Hearing Rorschach's words, Erik couldn't help but smile with great satisfaction.
Sure enough, compared to Charles, Rorschach suited his tastes far better.
Charles was far too idealistic, to the point of being seriously unrealistic.
But with Charles's intelligence, could he really have failed to notice that?
Erik did not think so.
After all, Charles had graduated from Harvard at sixteen and, just past twenty, had been hired by a world-renowned institution like Oxford University as a genetics professor!
A mind like that was who knew how much sharper than Erik's.
Erik did not believe Charles could fail to see how many problems would arise between mutants and humans because of their innate differences.
Charles simply had never been willing to see them.
Rather than approach problems rationally, Charles preferred to feel them emotionally.
Over all the time he had spent with Charles, Erik had come to truly understand that there was a tremendous chasm between them, an uncrossable chasm.
And that meant Erik could never fit into Charles's circle. In the end, they were bound to go their separate ways.
It could not be helped. Conflicting ideals were a fatal flaw; they could not be forced together.
For now, that crack had not surfaced only because everyone was united against Shaw.
But once Shaw's affairs were settled, there would be no way to keep that crack suppressed.
Erik was also considering his own way forward.
He had secretly begun planning to form a circle of his own!
Rorschach, powerful, far more mature than others his age, yet not as rigidly old-fashioned as Charles, was naturally someone Erik wanted to win over.
"Rorschach, I think we should talk more in private sometime."
Erik patted Rorschach on the shoulder and spoke to him meaningfully.
"What are you two talking about?"
After speaking with Erik for a while and making some simple arrangements for the mutants, Charles found time to walk over. He looked at them curiously and asked.
"We were talking about Shaw." Erik casually told Charles, "I told Rorschach that Moira went to investigate Shaw."
At the mention of Shaw, Charles's expression turned serious. "What a pity the Mutant Growth Accelerator was destroyed. Otherwise, finding Shaw would have been much easier."
In fact, Hank had been preparing to rebuild the Mutant Growth Accelerator during this time, but it was no small undertaking.
On top of that, everyone was busy training, and time was limited. There was simply no way to complete the Mutant Growth Accelerator in the short term.
Charles and Erik had believed that the reason Charles had never been able to find Shaw was the White Queen. But during their trip to the Soviet Union, they had already captured the White Queen.
That should have meant Shaw no longer had any means of resisting Charles.
What neither of them knew was that the tool Black King Shaw had always used to block Charles's perception was not the White Queen, but his helmet!
Moreover, Shaw's submarine had a room capable of completely isolating psychic perception. With multiple methods at his disposal, he had Charles thoroughly restrained.
Even if Hank rebuilt the Mutant Growth Accelerator, it would be useless.
"Rorschach, what did you need me for?"
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Charles looked directly at Rorschach and asked.
Rorschach did not need to undergo special training with Charles, so if he had come along with everyone at this time, he most likely had something to discuss.
"Charles, I actually wanted to ask if there was somewhere convenient for me to train my heat vision?" Rorschach said to Charles.
He really had come to find Charles for something.
Whether it had been his battle with Wade or his battle with the Decepticons, Rorschach had realized that he was still not very proficient in using his heat vision.
Otherwise, killing Wade should have been much easier.
That battle had made Rorschach realize that his combat skills still had shortcomings.
"Of course, Rorschach." Charles smiled. He lacked everything here except space. "I'm glad you finally came to me. In fact, I've already had some ideas regarding your heat vision. Would you like to hear them?"
"I'd love to." Rorschach immediately said.
Charles then discussed several training methods for heat vision with Rorschach.
Their conversation was highly pleasant, and they quickly came up with a rough plan.
"Charles, thank you very much!"
Rorschach sincerely said to Charles.
"No need to thank me, my friend." Charles replied to Rorschach just as sincerely.
After greeting Charles, Erik, and the other mutant companions who were training, Rorschach returned to his training room and continued practicing.
Should I learn some specialized fighting techniques?
As Rorschach threw punches, he could not help pondering the question.
His battle with Wade had actually exposed quite a few of his problems.
But not long after the thought arose, Rorschach dismissed it.
As his strength continued to grow in the future, he could just crush everything head-on. There was really no need for it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
For a time, the sound of metal impacts rang out without pause.
Charles was incredibly efficient. By the very next day, he had cleared out a special place for Rorschach to train his heat vision.
An indoor tennis court!
It was fucking absurd!
Not only that, Charles had specifically asked Hank to help Rorschach design a simple "tennis ball launcher" that could continuously fire tennis balls at random.
All Rorschach needed to do was use his heat vision to shoot those tennis balls.
That was how he would achieve his training goal.
Of course, Rorschach's heat vision could currently only last for a very short time, so he could train only intermittently. It was a bit of a pain in the ass.
"Rorschach, can you come to my office?"
However, before Rorschach could begin training, Charles summoned him to his office with a solemn expression.
By then, Erik and Moira were already seated inside.
The atmosphere was extremely serious.
"Moira? When did you get back?"
Rorschach dropped into an empty seat and casually looked at Moira as he asked.
"Moira just returned, and she brought back some very important intelligence." Charles said to Rorschach with a grave expression.
"We found Shaw!"
Erik added heavily from the side.
"Yes, Rorschach, I found Shaw!"
Moira also said in a low voice.
They had found Shaw already?
To be honest, Rorschach was rather surprised, since this had not happened in the original plot.
But after giving it some thought, Rorschach did not say anything.
He had already considered this matter yesterday, and it was not particularly difficult to understand.
He simply had not expected Moira to actually find something.
Before you continue