Godhood Unlocked: I Choose Sci-Magic Dual Cultivation

"If I said yes?" Dane asked with interest.

Bruce's eye twitched.

If you want to kill me, just say it. No need to beat around the bush.

"Relax, I'm joking. Your opponent is Jason. Beat him, and you can stay."

Batman relaxed, though he stubbornly said, "Actually, if you gave me some time, challenging you wouldn't be impossible either."

"Forget it. I'm afraid I won't be able to control my strength and might kill you."

Dane showed him absolutely no mercy.

Jason, standing to the side, was deeply annoyed. What was that supposed to mean? Did Dane think he was guaranteed to win?

As if he had just remembered something, Dane said, "Oh, right. Jason just came back from further training with the League of Assassins. He's improved quite a bit, so be careful."

With the high-tech combat suit Dane had given him, whether Batman could win was genuinely uncertain. After all, Batman was not at his peak either.

Dane looked at Jason again. "Any weapon is allowed except lethal ones. Good luck. Beat up this old bat."

Jason silently nodded and used his suit to synthesize two metal batons, blue arcs of electricity flickering across them.

Batman let out a quiet breath. Luckily, he had changed into a lightweight power armor before coming. Otherwise, this fight would have been difficult.

Dane did not stay to watch. He floated into the air, then shot straight into the clouds.

He flew all the way back to Wayne Manor, keeping an eye on the streets as he went. Whenever he saw a passerby who needed help, he lent a hand.

There were not many good people left in Gotham these days, but there were still some. He could not simply turn a blind eye.

Half an hour later, he returned to Wayne Manor.

The moment he came back, he noticed Damian looking at him with sparkling eyes.

"What is it?"

"What you did just now was so freaking cool!"

Dane had nearly forgotten. This little brat was still only a kid in his early teens, right at that chuunibyou age.

Damian waved his arms around, completely unlike the arrogant, punchable expression he had worn before.

"How did you do it?"

"It's simple. First, you have to become a god."

Dane patted his shoulder and walked past, leaving little Damian with a dumbfounded expression.

"Alfred, he was brushing me off just now, wasn't he?"

Damian looked deeply frustrated.

Alfred smiled kindly. "It appears so, Master Damian."

Ah, he looked so much like the master when he was young!

"Everything taken care of?"

Diana had already returned to the Manor. Clark and Nightwing were there too, with Nightwing catching up with Barbara.

Poison Ivy stood alone in an unnoticed corner.

"Yes, it's settled. The local government and police can handle the cleanup."

"What about Batman..." Clark trailed off.

Dane knew what he wanted to ask, but he did not elaborate. "He has agreed to join us."

"So suddenly?" Diana raised an eyebrow.

"He probably wants to keep an eye on us. After all, almost three of our current members are gods."

"If he didn't watch us personally, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night."

"That does sound like something he would do." Diana covered her mouth and chuckled.

Dane turned his gaze toward Poison Ivy. Personally, he rather admired her, but she had too many stains on her record. She was not suited to joining the Justice League.

"What are your plans from now on?"

Poison Ivy remained calm under his gaze. "Same as always."

"That won't do. At this rate, I'll have to bail you out of jail again before long." Dane smiled.

"Who needs you to bail me out? Those humans could never hold me." Poison Ivy gave a dismissive snort.

Diana watched the exchange with a slight frown, but it quickly relaxed.

"The world will change faster and faster from now on. A.R.G.U.S. has already noticed your abilities. They won't let you go."

"Hmm... how about this? Come with me. You know you don't have the right to refuse."

Annoyed by his domineering manner, Poison Ivy secretly scattered a few spores onto him, intending for them to enter his body.

Yet the instant the spores touched Dane's body, lightning burned them into ash.

He looked toward Barbara and said to the girl in the wheelchair, "I can cure your paralysis. Do you want to stand again?"

Kicked Out of the Group Chat

"Are you serious? You can heal Barbara's injury?"

Barbara had yet to respond, but Nightwing was already excited.

Barbara, on the other hand, remained calm. Though she desperately wanted to stand again, she knew there was no such thing as a free lunch.

So she was more rational than Nightwing.

"What would I have to give?"

Dane was surprised by her attitude, but understood after a moment's thought.

After spending so long with Batman, it was only natural for her to be wary.

"Don't worry, there's no price. You can consider it compensation for everything you've done over the years."

Truthfully, he could not bear to see Barbara, a member of the superhero community, spend the rest of her life paralyzed in a wheelchair.

Dane simply could not stand tragedies. Did heroes not deserve happy endings?

"If you're willing, after the operation, you can still continue being active as a superhero."

This time, Barbara was truly moved. If she had a choice, she would rather be out in the field like Batman and Nightwing.

Rather than doing support work.

With a trace of hope in her voice, she asked, "Can I really?"

"Please rest assured. We are the Justice League. You can trust us completely."

Barbara looked at Dane, Clark, and Diana. Thinking of how they had just resolved a disaster affecting the entire city, she suddenly felt that they could be trusted.

At last, she could not hold back her quiet sobs. "I... I want to. I want to go back to how I was..."

Nightwing could not help embracing her, comforting her.

Dane was deeply moved as well. Apart from sympathizing with Barbara's plight, another reason he wanted to help her was that she would eventually recover even without his intervention.

After recovering, she would continue fighting criminals as Batgirl and form a team made up of female superheroes—the Birds of Prey.

In the New 52, Poison Ivy was also one of the founding members of that team.

A metahuman like Poison Ivy absolutely could not be left to her own devices. With their temperament, there was no way they would obediently stay home all day.

For one reason or another, they would always be actively or passively drawn into incidents.

Once that happened, Poison Ivy's position would very likely shift to the villains' side.

After all, she and Dane had formed some rapport through this incident. If possible, he naturally hoped she would walk the right path.

His goal was clear: to deal with the increasingly severe crises of the future, the more superheroes there were, the better.

Antiheroes were heroes too.

"Alright, then come back to Justice Hall with us later. The equipment needed for your treatment is stored there."

"You have a secret base too?" Damian asked curiously.

Dane teased him again. "What's so strange about that? Your dad has a Batcave. The three of us are this awesome—shouldn't we have somewhere to hold meetings?"

"We can't exactly arrange to meet at a coffee shop every time we have an operation, can we?"

"Then do you think I can join your Justice League?"

Damian looked full of anticipation.

Dane smiled brightly, but what he said nearly infuriated Damian to death.

"I advise you to give up on that idea. How old are you? You haven't even been to high school, have you?"

"The Justice League doesn't accept illiterates, got it?"

"I'm fluent in eight languages!"

"But you don't have a high school diploma."

"I know the history of every country in the world!"

"But you don't have a high school diploma."

"I-I hacked into a U.S. military base's computer when I was eight!"

Dane patted his shoulder, and a holographic image projected into the air.

It showed Damian's smug face as he proudly bragged about hacking the U.S. military's computers.

"You photograph pretty well, kid."

Damian immediately froze.

Dane lowered his head and threatened him. "You little brat, if you dare disobey me in the future, I'll use this to expose you!"

"Even your father can't take on the entire state apparatus alone, can he?"

"Y-You're so despicable!"

Damian stared at him in shock, shocked that someone like Dane could be so shameless.

Faced with Damian's stare, Dane felt no shame at all.

A brat like Damian needed to be handled this way.

Otherwise, if he went three days without a beating, he would be climbing onto the roof to tear off tiles.

Diana and Poison Ivy watched the scene with helpless amusement, growing ever more curious about this man who was mature one moment and childish the next.

Alfred stood quietly to one side, smiling at the scene without saying a word.

He sighed inwardly. Wayne Manor had not felt this lively in a long time.

Before long, Batman and Red Hood returned, supporting each other.

"Who won?" Dane asked curiously.

Jason took off his hood and tossed it aside, then collapsed onto the sofa, too exhausted to speak.

Nightwing, Barbara, and Alfred had still been wondering about Red Hood's identity. The instant they saw his true face, they were struck speechless.

As if he had only just noticed them, Jason raised a hand and waved.

"Long time no see, Alfred, Barbara, and Dick."

"Jason!" ×3