Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 5797 - 4820: New Version and Movie Filming (Part 2)

"What a rare guest," Shiller walked up and gave Nick a hug. He wasn’t wrong; if you needed to find Nick, it was usually him going to S.H.I.E.L.D., not Nick visiting the sanatorium. As the head of agents, Nick was basically a recluse, rarely going out to handle affairs personally.

Nick sat in a chair, dragged the armrests forward, put his hands on the table, and then said, "I wouldn’t come here for no reason. The second movie is about to start filming, do you have any thoughts?"

"To be honest, I’m still troubled with memorizing lines," Shiller said. "I have way more lines than in the first movie. I really don’t know why the director had to insert a backstory for the villain. Memorizing that monologue gives me a headache."

"Your memory isn’t that bad," Nick said, sipping his coffee.

"Indeed. But the villain’s journey and his antisocial plan seem as worthwhile to me as toilet paper. Now I have to memorize all this and act like I genuinely want to do it. It’s terrifying."

"Yeah, no one’s as good as you," Nick teased, "You should tell Chris to let you devise a plan..."

"You think I haven’t tried?" Shiller rolled his eyes, "I came up with a plan from Saphire’s perspective, and Chris rejected it. He said if I did it my way, Ilvermorny wouldn’t even exist."

"What was your plan?"

"Arbitrage," Shiller took a sip of coffee, "The magical world used gold and silver as currency too, but the exchange rates were vastly different from the human society, and the overall currency value was very low. Just by arbitraging, I could dismantle the entire magical world’s economic system in less than a week..."

Nick was left speechless, "You’re planning to show this to kids?"

"The adult world is cruel," Shiller spread his hands, "Unfortunately, our director has a childlike heart, and he rejected my suggestion."

"Okay, let’s talk business," Nick said, "I hope S.H.I.E.L.D. can make an appearance in the movie. That’s not too much to ask, right? After all, any supernatural events fall under our jurisdiction."

"That won’t work," Shiller shook his head, "It’s like my plan. In this fairy tale world, if there’s an accident at school, the kids have to outwit the monsters themselves, eventually defeating the invaders. They can’t just call the police to arrest the monster. That’s too realistic."

"But we’re not the police," Nick emphasized, "S.H.I.E.L.D. also has superpower users, we could appear similar to magicians. You know Grant, right?"

"Of course, Moon Knight." Shiller hadn’t forgotten; he’s the genuine Moon Knight, and his image suits magic movies very well. So he thought for a moment and said, "I can ask Chris, but don’t get your hopes up. He’s never been fond of agents."

"Just a mention in the background would be fine," Nick said, "It’s a political task, I have no choice. We can’t let those who fund us think we’re doing nothing."

Shiller nodded, understanding how hard-pressed Nick was. To secure more funding, Nick had to ensure S.H.I.E.L.D. is perceived as an influential organization. It wasn’t enough just to work hard; they had to also publicize themselves effectively so people felt they could handle anything.

The magical world’s background setting, coincidentally, overlapped somewhat with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s jurisdiction. So slipping in a line somewhere, like "S.H.I.E.L.D. is also looking into this," wouldn’t be too out of place.

After Nick left, Shiller continued memorizing his lines. The more he memorized, the more his head hurt. The antagonists in these children’s movies really lacked intelligence, always letting the main character group narrowly escape due to various strange reasons.

Especially in the flashback scene, where Saphire’s background is introduced, Shiller was at a loss for words. Saphire seemed like a protagonist in a horror movie, as if his entire world was just that haunted house, ignorant of any modern approach.

Though his era wasn’t exactly modern, there were still nations and societies, not a primitive tribal period. He didn’t know a lick of social engineering and focused 80% of the time on the Supreme Magician. The conspiracies he devised were utterly pointless.

Especially when reading the scene where both had lost their magic, and they had to play chess while negotiating, Shiller really wanted to grab Saphire by the collar and ask: "Couldn’t you just smash him with the chessboard???"

Almost all stratagems in this world pale in comparison to inviting someone to play chess then bashing them with the chessboard. No need for intelligence, evidence, or scheming. If escape is impossible, trading one-for-one isn’t a loss; if you can escape, even more is gained.

Many of Shiller’s schemes were designed from this perspective. Simply put, they involved luring people in to kill them or trap those who couldn’t be killed. This is the essence of "leaving no choice."

As for how to lure them in, that’s simpler. Everyone has moments when they fall victim to their greed. As long as you set the right price, they’ll come. And once they come, they can’t escape.

This is why many who’ve suffered losses just accept them. One reason is this trick has no solution; the other is that losing to one’s greed is human nature, knowing they’ll likely make the same mistake repeatedly. It’s merely fate, not character.

After some reflection, Shiller chose to continue memorizing his lines. Anyway, as Chris stated, if the villain in a children’s movie wasn’t a little stupid, the film couldn’t proceed. If Shiller truly played the role, not even as past Saphire, but current Saphire, the school would run out of funds in no time and shut down.

Not long after, another guest arrived at the sanatorium. This time it was Loki. Shiller approached and gave him a hug, saying, "How have you been lately?"

"Not bad. Attended 39 interstellar banquets, successfully scammed 16 people, found 4 buyers for the 5 Destroyers I made for Little Morgan. They belong to 3 forces from the same star system, and when they end up in the Interstellar Court, the lawyer fees will be split fifty-fifty between Matt and me."

Loki sat down, gulping a big mouthful of tea, and said, "I’m here for serious business."

"What’s up?" Shiller asked.

"That movie," Loki said, "Thor wants some scenes featuring Asgard in it. You know, we’ve always had connections with the human magic realm. Her Majesty the Queen of Gods used to be the first wizard of the Nine Realms..."

Shiller rubbed his forehead helplessly and said, "Why’s everyone getting involved?"

"Well, the previous one was such a hit," Loki said, "I know that adding scenes at the last minute isn’t great, so we’re not pushing anyone to act, just need a mention in the background setting. That shouldn’t be too much, right?"

"Nick just came to me, asking me to mention S.H.I.E.L.D. in the background, and now you want me to mention Asgard. The director originally designed Saphire’s background story, and now the whole sequel is turning into a giant epic..."

Loki frowned. Although he hadn’t filmed a movie before, Asgard had its own comics and novels and such. He knew that in similar artistic works, too much background and history introduction could make it very dull, and nobody would want to watch it.

Even though Thor wanted to establish a positive image of Asgard here, if the level of the movie is lowered and nobody watches it, it could backfire.

"I’ll communicate your requests to the director," Shiller said, "but whether or not he’s willing to do it and how it will be presented in the end, I can’t guarantee."

Although there wasn’t a definite response, Loki knew he couldn’t ask for more, so he left.

Just as he left, Charles arrived. Before he could speak, Shiller directly said, "You want to add mutant elements to the film, right?"

Charles chuckled shyly: "There aren’t any decent actors among mutants, just a mention in the background story..."

"Great, now the background story already includes S.H.I.E.L.D., Asgard, and mutants. Let’s see how Chris will stitch it all together." Shiller’s headache had turned into schadenfreude.

"That’s not all," Charles continued, "Ororo asked me to pass a message that Black Panther is willing to add an investment, just hoping you can mention Wakanda in the background story, hopefully linking it to the black protagonist’s backstory."

Shiller gave him the same reply, but he didn’t immediately inform Chris; he planned to accumulate these requests and then throw them all at Chris to see how he’d handle it.

When Mephisto appeared, Shiller even stretched out a hand and said, "A mention of you and Hell in the background, right? No problem, I’ll pass your request to the director as is..."

"What the hell?" Mephisto said, "I’m the ultimate big villain in this movie, I’ll appear in due time, don’t need a mention in the background."

"I thought you wanted to add scenes again," Shiller said with some surprise.

"Not this time," Mephisto waved his hand and said. "You know I have a son, right?"

Shiller paused, then nodded, "Heart of Darkness?"

"Yes, he’s gone missing lately, and I wanted the Holy Sanctuary to help me find him, but their asking price was too high. So I came to see if you have anyone who can help me find him."

"Where did he run off to?"

"I don’t know. Probably in America?"

"Wait a minute," Shiller interrupted him, "he ran to Earth? How’s that possible? There’s a Magical Defense Network."

"But that thing’s designed to guard against demon gods, not humans," Mephisto said. "Heart of Darkness has human bloodline, and earlier he was causing trouble in Hell, so I turned him into a human. Who knew he’d manage to escape."

Shiller was speechless, "He’s turned human, so why are you looking for him?"

"That’s what you said, if he makes any trouble on Earth, it’s your internal human affair." After saying that, Mephisto vanished swiftly.

Shiller patted his forehead, his mind was really muddled from reciting lines. Mephisto wasn’t genuinely looking for someone; he was simply trying to offload responsibility.

Nevertheless, he remembered that this scene indeed existed in the original tale. Heart of Darkness was transformed into a human by Mephisto, and even joined the Avengers Academy. He thought that Mephisto in the Central Universe, being busy with finances, wouldn’t clash with his son anymore, but the issue still occurred.

However, once Heart of Darkness was turned human, he became a genuine human with no superpowers; otherwise, he wouldn’t evade the Magical Defense Network’s surveillance. Such a person couldn’t cause a splash on Earth nowadays, so Shiller didn’t pay much attention to it.

And then, an unexpected visitor arrived.