novelonline Chapter 3810 The School Doctor's "Daily Life" (25)
Chapter 3810 The School Doctor's "Daily Life" (25)
Chapter 3810 The School Doctor's "Daily Life" (Twenty-Five)
Schiller sighed inwardly. He completely understood why Night Owl's thinking had veered to this point. It was obvious to the naked eye that most Batmen's magical abilities were fairly similar.
Since there are no contracts involved for the time being, everyone is using the energy from their wands. Manipulating energy isn't particularly difficult. If there's any barrier to entry, it's probably that people with higher intelligence and better coordination are more adept at controlling energy. However, such people excel in any field, so it's really not a significant barrier.
Almost every Batman is like this. Their physical coordination and intelligence levels are basically the same. Given the same learning pace, they all acquire the same abilities.
Most Batmen didn't mind, because being able to learn magic was already quite good. Even knowing that the energy wouldn't be available back in their own universe was still better than the previous state of confusion. It was good even if it was just considered a life experience.
So the kind of cutthroat competition and frantic infighting among Batmen didn't happen. Many Batmen even enjoyed taking elective courses, even Lucifer's nonsensical cosmology, which many of them listened to attentively to broaden their horizons.
The main universe's Batman faction wasn't worried either. They already had the advantage, having thwarted the Man Who Laughs and Night Owl's plots one after another, chasing them all over the universe. They were practically dominating the evil side. Magic was just icing on the cake.
But for Night Owls, this situation is now very troublesome. They can't win a direct confrontation, and any schemes they devise will be exposed. With unhelpful teammates and a too-strong opponent, they have no choice but to take a shortcut.
Since following the crowd to learn ordinary magic doesn't offer a shortcut to advancement, dark magic is clearly the best option. Again, many people believe that sacrificing morality will allow them to take a shortcut. While Night Owl's symptoms aren't as severe as Maniacal Laughter, they still exhibit this tendency.
This might also be due to his stereotypes about magic. Whether in the East or the West, the public's stereotypes about the mystical world are similar, with many believing that unorthodox practitioners progress faster than righteous practitioners.
Schiller had also asked Strange if this was true. Strange completely denied it: "At least in our universe, there is no such thing as black magic. Energy is energy, without distinction of high or low, noble or base. A curse can kill, and controlling a sword with magic to stab someone through the neck can also kill. How can you distinguish between the good and evil of these two methods?"
The dark magic tomes displayed on the shelves in the secret chamber, which appear sinister, are actually only sinister in appearance; they are not actually forbidden books. In Kamar-Taj, even minor mages can access them, but very few people actually read them.
There's no other reason. In fact, many seemingly evil and bizarre methods of drawing upon magical energy were devised under conditions of extreme scarcity of magical energy. It's like during a famine, people try every possible way to make strange ingredients taste good. It's not because they crave those flavors, but because if they don't eat them, they have nothing else to eat.
But now that energy is plentiful, there's no need for any fancy tricks. They used to kill with curses instead of magic to control their swords, purely because curses conserved energy. But in reality, it was far more difficult than using energy to control a sword to kill.
The bizarre and fantastical dark magic conjured by the great sorcerers of the past was beyond the capabilities of even the Ancient One, let alone Strange. Only some ancient beings could barely use it, but most of them had vanished into the annals of history.
In other words, Owl's current attempt to learn dark magic is a completely roundabout way of doing things. By ignoring the simplest methods and instead making things extremely complicated, he's essentially regressing further from the right path.
But Schiller then thought that many Batmen in different universes are short of energy, so would those complex but energy-efficient dark magic spells be the most suitable type of magic for them?
Schiller disagreed. On the contrary, teaching them this kind of dark magic was what harmed them.
If someone is starving to death, they will do anything to find food, whether it's scavenging or begging, just to avoid starvation. But if this person is on the verge of starvation, a small piece of bread might just fall from the sky, allowing them to barely stay afloat. They might then actually live off that small piece of bread and stop trying to find other food.
The same applies to magical energy. Batman in almost every universe is nearly starving. Before experiencing what it felt like to be full, Batman might not have had such a strong obsession. But after coming to this universe and experiencing the power and convenience of magic, Batman would absolutely never be able to endure the hunger he felt before.
Upon returning to his own universe, he will do everything in his power to obtain energy. Whether it's by targeting mysterious beings, seeking out archmages, or even storming into Hell, he will find a way to acquire the energy.
But suppose Owl learns a way to achieve his goals with minimal energy. Would he still go to great lengths to generate massive amounts of energy, like other Batmen?
Schiller thought not. Because clearly, Night Owl was facing too many problems right now. If there were a way to achieve a significant improvement with very little energy, he would definitely try it first.
However, once this method is used, it creates a dependency. Or even if he wants to obtain large amounts of energy later, the speed will be much slower than other Batmen.
Given Batman's efficiency, a day apart feels like three years. By the time Nite Owl starts working on his energy manipulation, Batman might already be the Sorcerer Supreme. Then he'll still be getting crushed.
Schiller realized this was a golden opportunity to wear down Night Owl. This dark magic had to be taught, and he had to be taught it thoroughly, and let him taste the benefits of taking shortcuts. This would keep him dependent on that path, delaying his pursuit of power and giving the righteous Batman more time to develop.
But Schiller was starting to get a headache. Leaving aside the fact that black magic itself was difficult and complicated, the knowledge of the occult just wouldn't stick in his head. He'd start to feel sleepy after a while; the hypnotic effect was comparable to studying math.
Since I can't do it myself, I'll find a personality trait that I can. Greed sparked an idea. The process by which this personality trait came about was also quite unique.
Schiller had always known that his mental state wasn't good. After studying psychology for a while, he realized even more how rare his symptoms were. So for a time, he wondered if he wasn't mentally ill, but rather under some kind of curse.
In short, he suspected that his mental state was caused by mysterious factors. So he began to study occult knowledge, which led to the development of the personality trait "inspiration".
His suspicions at the time were actually correct. His mental problems weren't just his own; they were also a result of problems arising during the soul's transformation process, caused by God throwing him into a world with slightly different parameters. To some extent, it could also be considered an influence of the occult.
Unfortunately, that world truly lacked supernatural powers, and God never even appeared. The vast majority of occult knowledge was fabricated by ordinary people. Despite countless studies of inspiration, the true cause remained elusive.
However, precisely because of his background, his way of thinking did indeed lean more towards the mysticism; to be precise, he would turn to the mysticism whenever he thought about any problem.
It might pose some problems for daily life, but it's a unique advantage when it comes to learning magic.
Now that we have chosen the students, where should we go to learn?
Schiller thought for a moment and realized that relying solely on the books in schools wouldn't be enough. As he had mentioned before, these materials were too profound and obscure, and much of them had been lost to history, leaving only fragmentary and unsystematic accounts. There were too few people who understood them now.
As Batman, Night Owl possesses exceptional learning abilities. If Schiller doesn't thoroughly master the knowledge of dark magic first, he'll likely run out of things to teach within days, and his identity as a seasoned dark sorcerer will be exposed. That definitely won't do.
So who exactly has extensive knowledge of black magic?
Schiller suddenly had a flash of inspiration: Could Mephisto use black magic?
That's a good question. Mephisto is probably the originator of dark magic. But just because he's the originator, he doesn't seem to have any need to know dark magic. You can't expect the lord of hell to learn how to curse others; he's usually the type who just picks up a sword and starts hacking away.
Logically speaking, Mephisto, a demon who likes to deceive humans with his appearance and behavior, shouldn't be so aggressive. But unfortunately, his opponent is the Ancient One. If Mephisto were a magic user, the animation before he raises his hand would be enough to take three punches from the Ancient One.
However, Mephisto has lived a long time, and although he may not have seen dinosaurs, he must have seen humans living in trees. He also loves to visit humans and chat with people all the time, so his knowledge is definitely broad. If you were to ask who in this school is most likely to master complete dark magic, it would be him.
Thinking this, Schiller said to the Night Owl, "Everything has a price. What price are you prepared to pay?"
Night Owl pursed his lips, knowing he didn't have many chips to play. He said, "You infiltrated Iphamoni, I'm afraid you didn't intend to waste your time here, did you? I can help you do what you want, but you have to help me too."
“You have no room for negotiation,” Schiller said. “Don’t forget, you still have to rely on me.”
Night Owl's grip tightened slightly. He had been tricked earlier, and now he truly had little room for negotiation. He still had to try.
“I will not be threatened. If you think you can kill me with a curse, then go ahead and try. But if a student dies in school like this, the Sorcerer Supreme will not let it go. Do you really think you can get away with it?”
"No wonder he's Batman," Schiller thought. "Even in this situation, he can still conjure up cards out of thin air." But what he said made sense. The current system dictates that the Sorcerer Supreme is the ultimate authority; even though he's a powerful dark sorcerer, he still has to operate in secret. And as a student at the school, Night Owl is indeed under the Sorcerer Supreme's protection. If something were to happen to him, it could very well disrupt Saffir's plans.
“You think you can harm the Sorcerer Supreme with a curse like this?” Night Owl said. “Or perhaps that wasn’t your real goal. You just wanted to weaken him. But since you’ve already failed, you might as well try another way.”
"Why should I listen to you?"
"I'm just showing my sincerity. Instead of weakening the Sorcerer Supreme, why not just transfer him away and take him out of the school for a while? That will give you a lot more room to maneuver," Night Owl said confidently.
"You mean, you want me to cause some trouble off campus?"
"Isn't this the best way?"
Schiller suddenly sneered and said, "It seems you really don't know much about magic. There's a miniature magical defense network outside Iphamoni, and anyone passing through this network will be detected by the Sorcerer Supreme. I can't get out."
"Then how did you get in?"
Schiller fell silent. Night Owl immediately realized that the other person was likely a faculty member at the school. He needed an official identity to avoid being noticed by the Sorcerer Supreme.
He glanced at Schiller, who was dressed in a black robe, but couldn't discern anything amiss. The robe seemed to be enchanted, making it impossible to see the man's true appearance.