CHAPTER 36

The first thing Max did after waking up in the morning was to call Teacher Zatanna. When it came to professional matters, one still had to rely on those with a legacy.

"Hello~, is this Teacher Zatanna? Good morning. I have a question I'd like to ask. Do you have a moment?"

"Oh, Max... hmm... what is it?" Zatanna's voice was still a bit groggy; she probably wasn't fully awake yet.

"Um, Teacher Zatanna, are there any sources of magic power that can exist for a long time? I need a stable magic power source to modify some things!"

"Magic power source... emmm~ Let me think~ Angel feathers, the heart of a hell demon, weapons of ancient gods, inherited magic gemstones, various sealed artifacts..."

As she spoke, she drifted off to sleep again.

Max: "Eh? Hello, Teacher, are you still there? Hello?"

"ZZZZZZ......"

The sound of deep sleep snoring continued. It seemed she must have stayed up very late last night, especially since the sun was already high in the sky.

Max speechlessly hung up the phone.

Recalling the things Zatanna had mentioned, tsk, these items all seemed quite difficult to obtain!

"Angel feathers, this... I might need to find Constantine, because there's always an angel keeping an eye on him. A demon's heart, this also seems to require Constantine; wherever he goes, demons follow. Weapons of ancient gods... uh... am I supposed to go find Wonder Woman Diana? I'd probably get chopped to bits.

As for gemstones containing magic power... this could work. With the black card, I can afford to buy a gemstone. But the problem is, where do I find someone who sells gemstones?"

Max walked out of the base and came to the puddle from yesterday. Due to his gambler's mentality, he wanted to see what he could transform into today.

The daily lottery begins!

The Omnitrix dial popped up. Max slapped it to transform!

Bang!

"I! Am Resurrected~"

A giant draconic figure roared towards the sky, and it instinctively shouted this phrase! It felt like it could increase its imposing presence.

Its appearance suddenly caused the magical energy between heaven and earth to desperately drill into its body, making it instantly feel full of power! It had inexhaustible magic power!

"Cough cough, what's going on? Eh? Why is my throat so hoarse?! Good heavens, this is even hoarser than Batman's voice. Cough cough spit, there's no phlegm stuck in my throat either!"

It bent down, lowered its head, and looked into the pool. In the reflection, those blood-red eyes, a face covered in scales, greenish-yellow skin all over its body, and it was even wearing purple shorts on its lower half. The Omnitrix was on its chest.

This character was very easy to recognize.

"What the fuck, I'm actually Shendu!!!"

It scratched its head with a scale-covered claw. For a moment, sparks flew from the scales on its head!

"Emmm... this guy, what can he do?"

Sensing Shendu's body, many "switches" suddenly appeared in its mind!

They were ability switches, somewhere between instinct and active triggering!

It mentally pressed one.

Zzzzz—

The giant crimson eyes began to gather yellow light and, in the next second, shot out lasers laced with lightning!

It hurriedly closed its eyes. That brief moment just now had blasted a tree thousands of meters away.

"Wow! This is the Pig Talisman! Piercing electric eyes, impressive!"

Those ability switches were like cheat codes in a single-player game. They needed to be turned on and off using mental power; otherwise, they wouldn't activate, very rigid.

...The huge body was ultimately inconvenient. Although Shendu's physique was terrifyingly strong, its sheer size was rather troublesome in this small place.

"Monkey Talisman, possesses the ability of myriad transformations! I can turn myself back into a human first!"

Clicking the talisman icon engraved with a monkey, Shendu's giant figure was enveloped in white light. After a series of changes, it shrank, shrank, and shrank again, transforming itself back into Max.

However, the Omnitrix symbol was still on his chest! Not on his wrist as it would be if he were exiting the transformation.

"Right, the essence of this body is still Shendu. This guy has a lot of good stuff. Can I exploit a bug? Keep some of it out?"

Shendu, the Fire Demon from "Jackie Chan Adventures," possessed 12 special abilities, each corresponding to a zodiac talisman: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig!

Those thirteen switches were the twelve zodiac talisman abilities, plus Shendu's Fire Demon Qi!

Unfortunately, Max didn't know the magic to separate these abilities. The inherited knowledge in his mind only told him how to use the power within his body.

After turning human, Max felt his intellect return: "Emmm... Right, Shendu is a Demon Dragon! A dragon's heart... should be usable, right?"

Anyway, Shendu wouldn't die. Digging out a few hearts, taking out a few sets of lungs, then processing them and keeping them as spellcasting materials should be pretty good!

Another problem arose: Max didn't know how to preserve the effectiveness of these spellcasting materials!

"Emmm... Got it!" Max once again took out his phone and called the sleeping Zatanna.

"Hey! You better have a legitimate reason! Otherwise, I'll turn you into a rabbit, and you'll know the consequences of waking a lady!"

Max shivered all over. Magic in the DC world was compulsory; as long as the spell was successful, even a god could be tricked. If Zatanna said she'd turn him into a rabbit, she absolutely would turn him into a rabbit!

"Um, sorry about that, Teacher Zatanna. It's still about the question I asked this morning. Let me ask again, can a dragon's heart be used as a magic power source?"

"Huh?" Zatanna's initially angry expression turned into one of bewilderment. Wait, where did you even encounter a dragon?

She asked suspiciously:

"Are you sure? How come I've never heard of dragons appearing in any region of Earth?"

"Uh, well..." Max said awkwardly, "I transformed into it myself."

An image appeared in Zatanna's mind: Max, while practicing magic, accidentally summoned an otherworldly creature and even defeated it!

"What! You know summoning magic now? I don't remember teaching you that!"

"No, according to your explanation, Teacher, this is transformation magic!"

Zatanna's bewilderment intensified: "? No way? You transformed yourself! Then why are you talking about a dragon heart! Are you trying to commit suicide?!"

Her words contained both reprimand and worry, fearing that this disciple she thought highly of would go to extremes.

Max also heard the concern in her voice and explained:

"Um... Teacher Zatanna, the dragon I transformed into possesses an immortal body. As long as I have enough magic power, I won't die."

"So it doesn't matter if I take out the heart. I can even take the opportunity to take out a few more internal organs, to save some spellcasting materials for the future."

...These outrageous words made Zatanna let out a shocked gasp: "? What!...! Really?!!!"

"Really," Max confirmed seriously.

"Where are you? I'm coming over right now!"

The voice on the other end of the phone was filled with excitement and a hint of impatience! A creature like a dragon was a treasure trove from head to toe!

Max thought it would be good for Teacher Zatanna to come over. He could ask her to help modify his base; at worst, he'd just give her a dragon heart.

Ten minutes passed...

A three-meter-tall blue magic circle suddenly appeared beside Max. Zatanna stepped out of the teleportation array, looking at Max with an excited expression.

Immediately after, her expression underwent a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree change!

From excitement, to shock, then to bewilderment, and finally, to anger!

"You're messing with me! Max!"

This sentence was practically roared out by Zatanna! To get here, she had exhausted all the materials of one of her magic items!

"No no no! Don't misunderstand, Teacher. I'm currently using magic to maintain a human disguise. Otherwise, how could I wait for you in this base!"

Zatanna glanced around and found that this place was just a crude cave, not Batman's finely decorated Batcave. The lighting here still relied on the 【Flash】magic array.

Zatanna calmed down and asked, "This isn't the Batcave. You've left Gotham?"

"Yes. This way, let's go outside first. We can talk as we walk."

Max explained as they walked, revealing his entire purpose.

By the time they reached the outside of the "Tomb of the Living Dead," Zatanna had basically understood the current situation.

"So, you want to create a mystery house, something like John's?"

"Hmm, pretty much. But I'm going to name this place: 'Tomb of the Living Dead'!"

"..." Zatanna rolled her eyes, expressing her utter speechlessness.

Since her teacher didn't want to talk, Max naturally needed to tactfully change the subject:

"Alright, now let's address the issue of the dragon's heart!"

Max mentally clicked the Monkey Talisman within his body. White light instantly swept over his entire being. His form twisted and grew larger. When the white light subsided...

A colossal dragon, with greenish-yellow skin and capable of walking upright, appeared on the spot.

Zatanna's eyes widened; she was completely stunned!

"Holy crap, this is a dragon? Why does it look different from the illustrations I've seen, and also..."

Zatanna's expression was very strange, "...and you have a very strong smell of hellish sulfur on you. You should be a demon, right?"

The giant dragon head nodded:

"My current form is called Shendu. I am a dragon-form Fire Demon. It's normal to smell of sulfur."

Although it was also a dragon, it was vastly different from the pure dragons she had imagined!

"Alright then, materials from a demon will also do. At least it wasn't a wasted trip. What do you plan to do? Do you need my help?"

"No need! I can do it myself!"

Shendu's claw reached towards its chest, then plunged sharply inside, grabbing the beating heart and just like that, pulled it out.

The wound healed instantly after Shendu removed the heart, so quickly it was as if nothing had happened.

If not for the heart still beating in its hand, Zatanna would have thought that scene of heart-ripping was an illusion.

...The giant Shendu half-crouched, handing the heart, which was as large as its claw, to Zatanna.

"Teacher Zatanna, don't just stare. While it's fresh!"

"Ah? Oh!!! Right away!"

She pulled out quite a few things from her hat, as if she were setting up some kind of ritual.

After Zatanna finished her preparations, she said with a solemn expression, "Space transforms, magic power seal!" (HUA ZHUAN JIAN KONG, YIN FENG LI MO!)

Twelve layers of special effect magic arrays unfolded upon the Fire Demon's heart, compressing it again and again, until it was the size of a basketball!

This size was the limit; it couldn't be compressed any further. Any more pressure and it would explode!

Immediately after, she took out many strange powders from her satchel and continuously sprinkled them onto the heart.

The originally blackish-red heart began to turn crystal clear after those powders were sprinkled on it, as if it were crystallizing!

After the spell was completed, a basketball-sized crystal heart appeared in Shendu's hand!

"I've preserved its function of absorbing external magic power and purified its demonic aura! Its energy is enough for you to create a mystery house! Now you just need to place it within a magic matrix that consumes magic power, and it will provide a continuous supply of energy!"

Zatanna held the crystal heart with satisfaction, truly exceedingly satisfied. Truly worthy of being the youngest and most formidable magic genius in the world of mages!

"Then, Teacher, how many more times can you cast that spell?"

After witnessing the scene just now, Shendu was filled with the urge to rip out more hearts and lungs! In a physical sense!

Zatanna's expression froze: "Huh? Aren't you a demon? Even if demons can regenerate hearts, that should take two or three months, right!"

"No need. The noble Horse can expel all negative states! Injury and recovery are just a momentary thing!"

Zatanna: "..." What are you talking about... Why can't I understand?

"Teacher, you don't need to worry. My heart has already grown back. Let's do it again!"

Zatanna glanced at the materials she had brought, nodded, and said, "Alright, I still have surplus materials. I should be able to do it again..."

Before she could finish speaking, another beating, blackish-red heart appeared before her!

"Come, Teacher, while it's fresh!"