"Don't be sorry, be better."
– Kratos (God of War)
...
Hearing the system's prompt, Dean's face lit up with joy.
The system indeed had a way of making him immune to curses.
Although it could only protect him against the same type of curse that attracted 'misfortune' and only completely resist curses of C-level, this is still highly valuable to Dean.
First of all, the system automatically started the analysis without deducting any points, and the next explanations did not mention that absorbing the "sealing object" required points.
In other words, Dean basically got a true passive 'magic immunity' for free.
Moreover, the threat of C-level curses was important.
They would primarily result in the deaths of regular people, and even some superheroes with weak fates would probably die as a result of this.
At this moment, the system's prompt sounded in Dean's ear.
[Do you wish to activate the absorption function?]
Did that even need asking?
Without hesitation, Dean pressed the confirmation button.
Suddenly, the box containing the 'Stone of Misfortune' on his desk emitted a burst of light.
Then, the entire box started to disintegrate, turning into countless tiny pieces and disappearing into thin air.
[Absorption complete, constructing a curse-resistant shield... Construction complete.]
Although it was called a 'shield', it was not visible or tangible. After the construction was complete, Dean didn't feel any different than usual.
On the desk, since the box used for sealing curses had been absorbed by the system, the 'Stone of Misfortune' was now lying on it.
Dean reached out and picked up the Stone of Misfortune. As his fingertips touched its surface, he felt a sudden chill.
This feeling was quick, like shivering when entering a cold storage room after being outside in the hot weather.
"That was the so-called curse just now?"
Dean muttered quietly, "It doesn't seem that strange. Did the shield activate?"
After waiting for a while, nothing happened. The curse should have been eliminated.
"I wonder where Penguin got this thing."
Dean lightly shook the Stone of Misfortune in his hand and then held it firmly.
"I still have 5,600 points, I can buy them for that thing, System, open the store."
The store interface appeared in front of Dean.
He quickly swiped through the interface and found the item he wanted, then clicked 'purchase'.
[Exchange for Hard Cutter.]
[Hard Cutter: Can easily cut on the surface of an object, but only on object made of ordinary matter in the universe. The thickness of the object must be less than fifteen centimeters, and it does not work on living beings.]
[Price: 4500 wonder points.]
The appearance of the Hard Cutter was similar to a glass cutter seen in movies, but the flaw was that it was not very small and required manual operation.
The benefit of this item is its extraordinary sharpness.
It can cut through anything, like it's cutting through paper, except for a few special and mysterious super metals with unique properties and mysterious abilities.
It can cut through almost anything without making any sound.
Dean was astounded at how much this item cost the first time he saw it. Even if he could afford it, he would prioritize other buying items.
But as he went on more missions, Dean started to believe that this Hard Cutter was an important tool for him.
Just think about how many extraordinary super-materials there are in this world. There are materials like glass that are harder than diamonds.
Dean would be helpless if these materials were used to make containers to protect treasures or could be completely closed.
Dean considered that he would definitely have to leave Gotham in the future to grow himself.
Facing different monsters and creatures of the DC world, there would always be security devices, even if they seemed ridiculous.
Compared to those, bulletproof glass is just worthless.
At that time, what would Dean do with those devices?
They would probably just seal the treasures inside and not do anything without even needing security.
Dean wouldn't be able to take anything out and would just stand there empty-handed.
Just in recent crimes alone, Dean didn't have any useful tools to deal with high-strength glass cases.
He had to create the fake impression that the treasure had been stolen and come back for the real one after distracting everyone's attention.
This plan had a good success rate, but it was ultimately just a trick.
It might work a few times, but after a while, it would take a lot of work to get the ideal effect.
In fact, in this recent incident, Jim has already started suspecting that the Phantom Thief he saw outside was a fake.
It would be hard to deceive him again in the future.
This means that Dean must have a way to break through high-strength protective covers under normal circumstances.
He might not need to use it often, but he must have it. Currently, the best option is this Hard Cutter.
With the Hard Cutter, Dean can ignore most of the protective materials in the universe. In the future, even if Phantom Thief committed crimes on other planets, this tool would prove useful.
It can be predicted that the Hard Cutter will remain valuable for a long time in the future.
On the other hand, the most useful Mini Surveillance System Jammer becomes useless once it leaves Earth.
In short, although it was expensive at 4,500 points, it was actually worth its value.
Remember that similar weapons with similar descriptions, such as guns, can penetrate any normal material armor.
That would cost at least seven to eight thousand points.
This also made Dean realize that buying items with offensive stuff in the system seemed to be much more expensive than other items.
[Confirm exchange?]
"Yes, confirmed."
4,500 points were deducted, leaving a remaining balance of 1,100 points.
Dean checked his personal panel.
[Name: Dean Thurston]
[Age: 16 years old]
[Skills: proficiency in magic, proficiency in vehicles, proficiency in lockpicking, proficiency in shooting, proficiency in hand-to-hand combat, quick disguise, voice alteration without props]
[Items: Card Gun, Grappling Gun, Triangular Glide, Bulletproof Cloak, High-Speed Self-Filling Dummy, Homemade smoke bomb, Homemade flashbang, Homemade tear gas, Homemade hypnotic gas, Mini-Surveillance System Jammer, Stone of Misfortune, Hard Cutter]
[Talents: Resistant Skin (Low-level), Superhuman Reflexes (Mid-level), Curse Resistance Shield (C-level)]
When Dean saw the Stone of Misfortune added to his inventory, he was slightly taken aback.
After a moment, he realized that he had an idea of what to do with this mysterious stone, so the system considered it to belong to Dean.
"Well... how should I deal with you, little thing?"
Dean lowered his head and looked at the Stone of Misfortune in his hand, squinting his eyes slightly.
"Should I give it back to Penguin and let him experience the consequences of bad luck?"
"Or should I just consider it my first collection?"
...
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