Chapter 3 – Info Dump Time!
Leon stepped through the portal and into the living room of a rundown apartment. The wallpaper was in poor condition and peeling in multiple locations. The only furniture in the room was a reclining sofa, a coffee table, and an old TV.
The room was damp and warm in an uncomfortable way. Looking around, Leon found an AC vent and confirmed it wasn't working when he put his hand next to it and felt no airflow. It was probably for the best since he saw what was perhaps mold growing inside.
Backing away from what might be a biohazard, Leon walked over to the sofa and sat on it. The worn-out springs stood no chance against his weight, and he sunk into the old seat. The factory padding had mostly disintegrated by now, with the little remaining cushioning clumping together and creating an uneven resting experience.
Leon had asked if he could be dropped into the world as an uber-rich elite but was promptly denied. Even gods had to follow the rules, and apparently, one of them was not noticeably altering the world's reality. If one day, a billionaire just appeared out of nowhere in a wealthy neighborhood and started splashing cash around like a crazy person, a lot of people would notice. This isn't Aladin, after all. People getting suspicious apparently strained the fabric of reality, and trying to use God's powers to force the situation to make sense could cause irreparable damage. So, a super-rich start was off the table.
On the other hand, a nobody with no connections getting plopped into the middle of the slums in a shitty apartment complex? No one would bat an eye at the newcomer. Hence why Leon was teleported here. And while there was definitely room for improvement, Leon had bigger things to worry about right now.
Remembering what the Great Doge had taught him, Leon mentally willed for his system to appear, and soon, a screen only he could see popped up in front of him.
The screen showed a breakdown of some of his stats. There were standard things like level, skills, and quests, but cliche stats like health and strength were also missing. While Leon's body has supernatural qualities, it still mainly operates within the confines of biology, so it wasn't really possible to quantify things like strength and how much health he has. But that was all boring; what he really wanted to check was his skills and his quests.
After much deliberation, the skill he requested from the God of Horni was the ability to produce and control pheromones. The long and short of it was that Leon could turn on and off the power to produce pheromones that can influence people's emotions and state of mind. Focusing on the pheromone control section, another screen with more detailed information popped up.
His skill was categorized by the pheromone and specialization levels. The pheromone level dictated Reach, Control, and Staying Power, while specializations were how good his pheromones were at inducing specific emotions and states of mind. Thinking about releasing fear pheromones, Leon felt something well up deep within him for a few seconds before the pressure released. It was pretty inconspicuous, but Leon could feel that his body was producing pheromones because their was a weird tingling he could feel in the pit of his stomach.
At level 1 in his Pheromone skill, his pheromones could only expand out 5 yards, be controlled within 1 foot of Leon, and stay for only 1 hour.
The way it was explained to Leon by the Doge was to think of the pheromones like a cloud. The Reach stat showed how large that cloud could be from edge to edge. At level 1, that was 5 yards.
Control was the distance in which Leon had absolute control. It was currently 1 foot, meaning he only had control of his pheromones within a foot of him. Compared to the 15 feet that his pheromones could reach out, he had no control.
Staying power was how long the pheromone remained in the area after Leon was no longer there. While he was inside the cloud of pheromones, the chemicals stayed around indefinitely. But the second Leon leaves, a countdown timer starts where the pheromones disappear when the time passes. At level 1, that timer is 30 minutes. This was an interesting stat because it allowed Leon to go to an area, produce a cloud of pheromones, and then leave, essentially setting a trap.
Specializations categorized the specific types of pheromones Leon could produce and how effective they were. The pheromones were Lust, Fear, Wrath, Submission, and Support. Lust, Fear, and Wrath were self-explanatory, while Submission and Support were less clear.
The submission was the pheromone's ability to make someone more compliant, like the Jedi Mind Trick. It wasn't straight-up mind control, but it did make someone more susceptible to suggestions and orders.
Support could be explained like the pheromone ants used to communicate. It made a target more in tune with Leon, enabling them to better understand him without verbal communication.
At level 1, the pheromones only increased the desired effect in the target by 10% per 10 minutes with a max of 50%. If the target isn't within the area of impact of the pheromones, then they lose 20% of that effect every 10 minutes.
Two important details that the Doge made Leon aware of were that the target had to be viable, and any viable target would automatically be affected.
More specifically, for pheromones to work, the target actually has to be able to inhale said pheromones. So Leon wouldn't be able to affect a robot, for example, but a cyborg with a respiratory system would be affected. And it affected any viable target. So, men, animals, and even plants could theoretically be affected. The only viable target it didn't effect was himself.
The effects also weren't only toward Leon. Releasing fear pheromones in a crowd would make everyone more fearful in general, not just specifically toward him. But if their focus was on him, than the fear would also be directed towards himself.
The effects also worked as an addition to the target's current state. So if they are a naturally horny person, being in the presence of the Lust Pheromone increases the scale of how lustful they are on their own baseline. If someone completely lacks lust, however, it still works, but the effects are significantly reduced.
Closing out of the skill tab, Leon focused on the Quests section. Currently, he has one quest: to open a gift given by the God of Horni.
Like games, his system would also occasionally give him quests to accomplish. These quests could provide any mix of experience, points, money, or items. He didn't have anything like a gift on his person, and it didn't look like anything was around, so it must be in his inventory.
Like with his system, just thinking about the inventory popped up another tab.
The screen was empty except for the God of Horni's Gift Package. It was interesting that Leon's money was stored in a separate space, not the inventory.
After mentally clicking on the gift, another tab showed what Leon had received from the gift.
Leon had received a set of clothes, a Money Clip, a System Phone, and some Pheromone Canisters. He checked his inventory and showed all those items inside, and the God of Horni's Gift Package was gone.
He wore a very nice tailored dress shirt and pants inside the afterlife, tuning his appearance to see what he would look like without being naked. While the quality of his current getup was undoubtedly high, it would obviously make him stand out in his area. Mentally clicking on the clothes made them pop out of thin air and drop into his arms. Once he was done getting dressed, he stored his old clothes inside the storage and spawned in the Money Clip and System Phone.
Leon was confused about why he would need a Money Clip when he had a system that stored his cash until he opened it. Instantly, some cash appeared inside and he was prompted with how much money he wanted to withdraw. The Money Clip was a discreet way to take money out of his system without looking like he was pulling cash out of thin air.
Putting the Money Clip away, Leon turned his attention to the System Phone. The phone was a generic, sleek black tab, no thicker than typical smartphones. If the Money Clip was anything to go by, the phone would also be a way to integrate his system.
Turning on the phone and unlocking it showed the usual apps, but there was also an app called Stats. Clicking on it opened the system stats page, but it was on the phone screen instead of popping up in the air. Definitely an excellent way to interact with his system without looking like he was zoning out.
So, the rarity was probably connected to an item's capabilities and rarity, which would explain why the clothes were common while the Money Clip and Phone were uncommon, and the canisters were rare.
Slipping the phone into his pocket, Leon took out the last thing he got from the gift package, the Pheromone Canisters. What appeared in his hands were three glass canisters roughly the size of a soda can. Focusing on them gave a pop-up that explained their use.
Now that's very interesting.
The canisters allowed Leon to store a specific type of pheromone and save it for future use, almost like Scarecrow and his Fear Toxin. It could store one hour's worth of a pheromone effect, limited to his current max. So, currently, he can store an instant boost of 50% of any pheromone as long as he takes the time to fill it up. And the fact that the effects could be compounded outside his max made it a potent tool.
Leon returned to his main stats page, storing the canisters in his inventory. Completing the quest showed that he got 10 xp points, leveling up and that he got 10 points from completing the quest and another 10 for leveling up. He seems to get equivalent points equal to how much XP it took to increase his level.
While his personal level increased, the level of his Pheromone level and Specializations did not. That was because his personal level was related to the skills he could acquire and for earning points. Speaking of points and acquiring things, Leon decided to check on the last part of his system, the shop.
Thinking about the shop, another screen popped up. There were two options, the Skill Shop and the Item Shop.
The shops were filled with extraordinary powers and items, from the ability to fly to incredible gadgets like jetpacks. While Leon would have loved to experience all of them, they cost points or money, and most of it was outside his reach.
Leon sorted out everything he couldn't afford using a convenient filter function and was left with much smaller lists in both shops. Starting with the skill shop, he was left with 4 options.
Body of Steel was a watered-down version of Superman's physical durability, while Speed Demon would make Leon a bootleg Speedster. Natural Vitality gave him a weak healing power that allowed him to recover stamina and from wounds faster. All of these were incredibly helpful but also very dull. Especially compared to the last option.
Incubus Instincts gave Leon the natural ability to know the best way to provide pleasure to a partner, with every level afterward stacking an additional 5%. This skill could be potent if Leon stacked it with his Lust pheromone. While his smut brain demanded he buy the skill, it would cost him all of his points, so he decided to wait for now.
Moving on to the item shop, Leon was greeted with more options.
There was a ring for every primary stat and every specific pheromone. The rings for Reach, Control, and Lasting all gave a 10% boost to their respective stats. In comparison, the rings for the particular types of pheromones gave a 5% boost every 10 minutes and a 10% increase in maximum effect.
Other than the rings, there was also a Gacha Pull option that allowed Leon to gamble 10 points or $10000 for a chance at anything between an Uncommon and Super Rare item. While tempting, Leon decided the Gacha option was only worth it once he had more money or points to spend. Generally, points were more effective for buying skills, while money was better for items. Though, it didn't matter much right now since Leon had more points than money.
Not sure how to spend his points, Leon exited his seat and approached the window. Maybe a change of view would give him an idea of how he wanted to start his new life.
Pulling open the rags that were acting as window curtains. Outside, the streets were falling apart with potholes and chunks missing from the asphalt. Garbage cans were overflowing, and graffiti was seen on almost every surface.
*BRRRRAT* *BRRRRAT* *BRRRRAT*
Just then, a string of gunshots rang out. The sound echoed and amplified within the concrete jungle, serving as the perfect welcome salute for Leon to Arkham.
That's right, that Arkham. Gotham's unwashed armpits, where criminals congregate, and the politicians are too corrupt to do anything. The bad part of an already bad town. It's no wonder many of the world's villains decided to call this place home, setting up base and even opening businesses where regulators couldn't touch them.
Businesses...
Looking outside for inspiration seemed to work, and an idea popped into Leon's head. Right as Leon had his lightbulb moment, a notification popped up from his system.
It seems like the system agrees with his idea on how to announce his presence on the Arkham stage.
But while Oswald Cobblepots, aka The Penguin, wasn't the most physically imposing villain, he made up for it with his wits and ruthlessness. Leon needed more money and points if he wanted to take over his pride and joy, The Iceberg Lounge.
With a new goal, Leon quickly bought the Body of Steel and Speed Demon skills while spending 3 more points on the Rings of Fear, Reach, and Submission.
The second Leon bought the skills, he felt his muscles tense up before relaxing, and his body felt lighter. It was hard to describe, but the effects were unmistakable.
Taking the rings from his inventory, Leon looked at the simple silver bands before putting them on his left ring, middle, and index finger.
Leon couldn't help but grin as he felt excited about his future. The Penguin wasn't going to see what hit 'em.
Chapter End Stats/Quests