26 Going Super (Megamind Jump)

(Apologies for the delay. Life has been kicking my butt for the past couple of weeks. I've had to work much longer hours and much harder because of being so short-staffed.)

If you had the chance to fly through the sky, would you take it?

I've been able to fly for decades now, but even after all of this time, I never ceased to enjoy the feeling. I've never felt more alive than when I'm soaring through the air or teleporting from one end of the world to another, and it's even better when I can fly/teleport at high speeds.

You feel unstoppable like nothing could bring you down.

Things are just getting better and better, though, as now I have a home in whatever universe I decide to jump to, along with nearly infinite funds, as well as access to magic, even if it is not very strong at this point.

Yet, with just telekinesis and teleportation, I feel invincible. it was essentially hubris as I knew that these abilities that I considered so great are basic in other worlds.

My information in regards to other universes has definitely grown with time, even with all the time I've spent improving my abilities as well as how I use them. I've spent time calming through any book, manga, or movie I could go through. Luckily, I never watched or read them around other people, as they would see a face that showed utter and complete seriousness.

Most people, when they read a book or a comic, feel excited or happy to see the next issue. For me, it's just a constant reminder of what exists out there. It was fear that was holding me back from other worlds, along with my own lacking preparations.

I could just ask the genie for some overpowered ability, but it feels cheap to do that, even if every logical cell in my being is telling me that it's the most efficient way. I may have to resort to doing so as I'm only not doing it out of pride at this point.

" You're doing it again," Silk says as he lays himself down next to me.

" What am I doing exactly, Silk?" I ask while looking through the available list.

" You're doing a very long and insightful monologue. And as happy as I am that you're thinking this through, it does get a bit boring. Also, you sometimes do forget to disconnect the telepathic communication." OK, yeah, that may present an issue.

" I am not ridiculing you, Carter, because even with how perfect of a carpet that I am, I understand the fear of the unknown. I mean, I lived with a genie who could manipulate the cosmos themselves as if they were Play-Doh. Also, I can sense how connected I am to this place to this jump chain you're on. I'm not going anywhere besides, how would you survive without your perfect carpet?" Rolling my eyes, I answered.

" While I do appreciate the advice, my friend, I will say that you are not perfect. Remember, the last time you tried to wash yourself, because I do." If a carpet could blush, Silk would definitely be blushing right now.

"Well, how was I supposed to know that your washer could not do a proper spin cycle?!" Silk then proceeded to roll himself up into a cylinder and shoot himself to the opposite side of the warehouse. Still, I couldn't sense any malice or genuine anger in his words, so I just smirked and let him do his thing.

I needed to cover my bases, and while I now have an enhanced mind, in addition to having the ability to increase the defenses around my spirit and existence through the wishes of the genie, I needed a powerful body. I needed a good baseline.

While my body modification would be active across all of my jumps, it could only take me to the peak of standard human capabilities. So, I needed to perk, which would affect all of my alternate forms.

I've mostly been doing movie-based jumps as they have the shortest plot lines as well as the most straightforward solutions, but they also have the highest potential, considering that I have one specific universe in mind.

What better way to increase both my intellect and my strength than heading to a universe where two individuals that embody, both brains and brawn?

Megamind was the perfect start to more superpower-based jumps. I did consider the Incredibles, but I found the document to be a bit lacking. I mean, it costs a few points to get both Megamind's and Metro Man's powers before even getting half of the incredible family's abilities.

But that zero point technology of syndrome was rather enticing, to say the least, even if I could replicate the same effects with my telekinesis without the need for external power sources.

The option for Megamind then highlighted itself across my screen as it seemed that everything in the warehouse could be telepathically influenced in a way, which was nice as I didn't have to scroll up and down, even if I could just rapidly do it using my telekinesis.

The jump document then opened itself, and I began to complete my build. It was actually a relatively simple jump document in comparison to some others, like that one pertaining to that heavenly library. That thing just seemed incredibly complex.

But I don't feel prepared enough to deal with the ridiculousness that is cultivation-based worlds.

When one lives in the modern world for so long, one gets exposed to a lot of things. Chinese cultivation novels are one of them. And then you see all of the Ching, Chong, and Ping-Pong memes about various cultivation levels, and you realize how deep in the hole you are after you've read over 1000 chapters.

It gets even worse once you realize that you've essentially read hundreds upon hundreds of words about a main protagonist just slapping various young masters for so many arcs. It's ridiculous.

To its credit, the jump terminal is very sophisticated in the sense that it has a recommended list that matches up to my current power level, and I have noticed that some worlds are just straight-up inaccessible, as if the jump chain itself is saying you are not ready for this Which I do appreciate.

I'm getting distracted now, but thanks to the NZT, I am mainly able to have these streams of thought, well actually, focusing on other tasks. Most of the perks were pretty straightforward, with the most expensive ones being related to getting the power sets of the main characters.

The Man- 300 CP:

You're the Hero! You are from the same planet as Metro Man (Or not), and like him, you have the classical hero package, including super strength, senses, flight, invulnerability, heat vision, super speed, and the rest, all at the same levels as him.

You can lift and throw skyscrapers as javelins with some effort, tank massively powerful death rays and their ilk, and move really, ​really​ fast. It's mind-bogglingly fast.

The Mind- 600 CP:

Ah, the good stuff. You arrive from the same planet as Megamind... unless you don't. Either way, just like him you are a grade-A, five-star genius on a comic book level, unmatchable and brilliant by all.

Not only can you create things like invisible vehicles, death rays, lasers, and illusion generators, but you are also a genius of the same degree in all other fields, finding it just as easy to bioengineer a fish into sapience as to build a giant robot.

Moreover, you can do all this on your typical city-level, mostly unsuccessful villain's resources. You can get by with even the most limited or inferior resources, even if you might end up making wheels out of bent license plates now and then.

You're particularly good at making tech that interacts with superpowers, be it replicating them, recreating them with samples from the holder, or boosting, weakening, or even disabling them.

So far, everything was looking good as these were the only two perks that I really wanted, but there were two others that I was interested in.

Lottery Winner- 600 CP:

Well, aren't ​you​ a lucky one! You have a strange fate, Jumper. You tend to find yourself the recipient of power-ups of all kinds, whether or not you're trying to. Events align themselves, coincidence and causality bend and random accidents arrange themselves until you end up the absolute most likely person to receive any power-up that's out there to be gotten.

This can be items of great power, genuine powers, blessings offered by gods or spirits, and everything in between. The few times you just don't manage to knowingly or unknowingly circumvent any requirements, you find yourself able to breeze past them, or even the people tamping down the difficulty for you. You just seem the kind that can be trusted with power, I guess.

Odd Attractiveness- Free:

Okay, this one could be as much of a curse... except not really. You have a certain... something about you that draws strange, powerful, and/or just weird people to you, like moths to a flame.

Heroes like you and want to take care of you, villains like you and want to abduct you. Except they'll be really, really unlikely to do any actual ​damage​, even psychological. And if you try, you could even show them a better path.

I've never had an increase in luck other than the small increase from the first jump, in addition to a beauty-enhancing perk. In retrospect. I can definitely tell why I never really garnered any attention in my previous life.

I was never truly lucky, and my looks were worse than average. It's a wonder how I even function without all of the powers and abilities I have now.

But that becomes its own problem, as who would I be without all of these powers and perks and items?

Such thoughts, however, are for later, as I do not need to give myself another existential crisis before heading into another world. Thankfully, the world itself isn't too dangerous as while. Megamind isn't exactly a good person, but he's not a terrible one either.

The worst he's ever done is causing the battles themselves, as I assume there were definitely casualties in the fighting between him and Metro Man. Or who knows, with Metro Man speed clocking out at least Mach 2000, he could've rescued all of those civilians, before Megamind could even think of blinking.

With that thought in mind, I put in my last purchase, which was a jump-backed power injector, which would allow me to essentially take a small piece of DNA and gain a single power from that person. Still, the document did not specify whether or not I could choose the power or whether it would be random.

Sad to say, with the drawbacks I chose, I'm not going to be making use of many of my physical items, or else I risk them turning invisible and me being unable to find them, and even though they would return to my warehouse after the jump is over, I do not want to risk someone getting their hands on the power injector.

Luckily, the drawback only affects physical jump items, so my bank account, as well as all of my properties, won't be affected as the properties themselves don't exist until the jumps themselves take place. Also, if the buildings themselves do end up disappearing, it would be a lot easier to notice, and the drawback is that I won't be able to see them physically. Still, I might be able to create countermeasures.

As I confirmed my purchases, the warehouse shook , and I found myself in a strange, alien pod, sitting right next to a rather striking baby.