The Batman.
Deep beneath Wayne Manor, Batman sat and considered matters. To anyone who might have been watching this looked a lot like brooding and to be fair there often wasn't much difference between these two states of his being.
While his fingers moved to type in some words on a file he was putting together his thoughts were focused on another person. A young man who had exposed the existence of a terrible plot to the Dark Knight.
The cowled man should be grateful, yet he couldn't be because Gothic had turned the world upside down for more than one person. He wondered if the magician had known that would be the result of his actions.
Gothic, a sorcerer whose powers Batman didn't understand, even less so than with most magicians that the Caped Crusader had gotten to know, was something of a concern for the Dark Knight.
Batman didn't trust Gothic, and the feeling was mutual, and this was something the Dark Knight could respect given that he had plans to take down every member of the League and its allies should they turn rogue.
He didn't trust the magic user because he wasn't dependable, he had little interest in playing the role of hero, and that should be okay as this life wasn't for everyone, but Gothic had a lot of power and people with special abilities tended to use them.
Call it fate, the will of a higher power or simply the nature of this universe, it didn't matter, the world seemed to force people into the role of villain or hero.
Some managed to find a kind of peace by stepping back, but that was rare and it didn't take much to drag them back into their old lifestyle.
As such it was better to keep the sorcerer close and on the side of the heroes, and that would have been the case even without discovering what had happened to poor Speedy.
If not for his emotional control, he would have been sick at the sheer thought that the same might happen to Dick and he wondered how far he would have gone to recover his adopted son.
Batman cleared his mind of those distracting thoughts. He needed to look at this objectively as he had been doing for a while.
The Dark Knight was convinced that the cloning of Roy Harper was part of a larger plan. One that involved the clones of Superman, and perhaps more than one criminal.
Some might call him paranoid, but whomever or whatever had replaced Speedy had done so years ago and according to J'onn J'onzz, the clone had been programmed to do something.
Trying to access that information had put the clone into a coma and the real Roy Harper couldn't recall anything of importance.
Someone had cloned and programmed a sidekick of a member of the Justice League and if not for magic the copy would have remained unnoticed. This might not be the work of one villain working alone.
In some sense, this was not surprising. The creation of the Justice League forced the villains to become smarter in their actions and to work together in ways that wouldn't have been possible before the League came together.
Perhaps the clone was part of a careful plan. Maybe he'd been more than a simple mole who was meant to supply someone with information.
Because of this, the Dark Knight spent a lot of time digging into Cadmus and looking at the people involved, but he kept running into dead ends.
He was trying to see if there was any sort of pattern to recent events. Trying to discover if anyone could be behind the events and to deduce what could be a distraction or a decoy.
What crimes and plans were taking place when the League was distracted by something only they could handle?
"Any luck, Master Bruce?" asked a familiar voice.
He was sure that Alfred knew that there hadn't been given how well the bulter knew him.
"Any theories on who might be a member of this Super Criminal organisation?" the Englishman asked as he served some very strong coffee "You've been working down here for hours".
Batman rubbed his tired eyes.
"The problem is I have too many potential candidates" the Dark Knight answered "There are lots of criminals with the connections and wealth required to make a clone, and there are telepaths out there who could program one".
Batman sipped the hot liquid that Alfred had provided. It wouldn't do his kidneys any favours, but it helped to keep him going.
"The problem is that none of them are exactly what you would call team players" Batman was now saying "Their egos wouldn't allow them to boss around for very long and they would all want to be in charge. Even if they could act as equals I can't see any alliance between them lasting very long".
Anyone who was powerful enough to bring villains together would be known to Batman.
"Are members of the League who are loath to accept anyone else's authority and are not team players" pointed out Alfred.
It wasn't lost on the Caped Crusader who his friend could be referring to, he was not very well suited to being a member of the League.
For others, it was the mere presence of Superman or another idol of theirs that kept them in the League after drawing them to the group.
"The problem is that I can't devote enough time to start a serious investigation," said Batman "Every time I do something comes up and I can't outsource this kind of work because I don't know if the League has any moles in it".
He'd considered asking Gothic to use his magic to look into the problem, but he wasn't sure that the sorcerer hadn't exposed Speedy to cement his own cover.
There had been talk of bringing the sorcerer into the Justice League because he was Kent Nelson's successor and had access to the Helmet of Fate.
Batman suspected that Gothic would refuse the offer and he didn't intend to try to block the appointment as he had no evidence. He wouldn't want to push such a powerful ally into the enemy camp.
"Perhaps you should work on something else or attempt to clear your mind with meditative exercises" advised Alfred "You might even try sleeping in your bed like a normal person instead of brooding down here".
Batman decided to take the advice and get a few hours of sleep. Perhaps some realisation would come to him or some clue would present itself in the future.
He hoped so as not knowing what was going really annoyed him.
Celestial Grimoire.
Part 19.
The Tower of Fate.
300cp
+100cp
400cp
Banked
400cp
Due to Gothic's Grimoire undergoing an update, the ability to roll is currently unavailable.
This had never happened before and I'd never been given one hundred points before by the grimiore. Something seemed to be wrong with the book.
It hadn't gotten my attention after I got back from a mission to India, which was what it would normally do after I'd finished a mission. It had become something to look forward to.
I'd helped the team with some mad scientist who had been experimenting with venom, the drug Bane used as a performance enhancer, on some poor animals who in their crazed state had attacked people.
That whole situation could have been a whole lot messier if I'd been lacking my special horn. When blown it had driven the animals to attack the strange person who had been experimenting on them and who had some sort of control over the animals.
Given that the last time I'd seen any of that Venom stuff it had been on the island fought over by the Kobra cult and Bane somewhere in South America, I wondered how some had ended up in India in a mad scientist's lab.
I got the impression that it was all part of something bigger, I just had no clue what that could be, and that sort of investigation work wasn't my area of expertise. The League had people who specialised in such things and I would leave the detective work to them.
What concerned me was my special book. I wondered why it was updating. Perhaps it had something to do with the results of the rolls so heavily favouring giving me magical items rather than powers or knowledge.
If so I didn't mind whatever system or person who was behind the service going offline for a while. I didn't need more magical items, even if I didn't mind getting so many.
The sound of the doorbell filling the air brought me out of my thoughts and I wondered who could be at the door. Not many people knew about the Tower of Fate or where it could be found.
The Tower quickly directed me to the front door and the tower also showed me who was at the door.
"You have visitors who aren't me?" questioned Jessica.
She'd come back to the tower with me after the last mission, and she knew what the doorbell sound meant.
"It's Ted Grant," I said as I went over the door.
She had no idea who that was. I did as we'd met during Kent's funeral.
"His superhero name was Wildcat, he began his career back in the 194os, and he joined the Justice Society of America before World War 2. These days he's retired".
That all meant nothing to Power Girl. She had never shown any interest in the group that the Justice League was something of a successor to.
I had so I knew that Theodore 'Ted' Grant was a normal human who was magically given nine lives and that magic kept him young. He remains at his peak condition due to his extensive workouts with the magic only helping somewhat.
"He was a mentor to Black Canary" I told her "Everything she teaches the team, is something she learned from Wildcat".
I opened the door and invited the man in. I then took a step back. Grant did not look the same as the last time I saw him. He was older.
"Mr Grant, are you okay?" I asked.
The fighter sighed before speaking.
"I'm fine, kid. Kent's spell has started wearing off" he explained "I'm just feeling my age".
While I'd not known that it was my teacher who had cast the spell on him it made sense given that they had worked together for so many years.
"And you want me to recast the spell?" I asked.
I saw no reason not to, I certainly had enough power to do so the issue would be making sure that I could find a copy of the spell and that I did it right.
"No, I'm going to be alright" he assured me "I've got a few years left, and I'm not looking to live forever".
The Tower provided a chair for Grant to sit on.
"If you don't help with some magic then why are you here, Mr Wildcat" asked Jessica.
A good question.
"A few of the spells that Kent had going for years, they started to fade when he did" we were told "Mostly that's not been a problem because we knew that his time was running out, but there's a spell I'm sorry to say we forgot about".
I did not like the sound of that.
"You kids ever hear of Solomon Grundy?" we were asked.
Ted Grant picked up on the fact that I had without me saying anything.
"Who is Solomon Grundy?" Jessica asked.
"Back in the 1920s he was a crook by the name of Cyrus Gold" Wildcat told Power Girl "Even for Gotham he was a real bastard, so bad that his own people turned on him and they dumped his body in Slaughter Swamp just outside of Gotham".
He had more to say on this subject.
"That should have been the end of him, but that swamp is a strange place," said Wildcat "A lot of dead bodies there and that got mixed up with some old voodoo".
Any player of Magic: The Gathering knew that swamps were sources of black mana and zombies were also tied to that kind of magic.
"Grundy can't be destroyed," Wildcat told us "Even Alan Scott couldn't manage it. Kent told me that Grundy is a part of the swamp".
Jessica had no idea who that was.
"Alan Scott was a Green Lantern back in the nineteen-forties and fifties," I told her.
Grant spoke some more.
"Kent managed to trap Grundy in the swamp, making him sleep, or something like that. I was never any good at the magical stuff" he said "That was back in the 1950s so it's no surprise that everyone forgot about him".
Ted Grant reached into his coat pocket and unfolded the page of a newspaper which he then passed to me. Jessica read it over my shoulder.
"Someone got a picture of Grundy out by the swamp and with Kent gone, the spell will be winding down" we were warned "Soon he's going to start attacking people as he did in the 30s and 40s".
This was concerning.
"Why didn't you go to the League?" Jessica wondered.
Grant had his reasons.
"The entire Justice Society can't stop Grundy, not for long, even if the League could put him down, he always comes back," Gran told us "We need Kent's magic and from what a mutual friend of ours told me there's a new Doctor Fate in town".
If I could find the right spell I should be able to cast it on Grundy as long as he was kept busy.
"I know some people who can help me cast the spell" I assured the fighter "Or at least keep me intact long enough to perform the magic".
Ted Grant stood up and shook my hand.
"Then I can leave this in your hands," he said.
The old guy had a strong grip and that made me think of something.
"Sir, are you still teaching?" I asked.
Wildcat smirked at me as if he'd guessed I would enquire, and he took a business card out of his coat.
"Come see me at the gym, both of you," he invited "I'm too old to get into the ring these days, but there's still a few things I can teach you kids".
Given that I now possessed the Tri-Force of Courage, which granted me the ability to learn combat skills very quickly, I could benefit greatly from lessons from such a great warrior.
"Thank you for coming here to warn me," I said as I showed the man out "I promise that Grundy will be sent back to his rest".
As soon as he was gone I turned to Power Girl.
"Jess," I said, using the familiar form of her name "We're going to need the team. Can you go and find out whoever is free? Get them to come to Slaughter Swamp".
No doubt it could be found on some sort of online map or whatever navigation system it was that Megan's bioship used.
"Sure," she said.
Soon she was kissing me and heading out the door. Leaving me to deal with an annoyed Phosphor who hadn't grown back into an adult yet so I wouldn't be letting him come along. Something he seemed to sense and it annoyed him.
Slaughter Swamp. Outside of Gotham.
Megan's bio-ship was able to find my exact location due to my comm device and the ship landed on what passed for solid ground around here.
Seconds after landing, Kid Flash came out of the vessel, soon followed by Superboy, Power Girl, and the owner of the ship. Along with the wolf that had gotten attached to Connor.
"No Aqualad or Robin?" I asked.
Nor was the archer girl around. Not that I knew her well enough to know if she'd even be any help.
"Rob is off doing something with Batman" Wally let me know.
I'd been hoping to have the Boy Wonder inform Batman of the mission here so I didn't have to bother submitting a report. Even wizards can't escape the evil that is paperwork it seemed.
"Kaldur went to Atlantis for some sort of family business" Megan shared "And Artemis is in Star City with Green Arrow".
That wasn't good news.
"His water powers would have been useful, but we should have enough firepower to keep Grundy busy long enough for me to cast the spell," I said.
Kid Flash snorted in amusement.
"Okay, Gandalf," he said with a smirk.
I was unable to hide my frustration.
"If you're not going to take this seriously then you can piss off," I told him.
This was no place for small-minded people.
"You always sound more British when you get mad" Jessica informed me.
Not relevant at this time.
"You don't believe in magic?" Megan asked Wally.
Kid Flash looked at the green girl in surprise.
"You do?" he asked in surprise "Come on Meg, anyone who says they can use magic is either nuts or trying to trick people with smoke and mirrors, or maybe they have some advanced technology and they like to pretend it is magic to make themselves look mysterious and get attention from gullible girls".
I got that the girl he was referring to wasn't Megan, but she took offence anyway.
"Yes I believe in magic, I know about the Sorcerer-Priesthood of Mars," she said.
Y'ellonns, or Yellow Martians, are a caste of Martians. Unlike the other Martian castes, they are defined not by natural skin colour, but by the yellow skin colour they adopt as part of becoming a member of the Sorcerer-Priesthood. I'd read a little about them in a book back in the Tower of Fate.
"This is a discussion for another time," said Conner.
He was right about that.
"There's a creature in this swamp that I need you to keep busy while I use 'smoke and mirrors' to deal with the problem" I informed the group.
I might be tempted to prove that I am a Magician, but Wally had seen me use magic before and didn't believe it was magic.
As such I figured that any proof I tried to present him with now he would find some way to rationalise. Humans were rather good at the kind of mental gymnastics that allowed them to refuse to accept reality.
"So how are we going to find this Grundy?" Connor asked.
I'd not thought about that. The villains tend to be somewhat obvious.
"Born on a Monday, Christened on Tuesday, Married on Wednesday, Took ill on Thursday, Grew worse on Friday, Died on Saturday, Buried on Sunday"
I didn't need super hearing to detect that something was heading this way and Superboy's pet was making enough noise to let me know that something bad was coming this way.
"It's found us," I said.
It was Solomon Grundy.
"What is that thing!?" asked Wally.
He was clearly unnerved.
"Nothing to worry about as you don't believe in magic," I said "Why don't you go tell it that. Maybe it will vanish in a puff of logic".
I should have called John. I hadn't because I wanted to prove I could do things alone and because I was Kent Nelson's successor, but at least he wouldn't get under my skin like Wally could.
"Just keep it busy!" Jessica yelled.
Thankfully the spell to bind Grundy wasn't complex as he was a zombie and had no will of his own.
"Born on a Monday!" the creature roared.
Conner's habit of jumping into a fight resulted in him breaking a rotting tree in half as he struck it with a great deal of force. Even with my attention on my work, I could tell that Wally was having trouble using his speed due to not solid surface to run upon.
Megan was trying to confine the zombie with the plant life she could telekinetically, but she wasn't having much success, and Grundy was too strong for the Wonder Twins to overpower.
Meanwhile, I began to let my power flow me as a circle appeared around my body. It wasn't a good idea to tap into magic when in this sort of place without a little protection according to Kent's notes.
Once that was done I began to cast the spell.
"Eripe animam, flere sanguine venire ad me, et ponam te in somnum"
After speaking the words, I cut myself as the spell required, as the power of the spell would be tied to my life, only for the knife to fail to break my skin.
I'd forgotten about the ring I wore to protect myself. I took it off long enough to spill the blood and that was enough to send Grundy back to his rest. My blood mixing with the swamp water allowed some measure of control over the very power that animated Grundy.
He began to sink into the muck as if the earth wanted to embrace him and before long he had vanished from our sight. Then everything became peaceful again.
"Is that it?" questioned Megan.
The team regrouped.
"It wasn't complex I just needed to be close to Grundy and have his attention off me" I explained "So good job team".
They looked a bit disappointed.
"That was a little too easy" commented Conner.
Not really.
"Kent Nelson did all the hard work years ago" I told the lab-grown hero "I just needed to copy his work".
Sometimes things did go right.
"Anyway I'm off home," I said "Thanks for the help. I'll see you at the mountain later".
Jessica stepped forward.
"I was hoping that we could double date with Megan and Conner" she informed me "Are you free tonight?".
It was only early evening and when you can teleport around the world the current time is often that important.
"Sure," I said, "I'll get changed and meet you at the mountain".
I'd decided to date Jessica even if it might not work out because that was true of all couplings and it wasn't as if we had to get married or anything.
I used the pathways to return home and found that my book wanted my attention, as it normally would at a time like this.
The update is still in progress. Perks will be limited.
400cp
+200cp
600cp
Bank or Roll?
I rolled since I was curious about the sort of thing I could get.
-100cp
500cp
Occlumency
Mental defences. Hostiles find it difficult to possess or penetrate into your mind.
The occlumency I now knew how to use wasn't the stupidly powerful versions you get in fanfiction it was just a way of protecting your mind from intrusions and I doubt that it would stop a proper telepath, but some defence was better than none.
Martha Kent
As she worked in the kitchen to prepare a properly cooked meal, Mrs Kent couldn't help looking out of the window at her granddaughter and her boyfriend.
The young man whom Jessica had brought to the farm to introduce to her family. He was also a superhero and some sort of wizard who lived in an invisible tower.
If she hadn't raised a son who had dropped out of the sky in an alien spaceship then Martha might have found the idea of a real magician to be unbelievable, but she'd far too much to ever assume that something was impossible.
Add to that she had two grandchildren who would soon be going off to college despite neither of them having attended a single day of school.
James seemed to be a nice young man. He looked older than Jessica but since her granddaughter wasn't even a year old and already a woman, then it was silly to worry about the age of the men she was dating.
Besides, what mattered most of all was that Jess liked the young man, and the young man wasn't afraid of a few chores given how much he was getting done.
Martha noted that despite her alien heritage Jessica was slowing down before her boyfriend who didn't seem to be using any powers at all.
This had nothing to do with the girl feeling tired. She was too busy admiring the young man who had taken off his t-shirt as he loaded bales of hay into Jonathan Kent's truck.
Martha thought about when she'd used to watch her husband do farm chores on a hot day. She still watched him sometimes, just not as intently as Jessica was looking at James.
Martha's thoughts did not remain so happy as she worked on the meal she had invited Jess and her boyfriend to share here at the farm.
Whenever she saw one of her grandchildren or talked about them, she had to pretend they were actually her niece and nephew since it was known in Smallville that Clark didn't have children and he wasn't old enough to have fully grown kids.
No one was supposed to know that Connor and Jessica were anything other than the children of Jonathan Kent's brother, who wasn't around to contradict that, and due to the need for secrecy Jess's boyfriend should be coming over,
Marth and Jonathan Kent were the only two who got to decide who was welcome in their home, and while Jessica didn't need Martha's approval, Mrs Kent felt that she had the right to meet the young man with whom Jessica was romanticly involved.
The same had been the case for Connor who was dating a girl from Mars. Compared to that having a wizard around for dinner seemed far more ordinary.
Martha had liked Megan from the start she was able to bring Conner out of the shell he had put around himself and get to live his life. She had an infectious attitude and thankfully it was a positive one.
Connor and Jessica weren't the issue as despite them never having any kind of childhood they were becoming good people. No, what bothered Martha was her son.
She'd never had any real reason to be disappointed in Clark Kent, she feared for him often and he'd rebelled a little as a teenager, but she'd never felt as if he failed as a man or as a Superman.
Not until she'd discovered that Clark had little to do with his children. Clark had every right to be angry about the situation, he'd not consented to have his DNA used to create new life, and he had in a sense been violated by the people at Cadmus.
But that was no excuse to keep Conner and Jessica at a distance. They hadn't asked to be created, no child ever is, and they are responsible for how they become a part of this world.
Sure it made sense that things would have been awkward between them at first as Clark would need to adjust, but it was unlike him not to make an effort to help the people in his life.
It didn't help that both Jessica and Connor had mothers in some sense who also weren't a part of their lives, and it was clear the absence of both parents in their lives was hurting them.
Neither of her grandchildren were clones in the common use of the term. They had two parents, or perhaps donors was a better word, and while Connor's other parent was unknown, Jessica's mother was well aware of her daughter's existence.
Martha could only imagine why Wonder Woman wasn't more involved in Jessica's life. Sure as a UN ambassador and superhero, she was a busy woman, yet how could she be so busy that she could visit her daughter once in a while?
As the Matriarch of the Kent family dried her hands she promised herself again something that she'd decided on sometime ago. She'd be the best grandmother for Jessica and Conner that she could.
Jonathan had clearly decided to do the same without them ever needing to discuss it. The choice had been made with a few looks and a simple nod from her husband in confirmation.
So they would have their family dinners and her grandchildren would visit the farm as often as they wished. The Kents would be here for Conner and Jessica as they were for Clark.
The food was important for that. Marth worried about what kind of food her grandchildren could be eating since they were so often off on missions and it wasn't as if Jessica or Conner would have been taught to cook.
That was at least something she could help them with. A few cooking lessons would be a good way to bond with both Conner and Jessica.
For now, she would handle the cooking just as everyone else worked to get the farm in order. Jonathan would be more grateful for the help than he could ever admit. He was getting on in years yet stubbornly he refused to slow down.
That was something to worry about later. Today was about making sure that Jessica was happy.
Celestial Grimoire.
Part 20.
Minecraft World.
So far, everything seemed rather pleasant here in this new world I had access to. There were plenty of trees, grass and what looked to be very clean water flowing as part of a stream. It was overall a nice place to be.
I didn't hear any familiar sounds of civilization, such as cars, but I wasn't expecting any cars since this was supposed to be a medieval-level world, nor did I hear anyone talking, or any smoke in the distance that might suggest people.
The silence wasn't broken by the roar of some creature. As such I wasn't concerned much about any animals that I might come across. However, that could change, so it was best to stay on my guard and to my staff in my hand in case of trouble.
What did concern me was time. Via Kent Nelson's pocket watch, which I found in the Tower's study and discovered contained a picture of the man's wife, I was keeping track of the passage of time.
I'd have thought that Kent would be buried with the watch, but he'd left it for me like everything else, and I assumed he didn't care about an image of his wife if he intended to be reunited with the real person. I also wondered if he'd left it as a subtle reminder that there was more to life than magic.
The sun was moving across the sky at an incredible speed, it had gone from midday to evening at an alarming rate. I did my best to measure this oddity despite my lack of any proper equipment to do so.
If this wasn't some sort of illusion or an effect unique to this one area, that meant one day on this planet or plane of existence, was about 20 minutes. For now, I was assuming that daytime and nighttime were equal in length.
That would mean three local days would pass by in just an hour. I'd be worried if it wasn't for the fact that my life span was infinite and I felt fairly certain that time was still passing normally for me while I was in this strange world.
Still, it would be wise not to venture far from the portal that led back to my tower. I didn't want to get lost and find that I had been missing for weeks due to how time can get rather funky in some dimensions.
The portal appeared after my book had become active just after my visit to the Kent Farm, which had been an enjoyable day, and one of the few remaining free ones I had before I was due to start college.
I opened the book again to see what had been added recently.
200cp
Minor Magical Supply World
This item gives you access to a magical world. One that has developed sapients, albeit stuck in the middle ages, and thus you will have to compete for resources, even if the plane itself is infinite in size.
A magical gateway to a suitable world or plane will appear in your home or pocket dimension, giving you access to this dimension.
I turned back to see the portal that was some distance away in a barren part of this environment. Even once it got dark I would be able to see the portal as it glowed and it looked the same in the tower.
While I was a little worried that something might enter the tower I hadn't seen any threats so far, and even if there were animals here I didn't think they'd go near the portal. Besides the Tower of Fate had plenty of defences.
As the sunset rapidly arrived, I found a crude house made of stone with a wooden roof and as I headed towards it I heard someone moan and not in the good way that Jessica did when we fooled around.
I turned to see a figure slowly moving towards me, it wore ragged remains of clothing and was clearly some sort of zombie that had the intention of coming over here so it could bite me. It also wasn't alone.
How its existence was tied to the strange flow of time I had no clue, I just had the feeling that I'd experienced all of this before, but I couldn't figure out more right now. I had to focus on the zombie that was getting closer to me and its nearby friends weren't that far off.
Despite the rapid flow of time, the zombie moved at a slow pace. As such I had plenty of time to blast it with magical energy and when it dropped the monster just vanished. So I just zapped the other zombies and watched them vanish as well.
That was when an arrow struck me and damaged my coat without doing me any harm thanks to the protection afforded me by magic ring. Thankfully my magical items had the habit of somehow repairing themselves when damaged.
I used a golden-coloured magical shield, I'd started to learn some order magic which was useful for defences such as barriers, and then I blasted the skeleton archers with fireballs once I could see where the arrows were coming from.
The darkness, which was even now lessening due to the rising full moon, was not enough to hide the archers from me and I saw that they were some sort of skeletons.
Soon more zombies were appearing and while to someone else this could have been a problem, I just jumped up onto the roof of the crude dwelling with the aid of the Boots of Springheel Jak, and once up there I blasted the zombies, only keeping my shield up to stop the skeleton archers from damaging my clothing.
This became a chance to practice my spellcasting on moving targets and I was actually grateful for the archers as well as the zombies as they forced me to keep a shield up, a spell made easier thanks to my staff, while also using more offensive magic.
It wasn't until after I'd spent the entire night, which wasn't very long at all, destroying zombies and skeletons, that I got a break and it had been very tiring due to the fact the targets just kept coming. As if they had been drawn to me.
Once the sun provided enough light I got down off the roof and looked around. I ended up putting a dozen arrows in my pouch of holding. They were made from bone and clearly magical, but I didn't think I'd be gifting any to Artemis.
Now that I had some time to think it was clear to me that this was a Minecraft world. However, I wasn't certain until I cut down a tree with Spellweaver and ended up with a pile of logs along with bits of wood suitable to burn in order to start a fire if I had been so inclined.
Nothing turned into easy-to-carry blocks and punching the soil only resulted in a mess, but given the monsters and the rapid day/night cycle I knew that I was in a world that followed some of the rules of that game.
I headed inside the house and found a crafting table next to a wooden chest along with a bed. Left behind by a player perhaps? Assuming that I could somehow have been transported to an electronic world this would make some sense.
Inside the chest, I found some iron ore, a stone pickaxe, a stone sword, not a very practical weapon, a few lumps of coal, and three cooked pork chops.
All stuff that would be stored by a player early in the game. Had the player moved on and built a house elsewhere? Had he or she just abandoned this world? Would they be back? What would they look like?
There would be time to investigate this world some more later on. Right now I needed to secure the portal in case any zombies or skeleton archers had gone through into the tower.
Once I had made the gateway secure I would be able to come back and explore this world, and perhaps it was a good idea to get some backup. Lucky for me I happened to know a part-alien girl who liked to hit things.
Minecraft World.
"So we're in a world that either is a video game or a world that's so much like a video game it might as well be the real thing" Jessica summarised.
That seemed about right, and it was a testament to how weird our lives were that she so easily accepted this. Perhaps people just went with the flow of things when they dated a wizard.
"The world works by some of the game rules, but not all of them" I repeated "I don't know if we'll respawn if we die so we need to be careful".
I had some more to say.
"Time is strange here," I told Jessica "1 day here is 20 minutes for us. So a full week will pass in 2.3 hours. 30 days here is about 10 hours. A full year, as in 365.25 days, should pass by in 121.75 hours, or a bit more than five days".
That had been simple to work out once I'd realised that in this Minecraft world, time is exactly 72 times faster than on Earth.
"But time is passing the same for us no matter which side of the portal we are on" Jessica asked.
That did seem to be the case and I had tested it.
"Yes" I confirmed "So we won't come out and find that we missed the first day of college".
Jessica looked mortified by the idea.
"Megan would never forgive us if we did" she warned.
I found it hard to feel threatened by a girl who had based her entire human persona on a sitcom character.
"We have more than enough food for a few days" I was now saying "But I don't think we'll be here that long".
We didn't have to worry about not being able to find the portal as I'd used a spell to enchant a compass that would always point at the gateway. Having access to massive amounts of books on magic was so very useful.
"There are loads of resources in Minecraft, metals, jewels and magical stuff" I was now saying "I don't remember much of it because I mostly just prattled about with my little brother when playing, but we can explore and experiment".
Jessica smirked at me.
"I think I can cope with spending a few days in a nerd land," she said.
That was when she went over to the window of the house we were spending the nighttime in, she almost got grabbed by one of the zombies who had been prowling around the house.
The window had no glass in and I'd not realised that they could reach in and grab someone, but since she was Power Girl the monster's efforts were for naught and she just tore the arm off the terror. The limb then vanished.
"Where did it go?" my girlfriend asked me.
"Video game rules remember," I said "Bodies will vanish and sometimes leave loot behind".
Jessica was again looking out of the window.
"There's more of them out there," she said "Should we take them out?".
We wouldn't have to fight for long as daylight would return very soon and that would get rid of the monsters for us. Once we had the light we'd have some time to scout around.
"Nah we just need to wait them out" I said "The sun will be up soon".
That happened very quickly.
"Okay, we've got ten minutes before the sun sets again" I was now saying "And I have an idea of how to make it safe for us".
Earth was my weakest element when it came to manipulating the four classical elements of earth, water, air and fire, but I did have power over it and given the way this world worked it might be easy for me to shape the element.
As the sun began to rise we left the little house and I turned to Jessica and passed her a bow.
"I don't suppose you know how to use one of these?" I asked.
She took the bow and inspected it. She didn't look too closely at the arrows once I explained that they were video game loot and not made from dead people.
"Yeah, but why can't I just smash stuff?" she wondered.
I had my reasons for worrying about that.
"This is a magical world" I explained "Your alien abilities don't protect you against magic. Undead creatures are normally the product of Necromancy so it wouldn't be a good idea to let them get close, and what I have planned is going to take time, so it will become night time again".
Jessica gave this some thought as I began to work.
"Let me borrow your sword" she requested.
I handed over the weapon and then started to get to work. Only for my book to want my attention.
400cp
+200cp
600cp
I'd had 600 points before getting the supply world, despite having 500 points after getting occlumency. I wondered where the extra points came from.
Bank or Roll?
I chose to bank and to get on with my work.
Warning there is sexual activity in this chapter
Celestial Grimoire.
Part 21.
Minecraft World.
During the day cycle, I kept manipulating the stone, something I found much easier here than normal in this world due to this plane's strange nature, and before the sun began to set we were standing with a fortress.
Or rather what would be our fortress, so far, I'd made four strong walls that were connected and they functioned well enough to keep the monsters out while I finished my assignment.
We still heard some moaning, but it was muffled I didn't think the undead knew we were close by, and they weren't much of a danger even if they found some way past the walls.
It was much harder work to build a proper keep. I ended up with a large one-story stone building that had a lot of internal space. That should be enough since we just needed a place to keep the equipment I would use to make some cool stuff.
We quickly moved the contents of the stone house into our new home and then I sealed the wall so there was no way to enter our home without climbing the wall, flying over it, or having several creepers explode in the same place in order to make a gap.
I felt fairly certain didn't happen randomly, and I didn't think anyone could direct the Creepers so we should be fine.
Once we were inside the main part of the fort I'd built. I sealed the entrance and made some windows high up enough that even if you got past the walls, you'd need to be an expert climber in order to make it inside this place.
The windows would provide us with some light during the day and that would help us to keep track of the cycles. When it was dark I could provide us with enough magical light to see by.
Jessica and I could easily jump over the barriers I'd built, and as long as the zombies hadn't seen World War Z they shouldn't get any ideas about getting over the walls by climbing over each other.
"My powers are growing" I muttered to myself.
Sure I'd known that this was the case for a while, and would have known even without the Grimoire giving me more stuff, and I knew that making this place shouldn't have been so easy even given the nature of this plane.
"I knew you were powerful, but that was something else," remarked Jessica.
While it looked easy I'd never done anything that challenging before. To be fair the fort was very crude in terms of more than looks, and I doubted that it would have been a stable construction back on Earth where the rules that governed reality were different.
"Kent left behind a lot of reading material for me and the Grimiore makes using different kinds of magic much easier than for other people" I told Jessica.
She smiled at me.
"I don't think you needed me for protection" she commented.
It wasn't hard to tell that she was not feeling needed here.
"Jessica, I don't want you here just because I might need protection," I said "I want someone to share this all with".
Truthfully I was feeling this way. It was nice to have someone along to share in these experiences and Jess had grown on me as a person. I'd not expected to feel that way.
Me saying that made her a bit feel better, and not long after she came over to me, getting really close we started to kiss.
During times such as these she liked to press herself into me hard and this made me very aware of her breasts, or rather more so than was normal, they were kind of hard to miss.
"I wonder if the bed can support the both of us" I heard her say.
For now, we stayed standing and I began to play with her breasts through the flimsy top she wore. She liked me to be rough with them, or rather when I tried to be rough as she was a lot tougher than other women
I pinched, pulled and tweaked her nipples, which were made hard by my attention. This resulted in Jessica making all sorts of noises that I knew by now signalled her approval.
As we kissed again her tongue probed hungrily into my mouth. She began to suck on my tongue with as much enthusiasm as she would if she had my dick in her mouth.
It was clear to me that she was even more eager to do sexy things than normal. She must be enjoying us having our own adventure separate from the team or any other heroes.
Once we'd stopped kissing I went to the waistband of her jeans. They provided simple enough for me to remove and her underwear soon followed leaving her naked from the waist down once she'd eagerly kicked them away.
She'd simply allowed me to undress her and now stood with her legs apart, giving me access to her sweet spot.
Jessica made a noise that might have been a sigh or a giggle when I put my right hand between her legs to feel her alluring cunt, and I soon forced two of my fingers through her folds and into her hot, tight little snatch. She was already getting very wet for me thanks to all the kissing.
"This good girl is about to start behaving very badly" she promised.
She knew that I liked to hear things like that, but soon she couldn't focus enough to say anything else as I began to really play with her pussy. I probed her insides with my fingers and pinched her clit.
Merely playing with her cunt wasn't enough for me and before long I was ordering her to go put her hands on the nearest bit of wall.
"Strip and put your hands on the wall" I ordered.
She giggled rather adorably.
"I like it when you get authoritative with me" she replied.
After taking off what was left of her clothing. She assumed the position and waited quietly as I undressed. She didn't even turn to watch me undress she knew that I enjoyed having a bit of power over her.
Once I was naked, I moved over to Jessica and got ready to fuck her, but not before I spent some time admiring her ass, she had the kind of butt you could in fact bounce coins off because I'd tested it out.
When prepared I had my cock positioned at her entrance. When I was inside her, her pussy felt like a soft vice around my dick.
Jessica had control over her body beyond that of any normal woman, and she knew exactly how to move her hips to make fucking her this way all the more enjoyable for the both of us.
A whine of some sort escaped her mouth as I continued to drive deeper and deeper into her warm cunt. She kept her hands on the wall, but her legs almost gave out and I had to help keep her place by keeping one hand on her hip while the other played with her breasts as best I could.
"This feels so good," I heard her say.
Despite all that we'd done together so far, and her own research, which I felt sure had been done with the help of the female members of the team, Jess was rather new to sex.
As her more experienced boyfriend, I felt that it was up to me to show her the ropes, and that could be a quite literal showing if she had those sorts of tastes. Although given her strength there wasn't much point in tying her up.
Getting fucked with her hands on the wall and her butt sticking out was proving to be something she rather enjoyed, I did so as well and soon I was cumming inside her tight little cunt.
While I was flooding her well-used pussy with as much baby batter as possible, she screamed out something that might have been my name or just some animalistic noise of approval.
Minecraft World.
As I woke up I checked the time to find that I had slept for ten minutes and that I'd fallen asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.
Jessica was next to me, still naked, and she was looking at me as if something was wrong. Another thing we discovered was that two people could share a bed in this world.
"Call me crazy, but did we like fall asleep like minutes ago?" she asked.
I got up out of bed and began to gather my clothes as well as my magical items. This world's dangers were manageable, or at least had been so far, but I'd be a fool not to keep my weapons close.
"Sure seems that way" I replied.
I felt as if I'd gotten a good eight hours.
"Do you feel fully rested?" I asked her.
She nodded and began to recover her own clothing. She didn't hurry to dress as she didn't have much of a sense of modesty.
"I don't think it would be a good idea to keep having these power naps" I warned "The human mind needs to dream, it's how we process the information we gather when we are awake".
Given that Dream of the Endless was real there could be more to it than that, but that wouldn't matter in this world.
"I'm just hungry," she told me "I'll worry about dreaming later".
Since I'd known that food might be an issue during our travels I'd packed some rations, the Justice League had its own supplier, and while they were totally tasteless they were better than going hungry
We had plenty of water as well, so basic supplies weren't an issue. We had clothes and other equipment packed away in my pouch of holding so there was no need to leave this world anytime soon.
"You can meat from hunting animals in this world" I informed Jessica as I saw the expression she made as she bit into her ration "You can cook meat and smelt metals in the same oven in this world".
Which made no sense, anyone who knew anything about metals, and I did, would know that the melting point of iron was a far higher temperature than any oven at home could ever come close to producing.
"Yeah you talked about diamonds and emeralds that you can mine," said Jessica "I want some of that".
Acquiring treasure was part of our overall plan for enjoying our travels together. Since I was wealthy it wasn't important to acquire gems and gold, they would just be nice to have.
"Gold too, and I remember a bit about enchanting items" I went on to say "We should have plenty of time to look into that if we only need to sleep for ten minutes in a 24-hour period".
That was going to save us quite a few hours.
"So we're going to mine and craft," Power Girl said with a silly smirk on her face "Do you think that has something to do with the name of your nerd game?".
I didn't bother to reply. I just went over to the crafting table and started creating stone tools. I didn't have enough iron to make proper tools so we'd have to seek out some raw ore as well as more coal before we attempted to mine anything more valuable. We'd also need some more wood.
"I'll make you some proper armour as soon as I can" I promised Jessica "Remember you aren't as invulnerable here as you are back on Earth. The sun might not provide you with enough energy for your powers so let me know if you start feeling drained and we can home for a while".
There was more for me to say.
"We're going to have to do some hunting," I told the covert superhero "Cows and pigs should have the leather we need. Don't worry about hurting them they aren't real".
And we could do with some meat as well as I had no intention of leaving on ration packs if such a fate could be avoided.
Before leaving our little fort I checked my book.
600cp
+200cp
800cp
Bank or Roll
I would bank and wait for the next time the book wanted my attention as the points were building up rapidly today. I might as well go for a thousand.
Celestial Grimoire.
Part 22.
Minecraft World.
Sometime later we returned to the safety of the fort having hunted during both the night and day cycles, making sure to stay on the move so that we didn't get overwhelmed by the monsters.
I'd made use of the special compass to bring us back to our new home via the most direct route possible, so we'd avoided getting lost in the woods that surrounded our little base.
While out and about we'd killed many cows, chickens, pigs, ducks and even a horse that for some reason ran in front of me while I'd been aiming a spell at a random cow.
Along with a lot of leather hide, we'd gained feathers and enough meat to feed us both for days assuming that it didn't spoil. I didn't think it would given the nature of this plane.
"All those poor animals" complained Jessica as I began my work "Did we really need to kill them all".
To be fair I had tried to assure her before we'd left that we'd be killing things.
"Remember even if they are real in some sense they just respawn" I assured her.
It was harder to remember that when they weren't little blocky things on a screen.
"Those little ducks were so cute" she insisted.
To be fair they had been, but I'd need the feathers to make more arrows, we only had so many of the bone ones and I didn't want Jessica taking on the magical creature in hand to hand in case her Amazon half didn't fix the weakness to magic that her alien half suffered.
"They'll just respawn, this is a video game world" I pointed out.
She wasn't much of a gamer. She was more of the cuddling up together to watch a movie kind of gal.
"So they have lots of lives like in a game" she reasoned.
"Something like that," I said.
I stopped thinking about the creatures I'd hunted for resources as I started using the crafting table. As I worked I used a notebook to record the numbers of materials I was using because it was a pain in the ass to keep track of exactly how you made things in this world.
Just placing bits of leather on the crafting table didn't work until I had them in the right order. Suddenly I had an entire set of leather armour I ended up using all my leather hide just to make one set of chestplate, pants and boots.
I handed over the armour to Jessica and when it did the suit transformed into what could best be described as bikini armour.
She was now holding knee-high leather boots, a bottom bit that only just covered up her lady parts, and a bra that didn't look at all comfortable. She also had a pair of bracers that should even exist.
"James, if any other guy asked me to wear this I'd smack him" my sexy companion declared "But if this makes you happy".
Jess undressed and put the armour, for lack of a better word, on and it looked really good on her despite barely covering anything.
"Looks like a set of cavewoman's swimwear" commented my lover "Never tell anyone I wore this for you or I won't wear it again".
That seemed fair given that it looked like something that couldn't exist outside of male fantasy and not a good one either, it looked cheap.
"The weird thing is I feel protected. It's a strange feeling" Jessica told me.
Jess checked herself out as best she could without a mirror.
"For some reason, I just feel a bit safer in this and it makes me look sexier than ever," she said "Try firing an arrow at me".
I needed a moment to check if I'd really heard that.
"You want me to do what?" I asked.
She had to repeat herself.
"Fire an arrow at me" she insisted.
Understandably I didn't want to do that.
"I just got this feeling that I have protection" she insisted "And if something goes wrong then we'll
leave".
I fired an arrow at her arm and it bounced off.
"Felt like the impact got spread over my body," said the young hero "It hurt, but not for long, I'm still healing fast even if the arrows can hurt me".
Strange as this was it started to make sense to me.
"This is a video game world" I realised "In video games armour for female characters can be really skimpy, yet it protects just as much as what the men are wearing".
I'd seen it in games when suits of armour that look conventional on a male character, will somehow magically morph into metal lingerie the moment a woman puts it on, even if it's literally the same suit transferred from one party member to another.
And of course, the protective ability of the armour set isn't compromised at all even though more than half the material is missing.
"Yeah I can feel it protecting all of me" said Jessica "This is some cool magic".
It made about as much sense as anything else around here so I decided to accept this reality.
"Do you think it will work when we leave?" I was asked, "Not that I let anyone know I was wearing it, but I could have it on under my clothes when we are on missions".
That was a question I couldn't answer. I had no idea how things from this world would work in the prime material plane, or whatever it got called in this multiverse.
"We'll have to test it" I replied "And you might something that covers you up more if we get a colder climate or somewhere with people who'll arrest you for indecent exposure".
Jess seemed unconcerned.
"I'll keep it on for now. It makes me feel real sexy" she admitted.
Upgrading to something more durable still seemed wise to me. In order to find the right materials, we'd have to go underground, and we could do that after we'd had a rest.
"Can you make a big sword, one you have to hold with two hands?" requested Jessica.
I took a moment to admire my girlfriend before replying. She didn't seem to mind.
"Planning on going on all warrior princess on me?" I questioned.
It would work given her powers and current outfit.
"My maternal grandmother is the Queen of the Amazons" she said "So I suppose I am a bit of a princess and you know I can fight".
There was no arguing with that and if she wanted her own sword I should have enough iron to make her a simple sword.
Minecraft World
"Fucking Spiders!" Jessica yelled out as she sent a massive eight-legged monster to where it was such creatures went after they were reduced to smoke "I hate spiders".
I didn't exactly like them either. Even for me, they were hard to see unless you spotted their glowing red eyes and when they decided to attack they could move with surprising speed.
Thankfully unlike other giant spiders, I'd seen in fantasy settings these spiders operated alone and tended to mind their own business unless you got too close.
"How long have we been down here?" asked Jessica as we moved about while deep underground "I'm starting to feel like a vampire. I need some sun. I'm solar powered remember".
I checked my watch.
"We entered this world less than two hours ago" I told her "And we've spent most of that above ground".
We were making good progress and already I'd upgraded her leather bikini armour to some sexy iron armour thing that I'd somehow made.
While it should be really uncomfortable, Jess claimed to feel even more protected when wearing it.
Mostly I thought it was good that she was watching my back if she'd been taking the lead I would have been distracted because I'd be looking at her so much.
When I wasn't focused on something important I wondered how far she wanted to take things. How far was she willing to go to indulge me on this trip?
What we were both very happy with was that I'd figured out how to make some bags of holding. Some wool, string dropped by spiders and a lot of leather ensured that we had enough storage space on our person to carry everything we needed in the field.
I had no idea if bags and armour were the product of some mod having been installed or if my magic was having an effect on this plane, and I tried not to dwell on that as this wasn't the place for musing.
Even with my magic that allowed me to create light with ease, it was hard to see down here. I had to keep my attention partly on our surroundings as even Jess could be taken by surprise.
The zombies groaned, it was the Creepers and the skeletons you had to keep an eye out for, even the skeletons made some noise, with the creaking of their bones, but it was hard to detect. Lucky for us Jessica had much better hearing than me.
"That long?" questioned Jess "No wonder I'm hungry".
I reached into my pouch of holding, the one that I'd started my adventure with so long ago and pulled out an entire roast chicken that was the result of me trying out the ovens they had in this world.
The giblets had even vanished leaving a perfectly cooked bird behind that had somehow gotten lightly seasoned. I'd kept it inside some tinfoil I'd brought with me when entering this world for the second time.
"You don't think I'm a pig do you?" she asked "I don't eat nearly as much as Wally".
I didn't think it was possible for anyone to eat that much.
"No" I assured her "I've noticed that you only tend to eat a lot when we're inside the mountain or it is nighttime. You might not be absorbing enough UV rays or whatever it about younger stars that give Kryptonians enough juice for their powers".
I smiled at her.
"Besides, girls who are always going about watching their figures are so boring," I said "I like a girl who can eat. Just not when I'm paying for it".
We quickly ate our meal and moved on, going even deeper underground, and if it weren't for my ability to manipulate the element of earth we'd have a heck of a time getting back to the surface.
Thanks to my powers and my control over my spells I could make us a tunnel to the surface easily enough without actually having to do any digging.
"We still need some obsidian" I reminded my follower "It's useful in crafting and we will want to check out the Netherworld before we need to worry about going to college".
We kept on moving, looking for anything of value. I'd placed plenty of iron, coal and even some gold into my pouch of holding as well as redstone.
"What do you need that stuff for" Jessica wondered as I collected more of the dust and placed it in a container "Is it magical".
If I recall correctly it could be used as an energy source for most crafted mechanical items and there was something to do with making potions. I'd have to experiment.
"It's something to do with making potions" I told her "I want plenty so that I can experiment with in both here and in our world".
Whenever I tried to craft things I took extensive notes on the subject. I was curious to find out if crafting and enchanting tables would work outside of this world. So I needed to gather here and compare the result to what happened back home.
"We'll start heading upwards soon," I said to my companion "There's a chance we can find some other structures up on the surface, like that house we stayed in, that can contain some good loot and I don't want to spend all my time down here it can get depressing".
Finding treasure wasn't that important to me as I had quite a bit of golden stuff stashed away inside my pouch, but I was interested in acquiring rarer crafting materials and making enchanted items.
Hopefully, we'd find some villagers to trade with as they could have some good stuff.
I stopped again to check my book when it wanted my attention.
800cp
+200cp
1000cp
Bank or Roll?
There was no point in banking more cp as I knew that I couldn't go over a thousand. As such, I wrote that I wanted a roll.
-100cp
900cp
Anti-Possession Tattoo. Supernatural
A magical Tattoo designed to stop Demonic possession.
I might have lamented about how it was a waste of time to save up to 1000cp only to spend a tenth of the total points, but I was too busy feeling a burning sensation on the skin of my chest for that.
When Jess saw what was there she smiled.
"Oh, James. You bad boys and your tattoos" she joked.
The burning sensation stopped and since I knew that nothing from the Grimoire ever did me any real harm we soon got moving again.
"I'm a bad boy?" I asked.
I'd been going more for closed-off and aloof.
"Every girl wants a bad boy who is good only for her and every guy wants a good girl who is bad only for him" Jessica quoted from somewhere "Don't worry, you're the good kind of bad boy".
I'd have to take her word on that.