Volume 2 Honoring Robin Chapter 24: Will there really be any customers in this shabby shop in the dark alley?
Bruce Wayne opened his eyes with difficulty.
His consciousness was still in the remnants of the dream brought about by the water of life and death, but it was not a beautiful dream. After all, the pain of the body can be projected onto the spirit.
He was in a coma for more than twenty-four hours and had nightmares for a full twenty-four hours.
As soon as he was awake, he clenched his fists and prepared to attack, but he was weak after all, and before he could swing his fists, a pair of gentle hands held them in front of him.
"Bruce! It's me. I'm here. Don't be afraid. You are safe."
Selina's voice filled with joy and heartache rang in the master's ears, quickly calming down this man who never easily revealed his inner thoughts.
He breathed and felt the changes in his body.
The brutal pain that had previously destroyed every bone and every blood vessel like a steel knife scraping at the bone was now long gone.
Another gentler and more healing force flowed through his already exhausted body, not only repairing difficult-to-heal external injuries, but also healing those old wounds through the touch of soaking in warm water.
The pure blood of the unicorn brings more than just simple healing, it also has the magical power to bring dead trees back to life.
Bruce had been awake for less than ten seconds when he felt himself becoming more comfortable with every second. That strange feeling made him unable to help but relax his body.
Even my depressed mood became relaxed.
He looked at Selina, who was sitting next to him and holding his hands. He saw the worry that Catwoman could not hide in her eyes, so he tried to smile at her.
Then, with the help of Catwoman, he leaned against the head of the bed and looked at the person next to him.
Alfred, Dr. Leslie and Lucius.
The feeling that these people he trusted most were by his side when he needed them most even dispelled, at one point, the loneliness and guilt that Bruce Wayne had been unable to let go of since he was eight years old.
But soon, that desolate atmosphere returned to him.
It was like a black cloak covering this man's heart, blocking all changes and outbursts of emotions.
"thank you all."
The master whispered:
"You saved me."
"You should thank Mason, Bruce."
Doctor Leslie rubbed his forehead and said:
“It was him and Selina who found the legendary medicine for you and dispelled the terrible poison in your body. In fact, before I saw you wake up with my own eyes, I still didn’t believe that there was such a thing as a unicorn in this world.
But the potion miraculously pulled you back from the brink of death within a few hours, which made me admit that I might have been too superstitious about science in my previous life. "
"me too."
Mr. Lucius smiled wryly, straightened his shirt collar, and said:
"Maybe I should have a drink to help me feel better."
"Together?"
Doctor Leslie glanced at Lucius and extended the invitation. The engineer shrugged his shoulders and said:
"why not?"
Afterwards, the two guys, whose combined ages were easily over a hundred years old, turned around and left, talking and laughing.
Their relationship with Bruce is different from that of Alfred and Selina, as they are not keen on getting involved in Batman's career.
They're trying to protect Bruce Wayne for a variety of reasons, but they're not too keen on the character of Batman.
Now that Bruce is out of danger, the two who have been tense for more than a day should really relax. As they watched them leave, Selina curled her lips and whispered:
"Maybe I should call Commissioner Gordon. It's bad that there's an old rich guy approaching his girlfriend."
"Master, you really frightened my old heart."
Alfred also stood beside the old man's bed. He was pleased to see the man in front of him recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye. He nodded and said:
"But seeing you finally recover from your nightmare makes me feel that the huge reward we paid this time was not wasted."
"Afu, did I just hear 'unicorn'?"
The playboy leaning against the bedside put Selina 's hand on his heart. He looked at his most trusted old butler and said with a strange expression:
"So what did that amazing young man Mason give me to drink? And how much did you pay him to come and save me?"
"Well, let Ms. Selina tell you about this."
The old butler smiled and said:
"I'm tired too, I should take some time to rest, maybe this city will be in chaos soon, I need a glass of wine and a good sleep.
I won't bother you anymore. Just call me if you need anything.
I'm next door."
After saying that, Alfred turned and left, leaving precious time to this couple who had been entangled for more than ten years.
“So, this should be a great story?”
The master turned his head to look at Selina, Catwoman snorted and pulled back her hand and said:
"It is very exciting, but I don't want to tell you. Besides, I haven't bothered you about your other lover yet, and you actually asked her to give you... well."
The questioning was interrupted by a passionate kiss, and the ignited romance was lost in the remaining silence.
Of course, Catwoman did not forget to cover her left arm when she was distracted and lost in passion. She did not want the man in front of her who was burdened with a heavy sense of responsibility to worry about her.
Just bear those things and those pressures by yourself.
——
While the master who crawled back from hell was enjoying the warmth of the jade, Mason was frowning in his little hut, looking at the pieces of magical metal that were smelted with magic fire in front of him.
He was trying out the [Alchemical Transformation] formula he had just unlocked.
Alchemy is more than just brewing potions from poisonous mushrooms and old shoe heels. Ancient alchemists were looking for changes in the properties of matter.
For example, turning stone into gold, which sounds unscientific but is very magical.
When alchemy reached Lv4, Mason finally entered this field.
He scratched his head as he looked at the elementary transformation formulas written on the research notebook in front of him. According to these formulas, he could use the alchemist stone as a catalyst to transform a magical material into a completely different property.
For example, you can convert a piece of Mountain Blood Ore into Ice Ore, and you can also extract something called "alchemical elements" from various materials to make more advanced alchemical materials.
Things like Primal Fire and Primal Shadow are indispensable for making advanced potions.
It sounds simple, but it's so hard to do.
Mason had spent five full hours and wasted two alchemy stones before he had finally completed the first transformation of the properties of an object. He took the metal block that emitted a faint chill in his hand and immediately felt the chill.
"I feel like my daily life is about tearing the worldview and scientific common sense in my mind into pieces and trampling them underfoot."
The young man gathered up the materials in front of him and complained :
"Where is the promise of getting closer to science and living a happy life?"
He complained.
He took out the Devil's Box from the suitcase at hand, put on the thick leather gloves he made when he was a tailor, took out several Devil's gold coins and placed them on the table, and at the same time placed Will Turner's forging notes in front of him.
Considering that Batman was attacked, it is estimated that Gotham is now in turmoil amid its calmness.
It is very likely that the entire city will be caught in a wave of terror in a day or two, so Mason urgently feels that his K team needs to strengthen its equipment.
And these sufficient cursed gold coins are a good way to do it.
Mason read Will Turner's special reminder, and according to the description in the notebook, he first sprinkled some special powder on his left hand, then ignited the magic fire and let the flame dance on his fingertips, and finally put a devil gold coin into the palm of his hand.
The magic of fire supports it so that it does not touch the skin, and melts it in the burning flames. Finally, a more complex bullet mold is taken out and cast in one go.
Mason melted four cursed gold coins to make 24 bullets, then picked up the standard bullet shells and gunpowder fillings he made using an industrial printer and began to assemble them.
In a very busy manner, 24 single-headed bullets for shotguns and double-barreled hand cannons were quickly produced.
Although they are handmade, with the help of engineering skills, the bullets made by Mason are not much worse than those produced on the assembly line.
He took a cursed bullet wrapped in a shell in his hand, tested its weight, and then looked at its information tag:
Engineering Bullet Advanced Curse
Quality: Excellent engineering and craftsmanship
Effect: Inflict [Weakness Torment] on any target that is hit but not dead, causing its physical fitness to weaken while suffering increasing mental pressure until it goes insane.
The curse lasts until the target dies or the bloodstained cursed metal is returned to the Devil's Chest.
When the target is a white male, the curse takes effect faster and more strongly.
This curse can be cleansed, but the same curse is placed on the caster during cleansing.
Producer: Mason Cooper
Item Description: More dangerous than bullets are bullets with magic.
"cool!"
Mason admired the bullet in front of him, pressed it into the special magazine of the explosive shotgun, and glanced at the production information on the character card:
"Complete the production of an excellent quality and craftsmanship engineering item, and improve your engineering skill proficiency by X4X5=X20."
Mason found the 24 identical prompts pleasing to the eye.
He still has 500 devil gold coins on hand, each of which can be used to make six cursed bullets. If he finishes making all of these, it will be more than enough for his engineering to reach Lv4.
But that's impossible.
These gold coins all have their uses. Only some of them can be set aside to make reusable bullets for myself and Charles. The rest will be used as raw materials to practice enchantment and inscription.
He had to complete the curse enchantment on Selina's Eagle before the danger came, and by the way, upgrade Catwoman's whip with the centaur tail and unicorn mane found in the Forbidden Forest.
If possible, I would practice my tailoring skills, which are still terrible now.
But the good news is that I have a lot of magic leathers. After tanning them using alchemy and enchantment, it should not be a problem for tailoring to reach Lv1.
Very good! Great!
All branch skills seem to have been on the right track of healthy development and progress, except for jewelry processing... Mason is really not in the mood to deal with this thing now.
Not only professional tools are needed, but also various rare gemstones.
Catwoman should have a lot of jewelry, but she certainly won't give her collection to Mason so easily, so let's wait a little.
He hummed a song as he continued to smelt devil gold coins to make very "punishing" cursed single-barreled bullets, and he entertained himself like this until ten o'clock in the evening. Mason stretched, stood up, and pulled up the shutter of Cooper's shop.
It's time to "open for business" again.
I hope that tonight there will be a sucker like Damian Wayne who will come into my shop and bring me more materials to exchange.
It is really expensive to acquire skills in the manufacturing branch, and it is simply impossible to make ends meet if you don’t try to earn some money.
Speaking of which, this Mason store is really outrageous.
It has been almost seven days since he opened the business, and he has only opened the store twice. It is unreasonable for him not to lose a lot of money with this kind of business attitude of working for three days and drying the net for thirty days.
But the young man was lucky tonight. Just a few minutes after the door opened, a drunk young girl staggered in.
"Mason? Mason Cooper?"
She seemed to have drunk a lot of wine. Her cheeks were flushed as she leaned on Mason's counter, pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses and tried to show an intellectual smile.
she says:
"Are you Mason?"
"You came here specially to see me?"
The young man looked up in surprise and looked at the young girl in front of him.
He didn't know the other person, but the lady looked quite pretty. Her height of 1.75 meters and the high heels made her look quite tall. She was wearing a black and white professional suit but no makeup.
She looks youthful and beautiful even without any makeup, with her golden hair tied up in a neat style.
In terms of temperament, she looks like a college student, but she is obviously working. Even though she was drunk, she was still polite a highly qualified person.
But this is also what puzzles Mason the most.
What was a respectable Gotham girl doing in a place like Crime Alley at night? Her store's reputation had spread?
No way?
"Well, I was introduced by Commissioner Gordon."
The drunk girl was a little dizzy, but still explained:
"I have worked with Mr. Gordon before. He has a magical potion that can quickly restore your spirit after drinking it, so I went to ask him about it.
But your shop was closed when I came here a few days ago."
"Fuck Gordon!"
Mason curled his lips and greeted his nominal guardian in his heart. That enthusiastic and righteous old man really knew how to cause trouble for himself.
I gave the vitality potion to the old man who always stayed up late to work overtime for his own use, but I didn't ask him to advertise for the shop. This shop is not for ordinary people.
Besides, most potions are poisonous and ordinary people cannot drink them directly.
"You mean the vitality potion? Well, I still have some in stock."
Mason looked at the young girl in front of him with a headache, looking expectant.
Beautiful things always receive more lenient treatment, especially since the girl is now drunk and is staring at him with her big eyes like a cat, making it impossible for the young man to say no.
He hesitated for a moment and said:
"Technically this store doesn't accept cash, but you're Gordon's friend and Gordon's my friend, so I'm giving you an extra treat, ma'am.
Come on, I'll get it to you."
He stood up and walked to the counter to take down a few blue vitality potions, and asked casually while putting them into a paper bag:
"How did you get to know Gordon? Does a boring old man like him have a beautiful young friend like you?"
"Oh, it's a colleague."
The girl who was praised chuckled. She looked around Mason's shop and introduced herself:
“I’m a criminal psychologist and psychiatrist, and I’m also a criminal psychologist working for the Gotham Police Department. It’s hard to find a job in this field in other places, but I’m very successful in Gotham.
I heard him tell me your story when I went to Blackgate Prison with him to do a mental evaluation on Penguin. "
She rubbed her aching forehead and said:
“I was always stressed out at work and tried yoga and meditation but nothing worked until Commissioner Gordon’s magic potion gave me a good night’s sleep.
Are you really an alchemist?
Mason, can you do magic?"
"Well, that depends on how you define magic."
The young man turned around and shrugged, then handed the potion in the paper bag to the customer and held it on her chest for a few seconds.
Don't get me wrong, Mason is not such a nasty person.
He could even resist the teasing of Catwoman, but what really attracted Mason was the identity badge on the girl's chest.
"Harley Quinzel?"
Mason narrowed his eyes at the familiar name.
After a few seconds, he smiled gently and said to the female doctor who took out her wallet:
“No need, these medicines are just a token of my gratitude for your assistance in Gordon’s work, but your dark circles look so serious, maybe you need other ways to relax your mind.
If you have time, please wait a moment and I can introduce you to another magical potion.
I call it a palliative or a tranquilizer.
It must be very useful for a girl like you who has a lot of work pressure. Well, I mean, it should be very useful for some of the difficult patients you encounter at work. "
Mason gave a gentle and expectant smile, and he began to thank Gordon for his "little help" in bringing the girl to his store.
Then, he added in his mind what he hadn't said:
"For example, the famous Zhou Ke'er..."
