"What? KarmaTaj has created a large portal? How big is it? Can it reach the size of the Moon? Alright, I understand, just wait for it."
Stark hung up the telephone and said angrily, "These sorcerers must have taken the lead. They managed to deal with the transportation of supplies first, making it seem like I'm too slow in my research."
Banner continued writing materials calmly, which irritated Stark. He said, "This is a competition, you know? We can't lose to those magic practitioners! I have to prove to them that chanical science and technology is the best way out for humanity!"
Banner yawned and said, "I've already finished the part on the versatility and utilization plans for vibranium materials. The data analysis report for 69 available alloys is there. The issue of utilizing the global magnetic field of rcury has been transmitted. Only the final part remains, which is the geological exploration report of the crater and the subject of structural reorganization..."
"Stark, you have ti to complain. Can you please finish your part on the exploration robots quickly? We're all waiting for you..."
Soone next to them nudged Banner's arm and whispered, "Don't put too much pressure on him. After all, everyone has their limits..."
Suddenly, the ch armor flew in through the window with a swoosh and crashed through the glass with a clatter, arming Stark in an instant.
Stark pulled down his face mask and said to JARVIS, "Maximize the power of the life support device! I don't want to waste a single second dealing with physiological needs!"
"Limits? Stark was born to redefine limits!"
As he turned around, he gestured with his middle finger towards the two sitting at the lab table.
Banner watched him leave and hesitated, saying, "Is it too much to push him like this? What if he really works late and dies suddenly?"
"Forget about him. How do you feel? Is the dication working?"
Banner turned his head back and sighed, saying, "I've been following the dical advice and taking the dication for so ti before coming here, but the effect is not significant."
"Hulk is immune to all sedatives. The mont I take the pill, he cos out, and there's no dulling of his senses."
Schiller shook his head and said, "Your situation is indeed troubleso. Gamma rays have enhanced your physicality, but the one who can control that power is your alter ego."
Banner sighed, clearly troubled by this for a long ti. Schiller continued, "Last night, I reviewed your dical records and psychological counseling reports. Now I have so inspiration."
"Is it the new therapy you ntioned before?"
"Correct. I also brought in an expert who is very skilled in this field. If you're willing, we can have a consultation tonight. Even if we can't fundantally solve the problem, perhaps we can improve your condition."
"That would be great." Banner took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and said, "I really hope to end this miserable life as soon as possible. It's like he's an lingering devil. Wherever I go, I have to constantly worry about the damage he might cause..."
"Because you're a good person, that's why you carry this psychological burden. Don't worry, even if we can't address the problem on a psychological level, we can deal with it on a physical level."
"A physical level? What do you an?"
"In fact, it's not Hulk that troubles you, but the destruction caused by Hulk, right?"
"Correct. I know that Hulk is one of my alter egos, and I've ntioned it during therapy..."
"Alright, I know, you don't have to repeat it. Hulk is a product of your childhood trauma. You've moved on, but he hasn't. So it's normal for you to have sympathy for him."
"I know it's sowhat irresponsible. He is so good at destruction, but I don't want to eliminate him because he has taken on those childhood shadows for ."
"However, I have always lived in fear of the harm he can cause to others, just like you said. I don't hate him, I hate the destruction he brings."
"Before, I showed you that there is magic in this world, right?"
Banner looked at Schiller and said, "I was actually surprised that you are a magician, but it makes sense. No normal psychologist would continue to provide with psychological treatnt after knowing that there is a monster inside ."
"When you transform into the Hulk, it takes a few seconds, right? Actually, as long as you have a mage with you who can teleport you to a remote, uninhabited corner of the Milky Way Galaxy during your transformation, it could be anywhere as long as it's unpopulated. Then, when Hulk's rage subsides, they can teleport you back."
Banner raised an eyebrow, as he hadn't thought of this thod. He rubbed his chin and said, "It does seem feasible. Although Hulk has trendous destructive power when angry, it doesn't last too long."
"You should know better than how vast the universe is and how many uninhabited places there are. As long as we can use this thod to avoid the destruction caused by Hulk, alleviate your guilt, stabilize your ntal state, and then complent it with long-term treatnt, there might be a chance to completely deal with the problem."
Banner nodded and asked, "Does the treatnt start tonight?"
His tone was noticeably more lively than before, and he questioned with so confusion, "Why at night? I've already finished most of my work. Can't we start now?"
Schiller shook his head and said, "Noon is not the best ti for drinking."
"Drinking?... What kind of drink?"
The light outside the window began to gradually dim, transitioning from a sowhat dazzling white light to a warm-colored sunset. Schiller walked to the window of the Arkham Sanatorium office and drew the curtains. Banner sat on the sofa, looking at the glass of alcohol in front of him. He felt a bit dizzy just from the sll.
"Oh my, what kind of drink is this? I already feel..."
He shook his head forcefully, placed his hand on his glasses, and before he could push them up, he felt a flash of white light before his eyes, followed by a hazy darkness.
Banner felt himself falling in the darkness. As the descent accelerated, the sound of wind whistled in his ears. After another flash of light, Banner sat up from the sofa. He turned his head to find Schiller's figure but saw an old bald man sitting across from him instead.
Schiller straightened up, took away the glass in front of him, and introduced him to Charles, saying, "This is a patient I ntioned to you before, he has significant issues..."
Then he turned to Banner and said, "Right now, we are inside your consciousness, in other words, in your dream. Simply put, the drink you had just now can induce dreams."
"In the dream?" Banner asked in confusion, "How is that possible? Isn't this reality? Why does it feel so real?"
"Real? Are you sure you have seven fingers?"
Upon hearing this, Banner looked down and saw that indeed, he had seven fingers on his hand, but he didn't feel anything out of the ordinary.
"This..."
In general, Bruce Banner was still an ordinary person, even though he had exceptional intelligence. His worldview remained within the scope of an ordinary person. He touched his shoulder and chest, feeling an incredibly realistic sensation. Then he looked up at Schiller and asked, "Is this what you called a new therapy? It seems to belong more to the realm of mysticism than psychology."
"No, everything here is rigorous and logical. You have to trust ; I am not an inept doctor."
Charles spoke up, "Can you grant access to a part of your mories? I need to find a focus before I can contemplate how to deal with this."
"Alright, what do I need to do?"
Just as Banner finished asking, Schiller snapped his fingers, and Banner's figure disappeared instantly. Schiller explained to Charles, "I temporarily shielded his consciousness because the root of his psychological issues cos from childhood trauma. If he were to relive it in the dream, I'm afraid he would have a ntal breakdown."
Charles nodded and said, "It's wise to be cautious. It's for the patient's safety."
As the two spoke, the surrounding scenery slowly changed. The exquisite wooden floors faded away, revealing sowhat dusty tiles. The walls of the room shifted forward, making the space smaller. The floor-to-ceiling windows turned into narrow, dark windows. A little boy crouched in front of a cupboard, while a bearded man was hitting him.
Schiller and Charles stood at the door of the small and rundown kitchen, watching the young Banner endure dostic violence. Charles sighed and said, "I knew it would be like this."
"Most patients with multiple personality disorder create a virtual personality because their own personality cannot withstand the intense ntal stimuli they have experienced," Schiller said as he looked at young Banner.
Just as he finished speaking, the sobbing young Banner on the ground suddenly transford into a green behemoth. He roared angrily, crying helplessly, venting his anger at everything around him.
"Fear," Charles said firmly. "His anger stems from fear. I can feel it very clearly. He is terrified of violence, but only through violence can he release the anger caused by that fear."
Schiller and Charles were not affected by the raging Hulk because they were in the realm of consciousness.
Schiller continued analyzing, "While he suffers from the harm caused by violence, he also desires the authority that violence brings. This is a common characteristic of most manic personalities. They have been hurt by violence, but they inflict violence on others."
"The reason they cannot control themselves is that fear and anger make them lose all sense of security. So, they seek asures that can provide them with a sense of security."
Charles added, "And that asure is resorting to violence."
"But let's put that aside. How do we deal with this issue? I must be frank, it is unlikely that we can eliminate this personality with ordinary psychotherapy. Banner is also unwilling to erase the personality that represents his childhood trauma."
"I can forcibly delete it, but it would be aningless," Charles sighed. He saw Schiller's interested expression and explained, "I can freely modify a person's mory. It's as simple for as eating and drinking."
"I can even erase all the mories of him being subjected to dostic violence, leaving no trace behind."
"But a person's thoughts and consciousness are not that simple. Everyone's thoughts have inertia, and when I modify their mories, it's like removing a block from the bottom of a tall tower of blocks."
"Perhaps, at that mont when the block is removed, the entire tower can still remain stable. But if you want to build higher, there is a risk of collapse. The higher you build, the more dangerous it becos."
"Violently deleting and modifying mories may not only cause mory confusion but also lead to personality breakdown. People who have had mories forcibly removed will feel that their behavioral patterns and mories no longer match, and that their way of thinking has no roots. This can lead to their ntal collapse."
"It seems that we can only start with himself. My idea is to guide him in constructing his own Temple of Thought, which can help him control when the Hulk erges."
Schiller snapped his fingers, and he and Charles returned to his Temple of Thought. They walked out of the room and onto the corridor of the high tower. Looking down, Schiller introduced, "Actually, I have so dangerous personalities as well. Once they take over my body, they might engage in so crazy actions."
"But in my Temple of Thought, there are traps and levels specifically designed for them. They must climb up one level at a ti to reach the nearby conscious level."
"The level of personality activity also relates to ntal strength. The portion of strength allocated to them is consud in the struggle with traps and levels, naturally making them behave more calmly and not interfere with
my actions."
Charles gazed at the deep and endless interior of the high tower and said, "I've never thought of this thod before, so I'm not sure if it will work, but I think it's worth a try."
"If, as you said, his personality is a monster that can cause imnse destruction, then even if we can control it to so extent, it would be a significant progress. The situation won't get worse."
Soon, Banner's consciousness appeared again in Schiller's Temple of Thought, but this ti, all three of them were on the ground floor.
Schiller explained his plan to Banner, saying, "Next, I will show you around my Temple of Thought. You can draw so inspiration from it to construct your own."
"As you can see, this is the first floor. The black floor here represents the bottom of my consciousness. I have reinforced this place countless tis to prevent certain personalities from falling down, never to be found again."
"Hmm..." Banner made a puzzled sound, and Schiller turned his head to ask, "What's wrong? Is there sothing you don't understand?"
"It's not that, I understood everything, including the theory of the Temple of Thought you just explained. I'm just a little curious about the pit in the middle."
"Uh... that's a leftover issue. Wait a mont." Schiller took out his phone from his pocket and said, "Hello?... What's going on? Didn't we discuss filling up the pit that was dug up last ti? What if soone falls into it?... What? You're on vacation? You went on vacation without finishing the job? You... Hello? Hello???"
Schiller hung up the phone and shrugged helplessly, saying, "Don't mind that, it's just a temporary channel that was supposed to be sealed. But the person who created this thing went on vacation. It should be filled when he cos back."
"Let's continue going up. Pay attention to the staircase, and don't touch that armrest. It might have a trap. Next, we'll arrive at the first floor, which is also one of the earlier constructions. Look to the left, there are two rooms here..."
__________
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