Mist of Shadows
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Myst in DC part 8
🕑 Added 2019-07-30 03:13:08 +0000 UTCZatanna finished drawing the ritual circle on the ground with a grease pencil. “Standing inside of the circle will agitate your mana so that you should be able to feel it.”
“What if I don’t have mana?” Connor asked warily.
“If you have life force, you have mana,” Zatanna assured him.
“That and I can see your mana pool, you have mana,” Myst assured him, curious if Clark’s family was strange or if his magic came from Lex because he had more than he would have expected for a race that wasn’t known for using magic.
“Which of us has the most mana?” Artemis asked.
“In order?” Myst pointed at Zatanna. “Her, Raven, Dinah, Cyborg, Robin, Connor, Starfire, Megan and you have twenty five Artemis.”
“I have magic?” Cyborg asked in surprise.
“You have just over three hundred mana, Robin has two fifty and Connor has a hundred, Starfire has seventy three, Megan has fifty and Artemis a respectable twenty five.”
“How much do I have?” Dinah asked, curious how she compared to the team.
“Six hundred but your mana regeneration sucks,” Myst explained. “Considering how high Robin’s magic is, I’m guessing it’s from spending time in Gotham.”
“Why would that matter?” Starfire asked.
“Gotham is cursed and basically a dark magic nexus. That’s one of the reasons Batman has such an ‘interesting’ collection of rogues.” At least he was reasonably sure that was part of the reason.
“I thought magic was supposed to make things better,” Megan said, thinking about the stories she’d heard over the years where the hero discovered magic and saved the day.
Raven shook her head. “Magic can do wonderful things but it can also do terrible things, it just depends on who has it.”
“And the average Gothamite shouldn’t be allowed near sharp objects,” Dinah said with amusement.
“Hey, they’re not all that bad,” Robin said, knowing a few decent people from school but also knowing that there were a lot of broken people that came out at night.
“Either way, everyone should have enough mana to power the spell to conjure the broom as it doesn’t take much.” Myst glanced at Artemis. “If you run into trouble, I’ll boost your mana pool and regeneration but you should be fine.”
“Thanks, I’m looking forward to being able to fly almost as much as Connor,” Artemis said as she glanced at Connor, who was practically bouncing in place. “Okay, maybe a distant second.”
“I think we’re all looking forward to it,” Robin said as he turned back to look at Zatanna. “What’s the first step?”
“The first step is to step into the circle and get a sense of your magic then I’ll explain some of the basics. I want everyone to have a decent understanding about mana and magic before they start trying to learn the spell from the locket.” Zatanna gestured toward the circle. “Let’s start with Dinah as she has the highest mana, it should be easy for her to notice the effect.”
“Magic 101, never step into a magic circle if you don’t trust the caster,” Dinah said as she stepped into the circle. The first thing she noticed was the strange almost jittery feeling in her throat then in her chest then came the wordless song she could just barely hear that seemed to come from inside of her. “Weird.”
“Let me guess, you felt it?” Myst asked with amusement.
“A weird sort of feeling in my throat and chest,” Dinah explained, not quite sure how to describe the feeling other than weird.
“That makes a certain amount of sense considering your abilities.” Zatanna handed Dinah the original locket. “Put it on and transform then try to conjure a broom, the talisman should do most of the work.”
“You’re not actually sure how this works, are you?” Dinah asked as she focused on transforming.
“Considering I haven’t actually learned the spell, nope!” Zatanna said with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Great,” Dinah muttered as she mentally activated the transformation, a touch surprised at how easy it was.
Myst smiled the pink sparkles finished swirling around Dinah revealing the green haired girl that Beast Boy and Megan had changed into. ‘At least we know the appearance wasn’t a fluke.’
Dinah glanced down at her breasts. “Any larger and they’d probably get in the way.”
“Most likely,” Myst agreed, happy that no one was freaking out about the partial nudity. ‘We need to call Kent to see if he has any idea what the hell happened.’ He pulled his attention off Dinah’s breasts as she managed to conjure an old fashioned wooden broom with a smooth oak shaft and twigs for bristles. “Nice, I was half expecting it to be harder than that.” He focused on Dinah with his upgrade ability, looking at her mana pool. “Looks like it costs five mana to summon the broom.”
“Meaning I can only summon it five times before my mana pool is empty?” Artemis asked in disappointment, figuring that would seriously hamper her ability to learn the spell in any reasonable amount of time.
“Myst can fix that,” Starfire assured her friend.
“Star’s right.” Myst turned his attention to Artemis and looked at her mana regeneration with his upgrade ability. “Point one every hour, yeah, that’s shit.” He spent ninety plus mana to boost her mana regeneration up to a point a minute. “That’s better. I boosted your mana regeneration up to a point a minute which should be more than enough for practice.”
“Thanks!” Artemis stepped forward and pulled Myst into a hug.
“You’re welcome,” Myst replied as he hugged her back, acutely aware of her topless and newly enhanced state.
Raven spoke up, “You might as well dismiss the broom then reconjure it a couple of times since you have the mana. You should be able to feel the flow of magic inside the circle which should, in theory, help you learn how to conjure the broom when you aren’t transformed.”
“After that, you should probably take it for a spin while we have a healer available to heal you in case you crash,” Myst suggested as Artemis let him go.
“Don’t worry friends, I’ll try to catch you if you fall,” Starfire assured everyone.
“Sounds good,” Dinah replied as she dismissed the broom.
“Can I go next?” Connor asked hopefully.
Zatanna glanced over at Cyborg and Robin who both shrugged. “Sure, we have two transformation items.”
Myst pulled the knock-off transformation locket out of his inventory then tossed it to Connor. “Have fun.”
Connor quickly put the ivory locket on and walked into the ritual circle with Dinah. “I don’t feel any different.”
Zatanna pulled her attention off the broom that Dinah had just conjured and looked at Conner. “It might take a minute or two considering you have less mana.”
“Great, it’s going to take forever,” Artemis grumbled.
“It’s flight, it’s worth it,” Robin said, looking forward to being able to fly even if it was merely riding a broom.
“Point,” Artemis admitted.
“Should my skin be tingling?” Connor asked, not sure what to make of the weird feeling.
“Considering you’re at least partially Kryptonian, probably,” Myst said as he turned his attention back to his pink cloak and dropped his mana into boosting its mana regeneration.
“Now that you can feel your magic, you should probably transform and summon a broom,” Raven suggested.
“How much mana regeneration do I have?” Cyborg asked as purple sparkles poured out of the ivory locket and transformed Connor into a tall naked redhead with green eyes. “That better not screw with my hardware.”
“It shouldn’t,” Myst assured Cyborg as he checked his mana regeneration. “You regenerate slightly more than a point every twenty minutes which isn’t bad for someone that isn’t a magic user. Not that your base mana regen or capacity will matter in a couple of days when I start upgrading everyone.”
“If he starts laughing maniacally, I’m running,” Robin said half seriously as Connor conjured a broom.
“Probably for the best,” Dinah agreed as she transformed back to normal. “Let’s see if this works.” She focused on the faint music she could almost still hear and conjured a magical broom. “I wasn’t expecting it to be that easy,” she admitted as she swung her leg over her broom then hovered in place.
“I’m guessing the locket imprints the spell after you use it a couple times,” Raven mused, a touch impressed with the locket despite herself.
Robin had to remind himself that the attractive naked redhead was actually Connor as she swung her leg over her broom then pushed off, sending her gliding through the air with a brilliant smile on her face that almost lit up the room.
Megan laughed as she watched her friend fly through the air with more enthusiasm than actual skill, like he’d found a missing part of his soul and was determined to never let it go. “It might take some work to get him down.”
“The circle isn’t going anywhere,” Dinah said as she took the locket off and handed it to Cyborg. “Have fun.” She grinned as she flew along the ground, trying to get a handle on the mental controls before she tried flying around like Connor.
Cyborg slipped the locket over his head then activated it. He shivered slightly as the sparkles flowed over him and changed him into a flesh and blood girl. She glanced down at her pale breasts then looked at her hands and wiggled her fingers. She ran her fingers over her arm, enjoying the sensations. “I might need to upgrade my sensors and the program that changes it into useable sensation.”
“I could always regenerate your real body,” Myst offered, knowing he wouldn’t take it.
“I’d hate to give up all of my advantages but it’s something to consider,” Cyborg replied, unwilling to lose his advantages even if it meant he’d be able to walk down the street without people looking at him in fear. “I wonder how high I can jump with the boots?”
“Probably…” Myst trailed off as Cyborg jumped, managing an impressive seven feet in the air before she fell back to the ground. “No super strength?”
“Sadly, not so much,” Cyborg grumbled, a little disappointed that she couldn’t have the best of both worlds. She shivered as she ran her fingers over her leg, delighting in having actual feeling again. “On the upside, if you can figure out how to make a transformation item that gives me a male form, I’d appreciate it.”
“Don’t worry, it’s on my list,” Myst assured him.
“Less talking and more conjuring,” Artemis teased.
“Sorry,” Cyborg replied as he stepped into the circle.
0o0o0
Zatanna looked away from where Connor was flying around the gym on a conjured broomstick, looking like he’d just won the lottery when she felt another pulse of mana from Myst. She grinned as she saw the fancy looking Rare Book gacha. “Oh, books!”
“I decided I needed a reward for getting my cloak’s mana regeneration up to a point a second.” Myst blinked as a yellow and black for dummies style book dropped on his lap as the gacha wheel stopped spinning. “Hermes’ Speed Force Exercises and Rituals for Atheists… Yeah, I’m starting to think my power is trolling me.”
Zatanna read the title and snickered. “Or giving you what you need.”
Kid blurred into the room. “Hello beautiful naked angel, are you here to answer my dreams?” he asked, staring at the unfamiliar naked girl.
“I do not think so,” Starfire answered apologetically. “You pride yourself on your speed and I am more fond of lovers who take pride in endurance.”
“Nah, he’s actually sort of like a vibrator, just use a lot of lube so you don’t get friction burns,” Artemis said cheerfully.
Myst shook his head. “So, yeah, I have a rare book for you Wally,” he offered, holding up the book.
Kid Flash blurred over to grab the book. “Is this a joke?” he asked, annoyed after he’d read the title but opening the book anyway and quickly getting lost in its contents.
“I don’t think so, it was a thousand mana…” Myst trailed off as he realized that Wally wasn’t even paying attention anymore. “Right, have fun.” He turned his attention back to watching Starfire as she conjured a magic broom then swung her leg over it and started flying. “That might be my new favorite spell.” He’d never been so jealous of an inanimate object before as he watched the naked girl grip it tightly between her thighs as she put it through its paces.
“I’d say something about stereotypes but that looks way too fun,” Zatanna teased as she watched Starfire start chasing Beast Boy around who was also on a broom.
“Does that mean you’re going to learn to summon a broom?” Myst teased.
Zatanna shrugged. “I’m just waiting my turn.”
Starfire flew over to where Raven was reading something that Sabrina was showing her. “Friend Raven are you going to take a turn?” she asked hopefully.
“Of course,” Raven replied distractedly, busy concentrating on not feeling Beast Boy and Robin’s joy and confusion at half the team’s lack of concern about nudity, not to mention Myst’s which was made stronger by their bond. She blinked as she realized what Starfire had actually asked. ‘Crap!’
“Yay!” Starfire focused on her locket and activated the change back to her normal self, causing sparkles to rush out of her locket and surround her.
Myst blinked as Starfire flashed with a bright light and returned to normal. “Yeah, that needs work. Magical transformations that light up the room are a problem when you are trying to be sneaky.”
“It could be worse,” Aqualad assured him as he walked into the room. “It could cause weakness or personality changes, which I am going to assume these don’t?”
“Good point and no they don’t, it’s just a physical transformation,” Myst admitted as he turned to look at his teammate that he hadn’t gotten a chance to interact with all that much on account of him having to head back to Poseidonis for an important political function. “How was the trip?”
“It was nice to see my friends from the Academy,” Aqualad replied as he studied the blue humanoid slime in flaming purple and black shorts. “What did you think of your first mission?”
Myst turned to watch the last part of Raven’s transformation as he considered the question, feeling a brief touch of disappointment, as while Raven was naked it wasn’t her body she was displaying. After a moment’s thought he also gave thanks that she was an empath and not a telepath so she hadn’t heard him thinking that. “We managed to keep any civilians from dying and we freed a hero from being mind controlled, I’m calling it a success.”
Aqualad raised his eyebrows, surprised that he was glossing over The Hatter’s death. “What about The Hatter’s death?”
“Have you read his file?” Myst absently as he watched Raven easily summon a broom without even bothering to walk into the circle. ‘That’s probably for the best, we don’t need her father taking an interest, then again, he probably can’t track her that closely.’
“I’ve glanced at most of the league files, why?” Aqualad asked.
Myst turned to look at Aqualad. “He was a convicted murderer and mind control specialist, the world is better off without him.”
Aqualad shook his head. “We’re supposed to be heroes, there are courts for a reason.”
Myst shook his head. “If a ‘hero’ had caught him, where do you think he would have ended up?”
“Arkham Asylum,” Robin cut in as he flew over, riding sideways on his broom. “He would have been out by Christmas, either with new medication or because he escaped, likely the latter.”
“I doubt he would have taken his meds longer than a month, which means that he would have went right back to being an insane killer. It’s tragic that he wasted his intelligence creating mind control technology rather than something more useful, but there are plenty of other inventors running around that aren’t insane.”
“You don’t even care that he was insane and needed treatment do you?” Aqualad asked, trying to figure out where his new teammate stood.
“Not really,” Myst replied with a shrug. “He was unwilling to stay on his meds regardless of the fact that he knew he was violent without them, it was a decision he made while in his right mind so insanity isn’t a valid excuse for his actions. He’s proven that Arkham can’t hold him and for whatever reason they refuse to toss him in an actual jail and take the proper precautions so yeah, I’m glad that he’s dead and gone.”
“So you’re saying we should kill villains?”
“No, I’m just saying that I’m glad that he won’t be able to mind control anyone again,” Myst replied as he turned to watch Raven as she turned back to normal.
Robin had to admit, if only to himself that he agreed with Myst, he’d had nightmares about being mind controlled and forced to hurt his friends or share secrets that would get people killed. “You should use the locket and pick up the ability to conjure a broom while you’re at it.”
“Sounds good,” Aqualad admitted, making a mental note to talk to Aquaman about their new teammate and ethics, some training might be in order.
Raven summoned a broom then handed the amulet to Aqualad. “Have fun.”
Myst opened his gacha menu and looked at his options. “Food, Toys, Clothing, Boots, Sex Toys, Hats, Enchanting Supplies,” he muttered as he read the options. He blinked and rechecked the list. ‘Okay, looks like the gacha is affected by the change in reality as well. At least they simply added a category rather than corrupt the other ones. How much does it cost… Only fifty mana? That’s pretty cheap, but then I’m guessing sex toys aren’t exactly the most useful things, outside of the bedroom anyway.’
“Did you say sex toys?” Starfire asked curiously.
“Yeah, apparently.”
“Are you going to try it?” she asked hopefully, a smile on her face. “I have yet to see any Earth sex toys.”
Myst grinned as he noticed that she did really good puppy dog eyes. “Sure.” He paid the mana and watched the wheel spin, hoping it wasn’t too embarrassing.
Starfire blinked as an orange lava lamp appeared when the wheel stopped. “Humans must be stretchier than I had imagined, I’m not sure where that fits.”
“I’m fairly sure it’s just for mood lighting,” Myst replied as he looked at it with his upgrade power. ‘Nothing?’ He blinked as he noticed that the lava lamp didn’t have a plugin or batteries, yet was working just fine.
“This lighting would put humans in the mood?” Starfire asked, perking up.
“Yes, that reddish orange hue is used to signal to ones partner that sex is an option,” Artemis explained as she hung upside down from her broom above them.
“It is similar to my coloration,” Starfire noted.
“Huh,” Myst muttered as he selected the Toys wheel for 100 points, making a mental note to look up the bit about the orange lava lamp. “Might as well see what the normal toys wheel gives me.”
“Hopefully something interesting,” Artemis agreed.
Myst stuck the lava lamp in his inventory then blinked as a pair of obviously fake plastic glasses dropped when the wheel stopped. He examined the glasses with his upgrade ability then shook his head, knowing he was going to get himself in trouble. “They let you see through clothes but not underwear or masks. That could be useful for seeing if people have hidden weapons. One hundred mana to see through all clothes and masks, five hundred to see through everything. Sounds like it would work for checking for broken bones and possibly internal injuries.”
“That would be so useful in triage and for detecting hidden weapons,” Artemis mused.
“Slightly problematic for masks,” Zatanna said, fairly sure that the heroes would complain. She didn’t really want a bunch of people running around with the ability to see through her clothes either.
“That’s what lead foil is for,” Aqualad replied, not all that concerned as he didn’t have a secret identity. “There are quite a number of individuals who have x-ray vision or some variation.”
“In that case, I’m glad I’m planning on using a transformation to get a secret identity then,” Myst said as he put the glasses on and looked around the room. ‘Huh, apparently Dinah’s suit doesn’t count as underwear, not sure if I should mention that.’ He pulled his attention off Dinah’s breasts then looked over at Robin, whose suit was transparent which let him see the knives and throwing objects he had stashed in various places. “Huh, Robin has a hell of a lot of knives.”
“He likes being prepared,” Zatanna agreed. “Can I try that?”
Myst took the glasses off then handed them to Zatanna. “Sure.” He spent the mana on the Enchanting Supply wheel.
“Doesn’t do much for your secret identity, does it?” Kid Flash asked as he looked up from his book.
“What, how dare you say that,” Myst said sarcastically. “My secret identity is ironclad.”
“You’re blue and see-through,” Kid Flash said dryly, “I don’t think a simple mask is going to work.”
Zatanna put the glasses on then looked at Myst’s crotch, rather amused that his ‘shorts’ didn’t count as underwear. ‘Then again, Superman and Kara can already pull this trick, so maybe it’s not so weird.’
Myst blinked as the wheel dropped an engraving tool, with a rune etched ivory handle. He grinned as he looked at the tool with his upgrade ability and realized it was indestructible and would engrave damn near anything. “Huh, that’s neat.”
“What did you get?” Artemis asked.
“Basically an indestructible engraving tool which should come in handy if I have to etch something extremely durable.” He stuck the tool in his inventory then spent ten points on the food gacha. “I should probably grab the boots then I should get back to working on increasing my mana regeneration.”
“Hopefully I can get more Tamaranean food,” Starfire said hopefully.
“At 10 mana, I doubt it but maybe…” Myst trailed off as a bar of chocolate appeared when the wheel vanished. “Chocolate!”
“Anything special about it?” Zatanna asked as she looked over at Raven whose costume wasn’t transparent in the slightly.
Myst grinned slightly as he felt Raven’s amusement as she smirked at Zatanna. “Looks like chocolate.” He paid the mana for the Boots wheel then opened the chocolate and broke off a piece to test it.
‘I’ll have to ask her which spell she used to cloak her outfit,’ Zatanna thought as she turned her attention to Cyborg, not terribly surprised that his hardware counted as metal rather than clothing. She smirked slightly as she looked over at Connor, enjoying looking at his muscular frame.
Myst caught the pair of rubber boots that dropped from the Boots wheel then looked at them with his upgrade ability. “Huh, these drastically reduce the time it takes to learn to dance.”
“How drastic are we talking?” Robin asked intently as he flew over.
“Like you’ll be a professional in an hour,” Myst said rather impressed with the skill boost. Sadly, he doubted he’d be able to translate the skill boost to a different skill.
“Why the interest in dancing?” Artemis asked.
“Strict teachers,” Robin said thinking of multiple dance trainers that Bruce had hired so he could blend in anywhere.
“Sounds good, someone can use the boots while we work on flying,” Dinah cut in as she flew over. “I want us to spend at least another twenty minutes on flying then we can work on some martial arts.”
“Sounds good to me,” Myst said as he tossed the boots to Robin, causing him to catch the boots, flip around the broom then land perfectly on the ground without missing a beat as the broom vanished. ‘Yeah, I’m going to have to work on acrobatics.’
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Chichi son
“I’d hate to give him all of my advantages but it’s something to consider,” Cyborg replied, unwilling to lose his advantages even if it meant he’d be able to walk down the street without people looking at him in fear. “I wonder how high I can jump with the boots?” give up all?
