Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 6055 - 5071: Fate of the Fighter (17)

If there is a positive rule in the American Comics Universe, it is valuing education. All villains, regardless of attributes, demands, or their reasons for becoming villains, can only use the title "Doctor So-and-So" if they truly have a doctorate degree.

For instance, Doctor Strange is a medical doctor. Doctor Octopus has a physics doctorate, and Doctor Destruction has many doctorates. Anyone with a doctorate title must have obtained a PhD in normal society; you can’t just randomly use "Doctor" as a codename.

In short, if you call yourself a doctor without a doctorate, you will be despised by all your peers, and you can’t argue that you’re just using the word as a codename.

In Europe and America, a doctorate title is also very important. In some countries, a doctorate title can be written on an ID card, and generally, people with a doctorate will be called "Doctor" rather than "Mr." or "Miss".

It can even be said that the title of Lord may not be able to compete with a doctorate title. This is because a nobility rank can be inherited at birth, but a doctorate must be earned through study. It represents one’s highest achievement in knowledge and academics, a concentrated reflection of personal ability.

The superheroes and super villains in American Comics do have a bit of degree worship. When Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus swapped bodies, the famous Dr. Octavius Parker was most devastated to discover that the body of Spider-Man he was now using didn’t have a doctorate title.

In the original comics, when Doctor Octopus entered Peter Parker’s body, he couldn’t accept going from a doctor to a bachelor; he was so eager to immediately head to college and bury himself in studies to reclaim his doctorate title.

Bruce Wayne was the same. Without Thomas pushing him, he wanted to earn a degree himself. Sometimes, the more people lack something, the more they want to prove it. Other Batmans can prove their intelligence without a doctorate, but this Bruce really needed it.

He knew he didn’t have that great talent; among a bunch of Batmans and Spider-Mans, he was at the bottom, so he wanted to achieve a relatively high social evaluation in normal society, preferring to be the head of a chicken rather than the tail of a phoenix.

So he was very much looking forward to his university life. He also wanted to go from bachelor’s to master’s and then to doctorate, continuing onward. But now Peter told him he couldn’t even get a bachelor’s degree if things continued this way.

The Western World basically doesn’t have the concept of a high school diploma; in their view, having no degree is equivalent to having no education. In other words, the lowest education is a bachelor’s degree, distinguishing only between those who have it and those who don’t. How you did in high school and whether you’ve been to college doesn’t matter; what matters is the degree.

Spider-Man couldn’t accept that he didn’t have a degree. So he said, "I won’t skip classes anymore. I will definitely submit assignments on time. Professor, I really don’t want to be expelled..."

"Then you have to ensure your attendance rate is full from now on, and all assignments must be excellent," Peter said with a slight frown. "It’s not me making it hard for you; if you can’t correct your attendance, I can’t blatantly give you a pass."

"I..." Spider-Man wanted to assure him eagerly, but his conscience told him it probably wasn’t possible. Not to mention, the Rebirth Alliance patrol tasks already occupied class time. If he didn’t go on patrol, it would count as skipping work.

"I will talk to the Rebirth Alliance," Spider-Man said. "I will tell them I want to study. Have them suspend giving me tasks..."

"I’m afraid that’s hard to achieve," Peter sighed. "Now is a time when people are scarce; Nick Fury won’t care whether you want a degree."

Spider-Man pressed his lips together: "Then I’ll resign. I can give up the Rebirth Alliance member identity, as well as salary and benefits. I will study well next..."

Peter nodded and said, "Deal with it as soon as possible; get back to school and catch up on the assignments you’ve missed. This way, your grades won’t look too bad."

When Spider-Man left the room, his hands were shaking. He took a deep breath, no longer caring if anyone saw him, jumped out the window, and headed straight to the Recovery Alliance Headquarters.

"You want to resign?!" Carter said incredulously. "Why do you want to resign? And at this time?"

"I can’t manage both my studies," Spider-Man said with some pain. "I really can’t skip classes anymore, otherwise I won’t get a degree."

"But the degree isn’t that important to you, right?" Carter couldn’t understand, he said. "You don’t need a degree to get a job, and you already have the Rebirth Alliance member identity. We don’t hire externally, salary, welfare, and social status are all good, what are you dissatisfied with?"

"I want a degree!!!" Spider-Man shouted. "I can’t just be a high school student!! I want to get a PhD!!!!"

"Okay, I barely understand," Carter said. "But if you’re not on the member list, you’ll be on the monitoring list, because your superpower is too strong."

"What?" Spider-Man said, a bit incredulously.

"Simply put, if you’re not a Superhero, you can’t use your superpower at will. Because this could bring hazards. We have the same evaluation standards for all non-Alliance members using superpowers, even including Mutants. If you abuse your power, we’ll arrest you."

"I..." Spider-Man was about to say he wouldn’t abuse it, but he recalled he had just used his superpower to get here. "I won’t harm society."

"That’s not going to work." Carter shook his head and said, "If you’re Spider Man, people will see you as a hero. But if you parade around Forward York City as an unknown superpower user, it will cause panic. Even mutants can’t show off openly like that."

Carter sighed and said, "Ordinary people are very fragile. It’s not just their bodies that are fragile, their spirits are too. Once they find out there’s an uncontrolled superpower user, they’ll be afraid. Life is hard enough for people, don’t scare them any more."

Spider Man was at a loss for words. Actually, Peter had told him these things too, emphasizing many times not to expose his superpowers casually. Yet, when faced with those bullies before, he still couldn’t control himself, causing not only harm to ordinary people but also significant harm to himself.

"What if I encounter a criminal?" Spider Man asked, "If someone is robbing on the street, can’t I stop them?"

"There’s no such rule," Carter said, "But my personal advice is that if it’s not very serious, you’d better not get involved. It’s not that I don’t sympathize with the victims, but I’m worried that you won’t be able to handle the robbers and might expose your identity. That’s possible, isn’t it?"

Spider Man didn’t know what to say again. With his current level, he could still deal with street crime, but street crime usually doesn’t have severe consequences. If he were to get involved in bank robberies or anti-terrorism operations, his performance might not be very good.

Just like before, Pepper was kidnapped, and he was thinking of dealing with the killers, but was so focused on them that he didn’t even know when Pepper disappeared. At this level, even entering the police station would be difficult, and encountering such major robbery cases, he could really find himself in big trouble.

At that time, Spider Man again thought of the little girl. If it wasn’t him, but the Amazing Spiderman who went then, would the mother have been saved? Or, if it was any other member of the Rebirth Alliance besides him, would they have done better?

"I read that report," Carter, seemingly knowing what he was thinking, said, "Natural disasters are hard to avoid, you’ve already done very well."

"Ma’am, if I could give the Spider Power to someone else, who do you think I should give it to?" Spider Man asked.

"Why would you think..." Carter paused here, thinking empathetically that Spider Man might really do that.

If, for some reason, he doesn’t want to be Spider Man anymore, he might choose to give the Spider Power to someone else, allowing others to use this power to protect the citizens instead of keeping it to himself.

"Can’t you give it back to the original Spider Man?" Carter asked.

"He doesn’t need it anymore." Spider Man gently shook his head, "His magic is strong, it doesn’t need Spider Power to assist. But I want to give it to someone kind like him."

Carter was quite clear-minded, he said, "Rather than asking who you want to give it to, you should ask who you can give it to. Not everyone can adapt to superpowers, and not everyone is willing to take on the responsibility of Spider Man. After all, this isn’t an easy job, you’ve probably already realized that."

Spider Man nodded slightly heavily. Carter said, "You must think carefully; if you give it to the wrong person and something goes wrong, the Rebirth Alliance might hold you accountable."

As Spider Man walked out the door, he was still thinking. He really couldn’t figure out who could be as kind and righteous as Peter Parker and properly fit with the Spider Power. He realized more deeply that he still wasn’t smart enough.

So Spider Man could only go find Peter again. After all, this was originally his power, it was reasonable for him to decide its destination. Moreover, Peter is very smart, he should be able to find a good candidate.

Back in the office, Peter heard what he said and wasn’t very surprised. He said, "What you should understand is whether you never want to be a superhero again."

Spider Man paused, feeling embarrassed to say he still wants to be one. He had realized he couldn’t figure it out, didn’t have the ability, and taking the position was somewhat cheeky.

"If you still want to, then the Spider Power is necessary," Peter said, "You can’t rely purely on wisdom like Batman to fight crime, you need the assistance of superpowers, so the best way is not to give it away."

"But I understand, you think there should be a Spider Man fighting crime during your studies so it can help more people. Then why don’t you temporarily deposit the power with someone, and when you return upon completion of your studies, take it back."

"How can that work?" Spider Man said, "How can you deposit superpowers? Once given to someone, how can I ask for it back?"

"That’s quite simple," Peter said, "Just find someone who won’t be residing here long-term, who will only be living here for a few years, and will leave afterward. By then, you would have completed your studies as well, it’s mutually beneficial for both of you."

"Where could I find such a person?" Spider Man said, "Even if he leaves Forward York City, he could use the identity of Spider Man to fight crime in another city, there’s no need to return the power to me."

"What if he’s leaving this cosmos?"

Spider Man slightly widened his eyes.