The Storm Approaches

(Nathan POV)

Hyper intuition is so much fun. When I can feel the place and time that each bullet comes from through the force and then react to it as if it were nothing, it comes in handy. The reason why it's so useful is that I'm using it to dodge and weave through hundreds of various rounds and traps.

It's by no means telling me what I am dodging, but it's like spider sense and ultra instinct but a watered-down version. While thinking of this, a drugged-up psycho jumps out from a curtain near me and tries to stab me, but I am already dodging and using his own knife. I stab him through the side of the head and then absorb him.

All in one motion.

The grace of martial arts and the power behind each move truly show the differences between normal human beings and those with powers. The powers themselves are essentially force multipliers for my own abilities. While a normal martial artist who isn't the BS comic version of peak human wouldn't even be able to deal with a street-level vigilante, the ballgame shifts entirely when powers are put into the mix.

I have been cleaning house for a few minutes now, and I should hurry up as Batman may come to investigate the Joker's holdings to make sure his gang is not up to something with the news of his death sent out to the world. 

Holding onto a large brute, he chokes out a question: " Who are you?"

"『 』."

I then snapped his neck, absorbed him, and grabbed the key he was holding. I unlock the armory and find crates of guns and ammunition, and using my Gamer inventory, I clean the place out. The meticulousness I had when clearing out the armory could be compared to that of the Grinch when he stole Christmas, and for the record, I shot the mice as if they could be carrying Joker toxins for living here.

Making sure that the place was empty, using my intuition and The Force, I nodded to myself and began to leave through the sewers. 

I had already deleted the footage of me even arriving here, so the cameras will simply cut to a place that was once full of criminals and then an empty ghost house. I made sure to place the manhole cover back on and made my way out of there as I could sense a signature approaching this place.

As I made my way far enough not to be suspected, I phased through the concrete and made my way through an alley, absorbing my suit in the process. Sadly, the Joker Gang destroyed their own money so that it couldn't be taken back by the police, so that was a bust.

For now, though, I decided to experiment further with my system. I pull out a background customization card, and as I tear the card in half, I see what looks like a part of a D&D background creator, and I mentally get to work creating a believable backstory. 

"Never thought I would be making one of these as I never actually got to play D&D." The thought crossed my mind as I filled out the information, which included date of birth, age, etc.

So now, Loid Mercer, born in 1984 and 24 years of age, is a Gotham High School graduate who went to Harvard for a master's in business and biosciences. I then decided to head to a pawn shop to cash in on that gold I had in the inventory. Luckily, there is one a few miles from here. 

Before leaving, though, I looked at the fun house and saw a bat-like jet land near it. Batman himself launches from it, and I get the heck out of dodge.

As I walked through the city, I made sure to change into that suit I got earlier, and thanks to the equip function of my inventory, it simply appeared on me. 

Although, if I remember that manhwa correctly, the gamer system itself was connected to Gaia herself, and that may present an issue with the connection still existing even if a part of it is connected to my own system.

But maybe inviolate will keep the connection secure if that is true.

Thankfully, due to my new physiology, walking a few miles doesn't even make me feel any exertion or pain, which I do appreciate. But I was definitely getting looks from people due to the cleanliness of my suit, but inviolate makes sure I am always clean, so what can I do?

Changing my face again, I entered the pawn shop. I see a man standing at the desk, and as he looks me over, he smiles as I walk over, he asks, " Good afternoon, sir; what can I get you?"

"A sale as I have something that may interest you, and I am looking to get off my hands." I then take the gold from my bag, and as he sees the five bars of gold, his eyes widen as he looks at me.

"Seems we got ourselves something interesting here. You looking to pawn or sell?"

"Sell as I am in a bit of a hurry as my cousin is visiting from overseas, you see, and he wants to go out for dinner." He gives me a suspicious look but nods as he grabs his calculator.

Since this was 2008 and gold at this point was $872 for every troy ounce, the amount for the five bars comes out at $65,400. As he offers to give the amount in cash, I nod, and I then take the cash and put it in my bag or inventory. As he looks at me, I make a small hand motion and say, " I sold you the gold here, but you will not remember my face." 

He then goes a bit dim as he nods, and before he wakes back up, I exit the place with more cash, and while the gold is gone, it will refill eventually. But the refilling itself takes time, as depending on the rarity of the item, it takes longer to come back. So, since the gold is of rare value, it may take days if not weeks.

Things like food, water, or other basic necessities come back in a few hours, but for others, I have not been able to test. Speaking of which, it is time for the daily gacha, so as I take a seat on a bench, I open the gacha system and do the daily roll. Now, the animation has changed to something out of Arknights.

The ten cards then reveal themselves and show:

1. Panties Of Freya (Danmachi) (Have Fun You Fucking Degenerate!)

2. Bulletproof Suit (John Wick) (Killing Was Never Easier) (P.S. Do not kill dogs ever!)

3. Scaramouche's Hat (Genshin Impact) (It Seems To Be Compensating For Something.)

4. A Sheet Of Smiley Face Stickers (Brighten Up Your Day! With A Smile!)

5. Rasaka's Dagger (Solo-Leveling) (You Kill Big Snake You Get A Big Poisonous Dagger.)

6. Sunglasses Of A Legend (Guren Lagan) (Believe In Me Who Believes In You!)

7. IOU One Gacha

8. Writing Quill And Ink (Family Guy) (Dip, Dip, Dip, Dip)

9. Acoustic Guitar (Let Out Your Inner Musician!)

10. Food Stakes (Self-Cleaning) (Stab It Through Any Food Over The Warm Fire)

I genuinely do wonder where all of these items come from. Does the randomness come from my own mind or soul? Because what the hell do I need panties for?!

*Le sigh*

Taking a breath, I look at the other items and nod at their usefulness, other than maybe the hat, stickers, and quill, but the guitar would be interesting. I never really had time to learn how to play an instrument in my previous life or in this one, but now, considering that I have all the time, it does put things like that into perspective.

How long would it take to experience everything a universe has to offer?

When a man learns all that there is to learn or believes that they have learned all that can be done, what comes next?

Such thoughts do give me pause, but it doesn't matter now as I have more immediate priorities. I watch as the sidekicks go to meet Batman. I see Red Robin, Nightwing, and Robin, who I assume is Damien, hopping from rooftop to rooftop toward the funhouse, and I suppress a smirk over what they may not find there.

Getting up from the bench, I walk towards the bank to put some money into my account, and as I walk in, I head over to the teller. She asks, "Hello, sir, how can I help you today?"

"I would like to deposit some money into my account."

"Alright, do you have a card to use, or do you need me to do this manually?"

"Manually, please, as I only have cash on me. Also, you will not feel suspicious about the amount of money I am giving you." She then nodded slowly as I gave her the cash, which was in the hundreds, so it only took a couple of minutes. 

Using Mechu deru, I made it seem as if it was coming in slowly at later dates so as not to alert the IRS, but I couldn't do more as my skill with it requires more training and a higher assimilation percentage with Palpatine.

Thankfully, this was a smaller bank, and now I have over 65 thousand dollars in my account and connected to a bank card, so for now, my mission was complete. So, as I exited the bank, I debated my next move, but for now, I headed to a library to test the limits of my tracing ability.

(Third Person POV)

While chaos begins to simmer in Gotham, there is one place that seems unaffected by this, a lone tower amidst a sea of endless nothing flats undisturbed by the phenomenon outside of it. 

This was the Tower Of Fate, home to Dr. Fate or Kent Nelson, and as the sorcerer supreme of this universe, he holds unending magical knowledge. And as a lord of order, his magic might put him on a power scaling nearing cosmic beings.

As the man wearing a large golden helmet mediates on the goings on of the universe, his eyes suddenly shoot open as if shocked by something, and as he floats through the tower towards the scrying room, he places his hand over the water, yet no matter how hard he tries it shows nothing.

The same thing occurred when he tried to divine where the nuke that the Joker held was. Yet somehow, within the dozens of futures that the helmet of Fate reveals to him, none of them show the destruction of the metropolis. Most of them simply showed Superman capturing the Joker with his wife being rescued. Fate did not need his assistance, but how could things go so wrong?

The Lord of Order then begins to float back and forth as if trying to understand why his scrying was not working but soon comes to a stop as he sees Superman piercing the Joker's chest and as Nabu is appeased but the death of an agent of Chaos Kent Nelson knows this brings grim tidings for the future but he wonders why his view of possible futures is being blocked.

It was as if some power had appeared within the universe that simply could not be comprehended or was something that was hiding.

As quickly as he appears, Dr. Fate leaves his tower as Earth requires his attention.

For a while, chaos is being reined in; the old sorcerer knows how such things can be deceiving. He may need to visit Zatanna to get a reading of the situation or even John if he was truly desperate or if he could even find him.

(Sorry for the late chapter. I had to come home later from work than usual. Hope you all are safe if you got snowed in like me.)