Godhood Unlocked: I Chose Sci-Magic Dual Cultivation

"What else is there? Are you planning to invite other people?"

"Not exactly. Our top priority isn't forming the Justice League—it's making money first!"

Dane had only just remembered that. Forgive him; ever since becoming Shazam, he no longer had any need for wealth.

As a god of magic, the Rock of Eternity was his greatest fortune.

But the Justice League needed financial support. The original Justice League's biggest investments had come from Wayne Enterprises and partial government funding.

But they did not have those conditions now, so they could only make money themselves—and it had to be legal.

Ideally, they would run a major corporation as well and pursue sustainable development.

Money could not only help the Justice League solve its material problems; in capitalist America, it could also help them deal with certain issues from the authorities.

Just look at Vought International from The Boys. They had prospered tremendously, and their network of connections was unimaginably tangled.

So making money was imperative.

But this touched upon Clark's blind spot. His super-brain clearly did not possess any talent in that area.

Looking across all of DC's comics, Superman was rarely wealthy, even though he theoretically had the ability to become so.

Dane did not understand his thinking anyway. In his view, all they needed was for the ship's intelligent AI to make a few casual moves in the stock market and earn enough startup capital.

"Isn't that a little against the rules?"

"Clark, the money I'm making is legal!"

"But do we really need that much money?"

Dane rolled his eyes and said bluntly, "Then pay me back for those two outfits I gave you?"

They were designer brands. They were expensive.

Clark choked up. He was wearing his suit right now—where was he supposed to get money?

"You're rich without even realizing it."

Dane shook his head. Although he had only learned the basics, it was already enough for him to find a way to make money.

He decided to establish a technology company. Its first product would be Kuaidou short videos.

This kind of product had already proven its commercial value and profitability in the real world, and it had a complete development process. Dane only needed to copy it.

So he quickly put together a business plan. Clark could not understand it, but he was deeply impressed.

As a nominal Kryptonian and, in essence, an American.

Clark maintained the proper respect for lawful businessmen who could make money. In his eyes, Dane had the potential to become such a person.

So he did not dare say anything more.

Of course, the most important reason was that Dane's plan had already allocated a portion of the original shares to him.

Even if something happened to Superman in the future, his wife and mother would not be left alone and destitute.

You were Superman, the man who saved the world, yet your mother went bankrupt because the farm was not profitable and had to become a waitress in the city.

Did that make any sense?

If everyone suffered like that, who would become a hero in the future? Not even a dog would do it!

Getting things done immediately was one of Dane's greatest virtues. He swiftly put his ideas into action.

Not long afterward, a company called Pioneer Technology was established in New York.

Then it rapidly hired people, purchased equipment, developed products, and soon launched its first product—Kuaidou.

Just like its development in the real world, Kuaidou immediately ignited the creative passion of countless creators the moment it launched.

Before long, a novel kind of video content called "short videos" began appearing on the market.

As long as they did not violate laws or regulations, anyone could create whatever they wanted and share it with everyone.

This novel social app quickly conquered young people and spread at an astonishing rate.

Although it had launched ten years earlier than in reality, the DCEU's technological development was slightly ahead of the real world, with countless hidden black technologies. As a result, the public quickly accepted this novel virtual product.

When its user base officially exceeded ten million, countless venture capital firms waved stacks of cash and begged to get in. But Dane remained unmoved.

Internet technology required burning money in the early stages. Profitability came later.

But once the product was about to turn a profit, who would be willing to let others come in and take a share? Get lost!

Dane began displaying inhuman profitability. No one expected that when Pioneer Technology's funds began running short, Dane, as the company's CEO, would take out bank loans and invest all the money in the stock market.

Everyone waited to see the young man stumble. Yes, although Dane used Shazam's mature appearance, he looked no older than thirty, and in the eyes of countless capital tycoons, he was still just a young man.

But to everyone's surprise, the money Dane borrowed against his shares rolled through the stock market several times and produced enormous profits!

Pioneer Technology's funding crisis was instantly resolved, allowing it to continue growing.

Even Vanguard Fund, which Dane had established for investment convenience, received the fervent pursuit of countless people.

The venture capital firms grew anxious at the sight of this. This would not do!

If the other side never lacked money, how were they supposed to get in and take a share?

In the capital market, what people feared most were those who kept everything for themselves. What they feared even more were those who had the ability to do so and dared to do it.

So Dane soon discovered that someone was using underhanded tricks. He smiled happily. Daring to act tough with a god? They clearly did not know what it meant for heaven to deliver retribution.

Before long, certain capital tycoons discovered that the assassins and mercenaries they had hired had vanished without a trace. They began to realize that events were slipping beyond their control.

But an even bigger problem soon arose. Pioneer Technology also had its own official Kuaidou account.

They released a series of videos online containing evidence that certain companies had hired killers to suppress their competitors.

No one knew how Pioneer Technology had obtained those videos, but they undoubtedly caused a massive uproar among the public!

The stocks of the named companies crashed overnight, and their shareholders lost everything.

Dane, meanwhile, took the opportunity to make a killing in the stock market and earned another huge sum.

Then he used that money to acquire the companies whose stocks had plummeted earlier. After all the buying and selling, he had not made much money, but Pioneer's commercial territory expanded enormously.

Over the following period, Kuaidou seemed to transform into the front line of news.

Countless video creators concealing their true identities recorded one corporate scandal after another and exposed them to the public. Even many traditional media outlets began making a habit of searching Kuaidou videos for news material.

After this battle, Kuaidou became famous in a single stroke. It officially rose to become a leader in new media and one of the most important ways for people to learn about major news events.

It was also at this time that Dane officially became a billionaire. From complete obscurity to twelfth place on Forbes, he had taken only one year!

Moreover, much of his hidden wealth remained unknown to the public. His visible assets alone had already made him a new legend of wealth, and he had climbed this far by stepping over the bones of countless capitalists.

Not only him—even Clark became a multimillionaire without doing anything at all, perfectly demonstrating what it meant to win while lying down.

When Dane told him, Clark was completely dumbfounded.

"So I'm rich now?"

"Yes, Mr. Tycoon!"

Dane patted him on the shoulder. After a year, he had finally built a roughly acceptable framework.

Of course, compared to Wayne Enterprises in Gotham, LexCorp in Metropolis, and some top oil families and conglomerates, he was still far behind. He still had to work hard!

Dane had not spent that year merely making money. Every day, he set aside time to study the knowledge in the Kryptonian Archives.

With magical teleportation, traveling back and forth was no trouble. By now, he had basically mastered all the knowledge within.

The reason Kuaidou cost so much money in the real world was not primarily user growth. The main expenses came from technology development and promotion.

But for Dane, who had been infused with Kryptonian knowledge, this kind of low-level programming technology posed no difficulty at all!

Thus, Pioneer had almost zero expenditure on technical development. Most of its expenses went toward purchasing servers and large supercomputers, as well as hiring staff.

He invested all the remaining funds into another company he had founded—Umbrella.

This quietly established company was Dane's true focus, because it was the main place for researching and experimenting with black technology.

In the future, Dane hoped it could become Earth's true "umbrella."

It would provide technical and logistical support for the Justice League, and of course, offer appropriate compensation for the damage caused by heroes.

Umbrella Corporation also had a foundation under its name. In the future, it would specifically be responsible for repairing buildings and helping people harmed by heroic activities.

Honestly, Batman and Luthor did not hate Superman without reason. With the kind of fighting in Man of Steel, how many people would die, and how much property would be lost?

The politicians were not entirely making trouble out of nothing either. It was because the public truly harbored such resentment that they brought it up for discussion.

Dane hoped that with his involvement, this situation could improve somewhat, allowing future superheroes to have an easier time.

That Woman Was Back

"Where did Jason go? Why haven't we seen him lately?"

Clark asked curiously.

"He told me some time ago that he wanted to find a place called the League of Assassins."

"I heard it's somewhere in a corner of the Arabian Peninsula. He'll probably be searching for a long time."

"Why did he want to go there? And what exactly is the League of Assassins?"

"The League of Assassins is the organization that trained Batman. Jason probably went looking for it in pursuit of strength."

As for why he pursued strength, Clark knew even if Dane did not say it.

Over the past year, the overt and covert business competition directed at Pioneer Technology had been extremely fierce.

Even before metahumans began appearing in explosive numbers, the assassins attempting to kill Dane were no ordinary figures.

And Jason generally dealt with those people.

After recovering from his injuries, he had not left. Instead, he stayed behind to help, claiming it was to repay Dane.

But Dane understood in his heart that Jason had spent too long with Bruce and had picked up some of his suspicious habits.

He had stayed to observe what kind of people Dane and Clark truly were, and whether they posed any danger to the world.

Dane greatly admired that quality, because Jason surely knew that even if he and Clark were not good people, Jason's own strength would be absolutely incapable of stopping them. Yet he had still done it.

But Jason surely had not expected that, after spending so much time with the two of them.

He would ultimately be won over by their character and ideals, naturally joining the newly formed Justice League.

And because it was inconvenient for Dane to act when conducting business outside, Jason had effectively become his personal bodyguard, helping him deal with the mercenaries and assassins who sought to harm him through malicious means.

At first, there had been no problems. Jason was the second Robin, Batman's carefully trained assistant. Ordinary assassins and mercenaries were no match for him at all.

But after the ordinary riffraff had been dealt with, more troublesome people came.

The first was Deadshot. This master marksman, who had long ranked first on the assassin leaderboard, never even met Jason.

He sniped from two kilometers away. After passing through a building's glass window, the bullet still accurately struck Dane in the temple.

Dane had been negotiating a business deal at the time when he suddenly felt as if a mosquito had bitten his head.

He reached up and touched it casually, only to find a flattened bullet.

Jason, who had been standing right beside him, realized what had happened too late. By the time he rushed toward the firing position, the shooter had long since vanished.

The second to come was Deathstroke. This assassin came directly to their door, but Jason was completely outmatched.

That was only natural. Deathstroke's fighting skills were even somewhat superior to Batman's.

On top of that, he did not care about human lives at all, so he often held the upper hand when fighting Batman hand-to-hand.

Had Jason not abandoned his insistence on the "no killing" principle and attacked with lethal intent in every move, he likely would not have lasted more than a few exchanges against Deathstroke.

Even so, he had ultimately only escaped with his life thanks to Dane's rescue.

As for Deathstroke, Dane waved a hand, and that man was sent flying off to who knew where.

It was only then that Jason truly confirmed that Clark had not exaggerated in the slightest when he said Dane was a god.

Jason could fight desperately and still fail to leave even half a wound on Deathstroke, yet Dane had waved his hand and left the man's fate unknown.

Jason finally understood just how formidable the Justice League Dane intended to establish truly was. He himself was still far from qualified.

It was from that moment onward that Jason wished to obtain greater strength. But he was only human; he could not possess miraculous abilities like Clark and Dane.

So he would push every power he could master to its limit, just like Batman—reaching the peak of human physical ability while also possessing the finest tactical mind among humans.