It's like Dadzawa but better, AL is actualy good at it.
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 (Young Justice/Gamer/Multicross OC)
- Thread starter Mister Ficser
- Start date
MaimakteriAnn
(Verified Sleepy)
- Location
- Enormous And Round Terran Homeworld
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Dr
Yeah, transmigration has doubled his level cap every time he used it. He unlocked it by changing his species, but that isnt a requirement.
Sunday/Monday and Thursday/Friday. The window is for me to do a final check and do any fixes that are needed, sometimes it's been a bit drastic and larger rewrites have been done.
So two updates per week.
So two updates per week.
Red_Faux
私を終わらせる
- Location
- 'Straya M8
Please don't be one of those people who point at the aliens in the ninja wizard anime and complain about suspension of disbelief. It fit right in, and it's a pet peeve of mine when people be like "WHY THEY BE ALIENS!? IT MAKES NO SENSE!"
It's barely relevant anyway. Kaguya and her ilk are still deities, they just happen to come from a little higher in the atmosphere, and where they come from isn't brought up properly until Boruto, and that's only because another one shows up for a bit.
Frustratedbuffal
"I shaved my balls for this?!?"
*Squints Ohioishly* Goldstar or Skyline?
- Location
- spain
Dadchemist.
Edit: dangit, ninja'd. Ah Well, great minds and all that.
Oh, no, that wasn't the issue.
My issue came that power scaling got thrown right out the window and the plot just kept dragging down and down and down because Shonen Jump didn't want to let Kishimoto end things the way he'd initially planned.
The various filler arcs where, instead of developing something new or handy, Naruto just makes -Yet another!- Rasengan also didn't much help.
I wanted to read about ninjas being clever and got high-octane chi-wizards instead. Which was still good, but it really just fell of the wagon from the initial premise.
Reading through the chapter a thought occurred to me, especially after ghost 55's comment.
Wasn't a whole plot point previously made that Alchemist and his wife tried for a baby and, I believe the wife was sterile..... anyway I got an idea in my head that while I don't think I could do justice really should be made into an Omake or side story if Fisher thinks it is good enough.
The wife dies and is recruited as another beta tester and learns that she could reunite with Alchemist. She busts in through a dimensional fissure and beats up some big bad DC has a lot of them that could be used. I believe Alchemist has said that she is the more active of the pair so she would be some fighter class probability and busts. She is roaring pissed because A) Tetra is annoying and keeps using alchemist as motivation for her to do weird dramatic quest; B) She is tired and had to deal with a stupid big bad that she hated already and meeting them in person did not help. C) She is annoyed that Alchemist has been gone so long and is worried.
Alchemist panics. Everyone believes it is the end of the world because they see some woman beat/kill some big bad and is still angry. Plus Alchemist who has eldrich knowledge freaking out they think it is like Apokolips come to invade. She shouts Alchemist's actual name which causes several people to bleed from the ears and Alchemist pales because she just guaranteed that it is his wife...
Before anyone has a chance to attack Alchemist teleports over and begins to try and placate his wife with lots of groveling and apologies. And then presents Yuffie like a small feral ninja kitty saying things like I found a daughter for you and a niece presenting Jinks who is very confused. The wife then pokes and prods Alcehmeist who like mentioned before was not superhero pretty and says he appreciates the effort and to calm down and manage had better not have been to death do you part. Everyone is confused and worried that Alchemist's strangeness is multiplying.
Can this be made I am still working out the kinks in my writing style so I am not confident I could do this justice?
- Location
- Brazil
This is just perfect. *Chef's kiss*
Go for it! I'm always happy to see someone try to write something!
I will be giving it a go and hope it turns out well. Would it get tagged as an Apocrypha then or a side story @Mister Ficser? I doute it would be canon, at least not for a long while but that would be an interesting reversal of trend since most of the time those Iskead or gamified don't have their homes brought to relevance.
Apocrypha.
Sidestory are things that occur in canon but aren't necessarily a major or direct part of the story.
Apocrypha is basically and kind of an omake. Serious, silly, even a 'Bad end' kind of addition if someone wanted to write something like that.
Sidestory are things that occur in canon but aren't necessarily a major or direct part of the story.
Apocrypha is basically and kind of an omake. Serious, silly, even a 'Bad end' kind of addition if someone wanted to write something like that.
Ethan Eldritch
Multi-Dimensional Eldritch Tree
- Location
- The Void between
- Pronouns
- Tree
So am i the only one thinking about Hellhound Sage Alchemist with all the Naruto talk going on?
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
Al: "I wonder what would happen if I cast Toad on Gamakichi..."
- Location
- Australia
All those failed toad sages? You know, the ones that turned to stone and were used to warn Naruto? Yeah, that was just Alchemist screwing around. Casting Toad+Stone on people to see if Sage mode gives them some magic resistance.
Frescko
King of Silver 🏳️⚧️
I imagine Jinx and Alchemist going to Minecraft would just end up with Jinx going constantly "wtf" at first that everything is blocky, even the atoms! Next the fact that the language translator would just have her making "Hhmmmm" sounds and finally the lowkey eldritch abominations that are Steve and Alex, though on a side note you think that they would go to the base game or dungeons?
Frescko
King of Silver 🏳️⚧️
Even weeks later, I can't help but remember the chapter where alchemist called the joker Batman's yandere and Green Arrow and Speedy(?) laughed. I have it in my head cannon they didn't get the joke and laughed because of peer pressure so when Alchemist left they both looked up what a "Yandere" was on their phones
Ethan Eldritch
Multi-Dimensional Eldritch Tree
- Location
- The Void between
- Pronouns
- Tree
Yoooo minecraft comrades woo!!
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
Well great. I have to add another book to my collection.
Should I fit it in after the Terry Pratchett or the Zombie Survival Guide?
Should I fit it in after the Terry Pratchett or the Zombie Survival Guide?
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
@Mister Ficser - Whatever you do, make sure Terry Pratchett's books come first, and use a read-order guide, since the order they were written in isn't necessarily the order they should be read in.
A lot of people love The Colo(u)r of Magic and The Light Fantastic, but they're certainly not my favorites out of all of them. Generally, the later in the series they are, the better they get, all the way up until Sir PTerry's unfortunate decline, and the earliest ones really aren't nearly as captivating or as clever, since he has yet to find his voice at that point. Of course, that seems to happen with a lot of book series, so you're almost assuredly familiar with the concept.
A lot of people love The Colo(u)r of Magic and The Light Fantastic, but they're certainly not my favorites out of all of them. Generally, the later in the series they are, the better they get, all the way up until Sir PTerry's unfortunate decline, and the earliest ones really aren't nearly as captivating or as clever, since he has yet to find his voice at that point. Of course, that seems to happen with a lot of book series, so you're almost assuredly familiar with the concept.
Aye. I've only got a handful of the good Sir's books. Copies of ones I enjoyed most from back when I was in school.
Never did grab a copy of Mort but I really should.
"There is no Justice. Just us."
Never did grab a copy of Mort but I really should.
"There is no Justice. Just us."
Chapter 125
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 1.2.5
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Alchemist woke up Sunday morning with a splitting headache and a truly vile taste in his mouth.
And a very, very excited Yuffie shaking his shoulder.
The night before, after getting everything collected and accounted for, he'd choked down another Materia.
Darkness, or 'Soul Eater' in Japanese, was a command Materia from the Crisis Core game. It had also been a Materia he'd stolen in abundance from some of the monsters in the depths of Gaia. He'd hesitated for a while because it was one of the fun little skills that would cast from HP.
But, and this was the important part, it did non-physical, non-magical piercing damage to every enemy in a ten meter radius at the cost of twelve and a half percent of his total HP. It was a source of True Damage.
If he'd had that during the whole Sindri debacle he could have ended the fight while he still had both arms.
Darkside might technically be a better skill for his style of fighting, it was a single target attack. It did piercing damage. It could be used from range... But it required sharing brain space with a 'Guardian Force' that would parasitize his memories because of reasons.
So that would be a hard pass.
"What'ya need, Yuffers?" Alchemist asked as he sat up on the couch he'd been sleeping on.
His cabin hadn't been designed to include a second person actually living with him. He was in the process of excavating and building a proper basement but it would take some time.
"Breakfast!" She leaned over and grinned, practically in his face.
He wasn't awake enough to find it cute.
"Alright." She stepped to the side as he stood up and stretched. "What sounds good?"
"Ash says she wants omellete rice!" So saying, the girl lifted his familiar up on her hind legs so Ash was standing against her front.
Ash was getting kind of big, nowadays. Like that, she was almost as tall as Yuffie!
"Alright. But!" He stopped, wagging one finger in front of Ashes' face. "She can only have ketchup if she brushes her teeth when she's done!"
"But it's the weekend!" Yuffie whined. "And toothpaste doesn't taste good!"
"And I don't like smelling ketchup-breath but we all make sacrifices. Go and get cleaned up, I'll get started on breakfast." He shooed the girl off to the bathroom and stumbled into his kitchenette.
He eyeballed the amount for a small pot of rice, then rinsed it with water a few times until the water was clear. Removing excess starch.
He dropped that in a little rice cooker he didn't actually remember grabbing but had somehow found its way into his inventory regardless. He added some more water, just enough so the water went from the top of the rice to the first knuckle on his index finger.
~~ Notice! ~~
~~ Update Complete! ~~
Alchemist almost stopped what he was doing but managed to catch himself. He didn't need to start a fire by accident.
He kept half of his attention on the food cooking away as he opened up the patch notes.
~~ Update to Alpha Build 1.2.5 notes as compiled by Vana, Department Lead ~~
~~ Item crafting data has been migrated from users former save file! ~~
~~ Initial Vocations have been restored! ~~
~~ Advanced Vocations have been tweaked to be more accessable. They should now teach the core mechanics of the class instead of needing some measure of pre-existing mastery. Players must still meet base requisites to unlock Advanced Vocations. ~~
~~ An Emergency Contact button has been added to the messaging system in the event that a Player finds themselves unjustly accosted by a member of Game staff. They may request a review by their original Administrator. ~~
Huh. That was... Nice? Alchemist opened his skill menu and took a look at Item Creation.
~~ Item Creation (1)! ~~
~~ Subcategories
- Alchemy (6)
- Compounding (6)
- Cooking (32)
- Crafting (10)
- Engineering (45)
- Smithing (9)
- Writing (15) ~~
Well, that was a big improvement. The only things he'd improved during the last few months had been Alchemy, Compounding and Cooking. Even then, he hadn't broken double digits in any of those.
None of those skills had any passive effects as far as he'd been able to tell. They would level as he performed whatever activities were related but unless he actually used the Item Creation skill itself they didn't actually do anything.
Which was kind of nice. This way he didn't have to deal with his cooking suffering a critical failure because of Random Number Garbage.
His former lifetime, with his former job in Manufacturing probably had to do with the surprisingly high level in Engineering.
Setting those thoughts aside, Alchemist removed his skillet with two eggs from the heat and slid them to a plate before cracking two more into it.
Those would be his. He preferred his eggs actually be firm.
Yuffie, as was common custom in numerous Asian countries, preferred hers be runny.
"Is it ready?!" Yuffie's voice came from behind him suddenly.
He did not jump! He did not.
He had a whole body flinch instead.
"Geeze, sorry!" The girl sounded apologetic, and she actually looked it when he glanced over his shoulder at her.
Her hair was still wet, but she was dressed for the day. A turtleneck with her sleeves rolled up and a pair of shorts. Decent enough for the little target range he had set up at the edge of his land.
Today was the start of his two days off for the week and he planned on teaching her firearm safety since he used guns. A lot.
"You're fine, I was just thinking of something and you startled me. Go ahead and sit down, I'll bring breakfast over." He said to the little ninja, keeping the eggs moving as he did so they wouldn't firm up.
"With ketchup?" She sounded so hopeful. Was it a rationed resource during the war, or just something her father didn't like?
"Yes, with ketchup." Either way, he didn't mind letting her have the bottle, even if he didn't care for the stuff. Too much sugar.
She scampered off to the little two-person table and he got to work putting her plate of food together.
Basically just a scoop of rice with her eggs poured over it.
Honestly? This? This little domestic scene?
It left him feeling nostalgic.
-----
Simon's brain burned.
With sight! With knowledge! With... Infection.
It burned, it itched, it hurt him. Constantly.
And yet! Yet he could see more!
The sights! The images! The story he'd seen, the words he'd understood! Everything had meaning, inflection deeper than the mere physical world he'd seen!
He was sure of it!
Yet... Simon had so many eyes, why did he still feel as though he were blind? With his eyes unblinking, he still saw nothing when he gazed upon the heavens.
"Move!" A voice shouted in Bialyan, bringing Simon's fevered thoughts back to the present. He needed more eyes, needed to see more, be more! And Queen Bee's soldiers were such wonderful volunteers!
Not a single one of them could see that she was using them!
"He must be nearby! Find the cannibal!" Simon actually stood in the middle of the room as soldiers flowed through it. Parted around him, as though he were a pillar in the room. "We cannot let him escape again!"
He reached up and scratched an itch on the side of his brain. Pus and blood and memories dribbled down the side of his head. Yellow and red and gray dripping to the floor.
They couldn't see...
"That must be it!" He realized, staring at the various men around him. All dressed in beige fatigues. All the same.
Inside and out.
"Worthless..." What good was it for him to take the eyes of the blind?! "All of you are worthless!"
None of them heard him. He hadn't let them.
Simon reached up and wrapped his hand around a blind, rotting eye. From the very beginning its vision had been clouded!
He pulled, ripping it free from the grasping claws that had once been so eager to hold these ocular treasures. The claw snapped at his fingers, but just missed. Just barely.
Simon stepped forward, his hand outstretched towards the commander of these sappy, lovestruck idiots. The man froze at Simon's silent command, his eyes widening in fear and disgust as he was finally allowed to comprehend the majesty that Psimon had become!
"You've nothing to fear." The madman crooned, trailing a finger along the mans jawline. Just as he secretly dreamed that his queen might do someday when she finally recognized his military genius. "There's nothing left here, not for me. Not from you."
The commander opened his mouth as though to scream and Simon silenced him.
By cramming the milky, clouded eye into his mouth.
"Ah-ah, none of that!" Simon stared at Commander Unimportant. A dozen mismatched blue and brown eyes glaring into the gaze of the petrified tinpot tyrant. "You never saw me. Never! Not me! Not here."
Simon giggled uncontrollably for a second. The pain and heat were so... Hilarious! Especially when he could give it to someone else!
"Take your men. All of them! Somewhere far away, to the border. Any border! Away from the capital. As far from the queen as can be. Be. Bee. Ha... Hahah... Hahahah!" Psimon stepped away from the petrified man, myriad eyes all watching him.
Erasing his presence from his mind was barely even an effort.
Reinforcing his command was even less than that.
He needed eyes! Better eyes! Ones that had seen more, could see beyond the meaningless quibbling of mortal concerns.
If he knew the identity of whatever madman he'd been forced to learn these truths from, that would be perfect! The clarity of his eyes would truly be beautiful!
Instead, or hopefully until then, someone else would have to do...
And quite a few poems had been written about the beauty in the eyes of the Bee!
-----
Captain Marvel, known to very few as the orphaned Billy Batson, was just having a devil of a time!
Batman's wizard friend, Alchemist, had offered to teach him a few extra spells during his downtime and he was honestly feeling quite excited at the idea!
Assuming he could find the place!
Alchemist had given him some general directions and told him he'd be quite far from civilization, but for the past few dozen kilometers Captain Marvel had seen nothing but trees and rocks!
Honestly, he was starting to feel like he was being pranked. He'd heard that Alchemist liked doing that sort of thing... But this seemed particularly cruel.
He was about to pick a random direction and fly off before he noticed something.
Gunshots.
To the... East. Deeper into the mountains.
He took off, moving just a bit under the speed of sound.
There wasn't any screaming and the shots weren't rushed or panicked. He didn't think he needed to be in a hurry.
That was how he eventually found Alchemist and a young girl, even younger than himself! They were both shooting at paper bulls-eye targets. One about fifteen meters away for the girl, who was using a very small caliber of handgun while Alchemist was shooting a much bigger revolver at a target roughly fifty meters away.
Both of them were wearing big, orange earmuffs.
He descended, hovering just a bit behind the odd duo and watched. The girl hit the target on one of the inner circles with a little copper ball and then smacked Alchemist lightly in the arm, pointing at her target when he looked down.
"You're really picking this up, Yuffie!" He shouted down to her, pointing at the target before offering her a thumbs up.
"Alchemist." Billy tried, speaking at a normal volume.
The man went right back to shooting his handgun after ruffling Yuffie's hair, completely ignoring the hero behind him.
It was... Good that he insisted on wearing hearing protection?
"Alchemist!" Billy tried again, shouting this time.
The man flicked his finger against a switch on the gun and looked to his left. He then looked to his right. He placed the gun in a holster on his belt and lifted one of his earmuffs before looking around again.
"Alchemist, you mentioned training?" Finally, finally the man turned around!
"Marvel! I didn't see you there!" Alchemist didn't quite shout, but he spoke at a louder volume. "You say something about training?"
"Yes! You mentioned possibly teaching me a few more spells yesterday." Marvel was tempted to complain that the man was half deaf... But he still had an earmuff on.
"Right, yeah. Didn't think you'd be here today but I can work with that." The man reached over and nudged the girl, Yuffie, on the shoulder.
She turned to face him and looked up, obvious curiosity in her eyes. Alchemist took off his earmuffs and she imitated him after a second.
"I'm gonna show Captain Marvel here a spell or two. Wizard spells, not crazy ninja magic, and I know you find that boring. Why don't you head on back to the house and pick out a movie? I'll get pizza when we're done!" The girl had put her hands on her hips and started to glare at Alchemist but shifted dramatically when he mentioned pizza. "Real quick though! What are the rules for guns?"
"Never point it at anyone! Know what's behind what I'm shooting at. And always have the safety on when I'm not shooting and- Uh..." The little girl trailed off, struggling to remember another rule.
"There's no such thing as an unloaded gun." Alchemist ruffled her hair again, though this time she tried to swat his hand away.
"The pizza, can you get it with mushrooms?" Alchemist nodded. "And peppers?" Alchemist nodded again. "What about ham!?"
The man just kept nodding as the girl basically described a supreme pizza. After a few more toppings she pushed her gun into Alchemist's waiting hands and ran off.
"Sorry, from what I understand Yuffie wasn't really allowed to be excited in her old home." Alchemist did something and both of the guns disappeared. "If you don't mind taking a trip with me, there are a few spells I think you could really use."
"How long are you talking about?" Billy had to ask. He did have responsibilities back in Fawcett City.
"Technically, no time at all." Alchemist did... Something, waving his hands in front of him, and placed a hand on Billy's shoulder.
In an instant he could feel that they'd traveled somewhere else.
Before they'd been at the edge of a secluded, wooded area in the mountains. Now, instead, they stood before a pair of great doors. Some sort of tarnished blue metal set into the crumbling stone of a once-impressive fane.
"Welcome to the Temple of Magic. Or... What's left of it." Alchemist stepped forward, raising his hand and snapping his fingers.
The doors, rusted shut with age and neglect, screeched aloud as they opened.
Billy only took a second before rushing after the magician. More than a few questions on his mind.
"What is this?" Captain Marvel asked, his eyes scanning the crumbling masonry. "Why did you bring me here?"
"The Blessing of Zeus-" The superhero very nearly froze at hearing those words. "-offers you great power. Shazam himself allows you to channel the might he's developed over the last six thousand years. None of that matters against foes who are better trained."
They walked past a small pond in the middle of the temple, what looked to be a tiny island in it.
They eventually entered another hallway and turned right. There they came to a right angle, went further right and then stopped at a doorway that was half-collapsed in the middle of the hall.
They went out that and crossed the path they'd already followed.
"...I haven't told anybody in the League about Shazam. Or the source of my powers." The Wisdom of Solomon was coming up suspiciously blank.
The situation was, in all ways, incredibly odd and unsettling.
Once they reached the opposite end and entered another doorway there was a rumbling from behind them. Turning around, Billy saw a bridge extending out to the island in the middle of the pond.
"I haven't told anybody in the League about Shazam or the source of your powers either. That's up to you and Jebediah of Canaan." Jebediah of- Was that supposed to be Shazam's actual name?! Even Billy hadn't known that!
They walked across the bridge and found a set of stairs winding down, below the temple. At the bottom was a room, lit by magical torches that burned ever still.
And here, deep beneath the abandoned temple, was a single gravestone. Wide, covered in some ancient, indecipherable script.
"The Great Leveler." Alchemist breathed out slowly and bent down, brushing dust off of the words. "And the spell you'll need to avenge a lost soul, as well as find justice for your parents."
The wisdom of Solomon remained silent. What was here, what he'd been told. What it meant. It was up to him to decide what to do and what to act on.
"You know who I am." It wasn't a question. Alchemist had as much as admitted it.
"I do." But the wizard confirmed it anyway.
"And you haven't told Batman?" What did Alchemist have to gain from this?
"It's not my place to make your decisions. All I will do is offer you a tool and trust you to make the best decisions with it." Alchemist placed his hands on the great headstone and it glowed golden for a moment, the words coming back in to sharp clarity from the worn and faded look they'd had just seconds ago.
That... Sounded like Shazam, just a little bit.
What did wizards see in him that made them trust him like this?
"Billy." The wizard continued. "If you ever need someone to talk to, about anything, I am available. I'll find the time if it's important. And if you ever want a couch to sleep on, you know where I live."
Billy... Felt something hot prickling at his eyes.
This place was way too dusty!
"What is this spell you're trying to teach me, Alchemist?" He changed the subject instead of looking at it too closely.
"It's called Majustis." Alchemist began explaining before pulling out a notepad and a pen. "It's the magnum opus of a brilliant researcher, a spell that took a lifetime and a half to complete, and couldn't have been accomplished if not for the interference of time travelers. It could strip away any and all spells, made specifically to counter ones devised by a demon that had the strength to kill God."
Alchemist turned away from the grave marker, his yellow eyes meeting Captain Marvel's black ones.
"And it should turn Black Adam back into Theodore Adam, the man that killed your parents."
-----
Alchemist watched Captain Marvel with a critical eye as they left the quest.
It had been something of an odd one, an opportunity to learn a magical spell without having to fight for it. Just read the instructions and learn the spell, that was it.
It had taken a few hours for Billy to get it. Likely due to his general unfamiliarity with learning magic. Alchemist in comparison had taken about ninety minutes.
Majustis was not a simple spell but at least it wasn't a complex artifact such as the demi-plane had been.
"I've got one more spell for you, if you're interested." Well, if Alchemist did things right, that one spell would turn into two. "It'll actually be a challenge, though."
"And the last spell wasn't challenging?" Captain Marvel smirked at him! He actually felt comfortable enough to snark at him now!
"I mean we'll be climbing a tower going up, like, ten floors. Full of monsters and treasures alike. Including ghosts and vampires." Honestly, the only treasures he would still be interested in, he didn't even need. A suit of fire armor and ice armor would have been nice before Solstheim but he was a bit beyond needing them now. Even the robes would be-
The robes! The White Robes and Black Robes weren't particularly useful from the Mysidian Tower, but different versions were! He'd completely forgotten about them!
"Well, give me a moment to learn the spell and let's get to it!" The man-child boomed at him, a broad smile on his face.
"Alright, alright. While you do that, I'll work on a few things. Once you got the spell decently figured out we'll go." It should only take about half an hour for Billy to learn the next one. An hour, tops.
Alchemist pulled the book of Holy out of his inventory after a few minutes of digging and handed it over to the very eager Hero.
Billy took it and ran off to the shade of a nearby tree, sitting in the sparse grass with his legs crossed. He hadn't reverted to Billy Batson but at least he was acting more like his age.
Alchemist allowed himself a small grin before it faded. He had a few things to do himself.
He spent the five perk points on a dragon race perk to advance his dragonkin status to average from least. It wouldn't take effect until his next transmigration... But that was his next step. He still had eighty-four perk points, and he could see a lot of things that would be worthwhile. Now that he had vocations unlocked, a lot of perks had suddenly become valid. There were even class specific perks that would unlock when a vocation reached a certain level!
But they could also wait.
~~ Transmigration ~~
~~ Spend GP equal to current level X 1000 and reset your level to 1! ~~
~~ Keep 10% of your current stats as a permanent boost to your base stats and increase your level cap! ~~
~~ Y/N? ~~
Alchemist clicked Y after a moment of hesitation and was almost floored when he felt the loss in his HP. The disappearance of his MP almost dropped him with a sudden and severe bout of exhaustion!
Still. He pushed through it and distributed the converted perk points. Between them and the improvements from the transmigration, his base total was higher than it had originally been when he was level fifty!
Level: 200/200 -> 1/400
VP: 15 -> 15
HP: 14460 (15906) -> 2040 (2464) (+201/Minute)
MP: 5475 (5840) -> 555 (888) (+90%/Hour) (+25/Minute)
-STR: 367 -> 58 (63)
-VIT: 723 -> 102 (112)
-DEX: 10 -> 21 (23)
-AGI: 10 -> 21 (23)
-INT: 730 -> 111 (121)
-WIS: 730 -> 111 (121)
-LUK: 367 -> 58 (63)
Alright. Well. That had sucked!
Alchemist brought his hands up to his face and felt along his cheeks and his neck but didn't find anything new. He hadn't sprouted any more scales.
His right arm felt a little bit better though, so maybe something had changed there? He'd ask a Green Lantern later.
Since Captain Marvel was still working his way through his book, Alchemist went ahead and changed his vocation over from Dragoon (Master!) to White Mage (1)... He was pretty sure he knew what world Vana was in charge of, looking at the list of basic vocations she'd offered.
He was finalizing his purchase of a set of Black Robes and White Robes from the world of Final Fantasy Twelve and a generic dark blue Surcoat when Captain Marvel stood back up. The man had a determined look about his face.
"Alright!" The man-child exclaimed. "I'm ready! Let's go!"
"You sure?" Alchemist asked, stretching and rotating his joints. He felt a lot lighter than he had before, oddly enough. "Once we start, we have to keep going until we finish up."
"I'm sure!" The hero was practically vibrating in place! At least until he took a closer look at Alchemist. "Are you alright? You seem... Less... I think. Than you were a bit ago."
"Yeah, yeah I'm alright." The wizard placated as he opened his menu and scrolled to the entry he needed. "It's an aspect of my power. Once I reach a certain height with it, I plateau. Even out, and I can't get directly stronger. So I have to sacrifice my power for potential. I went ahead and did that while you were reading."
"Oh." Billy looked a bit lost, quite likely having never dealt with someone who was attached to such a mechanic. "Are you still able to-"
"More than able." Alchemist cut him off. He placed one hand on Marvel's shoulder and pressed 'Accept' in the menu-
And in an instant they were standing before the doors to a great tower that rose into the heavens!
"Welcome to the Mysidian Tower." Alchemist waved his hand towards the great doors, silently casting Knock.
They didn't budge.
He raised one eyebrow in confusion for a moment before he remembered that there was supposed to be some terribly difficult and tedious quest that involved getting swallowed by a whale so he could get the key... And decided he really wasn't interested in doing that.
He used Transmutation instead to carve a new doorway into the stone next to the sealed gate, bypassing the door entirely.
Captain Marvel followed him inside, unaffected by the heat billowing out the doorway.
They didn't even make it five steps before a pack of monsters came screaming around a corner! Werewolves and Imps, three of each.
Captain Marvel cast Holy, the thin light slowing the imps down. Barely.
Alchemist began casting Stop instead. Freezing the monsters one by one while Billy was frantically casting his new spell.
In all honesty, it took far too long for them to deal with the pack...
And it brought even more monsters down on them before they were done!
-----
Captain Marvel was tired.
That was... Honestly a very rare thing for him!
But he'd kept casting that spell. Over and over again, he'd been able to feel how the spell had gotten stronger, demanded more magic from him to cast it as it did so.
They were maybe halfway up the tower when he felt his reserves run empty! Something he never thought he'd have to deal with!
"Take a break." Alchemist had told him after noticing that Marvel had slowed down. "Catch your breath. When you feel up to it, I picked up a sword earlier in here that you can use."
That had been fifteen, maybe twenty minutes ago?
Marvel could heal quickly, but he still felt like his tank was running on empty!
And... Weirdly enough, it also kind of felt like his 'tank' had gotten bigger? Like he had room for more magic now, even though he'd used most of his up?
It was weird and something he definitely needed to talk to The Wizard, Shazam about.
"Alchemist?" The magician had been using a different kind of spell when he took charge, it created a huge ring of black across the floor and impaled monsters with some kind of force that were caught within. Billy had noticed him casting healing magic on himself every time he used it, too.
"You alright back there?" The man didn't turn around, keeping watch on the shadows and corridors instead.
"Yeah. I'm good. You mentioned a weapon for me?" Billy did wonder how much magic he'd actually used, and how much more he'd be able to use the next time he'd filled back up.
He was fairly sure he could just de-transform and re-transform to refill... But even though Alchemist knew his identity he still wasn't quite comfortable with the idea.
Alchemist opened a hole in reality and pulled out a sword. The blade was literally on fire!
"Firebrand. Its magical flame should never go out. No good on fire elementals, but we passed them a few floors back. Try to be careful with it? I can fix you if you hurt yourself, but I'd rather avoid that." He handed the blade to Marvel, hilt first.
Billy swallowed dryly, his excitement quenched at the warning.
Well... This shouldn't be too bad, right? Pointy end goes in the monster? If he stabs himself, he's doing it wrong?
Yeah! He could totally do this!
-----
Alchemist... Was actually pretty proud of Billy.
The boy had managed to keep up with him. Not magically, where Alchemist cheated. Physically hadn't mattered either. Marvel had him beat on that front.
But just grit and determination. Ten floors filled with monsters wasn't much compared to what he'd dealt with in the past, but it was something new for Billy Batson.
An endurance match against constant waves of fresh enemies that were actively doing their best to kill them!
On the ninth floor there had been a pair of guarded treasure chests. One had a White Dragon protecting the Black Robes of Final Fantasy Two. Those would improve magical power and offer resistance to a handful of aberrant elements used to cause Instant Death.
The Dragon had... Licked Alchemist's face and crooned at him, brokenly calling him 'Protector' before wandering off.
The other chest had been guarded by a lesser demon and contained a book he'd given to Captain Marvel.
It was a second copy of Flare.
Alchemist was hoping that the hero would be able to properly utilize the spell. Add it to his armory for the day he might need it...
After all, The Spectre and the Angels of the Silver City were not truly the allies of mankind and they'd hardly be harmed, possibly even be healed if he cast Holy on them!
And on the top floor of the tower... There had been five great, glowing lights. One in the center and one in each corner.
The ones in the corners were especially convenient. They'd offered a ten point bonus to a handful of stats. Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Will.
Functionally four extra levels, all for free.
The one in the middle though...
"That looks... Kind of bad." Captain Marvel was looking at it himself.
It glowed a deep, bloody red and pulsated hatefully.
"That's because it's a death seal." Alchemist explained to him as he circled around the light.
Inside of it, barely visible, was a thick tome on a pedestal.
"A death seal?" Marvel asked him, looking alarmed.
What did he- Oh. Did he think Alchemist had brought him up here to sacrifice him? Well, having a healthy dose of skepticism was a good idea.
Most of the wizards in DC were dicks of the highest order... And Alchemist did literally just drag Billy up through ten floors of monsters just to tell him 'Hey, the thing I came here to get is also hidden behind a ward that demands a blood sacrifice to unlock!'. That's not really a good look any which way it goes.
"Stupid things. Stupid idea in general. If they wanted to make sure nobody ever got what was inside, they should've just destroyed it. If they wanted to make sure the person who needed it, got it, then they shouldn't put a bloody murder-seal around it. Alright, step back. I'm gonna try something." Alchemist didn't agree with seals in general. Sometimes, sometimes they were worthwhile... But most of the time it just turned today's problem into a problem for future generations.
Like a village full of idiots cramming a boatload of demons into a tree.
Rather than dealing with the seal, Alchemist tried a different approach.
He used Transmutation and dropped the pedestal it was on through the floor, back down on the ninth floor of the tower.
Haphephobic was an absolutely wonderful perk!
"That..." Captain Marvel stared at the hole visible though the seal. "Was not what I was expecting."
"Yeah." Alchemist agreed as he began to head for the stairs back down. "I'm okay with that."
The wizard shook his head, a grin on his face as he did so.
"Stupid problems tend to have simple solutions, after all."
AN/ Lot of changes from 120 to 125, so the character sheet might take me a minute.
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Alchemist woke up Sunday morning with a splitting headache and a truly vile taste in his mouth.
And a very, very excited Yuffie shaking his shoulder.
The night before, after getting everything collected and accounted for, he'd choked down another Materia.
Darkness, or 'Soul Eater' in Japanese, was a command Materia from the Crisis Core game. It had also been a Materia he'd stolen in abundance from some of the monsters in the depths of Gaia. He'd hesitated for a while because it was one of the fun little skills that would cast from HP.
But, and this was the important part, it did non-physical, non-magical piercing damage to every enemy in a ten meter radius at the cost of twelve and a half percent of his total HP. It was a source of True Damage.
If he'd had that during the whole Sindri debacle he could have ended the fight while he still had both arms.
Darkside might technically be a better skill for his style of fighting, it was a single target attack. It did piercing damage. It could be used from range... But it required sharing brain space with a 'Guardian Force' that would parasitize his memories because of reasons.
So that would be a hard pass.
"What'ya need, Yuffers?" Alchemist asked as he sat up on the couch he'd been sleeping on.
His cabin hadn't been designed to include a second person actually living with him. He was in the process of excavating and building a proper basement but it would take some time.
"Breakfast!" She leaned over and grinned, practically in his face.
He wasn't awake enough to find it cute.
"Alright." She stepped to the side as he stood up and stretched. "What sounds good?"
"Ash says she wants omellete rice!" So saying, the girl lifted his familiar up on her hind legs so Ash was standing against her front.
Ash was getting kind of big, nowadays. Like that, she was almost as tall as Yuffie!
"Alright. But!" He stopped, wagging one finger in front of Ashes' face. "She can only have ketchup if she brushes her teeth when she's done!"
"But it's the weekend!" Yuffie whined. "And toothpaste doesn't taste good!"
"And I don't like smelling ketchup-breath but we all make sacrifices. Go and get cleaned up, I'll get started on breakfast." He shooed the girl off to the bathroom and stumbled into his kitchenette.
He eyeballed the amount for a small pot of rice, then rinsed it with water a few times until the water was clear. Removing excess starch.
He dropped that in a little rice cooker he didn't actually remember grabbing but had somehow found its way into his inventory regardless. He added some more water, just enough so the water went from the top of the rice to the first knuckle on his index finger.
~~ Notice! ~~
~~ Update Complete! ~~
Alchemist almost stopped what he was doing but managed to catch himself. He didn't need to start a fire by accident.
He kept half of his attention on the food cooking away as he opened up the patch notes.
~~ Update to Alpha Build 1.2.5 notes as compiled by Vana, Department Lead ~~
~~ Item crafting data has been migrated from users former save file! ~~
~~ Initial Vocations have been restored! ~~
~~ Advanced Vocations have been tweaked to be more accessable. They should now teach the core mechanics of the class instead of needing some measure of pre-existing mastery. Players must still meet base requisites to unlock Advanced Vocations. ~~
~~ An Emergency Contact button has been added to the messaging system in the event that a Player finds themselves unjustly accosted by a member of Game staff. They may request a review by their original Administrator. ~~
Huh. That was... Nice? Alchemist opened his skill menu and took a look at Item Creation.
~~ Item Creation (1)! ~~
~~ Subcategories
- Alchemy (6)
- Compounding (6)
- Cooking (32)
- Crafting (10)
- Engineering (45)
- Smithing (9)
- Writing (15) ~~
Well, that was a big improvement. The only things he'd improved during the last few months had been Alchemy, Compounding and Cooking. Even then, he hadn't broken double digits in any of those.
None of those skills had any passive effects as far as he'd been able to tell. They would level as he performed whatever activities were related but unless he actually used the Item Creation skill itself they didn't actually do anything.
Which was kind of nice. This way he didn't have to deal with his cooking suffering a critical failure because of Random Number Garbage.
His former lifetime, with his former job in Manufacturing probably had to do with the surprisingly high level in Engineering.
Setting those thoughts aside, Alchemist removed his skillet with two eggs from the heat and slid them to a plate before cracking two more into it.
Those would be his. He preferred his eggs actually be firm.
Yuffie, as was common custom in numerous Asian countries, preferred hers be runny.
"Is it ready?!" Yuffie's voice came from behind him suddenly.
He did not jump! He did not.
He had a whole body flinch instead.
"Geeze, sorry!" The girl sounded apologetic, and she actually looked it when he glanced over his shoulder at her.
Her hair was still wet, but she was dressed for the day. A turtleneck with her sleeves rolled up and a pair of shorts. Decent enough for the little target range he had set up at the edge of his land.
Today was the start of his two days off for the week and he planned on teaching her firearm safety since he used guns. A lot.
"You're fine, I was just thinking of something and you startled me. Go ahead and sit down, I'll bring breakfast over." He said to the little ninja, keeping the eggs moving as he did so they wouldn't firm up.
"With ketchup?" She sounded so hopeful. Was it a rationed resource during the war, or just something her father didn't like?
"Yes, with ketchup." Either way, he didn't mind letting her have the bottle, even if he didn't care for the stuff. Too much sugar.
She scampered off to the little two-person table and he got to work putting her plate of food together.
Basically just a scoop of rice with her eggs poured over it.
Honestly? This? This little domestic scene?
It left him feeling nostalgic.
-----
Simon's brain burned.
With sight! With knowledge! With... Infection.
It burned, it itched, it hurt him. Constantly.
And yet! Yet he could see more!
The sights! The images! The story he'd seen, the words he'd understood! Everything had meaning, inflection deeper than the mere physical world he'd seen!
He was sure of it!
Yet... Simon had so many eyes, why did he still feel as though he were blind? With his eyes unblinking, he still saw nothing when he gazed upon the heavens.
"Move!" A voice shouted in Bialyan, bringing Simon's fevered thoughts back to the present. He needed more eyes, needed to see more, be more! And Queen Bee's soldiers were such wonderful volunteers!
Not a single one of them could see that she was using them!
"He must be nearby! Find the cannibal!" Simon actually stood in the middle of the room as soldiers flowed through it. Parted around him, as though he were a pillar in the room. "We cannot let him escape again!"
He reached up and scratched an itch on the side of his brain. Pus and blood and memories dribbled down the side of his head. Yellow and red and gray dripping to the floor.
They couldn't see...
"That must be it!" He realized, staring at the various men around him. All dressed in beige fatigues. All the same.
Inside and out.
"Worthless..." What good was it for him to take the eyes of the blind?! "All of you are worthless!"
None of them heard him. He hadn't let them.
Simon reached up and wrapped his hand around a blind, rotting eye. From the very beginning its vision had been clouded!
He pulled, ripping it free from the grasping claws that had once been so eager to hold these ocular treasures. The claw snapped at his fingers, but just missed. Just barely.
Simon stepped forward, his hand outstretched towards the commander of these sappy, lovestruck idiots. The man froze at Simon's silent command, his eyes widening in fear and disgust as he was finally allowed to comprehend the majesty that Psimon had become!
"You've nothing to fear." The madman crooned, trailing a finger along the mans jawline. Just as he secretly dreamed that his queen might do someday when she finally recognized his military genius. "There's nothing left here, not for me. Not from you."
The commander opened his mouth as though to scream and Simon silenced him.
By cramming the milky, clouded eye into his mouth.
"Ah-ah, none of that!" Simon stared at Commander Unimportant. A dozen mismatched blue and brown eyes glaring into the gaze of the petrified tinpot tyrant. "You never saw me. Never! Not me! Not here."
Simon giggled uncontrollably for a second. The pain and heat were so... Hilarious! Especially when he could give it to someone else!
"Take your men. All of them! Somewhere far away, to the border. Any border! Away from the capital. As far from the queen as can be. Be. Bee. Ha... Hahah... Hahahah!" Psimon stepped away from the petrified man, myriad eyes all watching him.
Erasing his presence from his mind was barely even an effort.
Reinforcing his command was even less than that.
He needed eyes! Better eyes! Ones that had seen more, could see beyond the meaningless quibbling of mortal concerns.
If he knew the identity of whatever madman he'd been forced to learn these truths from, that would be perfect! The clarity of his eyes would truly be beautiful!
Instead, or hopefully until then, someone else would have to do...
And quite a few poems had been written about the beauty in the eyes of the Bee!
-----
Captain Marvel, known to very few as the orphaned Billy Batson, was just having a devil of a time!
Batman's wizard friend, Alchemist, had offered to teach him a few extra spells during his downtime and he was honestly feeling quite excited at the idea!
Assuming he could find the place!
Alchemist had given him some general directions and told him he'd be quite far from civilization, but for the past few dozen kilometers Captain Marvel had seen nothing but trees and rocks!
Honestly, he was starting to feel like he was being pranked. He'd heard that Alchemist liked doing that sort of thing... But this seemed particularly cruel.
He was about to pick a random direction and fly off before he noticed something.
Gunshots.
To the... East. Deeper into the mountains.
He took off, moving just a bit under the speed of sound.
There wasn't any screaming and the shots weren't rushed or panicked. He didn't think he needed to be in a hurry.
That was how he eventually found Alchemist and a young girl, even younger than himself! They were both shooting at paper bulls-eye targets. One about fifteen meters away for the girl, who was using a very small caliber of handgun while Alchemist was shooting a much bigger revolver at a target roughly fifty meters away.
Both of them were wearing big, orange earmuffs.
He descended, hovering just a bit behind the odd duo and watched. The girl hit the target on one of the inner circles with a little copper ball and then smacked Alchemist lightly in the arm, pointing at her target when he looked down.
"You're really picking this up, Yuffie!" He shouted down to her, pointing at the target before offering her a thumbs up.
"Alchemist." Billy tried, speaking at a normal volume.
The man went right back to shooting his handgun after ruffling Yuffie's hair, completely ignoring the hero behind him.
It was... Good that he insisted on wearing hearing protection?
"Alchemist!" Billy tried again, shouting this time.
The man flicked his finger against a switch on the gun and looked to his left. He then looked to his right. He placed the gun in a holster on his belt and lifted one of his earmuffs before looking around again.
"Alchemist, you mentioned training?" Finally, finally the man turned around!
"Marvel! I didn't see you there!" Alchemist didn't quite shout, but he spoke at a louder volume. "You say something about training?"
"Yes! You mentioned possibly teaching me a few more spells yesterday." Marvel was tempted to complain that the man was half deaf... But he still had an earmuff on.
"Right, yeah. Didn't think you'd be here today but I can work with that." The man reached over and nudged the girl, Yuffie, on the shoulder.
She turned to face him and looked up, obvious curiosity in her eyes. Alchemist took off his earmuffs and she imitated him after a second.
"I'm gonna show Captain Marvel here a spell or two. Wizard spells, not crazy ninja magic, and I know you find that boring. Why don't you head on back to the house and pick out a movie? I'll get pizza when we're done!" The girl had put her hands on her hips and started to glare at Alchemist but shifted dramatically when he mentioned pizza. "Real quick though! What are the rules for guns?"
"Never point it at anyone! Know what's behind what I'm shooting at. And always have the safety on when I'm not shooting and- Uh..." The little girl trailed off, struggling to remember another rule.
"There's no such thing as an unloaded gun." Alchemist ruffled her hair again, though this time she tried to swat his hand away.
"The pizza, can you get it with mushrooms?" Alchemist nodded. "And peppers?" Alchemist nodded again. "What about ham!?"
The man just kept nodding as the girl basically described a supreme pizza. After a few more toppings she pushed her gun into Alchemist's waiting hands and ran off.
"Sorry, from what I understand Yuffie wasn't really allowed to be excited in her old home." Alchemist did something and both of the guns disappeared. "If you don't mind taking a trip with me, there are a few spells I think you could really use."
"How long are you talking about?" Billy had to ask. He did have responsibilities back in Fawcett City.
"Technically, no time at all." Alchemist did... Something, waving his hands in front of him, and placed a hand on Billy's shoulder.
In an instant he could feel that they'd traveled somewhere else.
Before they'd been at the edge of a secluded, wooded area in the mountains. Now, instead, they stood before a pair of great doors. Some sort of tarnished blue metal set into the crumbling stone of a once-impressive fane.
"Welcome to the Temple of Magic. Or... What's left of it." Alchemist stepped forward, raising his hand and snapping his fingers.
The doors, rusted shut with age and neglect, screeched aloud as they opened.
Billy only took a second before rushing after the magician. More than a few questions on his mind.
"What is this?" Captain Marvel asked, his eyes scanning the crumbling masonry. "Why did you bring me here?"
"The Blessing of Zeus-" The superhero very nearly froze at hearing those words. "-offers you great power. Shazam himself allows you to channel the might he's developed over the last six thousand years. None of that matters against foes who are better trained."
They walked past a small pond in the middle of the temple, what looked to be a tiny island in it.
They eventually entered another hallway and turned right. There they came to a right angle, went further right and then stopped at a doorway that was half-collapsed in the middle of the hall.
They went out that and crossed the path they'd already followed.
"...I haven't told anybody in the League about Shazam. Or the source of my powers." The Wisdom of Solomon was coming up suspiciously blank.
The situation was, in all ways, incredibly odd and unsettling.
Once they reached the opposite end and entered another doorway there was a rumbling from behind them. Turning around, Billy saw a bridge extending out to the island in the middle of the pond.
"I haven't told anybody in the League about Shazam or the source of your powers either. That's up to you and Jebediah of Canaan." Jebediah of- Was that supposed to be Shazam's actual name?! Even Billy hadn't known that!
They walked across the bridge and found a set of stairs winding down, below the temple. At the bottom was a room, lit by magical torches that burned ever still.
And here, deep beneath the abandoned temple, was a single gravestone. Wide, covered in some ancient, indecipherable script.
"The Great Leveler." Alchemist breathed out slowly and bent down, brushing dust off of the words. "And the spell you'll need to avenge a lost soul, as well as find justice for your parents."
The wisdom of Solomon remained silent. What was here, what he'd been told. What it meant. It was up to him to decide what to do and what to act on.
"You know who I am." It wasn't a question. Alchemist had as much as admitted it.
"I do." But the wizard confirmed it anyway.
"And you haven't told Batman?" What did Alchemist have to gain from this?
"It's not my place to make your decisions. All I will do is offer you a tool and trust you to make the best decisions with it." Alchemist placed his hands on the great headstone and it glowed golden for a moment, the words coming back in to sharp clarity from the worn and faded look they'd had just seconds ago.
That... Sounded like Shazam, just a little bit.
What did wizards see in him that made them trust him like this?
"Billy." The wizard continued. "If you ever need someone to talk to, about anything, I am available. I'll find the time if it's important. And if you ever want a couch to sleep on, you know where I live."
Billy... Felt something hot prickling at his eyes.
This place was way too dusty!
"What is this spell you're trying to teach me, Alchemist?" He changed the subject instead of looking at it too closely.
"It's called Majustis." Alchemist began explaining before pulling out a notepad and a pen. "It's the magnum opus of a brilliant researcher, a spell that took a lifetime and a half to complete, and couldn't have been accomplished if not for the interference of time travelers. It could strip away any and all spells, made specifically to counter ones devised by a demon that had the strength to kill God."
Alchemist turned away from the grave marker, his yellow eyes meeting Captain Marvel's black ones.
"And it should turn Black Adam back into Theodore Adam, the man that killed your parents."
-----
Alchemist watched Captain Marvel with a critical eye as they left the quest.
It had been something of an odd one, an opportunity to learn a magical spell without having to fight for it. Just read the instructions and learn the spell, that was it.
It had taken a few hours for Billy to get it. Likely due to his general unfamiliarity with learning magic. Alchemist in comparison had taken about ninety minutes.
Majustis was not a simple spell but at least it wasn't a complex artifact such as the demi-plane had been.
"I've got one more spell for you, if you're interested." Well, if Alchemist did things right, that one spell would turn into two. "It'll actually be a challenge, though."
"And the last spell wasn't challenging?" Captain Marvel smirked at him! He actually felt comfortable enough to snark at him now!
"I mean we'll be climbing a tower going up, like, ten floors. Full of monsters and treasures alike. Including ghosts and vampires." Honestly, the only treasures he would still be interested in, he didn't even need. A suit of fire armor and ice armor would have been nice before Solstheim but he was a bit beyond needing them now. Even the robes would be-
The robes! The White Robes and Black Robes weren't particularly useful from the Mysidian Tower, but different versions were! He'd completely forgotten about them!
"Well, give me a moment to learn the spell and let's get to it!" The man-child boomed at him, a broad smile on his face.
"Alright, alright. While you do that, I'll work on a few things. Once you got the spell decently figured out we'll go." It should only take about half an hour for Billy to learn the next one. An hour, tops.
Alchemist pulled the book of Holy out of his inventory after a few minutes of digging and handed it over to the very eager Hero.
Billy took it and ran off to the shade of a nearby tree, sitting in the sparse grass with his legs crossed. He hadn't reverted to Billy Batson but at least he was acting more like his age.
Alchemist allowed himself a small grin before it faded. He had a few things to do himself.
He spent the five perk points on a dragon race perk to advance his dragonkin status to average from least. It wouldn't take effect until his next transmigration... But that was his next step. He still had eighty-four perk points, and he could see a lot of things that would be worthwhile. Now that he had vocations unlocked, a lot of perks had suddenly become valid. There were even class specific perks that would unlock when a vocation reached a certain level!
But they could also wait.
~~ Transmigration ~~
~~ Spend GP equal to current level X 1000 and reset your level to 1! ~~
~~ Keep 10% of your current stats as a permanent boost to your base stats and increase your level cap! ~~
~~ Y/N? ~~
Alchemist clicked Y after a moment of hesitation and was almost floored when he felt the loss in his HP. The disappearance of his MP almost dropped him with a sudden and severe bout of exhaustion!
Still. He pushed through it and distributed the converted perk points. Between them and the improvements from the transmigration, his base total was higher than it had originally been when he was level fifty!
Level: 200/200 -> 1/400
VP: 15 -> 15
HP: 14460 (15906) -> 2040 (2464) (+201/Minute)
MP: 5475 (5840) -> 555 (888) (+90%/Hour) (+25/Minute)
-STR: 367 -> 58 (63)
-VIT: 723 -> 102 (112)
-DEX: 10 -> 21 (23)
-AGI: 10 -> 21 (23)
-INT: 730 -> 111 (121)
-WIS: 730 -> 111 (121)
-LUK: 367 -> 58 (63)
Alright. Well. That had sucked!
Alchemist brought his hands up to his face and felt along his cheeks and his neck but didn't find anything new. He hadn't sprouted any more scales.
His right arm felt a little bit better though, so maybe something had changed there? He'd ask a Green Lantern later.
Since Captain Marvel was still working his way through his book, Alchemist went ahead and changed his vocation over from Dragoon (Master!) to White Mage (1)... He was pretty sure he knew what world Vana was in charge of, looking at the list of basic vocations she'd offered.
He was finalizing his purchase of a set of Black Robes and White Robes from the world of Final Fantasy Twelve and a generic dark blue Surcoat when Captain Marvel stood back up. The man had a determined look about his face.
"Alright!" The man-child exclaimed. "I'm ready! Let's go!"
"You sure?" Alchemist asked, stretching and rotating his joints. He felt a lot lighter than he had before, oddly enough. "Once we start, we have to keep going until we finish up."
"I'm sure!" The hero was practically vibrating in place! At least until he took a closer look at Alchemist. "Are you alright? You seem... Less... I think. Than you were a bit ago."
"Yeah, yeah I'm alright." The wizard placated as he opened his menu and scrolled to the entry he needed. "It's an aspect of my power. Once I reach a certain height with it, I plateau. Even out, and I can't get directly stronger. So I have to sacrifice my power for potential. I went ahead and did that while you were reading."
"Oh." Billy looked a bit lost, quite likely having never dealt with someone who was attached to such a mechanic. "Are you still able to-"
"More than able." Alchemist cut him off. He placed one hand on Marvel's shoulder and pressed 'Accept' in the menu-
And in an instant they were standing before the doors to a great tower that rose into the heavens!
"Welcome to the Mysidian Tower." Alchemist waved his hand towards the great doors, silently casting Knock.
They didn't budge.
He raised one eyebrow in confusion for a moment before he remembered that there was supposed to be some terribly difficult and tedious quest that involved getting swallowed by a whale so he could get the key... And decided he really wasn't interested in doing that.
He used Transmutation instead to carve a new doorway into the stone next to the sealed gate, bypassing the door entirely.
Captain Marvel followed him inside, unaffected by the heat billowing out the doorway.
They didn't even make it five steps before a pack of monsters came screaming around a corner! Werewolves and Imps, three of each.
Captain Marvel cast Holy, the thin light slowing the imps down. Barely.
Alchemist began casting Stop instead. Freezing the monsters one by one while Billy was frantically casting his new spell.
In all honesty, it took far too long for them to deal with the pack...
And it brought even more monsters down on them before they were done!
-----
Captain Marvel was tired.
That was... Honestly a very rare thing for him!
But he'd kept casting that spell. Over and over again, he'd been able to feel how the spell had gotten stronger, demanded more magic from him to cast it as it did so.
They were maybe halfway up the tower when he felt his reserves run empty! Something he never thought he'd have to deal with!
"Take a break." Alchemist had told him after noticing that Marvel had slowed down. "Catch your breath. When you feel up to it, I picked up a sword earlier in here that you can use."
That had been fifteen, maybe twenty minutes ago?
Marvel could heal quickly, but he still felt like his tank was running on empty!
And... Weirdly enough, it also kind of felt like his 'tank' had gotten bigger? Like he had room for more magic now, even though he'd used most of his up?
It was weird and something he definitely needed to talk to The Wizard, Shazam about.
"Alchemist?" The magician had been using a different kind of spell when he took charge, it created a huge ring of black across the floor and impaled monsters with some kind of force that were caught within. Billy had noticed him casting healing magic on himself every time he used it, too.
"You alright back there?" The man didn't turn around, keeping watch on the shadows and corridors instead.
"Yeah. I'm good. You mentioned a weapon for me?" Billy did wonder how much magic he'd actually used, and how much more he'd be able to use the next time he'd filled back up.
He was fairly sure he could just de-transform and re-transform to refill... But even though Alchemist knew his identity he still wasn't quite comfortable with the idea.
Alchemist opened a hole in reality and pulled out a sword. The blade was literally on fire!
"Firebrand. Its magical flame should never go out. No good on fire elementals, but we passed them a few floors back. Try to be careful with it? I can fix you if you hurt yourself, but I'd rather avoid that." He handed the blade to Marvel, hilt first.
Billy swallowed dryly, his excitement quenched at the warning.
Well... This shouldn't be too bad, right? Pointy end goes in the monster? If he stabs himself, he's doing it wrong?
Yeah! He could totally do this!
-----
Alchemist... Was actually pretty proud of Billy.
The boy had managed to keep up with him. Not magically, where Alchemist cheated. Physically hadn't mattered either. Marvel had him beat on that front.
But just grit and determination. Ten floors filled with monsters wasn't much compared to what he'd dealt with in the past, but it was something new for Billy Batson.
An endurance match against constant waves of fresh enemies that were actively doing their best to kill them!
On the ninth floor there had been a pair of guarded treasure chests. One had a White Dragon protecting the Black Robes of Final Fantasy Two. Those would improve magical power and offer resistance to a handful of aberrant elements used to cause Instant Death.
The Dragon had... Licked Alchemist's face and crooned at him, brokenly calling him 'Protector' before wandering off.
The other chest had been guarded by a lesser demon and contained a book he'd given to Captain Marvel.
It was a second copy of Flare.
Alchemist was hoping that the hero would be able to properly utilize the spell. Add it to his armory for the day he might need it...
After all, The Spectre and the Angels of the Silver City were not truly the allies of mankind and they'd hardly be harmed, possibly even be healed if he cast Holy on them!
And on the top floor of the tower... There had been five great, glowing lights. One in the center and one in each corner.
The ones in the corners were especially convenient. They'd offered a ten point bonus to a handful of stats. Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Will.
Functionally four extra levels, all for free.
The one in the middle though...
"That looks... Kind of bad." Captain Marvel was looking at it himself.
It glowed a deep, bloody red and pulsated hatefully.
"That's because it's a death seal." Alchemist explained to him as he circled around the light.
Inside of it, barely visible, was a thick tome on a pedestal.
"A death seal?" Marvel asked him, looking alarmed.
What did he- Oh. Did he think Alchemist had brought him up here to sacrifice him? Well, having a healthy dose of skepticism was a good idea.
Most of the wizards in DC were dicks of the highest order... And Alchemist did literally just drag Billy up through ten floors of monsters just to tell him 'Hey, the thing I came here to get is also hidden behind a ward that demands a blood sacrifice to unlock!'. That's not really a good look any which way it goes.
"Stupid things. Stupid idea in general. If they wanted to make sure nobody ever got what was inside, they should've just destroyed it. If they wanted to make sure the person who needed it, got it, then they shouldn't put a bloody murder-seal around it. Alright, step back. I'm gonna try something." Alchemist didn't agree with seals in general. Sometimes, sometimes they were worthwhile... But most of the time it just turned today's problem into a problem for future generations.
Like a village full of idiots cramming a boatload of demons into a tree.
Rather than dealing with the seal, Alchemist tried a different approach.
He used Transmutation and dropped the pedestal it was on through the floor, back down on the ninth floor of the tower.
Haphephobic was an absolutely wonderful perk!
"That..." Captain Marvel stared at the hole visible though the seal. "Was not what I was expecting."
"Yeah." Alchemist agreed as he began to head for the stairs back down. "I'm okay with that."
The wizard shook his head, a grin on his face as he did so.
"Stupid problems tend to have simple solutions, after all."
AN/ Lot of changes from 120 to 125, so the character sheet might take me a minute.
- Location
- Australia
Man, I can't wait for Shazam to be absolutely floored about another Wizard just offering Billy power. It's also kind of funny that Billy doesn't really get why Alchemist and Shazam would trust him with 'unfathomable power'. Say what you will about DC heroes but Billy is up there for his ideals.