Reborn as the Clown Prince

Besides setting up a new base and creating golems, I didn't forget about other things.

After the battle with Arcane, the cane had once again given up on me. It could not be saved neither by strong materials, nor by strengthening runes, which were weaker than those on Harley's bat because of the Gauss cannon with a harpoon inside, but it should have survived the same blow of Steppenwolf or Aquaman without any consequences. The breakage of the cane was a good reason to upgrade it, especially since I now had numerous parts of demonic creatures, dark mana-soaked metals left from the labyrinth traps, electrum from the Court of Owls, and a set of very interesting enchantments.

I shouldn't have forgotten about the diamonds. I'd tried to save them before, and I didn't have enough large stones at my disposal to create a full-fledged storage device, but now there was a fifty-carat diamond inside the round titanium tip of the cane. It was a diamond, because this time I'd gone to the trouble of cutting it, having discovered that the energy storage exponentially increases in mana-capacity if there is symmetry. However, with perfect symmetry in the form of a regular sphere, the mana capacity looks impressive, easily withstanding the flow of natural energy from Abby, but absorbing it back becomes an incredibly difficult task even for the Green avatar herself, let alone an outsider. So the ideal shape of the drive ended up being a round cut with many small facets. Yes, such stones could already crack when carelessly charged, but according to rough estimates, a ten-carat diamond contains about a thousand of my reserves, and at the same time they still gradually replenish energy by absorbing the natural background thanks to a special complex of runes. However, it should be noted that Sups really tried and brought almost perfect diamonds without internal defects, and in their presence everything will not be so cool.

Naturally, having got a normal mana store in my hands, it was silly to just strengthen the strengthening runes or add all sorts of insignificant little things, like real magic lightning instead of electroshock. So I didn't limit my imagination and tried to use the best spells and technologies. Firstly, the harpoon, in addition to strengthening runes and a tip of dark mithril, was equipped with the capabilities of the corrupted Stone of Visions, that is, now it was possible to slightly adjust its flight, return it back or give it additional acceleration. Secondly, the length of the fishing line was increased to fifteen metres, and it was placed in a small spatial pocket made of Tindal's Hound Dog hide. Unfortunately, it was not possible to increase its strength, because of its heterogeneous structure, which consisted of many separate thin fibres, but it was possible to practically nullify its weight when it was rolled up. The pocket, by the way, was specially made to be highly specialised and of relatively small volume, so that it would not conflict with other spatial structures. Thirdly, I really liked my beloved's fighting style, when she sharply increased the weight of the baseball bat while striking, turning the monsters under her hand into bloody tortillas and making the asphalt covered with many cracks, so my cane can do the same now, though not so effectively, because of the piling up of more runes. Well, I left the most delicious thing for last: the Gauss cannon.

Studying the local physics, I noticed some inconsistencies with the knowledge from the past world even earlier. I cannot be called a diligent student, but even I remembered from the general physics course that the flux of magnetic induction vector through a closed surface is zero, because magnetic charges do not exist in nature. But in this universe they do! That is why there are strange effects in the form of a visible expanding light blue dome at the explosion of an electromagnetic grenade or there is a change in the properties of conductive materials, thanks to which scientists can create devices impossible for the old world. With all this and so unusual properties could be made even more unusual, using magic. Superconductivity at room temperature? Two dozen runes with bits and pieces from Taboo magic, and energy losses drop to zero. Or maybe you need a couple of hundred amps of direct current, which a regular battery would provide? This is a bit more complicated, but nothing is impossible. If you want to, you can even create a natural railsotron, or as in one anime about fucked-up scientists experimenting on children from academy town, launch metal coins with the help of magic lightning, turning them into plasma shells that penetrate several tanks.

However, the Gauss cannon of version 2.0 already demonstrated an inordinate power, managing to accelerate the harpoon up to five thousand kilometres per hour with a reinforced shot. Here, of course, we can say that the muzzle velocity of a bullet from a sniper rifle of fifty calibre starts from six thousand kilometres per hour, but it should be remembered that the bullet weighs about fifty grams, and the harpoon weighs about one kilogram. In addition, it can increase its weight in flight without loss of speed, thus surpassing even tank shells in killing power many times over.

In general, although I spent several weeks on the upgrade, I was completely satisfied with the result.

Obviously, it was impossible to work on calculations and checking enchantments all the time. At least I had to pay attention to the girls, and especially to Ivy, because she kept begging me to fill her ass and pussy with thick cream. Such behaviour in the performance of tsundere-dryada seems very strange, but we should not forget about my most faithful and horny blonde lover, who agreed to work with her long tongue only when Ivy's holes were filled with my seed. Actually, Harley had successfully dominated the scarlet-haired protector of nature in the early days and tried to fit her ass on her face even while doing everyday chores or playing the console. In the course of time the BDSM elements became more and more, to the point that for a couple of days Ivy pretended to be an obedient dog: she communicated only by barking, ran after a stick, ate from a bowl on the floor and went to mating with a male dog, which I pretended to be. The girl's limbs were securely fastened with straps that did not allow her to unbend them, and a fluffy tail was sticking out of her arse. Needless to say, the petplay had brought a nice variety to our sex life and now occasionally I had to watch two horny pets at once, one of which was the Delirum avatar herself? Abby also tried to join in the fun but she wasn't too keen on it, and neither was Babs, who preferred me to rough her up right in a superhero costume on the roof of some skyscraper, for which I even had to modify the shape of the redhead by adding an invisible zip at the bottom.

In addition to perfecting techniques, regular sex, building a secret lair, studying magic, and the usual studies, some of the time was devoted to physical development. And here I finally took advantage of Hippolyta's generous offer, visiting the Amazon island twice a week, where I was trained by beautiful female warriors.

Heated perfect bodies with minimal clothes and even tan glisten in the sun from drops of sweat, loud screams come from the lips, steel muscles roll under the soft skin... And all this beautiful picture is spoilt by weapons that try to wound one clown in a Hawaiian shirt. The only thing that saved me was my perfect coordination and the fact that I had already begun to slowly learn the proper prana control, having recreated the semblance of a rough skeleton inside my body.

"Come on, Mr. J! You must win!"

Harley was standing nearby, waving her colourful pom-poms at me.

"Ouch... At least on points," said she a few seconds later, when the hilt of her sword hit me in the face, knocking me to the ground.

I shouldn't have been distracted by the sexy figure of my faithful companion, dressed in a short skirt and cheerleader's top. It was a good thing that in the first few days I had learnt to use my life energy to strengthen my body, or I'd be crawling in the sand right now, picking up knocked-out teeth so I wouldn't have to grow them back. I had already had a precedent, but the local temple could repair more serious injuries, as Hippolyta's example had clearly proved. I roll away from Artemis' kick and break the distance to restore a little prana flow and start regeneration. Leroy's advice to imagine a pulsing imaginary core was very good, or with my breath hitching, I'd be too easy a target right now.

"How the hell can I beat her?!" I was truly indignant. "She's got more experience than I do!"*

"What did you say about my arse?" the red-haired Amazon asked with a deceptively soft smile.

Damn. Most of the locals don't seem to give a damn about women's issues, considering they all have Aphrodite's blessing and literally any of them could be on the cover of a beauty magazine right now, and the Amazons value warrior skills and strength more than anything else, but sometimes they just snap. Like right now.

~Nodding~

The cane collides with the sword and gently swings it aside, while the tip of the extended harpoon rushes towards the girl's leg, which happens to be aptly placed forward. It was foolish, however, to hope for so obvious an error. My opponent didn't carry her entire body during the strike, so she was able to calmly remove her leg, avoiding damage, and then unleash a series of blows.

"More experience! More experience!" I shouted the metallic clang, somehow managing to fend off the blade fluttering in Artemis' hands.

Some might ask why the hell the warrior is chasing me like some inept who just started learning martial arts yesterday? And it's simple, my task is to learn to control prana, so other abilities are forbidden to use, including subcutaneous shield and magic tattoos, not to mention illusions and attack weaves. Given these limitations and the lack of a full-fledged style, not to count for it inherited from the past owner of the body reflexes and my developments, the chances of defeating Artemis, who literally hundreds of years devoted to work with a blade, were minimal. And I'm not even considering the fact that most Amazons, despite the high value of the First Beginning, were still slightly stronger than me. But I didn't give up hope, especially since the same Bats, all things being equal, would probably be able to cope with the girl.

During another series of attacks, the sword still overcame the defence, leaving a long deep cut on my arm. He had to retreat again to stop the blood and shift the weapon to his left hand. My tormentor watched all this with a sadistic grin, giving me some time to recover.

I probably shouldn't have used my cane on the warrior's bottom during the first training fight, when I was allowed to use anything I wanted to assess my skills. Now I have to pay for it, but I have to admit that the progress is going by leaps and bounds, because by the third lesson I learnt to quickly tighten small cuts right during the battle, instead of sitting on the ground in peace.

However, I would not say that even with magic Amazons are easy to defeat. In the course of training fights it suddenly became clear that aggressive alien life energy can destroy unstable magical structures, and when entering the body temporarily block the circulation of mana, because of which there are difficulties in creating weaves. So the inhabitants of Themyscira would make good anti-magicians.

"I think it's time to call it a day," said the red-haired beauty, glancing at the setting sun as a pinkish haze began to form around her body, hinting at the activation of the skill. As with mages, Qi practitioners had their own semblances of spells, and right now I was going to have to try one of them out on myself.

My imaginary core dramatically increases in size and begins to pulse at a high frequency. At the same time, life energy concentrates on the surface of my skin, increasing my defences.

~Boom~

Dust abruptly kicked up, and the silhouette of the opponent turned into a blurred blur.

"Auch," was all I could say as the beauty's fist slammed into my stomach. My insides were pierced with pain, and the life energy from the other woman's fist pulsed through my body, intensifying the already unpleasant sensations.

I slowly slid down onto the warm sand, unable to unbend.

"You did well today."

The warrior praised me, putting her sword back in its scabbard.

"Yeah, I'm glad..." I whimpered, face pressed into the ground.

"Oh, you can even talk!"

She was clearly pleased, and touched my shoulder, injecting some more of her energy, making it even harder to regenerate.

"So you'll have to do without healers for now. Try to heal the damage yourself now, and then visit the temple. Harley, don't you dare help him."

"I got it, just moral support," the blonde jokingly saluted and helped me lie down, resting my head on her lap. Almost perfect, if it weren't for the gut-wrenching pain and the pile of cuts all over my body.

After making sure Harley wasn't going to help me, a satisfied Artemis left the Coliseum. I had to get rid of the energy for another half an hour before I could start to heal properly. Compared to healing magic, though, my efforts looked incredibly pathetic, and every scratch, not to mention the severe cuts, of which there were several, took an inordinate amount of time. Delirum's avatar had no such problems, as her energy was originally a mixture of mana and prana, like most Amazons, as I was able to see for myself during my research. Hence her talent in the magic of metamorphism, for this school implies the influence of mystical energy on the body, and given the admixture of Qi, deep knowledge of human anatomy and unconventional view of the world: all internal manipulations were carried out by the girl relatively easily.

I, on the other hand, have only stronger skin, which I have started to change slowly according to the Kryptonian template. This school itself is extremely demanding to understand biology, but you can cut corners slightly by turning to the so-called "templates". Basically, an auric mould, according to which the gradual changes of the organism take place. After the treatment of Superman, we just had his blood, from which we took all the necessary information. However, we'll have to get more material in the near future, because the aura around the blood has almost eroded. I can't imagine how happy the sunny boy will be at this news.

Having finished with the treatment and complaining about the fact that Diana returned to the continent, making her seduction more difficult (magical tattoos appeared in my arsenal, so now I can), I went to the library together with my faithful companion, deciding to scan a couple of books on local magic to try to translate them at home.

After passing through the tall double doors, we found ourselves inside the temple of knowledge, where we were surprised to find a large group of girls occupying several tables at once. Most of the visitors had their hair dyed in different acidic shades, hinting that it was mostly the new generation, which was noticeably more active and bold than their older sisters who preferred to dye their hair in more natural colours. But, in general, such a large gathering was clearly an uncommon event, as warrior women did not particularly like to be among ancient tomes, preferring it to more active pursuits. Besides, a long life leaves its imprint, and most of the books have already been read more than once.

Harley and I looked at each other and quietly crept up to the Amazons, finding them leafing through magazines with racy contents.

"Wow, I didn't even know it could be done that way."

"Hmmm... That looks interesting and so big..."

"Yeah, statues make it look much smaller for some reason."

"It says you have to lick it to get that effect."

"Why did the queen say it was disgusting?"

"We should ask Harley for more books like this."

The Amazons were talking amongst themselves.

"I hope we won't be kicked off the island for trying to educate," I couldn't help but comment on the outrage that was happening and looked at my faithful companion with a small amount of condemnation.

"Hey, I actually brought a lot of normal books, but they preferred to read porn," the blond cutie was sincerely indignant.

When they heard the voices, the lovely women turned their heads in our direction, making me uncomfortable.

"Jay's a man, so he must have a penis," said one of the girls.

"Exactly! You have to show it to us!" Ismem exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Freeze!" Harley shielded me with her body.

Phew, even she realises that after this, the island is off-limits.

"If you want to see Mr. J naked, you'll have to undress yourself first," she said.

Eh, I shouldn't have counted on my love in this matter...

*It's a play on words with the prefixes "жопа-то" and "ж опыта", that sound very similar in Russian. I don't know how to translate it properly into English.