Nygma, as he was not nearly as smart as he thought he was, took one of the options that Rhine put in front of him, instead of finding some clever third way around their threat.
Instead of calling Rhine's bluff, inviting violence upon himself in return for keeping his leverage… "I am bested in the arena of rhymes." He said, which gave Rhine enough power to teleport away all remaining orchestra members, when combined with yet more of the energy created via Batman's progress. The important part of the battle was done, now it was just a matter of securing the villains. "Instead, we shall duel in another battle of wits." He said, confident enough that Rhine was pretty sure that his 'evil plan' was back on the tracks. "A simple game: Japanese checkers, also known as Go!"
Okay, calling Go 'Japanese checkers' was, while they could see where he's coming from, was reductive to the point of deception. Fortunately, they're quite familiar with the game. "If you seek to trounce a novice's play, your plan will fail and you'll surely pay." Rhine said, accepting the challenge. "The stakes are clear: today from me you'll not fear, if you win this game. If I win, your soul is my claim." The stakes were incredibly unbalanced, but that tended to happen when you challenge someone to a board game so they won't kill you. Or at least lightly maim you.
"Perfect!" He said, and the magic he was using shoved Rhine away, and a series of lines on the floor, now glowing ominously, denoted the Go board. With a quick count, Rhine confirmed that the number of lines was correct. "You may go first." He allowed, which was his second mistake. His first mistake was not giving himself a handicap.
Immediately, Rhine gestured, and a silver stone materialized and fell onto the space they wanted it to, one of the hoshi points. Unsurprised at the play, despite it being in a spot that is a traditional first move, Nygma gestured as well and a green stone landed on another corner's sanzan point. Interesting… more conservative than they expected…
To the man's credit, he had probably studied Go extensively to prepare for this contingency, but after the first few moves, he frowned as he realized that he was not facing a novice at all. Rhine placed their stones with absolute confidence, clearly plotting far enough ahead that they took less than a second to make their plays. Nygma wasn't much slower, but that was probably because he cared more about winning, and was second-guessing his moves more as a result.
Developing their enclosures, Rhine patiently waited for The Riddler to approach their positions, and initiated typical local sequences once he did. It was when they started to fight over the middle spaces that Batman dragged The Joker into the room, noting the distinct lack of living hostages. Peering down at the two dead ones, he growled. "Riddler."
"The Joker did that, not me!" Nygma immediately protested. "Now I've almost won, give me a second!"
The game was frightfully even, to be honest, but Nygma was correct: he was winning by the thinnest of margins, typical of high end Go matches. They could maybe turn it around… but it's not like Batman would approve if they won the man's soul in a game, so Rhine lost gracefully by playing purely conventional moves that Nygma was able to close out without losing his small lead.
"Ah ha!" He crowed, as the last stone was placed. "I've won!"
"What were the stakes?" Batman asked.
"I can no longer harm or impede him." Rhine explained, "For the day, I'm helpless to his whim." Dramatically, they fell down, stumbling backwards a step to fall into the empty scuba diving instructional pool.
A meaty thwack resounded as Batman knocked Nygma out with a single punch, and Rhine caught themselves in mid-air, taking out a high definition camera to document the crime scene. After the pictures were taken, a burst of magic defaced the magic circles, ruining anyone's ability to copy them without the images they just took. They'll figure out what they do later.
Flying back up, Rhine stabbed The Joker a few times with the meriscorde, noting that it wasn't quite enough to rip away his ghosts on its own, and an exertion of magic through the knife only managed to pry away a small fraction of them.
Ugh, this'll take weeks to get them all… and something tells them that Arkham wouldn't exactly be accommodating when the request is to let them stab the clown.
…They'll see if Professor Blood can iterate upon the meriscorde with a bit more funding, give it a bit more magical heft.
-----------------------
"What the hell is this shit?" Tanya asked, incredulous. Idly, she ate from the charcuterie board that Alfred had given them for snacks.
"I like it!" Jason said, defensive. "It made me feel better about my shitty family."
"Those people cannot be real." Tanya said, "I mean, how do you have children with five different women? It's not that hard to keep it in your pants!"
"Oprah's show is a bit more optimistic, less focused on screwed up families." Jason offered, "But she's only on syndication now, her last show was earlier this year."
Hm. She does remember hearing about that… "Have you seen the one we were on?" Tanya asked, curious.
"Yeah." Jason said, a little uncomfortable. "It's, like, your only real television appearance when you were still a baby… pretending to be a baby?" He paused. "How did that work, anyway?"
The appearance was shortly after Mother kidnapped her for the first time, with Selina. It was the first major event where Selina was read into the deception, and you could tell, if you paid attention to her reactions to Tanya's antics. "I was mostly pretending." Tanya said, "I was a little scatterbrained for real, but that didn't matter much." Part of the fake story included relatively frequent cognitive tests, and Bruce wanted her to take them for real before she faked them. When comparing results between the first test, shortly after Bruce found her, and a test taken while assessing the condition of her second life's body, there were notable differences, akin to a low level of intoxication. "My brain isn't purely cosmetic, despite the continuity of identity. The smaller size of it mostly manifested in needing more rest than standard." Not just naps, but also simply finding a lot more pleasure in activities that needed low mental effort. "All of that pretty much stopped when I turned four, though." At least, the cognitive tests between her child, teenage, and demon forms seemed to even out. She never took one with her first life's body.
"I didn't suspect a thing." Jason said seriously, "My brain can't even picture it anymore."
Tanya chuckled, then smirked. "Oh? But…" She softened her expression, unfocusing her eyes, and shifted on the couch to lay backwards on Jason's lap. She shifted her legs into clumsy angles, stared right into his eyes, and giggled while reaching out to touch his face. "-I wuv you, onii-chan…" She said teasingly.
Jason's eyes widened as he shoved her off his lap, backing up and falling over the couch. Tanya brought on the water works, crying in a whiny, noisy manner after she hit the ground head-first. It was on a rug, though, so she was fine. "That was freaky!" Jason said after he stood up, before his face twisted in concern. "Aw, come on, don't cry…"
Tanya couldn't resist any more and her fake sobs turned into a cackling laughter. Wiping her eyes, she sat up. "There's a lot of little stuff you have to do to really sell it, but it's really not that hard to do for short times." The tricky part was keeping it up. She managed it for hours at a time, but she'd probably have gone insane if she did it without Bruce, Alfred, and eventually others as confidantes to allow her to break character.
Jason offered his hand and she took it, allowing him to pull her up to her feet. "You think of going to Hollywood with those skills?" He asked, seemingly a genuine question.
"Considered it." Tanya replied honestly, using a quick bit of magic to remove the evidence of tears. "I'll need to eventually start adopting more mature hobbies, and the stage does hold enough of an appeal that I'll probably dabble a bit." She hummed, looking Jason up and down. "You'd probably make a good lead, although whether that's as a protagonist or antagonist would depend on the story…"
Jason looked thoughtful. "Hey, I have some books that I'd love to see turned into a movie, do you think…"
"We have the money for it." Tanya said, "I looked into it, you could make a decent film with only seven figures, less if you're skilled at the craft and use primarily profit sharing to pay everyone involved. That doesn't describe us, though, so we'll just have to pay the millions."
"It's still weird to hear the word million tossed around so casually." Jason said.
"Do I need to order another money bed?" Tanya asked. Bruce doesn't let her keep them for long, they get dirty and it's easier to deposit them into the bank than it is to clean them. "I'll do it."
"No, no, don't." Jason said, chuckling. "Being Robin is amazing, though. Even with all the weirdness."
"Wanting to spend your nights beating up criminals instead of being comfortable in bed is weird." Tanya retorted, "But the freedom to choose your path in life is one of the only things I hold sacred, so I won't stop you. Only insist that you follow that path with proper preparation and caution." It was also partly her fault for using mythical reinforcement…
Jason seemed surprised. "Bruce said to avoid using words like sacred around you…"
"He did?" Tanya asked, surprised and touched. "How thoughtful."
"Yeah, he was kind of vague on why, though…" Jason said, "Except that it doesn't burn you or anything."
Tanya's lips went into a line as she debated what exactly to say. "...I call him Being X, because when I first died, I refused to believe that he was actually God."
"So you did meet God…" Jason said, awed.
"Not the one for this universe." Tanya clarified, "Near as I can tell, the local one's a step up, for he provides mortals weapons and defenses against demonkind." Which, given the information she has access to on historical actions taken by demons, was an unambiguous good.
"Oh." Jason said, his awe melting into disappointment. "I guess that's cool." He said, settling back down on the couch. "Commercials are over, sit back down."
Tanya settled onto the couch. Daytime TV was weird, but she wanted to get to know her new big brother better, so she watched it.
-----------------------
Fawcett City was, as noted before, one of the outlying cities nearby Pittsburg. It was founded in the 1950s, and the art deco architecture reflected this, much like Gotham's founding during the Gothic revival of the 19th century influenced its primary aesthetic, even down to the city's name. Also much like Gotham, the city had a tendency to cling to that aesthetic instead of updating it with the times, which gave it a retro look that gave the city a small amount of tourism, with plenty of diners and similar businesses clinging to the theme.
Tanya was a little unsure on the best way to approach Captain Marvel, as while calling him reclusive isn't quite correct, he did avoid the Justice League when members appeared. The Flash managed to get in contact, but Wally wasn't able to get him to talk about his situation out of costume: according to Wally, the man was quite adept at changing the subject and avoiding uncomfortable topics.
She kind of disagreed, from her own experience, but he was rather quick to spot manipulation, so maybe he was just better at it when he had his guard up.
In the end, she decided to visit the city for as long as she can manage in one day, then do so on three different days in different forms. First, she took to the skies in demon form, trying to sense whatever magical wellspring Captain Marvel's benefactor was likely using to empower him. Rhine couldn't find it. Oddly, even divinations failed, and in a way that caused Rhine to suspect active occlusion on the part of that benefactor.
What was interesting, though, was what their refined magical sense could get from SivMana's headquarters. It stank of soul manipulation, and Rhine seriously suspected some substantial foul play in the practices therein. Was Dr. Thaddeus Sivana the man behind Captain Marvel? It sounded like something the aged scientist would do: he was as arrogant as Lex Luthor, but he always struck Rhine as a bit more sadistic about it: Luthor wants power, yes, but he also wants adulation, making people not called Superman suffer was only done when it benefited him, although this did extend to dealing with potential threats instead of actual threats: His vendetta against Superman was all about that.
Sivana, on the other hand, was more reclusive, he tended to avoid the spotlight. What few opportunities Rhine had to examine the man, usually in their role as CEO of ArcWayne, was that the part where trampling over others to achieve success was less a natural consequence of his rise, but instead a bonus that he got for seeking it.
Needless to say, if the inquiries into his culpability over the Dr. Batson murders had ever progressed to a trial, then his lawyer would have a beast of a time making the man look innocent to a jury.
"Hey." Captain Marvel said as Rhine lingered near the SivMana base. "Are you supposed to be here?" He asked, crossing his arms.
Ah, they were caught. "Nefarious deeds I caught a whiff, the stench of foul magics is what I sniff." They said, tapping where a nose would be if they had a face.
"What are you even doing here?" He asked firmly.
"Your benefactor, the wizard friend." Rhine explained. His slip towards that man's existence was small, but key was his confusion as to the manifold titles for practitioners, so they know that's the one used by their quarry. "An invitation I'd like to extend. If he's as noble as you claim, then the League would in him find no shame."
Captain Marvel never had any issues decrypting their rhymes, but the meaning of their words seemed to have given him pause. "Wait, you want to invite the Wizard instead of me? Why?" He whined.
"Introductions would be required, naturally." Rhine clarified, "I cannot admit members unilaterally."
The Captain frowned. "He's not gonna be interested." He said, "He's retired from hero-ing."
Oho? "The more you speak, the more I seek; someone with wisdom to set down the cape? Now that sounds like a man I'd not let escape."
"Hey, did you just call Batman and Superman stupid?" He asked, scandalized.
"Each of them fools, breakers of rules." Rhine replied, "Superman, perhaps, is one I'll call wise, but Batman's a seeker of his final prize." If you looked at things from Clark's point of view, becoming Superman was a lot more reasonable than it would be if he wasn't constantly witnessing crime after crime. To him, plucking falling objects out of the sky and taking time to talk with roof jumpers was genuinely him just being neighborly. It was easy for him, and the problem might as well be right in front of him…
"Take that back!" Captain Marvel shouted, offended on Bruce's behalf.
"Only when he starts trying to survive!" Rhine shot back, "Who do you think has to keep him alive?" It was a bit of an exaggeration, but saving someone's life only needed to happen once before it was a big deal.
"Batman is amazing!" Captain Marvel retorted, "He doesn't let things being hard get him down! He just keeps coming at it and never gives up!" That is what the propaganda cartoon says about him, yes… While also implying that he's an incredibly skilled torturer. You'd be surprised what kind of stuff you can get away with on a children's show.
"Do not praise his stubborn pride, he gets enough men on his side." Rhine huffed.
Captain Marvel scowled. "I know you can turn human and talk normal!" He said petulantly. "Come on, I hate floating around near this place." He floated down towards a nearby park. It had lots of children playing, so it didn't seem like a particularly good place to do so.
Wordlessly, Rhine flew off and landed on top of the water tower, a much more secluded location. Captain Marvel followed. After turning into her young adult form, wearing the Rhine suit, Tanya cleared her throat. "What I said before still applies, Captain. One of the services the Justice League provides is handling the processing for immigrants, no matter where they're from. If you don't have a legal identity, we can provide you one, but you have to work with us here."
The Captain seemed confused, but connected the dots soon enough. "Wait. You think- Then what-"
Ah. "So you aren't a dimensional refugee?" Tanya asked. "I came from another dimension myself, so I know how confusing it can be." Admittedly, she got lucky, so that was a bit of a stretch.
"You did?" He asked, "Wow, that's so cool!" His eyes were practically sparkling in awe. "But I'm not- wait, does the Rock of Eternity count as another dimension?"
Wait. She knows that place. "The Rock of Eternity?" Tanya asked, "Site of the Nephilim Accords, ending the Fourth Apocolypse War and ushering in the Fifth Age? That Rock of Eternity?" The Captain looked baffled at her outlining of the importance of that particular rock. It was actually three rocks, one from Hell, one from Earth, and one from Heaven. "Why am I not surprised?" Tanya muttered. The Captain tended to get confused whenever she tried to speculate on his magic during the original meeting as well. "So you're from there?"
"...Yes." Captain Marvel lied. "Yes I am."
"I've seen gradeschoolers with better poker faces, Captain." Tanya deadpanned. "Even Robin could lie better than that, and I knew him for a year before I saw him have a thought that didn't immediately come out of his mouth." An exaggeration, of course, but she had a solemn duty to give him a hard time.
"So what?" Captain Marvel half-shouted. "Why do you need to know who I am to join the Justice League?"
"Several reasons." Tanya said, which is exactly what she said before. "First, you don't need to join the Justice League. We're not some corrupt union, monopolistically insisting that you hero for us or not at all. This is more of a…" Professional association? PMC? Militia? Nothing seemed to fit… "-cool kid's club, where the most impactful part of being a member is that you get to say you're a member." While there was a lot that the Justice League did for Earth, from the perspective of the member superheroes, that's a lot of what it is. "As I said before, it's not like you get paid. Sorry if that burst your bubble."
"I have never wanted to be in the Justice League more than now." Captain Marvel said, stars in his eyes. Then he seemed to come back to reality, and frowned. "Wait, why aren't you a member if that's all it is?" he asked.
Tanya coughed. "Well, being a full member obligates you to certain commitments." Tanya said, "You donate at least twenty hours of time per week to be assigned to handle things like disasters, reinforcing Titan's initiative branches in emergencies, or just grunt work, shifts on call, PR events, things of that nature. Even Superman occasionally is tasked with lifting something heavy while the technicians work on it." She gestured to Fawcett. "People who want to stay in their hometown, keeping it safe over bigger problems that are far away, don't join the Justice League."
"But don't you do that anyway?" Captain Marvel asked.
"If I was a member, I would be at the mercy of whichever person was currently in charge of assigning duties. Instead, I can assist Batman and the League only in ways I desire." Tanya chuckled. "One of the realities of organizations with duties is that there will always be things that need doing that no one wants to do. Unpleasant things. I'd rather stick to paperwork and HR meetings, if it's all the same."
Captain Marvel was not fooled by her deflection. "What about that other membership you told me about?" he asked, "The associate member thing?"
"I don't need it." Tanya said, waving him off. "I already work for Batman, and I don't consider myself a superhero anyway." Unless she's wearing the Witch Girl outfit.
The man frowned. "...You're pretty heroic from where I'm standing." He said softly. "I've been being a real jerk about this, and you haven't gotten mad once." What?
"You don't want to share your identity." Tanya corrected, "A position I can sympathize with. One of the main things that the Justice League does, perhaps its most important duty, is to be someone who can hold heroes accountable for their actions. We're the only ones who can, in a lot of cases. Knowing who's behind the mask is part of that."
"You know, I asked the Flash if he had to tell you who he was." Captain Marvel said, "He said he didn't have to."
"By that he meant we already knew. Batman knew who he was for longer than I've been on Earth." Tanya said, "Cards on the table, Captain: I only ask because I couldn't find you. Facial recognition is shot, your wizard friend is keeping magical divination and most kinds of electronic surveillance off of you, you never buy anything, the only thing left to do is to outright stalk you."
"Hey!" Captain Marvel said, offended. "That's illegal!"
"Vigilantism is illegal, Captain." Tanya said bluntly. "Being a superhero is illegal. That's the point! You're flouting the rule of law to do what your moral compass tells you to do. Who can stop you? The police? No. Only the other superheroes stand a chance against someone with your abilities, Captain. That is why it matters. This isn't a game."
Captain Marvel, in another example of his mood swinging back and forth on a dime, looked like he was about to cry from that lecture. "I-I just want to help!" He said, the beginning of tears forming in his eyes.
"You can." Tanya said gently. "At this point, I think I've got an idea on why you're being so tight-lipped. You think that, if we knew the truth, that we'd reject you."
"You would." Captain Marvel spat, rubbing at his eyes.
"I know what that's like." Tanya said calmly. "It's a terrible feeling."
"So you're saying I should just let it out?" Captain Marvel asked sarcastically.
Tanya barked out a laugh. "No. I said I understood what it's like, didn't I?" Captain Marvel huffed in a half-laugh at her joke. "I'm a demon, remember? While I absolutely got sent to hell for reasons other than merit, that doesn't mean I wouldn't have been condemned if I was put before whatever the normal process is in this universe."
Captain Marvel once again looked a bit lost. "What do you mean?"
"I've killed… a lot of people." Tanya admitted, "They were in another universe, true, and it was during a war, every single one in full compliance with the laws of war… But that doesn't mean there weren't a few that could be considered… gratuitous. Unnecessary. Merciless. A small fraction of them, yes, but you could still fill a mass grave or two with them." Tanya scoffed. "Do you think Batman knows about that?"
"...Yes?" Captain Marvel guessed.
"He assumes." Tanya clarified, "He knows that I've killed, he knows that I've killed a lot. But he doesn't have… numbers. Details." She explained, "It's all still abstract to him, vague. If I had my way, I'd never have told him as much as I have!" Tanya paused, collecting herself. "Batman's a bleeding heart. The fact that I regret my actions is enough for him to forgive me anything and everything. But that doesn't mean I want to talk about it." She stared at the hero, expression flat. "So yes, I know what it's like to know that the truth will only condemn you."
"So you'll let me join?" He asked, hopeful.
"Not without knowing who you are." Tanya said immediately. "The rules are still the rules, and while the metaphorical 'no kids allowed' sign on the clubhouse door is more of an excuse to insist on learning that rather than an actual restriction, as there are many underage heroes who, despite not being official members, are still basically so," Herself included, "-that doesn't mean it is not followed."
Captain Marvel growled in frustration. "...Good talk." He said sullenly, before zooming off.
Hm. Well, that went poorly.
Marvelous mage worm magical inspired inventor
The rest of our meeting went relatively well. Piggot was tight-lipped about what she thought, simply repeating that this was above her pay grade and that she would work on getting the people together who needed to see my presentation. I had a feeling that this was likely a group of her peers, or just Chief Director Costa-Brown, but she refused to confirm.
Armsmaster, on the other hand, was happy to provide me with some feedback on the particular combination of equipment I had selected. During that time, he unknowingly highlighted exactly why I was looking forward to having people with a better grasp of power dynamics advise me.
"I understand that flight might not work with your particular tinker specialty, at least not on a mass scale," He had said, his usually stoic voice colored slightly by an understanding empathy. "Most tinkers struggle with limits like that. However, the people you are giving this equipment to will have a considerable brute rating, and will be deployed in places where collateral damage is a foregone conclusion. Even if they are restricted to flinging themselves in crude cardinal directions, crashing into buildings and cars, that is still a significant mover rating."
The experience hero and tinker was absolutely correct, and I felt silly for not seeing it before. I had been so focused on creating perfect precision flight, I didn't stop to realize the utility of simple directional velocity.
Even better, combining normal human learning abilities with the existing equipment buffs to "agility" and the stable foot and spider climb boots, anyone using the fling equipment would likely become quite adept at landing on their feet.
To say I was eager to go back to the drawing board as soon as possible was an understatement.
A few days passed after my report, and I continued to fine-tune the equipment. Director Piggot was working on setting up a new meeting, a live demonstration for people who could make decisions about my offer. It was frustrating to have done all this work, then to get stopped by the nearly impenetrable wall that is bureaucracy, but I did my best to remain calm. I was pretty sure she wasn't dragging her feet or anything like that, so I would just need to be patient.
My waiting brought me all the way through to the final night of the charge cycle. As usual, as midnight approached, I sat down in my usual relaxing spot and waited for my charges to refill. I was already pretty sure I knew what I was investing in, the only thing that could change that at this point was an incredible "random" subject.
When the cycle finally ticked over, I watched the charges refill. I still had a spare charge, which had been hanging around for quite some time now. I had been saving it to use as a sort of test charge, just in case I chose a subject that didn't really fill what I was looking for, but thankfully, so far, I had been pretty lucky. That went double for now, since the spare charge would let me take my plan a step further than I would have been able to normally.
As usual, not long after the charges filled, I could feel the "random" subject slotting into place after my charges filled. As the first level was confirmed, the knowledge of Alchemy filled my head, stunning me for a moment as the information for a whole new concept flooded my mind.
Alchemy was, above all else, a magic involving the conversion and refinement of materials. Most of the focus was on two primary ideas, infusing and transmutation. The latter, transmutation, was pretty simple. Take one thing and turn it into another, albeit at an incredibly high conversion rate. I could turn low-quality steel into gold, silver, platinum, or any other metal I wanted, or granite into coal, or water into glass. The process would be incredibly resource and energy-intensive, but it was possible.
Thankfully, the second level of understanding alleviated some of that steep cost, though it was still incredibly inefficient. At the first level, the transformation I had access to was interesting, but ultimately too inefficient to be of practical use. At the second level, I gained the knowledge of slightly more effective methods. Transmutation at that level was still wildly inefficient, but it was just barely at a usable level, and only if you had a large amount of suitable material available.
Along with a less ridiculous conversion rate, the second level of knowledge included the creation of infused metals. I had gotten a glimpse at the possibility from the first level, but as I learned how to actually do it and what it was for, I couldn't help but laugh. Infusing mundane metals with magic was a relatively straightforward process, at least for most metals, and had two primary purposes. One, infusing a metal could enhance its primary properties. Iron could be made stronger, titanium could be made more flexible, and aluminum could be made lighter. It also made them much more powerful reagents for almost all magical uses, including as sacrificial materials for rituals.
This was useful for almost every single use of metal I had, everything from golem crafting to geomancy. Even the chalk I used to make my ritual circles, the electrum or iron versions, would be of better and more powerful quality.
Geomancy in particular was receiving a double buff, since not only would the metal used in the process be of better magical potential, but the facets I wanted the metals to embody would be stronger, making the resulting enhancements stronger as well.
My arsenal was about to receive a significant upgrade. I just needed to set up a proper infusion station.
For a moment, I considered dedicating some points to upping my Alchemy levels, but I ultimately held back. My most important project was still the mass-produced equipment, and in order to confirm that I could complete every aspect, I needed more levels of annihilation magic. So, after a moment of hesitation, I focused on annihilation and invested all seven of my points, six new charges and the single saved charge, into levels three and four.
The blast of information came in quickly, almost overwhelming me. Four was now officially the highest level of investment I had, and it did not disappoint, even with such a dense, complicated subject.
I now knew dozens of spells, multiple enchantments and rituals, all about causing annihilation effects. Where before I was restricted to a simple sphere at the end of a wand, I now had a whole arsenal of alternatives and potential. Of course, the moment I was finished investing, connections began to form across multiple subjects, including spell and ritual crafting. The two lower-level topics were just able to keep up with the now higher-level broad subject, but I could tell, even from a cursory examination, that pushing it beyond level four would pull it out of their range.
Thankfully, as I slowly worked my way through the new information, it became clear that I had gotten what I needed. I had a slew of new ideas for a new, improved version of my annihilation wand.
As always, with all of the new knowledge in my head, I couldn't help but set straight to work. I cleared any residual tiredness in my body with a quick spell, before grabbing a few enhanced acorns, the same I used to build the rest of my forest home. I walked through my home, picked a path, and began to create a new walkway from it, my growth in druidcraft making the process considerably easier than it had been before. I didn't even need to kill any plants to clear space, I just slowly worked my magic into the surrounding vegetation, walking them away until I had enough space. From there, I grew a platform very similar to the ritual platform, a nice flat surface with two massive trees beside it. I then added a few smaller workstations, essentially just wide countertop space, before clearing more space around the woods for storage.
While I was eager to begin working on the wands, I first needed to prepare a mass metal infusion platform. If there was anything I had learned throughout my months here in this world, it was that you should start by securing your resources, then move on to the fun stuff. If you didn't, you risked running out of resources while still in the process of building.
The process of infusing mundane metals was actually pretty simple, though it required a large permanent array, which was basically a ritual, but in what amounted to a different language, specific to alchemy. You fed that array a slight amount of magic to start, before about twenty percent of the metal was basically burned away. The process was one-step amplification through sacrifice and one part purification, achieved through the removal of lesser materials, corruption, and other impurities.
Technically, this was not the standard, usual way that the two levels of alchemy would have done it. That process involved a less complex, non-permanent array and involved my own magic. However, this alternative "burning" method was what my magical mass production levels suggested. Basically, you form something with extra metal, toss it into the infusion array, spark it with a bit of mana, then let the "burning" metal fuel the purification and amplification. No extra parts, no lengthy mana infusion, only one step, all of which meant it was easily repeatable without a mage's full attention.
Of course, this new array would not be inexpensive, especially since it was designed to be permanent. I would need around a dozen large gemstones and a significant amount of precious metals, primarily gold and silver.
Thankfully, I now had a way to make those materials, albeit at a steep cost. I even had a handy stash of ready-to-sacrifice metal just sitting in the ocean, a single teleport away.
On one of the work surfaces, I carefully transcribed the most efficient transmutation array I knew. I then teleported away from the base and out to one of the many wrecked boats in the Boat Graveyard. Over the span of an hour and a half, I repeatedly used my control metal spell to carve large chunks out of one of the boats, compact them into cubes, and then ferry them back to the compound, stacking them like multi-ton Jenga blocks near the newest addition to my home. After claiming a not insignificant portion of a massive boat, I started to convert the salvaged metal into useful materials.
My first goal was to make permanent transmutation arrays for gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and several other essential materials by building them into the various counters around the large, flat space at the center of the alchemy area. With the horrible conversion rate, that alone took nearly three-fourths of the salvaged metal. Now, a lot of that metal had been poor quality, rusted, tainted, and covered in crap, but it was still literal dozens of tons of metal for not even a single ton of final product.
If I were ever blessed with higher levels of Alchemy, I would have to redo all of this, but it would be well worth it for better conversion rates.
With a now endless, if hard-gained, source of precious materials, I started preparing for the metal infusion array. The first step was to sit down and design a spell that controls stone. I looked through my spell tome twice, searching for one I had already made, only to finally give up and accept that I had, somehow, never actually done that before.
Thankfully, it didn't take too long, and after an hour of crunching numbers and angles, I was able to successfully cast a spell that let me manipulate stone.
Lapidem circum me ducam, in quamcumque formam mihi placuerit eum tractabo, instar aquae fluere sinam, meo iussu moveri sinam." I shouted, holding my staff in the air.
Slowly, as I waved my staff, a brown circle grew out from around my feet, several symbols appearing with it. Suddenly, it expanded rapidly before defusing into the ground. A slight rumble vibrated the compound, before several large boulders around the clearing crumbled to gravel and covered the platform. I then slammed the bit of my staff down, and the gravel solidified into a single flat chunk of stone about three inches thick, perfect for carving and inlaying.
Once the surface was prepared, I carefully carved out the infusion array, including spots for several precious stones. Once the array was prepared, I made half a dozen more trips to the Boat Graveyard before transmuting enough silver, gold, and precious stones to complete the project, using my trusty metal control spell to mix and inlay the gold, before setting the dozen precious stones as well.
When everything was finally done, I called one of the golems over with a whistle, the metal amalgam standing in the center of the array. Once I was sure it was standing stable enough, I carefully removed its core. As soon as I did, the golem went rigid, now just a metal frame.
After carefully placing the core on one of the few counters, I kneeled down by the array and fed it just a single spark of magic, enough to jumpstart the "burning."
The array lit up, glowing brightly, especially the precious stones. The golem frame also began to glow, growing brighter as the outer layers of metal burned away, the magical essence of the metal seeping into the layers underneath. At the same time, sparks of impurities, both physical and conceptual, began to spark away from the frame, little cracks of flickering embers that glowed in the air but soon fizzled out. The infusion continued for a full five minutes before the glow faded, and the golem frame was revealed.
Now, the original golem shape was rather… chunky. The metal was basically free, and I knew I was basically making metal brutes, sacrificial pawns to throw at dangerous things until they stopped being dangerous.
The new frame, now twenty percent smaller, no longer looked like a hunchback with tree trunks for limbs. In fact, it actually looked vaguely more human-proportioned, though it still didn't have a head. The metal itself also had a certain… shine to it. It wasn't generating light, and it wasn't a polished finish or anything like that. And yet, the metal still looked… more. It wasn't a glaring difference, but upon closer inspection, it was definitely noticeable.
After investigating it thoroughly, I stepped back and carefully inserted the golem core back into the frame. Immediately, the golem stood upright, moving with a fluidity that the originals lacked. Sure, they could jump and dodge and move, but this golem was clearly no longer just a brute to smash things.
"Yeah, okay, everything is getting this treatment," I said to myself, ordering the finished golem way, whistling for the next one to approach. "Guardians included."
Unfortunately, I would likely have to build each guardian a new frame in order to infuse them correctly, since their mass was already pretty refined. If a guardian lost twenty percent of their mass, they would look emaciated and skeletal, and that was not the look I was going for. Either way, I could already tell that the time spent would be well worth the cost, especially considering I could probably get Kali to run the infusion array, since all it really required was a spark of magic to start the process.
I took a moment to breathe, looking over what I had managed to complete, sunlight just starting to break through the leaves above the newest addition to my home. After a few minutes, I clapped my hands, rubbing them together.
"Alright! What's next?"