Mist of Shadows
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Myst in DC Part 3
🕑 Added 2019-07-13 02:47:39 +0000 UTCMyst had a moment of blind panic when he woke up and couldn’t feel his limbs. ‘Okay, stop panicking, you’re a slime in DC.’ He took a couple of breaths as he glanced around the bedroom that he’d barely looked at the night before. He was just glad that he had telekinesis otherwise getting to the bunk bed over the desk would have been problematic given his lack of hands.
He opened his upgrade menu and looked at his mana pool. ‘Thirty of thirty, I’m going to need to work on that.’ He spent his points on his mana regeneration to bring it up to two points a minute from the 1.7 he’d managed to raise it to last night while the team was watching a movie as a team building exercise. He glanced at the clock on the wall. ‘Eight fourteen, that’s probably late enough to get some breakfast without anyone complaining.’
Myst used his telekinesis to open the door then bounced out into the hallway and headed to the kitchen. He wasn’t terribly surprised to find Cyborg already making food. “Hey.”
“How did you sleep?” Cyborg asked as he stirred the eggs on the stove.
“Better than I was expecting, it usually takes me a couple nights to get used to a new place. Honestly, I’d rather have woken up at least once,” Myst admitted. “I could have increased my mana pool a bit more.”
“What are you up to?”
“Thirty total mana and two points a minute for regeneration which is a lot better than where I started but not even close to where I want to be.”
“Where do you want to be?” Cyborg asked absently as he grabbed a plate from the counter with his left hand.
“Ideally? I wish to be a god but I’m trying to be realistic, maybe a couple thousand mana regeneration a second and pool of a couple million.”
“That sounds like a lot of work,” Cyborg pointed out as he loaded up the plate with scrambled eggs. “Do you want scrambled eggs or should I put it in the oven for the next person that shows up?”
“I’ll take it. It’s certainly busy work to start with but it only takes fifteen minutes to completely refill my mana right now.” Myst used his telekinesis to float up to the table so he could reach his food. “Spending thirty points would give me another .3 mana a minute.”
“Which means that in a little less than fifty minutes you’ll have three mana a minute at which point the time to recharge drops to just over thirty minutes for another point a minute,” Cyborg mused. “Which means that eventually you’ll be regenerating mana faster than you can spend it.”
“That would be nice but I’ve got plenty of stuff to upgrade and upgrading Connor and Megan’s abilities should keep me busy for a decent amount of time.” Myst bounced over to his food then used his rather long tongue to scoop up the eggs and pull them into his mouth..
Cyborg frowned as the eggs vanished when Myst swallowed them. “That’s a bit disturbing, I can’t even see the eggs despite the fact that you appear transparent,” he mused as Megan shuffled in with Starfire floating in behind her. “Eggs?”
“Please,” Starfire replied as she floated over to her favorite chair.
Megan yawned as she walked over to her chair and sat down. “Any idea what we’re going to do today?”
“No clue, I can work on my magic pretty much anywhere.” Myst used his telekinesis to float over to the counter next to the sink.
“I vote for visiting the beach if we don’t have a mission,” Starfire suggested as she squirted ketchup on her eggs.
“I wouldn’t mind getting out of the lab.” Cyborg wouldn’t mind taking a day off or at least a few hours to work on team building.
“Who are you and what did you do with our tech?” Robin asked jokingly as he walked into the kitchen.
“I was stuck in the lab yesterday fixing things, I could use a break. Besides, we could use a day relaxing as a team and Superboy and Starfire could stand to spend some time in the sun soaking up sunlight.”
“The beach sounds good,” Starfire agreed as she looked at Myst. “What do you think?”
Myst smiled as Raven walked into the kitchen in her almost swimsuit costume. ‘Spend the day with a group of attractive girls or work on training in the gym, yeah, that’s an easy choice.’ He turned to look at Starfire. “I’m fine with relaxing on the beach as long as we have enough sunblock that Raven doesn’t spontaneously combust.”
“That would be bad,” Robin said as he took a seat.
Starfire swallowed the eggs she’d been chewing on. “Why would friend Raven spontaneously combust in sunlight?”
Raven rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t, I don’t actually sunburn.”
“Sorry, I forgot that we have two aliens on the team that aren’t all that familiar with human culture. Humans have different tolerance to ultraviolet light, generally the paler a person is, the easier it is for them to sunburn.”
“I’m glad Tamaraneans don’t have that problem,” Starfire said cheerfully.
“Or Kryptonians for that matter,” Conner agreed as he walked into the kitchen.
Robin glanced at Myst. “Could you upgrade a person’s ability to process sunlight?”
“Probably,” Myst admitted. “But I’m not sure you’d really want your body flooded with vitamin D which is what would probably happen if I boosted the wrong thing. It would probably be easier to boost your resistance to getting sunburned, but I’m not sure if that would result in your skin color changing or if you’d stop getting vitamin D from sunlight.”
“That sounds like you need to run some tests on lab rats,” Cyborg suggested as he handed Robin and Megan plates filled with scrambled eggs.
“Probably.” Myst glanced at his mana bar then spent his mana to increase his mana regeneration.
“You’re going to be doing that all day aren’t you?” Raven asked as she looked at Myst.
“Doing what?” Robin asked as Cyborg handed Conner a plate.
“Using his upgrade power, Zatanna and I can feel it every time he spends mana if we’re close enough.”
“Sorry, I could stay here if it bothers you,” Myst offered.
Raven shook her head. “It’s not uncomfortable, just noticeable.”
“That’s a relief. I’m just trying to get my powers up to a reasonable level.”
“Speaking of powers, how long would it take to turn me into a full Kryptonian?” Connor asked, looking forward to having the ability to fly.
“I can take a look if you want,” Myst offered.
“Please,” Connor agreed.
Myst focused on Connor and looked at his upgrade options. “Okay, that doesn’t help, way too many options.” He mentally adjusted the options so that only extraordinary abilities showed up. “Okay, that’s better, you have a rather weak form of empathy, probably from your genomorph genetics though it could be from Superman considering he has a vast array of powers and abilities.”
“Or his human side,” Robin pointed out.
“Anything is possible,” Myst admitted. ‘Then again, the ability to sense what others are feeling would certainly explain why Lex is so damned good at business. If it was weak enough, he’d probably just consider it a skill.’
“Heat vision?” Connor asked hopefully.
“Technically, it’s pretty weak, same with your cryokinesis, flight and clairvoyance.”
“Clairvoyance?” Megan asked. “Where did that come from?”
“Did you think Superman shoots actual x-rays from his eyes?” Myst asked as he looked over the rest of Connor’s abilities. He scowled as he saw an option to upgrade Connor’s control codes. “Why the fuck do you have control codes?”
“Control codes?” Connor asked warily.
“Yeah, no clue,” Myst lied. “I just have the option to upgrade them. That sounds like something to have the league telepath look into.”
“Considering we rescued him from Cadmus, taking a second look wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Robin pointed out.
“Great,” Connor complained. “We should probably warn the League so they can check Match.”
“Match?” Myst asked, curious when they’d found the other clone.
“Connor wasn’t the only clone in Cadmus,” Robin explained.
Connor sighed. “My half brother was unstable so they brought him to Superman’s fortress to try to stabilize him.”
“Probably the best place for him. Either way, I should be able to upgrade your various powers to the point where they’re usable once I get more mana.” Myst looked at his options for upgrading Connor’s species. “I can probably upgrade your hybrid quality to grant you more abilities but I’m not sure exactly sure what that would do.”
“You can’t make me into a full Kryptonian?” Connor asked warily.
“My power only upgrades people, turning you into a full Kryptonian wouldn’t be an upgrade.”
“I’m missing a number of abilities and I’m weaker than Superman,” Connor complained.
“He’s also had years of solar absorption and practice with his abilities. Besides, you’re a hybrid which means you might actually be able to breed with humans. Considering the lack of Kryptonians running around, that’s not a bad thing. You also have more resistance to Kryptonite than a full Kryptonian, which means I can probably boost your resistance so that you’re merely annoyed by the shit.”
“Which would be a hell of an advantage,” Robin pointed out.
“I still can’t fly,” Connor complained.
“Neither can Aqualad, Cyborg, Robin, Artemis or Kid Flash. Even if I can’t give you the ability to fly by fixing your hybrid quality, humanity has some interesting abilities, they’re adaptable and there are a number of upgrade formulas that work on them. To say nothing of the telepathy you might be able to get from your genomorph DNA.”
Connor sighed as he glanced between Robin and Cyborg. “Sorry.”
“Humans are awesome, give it a chance,” Robin suggested, fairly sure Connor would do better once he relaxed and adapted to the reality of the situation rather than worried about comparing himself to Superman.
“So, what can you do for the humans?” Cyborg asked as he cracked a couple more eggs into the pan knowing that Wally and Zatanna would want some scrambled eggs.
“Everyone has a certain amount of dexterity with their off hand, I should be able to increase it until you’re ambidextrous. I should also be able to upgrade your endurance to inhuman levels, as going past what should be possible is a very human trait, they are famed for it. It’s all a matter of spending mana and seeing what happens.”
“Does that mean you could improve my mental abilities?” Megan asked hopefully.
Myst turned to look at Megan. “I should be able to boost your control as it’s partially a talent but you’re going to have to put in a decent amount of training, my upgrade power can’t boost skills which means you have to earn them the hard way. On the other hand, if I can get enough mana I should be able to upgrade your genetics so you’re a red martian.”
“How come you can upgrade her but you can’t make me a kryptonian?” Connor demanded.
“Because it’s a flat out upgrade, less weakness to heat and possibly better talents in sorcery. Of course none of this is coming cheap which means you’re going to have to wait a while which means you should probably work on training so that you’re ready for the upgrade.”
“This is going to require a lot of work isn’t it?” Robin asked with a smirk playing about his lips.
“Very few things worth having are free, they generally take time and effort. I want to upgrade people and equip them with gear but I’m not going to waste my time if people aren’t willing to put in the effort to learn to use their new abilities and gear.”
“Meaning?” Connor asked.
“Meaning, you get to learn actual martial arts from Wonder Woman if we can arrange it, because there are people in Superman’s weight class that know how to fight. Brawlers, generally speaking, get torn apart by someone with proper training and similar physical abilities. If we gave Robin your powers and a reason, he’d slaughter you in a fight.”
“Pretty much,” Robin agreed, knowing he was better at martial arts than the rest of the team.
Myst laughed. “You’ll probably never get as good as Robin, he’s a bit insane, but you can close the gap. Of course you could go the other way and look into science and invention, Kryptonians produced a number of excellent scientists after all. The point is, nothing is free. I’m going to expect Megan to work on her abilities, same with the magic users.”
“What about the rest of us?” Kid Flash asked from the doorway.
Myst turned to look at Kid Flash. “I’m expecting everyone to put in the time learning how to use everything I give people. If I give you a shield, I expect you to run tests and understand how much force it can take before it breaks or what it blocks or doesn’t block. How do you think Cyborg would feel if he gave you an alien blaster and you blew yourself up with it after he explained what not to do? I’m guessing annoyed and a touch guilty for thinking you had a brain.”
“I wouldn’t have put it exactly like that, but yeah,” Cyborg agreed as he tossed some eggs on a plate for Kid Flash. ‘Yeah, I wouldn’t want people killing themselves with my gear.’
“Just think of it like training with safety gear or neat alien blasters,” Robin suggested, knowing Wally’s dislike of magic.
“I can do that,” Kid Flash said as he walked over to take a seat.
“On that note, I’m going to grab my stuff for the beach,” Robin said as he pushed back his chair.
“We’re going to the beach?” Kid Flash asked hopefully.
“I figured we could use a day at the beach after taking out Klarion.”
“What did you do with the real Robin?” Kid Flash asked suspiciously. “He’s in a tank back in Cadmus, isn’t he?” Kid Flash paused eyes wide. “How do we know we’re not in a simulation just thinking we’d escaped?!”
Raven smacked him with a flicker of black energy.
“Ouch,” Kid Flash said, rubbing his nose. “Okay, looks like this is reality after all.”
Robin shook his head then left to get ready.
Myst snickered as he opened his upgrade menu and boosted his mana regeneration, wanting to get it a bit higher before he went back to boosting his mana cap.
0o0o0
Raven pulled her attention off the game of Volleyball most of the team was playing when she felt yet another pulse of mana from Myst. The pulses were getting closer together though no more intense which was probably for the best as it was already like a warm wind caressing her skin every time he used his mana. “Eventually you’re going to have to boost your mana capacity again or you’re going to be doing that constantly.”
Myst looked up from his upgrade menu and looked at Raven who was sprawled out on a beach towel next to Zatanna reading something that Sabrina was showing them. ‘At least Raven left her cloak at home.’ He was fairly sure Zatanna’s father didn’t know about her skimpy bikini or maybe he did considering she ran around in fishnets. “Eventually, I’m just trying to boost my mana regeneration up to about ten a minute before I worry about increasing my capacity.”
“What are you up to?” Zatanna asked, curious how much progress he’d made over the last hour while they’d been setting up and looking up alchemy recipes with Sabrina. She was looking forward to feeding the girl copies of her family library or at least some of the books she used on a regular basis so that she could more easily look everything up.
“I’m up to 5.2 mana a minute which isn’t too shabby, I’ll probably try for ten mana a minute before I work on increasing my mana pool to fifty so I can try to upgrade to something other than a slime.”
“Getting tired of not having hands?” Raven asked.
“Not to mention I’m tired of being short,” Myst admitted as he turned his attention toward the team playing volleyball. “At least they’re slowly starting to work together rather than just trying to be the star of the show.”
Zatanna winced as Kid Flash rushed over and stole a shot from Artemis then lost the point when Megan spiked it back where he’d moved from before he could race back there. “It’s going to take a bit of work.”
“And match!” Megan declared smugly, doing a sort of victory dance in the air that would have looked a lot worse if she wasn’t currently an attractive female.
“It could be worse, they could hate each other,” Sabrina pointed out as the heroes broke into smaller groups, wandering off to have fun.
“Hopefully that doesn’t happen.” Myst was really hoping everyone could work together and get over their baggage or at least channel their issues productively.
Starfire flew over with a smile on her face. “Friends, can you show me how to build a sand castle?”
“We’d love to,” Zatanna cut in before Raven could refuse.
“Yep,” Myst agreed as Zatanna pushed herself up to her hands and knees so she could stand up. ‘Yeah, you’re not running around without armor if I can help it and I can.’ He quickly spent another ten points to improve his mana regeneration then floated after the girls, having found that sand wasn’t all that much fun to bounce on.
0o0o0
Beast Boy shivered slightly as he looked up from eating his peanut butter and jelly sandwich when Myst started laughing. “Does anyone else feel like they should be running?”
Myst stuck his extra long tongue out at Beast Boy.
Raven finished the last bite of her tuna sandwich. “Let me guess, you finally hit fifty mana?”
“Just about and there!” Myst said as the last bit of his mana pool refilled and he bought his upgrade.
Beast Boy blinked then quickly looked away as he realized the person sized humanoid slime was anatomically correct and on his back making it readily apparent. “Dude!”
Myst glanced down between his legs as he realized that all of the males in the group had looked away. “Ah, woops.”
“Nice,” Artemis said with a smirk as she checked out the athletic looking male slime. If you ignored the fact that he was still made out of a blue gel like substance, he looked like an attractive athletic teenager with shoulder length blue hair.
Zatanna snickered as Myst stuck out his tongue at Artemis then sat up and grabbed the edge of the beach towel and pulled it over his lap. “Nice upgrades.”
Myst smiled as he wiggled his gel like fingers and toes. “I have hands and feet, I’ll take it!”
”What are you going to do about clothes?” Robin asked as he carefully turned back to look at Myst, relieved that he’d covered up.
Myst shrugged, happy that he had shoulders again. “I should be able to grab some clothes from my gacha once my mana regenerates enough. If nothing else, I’ll wrap a beach towel around my waist so we can get back to the mountain without getting harassed.”
Starfire giggled as she moved her head back and forth, looking through Myst at Raven and Zatanna who she could just barely make out through his translucent body. “Neat.”
Myst held his arm up so that he could look through it at Starfire. “Yep.”
“Did you get any new abilities?” Connor asked curious about the upgrade process.
“Just hands and a better body,” Myst replied as he glanced over his abilities to make sure they hadn’t changed as he didn’t want any nasty surprises.
“You know what this means, right?“ Robin smirked at Myst. “Training!”
Myst conjured a large bag of M&Ms as he glared at Robin. “I have a bag of chocolate for anyone that will throw him into the water.”
“They wouldn’t do that…” he trailed off as he was surrounded by darkness then tossed toward the ocean. “Shit!”
Myst tossed Raven the bag of M&Ms. “Thanks.”
Raven grinned as she slowed Robin down then gently dropped him into the neck deep water. “You’re welcome.”
“Friend Robin!” Starfire said playfully as she flew over to where Robin had gotten dropped into the water to ‘rescue’ him.
“Can you change back into a slime?” Megan asked, curious if Myst had any shapeshifting powers.
“Nope, though I can probably ooze under a door if the gap is wide enough.” Myst honestly wasn’t all that bothered that he couldn’t change back into a normal slime as not having hands sucked. He opened his gacha menu and looked over the greyed out gachas while he waited for his mana pool to refill. “Snacks, tools, trinkets, drugs, party supplies, weapons and pillows? Yeah, I’m almost tempted to buy the pillow wheel just because it’s weird.”
“You’d probably get something related to sleep,” Zatanna mused.
“Most likely,” Myst said as he selected the trinkets wheel and waited for his mana to refill as everyone worked on eating or ‘stealing’ Raven’s chocolate.
Zatanna giggled as she felt the mana pulse wash over her as a glowing trinket wheel appeared in the air in front of Myst and started spinning. “Trinkets?”
“I doubt fifty mana is enough to get anything exceptionally useful for drugs or food which means tools, trinkets or pillows was probably be the best option.”
“Not party supplies?” Kid Flash asked as Starfire flew back over with Robin.
“Sounds like something to play with in a couple of days when I have more mana than I can spend.” He blinked as the wheel stopped and a silver and amethyst ring dropped on his outstretched hand. “A silver starburst set into an amethyst on the face and two starbursts on the side set in smaller amethysts, decent workmanship.”
“Is that a Lantern ring?” Robin asked in disbelief, recognizing the symbol for the violet lanterns.
Comments
Mist of Shadows
Of course not. :P
William Jackson
No way a Lantern Ring is a trinket.
