Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

"Do you feel better now?" Shiller was dressing Batman's head wound while telling him about his conversation with Old Silterk and what they found in the laboratory.

Batman listened silently, seeming to ponder. When Shiller finished wrapping the bandage, he spoke, "The crux of the matter isn't the secrets themselves, but the person who is hiding them."

"Do you mean Old Silterk?"

"Yes, he knows the most secrets that we can access. You said he left Faralines, which isn't a good choice, unless he had a compelling reason to do so."

"Why do you say that?"

"If he wanted to leverage his information advantage in negotiations with the Church, he would need to ensure he's the only one alive to walk out of here. Not to mention that we're still alive, there are survivors among the common people too. He left in a hurry without cleaning up here, something must have happened."

"What do you plan to do next?"

Batman turned to him and asked, "Will you cooperate with me?"

Shiller put down what he was holding, came to the first row of seats in the church, and sat next to Batman, "First, tell me your plan."

"The monsters wandering in the village now are strong evidence of another disaster striking, not only can Old Silterk use this information advantage to negotiate with the Church, but we can too."

"Do you want me to contact the Church?" Shiller whispered, "But I'm afraid it's not that simple. Although I am a member of the Church and theoretically could even be part of the Pope's personal guard, the Church is divided into many factions. I suspect some are in league with Old Silterk."

Shiller sighed, looked out the window behind the Cross, and said, "I suspect there are Cultists within the Church. Their arrival isn't unrelated to the Deep Divers. Old Silterk might be their ally, or perhaps just their pawn."

"You mean, among the anomalies that have appeared around the world, potentially created by the Church, some might not actually have been their doing, but the Cultists'?"

Shiller nodded and told Batman about the surprisingly similar features between the Wanderers and the Outer Gods, and Batman fell into thought again.

The game's attributes clearly limited him a lot, slowing down his thought process and preventing him from thinking on multiple threads. However, fortunately, Batman's innate qualities were strong enough that, even weakened, he remained exceptionally clever.

"Do you know where Bruce and the others have gone?" Batman had just received a notification from the Transcendent that they could now freely converse, and he decided to ask directly.

Shiller shook his head, "They were supposed to look for survivors, but given the current commotion in the village, the chances of survivors making it are slim. They might have left the village."

"We can't leave the village." Batman said, "The Deep Diver is a major problem. To stay ahead of Old Sirteck in terms of information, we must know more."

"It seems you are thinking about those three ships."

"Exactly."

Although Batman didn't show much emotion, Shiller could tell he was pleased that someone could keep pace with his thoughts, which seemed to be a novel experience for him.

But Shiller could roughly guess why, as having someone who could think in sync with Batman, who didn't require extensive explanations, and whose temper was compatible, was indeed very rare.

"We need to prepare some things." Shiller said following his own thoughts, "The ship will be dangerous, full of things that can damage our mental health values just by looking at them. My skills can't cool down that fast, we need certain means to contend with the dangers that may arise."

"There are many vehicles on the street; we can stock up some gasoline." Batman picked up naturally, "I know there should be Magic Power on that ship, ordinary flames won't burn easily, but unless it's completely beyond the bounds of reason, some physical and chemical methods are useful."

"They will be useful." Shiller was not just comforting Batman, for the Transcendent had said, this is not a magic copy, there are no Heaven and Hell or Magicians, meaning that so-called Magic Power is actually just traditional Cthulhu Mythos knowledge humanity can't understand or touch, not any Magical Shield.

Those three ships were also not made by magic, more likely summoned through some forbidden Spells. The ship would surely host many dangerous creatures that drive humans insane at a glance, but definitely nothing like a Pokémon spewing fire and water—that wouldn't fit with this world's low level of mystic power.

"We should split up." Shiller took the initiative, "You take care of the physical preparations, and I need to study some things, to see if I can add some protection to our minds."

Batman looked at him, not as a sign of distrust; Shiller took it as concern, so he said, "The better prepared you are, the less pressured I am. But if really no useful thing is found, I still have a last resort."

Shiller's last resort was, of course, the Book of Water God. Although this book was dangerous, if there wasn't anything to restrict it, it would certainly be far more dangerous.

Batman agreed with his suggestion, and then he left the church. Shiller believed that, like himself, Batman already had a plan in mind.

After Batman left, Shiller began to tally the resources at his disposal, his confident claims in front of Batman had their backing of course.

According to his knowledge, the Book of Water God Keta Yate contained the renowned old seal.

The so-called investigator's three treasures, a crowbar, an old seal, a good teammate; Shiller had already gotten the crowbar, Batman could be counted as a top-notch teammate, so now he just needed the old seal.

Debate over the true origin of the old seal was rife, but it generally involved restrictions left by the Old Day Dominators' arch enemies, usually depicted as a small pattern carved into a stone.

This setting originally appeared in the book "The Gloom of Insmouth," where it mentioned that residents of Insmouth would use little stones etched with strange patterns to ward off attacks by the Deep Divers; that was the prototype of the old seal.

Later, other authors expanded upon this setting and designated the old seal as something both despised by the Old Day Dominator and the Outer God. "The Old Day encountering the old seal is like a human encountering shit" also became a classic description of the relationship between the old seal and the Old Day Dominator.

This actually implies that for the Old Day Dominator and the Outer Gods, these small symbols might be somewhat annoying; however, if he could tolerate it, or if you're deeply connected with him, he could still destroy you with the old seal on.

Even so, this could also be considered one of the few means of the Human race's resistance within the Cthulhu Mythos, specifically used to combat an Outer God like Nyarlathotep, who pesters you even when you haven't provoked him. For Nyarlathotep, the old seal is known as "everyone eats shit together."

But obviously, Nyarlathotep is exceptionally adept at eating shit, making the old seal practically useless to him, or there wouldn't be so many victims.

Later, as the setting gradually expanded and enriched, almost every Outer God and Old Day Dominator had their unique symbols. These symbols weren't used to fight against them but to contact and summon them, performing the same function as a summoning spell.

However, if one wishes to use symbols to summon them, the process is much more complex, involving ritualistic activities, and correct placement of symbols and other ciphers, an area almost unexplorable by humankind.

Even though Shiller roughly knows what the old seals look like, this knowledge remains outside the game and cannot be directly used; he must first investigate the old seal within the game to utilize this artifact.

They are now in Faralines, not Insmouth, and there are no locals who know how to use the old seal. The only thing Shiller can rely on now is the "Book of Water God Ketayat" in his hands.

This book likely contains the old seals, which serve to prevent the filth within the book from spreading further.

But to investigate the old seals, he must open the book—a significant risk for Shiller since the book is full of crazy and filthy forbidden knowledge, and Shiller does not believe his will is strong enough to finish reading it.

He can only gamble, guessing which page the old seal might be on, specifically whether it is in the middle or the back. The book isn't very thick, guessing an approximate position and checking two or three pages should be sufficient to locate it.

Shiller held the book in his hands and examined it repeatedly; soon, he noticed the cover beginning to get a bit moist, but this was not due to the damp air of the church, but because the human skin wrapping the book was sweating.

Though anticipated, Shiller's mental health value was inevitably dropping, albeit mildly this time—breaking out in a cold sweat and a moment of dizziness before it ended.

"Transcendent, are you there? I've decided to read the book."

"Are you sure?" The voice of the Transcendent echoed, saying, "I must remind you that you clearly lack the capability to read this book, so the dice check will be very pessimistic, and if you unfortunately roll a critical failure, your chance of death will be 100%."

"I said I've decided to read, but I didn't say I would read it now," Shiller stood up and said, "Of course I will prepare."

"What do you plan to do?"

"Summon Nyarlathotep."

"What???"

Shiller sighed and said, "What better option do we have given the current situation? Dealing with Nyarlathotep is bargaining with the tiger, but dealing with other Outer Gods is like a sheep entering the tiger's mouth."

"The Church won't sit idly by as the situation unfolds. Once they learn about the condition in Faralines, whether or not I am one of them, they'll definitely not wish for me to leave alive. To counter the Church's relentless methods, I must have something to rely on."

"No, you can't do this," the Transcendent said. "In the game, you have no reason to know the name Nyarlathotep, and if you don't know of his existence, you can't summon him."

"So I need to figure out a way to learn of his existence," Shiller said as he walked out of the church, asking, "Who was officiating the game during the time Arrogant came knocking?"

Seeing the Transcendent fall silent, Shiller sneered.

"I'm bargaining with the tiger, but you are inviting the wolf into your home."

Shiller arrived outside the church, where those Deep Divers previously drawn away by Bruce had mostly returned to their original positions and started patrolling the village again.

Shiller went around to the side and back of the church and saw two Deep Divers walking together towards the eastern side of the street.

Shiller chose not to use a gun, as the gunfire would be too likely to attract other Deep Divers. He rushed up with the speed of lightning, striking one Deep Diver on the back of the head with a pry bar.

Strength check 30 > 20, a brilliant success.

Shiller, somewhat surprised, raised his eyebrows; he hadn't expected to roll such a significant success, the best luck he'd had in this game so far.

With a "clang," the Deep Diver's skull was directly smashed, brains splattering on its companion's face, which also froze for a moment.

"The battle begins..."

The ominous voice echoed once more.

Yet, Shiller did not attack the other Deep Diver, instead, immediately asking in his mind as the voice echoed, "Who are you?"

"You've finally realized..."