Chapter 39: "If I Say There Isn't Any, There Isn't Any."

The night grew deeper. The streets of Gotham City rarely saw any decent folks after dark, and at this hour, they were especially desolate. Shadows cloaked the blocks in silence, with only pitch-black darkness and flickering neon lights cutting through the gloom.

A flash of light pierced the night—a red and silver mech darted through the dark skies, leaving a trail of jet flames in its wake. The right foot of the mech crackled with sparks, and its propulsion sputtered erratically, causing the entire machine to wobble unsteadily.

Not long after, a beam of white light shot from the other end of the night sky, piercing the armor and entering within. Countless particles of light gathered and assembled, taking on a human shape, perfectly fitting into the hollow interior of the suit.

Shen You, reverting from his photon form back to human form, opened his eyes. The built-in UI interface appeared on the display in front of him, confirming his identity.

"Welcome back, sir," Pal's calm voice chimed in. "Transfer mode disengaged. Switching back to manual control."

As he regained control of the mech, Shen You suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu—like those moments when past heroes would return to their aircraft after a fight, trying to convince their teammates they had just been AFK for three minutes.

Thinking about it, it was rather rare for one's vehicle to still be in the air after a transformation. Compared to his predecessors, this must be quite unusual. The Victory Hawk would listen silently, the Falcon One would weep, and Shinjo Daigo would declare in the dead of night that they didn't believe in rumors—where's the logic in the aircraft not crashing after a battle?

"Anti-radar system functioning normally. Stealth mode activated."

"Good. Let's go back and review the data from this mission."

Back at the lab, Shen You eagerly accessed the battle data collected during the fight, analyzing and assessing both the mech and the enemy's capabilities in detail.

"The tactics were effective, but there's still room for improvement," Shen You reflected. "All the methods used this time targeted the senses. It was a bit repetitive."

"If I could find different angles and design more diverse methods, it should be more effective."

"Besides, the main issue is still with the armor."

Previously, because the opponents weren't strong enough, the flaws hadn't been highlighted. But this time, after testing against a high-level opponent, he realized that his first-generation Ultraman armor had plenty of room for improvement.

The primary issue seemed to be the materials.

The components had been easily damaged by the enemy's super strength, mainly because the N-metal was of too low a purity, making it insufficiently durable. N-metal is considered a cosmic-level artifact; theoretically, even Superman wouldn't be able to break through the defenses of the purest N-metal.

More importantly, N-metal has top-tier magical resistance. As a member of the M78 Nebula, a civilization that primarily focuses on technology, while Shen You could deal with magic, it was one of his relative weaknesses compared to his technological prowess. Thus, he'd like to maximize his magical resistance.

Thinking this through, Shen You left the lab and went to the kitchen.

The old wizard Shazam was reclining on a deck chair, intently studying a cookbook titled "3600 Home Recipes."

He seemed to have fully embraced his new role, even showing signs of an obsession with modern culinary arts recently.

Hearing Shen You's question, the old wizard didn't even look up. He continued reading his cookbook and said, "None left."

"Really?" Shen You persisted.

"None."

"Not a drop?"

"Not a drop."

Shen You thought for a moment, then casually remarked, "I suddenly remembered, that new grill from Wayne Enterprises seems pretty nice. We're considering getting one for our shop."

The old wizard's body twitched, and he looked up sharply, a glimmer of light flashing briefly in his eyes.

But it vanished almost immediately. He quickly buried his head back in his cookbook, adopting the demeanor of a sage and calmly stroking his long white beard.

"Just the creation of mere mortals. A great wizard needs no external objects—why would you think I'd be interested in such a thing?"

Shen You found this amusing. When he saw the commercial for the new grill on TV the other day, his eyes nearly popped out of his head, yet he was still trying to act tough.

But Shen You remained expressionless, merely feigning disappointment. "Oh, I see. I was planning to buy one tomorrow, but if you're not interested, I guess we can save some money. Sorry to bother you, please carry on."

He turned to leave.

At these words, the old wizard immediately sat up straight.

"Wait, come back!" The old man's eyes darted as he spoke. "I've reconsidered. Some mortal creations are quite interesting. Though they don't match a wizard's wisdom, it's worth trying them out."

Shen You smiled at him.

The old wizard averted his eyes guiltily, "But the N-metal is truly all gone."

Before Shen You could utter another word, he quickly changed his tone, "But I do know where there might be some."

"Oh?" Shen You perked up with interest.

N-metal is one of the most common divine-level materials in the DC universe, but "common" is only in relation to other similar materials. Shen You could immediately think of a few places in the original works that might have N-metal, like the Batcave, the Justice League Watchtower, or in the hands of Hawkman. 

After ruling out a few options, it seemed that none of these places would have any at this point in time.

"I once fought alongside the Greek gods. They had a formidable army," the old wizard explained. "A unit made up of the bravest female warriors, blessed by the gods to never age."

"Themyscira?" Shen You's eyes lit up.

"Huh?" The old wizard was surprised. "You know about it?"

"Of course."

For any DC comic fan, it would be impossible not to know. Themyscira is the home of Wonder Woman, Diana Prince, an island blessed by the Greek gods.

The island is populated entirely by immortal female warriors who call themselves Amazons. Their island is surrounded by a magical mist that causes it to disappear from view once one leaves its shores. Finding the way back would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Does Themyscira have N-metal?

That was a gap in Shen You's knowledge.

However, the Amazons were notorious for their disdain for men. Even if there were N-metal on the island, obtaining it wouldn't be easy.

Of course, that was something to figure out later. First, he had to find out where Themyscira was.

"Do you know where it is?"

"I don't," the old wizard shrugged.

Shen You started to get up to leave, muttering, "I just remembered that the shop's finances are a bit tight recently..."

"But I can divine it," the old wizard quickly interjected.

"Hmm?" Shen You sat back down. "I heard that no one could find the way to Themyscira?"

"Heh, that's talking about mortals." The old wizard confidently stroked his beard.

Shen You immediately recalled that, in the comics, it was initially said that Wonder Woman would never find her way back to the island once she left. However, in later stories, she seemed to visit Themyscira quite frequently. It seemed the mist wasn't absolute—it just required the correct method to bypass.

"Can you divine the coordinates of Themyscira?" Shen You asked, surprised. "That's quite impressive."

The old wizard leaned back with a smug expression. "What do you think 'Supreme Sorcerer' means?"

"Alright, then I'll leave it to you," Shen You smiled. "We'll go ahead and buy that new grill… oh, wait."

Shen You thought for a moment and then used his x-ray vision to glance at the garbage can beside the kitchen.

"Huh? Where is it?"

The old wizard blinked, "What are you looking for?"

"That flyer—the one advertising the grill. There's a discount if we use that."

Shen You frowned.

"Strange, I'm sure I threw it in here earlier today..."

Since becoming Ultraman, he hadn't forgotten or misplaced anything in a long time. Replaying his memory of earlier today, he was certain he had crumpled up that flyer and tossed it into this trash can…

The old wizard, silently casting a spell, formed a magical seal with his left hand and flipped his right palm over. His magic surged, and the crumpled-up flyer gently floated into his hand.

Shen You stared at the crumpled paper for a few seconds.

"So," he finally couldn't help but ask, "did you dig this out of the trash?"

"No," the old wizard's gaze wandered, "just a simple retrieval spell. There's nothing a wizard like Shazam can't find."

Shen You gave him a suspicious look.

"Young man, why are you staring at me like that? If I say there isn't any, there isn't any!" The old wizard huffed,

his beard fluttering with his frustration.

"Alright then," Shen You nodded, taking the crumpled flyer from his hand.

He decided to take it as if nothing had happened.