Chapter 3857: The School Doctor's "Daily Routine" (35)

"Oh, I get it. So magic energy is actually the versatile ether force and can indeed be compressed like other energies, causing a qualitative change during the compression process. Therefore, electron motion within energy itself is a form of power, and there's no need to output magic straightforwardly like a magician; instead, you can use certain methods to compress the energy..."

In the room underground in the castle, the Primary Universe Batman and Arkham Batman are researching Stark's magic energy core.

Stark organized a magical mech research group, with many Batmen signing up, but the most active ones are the Primary Universe Batman and Arkham Batman. Strange approved them to use a room underground as their activity room but advised them not to cause any trouble.

Stark brought a few mechas, expecting to hear Batman's praise, but in reality, they were completely uninterested. They were only interested in Stark's removable magic core and the Ark Reactor on his chest.

When comparing the two, they are more interested in the magic core. Although it's merely a device for storing energy, the two Batmen have realized something else about it.

"This material is no good."

"Yes, although it's quite compatible with magic energy and can prevent energy overflow well, it's too conservative."

"Exactly, too conservative. There should be better options."

"What do you think of the crystal ball?"

"Are you talking about the one you used to make the magic network? It's a bit better, but I think there's still better material."

"Hasn't Doctor Schiller been staying in the Magic Forest every night lately?"

"That's right. He's probably still teaching Night Owl about contract knowledge. We can swing by tonight to see if there are better materials."

"What are you talking about?" Stark, sitting at the table in his mecha, asked, "What's up with Schiller? What contract?"

"Nothing much. We're planning to visit Doctor Schiller's office to see if there's better magic energy storage material."

"You plan to steal from him?!" Stark said in shock, "You can't be new to Schiller, can you?"

"Of course not. Even though he's a doctor, we've known his reputation for a long time. We won't touch his private collection, only rummage through those decorations left by the Magic Academy in his office."

"Still, that's not okay." Stark said, skeptically, "Once you enter his territory, it becomes his. Don't count on him to give anything up."

"Then we'll just take first and pay later," Arkham Batman said, "Just take it first. As long as we turn the stuff into a bomb, even if you return it, he won't want it."

Stark looked at them with a strange expression and said, "Aren't you superheroes? Robbing and stealing is way too shameless."

"We'll pay for it," the Primary Universe Batman said, "It's precisely because it's Doctor Schiller that we dare to act like this. Because no matter whether you steal or not, he'll always demand a lion's share from us."

Stark opened his mouth, finding himself unable to refute. Schiller's reputation was like that: whether you provoke him or not, he'll come to provoke you sooner or later. So why not strike first?

Provoke him first, at least you can scrabble something from him, barely counting as a fair trade. When he finally finds you and throws the bill in your face, you'll only have to pay unilaterally.

"You plan to go tonight?"

"Yes, we won't bring you along." Arkham Batman directly cut off Stark's words and said, "If we bring you along, you'll label everything as Schiller's collection, stopping us from taking anything, making the situation very chaotic. So, you better not go."

"How could I!" Stark objected, "I know what he collects. If you don't take me and end up taking his most valuable treasure, let's see how you deal with the aftermath!"

Yet the two Batmen insisted on not bringing Stark, leaving him fuming.

After Stark stormed out of the activity room, Arkham Batman looked at the Primary Universe Batman and asked, "Why did you have to refuse him? Aren't you afraid he'll go to report to Doctor Schiller?"

"That's exactly what I want him to do. Otherwise, wouldn't Night Owl's learning process be too smooth?"

Arkham Batman suddenly understood. No wonder the Primary Universe Batman had intentionally revealed that Schiller would be in the Magic Forest at night—it was to get Stark to find people in the Magic Forest.

After leaving the activity room, Stark grew more furious the more he thought about it. These two annoying Batmen wanted to become thieves, he must go and inform Schiller!

But when he reached the office, he couldn't open the door no matter what. Stark could only fly to the window, look inside from outside the window, and not find Schiller's shadow, only then remember that the Batmen had said Schiller would be in the Magic Forest at night.

Although he also didn't know why Schiller would go to the Magic Forest at night, since the Batmen said they would take action tonight, Stark had to hurry and report it. Without thinking much, he flew straight towards the Magic Forest.

Stark didn't know Schiller was conducting role-playing there. After flying into the Magic Forest, he quickly spotted the lights in the cabin. He cautiously concealed his whereabouts and approached the cabin but was discovered instantly.

"Who's there?" Schiller stood up, crafting a magic array and looked towards the window. Night Owl turned to look too, but there was clearly nothing outside the window.

However, Schiller's figure suddenly disappeared, leaving only ashes behind. Stark turned around abruptly, seeing a slender figure in a black robe strangely appearing in the pitch-black forest.

"Who are you?" Of course, Stark didn't recognize Shiller either. But he didn't quite believe Strange would let a dangerous person wander around near the school, so he guessed it might be some hired actor.

Unexpectedly, the other side attacked him without saying a word. Stark hurriedly controlled his battlesuit to fly higher. Due to unclear tactics from the other side, he didn't rashly engage but fought while retreating, trying to lure the opponent toward the school.

As soon as he left the Magic Forest, the opponent flew back, leaving Stark somewhat baffled. The opponent didn't seem to want to kill him but looked more like just trying to drive him away. Moreover, Stark's intuition told him that the opponent wasn't an enemy.

Stark searched around the Magic Forest again but didn't find any trace of Shiller. Even if he were slow, he would realize by now: could that be Shiller?

But why would Shiller disguise himself as someone else? And why get involved with that Batman?

The more Stark thought about it, the more things seemed off. So he sent a small drone to drop a nano-camera near the small house to see what was actually happening.

Then he heard Shiller was actually teaching that Batman how to make a contract with Mephisto.

Stark was greatly shocked. It's truly a case of one daring to teach, and another daring to learn. "Is he a magician? And you just learned from him?"

As for Mephisto, he too dared to call, and another dared to come. "Is he local? And you just signed a contract with him?"

When Stark arrived at Strange's office, he was still a bit dazed. Strange, pulled out of dreamland, was already somewhat irritable, and seeing Stark silent there made him angrier.

"What exactly are you here for?!"

Stark was startled awake and said, "What exactly is Shiller doing? Why would he..."

"That's not for you to worry about," Strange said. "Just pretend they are filming a movie. They've signed a confidentiality agreement, so can't talk freely."

Though Stark was still very curious, he also knew how serious confidentiality agreements could be. Moreover, he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't accidentally leak the plot if he knew it. If he let it slip, it would be a great trouble for both of them.

"How is your mechanical society going?" Strange asked.

"Hmm, not bad. They want to find a material that can store magic energy more efficiently. They're thinking of going to Shiller's office tonight to look."

"Shiller's office?"

"They said there are some decorative items stuffed in when the school was built, which might be useful."

"What do they want these things for?"

"They might want to compress magic energy." Stark thought for a moment and said, "Their ideas are even more extreme than mine, almost unrelated to magic, purely high-energy physics. Maybe they're even thinking of building a particle collider."

Strange thought for a moment, turned back to the lounge, then came out with a box and said, "Put these things into Shiller's office, see if they will take them."

"What do you intend to do?"

"Help them a bit. Maybe they'll give us a surprise."

Although Stark didn't fully understand his intentions, he didn't want those two Batmen rummaging around Shiller's office. If Strange provided materials, that would be ideal.

Thus, he took the materials to Shiller's office. However, he didn't see Batman, indicating they planned to act late at night. Stark placed the box in the display cabinet and left. He still needed to monitor what happened in the Magic Forest.

In the latter half of the night, Primary Universe Batman and Arkham Batman successfully sneaked into the school hospital and reached Shiller's office. They didn't touch the bedroom or private meeting room, only checking near the office display cabinet.

They found a magic telescope, a globe, and that box brought by Strange. After opening it, inside were some brightly colored gemstones. As soon as Primary Universe Batman touched these gemstones, he felt their special nature, so he took the box.

The two Batmen returned to the society activity room, started researching these gemstones, and discovered the gemstones were indeed what they wanted, capable of storing a large amount of magic energy.

They almost emptied two years' worth of magic wand energy just to barely fill one gemstone. Yet, they still had no clue about how to compress the energy inside the gemstones. The two researched all night, but no progress was made.

Early the next morning, just as they arrived in the classroom, the Grand Mage gave each of them a ring and said, "Today's lesson is very important. I hope you focus, for I will show you the most precious treasure in human magic history—the Teleportation Portal."

The classroom erupted in discussion. Even the usually quiet Batmen couldn't resist whispering amongst themselves. They had long heard of Marvel's teleportation portals.

Though the situation slightly differs across universes, almost every magician in the Marvel Universe uses a highly convenient small teleportation portal, which seems to come with no cost, doesn't limit distance, and is very handy.

"Now, the ring you're holding is called a suspension ring, used as a medium to activate teleportation portals. Of course, if either I or the Supreme Magician were to use it, we wouldn't need a medium. However, even adult magicians with completed contracts must use a medium when first learning how to use teleportation portals, otherwise, severe consequences may result."

"Now, put the ring on your hand. Just like you learned in meditation class, focus your attention, and start channeling your body's magic power into the ring. Feel the changes in the ring, while mentally visualizing a door..."