Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Night Owl felt Shiller's cold attitude, and his heart sank a bit. He warned himself not to rush, so he didn't say much, nodded, and went to the next ward.

Shiller felt a bit strange: This guy clearly had something on his mind, and came specifically for him, yet was driven away so easily. Was there a Batman in the multiverse with such thin skin?

Shiller didn't bother with him; he still had a bunch of lines to memorize. Just as he was about to refocus on his lines, Arkham Batman pushed open the door upstairs and came out.

"I have some matters to attend to, so I'll go first, Doctor," Arkham Batman left the office.

Shiller shook his head helplessly, ignoring it. But the Night Owl in the adjacent ward saw Arkham Batman come out of the office and suddenly became tense.

He guessed correctly, this guy must have tried to win over Shiller and said something to him, otherwise, Shiller wouldn't be so dismissive of him. Thinking of the progress on the Primary Universe Batman's side, he couldn't sit still.

He went to Shiller's office again, holding him to ask about magic, saying things here and there, beating around the bush, which annoyed Shiller quite a bit.

The lines were difficult to memorize, and Mephisto particularly loved to find him for rehearsals. If this old devil found out he hadn't memorized the lines, he'd surely go to Chris to complain. Chris was not easy to deal with; he had to memorize most of his internal lines tonight.

Yet Night Owl's rear seemed glued to the chair, preferring to stay without a reason, rather than leave. Shiller was also worried about leaking the script, not daring to chat while looking at the script, and could only sit there passing the time.

He wanted to drive Night Owl out, but he was also getting paid as a school doctor, so he couldn't do nothing at all. Night Owl insisted on doing psychological consultations, so he couldn't directly drive him away.

And so, they dragged on until lunchtime. Shiller wanted to use the excuse of having lunch to slip away, but Night Owl still clung to him and insisted on inviting him to lunch together.

Seeing Night Owl and Shiller walking into the cafeteria together, Primary Universe Batman's eyebrow moved slightly. He looked at Arkham Batman.

"I did it on purpose," Arkham Batman said. "While letting him have more contact with Doctor Shiller might lead to unexpected results, if it annoys Doctor Shiller, it's too beneficial for us."

"The Doctor does look quite annoyed," Primary Universe Batman said. "They don't seem to have any common topics."

"We and he have nothing in common," Arkham Batman said. "He's not a Professor. He doesn't have much to talk about with a Batman who is incurable yet refuses to take medicine. The longer they spend together, the more annoying it becomes."

Big Adventure Batman walked over, sat next to Primary Universe Batman, and asked him, "How's your forgery?"

"It should be complete by tomorrow morning," Primary Universe Batman said. "I'll get up earlier tomorrow morning to put the book in the library. Night Owl should go check the information tomorrow night at the earliest."

"What did you write on it?" Arkham Batman asked, cutting a piece of steak. He didn't believe Primary Universe Batman hadn't dug pits in the catalog.

"Just some interesting things, not worth mentioning," Primary Universe Batman said with a smile.

In the afternoon, the door of the school hospital office was knocked open again. Shiller looked up to find a person wearing a duckbill cap.

"Doctor, we're having a meeting tomorrow morning to rehearse the scenes. Here's the schedule; the director and producer will be there too, so don't be late."

Shiller nodded, took the schedule from his hand, and looked at it. The start time wasn't too early, timed just right during the students' class time. Probably to not affect normal teaching activities, the rehearsal location was arranged in the library.

Chris is a director with high demands. Before officially starting filming, he requires the actors to gather for exchanges and rehearsals. This is actually a necessary process in general film shooting, although the scale can be large or small.

Since filming and teaching have to be conducted simultaneously, the exchange conference is broken down into parts. The first part tomorrow is the more important protagonist's scenes, and the second part is for the supporting characters. The timing has been coordinated to not conflict with the teaching schedule.

Shiller still has scenes with the Little Wizards, where they consult him at the school hospital when checking potions, and he, to keep Little Wizards away from him, deliberately shows them a bad attitude and scares them. This section has a lot of lines, and Shiller spent most of the afternoon memorizing lines.

Although there might be a morbid performance at that time, you can't expect the morbid one to memorize the lines. Their memories are shared, so it can only be done by him.

To remember more firmly, Shiller repeatedly reviewed several times and even wrote them down once, struggling into the deep night, then slept until morning.

The timing is just right, Shiller tidied up, picked up the Mage Hat and Magic Wand needed for filming, took some medicine jars for temporary scenery, and headed towards the library.

There were two mages guarding the corridor when he passed by. The mage nodded at him. Shiller curiously asked, "Why are you two here? Do you have a scene today?"

"Oh, no." The female mage said with a grin, "We need to place a restriction on the library corridor to prevent unrelated people from barging in and overhearing the script, which could lead to spoilers."

Shiller nodded and asked, "What reason are you giving?"

"Routine maintenance," the male mage said. "Actually, today is a closed day for the library; adding another barrier is just for insurance."

Shiller understood. It's mainly to guard against Batman. Most people might choose not to enter when they see the library is closed, but Batman wouldn't care about such things. Only a magic barrier can stop them.

When Shiller went inside, the two mages had set up the magic barrier and left a message on it: "Under maintenance today, trespassers not allowed."

Inside the library, it was already bustling. The crew gathered together, moving equipment out from the teleportation portal. Although today was just a meeting, some behind-the-scenes footage needed to be shot, and the cameras were already set up.

The little wizards, as the protagonists, were chattering away discussing the script. Seeing Shiller, they quieted down for a moment, but after evaluating him, they quickly returned to normal.

Having spent so much time with Shiller during the first film, they had figured out some patterns. This doctor could sometimes be cold, sometimes smiling yet scary, and at other times simply kind and gentle. Today, he seemed to be in a good mood, so the little wizards weren't as nervous.

Once everyone was seated, the director began to narrate the scenes. Chris remained as vibrant and enthusiastic as ever, turning a rather ordinary plot into something vividly interesting. Mephisto was nodding and applauding as he listened, looking like he wanted to swear brotherhood with him.

After the director finished, the producer said a few words formally, then it was time for the actors to discuss among themselves. Shiller first went over the psychological parts with Mephisto, while the little wizards rehearsed internally before both sides exchanged feedback.

After the rehearsals, they needed to tell the director their impressions, including what they were thinking during the shooting, their insights into the characters, views on their counterparts, whether they encountered any challenges in acting, or felt any lines were inappropriate.

This process was tedious, almost like finding something to say for the sake of saying it. But Shiller knew it was necessary, especially for the little wizards. They didn't possess the same pressure tolerance as adults, and if they felt uncomfortable and continued acting, it could easily show defiance in expressions and actions, potentially influencing the audience's emotions and being detrimental to their mental health.

Shiller was merely going through the motions on his part; Chris mainly listened to the thoughts of the young actors. As someone performing alongside them, Shiller didn't leave, staying to hear them discuss with the director.

"...Everything else was pretty good. Our discussion about the investigation potion was natural and enjoyable. The part about going to the school hospital, although a bit tense, was very immersive for me. However, there's just one issue: the guidebook we found in the library. I'm having trouble understanding it..."

"Me too," echoed another protagonist. "It's that thick book; the things in it are so specialized. I can only understand the pictures, and even then I have to explain it so thoroughly that I feel like a fake."

"It looked fake to me too," the third protagonist said. "Your expression clearly said 'What the heck is this stuff,' and didn't look like you understood it at all. The director mentioned in the script that you are the smartest among the three of us, able to grasp any book with a glance, so your performance in this part wasn't good."

The others quickly agreed. Chris was a bit at a loss, so he had them reenact the scene. It turned out to be true: as soon as the supposedly smartest Asian boy protagonist opened the book, his eyes were spinning in confusion, even though he was trying hard to look like he understood, his expression and demeanor clearly showed that he was lost.

"Haven't you seen this book before?" Chris asked while calling over the assistant director. Then he said, "Did I not tell you to show them what they needed to see in advance?"

The assistant director was also puzzled. He said, "I did show them, whether it's Saphire's notes or the Magical Creatures Illustrated Guide, they were given months in advance, and I even found someone to explain it to them."

Chris pointed to the scene. The assistant director hurriedly went to check, initially not finding anything wrong, assuming the young actors were just not in the right state. It wasn't until the assistant director saw the book, and his eyes also started spinning in confusion, that Chris realized something was amiss.

He quickly walked over, took the book, flipped through two pages, then painfully closed his eyes and said, "Jesus, this reminds me of when I was taking Ancient Art History courses at New York University. What the heck is this stuff?"

Shiller was also somewhat curious. He had wanted to see this book before, but it had already been checked out when he arrived. He also took a look and, unsurprisingly, got dizzy from the text too.

Shiller, being an intellectual, was not unfamiliar with professional papers. He had plowed through difficult and obscure psychology and sociology papers during school, yet he was still amazed at how English could be arranged in such ways.

He took another careful look at the book and found something unusual. Although this book was supposed to popularize various magical creatures and plants, the way of thinking and writing style didn't relate to magic at all; it followed pure logical reasoning. The conflict between content and style was too obvious. Mages could understand but weren't familiar, while scientists were familiar but couldn't understand.

Yet, Shiller had to admit, the person who wrote this book was truly an extraordinary individual. Was there such talent in the props team?

What he didn't notice was Chris beside him, whose eyes were growing brighter and who was trembling with the book in his hands.

"I will be enshrined in the hall of fame for this!" he suddenly shouted. "We are making history! This is a brand new milestone!!"