When Mason finished brewing the first dose of the magic potion, his team members returned as satisfied as sisters after a shopping spree. Barbara was carrying several different types of electronic devices, and John had acquired a strange-looking magic book. Er Tong was playing with a Damascus battle knife, and even Lady Catwoman was admiring the rainbow gemstone ring on her finger, which was extremely beautiful but utterly useless.

Everyone seemed to have gotten what they desired.

However, they would never guess what treasure Mason had found in this ascetic room.

"How was it? Was the trade fair fun?"

The young man walked out of the alchemy room with a warm cup of freshly brewed magic potion, the strange smell lingering on him causing the two ladies to pinch their noses.

In response to Mason's question, John, who was smoking, said with a smirk:

"To be honest, it was mediocre. The rare treasures from various worlds sound impressive, but after a round, you'll find that most of them are all show and no substance. No one would put out the real good stuff for sale. The only useful things on that street are some precious materials. It's just an appetizer. I asked at the castle's front desk earlier, and the cute fairy receptionist told me that the trade fair for the high-ranking personnel would only start in the castle in the evening. That's the main event. But our guess was correct, Mason. The potions and low-level magic weapons you made are very popular among the newcomers. With Lady Selina's super charm, we sold out everything we brought in just twenty minutes. I got you some blueprints."

The dark wizard tossed a stack of rolled-up blueprints. Mason took them and handed the freshly brewed potion to John, indicating for him to drink it.

John was reluctant to be the guinea pig. But the strange smell of the potion seemed to invigorate the magic power within him.

"New potion?"

He asked, squinting his eyes.

Mason nodded, analyzing the blueprints in his hand, and said:

"Perrite potion, a newly learned formula. Don't mind the name, and don't ask me who Perrite is. This stuff can enhance all spell effects for a few minutes after drinking, but it's toxic, so be careful."

"Cool, I love these simple and direct enhancement drugs."

John whistled, took a small sip. After drinking, his neck veins bulged, scaring the others, but he didn't feel anything and casually snapped his fingers. The illumination spell, which was originally just a green glow, directly created a fireball the size of a human head, almost igniting Barbara's fiery red hair and causing the gentle girl to scream.

"Za would be willing to pay a lot to get this formula."

John put the remaining potion into his bag and rubbed his hands at Mason, obviously wanting his captain to pay his "womanizing expenses" again.

Mason glared at John, but still wrote down the formula for the Perrite potion and gave it to him.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "p𝑎wread.com".

He was one of them, after all, and deserved more tolerance.

"Barbara, Er Tong, come with me."

After analyzing the various blueprints that John had brought back, Mason put them into his bag, snapped his fingers at the two new team members, and took out the card that the sleazy elf receptionist had given him earlier, planning to visit another "one of us" under Mr. Hunter's command.

Before leaving, Mason handed a pre-written note to Lady Catwoman, instructing:

"Selina, take John out for a walk. Familiarize yourself with the environment and buy the urgently needed supplies listed on the paper. If you can't get everything, we'll wait for the high-level trade fair in the evening."

"I feel like I've become the housekeeper of Team K, little Mason."

Selina took the paper with a complaint: "I think I can take on more important responsibilities."

"Alright."

Mason blinked, whispering: "I've set my sights on a pioneer team called 'Amaterasu'. Please help me gather some information, and if possible, infiltrate them. Use your unbeatable charm, big sister, I look forward to your good news."

"Hmph, just wait and see."

Catwoman raised her chin proudly, snapped her fingers at John, who was still gulping down the antidote, to get him ready to go shopping.

Unlike Mason, who came with a purpose, Selina truly treated this trip to the Star Castle as a relaxing vacation to relieve the psychological pressure her troublesome son had brought her. On the other hand, Mason, Barbara, and Er Tong quickly arrived at the room marked on the card. It was on their floor and not far away. The arrangement of the rooms inside the Star Castle seemed to follow some rules. If Mason was not mistaken, the nearby houses should all belong to the direct teams under Mr. Hunter's command.

"The other party is a pioneer team that follows the technological route, so Barbara's hacking skills will be needed as the appraiser for the trade. Er Tong, you'll act as the bodyguard."Mason explained to his two teammates, "Although it's unlikely that there will be any conflicts, if things don't go well, remember to cover me and Barbara and retreat first."

"Shoo!"

Ertong didn't answer, but instead pulled out the short knife he had bought while shopping earlier and played with it between his fingers like a butterfly.

"That's right! This is the kind of person who draws a knife and attacks at the slightest provocation."

Mason teased, "You really suit the role of a violent lunatic."

Amid Barbara's light laughter, Mason straightened his clothes, reached out, and knocked on the door. A hoarse woman's voice sounded from inside the room a few seconds later.

"Who is it?"

"A guest."

Mason replied.

In the next instant, the door opened a crack, and a pair of alert eyes looked out through the gap, meeting Mason's eyes under his hat.

"I've never seen you before! Go away!"

It was a girl. And it seemed like she had a bad temper. Mason's attention was focused on her strange and stylish hairstyle, with green hair dyed purple at the ends leaning towards the left cheek. On the right side, a part of her hair was shaved off, leaving only stubble, and a delicate metal piece made of silver and black intertwined was "embedded" in the skin above her right ear.

Hmm, if Mason remembered correctly, this thing was called a "cybernetic implant"?

Apart from this distinctive hair, the tattoos on the girl's bare arms, which were wearing a vest, also caught Mason's eye. Especially the "13" surrounded by three red roses on her right arm, and the "spiderweb" tattooed on her skin that could attract all attention.

"You must be the famous Judy Alvarez."

Mason said softly, "It's really unexpected. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Who are you?"

The stranger in front of her called out her long-unused name, immediately alerting the girl in the house. Her fingers even rested on the heavy pistol at her waist.

"I said, I'm a guest, and a friend."

Mason waved his hand. The card given by Mr. Hunter appeared at his fingertips, immediately dispelling some of the girl's hostility. Then she heard Mason say again:

"You are the 'Next Life' team, right? I'm really slow. I should have guessed who you were when I heard that name.

I am friends with Mr. Sandstorm from the Six-Headed Snake team. He introduced you to me and said that you and him worked together as excellent and professional pioneers."

"Sandstorm?"

When Judy heard this name, a touch of disgust appeared on her face. She gritted her teeth and said, "We are not friends with that bastard! But if it's recommended by Mr. Hunter..."

"Click."

The door chain was opened. The petite girl opened the door and gestured for Mason and the others to come in. And when she saw Barbara Gordon, who was wearing a bat suit and a mask, perfectly showing off her tall figure, the originally resistant Miss Judy immediately brightened up. She even became strangely enthusiastic.

In this messy house, which was more like a "workshop" than a base, she busied herself preparing drinks for the guests.

She said to Barbara, "Sorry, it's a bit messy here. The other members of the team don't come here often, so I use this place as my personal studio. Please don't mind."

"Ah? No, I don't mind."

Barbara didn't know why this pretty and unique-looking girl was so polite to her, but being naturally gentle, she responded to this kindness without any airs. Mason observed the interaction between the two girls.

The evil K team leader rubbed his chin and looked at Miss Judy, who kept getting closer to Barbara, with a strange look in his eyes. An evil thought then burst into his mind. And the enthusiastic Judy helped Barbara tidy up a place to sit, but her expression turned cold when she looked at the two smelly men.

The stylishly dressed girl casually picked up a piece of chewing gum from the workbench and put it in her mouth, chewing on it impatiently as she said, "The blueprints for the bat suit that Mr. Hunter handed over to us are not bad. Apart from being outdated, there are no major flaws. The production ideas of that thing can be used as armor suitable for hacker warfare. Therefore, the captain said that I should come and assess you. If possible, we may be able to further cooperate. Well, let me give you the reward first."

As she spoke, a blue halo flickered in her eyes, seemingly sending a message. Then a tall man in black walked out of the inner room, carrying a box and placing it in front of Mason and Ertong with a thud. Inside the box was a peculiar-looking weapon. It looked like a prosthetic left arm, made with exquisite craftsmanship and almost indistinguishable from a real arm, but it had some special attachments on its skin.In the gaze of Mason and Er Tong, the black-clothed man picked up the object and activated the switch. With a "swish," the snow-white, peculiar-shaped blade shot out from the prosthetic limb in a folded ejection posture. The extremely precise mechanical structure, resembling the joints of a mantis, made its impact force astonishing as it shot out. This sinister and violent weapon specialized in assassination and close combat impressed Er Tong.

But Mason frowned and reached out to touch it. In the next instant, an information label popped up:

Masterwork Mantis Blade

Quality: Epic Engineering Precision Creation · Supreme Craftsmanship

Trait: Guaranteed Enemy Kill · Swift as the Wind · Super Speed Activation · Ultimate Penetration · Weapon Attachments x3

Designer: Huang Ban Heavy Industries

Item Description: Replacing one's own arm with a mantis blade, who the hell came up with such a deadly idea?

Tip: Using this precision weapon requires Engineering Level 3. In the process of analyzing the blueprint, the talent "Photographic Memory" is activated, increasing the analysis speed.

"This thing is indeed a good thing."

With the blessing of his new talent, Mason only took a dozen seconds to obtain the blueprint. He withdrew his hand with a regretful expression and glanced at the black-clothed man next to Judy.

He said, "But using the mantis blade requires cyborg modification. To fully unleash its brutal destructive power, I would need to implant an operating system plugin into my team members' nervous systems. But that thing seriously damages their health. I won't let my team members lose their hands just for a temporary increase in combat power. It's not worth it. This thing is also too insincere, Miss Judy!"

"Oh, you're someone who knows good stuff."

Judy, who was getting close to Barbara, raised an eyebrow in surprise and said to Mason, this tattooed cool girl with her hands on her hips:

"You are indeed a good person who cares about the health of your team members. The captains of the other teams are not as indecisive as you. Do you know how many things you can exchange for this Masterwork Mantis Blade with them? It's all because Mr. Hunter personally instructed me that I raised your reward to this level. Don't ask for too much."

"I didn't say you guys are insincere, I just don't want this thing!"

Mason decisively refused, "Let's change to something else. Forgive me for being frank, but you'd better remove those cyborg plugins implanted in your body, Miss Judy. With those things, you won't live past 50."

As he spoke, Mason took out a star-shaped pistol from his waist, a move that immediately caused the black-clothed man next to Judy to draw a precision pistol and aim it at Mason.

The young man glanced at him and said, "Didn't you see that we were talking? Rude cyborg, go away!"

He took the drum magazine off the pistol in his hand and placed it on the table. He said to Judy, "The blueprint for this high-tech pistol comes from your world. As you can see, I am also an engineer, so I would prefer something similar rather than something that would harm my health."

"It seems that you are resistant to body modifications, even the most basic modifications in our world seem like a sin to you."

Judy chewed her gum and stared at Mason. Her pupils lit up with fragmented light, and under silent instructions, the tall cyborg warrior who protected her put away his weapon and silently retreated to the inner room. This elegant girl approached and looked at the star-shaped pistol that Mason had taken out, skillfully disassembled it, and then reassembled it. After a few seconds, she had a fire control chip in her hand. It was something Mason obtained from Wayne Industries' military laboratory, representing the cutting-edge technology products of Wayne Industries in the military field.

But Judy stared at it as if it were a pile of X, and said, "Your gunsmithing skills are good. The weapons you handcraft are comparable to those made by intelligent production lines. But why use this outdated chip to control it?"

Judy narrowed her eyes. This technological engineer from the City of Night grinned and said to Mason, "Ah, I see. What you really need is this kind of integrated chip that belongs to 'future technology' in your eyes, right? You're quite a cunning guy."

"It's easy to talk to smart people."

Mason also smiled, leaned back on the sofa, snapped his fingers, and said to his team members, "Barbara, it's your turn. Go with Miss Judy to her warehouse and pick out some intelligent chips that can be used at our technological level. My two Batmobiles and the Anti-Superman Battle Armor also need a 'Mechanical Intelligence Core' that won't be locked remotely."

When Judy heard Mason asking Barbara and herself to go to the warehouse to pick out goods, a visible smile appeared on her face, but she quickly put on a serious expression when she noticed Mason's gaze.

"Alright, I still have the authority to change the reward for you, and I think you are a good engineer, Mr. Mason. Perhaps our two teams can try to establish a long-term cooperative relationship."

"I think so too."Mason's gaze flickered between Judy and Barbara, and he said, "Should I send a representative to stay on your side? Or perhaps you can be the representative of the 'Next Life' team and stay in our city? After all, your world has already been destroyed, right?"

Upon hearing Mason's words, a complex and disappointed look appeared in Judy's eyes. She grabbed Barbara's hand and walked towards her warehouse without looking back, saying to Mason, "Um... let's talk about this later. Don't mess with my things, or you'll have to pay for any damages!"

Watching Judy and Barbara disappear, Mason immediately got up and walked towards the wall in front of the studio, under the puzzled gaze of Er Tong.

Er Tong reminded in a low voice, "There are infrared security devices there. If you take them down, it will trigger an alarm."

"I don't need to steal them, Jason. Who in their right mind would do something so close to suicide on someone else's turf?"

Mason stared at the various weapons hanging on the entire wall in front of him. A captivating light burst from his eyes as he reached out towards them, like a wolf seeing a beautiful woman after taking a bubble bath.

He whispered, "I just want to appreciate some of these futuristic and super modern weapons, just appreciate their structure and design concepts. It would be a waste to let Barbara's 'sacrifice' go to waste, right?"

...