Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 6216: Machina Soul Utopia (83)

“Which Outer God do we have to crossbreed with?” Shiller asked. He was asking the obvious since the key to the question was which Outer God would be willing to breed with someone else.

“Any of them would work, but we have something ready now,” Bat Cat said. “A part of Shuggos is actually Iron Man’s blood cells. If we use this part to cultivate the spores of the Ancient One, perhaps it can produce some changes.”

“Haven’t they tried it before?” Shiller asked again.

“You wouldn’t want to throw a human baby into a lump of mud with eyes, would you?”

“Not necessarily, Eddie took care of Franklin as a kid.”

Bat Cat ignored him and continued, “Breeding for the Ancient Ones is actually quite difficult. Don’t be fooled by how easy it seems to spread spores, it’s actually very hard for them to survive. It requires various suitable environments, and even then, survival rates aren’t high. They’re very fragile during infancy, stuck firmly to the ground unable to move, hence they need such vast cities; the entire city is essentially a conservation center.”

“Under such circumstances, they can’t possibly let Shuggos touch their offspring. Even if the other side wouldn’t intentionally damage them, any accidental bump would be a major loss for them. This resulted in them completely avoiding the correct answer, the key to breaking the curse lies with Shuggos.”

“The Stars should hurry to establish an ethical code for experimentation,” Shiller mused. “Perhaps after this incident concludes, Nya will promulgate the rule.”

At this moment, the Ancient Ones also emitted a huge buzzing sound, clearly shocked by the plan; the entire squid seemed uneasy. However, the scientist from the Ancient Ones that survived, evidently had done ample preparation over the long years. He seemed to have given his fellow tribesman a lot of related knowledge and ultimately appeared to have persuaded them successfully.

In truth, they had no choice but to accept, even if they didn’t want to. Now that their race had turned into this, they lacked the power to establish a center that could ensure the healthy growth of their young. If they simply bred in the open, they might not successfully raise a single one even after thousands of years of effort; entrusting them to others was their only option.

However, a new problem arose: the Ancient Ones agreed; would Shuggos agree too?

The Ancient Ones were clearly nervous. Although Shuggos did wipe them out, they weren’t exactly kind to Shuggos either. At least in their era, violent beatings weren’t uncommon. They just fought earlier, driving Shuggos away, and now wanted them to look after their offspring? Would that work?

Professor Dale couldn’t help glancing at Reck, who rolled his eyes. But the Ancient One scientist spoke up, “In the lab, there’s a preserved sample of the original Shuggos tissue. We can first cultivate these samples with spores and see if it works, and if not, we’ll go find a living one.”

“No need for all that trouble,” Reck sighed, “Give me the spores and I’ll take a look at what’s going on.”

After speaking, he melted again. Professor Dale was startled once more, as the process was somewhat terrifying. If he was merely shocked, the Ancient Ones were utterly terrified; where did this Shuggos come from?!

Perhaps at the time of the Ancient Ones, Shuggos didn’t have the ability to transform into human form, let alone disguise so skillfully. Therefore, they had no means of identification and didn’t even consider the possibility. Several Ancient Ones warriors immediately drew their weapons.

Professor Dale and the scientist quickly stepped in to mediate, each convincing one side, but the long-standing feud between the two wasn’t easy to resolve. Finally, Shiller and Bat Cat jumped down, one head-butting the chest of an Ancient One, the other using tentacles on its tail to push away the mucus, separating them.

Both parties restrained themselves. After all, the cats wielded the power of Nya, enemies to both sides, and an enemy’s enemy is a friend. The two could only deal with Nya first before fighting with each other.

Recognizing this, the atmosphere between both parties finally eased a bit. With the great threat looming before them, if they didn’t resolve Nya soon, the curse would inevitably resurface, and the Eternal White Hole would be looted. They’d have to oust the crafty Outer God first before addressing their grievances.

After both sides deliberated, they ultimately decided to experiment first. Despite the Ancient Ones having long lifespans, in reality, their infancy was short. Spores take about a week from sowing to hatching, and maturation into adult form might take a year, but their form shows in about two weeks. Therefore, in half a month, they’d know whether it was effective, with results before the expedition team leaves.

Having dealt with the Ancient Ones’ issue, of course, there was the human problem to tackle. After tormenting the Ancient Ones, Nya turned to humans, relentless in pursuit. If nothing was achieved on this Antarctic trip, he’d repeatedly send people to their demise, so the best solution is to entirely shatter his aspirations.

“He wants to take the Great White Space away,” the Ancient One scientist said, “Take it to his homeland, a very distant universe. But it’s said that place is much more prosperous than here. Reportedly, the humans there are much stronger; even Nya cannot casually manipulate the fate of intelligent beings.”

Shiller groomed his whiskers with his paw. It seems as he thought: Iron Man desires a perfect experimental space undisturbed by fate, and the Eternal White Hole aptly meets his requirements.

Firstly, it originated from outside, coming from the Cthulhu Mythos Universe. The destiny rules of the Cartoon World might not apply here. Secondly, the space is vast enough to accommodate lots of large entities, and most importantly, it can connect to different corners of the universe anytime, anywhere.

If able to link to the Multiverse, it could directly become the American Comics Multiverse Science Research Institute, granting academic degrees without concern for Batman, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Doctor Destruction—they’d all be made academicians, conducting experiments freely; even a leak of one bacteria might easily make the Eternal stumble.

However, for research enthusiasts, the Eternal White Hole is vast and spacious, equipment without wear and tear, making it possible to traverse various locations to seek resources without spending time on the journey—it’s simply the perfect utopia.

But how to get this thing there is indeed an issue; at least, Shiller hasn’t come up with a method yet. Perhaps because his research on Outer Gods isn’t deep; most of his understanding comes from original works, lacking clarity on principles. However, he believes Iron Man certainly has some leads.

He stayed here for so long without leaving, probably to bring back some local specialties. Coincidentally, Shiller also had his eye on quite a few specialties, so now they could share a ride home.

“Yog-Sothoth,” the Ancient One scientist said, “This deity named Yog holds the rules of time and space and is also the portal connecting this universe with others. To leave, you must go through his passageway.”

Shiller nodded. The American Comics Universe embassy is also maintained by Yog, and it was he who took everything when evacuating.

“However, the Great White Space is hard to be taken away; it can’t pass through the space channel in its normal form,” the Ancient One scientist said. “We must solve this problem first to send it away.”

“How do we solve it?” asked Bat Cat.

Whether the Ancient One scientist understood or not wasn’t clear, but he explained to himself: “He drew for me an object, and I’m not sure if I understood it correctly, but it might be the molt of Yog-Sothoth.”

Shiller squinted his eyes. The Ancient One scientist continued: “That thing has some magical properties that might change the nature of the Eternal White Hole, compressing it enough to pass through the channel, and it is very compatible with Yog’s power, significantly increasing stability during passage.”

“Where do we find it?”

“But I don’t know where to find it either,” the Ancient One scientist waved a tentacle and said, “His description was very vague; he might just know such a thing exists, but neither knows where it is nor how to find it, but he said you could find it.”

“Us?” Bat Cat asked, “He knew we would come?”

“Of course,” the Ancient One scientist said, “If you are his friends, then indeed, he said you would definitely come looking, especially one called Shiller; he would have a way.”

Shiller was speechless. It turned out the unsolvable issue was pushed onto him. Iron Man was banking on the fact that Shiller also wanted the Eternal White Hole, so he would definitely find a way. However, he was indeed right; Shiller really wanted it.

“Let’s head back to camp first,” Shiller said to Bat Cat.

“Do you have any ideas?”

“Sort of,” Shiller replied.

The Ancient One and Shuggos remained, the two sides reached a temporary agreement, and with the scientist’s presence, they shouldn’t start a fight. Professor Dale had to return to camp. This exploration had lasted too long, far exceeding the planned time, and to prevent students and professors from worrying, he needed to show his face.

During his exploration of the mountain range, Frank and Dexter weren’t idle either; one was conducting geological exploration nearby, and the other was doing biological investigation. Both had collected enough data. Frank even piloted the plane they brought for a round and made a new discovery.

“There’s another high peak over there,” Frank pointed in a direction, “It appears to be the highest peak in the entire mountain range and probably never discovered before. Perhaps we can have the naming rights.”

“What would you like to call it?” Professor Dale asked.

“Although I really want to call it Frank Peak, I think I’ll name it Miskatonic Peak instead; it would have more commemorative significance,” Frank replied.

“You’re very generous,” Professor Dale said, “If it were my discovery, I’d definitely call it William Peak.”

“That’s not as good as Frank Peak.”

“I’ve recorded the strange activities of the krill shoals,” Dexter said to the cat on his shoulder, “This is also a new discovery and very valuable for research. I plan to focus on this direction in the future, hoping our alien friends will allow me to stay here a bit longer.”

“They won’t be less permitting than white people,” Shiller joked, but he spoke in cat language, so Dexter didn’t understand.

Everyone felt very satisfied because each had their own gains. Professor Dale had the wish of exploring inside the peaks, even solved the conflict between the Ancient One and Shuggos that had lasted hundreds of millions of years, and tried to thwart Nya’s conspiracy; Frank discovered a new peak; Dexter found a research direction. Everyone was full of gains.

When they returned to camp, they received a warm welcome. Although geological surveys exceeding expected time are also common, students were inevitably worried, and seeing the professors return safely, everyone was very happy.

They had a joyful dinner and then discussed the results of this scientific expedition. The most exciting was of course the discovery of the new peak; the activity of the animal populations was indeed worth attention, but there were still students asking about the tall black mountain range. Professor Dale just said that was the newly discovered peak, brushing the question off vaguely.