4

I was never the most patient person, so I started to pace and check the ritual circle when the Merchants failed to return after the first half-hour. The ritual was stable and required a simple mana infusion to power it, which I had stored in the gem I held. Slipping out of the alley to peek around, I saw empty streets.

While that was confusing, it wasn't that big of a deal until I saw why. Squealer's tank limped down the road, smoking and covered in dents and areas. It looked like somebody had taken a buzz saw to most of the tank, and Skidmark was still standing on top of it right behind the barrel with a proud but tired smile that revealed his disgusting teeth.

Ducking back into the alley, I hurried to the paper I had laid on the ground earlier and set the half-full ruby on top of it. Slipping my hood over my head and a bandana over my nose. The noise of the tank soon ground to a stop, followed by shuffles and grunts of people carrying heavy items. Soon Skidmark's voice piped up.

"Alright, that was a great haul; take a bit for yourself; you earned it!" Followed by tired cheers and faster movement. A few minutes later, casual conversation filtered out along with the sounds of a blowtorch and other assorted mechanical tools.

I touched the gem lightly with one hand and started to chant in german "You shall sleep quickly and sleep and sleep without ceasing" I waited for a long moment until the sounds faded and several thuds as people fell over dead asleep. Walking inside, head on a swivel, I took in sight.

The capes were facedown, fast asleep, as was everybody else. Ignoring the normals, I summoned more words and slid them under Skidmark and Squealer's unconscious forms.

I slid out of the warehouse and crept along until I reached the warehouse I had first stayed in when I arrived in this world. Setting them down, I knew they would be out for another hour, so I needed to work fast. Summoning the words authorize, rain control, and silence in german I set them up in a similar circle as I did at the Merchant's hideout. Stepping back after linking them with the strange dust that I had instead of blood.

"Let them sleep to drain them to make them frozen while they sleep" After intoning those words in german watched with no small amount of satisfaction as the circles lit up almost immediately as opposed to the minutes or even hours it took before. As I picked the empty ruby in my pocket, I felt another tingling as the Grimoire grew another page.

I set the ruby down in its location, watching with another surge of pride as the ruby started to fill rapidly. I then flipped the Grimoire to its newest page, Sorcery - Enchantment; under that were the words One Dot with information on how to make small specific enchanted items. Further down was Two Dots which expanded on the principles of One Dot and Three Dot, which told me how to create powerful magical artifacts.

I knew I needed to test this almost immediately; fortunately, I had two excellent sources of energy that should speed up the process vastly. First, however, I needed to make sure nobody stumbled in on my new lab.

Summoning the words ignorieren, vergessen, verlassen, and Verknüpfung, I linked the parahumans prison with a circle outside the building. After a few moments of chanting, the words vanished from sight. Giving a small sigh of satisfaction, I took off my hoodie and bandana before walking to the Boardwalk.

Around 30 minutes later, I arrived at the Boardwalk and quickly gathered the needed items to make magical items. It took over three hours; however, I got a wide selection of cheap, easily hidden items such as rings, necklaces, shoes, and clothes. While hauling all of the goods back to my lab was a pain, the giddiness I felt was able to suppress my tiredness.

Dropping all of my items on the ground next to my new power sources, I settled in to start enchanting. I had a few things on the docket; the first was a group of defense items, and the second was methods that would hide my civilian identity.

For defensive items, I had a few options. My new form ran on HoPe which meant that I could survive as long as I did not fall into a depression and was willing to push on. That meant I could enchant an item to make me cheerful. However, that would most likely be a bad idea, so I had to table that idea for now.

It seemed that in the absence of a method to check my HoPe, I needed to dodge attacks instead of blocking them. I darted to the healing potions and sighed slightly. I knew I needed to check if they still worked; fishing one out of my book, I sliced a small gash on my finger, dust falling to the ground from the open wound. Then, in a single gulp, I downed the potion.

Exultation filled my mind; I could do this. I grew more potent over time, and my new form made me immortal(just a single hit). All I had to do was simply wait, and I would be able to achieve anything I desired; all I needed was time.

Several minutes later, I had cooled down from my hope-filled thoughts and ranting. Opening cracked lips "Ok, health potion makes me feel extremely hopeful." I resolved then and there to only take them in the direst of circumstances; otherwise, I could likely get myself killed.

Settling down again, I flipped through my Grimoire to continue my brainstorming session. While the access to a practically unlimited power source in the form of two shards and a body that was nighty percent magic would speed up the process of enchanting by a considerable amount, It would still take me days to put together a proper defensive package.

I decided to enchant my bandana to make it impossible to observe my facial features, simply showing a black void while being worn. As it was only an illusion, touch would allow people to tell it was not my natural face; however, the goal was not to be touched, so I should be fine.

Looking over my notes on enchanting, I saw it would most likely take around a whole day to make, which meant I could table it for now. The second option was to enchant my boxers to allow short-range teleportation. My boxers were the best choice because I doubted if I got captured or disabled people would steal my underclothes.

However, that would take much longer at three days, and I couldn't simply sit here for that amount of time. While I physically could, as Monsters didn't need to eat or sleep and did them to recover mental focus or pleasure, it was not strictly required. I still lived in a condo and had talked with a person there who would probably be suspicious if a neighbor vanished out of the blue.

So that meant I had to head back to sleep at least and eat there, which, while not a significant issue, still set back the crafting to take closer to a week. I also doubted I would get more powers over that time, as time alone did not factor in how long it took me to gain abilities.

As I thought that, I felt the tingle again; however, there was no growth, and the Grimoire stayed as it was. It was getting late, and I needed to be at my flat to keep up appearances, so I hurried back to my apartment. I saw a blue motorcycle on which a man with blue and silver armor blurred past on my way back.

However, besides the brief brush with Armsmaster, nothing else happened on the way back to my apartment, and I got inside with no further incident. Cooking a microwave burrito, I ate it; however, as the first bite slid down my throat, it simply settled in my stomach like a brick. Groaning as I knew that this would be a problem come morning.

I had forgotten that Monsters ate food that simply dissolved into magic energy when eaten, which was how a child could cram dozens of slices of pie without getting sick. Focusing on the remainder of the burrito, I infused it with magic energy and continued to eat. The food dissolved in my mouth with a pleasant tingle as the non-magical lump weighed me down literally and metaphorically. I soon turned off the lights and settled in for sleep.

Over the next week, I settled into a schedule. I would make myself some magically infused food, get dressed, and tidy up around my flat in the morning. I would then leave and head to my warehouse, careful not to be seen.

When I got to it, the first thing I would do would be to check up on the sigils that kept my captives subdued and unable to use their powers. Next, I would check the circle that made people ignore my building, and then lastly would sit down and start enchanting for the day.

After hours of enchanting, aided by the two parahumans and my Monster physiology, I would head back to my flat, make myself dinner, and then sleep. While it was a tedious week, it was necessary if I didn't want to die the first time somebody punched me.

Holding my breath as I slipped on the boxers, I focused on the other end of the warehouse and felt a fleeting slipping as I appeared, stumbling at the other end of my lab. As I walked over to gather the materials for my next item, a smile crept onto my face. I picked up my bandana as my next project.

While I had been lucky that nobody had caught me yet. My first heroic action taught me that I needed to be careful, as a single slip up would result in my being sent to jail or press-ganged to the Protectorate.

The next few days were much the same as when I enchanted my boxers. I woke up, ate breakfast, walked to my workshop, and worked for around six hours. Then head home, make myself dinner, then sleep.

However, at the end of the three days, I had a barebones costume to obscure my identity and prevent me from being killed by the first ganger with a gun. However, while I was not at imminent risk of dying of my civilian identity being exposed, I had to look to the future. That meant dealing with Bakuda before she became a threat.

I wrote down what I knew about the mad bomber with my trusty notepad and mechanical pencil. I knew that she was half Asian and from Boston and blew up Cornell when she received a bad grade on a test. Then around the 20th of March was recruited by Lung, who beat the shit out of her in order to force her to listen to him.

After a brief bombing campaign that had everybody unite against her, she was sent to the Birdcage along with Canary and Lung. She went against Lung, and he killed her while the Fairy Queen collected her shard. She was phycological weak, and dismissing her achievements would throw her off balance; letting her monologue would allow you to do something.

However, despite all that information, she was not to be underestimated. She was able to make bombs that did anything from Grey Boy loops to transmuting people to glass. However, we only saw her results after a month of preparation, if I remember the timeline correctly. Taylor went out on the 11th of April, and Lung was arrested that night.

Bakuda used the bombing as a way to free Lung. Unforntly it seemed I would have to wait until Bakuda triggered to attack her. Settling on my bed, I decided to continue my morning planning as nothing good came from a quickly made plan.

Powers Gained

Sorcery - Enchantment (One-Three Dots): The sorcery of creating items with magical abilities and properties. The creation of such items generally takes three days per dot required to make it. [1] The Enchanter creates a minor item with limited use only and a tight area of influence. Such as a jacket that works as abnormally good camouflage in a crowd, or glasses that never fog. The Enchanter creates a more powerful talisman that is noticeable as magic. A flask that blocks three bullets and no more, objects that increase a mundane skill by a noticeable amount when used. The Enchanter creates a talisman whose function is obviously magical. Shoes that double running speed, a charm that can protect its wearer from magic three times a day.