Chapter 117: Preparation
The little one was obviously happy with his new outfit. He even didn't hesitate to take selfies to check himself out from the outside. But his happiness didn't last long. Soon the spell was broken, and Robin was back in his red-green-yellow colored spandex.
Well, what did he want? I had to work so hard to keep the illusion from accidentally falling off at the most crucial moment, but now there was no point. Besides, even though the spells were kept on the snot, it didn't mean that they were quite simple. Only for the main costume it was necessary to create seventeen anchor points, so that the illusion could repeat the movements of the novice superhero and hide the real clothes, adding a little volume to the figure. And there was also a cape, which did not fit the image, and which it was desirable to hide. Of course, full-fledged invisibility was too much, so I used a blur spell along with a slight averted eye. Luckily, the two weaves were from related schools and didn't conflict with each other.
"Eh..." Richard sighed sadly.
"Come on," I patted his shoulder encouragingly. - Robin's costume wasn't so bad.
"Yeah? With what?
"Well, the cubs are often quite brightly colored and harmless-looking. And you're a superhero larva. And it's easier for Bats to keep an eye on you when you don't blend in with the shadows, ha ha ha ha.
"Now you haven't calmed me down at all..." he stepped back a little, taking on a proud and independent look.
Except that his pose was almost exactly the same as the one being displayed right now by Gloomy Mouse, who didn't like the costume criticism either.
Looking at this gorgeous couple, my faithful assistant and I just couldn't help but laugh.
Robin could have sulked about the injustice of the world for a long time, but then the walkie-talkie signaled another robbery in the neighborhood.
"I'll go.
"We'll go.
Almost simultaneously said Harley, Richard and I.
"It's not a competition," Bats interjected.
"Hmpf, yep," the young crime fighter grinned slyly and quickly pulled out a cat hook from behind his belt, shot it at the nearest building, and took a swipe at the pendulum swinging downward.
What an asshole!
I pick up the girl in my arms and start off briskly.
After a minute, it was clear that we were a little behind.
"I'll take it from here," right at the next jump, Harley deftly jumped off her hands and rushed through the air using her footsteps.
"You could have used the spell right away, couldn't you? - I shouted, quickly catching up with the beauty.
"Well," the cutie looked away. - Almost. It was really hard at first, but at the end, I limited the mana so the platform couldn't support the weight.
"Ha-ha-ha, I see. Then keep up!
My speed had increased a lot. The platform beneath my feet was transferring a lot of momentum, allowing me to move in huge leaps and bounds.
But when we arrived, we had to stop on a nearby rooftop to watch some other people wiping the asphalt with bandits.
"What? Decided to give way to the budding hero after all? - A minute and a half late, the little guy landed next to me.
I just nodded down, where Bats calmly knocked out the last criminal with his head against the hood of the Batmobile. Yeah, we were fast, but a car with a turbine from a jet airplane was still faster. So much for "no contest."
Soon the superhero reached us, radiating pathos with his entire appearance and further convincing me that he did it on purpose.
The adrenaline from the anticipation of the fight was still bubbling in my blood, so I made the only right decision.
"Bats, why don't we take a swing? You haven't punched me in the face for Selina yet. Heh, I've been a little preoccupied with the holiday preparations," I fluffed my hair, smiling charmingly.
"Hmr..." his eyes squinted dangerously.
He looked at me, then at the silent figure of Mouse, and then whispered the question to Harley:
"What did the Joker do to Selina?
"It's nothing, Mr. J. She's just--
"Here and now," the man in the mouse suit interrupted my faithful companion.
"Shit, I should have worn a different uniform and grabbed the pom-poms," the blonde immediately shifted her attention to another important problem and with a concentrated face began to work some charms.
In the meantime, I was getting my imaginary core pulsing a little faster, tuning up for the long-awaited fight. It had been quite a while since I'd been stabbed in the hospital, and I was curious to assess my progress.
"No magic," Bats said coldly, stepping into the center of the makeshift ring.
"Huh, okay," I dispel the flash weave I started to create almost on automatic.
I wasn't even going to use anything more serious, like debuffs, given his skill. This was a training session, not a fight to the death.
"Give him a good kicking! - Harley shouted happily, waving her illusionary pom-poms. They blurred a little as she moved, but they did their job of supporting her.
"Ha ha ha. I will.
"Here we go," Bats said as he sprinted toward me.
I feel like I went a little overboard with the Selina thing.
I dodged the first blow, I managed to block the second one, but the third one hit me in the jaw, which made me lose my orientation in space for a moment, and I found myself on the floor.
"Ooh-ooh! - The stands roared disapprovingly.
"Ha ha ha! All right! Round two," I quickly assume an upright position and this time I'm the first to approach.
Judging by the audience's reaction, the fight was quite spectacular, and I enjoyed it, although my battered body parts were a bit sore. Bats is really some kind of monster: strength, speed, agility, and skill on some forbidden level, especially as for a "hundred percent human". Heh, though I still roughed him up a bit: almost a hundred in strength, when the human limit is fifty - it's not a big deal.
Well, and we shouldn't forget that it was a training session, so none of us were trying to cripple the opponent and lay out all the trump cards, like gadgets and magic.
"Ugh," I spit the blood from my busted lip, grinning happily, and resumed my comfortable stance.
"Hey, what are you doing? Stop that right now! - suddenly a slender figure in a tight suit landed from above.
"Mousey! It's so good to see you! - I happily grabbed the beauty in my arms and kissed her immediately.
"I thought you'd left-" I was looked at with loving eyes when we did pull away from each other.
"Found a way to travel great distances quickly. We'll see each other more often now.
"Mouse! - Harley joined in the hug, and of course she didn't miss the chance to kiss the girl, too, and then she groped her.
The little one gave a perplexed quack. Oh, yes, he hadn't seen how unconventional our relationship was.
"Come on, let's go. It's too early for you to see this," Bats came over to him, literally blocking his view with his cloak, and then leading him away from the roof.
With the arrival of Babs, the night's adventures became a little more fun, as we occupied the neighboring island as a merry trio, bringing good, reasonable, and eternal things to the bandits by means of our fists and sharing the news along the way. If it weren't for the police, who periodically tried to catch me or Harley, it would be quite good. I'd have to talk to Gordon about that.
By the way, the red-haired cutie was delighted with our new way of moving, and clearly wanted to learn how to do it. But there was a little problem: Ivy or Babs wouldn't agree to fuck together to make the last one have magic. I mean, maybe they'd try, just for the sake of experimentation, but that didn't mean they'd open up to each other's auras in the process. Fortunately, I had a couple solutions. Sex on the altar of the Shadow Peak with the dragon vein energy flowing through me, or creating an artifact. It was the latter that I did when I returned to the sorceress' mansion after the night's hunt. As for the first backup option, I need to consult with the sexy enchantress first. I wondered how the defense systems would react.
Despite all my desire to please Babs with a magical upgrade, due to the lack of necessary materials, all I had to do for now was to scrutinize the available books on artifacting to find a replacement for magical flying animals.
Harley was sleeping sweetly, occupying one of the guest rooms of the Shadow Peak, but I was not even tired, including mental fatigue, due to my pumped-up body, but here, I think, it had to do with an interesting topic, or maybe with the fifth and sixth Beginnings. During the adventures in the new world, the Spirit had quietly approached the human limit, but the Mind had already overcome it and was now equal to sixty-four points. It was hardly the level of Bats or Lex Luthor, but it wasn't as sad as it had been when I'd arrived.
However, let's get back to the more exciting stuff. As it turns out, you can actually use mana-rich plants or minerals to create magic items. The only problem is that for maximum efficiency they must marinate in the right element for a very long time. So, for example, to make a more or less quality artifact with a spell it is desirable to use magical trees growing in high mountain peaks, where the element of wind is most strongly manifested. For items with protective spells - hard crystals with a symmetrical structure, mined deep underground. So the idea of just taking a plant artificially grown by Ivy, Abby, or maybe even me (druid school to help) won't work. It might have a lot of mana in it, but it'd be all natural with only a little bit of it, though for a disposable amulet like the one Zee made before she attacked the cultists' castle, it's a valid approach.
Studying the nuances of artifacting has given me a pretty good idea. Christmas is coming very soon, and it would be ideal to give everyone I know magical trinkets (except those people who are not aware of my double life). That way, not only will I be able to improve my skills a bit, but I'll also be able to gift a really unusual and unique item.
I didn't think about future products for a long time. At the moment I only had the remains of a hound, plants charged with natural mana, and a bunch of diamonds that could hold magical energy of any color for a long time. But even with this set I could turn out pretty well, so the first thing I did was to drive to my secret hideout, genuinely glad that my car was still parked at Zee's garage.
It was already late at night, so I was able to conjure up fake license plates, change colors (purely on my own, with just a couple of runes for focus!), and make my way to the secret tunnels leading to the mansion. When I arrived, I immediately took an interactive table in the workshop, creating drawings of future artifacts.
As strange as it may sound, I decided to start with a gift for Alfred. The butler had done a lot for Harley and me, and his attitude toward former supercriminals was very appealing. For him, I designed a wand with a base made of Tyndall's Hound bone as the most energy-rich item to dust with. Yes, yes, I had been sick of the fact that I had to periodically clean the huge mansion even earlier, and when I got to the library I couldn't help but familiarize myself with the cleaning enchantments. The Shadow Peak was much cooler, of course, because it used an incredibly complex, spirit-based complex, and it was powered by an altar. I had a limitation on the background mana feeding with voice and gesture control, so only dust and fine dirt, though the wand will work no more than half an hour a day until the internal storage, created from several diamonds, fills up again. But even so, it should be enough to clean even the Batcave without any problems, and that's incredibly cool.
Petty got a small amulet in the form of an unsightly cufflink with a flash spell that ignores the wearer. It would be perfect for his fighting style, given its reusability.
Bats was more difficult. There was a suspicion that he wouldn't use my gift, because of his unhealthy paranoia, so he didn't get the artifact, but two packets of Alien blood. It was almost heartbreaking to tear off a really scarce thing, but I hope that the greatest detective will be able to figure out its composition, or use it when he gets into a really desperate situation.
A beautiful bracelet decorated with precious stones was designed for Ivy, which formed a comfortable temperature around the user. The girl had complained a couple of times about the terrible heat, while working on oil platforms. Everything was much easier with Ivy, because she had plenty of magical energy, which meant that she could recharge the bracelet herself (the climate control charms turned out to be surprisingly voracious).
I plan to fuck my favorite blonde into drool and then give her a baseball bat with strengthening charms and the ability to increase the weight up to a hundred pounds. Even Killer Croc wouldn't be happy if I hit him in the head with one of these. I think the cutie would love it.
Abby isn't much of a material object person, but she loves hanging out in the home theater. For her, Harley and I have long ago prepared a rare collector's edition of her favorite movies with commentary by the directors and extended timelines.
As for Mouse, she will get a special gift, against which any artifact pales in comparison, just need to persuade her to come to the island for a couple of days.
Naturally, I haven't forgotten about Zee either, but as I said before, the sorceress is unlikely to need the crafts of a novice artifactor, so she'll be buying some performance equipment, which I plan to get through Lucius.
By early afternoon, most of the gifts were ready, and I returned to the abode of magic to pick up some literature to read.
I haven't forgotten about my idea to check the soul, so my choice of books was mainly connected with this direction, and of course I didn't do without doppel-magic, on which I also collected a decent amount of manuscripts.
After shoving the whole thing into the renewed spatial pocket, my faithful assistant and I occupied the room with the portal. Despite the direct access to the altar's magic, it took quite a while to set up the transition. It's clear to me now why the enchantress was helping John back then: there are too many cascades to create for the portal to take you to the right place and in one piece. Unfortunately, Harley had no magical sight and could only help, morally (and a little orally), which she handled with honor.
However, because of the second part of the "support" took me a little longer than planned, but in the process I managed to slightly increase three parameters at once: spirit, magic and intelligence, which can not be happy.
It didn't take long to move through the magical tube, and soon I landed in the middle of a beautiful tropical paradise grown by the dryad's powers.
"Quickly you..." the red-haired beauty eyed the rainbow pancake of a transition with interest.
"Ivy! - The bored cutie swooped down on her friend in a joyful whirlwind, emotionally sharing our adventures.
"All-in-all, I get it," Ivy stroked the blonde's head, interrupting her speech, which was filled with a bunch of unnecessary details. - Demons, sorcerers, magic, sorceress in stockings... Let's go to the house, there you'll tell everything properly.
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