Stretching my claws in front of my eyes, I mentally commanded. 'System, give me the AllSpark Seed'.
As soon as I thought this, a small metal cube appeared between my claws.
The cube initially floated under my claws, but within a second it fell under my control.
The moment the cube touched me, I felt an electric current run through my body like a shiver, making my eyes widen.
'Wow... that thing is powerful!' I thought in surprise, not expecting a simple seed to be able to cause such a reaction in me.
But considering that I was a mechanical life and that this was literally a seed from an object that could make other lives like me, I understood the weight of it.
Reading the seed card again, I saw that it could be powered by energy... could my Mana serve as food for it?
Closing my eyes, I felt the Mana in my body, Mana that until now I hadn't experienced with anything.
Fortunately, the knowledge that the [Haste] skill gave me also came with the knowledge of how to control Mana in a basic way to activate the skill.
So I slowly controlled my Mana through my body, happy that it managed to pass through the mechanical arms as if it really were a part of my body, and I saw the metallic cube glow faintly!
Remembering that in the movies the cube was about 100x bigger than this little seed of mine, and glowed so brightly that it was almost completely blue when activated, I understood that I had a long way to go, especially when I realized that apart from absorbing my energy, this seed was of no use whatsoever.
But thinking about the changes a full AllSpark could make to a car in the movies, if I learned to control mine, couldn't I improve other cars in a more subtle way?
In the same way that desperate people travel the world in search of miracle treatments, I could become a famous doctor/mechanic with the AllSpark and get the city back on the map, preventing the Bad Ending, right?
Heck, with the power the AllSpark provides, even opening a cultivation sect like in the Wuxia novels wouldn't be impossible haha.
Laughing at this last idea, I drained 80% of my total Mana feeding this seed, the glow on the cube got a little stronger, but there was no substantial change.
Thinking to save it back, System converted the seed and a Card again and saved it back, which was very practical!
With the remaining 20% of my Mana, I used 10% to test the [Haste] and [Bullet Time] skills while I was on my way home.
As Haste's description said, this skill could double my speed for a few seconds, so I drove to the nearest straight, speed camera-free lane I could find on my Waze and did a launch control.
My 0 - 60 mph time was 3.6 seconds, 1.3 seconds faster than the car's original time of 4.9 seconds.
Activating [Stem] at start-up, I felt as if I'd snorted a career's worth of coke and my body had been over-stimulated.
From the original 3.6 seconds, the time halved, reaching 60 mph in 1.8 seconds!
Deciding to test this even further, I continued accelerating, reaching 100 mph, then in a few more seconds to 150 mph very easily, until I reached 200 mph (320 km/h), the maximum speed I reached in this otherworldly car.
Now, not only having full control of the car, since this was my body, but also having Takumi's skills, I felt confident to keep testing this speed to the maximum, so I accelerated.
Unlike the other world where reaching 200 mph was very difficult and time-consuming, with [Haste] active I was able to do it just as easily as reaching 100 mph!
The problem was that when I reached 250 mph (400 km/h) I started to feel like I was losing control. Everything was going so fast that if it hadn't been for the Waze GPS on, I would have been off the track a long time ago.
So I decided to try out another skill.
[Bullet Time]
As soon as I activated this skill, the time around me slowed down by half!
From the 250 mph I was driving previously, I now had the same feeling and control as when I was driving at 125 mph!
Even when cornering, I could turn at 250mph as if I was doing 125!
'Wait, didn't Franklin have a skill like that in GTA? Where the weather around him slowed down when he was driving, but the physics of the car acted as if he was going slowly? What allowed him to take corners at high speed with the same control as someone at 40mph?!' I was surprised to realize this.
The mixture of the two skills was incredible!
Unfortunately the duration was very short, to keep Haste active I needed to spend 1% of my Mana per minute, and Bullet Time although it didn't spend Mana, had a time limit of only 10 seconds.
The good news was that both my Mana and Bullet Time could be trained to last longer!
'Not in another world would I be able to get away with training and exercising, right?' I asked myself as I laughed to myself, driving back to Radiator Springs.
With my route set, I finally relaxed and enjoyed the feeling of driving alone at night.
Making the turns with my tire was much more satisfying than driving a car.
Arriving in town, I noticed that everyone was gathered at Flo's, since it was now evening and no one had much to do at home.
Mater was the first to see me and quickly came over to say hello. "Harry! Blimey mate, your mind-clearing walk took longer than I thought!"
Standing next to me so that the Sheriff couldn't see him, Mater whispered. "Be careful with the Sheriff, shortly after you left we heard a very loud engine and exhaust noise coming from far away, now he's suspicious of you."
Hearing this, I instinctively moved my gaze to the Sheriff and saw him staring at me with half-closed eyes, as if he was analyzing something, but he didn't say anything.
Doc was next to him, just as suspicious as the Sheriff, but he was more analyzing me to see if I was okay than angry that I was running, since he knew how I was under the hood.
The other cars were just talking to each other, oblivious to the noise they heard a few minutes ago.
Until a serious voice came from the other side of me.
"Sembra che i tuoi pneumatici siano molto usurati... non vuoi fare una sosta alla Casa Della Tires?" (It looks like you have very worn tires... don't you want to do a pitstop at Casa Della Tires?)
Guido said as he looked at my tires in surprise.
Hearing his comment, I stretched my tire as far as I could see with curiosity and even though it was slightly dark, I saw that the rubber was melted and deformed!
'That's because of the speed!' I thought worriedly, not remembering how important good tires were for racing at high speed.
These tires I was using were the tires I used in my day-to-day life with the car, the tires for use on the racetrack were completely different.
Looking at the little blue forklift in front of me, I smiled and replied in Italian.
"Grazie per avermelo fatto notare. Domani vado lì a comprare delle gomme nuove. Please choose tires that are more sporty and suitable for high speeds, around 19 miles." (Thanks for noticing, tomorrow I'm going there to buy new tires. Please sort out for me tires that are more sporty and resistant to high speeds, for rim 19 wheels).
Upon hearing my reply, Guido's eyes, which had been focused on my destroyed tires, trying to understand what had made them that way, quickly rose to my face, staring at me in shock.
"Do you speak Italian?" He asked with a twinkle in his eye.
Smiling, I nodded. "Yes, I learned Italian on an exchange program I did at college in Rome."
This made Guido's eyes shine even brighter, and just then a yellow Fiat 500 approached us, also speaking in Italian.
"How nice it is to speak to another person in the beautiful Italian language! As a thank you, when you come to change your tires at my store tomorrow, you'll only have to pay for 3 tires and the last one I'll give you for free!" Luigi said excitedly as he spun around, looking at me in surprise. "Too bad you're not a Ferrari..."
Ignoring the part about me not being a Ferrari, I replied. "Thank you very much for the discount my Amico Italiano!"
While I was talking to them, Sally also approached, looking at me curiously. "Looks like you've recovered a bit more of your memory? Speaking fluent Italian with Guido and Luigi, or speeding so fast that your tires almost melt..."
She was shocked to realize the state of the tires and spoke quietly. "I think you'd better leave, the Sheriff is already suspicious of you running down the road and if he sees your tire like that, he'll certainly get angry."
"And where am I going?" I asked while feigning doubt.
"To my house, that's where." She answered on the spot, until she realized what she'd said and became embarrassed. "I mean, I'll take you to my motel and you can sleep in your cone while I sleep in mine..."