Shiller sighed in his heart. He could completely understand why Night Owl’s thoughts would veer in this direction. Because it was visibly clear that most Batn did not have a significant difference in their magic learning levels.
Since it didn’t involve contracts for the ti being, everyone was using the energy from their magic wands. The way to control this energy was not very difficult. If there was any threshold, it might be that those with higher intelligence and better coordination would find it easier to handle the energy. But such people excel in any field, so it hardly counts as a threshold.
Almost every Batman was such a person. Their physical coordination and intelligence level were roughly equivalent. With the learning pace being similar, everyone mastered the sa abilities.
Most Batn had no opinion on this because being able to learn magic was already quite good. Even though the guidance on returning to their own universe didn’t have enough energy yet, it was much better than the previous state of confusion. Even just treating it as a life experience was not bad.
Therefore, there was no scene where Batn competed on who perford better and engaged in excessive internal competition. Many Batn even took a liking to elective courses, and even with Lucifer’s nonsensical cosmology, quite a few listened attentively for the sake of gaining more knowledge.
The Primary Universe Batman faction was also not worried. They already had advantages, repeatedly thwarting the sches of Mad Laugh and Night Owl, chasing them across the universe, pressing evil into submission. Magic Power was just the icing on the cake for them.
But for Night Owl, the current situation was troubling. He couldn’t win in direct confrontation, and any sches would be seen through. With unhelpful teammates and too strong adversaries, they could only choose to take shortcuts.
Since following the main group to learn ordinary magic wasn’t a way to overtake them, Black Magic was evidently the best choice. Still, it’s the notion many have that as long as I sacrifice morality, I can surely take the shortcut. Although Night Owl’s symptoms weren’t as severe as Mad Laugh’s, he also exhibited this inclination.
This might be due to his stereotyped impressions of magic. Whether in the East or West, the public’s stereotypes toward mystery were pretty much the sa, believing that practitioners of evil advance quicker than righteous individuals.
Shiller once asked Strange if this was the case. Strange completely denied it: at least in our universe, there really isn’t any Black Magic. Energy is just energy, not noble or lowly. A curse can kill, and using magic to control a sword and piercing through the opponent can also kill. How does one distinguish justice from evil between these two thods?
And those seemingly evil Black Magic tos on bookshelves in secret rooms are only seemingly evil and not sealed forbidden tos. At Kamar-Taj, even Little Wizards can access them, but few actually read them.
The reason being is that many seemingly evil and extraordinarily strange thods of invoking Magic Energy were concocted when Magic Energy was extrely scarce. It’s like, in tis of famine, people go to all lengths to make odd ingredients delicious. It wasn’t because they enjoyed it, but because if they didn’t eat it, there was nothing else to eat.
But now that energy is abundant, there’s no need for such tricks. In the past, they didn’t use Magic Energy to control a sword for killing but used a curse purely because the curse was energy-efficient. But in reality, it’s harder than using energy to control a sword for killing.
As for those bizarre Black Magics devised by Grand Mages of the past, neither Strange nor even The Ancient One would ever use them. Perhaps so Immortal Species from Ancient Tis could barely use them, but most have vanished into the river of history.
In other words, if Night Owl wanted to learn Black Magic now, it would be an unnecessary complication. Ignoring the simplest usage thods and complicating matters, one can say it’s a regression in learning.
But Shiller thought again, many universes’ Batn were very short on energy, so wouldn’t those complex but energy-saving Black Magics be the most suitable magic type for them?
Shiller thought not. Quite the opposite, teaching them such Black Magic only harms them.
When soone is on the brink of starvation, they’ll use whatever ans necessary to find food. Be it picking garbage or begging, at least don’t starve to death. But if right on the brink of starvation, a bun drops from the sky, allowing them to just barely stave off starvation, they might continue living off that small piece without finding other ans for food.
It’s the sa with Magic Energy. Almost every universe’s Batman is nearly starved for it. Having never experienced fullness, Batman might not have such fixation. But after experiencing the power and convenience of magic in this universe, Batman absolutely couldn’t tolerate the forr hunger.
After returning to their universe, they will try every ans to acquire energy. Whether it’s attacking mysterious entities, seeking out Grand Mages, or simply charging into Hell, they will figure out how to obtain energy.
But suppose Night Owl learned a thod that barely achieves his goal using minimal energy. Would he, like other Batn, go all out to acquire large amounts of energy?
Shiller thought not. It’s apparent that Night Owl is facing too many issues currently. If there’s a thod providing significant improvent with minimal energy, he would use it first and ask questions later.
Once this thod is employed, dependency arises. Or even if he later wishes to gather massive energy, his speed would fall behind other Batn significantly.
By Batman’s efficiency, a day of difference is like three autumns apart. By the ti Night Owl begins to obtain energy, Batman might have beco the Supre Magician. By then, he’d still be at a disadvantage.
Shiller realized this was a great opportunity to hinder Night Owl. This Black Magic must be taught, and taught well enough to let him taste the sweetness of shortcuts. This way, he would continually rely on the path, delaying his energy acquisition and allowing more ti for rightful Batn to develop.
But Shiller then beca troubled. Leaving aside the difficulty and complexity of these Black Magics, the mysticism knowledge alone never stays in his mind. After reading it for a while, he starts dozing off, with hypnosis effects comparable to studying mathematics.
If he couldn’t handle it himself, then he would switch to a different personality characteristic. Greed turned to inspiration. The process of this personality trait’s formation was also rather unique.
Shiller always knew his ntal state was not good. After studying psychology for a while, he understood more clearly how unusual his symptoms were. For a ti, he suspected he wasn’t a patient with a ntal disorder but was under so Curse.
Simply put, he suspected that his ntal state was caused by mysterious factors. So he began to study mysticism, which led to the birth of the personality trait "inspiration."
In fact, his suspicions back then were correct. His ntal issues were not just his own problems but also resulted from God throwing him into another world with different paraters, causing problems in the soul transcoding process. To so extent, it could be considered the influence of mysticism.
But unfortunately, that world indeed had no extraordinary power, and God never showed up. Most of the knowledge about mysticism was made up by ordinary people. Despite his research, he couldn’t find the real reason.
However, due to the background of its birth, his thinking style indeed shifted more towards mysticism. More accurately, whatever problem he thought about would shift towards mysticism.
It might cause so issues in daily life, but if it’s about learning magic, it’s a natural advantage.
Now the candidate for learning is set, but where to study?
Shiller thought about it, relying solely on books from the school wouldn’t work. As ntioned before, because these things are so profound and obscure, many have disappeared in the river of history, leaving only incomprehensive fragnts. There are too few people who know about it now.
As Batman, Night Owl has a very strong ability to learn. If Shiller doesn’t thoroughly study black magic knowledge first, in a few days, there might be nothing left to teach, and his identity as a veteran black magician would be exposed. This certainly would not do.
So who has extensive knowledge of black magic?
Shiller suddenly had an inspiration: Would phisto know black magic?
This is indeed a good question. phisto should be the source of black magic. But precisely because he is the source, he might not have any necessity to learn black magic. You can’t expect the Hell’s Master to learn how to curse others; he usually just takes a sword and chops in that style.
Logically, a devil like phisto, who likes to confuse the human race with appearance and behavior, shouldn’t be so blatant and straightforward. But unfortunately, his opponent is The Ancient One. If phisto were of the spellcasting type, the prep ti of his moves would easily let The Ancient One land three punches on him.
But after all, phisto has lived a long life. Although he’s never seen dinosaurs, he should have seen humans living in trees. He particularly loves roaming in the world, chatting with people whenever he has nothing to do, so his scope of knowledge must be broad. If anyone at the school is most likely to have complete black magic knowledge, it would be him.
Upon thinking this, Shiller said to Night Owl: "Everything cos at a cost. What are you prepared to pay for this?"
Night Owl pressed his lips tightly; he knew he didn’t have many chips to play with. He said, "You infiltrated Ilvermorny, probably not to waste ti here, right? I can help you do what you want, but you also need to help ."
"You are in no position to negotiate." Shiller said, "Don’t forget, you still have to rely on ."
Night Owl’s hand clenched slightly. He had already fallen for a trap before and indeed had little room to negotiate now. He still needed to make an effort.
"I won’t be threatened. If you think you can kill with a curse, then try. But if a student dies in the school like that, the Supre Magician won’t let it slide. Do you really think you can protect yourself?"
As expected of Batman, Shiller thought, even now, he can conjure cards out of thin air for himself. But what he said is reasonable. The current setting is that the Supre Magician is the highest authority; even if he is a very powerful black magician, he has to be discreet. And as a student of the school, Night Owl is indeed under the protection of the Supre Magician. If sothing happens to him, it could potentially interfere with Saphire’s plan.
"It’s impossible to harm the Supre Magician with just a curse," Night Owl said, "or this may not be your primary goal. You just want to weaken him. But since you’ve already failed, why not try a different approach?"
"Why should I listen to you?"
"I’m only showing my sincerity. Instead of weakening the Supre Magician, it would be better to directly divert him, letting him leave the school for so ti. You would naturally have much more room to maneuver," Night Owl said confidently.
"You an you want to cause so trouble outside the school?"
"Isn’t that the best way?"
Shiller suddenly let out a cold laugh and said, "It seems you really don’t understand magic. Outside of Ilvermorny, there’s a miniaturized magical defense network. Anything passing through this network will be detected by the Supre Magician. I can’t get out."
"Then how did you get in?"
Shiller didn’t speak. Night Owl imdiately realized that the other person might be a faculty mber at the school. He must have a legitimate identity to avoid being noticed by the Supre Magician.
He scrutinized Shiller, who was dressed in a black robe, but couldn’t discern any clues. The robe seed to have been enchanted, completely obscuring Shiller’s true appearance.
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