The evening breeze stirred gently.
Azu drifted slowly through the sky above the city. Below him lay a brightly lit metropolis, while above him stretched a star-filled night sky.
Looking at the bustling city and its countless people below,
a line he had read somewhere flashed through Azu's mind: Power belonged only in the hands of the strong.
He smiled and added, "And the strong need power as their fulcrum."
"Absolute power!"
Then he opened his Inventory and checked the rewards he had obtained from the event.
Proficiency Essence: After use, increases the proficiency of any talent by 20. This item can be dismantled into an equivalent amount of 'Dim Essence'. Black Bat Circus Gold Coin: Each use randomly summons two to three members from among the Clown Leader and the Circus members Big Eater, Stone Golem, Beast Tamer, Replicant, and Rubber Man to serve you. Depending on the degree of use, it enters a corresponding cooldown period, with the shortest cooldown being 24 hours. Multiverse Treasure Chest (Random): The Multiverse encompasses all things. Open the treasure chest, and you will randomly obtain something, including but not limited to items, treasures, talents, Rune Stones, materials, and more.
As expected of rewards from a major event.
They were simply more generous than those from ordinary events.
Essence without the "Dim" prefix could raise proficiency by 20 in one go.
The coin could summon projections of two or three Circus members. Most of them were fairly useless, but the Clown Leader and Big Eater still had some value. The random element, however, made the coin somewhat lackluster.
As for the Multiverse Treasure Chest—
That thing depended entirely on luck. Based on Azu's years of terrible luck with gacha pulls, he had better not expect to get anything good.
Thinking that, Azu took out a Multiverse Treasure Chest.
It resembled a raffle box. When Azu reached inside, he could not sense the limits of the space within it at all.
He fumbled around inside. After a moment, he seemed to catch hold of something and pulled it upward.
He drew out a ball of soft light. The raffle box faded away, and once the light in his hand dispersed, Azu found a mask in his palm.
It was a red mask that exposed the eyes. Other than that, there was nothing remarkable about it.
Spider-Man Mask: An item from the Spider-Man Universe. The first suit component made by the original Spider-Man for himself. Wearing it strengthens one's sense of responsibility and justice.
Unexpected!
Completely unexpected!
The Multiverse Treasure Chest had actually yielded an item from the Spider-Man Universe!
In other words, this chest could also produce things from other universes, such as the Marvel Universe? The DC Universe?
Now this was interesting.
Azu looked at the mask in his hand and tried putting it on.
Suddenly, he froze and declared righteously, "With great power comes great responsibility!"
After saying that, he hurriedly took the mask off. "That was way too intense. Whoever wears this thing is a complete sucker."
He was in no hurry to open the remaining treasure chest and accelerated toward Annika's residence.
At the top floor of an apartment building.
Inside Annika's home in the Criminal Analysis Department, pounding music was playing.
"Here we go again."
"No!"
"Impossible."
"No one."
Fresh from the shower and wrapped in a bath towel, Annika walked out of the bathroom.
She closed her eyes, her body swaying to the rhythm of the music.
She took a can of beer from the refrigerator and kicked the door shut.
She spun around.
She took a sip of beer.
Facing the window, she abruptly threw open her bath towel.
At that moment,
she heard someone clear his throat.
Annika hurriedly opened her eyes and saw Homelander sitting on the windowsill. He held a fist to his lips and smiled.
"Nice figure."
Annika looked down sharply, screamed, and rushed into the bedroom.
A moment later, now dressed in casual clothes, she cautiously poked half her head out of the room and examined Azu on the windowsill.
Azu jumped down and spread his hands. "You don't need to hide."
"Your figure is great. Really."
He gave Annika a thumbs-up.
Annika put on another jacket before walking into the living room. "Why are you here, boss?"
"Boss?" Azu found the title rather interesting.
Annika opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of beer. "Want one?"
Azu was in a good mood today. He nodded, caught the beer Annika tossed him, pulled off the tab, and took a drink.
Then he listened to Annika.
"Am I not your personal investigator?"
"So you're my boss."
Azu nodded slightly. "That works."
Then he got straight to the point. "You already have some information, right?"
"I mean the two things I asked you to investigate."
Annika immediately said, "Yes, yes."
"First, about those two criminals."
"I checked. They came from the same place."
"Oster, a rather old town in the Balka Highlands, in central-western Jordan."
Azu set down his beer. "Do you have the exact coordinates?"
Annika winked. "Of course I do."
"Good. Send them to me."
Azu took another sip of beer. "What about the other matter?"
"A-Train's older brother, Nathan. After A-Train died, he frequently met with a white man named Jeff."
"I investigated that man. He came from a mysterious weapons research institution."
"The Olga Weapon Research Company."
Annika took out her phone, pulled up a photo, and handed it to Azu.
Azu took it and glanced at it. The phone showed a white man wearing glasses, looking like some kind of engineer.
He had an earring in his left ear, making him easy to identify.
"Very well done, Annika."
Azu set down the phone and pointed at the girl. "I'm already thinking of rewarding you."
"Help me investigate one more person."
"Butcher."
"His nickname is 'the Butcher.'"
Azu described the bearded man's appearance. "I want to know what he has been doing lately."
Then he added,
"Also, keep following the Olga Weapon Research Company and that man named Jeff."
"Best if you can find his address."
"No problem, boss." Annika patted her chest. "Leave it to me."
Azu left.
Only then did Annika let out a sigh of relief.
Then she picked up her phone and posted on her social media.
I was scared to death. The boss suddenly showed up, but luckily he was very satisfied with my performance. Hey, why don't you all guess who my boss is!
She attached a selfie of herself, along with the can of beer Azu had drunk from.
Putting down her phone, Annika was about to practice some yoga when a talk show host on the television said,
"Hey, guess what news I got."
"It's about Homelander."
"This time, he's in big trouble!"
You used the 'Specified Talent Capsule: Self-Replication.' You have obtained a new talent. Note: This talent cannot use the proficiency system.
Looking at the information appearing before him, Azu felt rather regretful.
It seemed that aside from his own Talents, any Talents acquired through other means could not be upgraded.
He shrugged and used one Proficiency Essence after another on Steel Body.
Steel Body proficiency +20 Steel Body proficiency +2 Steel Body proficiency +2 Your 'Steel Body +2' proficiency is full. Upgraded to 'Bio-Field'.
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