What else do you see?”
Remy’s face turned pale. “More bodies. I see Sensei Hayato. He’s kneeling over his wife and son. I think they’re… ”
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Under the raging rain, everyone who had survived the attack stood before rows of gravestones decorated with bundles of beautiful flowers. Sobs rang in the air.
In the twenty-four hours that they had left, an A-tier Supervillain named Carnage had broken out of prison and invaded Whisperwind. According to Hayato, he was one of the many supervillains who held a grudge against him. Their Sensei had managed to kill Carnage in a close battle but not without the village taking a massive blow in the process.
Blur-Man and Flaunt Woman did not help.
“You were right, Jay-san,” Hayato whispered, barely audible. “I should not have accepted this reality and now my family have paid the price. I told you I had tried everything, but that was a lie. Something can always be done.”
Jay took a hesitant step forward. “It’s not your fault, Sensei. You can’t blame yourself for this.”
Hayato wiped away tears, turning away. “Both of you meet me tomorrow morning for your final lesson."
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“It has been a great honour to teach you both but all good things must come to an end...”
Sensei Hayato wore a white super suit adorned with a rose-petaled pattern, and a plain white mask fully covered the top half of his head. He wielded a katana in each hand. Remy had seen the full gear a few times online, but it looked much more striking and ominous in person.
They stood at the peak of a hill, one that was very similar to the first Whisperwind hill the students had climbed.
“Remy-san, have you seen an S-tier threat up close and in action before?” Hayato asked.
“No.”
“Watch closely from here. It is the perfect spot to see everything. Don’t look away and observe every action. Ingrain it into your memory.”
“What are you going to do, Sensei?” Jay asked.
“I’m going to give a demonstration. If you want to successfully avenge Amelia, you both must surpass my level.”
Chills ran down Remy’s spine. “How did you know?”
“Your aura burns with rage and Amelia told me you never wanted to be a superhero. Your intentions became clear to me the moment we met.”
“So you know about the corruption of the top-ranking superheroes?”
“Yes. I found out in the last year of my career when I fully levelled up my Super Vision. One glance at them was all it took to realise. Hopefully, one day you’ll acquire the same ability. I never did anything because the corruption runs too deep and I didn’t want to put my family in danger. Endless is the strongest superhero we depend on for the biggest threats but as you know it’s not just him. This is a complicated and disgusting problem. It feels impossible to solve.”
“I will solve it,” Remy said.
Hayato smiled slightly. “With your patience and strong will, I believe it is possible.” He ran down the hill at a breakneck speed, and Remy tracked his movements using his Super Vision.
“I don’t understand,” Jay said. “What’s happening? Where is he going?”
“Oh, right,” Remy replied, remembering his cousin was still blindfolded and therefore didn’t realise their teacher was about to raise hell. “I’m pretty sure Sensei’s a supervillain now.”