Necessary minimums

Soon our transportation finally reached the right place, which turned out to be a store selling magical paraphernalia. There were glass fortune-telling orbs filled with swirling fog, dried monkey paws, which were obviously not real, glossy plastic, Tarot cards, voodoo doll blanks with a set of stylish needles, Scandinavian fortune-telling runes in a bag, Luigi's boards for communication with spirits and traditional black candles. Frankly speaking, such an assortment looked rather naive, turning the magic store into a store for geeks, besides, the mystical eye was not in a hurry to show any anomalies, but it was only at first glance. It was only when I got close to the door that I was able to detect the signal network, so subtle and imperceptible it was woven into the surrounding background. Inside the store, the same mystical atmosphere was still there, and the candle-like incandescent lamps added to the ambience, but when I looked at the counter, I saw a large attack weave, dark mana, given its strange coloring, which was associated with cadaver stains.

A second, two, and the spell ready to break faded rapidly, revealing a very obese dark-skinned man dressed in a loose black mantle.

"Zatanna, my dear, it's been a long time! And I was afraid that you had forgotten about my existence," the black mage greeted the girl cordially.

"I'd really like to forget, but something happened. Gustav, why the hell am I only finding out after the fact that Geo Populus almost summoned the Demon Lord to Gotham? Who promised me I'd keep an eye on Moss and his hobby group?"

"That's what I was looking out for, I even revived a detective for the case."

"Revived?! Again?!"

"Well..." the man's eyes wagged a little to the side, "He was almost dead when some gangsters riddled him with bullets. I just happened to be there and offered to work for me for a hundred years in exchange for healing. Apparently, the offer was too tempting, because his heart stopped with joy... But I remember he nodded! I couldn't let my new employee pass away, could I?!"

"I think it was a big mistake to give you a second chance," the girl's voice was filled with serious thoughtfulness as her aura slowly turned into a blue flame fire.

Catching the changed atmosphere, the blacksmith instantly discarded the joking tone.

"Okay, seriously, Kirk was very close to becoming a revenant, and you know how difficult it is to finally put these creatures to rest, even if all the conditions are met. And I'm not mentioning that he was a really good, honest detective who was made a scapegoat, like in some stupid TV show. So the whole local police department, along with the corrupt chief, and the common criminals could very well have gotten screwed. I didn't even have to perform any serious rituals, because his soul itself was eager to return to its mortal shell. The body still had to be patched up a bit, using demonic flesh, but in my defense, I used the bare minimum of modifications."

"Let's say I believed you, but what about the Geo Populus situation?"

The mage frowned, casting a suspicious glance at Harley and me.

"I'd hate to involve superheroes in otherworldly matters... At least not any more. Someone's already done enough damage already," he gave me an eloquent look.

"Whoa, I'd like to point out that Harley and I were the ones who had to fight our way to the zealots' altar while someone was sitting on his ass, sending a gun-wielding detective in his place. Honestly, you should have given him some kind of amulet to boost his strength, or bought him a case of expansive ammo.

"And Darkseid's attack and the Joker's performance were just another reason to try to push the boundaries of what was allowed," Zee added.

"Yeah, I heard how the party at Brother Night's mansion ended... Well, you can't undo what you've done. Let's go into the living room, it's going to be a long story," he opened the door behind the counter in an inviting manner, which smelled faintly of protective charms.

In fact, I was already aware of most of the events that led to the death of the mystical organization, so the story of the former witch doctor, and now an ordinary merchant of magic ingredients, only filled in some gaps. For example, Simon had once been Farmer's son, or rather one of his souls.

In his youth, the man had a strong interest in the occult. He had no source of his own, so summoning otherworldly creatures was a good alternative for creating and charging magical items, as well as for using their parts in rituals. Surprisingly, Gustav had always been a stranger to outright blackness, preferring a more scientific approach, but in pursuit of power and secret knowledge, he failed to follow the next summoning, and the demon that broke free happily burned down the house of the inattentive blacksmith, along with the teenager sleeping in the far room. At that point, the man had already interacted quite closely with the supernatural world and had many acquaintances, so it was not difficult to get in touch with Master Geo Populus. Realizing how dangerous the world was, Gustav decided that the reborn Simon must have real power. And who could be stronger than a hybrid that took the best of human and demon? Everything was supposed to go perfectly, however, whether due to an error in calculations, or due to deliberate sabotage of Moss, not his son, but a strong demon, acting as a stabilizer of the magical structure, took the leading place.

Disappointed in his dark path, the mage himself came to Zatanna, offering his services in exchange for some specific books from the library of the Shadow Peak. At that moment the girl was not aware of Gustav's complicated path and his flirtations with demons, but she had heard a lot about him as a good healer, whose specialization was focused on magical prostheses, so she did not refuse, asking only to keep an eye on the Geo Populus, which he was a member of. In general, this whole situation with the secret life of the otherworld was very reminiscent of the masquerade rules from an old vampire board game. It would seem that the cult is clearly dark, but if he does not brazen, and just more like a regular mafia clan, which is so two for the whole of the not insignificant Gotham, then touch it unnecessarily is not worth it, so that the cornered fanatics did not call the world hordes of demons. According to the same dark-haired beauty, many dark mages and creatures more reasonable are not particularly eager to destroy humanity, because they are well aware that in the end the Earth will turn into another demonic plan, where the strong devour the weak, and from entertainment only bloody orgies and hunting for weak souls.

The story of the former witch doctor was entertaining enough, but it was all in the past, while Zee was more interested in the current situation. In the end, she shook off the shopkeeper's rare magic ingredients for her time and nerves, and then came with us to visit Simon to see for herself what it was like. I made a note to visit the place myself sometime to learn more about magic, and it was worth evaluating the assortment on offer. The illusionist prefers the classical school, albeit modified for her own needs, while she knows only the essentials for successful combat.

When we arrived at the ruins of the burned church, we waited for the meeting delegation. I didn't want to go into the catacombs that had become home to a strange undead mind and his half-demon friends, because Simon was unlikely to like an uninvited crowd, given his reclusive lifestyle. Zee, however, was not bored, but was enthusiastically studying the dome that stretched over the vast area, as well as the concealment charms she'd managed to find near the altar.

As I understood from the sorceress's explanations, the mana of death is not particularly suitable for creative direction, and the same shield spells are more like stationary attacking constructions, and even the weakest variants can cause serious damage to a living organism in case of prolonged exposure, but here the wizard managed to curb their destructive potential. Yes, it was not too comfortable to be alive in this place, because of the constant feeling of anxiety, but there was not much harm either.

Naturally, it wasn't the dome that was of most interest to me, but the illusion blocking the entrance to the ground, because it was material and had almost no phosphorus. That was the reason why Harley and I, despite our resistance to mental influences, could not notice it, because it was based on the same principle as spider magic. However, after all the adventures I had had in the Dark Cathedral, I was able to see the basis of the weave, which looked like a thin web with knots of concentration. Somehow this solution resembled my experiments on combining shields and illusions, but instead of creating something like a Maltese cross, each part of which had a separate function, the creator of the charms took a multilayered circular structure as a basis, where each element was dependent on the neighboring ones, but could also work autonomously. Looking at the barely visible thin gray threads, my eyes began to hurt, so I had to distract myself and sit down for the usual textbooks, and that with my pace of learning and constant getting into trouble huge humanoid robot I will definitely not be able to build in the next twenty years.

Eh, should I throw twenty points into the Sixth Beginning? I've already accumulated more than a thousand of them, and only Stone Skin allows me not to fear for my honor when Green's avatar is around.

A logical desire was immediately suppressed by the memory of the pain I had experienced. No, only after the soul test, I don't want to lose the ability to do magic again. And I wouldn't say that I feel so smart, although my mind is already close to ninety points. Judging by the logs, I almost every day I managed to increase it by one, for which clearly should be thanked well-developed Fourth Beginning, which is just pumped for ba-hion.

When I decided to check the other characteristics, I suddenly realized that the First Beginning had a proud number of one hundred. And the most curious thing is that there was no painful sensation during the normal transition to the new limit. And there are two options, either my body has adapted enough, or it's all about the lack of a sharp transition. I am inclined to the second option, because for the time that has passed since the last normal check, my parameters have increased by more than a hundred points in total, and this is without taking into account the conversion!

[The first beginning (body): 100 (87)

The Second beginning (prana): 38 (29)

The third beginning (astral): 32 (24)

The fourth beginning (core): 126 (103)

The fifth beginning (spirit): 51 (45)

The sixth beginning (reason): 89 (61)

The Seventh Beginning (magic): 87 (64)

The Eighth Beginning (immortality): blocked

The Ninth Beginning (divine): blocked.

Free points: 1,084]

So it's settled, I continue to increase the Fourth Initiation by one every day, and all experiments with infusing points into other Initiations are done under supervision in the Shadow Peak.

When the surrounding bleak landscape was illuminated by the rays of the departing sun, which was barely breaking through the dark clouds hanging over Gotham, Simon finally appeared. He didn't come from the ground, though; he just stepped out from behind the trees. It was odd that he'd gone into the city in the daytime, given that he didn't particularly like the company of people, or rather, their reaction to the mask of a psychopathic maniac or the sudden change of faces.

"Joker, Harley, good to see you! - He waved hello, only to freeze a moment later and reach for the pocket of his coat that held the fishing line. Though right now it might as well be the Stone of Visions, or some other deadly dark artifact.

"So this is your new acquaintance? - Zee clarified, looking at the chimera with a complicated gaze. It was one thing to hear the stories of a former witch doctor, and quite another to see with one's own eyes a surprisingly organic fusion of different types of energies that didn't conflict with each other at all.

"That's right, Simon, this is Zatanna Zatara, a powerful sorceress and also my wife. Zee, this is Simon Dark, keeper of the gates to the Underworld."

By the end of my speech, the guy had relaxed, and was now shifting his perplexed gaze from one beauty to another.

"Wife? Huh? - He glanced at Harley.

"Hey, what's with the looks, she's my wife too! We're a little unconventional," the blonde modestly clarified with a shuffle of her feet.

"I see..." The young man's voice sounded seriously thoughtful. I didn't like the way he was staring at my face, and he was shifting from foot to foot, as if in doubt.

Okay. There are nineteen souls in it, and if you count the demon (or what the hell Gustav called from the depths of Hell), then all twenty, God forbid among them are female, who also want to see in their husbands one incomparable hero.

"Just in case, I won't take you as my wife and neither will your alternate personalities, even if in the past they were athletic hotties with size three breasts."

I'd rather make my position clear than have to deal with the consequences. Besides, I had something to sweeten the pill, because Zee would probably be willing to help heal his scars, which was important to the guy. That's what I'd come here for, to start making good on my promise, and Simon's possession of a real dark grimoire was something to keep in mind. When we were leaving, I asked him to find some safe spells that I could use without risk of losing my mind or my soul, and there had to be some, otherwise it wasn't a grimoire, it was just a bunch of bullshit.

"Uh... I wanted to ask for advice about Rachel... Don't take me as your wife..." he said confused, and to be sure, he even took a step back.

"I mentally wiped away the sweat, seriously suspecting that the local universe was capable of any kind of setup. The Swamp Creature's transformation into a sexy hottie was one thing. - Then what are we waiting for?! Uncle Joker and Harley will tell you all about the birds and the bees. But not outside. Zee wants to meet your colorful friends.

"Bees? Birds? - Simon staggered a little at my insistence, but I was just glad he turned out to be a normal guy. Well, for a magical half-demon chimera made out of a pile of bodies.

"Exactly! - I pushed the new Guardian slightly towards the disguised passage and gestured vigorously with my hands. - When a mama bird and a daddy bee love each other, they have a baby. Although sometimes birds like to be stung by bees just for fun.

"And if the bee strangles the bird a little, it will be even more fun," Harley joined in. - But I understood that we were a long way from that stage, so we should focus on romantic walks and flowers first.

"Walking? Is it mandatory?"

"Naturally, it's the bare minimum," the blonde nodded her head affirmatively and continued to instruct on how to win a lady's heart.

To better understand the reference, I recommend watching the video at the end of the post: https://boosty.to/logri/posts/3299b9a1-0909-4a8e-8549-4bd7969e5f89?share=post_link