Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4349 - 3444: Midnight Sons (6)

"Breathe! Deep breath! Tony!"

Seeing Stark's body sway slightly, Shiller hurriedly rushed forward, while turning back and shouting at the empty space, "JARVIS! Oxygen mask!"

Stark shook his head, holding onto the glass curtain wall with one hand, turned around, and then said, "I'm fine. I might just be..."

"Just what?"

Stark took a deep breath and said, "A person with a face exactly like yours killed me. You can't expect me to accept this so quickly."

Then he turned halfway again, spread his hands, and said, "You're definitely going to mock me again, just like Steve does. He feels nothing about this."

"Did the other me kill him too?"

"No. To save me, he jumped off himself."

"Well, Tony, that's something I didn't know. Watching someone who looks just like a friend kill you, then another friend dies to save you—it's indeed a bit too much. This time I'll refrain from mocking you."

Stark smiled, but it appeared a bit forced.

"You have too strong an empathy," Shiller said. "Of course, it might also be because this game is too real, making you feel like you've lived another life. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Your ability to role-play would be stronger than most."

Stark walked to a chair and sat down, his fingertips still slightly trembling. He said, "Let's talk about your actual business. Maybe it will help shift some focus."

"Actually, there's not much real business." Shiller sat down opposite him and continued, "I thought none of you had returned yet, so I went to The Avengers' base first, intending to leave a note. But I unexpectedly met Steve, who said you're not in a good state. So I came over."

"He said I'm not in a good state?" Stark scoffed, then said, "Did he mean I'm looking to settle accounts with you?"

"You did come to settle accounts with me thoroughly," Shiller thought for a moment and said, "Your view today gave me a reminder."

"What?"

"Actually, we are not as divided as we seem," Shiller said. "Our memories are shared, and so is the knowledge we've learned. For some reason, we have divided ourselves into various factions."

"What do you mean?" Stark leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table, staring at Shiller.

"I'm a psychiatrist, right? I treat people, but not all Shillers do. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

Stark was startled and then said, "How did you learn to treat people? Was it in university?"

"Professional theoretical knowledge, of course. But it was mostly based on mimicking my attending doctor," Shiller replied.

"Your memories are shared, so the theoretical knowledge should be as well. Can't others mimic it? Or can't they mimic you?"

"They can, but they usually don't."

"Why?"

"Emphasizing one's uniqueness helps maintain the split," Shiller also placed his arms on the table and said, "Since you know personality traits can be fused, you'll understand we become so distinctive to prevent passive fusion."

"Passive fusion?"

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"The Human race has only one brain, one processing center. The physical form dictates the Human race's spirit is aggregative. The Psychic_Battlefield and personality should be complete and unified, not split."

"The Human race's spirit has self-healing properties. The psychological trauma fades over time. Even patients with dissociative identity disorder have a tendency for personality fusion once out of their original stress environment."

"So you also have a tendency to fuse?"

"At first, yes. When I initially decided to exist in this manner, it wasn't so easy. Choices had to be made carefully, plans meticulously arranged, and all kinds of mishaps prevented."

"The biggest mishap wasn't that we were too fragmented, but rather that some traits couldn't be separated. The way we chose was to separate only the necessary traits and emphasize the individuality of those traits, ensuring abilities and personalities didn't overlap. This way, fusion becomes less likely."

"Isn't that chaotic?" Stark's facial features were all scrunched together.

"Usually, only one personality trait controls the body, so it's not chaotic. You feel chaos because we are separated in Battleworld. You can see two of me at the same time, so it seems absurd."

"But in reality, when I'm controlling the body, many personalities are on leave. So-called leave means dormant. Their traits will completely disappear to ensure no interference with body control. This is important and can prevent passive fusion."

Stark looked bewildered the entire time. Clearly, Shiller was dealing with a subject he couldn't comprehend.

"You said I gave you a reminder, what was it?" Stark decided to steer the conversation back on track. He wasn't curious about the principles, just what might happen in reality.

"Actually, there's no longer any need to maintain such isolation," Shiller said. "Because in Battleworld, we each have our own body."

"Why is that?"

"Under normal circumstances, most personality traits can't control the body because they aren't complete."

"What do you mean?"

"For example, the me you encountered belongs to the morbid part, and morbid traits generally cannot control the body. They might pursue pleasure or achieve goals quickly without regard to the body's condition."

Stark seemed to understand a little. He said, "That version of you did seem insane. He took four bat darts from Batman but didn't react at all."

"That's right. Previously, the body was extremely valuable to us. If completely controlled by them, it could have catastrophic consequences. So they basically only came out briefly when we needed their traits."

Stark suddenly realized, saying, "It's entirely different now. You have that magical symbiont, you have individual bodies in Battleworld, and any injuries sustained in the game recover quickly once you exit."

Shiller nodded and said, "So even if the body gets damaged, it's not a big deal."

"But there's no real need for fusion, is there? Can you ensure the rational side remains dominant? If not, even if bodies can be switched, it's still troublesome, right?"

"I'm not saying we should fuse, nor can we. It's just that there's no longer a need to intentionally avoid using certain skills to emphasize traits."

Stark was again listening with confusion.

Shiller spread his hands on the table, saying, "I'm a psychiatrist, not a university professor. To emphasize my traits, I typically don't use teaching skills. Though Arrogant's teaching skills aren't great either, I avoid becoming a teacher due to long-standing habits."

"Similarly, Arrogant rarely conducts normal psychotherapy. Even in psychological counseling, he uses another method. Of course, that's his loss."

"But if there's no need to worry about damage from potential fusion, there's no need to avoid each other's skills."

"I still didn't get it," Stark said. "You say you won't fuse, but also said, there's no need to worry about fusion causing damage to the body. So is it fusion or not?"

Shiller shook his head and said, "Using these skills that represent traits brings a certain amount of fusion or at least mutual influence. Let me give a more characteristic example."

"You should know my combat skills overall level is quite low. Why do you think that is?"

"Why? Because you're too lazy to learn?"

"No, because I lack the Violent trait."

"What do you mean?"

"You've seen him, Moon Knight."

Stark suddenly realized, saying, "That's your Violent trait. Because you want to avoid using the same type of skills as him, you don't fight."

"Precisely, it's because without the Violent trait, it's hard to learn combat," Shiller thought and said. "We often say some great boxers have violence running in their blood. This might not be entirely scientific, but it has some truth."

"Some people are naturally devoid of the Violent trait. Not only do they dislike violence, but they also struggle to enact violent actions themselves. Scientifically speaking, violent actions and the anticipated violent actions don't trigger their adrenaline. It doesn't excite them, making violent acts challenging."

"Conversely, some people become very excited with just the thought of violent actions, proving their more apparent Violent traits."

Stark nodded, finally understanding, and he said, "You deliberately avoid violent actions to keep the Violent trait at bay, preventing fusion with you."

"Full fusion won't occur, but there might be influences on me. After all, we are one person, so there's no true isolation."

"If the Violent trait influences me and it goes unnoticed, and I, the one controlling the body, engage in egregious violent actions harming the body, then it's a big problem."

"I get it," Stark said. "Now that you have the Gray mist, even if it harms the body, it can be repaired. So even if the Violent trait influences you, it's okay."

"But..." Stark still worriedly said, "If you all freely use other personality traits' unique skills, will it really not fuse together?"

"It's likely difficult," Shiller admitted, "If it were that easy to fuse, we wouldn't have split initially. But there might be influences from other personality traits."

Stark visibly tensed again. He turned his palm toward himself, slightly clenched his fist, and bit his lip.

"Tony, do you think you've changed over the years?"

"Maybe," Stark said.

"Do you think I've changed?"

Stark tilted his head slightly, looking at Shiller, somewhat unsure of what he was getting at.

"I haven't changed," Shiller said. "Change is tough for me because it's not just about the me you know. If you think of me as society, societal progress is always harder than individual progress."

"I don't like change either. Every significant change in my life hasn't been good, at best neutral. I've never expected much from change."

"Though you think I've compromised a lot for friends, it still doesn't count as change. If one day I decide to change, would you stop me? Or support me?"

"I don't know," Stark's fist tightened, the edge of his hand turning white, "I know too little about you, I don't know if the change will be for the better or worse, or if... I'll forever lose a friend."

"You've changed a lot, Tony. But every time you change, I don't feel you're leaving me."

"But we're not the same. You're...much more complex. There could be many unforeseen circumstances, possibly worse than imagined."

"Everyone is the same. With each decision, one prepares for the worst. I also have times when I'd rather not but have to accept potential worst outcomes."

"But I..."

"At that time, it was about you, Tony. The only time like that. When you became the Iron Demon God, I also prepared for you possibly ascending, absorbing all cosmos' Iron Men, while my friend vanished among them."

"Really?" The light in Stark's eyes was almost overflowing, looking as though he gazed at two gleaming star clusters, he said, "Were you really prepared?"

"...Alright, I wasn't. But luckily, you gave me a good result," Shiller chuckled and said, "So I promise you, there will be a good result."