Following the Ganurg tidy up, the duo kept their eyes peeled for any sign of danger. As successful as things seemed on the surface, they had learned not to underestimate the actions the foolish would take.
They spent most of their time in the Orchard District with their mother, only leaving to patrol or accompany Hana on one of her excursions. The duel counter didn’t shift during this time.
Their usual Mental Space training was put on hold as one of them had to be on the outside at all times, to respond if needed and enable Bubble Trouble. The duo was set to high alert, scrutinising everything with extreme prejudice.
They didn’t like being paranoid about everything or placing constraints on their mother, but they bore with it for the sake of keeping her safe. Though, while they felt this way, Hana felt the opposite. The concern the duo showed warmed her heart.
Spending time with her ever-vexing and affectionate sons was a delight she couldn’t get enough of. They had no shortage of interesting things to say or ‘cool’ things to show off; she enjoyed every moment.
Eventually - or rather three days later, they judged that things were as they appeared. They didn’t drop their guard completely, but the tension in their bodies eased up significantly. The matter of the gangsters was put behind them and they focused on the future.
In particular, the ‘something interesting’ Greg had spoken about. On that matter, Ralf asked if Hana could accompany him, to which Greg agreed. Burning with anticipation, the duo wished that the days would pass by quickly. Needless to say, they didn’t use Altered Time. It wasn’t just this, Mental Space training was scarce during this time.
This wasn’t to say the duo had begun slacking now that they didn’t have any obstacles standing before them - no, such was a foolish notion and a great misunderstanding of their - Silver’s nature.
To them, becoming stronger was a passive desire - or rather a natural inclination embedded in their souls. Just like hot air rises without motivation, so did they.
The lack of Mental Space-focused training was mainly because the techniques that were developed and honed were those that had to be done on the outside world. In this time, the duo focused on improving their fire-based techniques and vibrating techniques.
They also managed to run a most important experiment concerning Psi Endurance.
Psi Endurance is composed of two elements: Psi Capacity and Mental Energy.
While on the face of it, Psi Capacity would be thought of as more important, it was actually the latter by a long shot. The quality and abundance of one’s Mental Energy determined several things: how quickly one could shift one’s Psi, how quickly one could regenerate Psi, and most importantly, how long one could battle for, before hitting the wall that was the Mental Energy (ME) Restraint Limit.
For your average psionic, five minutes of continuous active use of Psi would bring them to this limit.
Once they arrived at this point, they’d be hit with an intense wave of mental and physical exhaustion, making active Psi-use inoperable for the next few seconds. After this window passed, they could resume using Psi but it would be with Psi much worse than their usual Psi. If one continued using their Psi, one would quickly arrive at the ME Second Restraint Limit, which would disable their Psi-use for several hours.
To illustrate the matter, something like a game controller is helpful. If you want to make movements in the game, you press a button. Pressing a button is a simple action, as is shifting or shaping your Psi. Still, while pushing a button is a simple action, if one had to do it dozens, hundreds or thousands of times consecutively, cramps would undoubtedly follow. The two ME Restraint Limits are these cramps.
Importantly, active Psi-use was the key aspect in this equation. Maintaining a Psi construct, one’s Automatic Aura or Psi Scan fell into passive use and could be used continually without issue.
Another important thing to note is that there is no difference between using 100 percent of your Psi or 1 percent of Psi. For your average psionic, at around five minutes, they’d hit the first Mental Energy Restraint Limit.
Of course, as was a trend with Psi powers, they could be improved through training. One’s Mental Energy could be made more resilient with repeated visits to the ME Restraint Limits. Still, one could only improve so much.
To be able to fight non-stop for thirty minutes already placed one in the realm of the super rare. Even Ascendants, who practically have an unlimited pool of Psi at their fingertips can only fight for a few hours at most.
Now, with Psi Endurance covered, where did the duo fall into this? Before the experiment, they believed that they could fight perpetually, and they had good reason to. Ralf’s Unique class aura reserves seemed unending, and similarly, so did their Mental Energy.
The Mental Space was entirely composed of it and it was constantly being used, with no feeling of lethargy ever hitting the duo. They had many long duels, with the longest one running for over twenty-seven hours and saw one exchange run for an hour plus long.
They were confident in their ability to outlast anyone, though not certain. They held out the possibility that Mental Energy in the outside world might be more taxing than in the Mental Space. With this up in the air, they began their experiment.
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It was simple. They had eight different sized Psi orbs revolve around them constantly, essentially cosplaying as a solar system. While on the couch, while exercising, while talking with Jeff and Greg, they kept it going and going, seeking their fabled limit. In the end, their search proved futile- or rather, they ended the experiment once they entered the thirtieth hour.
The duo felt no fatigue or strain during this time period. They couldn’t declare themselves limitless, but they were confident that no other could match them in this regard. With the results, outlasting their opponent was officially deemed their ultimate strategy.
Now, having this in their arsenal was wonderful and all, but the duo didn’t lose their minds over it. It wasn’t that useful. Psi battles were things settled very quickly, so it was unlikely that the duo would ever get to employ the strat. Making it further unlikely was the fact that people weren’t stupid, and wouldn’t let themselves get drained just like that. This was a strategy that only worked under very specific conditions.
One area where it excelled was against monsters. Their nature compelled them to use a hundred percent of their energy and didn’t allow them to run from a ‘meal’. Ideas of hunting blue crystal monsters had come to mind.
They could stay in their Psi Plane, and over the course of dozens of minutes just dodge the monster’s supersonic attacks until they were all tapped out of energy. Then, they would swoop down and easily finish off the monster.
This idea was enticing but the duo put it on the back burner for now. There were many things on the menu and their plate was already full.
***
While duels were on hold, the duo remained hard at work, thinking up new ideas and techniques.
Rei was currently testing out his latest technique, Twisted Barrel. As usual for such testings, he was doing it in his Private Dome.
The setting was a modern city. He stood stationary in the middle of the streets, pistol in hand.
Just as Ralf had a fascination for blades, Rei had one for projectiles, both Psi and real. For a long time, he had been focusing on the former, but recently, an interesting idea had struck him. He followed it through to the end, leading him to the creation of Twisted Barrel.
The technique was more useful than potent. Essentially, it allowed Rei to ‘bend’ bullets and hit targets around corners and obstacles.
Through his Psi Scan, Rei captured several targets hidden from his eyesight. He chose to focus on the target hiding around the corner of a building up ahead. Deciding this, he executed the technique.
There were several steps to it, the first of which was firing out a Psi ring. It was small, just wide enough for a bullet to fit through, and acted as the barrel’s entrance.
Not moving, Rei shot out the Psi ring and had it settle in place, mid-air, just before the intersection. He was then tasked to choose among dozens of different barrels, each one having different lengths and curves. Doing so in an instant, his job was done. The next steps proceeded without any conscious thought.
His Psi coated pistol flashed upwards and the trigger was pulled, sending the bullet on its way. At the same time, Psi rushed out from his body towards the Psi ring, out-speeding the bullet by several times.
Reaching the Psi ring first, the Psi rapidly began constructing the rest of the barrel. The insides were smooth as ice and allowed the bullet to slide down the curved barrel with little momentum loss. The pipe’s bend was slight, but with the barrel’s ten-metre long length, the bullet’s trajectory was shifted by just over ninety degrees.
Exiting out the barrel, the bullet struck the Zero’s white mask, right in the centre.
Satisfied with the result, Rei shifted his attention to the rest of the targets, this time upping his speed. Rings quickly filled the area, both Psi and sound alike, and merely five seconds later, all targets were eliminated.
‘Not bad not bad,’ Rei assessed as he captured the downed Zeroes, bleeding from their heads. ‘Now to move onto dynamic targets.’
He would continue as is, for hours on end, by himself, practising and perfecting the technique.
This was how the duo spent most of their time in their Private Domes. To some, this would be torturous or boring, but to the pair of transmigrators, it was very fulfilling.