I stayed at Bruce’s manor for the next week, learning about this realm, or as they would call it, this world. Apparently, while they commonly met people from other stars, those from other realms, or universes as they called them, were rare. Now that I was familiar with the societal norms and technology of this world I could actually interact with its people.

Bruce, or Batman, as he was in costume, was currently crouched on the roof of a building looking down at a warehouse. It was late at night and apparently some minor group of criminals were working inside. I didn’t understand why he didn’t just enter and arrest them, but apparently he needed to collect evidence to figure out who they worked for and what they were doing.

He had advanced to the Late Cleansing stage, while the boys were still in the early stage. Apparently they were having a hard time dealing with the symptoms of that stage, and could only meditate for a few minutes at a time. Only Bruce and Alfred had a drop of chi within them, though I never saw Alfred meditating. He must be doing so in secret.

“Jade.” said Batman, breaking me out of my reflection. I knelt down so I could hear him better. “They appear to be secretly farming some sort of plant. It’s not a narcotic that I know of. Would you know what it is?” He showed me a picture on some sort of handheld technology. It reminded me of the cell phones the boys owned, but was much bulkier.

“Spirit grass.” I said, immediately recognizing it. “Used to make primary cleansing pills. One of the demon cultivators must have had the seeds on them when they came through the portal.”

“Does that mean we missed one?”

“Possibly, but most likely they either dropped the seeds when they were attacked, or someone found their storage ring and managed to connect to it.” That would actually be unlikely, however, as using a storage ring, even in standby, required chi. My natural recovery was just far greater. Which was why you weren’t given a ring until the Foundation stage.

“So, someone robbed the crime scene or stole from the evidence locker.” I nodded. I had watch several police dramas on television, so I understood the concepts. “Is it dangerous?”

“It has minor medicinal properties. Dieuretic, laxative, can threat nausea and maybe heavy metal poisoning. It doesn’t have any narcotic properties, however.”

“Which begs the question, why are they growing it?”

“We could always ask them.” I said, and he nodded. He then pulled out a gun which shot a grappling hook. I noticed that the warehouse had a skylight and knew what he was going to do. I, however, just hopped on my flying sword and floated down so that I was directly above the main door.

Once he dropped in I lowered myself in front of the door. The garage door went up slightly and a man rolled under it, only to see me standing there, a look of surprise on his face. Without saying anything, I threw a small lightning bolt at his chest, causing him to collapse to the ground with spasms. It was relatively easy to lower the power of a chi spell, but much harder to raise it.

Several of the others also ran for the garage door, but when they noticed me and their fallen comrade they pulled guns. Small pistols, I believe they were called. I simply threw several more lightning bolts at them causing them to collapse like their comrade. One of them had their finger on the trigger and the gun went off, but despite the loud noise the only thing that was damaged was my outfit. I had used Earth chi to reinforce my body once I saw the guns.

Once Bruce had beaten the leader, I entered the warehouse. This spirit grass appeared to be growing in water. Normally one would only attempt that with spirit rice, but even that had dirt underneath the water. This was just foam on top of water. When I asked about it Bruce told me it was called “hydroponics”, a way to grow plants by providing the nutrients directly without soil. None of the grass was mature yet, so I couldn’t harvest it for my own purpose, but there was still half a bag of seeds in a drawer here, so I took them.

I searched the place, but found no storage ring. Had the demon cultivator really dropped a bag during the fight?

I noticed Bruce staring an envelope and went over to see what he was doing. He showed me the address on the envelope. “Seymour Clayton. A well know black market dealer. Usually narcotics, but sometimes exotic plants and animals. He must have given them to the thugs here. Though where he got them, I don’t know.”

“Then it looks like we need to visit Mister Clayton.” I motioned to the scene around us. “What are we going to do here, though? This much spirit grass would be very useful to me, and it will be mature in a few days. And they didn’t exactly break the law, so the police won’t be able to do anything against them.”

“True, it has no narcotic properties, but does have ties to criminals we know, so we can’t let them off.”

I thought for a few minutes. “How about we try the soft approach. I’m just a competitor to whoever hired them, and if they tell me who that was and agree to sell me the product instead, I’ll pay them double.”

He shrugged. “Could work, but they saw me. No one will believe that the Batman would be working with a criminal.”

“In that case, change into another outfit, preferably a black one. You are well known in the city. Imagining that your criminal activities were under attack from the Bat must be common.”

He smiled, nodded and left. Five minutes later he returned wearing a black sweater, black jeans, and a black mask. I think it’s called a balaclava. I bent over the boss and the others, putting just enough wood mana in their brains to weaken their memories of the last few minutes. Someone who was actually skilled could alter memories directly, but at my level of skill with telepathy, I can only manage slight disruptions to how well the memory enters their long term memory. Hopefully the man would think that he misremembered the attack and that the man in black was actually the one that attacked him.

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I messed with the memories of the others, just in case they remembered it properly, and then woke them up. “So, I said to the boss as he woke up. Mind telling me who hired you?”

“I don’t have to tell you nothin’.” said the boss, and spit at me. I wiped the spit off of the jade mask I wore and grabbed his throat, lifting him up with one arm.

“I asked you a question.” I said. “Spit on me again, and you’ll regret it.”

“Please, you think just because you partnered up with the Bat, you can make me talk? You don’t look like Nightwing. Besides, everyone knows he doesn’t kill.”

“The Bat? You think I partnered up with him?” I turned him towards Bruce, now wearing his thug costume. “Hey Fist, I didn’t know you were actually Batman. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to ask for a ride in my sweet car.” he said in a gruff Brooklyn accent, and laughed.

I smiled. “You know, I don’t like killing unless I have to either. But unlike Batman, I don’t have any rules against maiming.” I grabbed his index finger with my free hand and bent it back enough to hurt but not break.

“Alright, alright, I’ll talk. It was Mister Clayton. He gave us the seeds and told us he’d give us fifty bucks for each one that grew. I thought I was growing weed, I swear.”

I let go of his hand, then dropped him. “Fine, then from now on, you sell to me. Same price. Keep the seeds from a quarter of them and hang the rest upside down to dry. I’ll be by every Saturday to pick them up.”

“But what about Mr. Clayton?” another thug asked, having woken up in time to hear what was happening.

“I’ll deal with him. You just do the job I’m paying you to do.”

With that I pulled out my sword, jumped onto it before pulling Bruce on as well, and flew away, landing on a roof three buildings over.

“Not bad, rookie.” he said. “Maybe we can use this disguise to get information our of Seymour Clayton too.”

I nodded. “Thought it might come in handy to make them think I’m a minor super-villain. I’m unknown, so I can play the role without risking being recognized.” So, Mr. Fist. What can you tell me about yourself?

We flew by the manor long enough for him to complete his disguise, grabbing some stun gauntlets and body armor. Once he started cultivating, he would quickly become bullet proof, but for now he still needed the armor.

Once we were finished we headed to the butcher’s shop Clayton’s business used as a cover. “We’re here to talk to Mr. Clayton.” I said when a man walked up to ask what we wanted.

“I don’t know any Mr. Clayton. We got a guy named Clay that works weekends. That who you mean?”

‘Fist’ stepped forward and picked the man up by his shirt. “I know Seymour Clayton runs a shop out of here. We need to do business with him. Now are you going to help us or are we going to have to ask less politely?”

Fright filled the man’s eyes. “Ah, that’s who you mean. Yeah, I can take you to him.” ‘Fist’ sat him down and we were lead into the back of the building, to a meat locker. He opened the door and there was a staircase inside, leading underground. One we were down the steps the man opened a steel door and motioned for us to go inside.

At the end of a large room sat a man at an expensive looking desk. On both sides of the room were shelves covered in illegal substances, and two men with energy rifles stood behind him to make sure we didn’t try anything. “So, haven’t seen you before.” said Mr. Clayton. “What brings you here?”

I walked up to his desk and sat the half full bag of seeds on it. “I need to know where you got this.”

He glanced at it, immediately realizing what it was but pretending he didn’t. “And what is that?” he asked, a questioning look on his face.

“Seeds. You sent them to some people to grow them.”

“Seeds for what? I have a lot of grow operations in this city.” He motioned to the shelves of illegal plant based products.

“It’s a kind of grass. I’m looking for something similar and need to find it.”

“If you just want to buy some weed, I sell buy the kilo. How much you want?”

I shook my head. “Not that kind of grass. Spirit grass.”

He smiled. “Interesting that you called it that. I’ve been calling it Serpent Grass, even with my employees. So, tell me. How do you know that name?”

I briefly sensed a flair of chi from one of the men behind him. He had a cultivator working for him as well, one that wasn’t good at hiding his power. “I think that man knows.” I said, motioning to the guard that temporarily revealed his chi. “Which sect are you from, brother?” I asked in the common trade language of my realm.

The man smirked. “Black Serpent. You?”

“Soul Blade.” The Soul Blade sect was a neutral sect near my real sect that mostly operated as mercenaries for the non-cultivator civilians should they need protection against monsters or demon cultivators. They cultivated with Sword chi, a dangerous and slow practice that made them stronger fighters than anyone else at their rank. I had learned their methods, so I could fake sword chi with metal chi if I had too, but I wasn’t the best at it.

“Interesting. So, did you get stranded here too?”

“A portal opened up near the sect, and I was tasked with investigating it. One of the companies here opened it, but I ran away before they could catch me.” I had been told the story of what happened that night from Bruce, so pretending that I was caught up in one of Star Lab’s tests seemed my best bet.

“I escaped here after the Jade Dragon Sect attacked my people.” he said. Thankfully, the trench coat with a Dragon on the back I planned on using as a costume wasn’t finished yet, or that symbol with my jade mask might give away my identity. “I was even killed. But someone brought me back. If you wish, I can introduce you to them. They could always use more cultivators, even low rank ones like your apprentice. Sword Chi fits well with their organization.”

I nodded. “And which organization would that be?”

“I can’t tell you until you meet them. They will tell you then.” Unlike English, the trade language didn’t have different words for ‘he’ and ‘she’, so a proper translation would have to use ‘they’, not revealing the person’s gender.

I nodded again. “Then I will think about it.”

Seymour looked at me, and I realized he hadn’t understood any of that. “I think your guard must have given you the seeds.” I said. “He is the only other one that would know it’s real name.”

“So would the others from our world, little brother.” the guard said in English. “I’m not the only one that was resurrected.”

“More members of your sect survived? I thought the Justice League killed most of you and are keeping the rest in prisons even immortals can’t escape from.”

“They did. But people rarely guard corpses well. It was a simple matter for my new master to acquire our bodies.”

I nodded. “And are there any other plants from our realm that you have the seeds for?”

He shook his head. “Unfortunately, only spirit rice. My sect had few alchemists, and those seeds were only in our possession because we raided a group from the Jade Dragon Sect that had them, taking their spoils for ourselves.”

I wanted to hit him but instead forces a smile and bowed. “I would very much like to buy a bag of spirit rice seed. The food of this world soils my meridians. I need better.”

“That, at least, we can work with.” said Seymour, tired of being ignored. “How about I work out something a get you, say, one hundred grains so that you can grow your own. In exchange for, say, a thousand dollars?” I nodded. “Good, then it that case, come back in a week or two. I’ll have it waiting for you. And if you don’t mind, can you please let those idiots at the warehouse keep working for me?”

I bowed. “I will let them sell to you as well.” I said. “I do enjoy a bit of competition in my business, after all.”

“Good,” he said, and stood to return the bow. I was certain that this wasn’t a normal gesture for him, but he had landed a new client, so he was trying his best.

Now that we were finished with pleasantries Bruce and I left, hoping onto my sword and flying off. We landed several kilometers from the manor and switched to civilian clothing, getting one of Bruce’s limousines from a storage building where we had left it when we left the mansion and returning to the mansion. I had used my last Elixir of Memories on Alfred to copy his driving skills so, while I didn’t actually have a driver’s license, I was good enough that no one would question my position as Bruce’s new bodyguard.

“So, debrief me.” he said once we were back in the cave, removing our costumes from a hidden compartment in the car.

I told him the conversation I had with the Demon Cultivator in our native language, and his look grew more severe. “I think I know who his master is,” he said. “Unfortunately, they aren’t the kind of person you can just arrest. I’m going to need to make a plan.”

“I assume that plan will include me gaining the Demon Cultivator’s trust and meeting this master of his?”

“That depends on if you think you can pull it off. Are you good enough to pretend to be from a sect that you aren’t?”

I thought for a few seconds. “While I can’t cultivate Sword Chi the way those of the Soul Blade Sect do without breaking my cultivation, I can fake it. I learned the Chi gathering techniques for both the Soul Blade and the Heaven’s Wrath sects, allowing me to learn techniques for Sword Chi and neutral Chi. Both metal and neutral chi can be converted into Sword Chi, and I know how to convert all of the elemental types of chi into neutral chi from my studies of the Heaven’s Wrath Sect’s techniques, so with practice I should be able to use Sword Chi almost as well as a High Collection member of the Soul Blade sect.”

He nodded. “In that case, you should start practicing. Meanwhile, I’ll come up with a plan to deal with who I think the Master is.”