Capítulo 135: Magical Research
Leaving Victor to settle in, I escorted Alan to the parking lot, closing the topic of compensation to Boyler, and went to the second floor of the building, where the gaming division of my small firm was located.
It was sad to give away the money I had earned with blood and sweat so that one fat hog who had lost his shores could have a chance to get quality treatment and good prosthetics, but it was better to deal with all the debts at once. Two things reconciled me to the injustice of the court system. It helped to whitewash the fucking Joker, and I was also two hundred percent sure that Fryce would more than recoup all the money spent on him by producing a couple of ingenious inventions. For one improvement of freezing units, which increased their efficiency by thirty percent, by optimizing the design at the same cost of electricity, and the creation of special composite glass that ignores temperature fluctuations, many companies will agree to give a couple of million dollars, and the technology of cryofreezing also looks extremely promising. If Nora really manages to put on her feet, and Victor has more questions about the method of treatment of an obscure disease than about the problems of competent defrosting of his beloved, then for the opportunity to see the future or to wait for the invention of a cure for "old age" rich pigs will be ready to part with a decent part of their fortune.
True, these are all problems for Jay's future, but for now it's worth focusing on more affordable methods of making money legally.
I passed a door with a built-in fingerprint scanner and found myself in an ordinary-looking small office. There was a water cooler, an imitation kitchen where you could have a light snack, and a workspace with four good office desks. But the only inhabitant preferred to move them to the wall, and himself comfortably settled down in a big chair bag, typing something on his laptop.
There was a small hope to catch Mouse at work, but instead of a beautiful red-haired girl, or her dark-haired classmate, who answers to the name Jennifer and pulls a solid seven out of ten, in the office there was a short dark-skinned guy, who clearly neglected sports, carefully hiding a puny figure behind an oversize sweatshirt and baggy sports pants. Or maybe he just likes this style, and we should admit that such a suit is quite convenient in everyday life. Not everyone has the opportunity to order individual tailoring.
"Hello, Mr. Arkham! - he jumped up briskly, almost dropping his laptop.
"Hello, Mark, what can I get you? - I asked with a small smile, remembering how recently this worker had been shaking as soon as I appeared nearby.
The consequences of the spectacle that separated the personalities of Joker and Jay Arkham affected many of my acquaintances, and since most of them were more or less adequate people, communication with them became much easier. And it's not the case when a person, instead of a normal explanation of his ideas, can't connect two words because of excitement.
"I decided to release a small update for New Year's Eve, replacing the interface with a more festive one," he replied embarrassedly, turning the monitor, which was full of New Year's-themed sprites, in my direction. - I just need your approval.
"Well, let's see what you come up with."
I must say that Barbara's buddy was a real godsend, because it was thanks to his enthusiasm that Crystallia saw the light of day so soon. And now Mark spent almost all Christmas vacations in the office, creating additional content for the first game, as well as working on Tower Defense. Such dedication may seem strange to some people, but the guy had good reasons for it. As far as I could find out from Mouse's questions and my own little investigation (few normal people are willing to work for a former supercriminal, so it was worth checking out future employees), Mark grew up without a father, and his mother... Let's face it, she wasn't a very good person, at least, the guardianship authorities visited her quite often after a drunken binge or a fight with another roommate, so the dark-skinned teenager preferred to spend all his free time out of the house. Here you should thank luck that he did not join a gang, but instead engaged in self-education, the scholarship from the Wayne Foundation served as a good motivation, and free courses from Wayne Incorporated helped the talent to open up. In principle, with such programming skills Mark had every chance to join some big game publisher or organize his own small indie studio right after college, but then he got a good offer from Babs, who was looking for someone to take on some of the responsibilities.
Frankly speaking, our first acquaintance didn't go well, because Mouse successfully forgot to mention the identity of the tenant. When I walked briskly into the rented office, the guy was seriously going to throw himself at the "psychopathic maniac" just to give the girls present in the room a chance to escape. I'm not going to talk about the stupidity of this act, given the presence of Harley, but I appreciated the impulse, and when I saw the finished levels, demonstrated by a slightly stuttering and shaking speaker, I came to full delight, generously paid for the processing. But that still didn't save me from sending messages through Commissioner Gordon's daughter, so as not to unnerved the main employee until the "real" Joker showed up.
But let's return to our sheep. Judging by what we saw on the screen, three-in-a-row is waiting for the traditional New Year update, which won't surprise anyone, but it's not necessary. The fact that the game is slowly developing and bringing good profit is enough. For a whole week it has been in the top of the sales list, and it came close to the top ten, occupied by different parts of the Force.
Mark also provided a sales report. Seven million downloads and four million dollars including the platform commission - sounds very impressive. It more than covers all the development costs (seven pizzas and fifteen cans of energy drink), and the advertising has paid for itself, which is encouraging. But that would have been very relevant when I arrived, not when I'd been compensated by Hugo and successfully invested in Wayne Industries, which was paying huge dividends. They've nearly tripled since the Court was destroyed by the start of Old Gotham's reconstruction.
Taking into account the above mentioned, it is time to think about more serious projects and copy other successful game ideas from the old world besides Towers. The same shooters for personal computers should be very popular with users, and normal role-playing games, such as the series of Ancient Scrolls or Gothic, are also bound to find their fans, but it all comes down to time and money. Moreover, we must not forget that three people simply can not cope with this amount of work and will have to expand the staff. Honestly, even with five employees I hang myself when I fill out a tax statement, and if they become at least fifteen pieces, it will be necessary to create an accounting department. I hate the feeling of being bogged down in routine, but if you remember Bats, he has no problem running a multinational corporation and still manages to solve the problems of the shadow world.
Eh, should we get Cyborg to create a game based on the description? Why not? He is capable of creating three-dimensional holograms on his knees, just using his imagination, with the programming of this case is also unlikely to be a big problem, but the superhero must not know about my double life. Hehehehehe, and it would also be nice to get a patent on his image, since it's perfect for action figures.
"Mr. Arkham, are you all right? - The boy asked worriedly.
I shook my head, removing the anticipatory smile and coming back to reality.
"Yes. Okay, your upgrade idea would complement the game perfectly, so you can upload it to the store."
"What about the Towers? I don't think we should leave his image behind after Superman goes missing... People just won't understand."
"Hmm... I think I'll go with that. You can leave Superman out for now and concentrate on working on the levels."
Having received a more or less clear technical assignment, a decent bonus, and an admonition to have a good rest in the New Year, Mark went to work, and I was finally able to go to the Shadow Peak to deal with my problem. I was very concerned about the atypical pumping of the shells, and Eternal's words were still scratching my mind unpleasantly. Especially this is a great opportunity to do everything in secret from Harley, who was at home sorting trophies. As soon as I remember that I had to spend five diamonds every twenty minutes to keep the spatial pocket stuffed to the brim from collapsing and to keep the lightweighting working, I immediately began to choke on my toad.
The magic mansion greeted me with its usual silence and ineffable mystical atmosphere, and the note pinned to the front door telling me that the girl had gone to prepare for a performance and the stack of books on the living room table recommended for reading. After perusing a couple of weighty volumes and glimpsing the suggested rune diagrams, I concluded that they dealt with the enchantments necessary for normal navigation in space, proper handling of magical materials, and defense spells. It was a good fit, since I would hardly be able to find these books on my own in the near future, since they were all written in German.
Eh, now another language will be added to the standard schedule, and I've just started my robotics textbooks. That's sad.
I could put off the magical literature for now, though the defense spells looked very interesting, using the unfamiliar principle of creating a movable shield placed close to the surface of the skin, but now, when no one was around, it was the perfect time to do my own scanning. Of course, a sorceress would probably do a better job, but frankly, I was afraid she'd discover my other-worldly origins, or see the presence of the System and a repository of divine energy, which I wasn't ready for.
The spell rest on the far side of the mansion had changed a great deal since the last visit. The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered with a multitude of runic stitches, but now they were all hidden behind massive slabs of stone that acted as focusing panels. Two circles appeared in the center of the room, lined with large gemstones glowing with dim light. One of the circles was intended for the operator and was less massive, while the second took up almost a third of the available space and was covered with mystical symbols, varnished (probably with magic too) so that they could not be accidentally damaged.
"Huh. Well, let's get started," I whispered to myself, sitting down in the center of the structure and pouring mana into the surrounding space.
Okay. Body binding: check. Astral parasite protection: check. Room isolation: check. Emergency interruption of the ritual: check, send a message to my beloved not to worry if I'm late... Check. As I check, the right weave flashes in front of my eyes. Konstantin is an incredibly cunning asshole, but thank him for awakening my true vision, without which my successes in the magical field would be less impressive.
Having made sure of the reliability of the upcoming adventure and having refreshed in my memory all the necessary control combinations of runes, I began the scanning procedure.
The first stage of the test was focused on the physical body, or the First Beginning, to use the terms I was used to, and it didn't bring any surprises. I had perfect health, increased strength and high regeneration, all of which I already knew very well. The next item was to explore the magic source, and here I was in for some pleasant surprises. By constantly creating spells, crafting artifacts, and putting points into Atman, the volume, mobility, and mana control increased a lot, and there was also a small affinity with two additional schools.
Before, my source was only the energy of nature, but now it had a small admixture of spatial and illusory energies, which was hinted at by the faint responses of the two crystals forming the magic circle. Of course, such adaptation was only the very beginning of the path and did not give any significant bonuses yet, but the speed of change was really striking, because the books they had read recommended mages to practice in the right school for at least a year in order to notice any changes. Though those books were quite ancient, and normal scanning charms may not have existed at that time.
"Okay. It's silly to put off the best part," I said, and then I checked the defenses again.
After extinguishing all the unnecessary weaves, I habitually slipped into meditation. The most difficult part of the meditation was to go to the astral plane and look at myself from the outside.
The room was incredibly quiet, the necessary runes flickered faintly, helping me to tune in and clear my mind, I could only hear my heartbeat and my own breathing, but it still didn't help me leave my mortal shell. The situation reminds me of banging my head against a wall, you know that there is something behind it, but you can't get through, and you can't go around it.
Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale... It's getting tiring. My thoughts are sluggishly rattling around like a gluttonous panda, and cheerful memories are only jolting me out of the harmony I've achieved. Yeah, screw it! I'll try it next time, Shadow Peak won't get away from me.
I rise smoothly, feeling unaccustomed lightness, and suddenly realize that I'm looking at myself from the outside.
Hmm... The flash of joy was instantly suppressed, because in this state any strong emotion is likely to disturb the harmony and bring me back, and there is no desire to sit again for three hours in the same position.
My astral projection circled the green-haired man sitting in the lotus position. In principle, there were few differences from reality, except for the blurry greenish haze around his body and the dim magical constructions floating around him. For the sake of interest, I activate the scanning weave, watching a multitude of faintly colored threads shoot out from the panels on the walls.
Yeah. Doing magic in this state is like using a numb hand. You can do it, but it's not very pleasant, and you can't cast anything serious, because the response goes through the body with a hell of a delay. But the true eye in this state works perfectly well and even more. Minimal effort, and here I am already moving to the second layer. Here the magical manifestations are much more visible. Now I can easily see more subtle spells and my own aura, but I have little interest in them now. Deeper, and then some more... On the fifth layer there was no trace of the real world, and there was a slight resistance, reminiscent of water pushing out at a shallow depth. Around flickers multicolored spots, in which it is difficult to navigate, although it is not necessary, because I feel the position of my own body, and it looks like a large shining fire.
I fly as close as I can while continuing to dive. The resistance becomes much stronger, and I have to make a serious effort to overcome it. The surrounding spots fade, the world gradually drowns in darkness, evoking associations with diving to the depths. Eh, good for gods and demons, who have the ability to see souls without such perversions, but we, mere mortals, have to resort to various crutches.
One last tug and...
Fucking hell!
In a moment, I was looking at the world as I normally would in my own body, lying on my back. My muscles felt really stiff, so I began to warm up, slowly getting the blood flowing and thinking about what I'd seen.
It was only for a moment, but I managed to get to the right layer, but I wasn't happy about it, because my soul didn't look like the description from the books. I could see a ball of light instead of a small sparkling light, as if it were made of different pieces, and it felt like it was about to burst from the inside.
Status de energia semanal
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Poder 
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Poder