Chapter 8: Batman's Apprentice

Today I mostly worked on the game's musical accompaniment. It wasn't difficult. I simply reproduced an original composition from my world. It didn't require any complicated musical equipment. This cheerful melody can be created using a suitable program on a computer. Which is what I actually did.

Later in the evening, I dialed Vika's number. Judging by the enthusiastic voice, the reporter was very happy to receive my call. She had been typing up an article about me all day today, and my call allowed her to ask questions she had missed during our conversation.

Ah, what can I say... women. And our esteemed Miss Vale, among other things, is also a goal-oriented journalist.

Although at first our conversation was more about work, later I managed to turn it in the right direction. I talked with Victoria for over an hour, and I promised to call her tomorrow at the same time. By the way, I learned a lot about her. She told me how she had dreamed of becoming a journalist and reporter since childhood.

Her parents did not approve of her choice of profession, as they considered it dangerous, but seeing their daughter's strong desire, they still agreed. And I must say they were right, because today she is the most famous player in this field. They are proud of her!

Okay, it's already 8 o'clock, time to go to the Dark Knight's estate. I pressed the pedal to the metal and went to my first lesson. Alfred met me. Opening a secret door behind the wall clock, he led me into a dark cave. Wow! It's cool here! Display cases with various Batman costumes, various supervillain paraphernalia. I saw Mr. Freeze's gun, the Ventriloquist's dummy and the Joker's card, all inside a glass cube. A flock of bats was sleeping peacefully upstairs, and that was very surprising.

Bruce trains here, conducts experiments, generally makes as much noise as possible, and they continue to sleep peacefully! But what caught my attention most were the monitors in the center of the cave. Batman's super computer... He-he, great, it's almost at arm's length. Ahem, it's still early!

The Dark Knight himself was studying something attentively, watching the screen.

"Sensei, the student has arrived to listen to your wisdom," I feigned a bow, clenching my fist with my palm. My caustic greeting could not pass him by, and he turned to me with a gloomy expression on his face.

"Arrived? Good, let's get started."

"Aren't you busy?"

"I was analyzing one piece of evidence, the computer will finish the job for me. It takes time. Follow me." In the far corner of the cave were various training machines, various types of weapons.

Unfortunately, there was no hint of a soft mat in case of a hard landing, just a stone floor. If I fall during sparring, and I will fall during sparring, it will be very painful. In principle, I do not mind, it will allow me to become stronger much faster.

"I will teach you a fighting style that I created myself based on 127 different types of martial arts, combining the most effective techniques and movements. Are you ready to accept me as your teacher?"

"Yes," I answered without a single shadow of a doubt.

[Congratulations!

Achievement received: "Batman's Apprentice"

Additional characteristic unlocked: Combat skill

"Batman's Apprentice": You have become a student of the Dark Knight of Gotham. Batman is the greatest fighter on Earth by default. Becoming his student is a great honor. Now you learn martial arts 2 times faster. For this achievement you get: 10 free attribute points.]

Seriously?! I got an achievement? Batman's Apprentice, huh... Plus I got a new stat: Combat Mastery. Well, the name says it all. The better I can fight, the bigger it is. But what I was most excited about was the free 10 points! I was wondering how exactly I could get them.

At least now I know that various "achievements" will give me extra points. Without thinking much, I threw all my points into intelligence. Before that, my head was a real mess. I had practically completely mastered programming and computer game development. I wanted to stop further learning, because I didn't have time to properly sort out the knowledge I had already acquired, as if my brain had run out of room for new information and I would have to throw out unnecessary knowledge, which I really didn't want to do. But now this problem has been solved.

I felt that I began to think much more freely. The knowledge that had previously caused me questions and misunderstandings suddenly became very simple. I mentally called up my status.

[Name: Alex Reath

Race: Human

Age: 21

Strength: 21

Speed: 20

Dexterity: 22

Stamina: 23

Intelligence: 39

Charisma: 17

Combat Proficiency: 5

Free Points: 0

Skills:

Passive: Player's Mind

Active: None

Achievements: "Batman's Apprentice"]

Not bad... Hmm, only 5 points in combat skill?

"Alex! Come back to Earth!" Bruce's voice reached my ears, and I immediately concentrated. "First, I want to know your current skills. Attack me with all your might."

Damn, I'm going to fight Batman. I'm so excited... He was wearing his bat armor, but without a mask and cape. He didn't take any stance, but just stood there silently, watching me.

Well, let's go! I jump up and raise my fist, aiming at his face, because hitting the armor is too much of a hassle. One second, and I see the dark ceiling of the cave in front of my eyes.

As I thought, falling here is very painful. Damn, how did he do that? I couldn't understand anything! Okay, one more time! It was like beating a baby. I tried to hit him with my hands, feet, tried to grab him, but all in vain.

I found myself on the stone floor time after time. My whole body was already aching.

Batman easily dodged my blows, applied painful holds, and I had to clap my palm as quickly as possible to surrender.

"You have a good physique. Of course, they will have to be significantly improved. As for combat skills, there are none. We will have a lot of work," Wayne said, looking at my lying carcass from top to bottom. So, Batman is cool, that was clear.

If I'm not mistaken, his "Combat Mastery" is around 95 points. Considering that he is the greatest fighter, I dare to assume that the number 100 is the final number of this characteristic. And something tells me that 95 is some kind of barrier. In other words, this number is the most accessible peak. I have a feeling that my intuition is a replacement for the "Analysis" skill.

I don't know why, but it is something like a sixth sense for me. I don't mind, it's my most useful skill right now! Bruce didn't bother me any further and went back to his supercomputer. I lay down for a bit and then followed him.

After watching him work for a while, I stopped my gaze on Batman. Gotham's billionaire, feeling my gaze, turned his head towards me. "What?"

"Lend me your computer, please," I said, looking at him with the sweetest eyes in the universe.

"No," a sharp, cold answer worthy of the Dark Knight.

"Well, teacher, come on... I understand that you don't want to let me near the equipment that hides many secrets."

"Absolutely right."

"You still don't trust me. Listen Bruce, I know that doubts are completely natural. Even if they concern a friend, a lover, parents or a child... Why do people doubt each other? Because they want to get to know the person better. Not to doubt means not to be interested in a person. This is far from the same as mistrust. But what comes from you is not doubt... but mistrust," I said, sighing heavily. "I don't mind that you doubt me, but it upsets me that you don't trust me."

Alfred, who had been silently watching us until then, decided to express his thoughts. "Master Bruce, I think I agree with what Mr. Alex said. You've completely withdrawn into yourself and don't let anyone near you. I don't mind your philosophy: doubt everyone, always. However, you shouldn't abuse people's trust."

Wayne listened to his butler in silence, and his cold eyes clearly grew warmer. "Okay, I'll take that advice. Alex, why do you need my computer?" Batman asked, focusing his attention on me again.

"You know I'm creating a mobile game. I'd like to test drive your super car. You don't mind, do you?" He looked at me with a heavy expression, and his face betrayed an internal struggle. But still, he couldn't resist my innocent request for long.

"Okay," Bruce answered, looking at the computer screens for the last time.

"Alfred!" I turned around sharply and glanced at the butler. "We did it, we were able to persuade the unapproachable Batman! This needs to be captured for history. Come on, let's take a picture!" Throwing my arm over the butler's shoulder, I pulled out my phone to take a selfie. Our bat, of course, also got into the frame. "I'm afraid the sun will rise in the west tomorrow,"

I wanted to continue rejoicing at my achievement, if I hadn't felt a sharp chill run down my spine. Turning around, I saw the eyes of a demon! So, it's better not to tease Batman for now... I'll continue later! Yeah, it's not that easy to get rid of me!

Taking my laptop out of my inventory, I connected it to Bruce's computer. He himself didn't go anywhere, he stood behind me, burning me with his intent gaze. Even without turning around, I know that his eyes are saying: "just dare to do something suspicious, I'll hang you on a hook!"

Well, I have nothing to hide, so let him look. As soon as I loaded all the necessary programs, a sweet mechanical voice rang out. "Download completed successfully, Mister Alex."

Wow, artificial intelligence! Honestly, I didn't expect it. Although, Tony Stark has Jarvis, and I'm sure that Wayne's technology is not far behind him.

"Hello, do you have a name?"

"You can call me Bethany." Well, they didn't miscalculate with the name, although, which surprises me. However, what a feminine and at the same time intelligent voice she has. It's decided, I'll make myself the same assistant, and I'll call her "Eve".

I'll need to ask Bruce for artificial intelligence technology. Time to get to work.

"Bethany, run all the programs and check their functionality."

"Yes, sir. Five errors detected. In the program AS456Y, AT2269, AOC79, HUQ32R, TTU98»"

"Display all five programs on the screen, show errors... Change "FO15" to "FO35", change "TT852" to "TT862", "YU7... Run the programs again."

"Running... The programs are working properly."

"Okay, now combine them in the correct sequence and run the game system."

The moment of truth has arrived. If all goes well, then I'll be almost at the finish line. And here, the game started! Hell, yeah! Yes! It works... Just a little bit more and the game can officially be launched.

"It looks like everything is fine," Bruce's monotonous voice sounded.

"That's right! There are only minor details left. I think I'll manage in a few days, and the game will finally be finished! Thank you for letting me use Bethany. On my own, I would have to spend at least a month to find and fix the problems."

"Okay, in that case, let's continue training," this heartbreaking tone, as if the devil had come for you, did not bode well.

***********************

I returned home at two in the morning. The hellish training lasted more than three hours. Despite the fact that it was only the first day, I raised my combat skill to 6. This is progress! Okay, that's enough, I'm falling off my feet, sleeeeep!

Beep! Beep!

What the hell?! An alarm clock?! It's only six in the morning! Right, I usually get up at this time to go jogging. Maybe I won't today? Okay, stop being lazy, I need to get up.

My body feels like iron. It looks like I overworked myself yesterday. How I wish I had a "Player Body" right now. Well, what I don't have, I don't have. I came back from my morning run at 7 o'clock and went back to bed. I just can't take it, I want to sleep! I'm not Batman, who only sleeps four hours a day.

After sleeping for another two hours, I went to the company. Until noon, I was working on the last elements of the game. After lunch, for five hours, I studied the remaining programming material.

I must admit, I underestimated the capabilities of my new brain. Because in just five hours I studied the material that would normally take me three days. So, I've already studied everything I could find about technical programming. I can safely say that I am now one of the best hackers... Ahem, that is, I wanted to say programmers, yes. Well, okay, I think I need to start studying something new.

For now, let's stick with robotics and mechanical engineering. I called my secretary, Heather, and asked her to bring me all the available educational material on the subject within three days.

A little later, I called my beloved Victoria and we talked for half an hour. I learned that her article about Alex Reath would be published in the Gotham Gazette in two days. Well, it was time to plunge into the night of incessant beatings again

.

.

.

Please vote with power stones and write your thoughts in review section.