Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Strange floated down from above the bookshelf, somewhat smugly saying, "How about that? The design style isn't bad, right? I still can't quite accept Eastern-style interiors, but their decorations are quite nice. The designer blended them together, and I'm very satisfied with the result."

Shiller looked around, planning to find something to throw at him.

Floating mid-air, Strange quickly dodged a book that Shiller threw at him. He landed lightly and said, "Don't get me wrong, I haven't misappropriated funds from the Magic Academy. This is all provided by the Chinese engineering team, it's just about adding 50 new enrollment spots each year."

Shiller rolled his eyes forcefully and then said, "That's corruption!"

"No no no, this is standard American admission process," Strange explained with his hands spread, "If there weren't so few people with Magic Talent and it wasn't embarrassing for those who come and fail to learn, I would definitely open up donations for admissions. You have no idea how wealthy they are!"

"How is the cultivation of Magical Herbs going? What about the mushrooms?"

"Not bad," replied Strange, waving his hand as a book flew over to him. He handed it to Shiller and continued, "The planted Lingzhi, Saffron, Snow Lotus and such were booked as soon as the seeds were sown. As for those special mushrooms, the effects are good but production isn't increasing. The agricultural experts they sent are trying to improve it."

"Oh, right," Strange seemed to remember suddenly, "There's a Sky Train line directly to Sichuan now, and their engineering team brought some chefs from Sichuan. I kept them here after the project was finished. Want to try it?"

Shiller, who loved spicy food, salivated at the thought of Sichuan cuisine. He casually tossed the book aside and said, "How did you know I haven't eaten? Let's go."

The two went to the cafeteria. After further expansion, the cafeteria had also gotten larger and was now divided into a student restaurant and a staff restaurant, though the menu was the same.

The Chinese on the menu looked like machine translation; Shiller was unfamiliar but could understand it. However, the Sichuan dialect heard from the kitchen was familiar but incomprehensible to him.

With no pictures on the menu and worried about ordering incorrectly, Shiller directly went to the window and ordered in Chinese. Seeing the familiar Asian faces inside look at him with shock, Shiller felt a bit proud; no one had praised his Chinese in his previous life.

Having dealt with Chinese people frequently, Strange could speak a few phrases, but very imperfectly. Shiller used this to heartily mock his accent. Although Strange was indignant, he couldn't refute.

Tasting authentic Sichuan cuisine after many years, Shiller was truly moved, but Strange seemed even more moved because he couldn't handle spicy food, crying from the spiciness.

The two returned to discussing the Central Court, focusing this time on prior construction.

"There were two proposals at the time," Strange said, wiping his nose with a tissue, "Either use Asgard's Jump Core, or forego jump capabilities altogether and transport via Teleportation Portal."

"Has the Mage's individual Teleportation Portal been expanded to the point it can transport starships?"

"Yes, and it's instantaneous. Starships can maintain combat capabilities without any period of weakness. Most people agreed with this proposal at the time."

"So why wasn't it adopted?"

"First, because Magicians are still human, and manually operated things can't be as precise and reliable as machines. If something goes wrong, it's a big trouble. Second, other civilizations also have countermeasures against Teleportation Portals. After all, we learned the hard way on the Rainbow Bridge; we ought to remember those lessons."

Shiller nodded, "If I'm not mistaken, it was China who pushed against the crowd and opted for the Jump Core, right?"

"Yes, and their conservatism is headache-inducing," sighed Strange, "They believe that in the early stages of interstellar exploration, humans should not show any differences from other lower-level civilizations. It's best to be as mainstream as possible—do what others do, use what others use."

"But the American side thinks we should make a name for ourselves with a strong move, to deter those who might want to harm us. The two sides have been pulling back and forth for a long time, and haven't fully reached a consensus yet."

"Which side do you agree with?"

"To be honest, as a nascent super-civilization entering the interstellar era, the human race's reputation is already loud enough. We even just mediated a war between the Three Great Empires; even Asgard wasn't this arrogant when they debuted."

"So you support keeping a low profile?"

Strange nodded and then shook his head, saying, "I support being a bit low-key in terms of basic technology development, avoid any crooked paths, and don't make big news in the cosmos. But when it comes to the overall behavior of humanity, we must be aggressive—anyone who dares to challenge us will face consequences."

Shiller stroked his chin and said, "I guess Eastern Countries would stretch the timeline for basic scientific development, because it benefits ordinary people. If we leap forward, only a few will benefit from the technological development. But if we build a comprehensive educational system about the cosmos from scratch, most people will get a share. That's probably their thinking."

Strange shook his head, indicating he didn't understand. Shiller didn't elaborate further; this was the fundamental difference between Eastern and Western thinking.

"Up to now, Western countries generally believe that not everyone needs to enter the cosmos, and there is no point in allowing all of humanity to enter it. The right choice is to let those who can enter the cosmos go and explore it first, obtaining a large amount of resources in a short time to expand the living space for humanity on Earth."

"But China obviously thinks differently. They want to spend generations building a comprehensive education and construction system targeted at the cosmos, to provide everyone with the basic qualities needed to enter the cosmos, and then discuss cosmic colonization and development."

"In the end, the West agrees with 'the capable dwell there', still maintaining a strong flavor of elite politics, whereas the East continues to pursue 'great unity', where the capable also help the world, showing the true nature of a hero."

"Their determination is very good," Strange said, "as if they are not at all excited by the arrival of the interstellar era, probably because it hasn't been too long since their era of rapid development."

Shiller nodded in agreement, believing that the main reason for the intense response from Europe and America is that their societies have indeed stagnated for a long time.

Developing early means halting early, a new opportunity for development to them seems long overdue. Naturally, they would be excited when encountering it.

However, Shiller felt that the main reason for America's more aggressive decision-making is because the country is younger. To be precise, its culture is too young, with too little time in the sun, not understanding the saying, 'There's nothing new under the sun.'

"Weren't the developments of the New Continent also akin to cosmic colonization in another sense? Most long-established countries are accustomed to such opportunities. It was only America, which was established afterwards and had not seen such grandeur, that desperately wanted to surge forward."

"But sometimes haste is of no use," Shiller observed, "Eventually, with dragging feet, the Congress guys will definitely become restless first, and then it's time for the opponents to take control."

After finishing their meal, Shiller gave Strange the Star Map he had obtained from Loki, as this item would later need to be shown to ordinary people too, so it was better to compile it into written documents rather than using magical forms.

Strange unfolded the Star Map and glanced at it, then said, "It's all old acquaintances; there's none who hasn't been deceived by Loki, no wonder he knows so much."

"The current issue is whether to invite nearby civilizations to the ceremony," Shiller said, "If it's well managed, it could force the enemies to submit without fighting."

"It's useless," Strange said. "They won't hand over the territories around the Milky Way just because they see the fleet; ultimately, it's about who has the bigger fist."

"Then let's not invite them," Shiller nodded, clearly agreeing with this result, saying, "It's mainly the old guys in Congress who want to show their face and demonstrate they've done some useful work during this period."

"We don't have time to play along with their drama now," Strange said disdainfully.

He and Strange finalized some details about the ceremony and the opening of new trade routes, before Shiller left Kamar-Taj. But as soon as he got back to the sanatorium, he saw Molecule Man Owen.

"Why are you here?" Shiller asked, somewhat surprised.

"Battleworld has already been in public testing for a long time, and we're planning the first wave of events. Here's the planning proposal, take a look."

Shiller took the document from his hand, and just a glance at the title caught his attention — "Double Trouble?"

"Correct, the theme of the event is duo teams, grouping in pairs, with five pairs in one game, undergoing a mix of PVE and PVP battles to determine the champions and runners-up, each receiving different rewards."

"How do you balance the intensity?" Shiller asked, pinpointing the critical issue.

"You can choose either limited phase or unlimited phase; the former focuses on PVP, while the latter can start PVP directly. Additionally, we're planning to hold a duo arena, with pairs battling."

"Starting a duo arena without even launching a solo one?"

"Solo arenas are tricky," Molecule Man explained, "The main issue is some people just get too carried away; without anyone to hold them back, they'd tear down the arena."

Shiller didn't need to think hard, a list of names immediately came to mind, and he nodded, saying, "I think the planning proposal is good. When does it start?"

"The system is basically set up. We'll announce tomorrow or the day after, and it should go live within this week. Do you plan to try it?"

Shiller thought for a moment and replied, "Alright, I just haven't decided who to pair with yet, but I will definitely participate."

After Owen left, Shiller went about handling matters related to the starship while pondering whom to pair with. He planned to participate in both limited and unlimited games, needing someone skilled for the limited and someone strong for the unlimited.

Soon, a list of potential partners appeared in Shiller's mind, but how to get them to accept the invitation was also an art. Shiller decided to take some time, preferably letting them come to him on their own.