Chapter 14: Sudden Change in Style

After making Batman depressed that night, Schiller returned to the Marvel Universe. After giving Stark a shot of adrenaline, Daredevil in the Hell's Kitchen area went into hiding from a vendetta, and the little Spider-Man had just gained his abilities and hadn't officially debuted yet, so Schiller became idle.

After that night, Schiller discovered he had another chance for a random chat. Now he had figured it out: as long as he had a significant impact on a character from a certain world, he could get a chance to randomly match with a chat partner. Clearly, the conversation with Batman that night had a very profound impact on him.

Schiller planned to use this chat opportunity during his spare time. Professor Charles seemed busy with admissions recently, and little Spider-Man was too excited about his new abilities to reply to messages. For a moment, there was no one to chat with, and Schiller felt quite lonely.

So, he used the random chat opportunity. A voice call interface suddenly appeared in his mind, which hadn't appeared when chatting with Charles or Spider-Man.

Both of them replied by typing, and what appeared in Schiller's mind were chat boxes, but this time it directly turned into a voice call.

Schiller looked at the avatar: Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One!!!

Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One has sent you a voice call invitation. Accept or decline? What to say if accepted?

Schiller scratched his head and finally accepted.

"... Mysterious cosmic sound, where do you come from..."

Schiller felt a series of sounds. Calling them sounds wasn't accurate; it was more like intent and brainwaves. Schiller didn't hear any sound, yet he understood the meaning from the other side.

Schiller also replied with intent: "... Who are you?"

On Mount Ximalaya, the Ancient One, sitting cross-legged on a cushion, was meditating seriously. Suddenly, she frowned, and a voice replied to her.

The Ancient One often sought answers from the noisy cosmic sounds through meditation. Various echoes in the universe represented different mysterious omens in her mind. She could divine, cleanse her mind, and gain peace by listening to these cosmic sounds.

But these cosmic sounds were always disordered noise, never containing any logical notes. The Ancient One firmly believed that any conscious spirit roaming the universe was a future cosmic demon god.

So she immediately became vigilant. She concentrated her spirit with all her might. Her intent was incomparably powerful, even capable of sweeping through all nearby universes in an instant, but she scanned a circle and found no abnormalities.

The voice that answered her seemed to appear out of thin air, with no origin and no energy abnormalities.

Schiller knew the Ancient One was very strong. If the comic settings were integrated, she was several times stronger than in the movie. And the current Sorcerer Supreme wasn't the young Batman; she was already in her prime state. But Schiller still planned to seek wealth in danger.

He said: "... Answer me... Answer me..."

"... No matter where you come from, no matter who you are... stay away from Earth!" The Ancient One's reply was very tough.

"... Guardian of Earth?... Answer me..."

"I am Earth's Sorcerer Supreme... Who are you... Why are you sending cosmic signals..."

"I come from Carcosa... Hali Lake in the Hyades star system... The dark sun is already hanging high in the sky..."

The Ancient One felt a series of incomprehensible information coming from the other side. She knew very well that connecting and talking to an unknown creature in the universe was very dangerous, but she had to figure out whether the other party would harm Earth.

The other party's information was very obscure and profound, but the Ancient One heard several pieces of information that appeared repeatedly: Carcosa, Hastur, Hali Lake.

After a nonsensical exchange, the Ancient One almost figured it out. The other side seemed to be warning him. She heard the other party repeatedly repeating a sentence: "When the stars are right, the Old Ones return..."

The Ancient One believed that the person on the other side might be called "Hastur," living in a place called Carcosa, where there was a "Hali Lake" shrouded in thick fog, and his enemies, the demon gods called "Great Old Ones," would return to Earth when the stars were right.

Under the Ancient One's questioning, she learned that the existence on the other side seemed to be imprisoned, so he couldn't deal with his enemies personally. He was spreading signals near Earth just to warn the people of Earth.

But the Ancient One knew that the life forms of Earthlings and this group of cosmic demon gods were different, and they couldn't hear those cosmic signals at all. If he weren't meditating every day, no one would be able to understand what the creature on the other side was saying.

Even the Ancient One couldn't fully understand the brainwave signals sent by the other party. It seemed to contain too much information—Great Old Ones, King of Demon Gods, Azathoth. The other side seemed eager to give her all the information, but unfortunately, the Ancient One couldn't fully understand Him.

She actually didn't trust this kind of unknown cosmic creature, but she couldn't feel the other party's existence, nor did she feel that Earth had received extra attention. But the other party's warning attitude made her feel pressure. Where did this group of demon gods pop out from?

And they seemed capable of coming near Earth to spread signals silently. Who could guarantee they wouldn't affect human spirits?

It must be said that the Ancient One hadn't been Sorcerer Supreme for so many years for nothing; her worries were very reasonable. If this story wasn't fabricated by Schiller, then the Cthulhu mythos really drove anyone who touched it crazy.

But fortunately, this was just something Schiller made up to fool the Ancient One.

Just as the Ancient One wanted to continue probing, the communication was cut off. The other side seemed to have encountered some trouble.

He neither made any demands nor wanted to lend power to anyone, let alone talk nonsense about ruling the universe. This instead made the Ancient One believe Him a little.

Demon gods rarely knew how to hide; they couldn't help their madness and chaos. If the other side were a dangerous guy, the experienced Ancient One would definitely have followed the network cable over and chopped him immediately.

But now it seemed that the demon god on the other side was very gentle and rational, but the Ancient One didn't relax her vigilance at all. This might just be a facade.

Schiller mastered the essence of always leaving half of what he said unsaid. He hung up the phone before the Ancient One could ask for more details, then rubbed his hands, planning to copy the Ancient One's abilities.

He clicked, and the system prompt sounded: "Magic Ability (Low Level) loaded."

Schiller knew that the Ancient One's abilities must be on the mysterious side and must be related to magic.

After loading the magic ability, Schiller began to test it, and then he discovered that this ability could be said to be a mix of good and bad.

The advantage was that he didn't need to follow the magic settings of the Marvel Universe. Schiller could cast magic without paying any price, and there would be no side effects. However, the bad news was that this was indeed just a low-level magic ability. The things Schiller could do were: telekinesis, fire magic, and a short-distance flash.

The range of telekinesis was about 10 meters, which was somewhat similar to a levitation spell. Within 10 meters, Schiller could move objects at will, but it only included objects not exceeding Schiller's weight. Things like houses or cars couldn't be moved.

The fire spell also had almost no offensive power. Schiller could ignite a cluster of flames in his palm. The power of this flame was about enough to light a cigarette, or burn a piece of paper or a book. Expecting to use it to fight people was probably wishful thinking.

The most useful one was the flash. Schiller could appear or disappear at any location within a range of about 20 meters, which was enough for him to avoid many dangers.

However, although casting magic didn't require paying a price, it would consume physical strength and mental power. After flashing five or six times in a row, Schiller would be too tired to stand. More importantly, his brain began to be filled with noise, making it impossible for him to concentrate, which was the consequence of overusing magic.

But compared to the high price other mages in Marvel had to pay to cast magic, Schiller was already very lucky.

The abilities he loaded were often marked with the word "low-level," which meant these abilities could definitely be upgraded, but Schiller hadn't found a way to upgrade them yet. He guessed that perhaps he needed to improve his intimacy with the chat characters, help them, or save them, so he could obtain higher-level abilities.

Continuous flashing in a limit state could allow Schiller to leave the spot for more than a hundred meters in a very short time, and this ability ignored obstacles along the way and could pass through walls.

He could sit in his psychological clinic and then appear in a house two streets away in an instant. The biggest benefit this brought to Schiller was that S. H. I. E. L. D. agents could finally no longer catch his tail.

S. H. I. E. L. D. agents had, of course, long since chased him to Hell's Kitchen. However, just as Schiller expected, there were many people and eyes here. Gangs would be very vigilant against outsiders, and S. H. I. E. L. D.'s operations would often encounter various obstructions. For example, when they rented the house opposite Schiller's clinic, they were extorted for a large sum of money.

Since Schiller started using flash to go out, S. H. I. E. L. D. agents had been completely confused. Clearly, they hadn't seen Schiller go out, but after a while, Schiller walked back from the street. Or they saw Schiller go out and didn't see him come back, but after a while, he appeared in the clinic again.

This completely broke S. H. I. E. L. D. agents' speculation about Schiller's daily routine.

But it strengthened Nick Fury's idea that Schiller was an unpredictable and dangerous person, especially as his contact with Stark became closer and closer. This was not good news.

S. H. I. E. L. D.'s idea of playing the Stark card was already written on their faces. Clearly, Nick Fury wanted to use Stark's sense of justice to work for S. H. I. E. L. D.

And it wasn't just S. H. I. E. L. D. agents who encountered strange things. Schiller also discovered strange things around the clinic these past few days. Until the cake he put in the refrigerator was missing another four pounds, Schiller confirmed that his clinic must have been broken into by a thief. ===== CHAPTER 15 =====