Godhood Unlocked: I Chose Sci-Magic Dual Cultivation

Zod was probably modifying this thing in one of those outposts right now.

"Our civilization enjoyed prosperity and growth for a very long time, creating many miracles, until..."

"Until what?" Clark asked impatiently.

"Until we carried out a reform and began population control. Countless outposts were abandoned."

Jor-El was being vague, but Dane knew full well that this so-called reform had actually been a massive Civil War.

At the time, Kryptonians had almost no rivals in the known universe. Even powerful forces such as Apokolips and the Green Lantern Corps could only avoid their edge.

For some unknown reason, the invincible Kryptonians began a Civil War. The conflict dragged on for an extremely long time, and countless Kryptonians died in the chaos.

Finally, one day, enough Kryptonians had died. They began to reflect and rewrote their laws.

They predetermined the social roles of every newborn Kryptonian infant, deciding their future place in society from birth.

The full implementation of those laws foreshadowed what Krypton would eventually become.

Jor-El continued speaking.

"We exhausted our natural resources, causing the planet's core to become unstable."

"In the end, our military leader, General Zod, attempted to change the situation through a coup..."

To be fair, although Dane disliked Zod's arrogance, he believed Zod had done nothing wrong at the time.

The Kryptonian Council clearly had no way to solve Krypton's destruction, yet it forbade Kryptonians from emigrating. It was practically dragging the entire planet down to die together.

Zod had been trying to save the world. Though he also coveted power, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with what he did. His only mistake was failing.

Anything a loser said was wrong.

"Your mother and I foresaw the outcome, so we found a way to send you here."

As he spoke, Jor-El began walking, leading Clark and Dane into the Genesis Chamber.

Inside were Artificial Wombs hanging like clusters of grapes on vines.

He began telling Clark about the Destiny designed for Kryptonians, instilling in him the idea of free will.

Free will. America really loved that stuff.

This bowl of chicken soup, simmered for twenty-five years, was fortunate enough to welcome its first customer. Clark happily drank it all in.

Dane could tell that Clark was filled with conviction now.

He was certain that if Dane said they were going after Zod at that moment, Clark would follow without a second word.

When it came to persuading people, Super-Dad really was something else. Dane deeply felt that he still had a long way to go.

At last, Jor-El opened a storage cabinet beside him. A blue skintight suit and a red cape appeared before them.

Jor-El explained the meaning of the "S" on the House of El crest. It stood for hope.

Clark picked up the suit. Its cool, smooth texture made him reluctant to put it down.

Just as he was about to put it on, he stopped and turned to look at Dane.

Dane rolled his eyes before saying, "Fine, I'll wait outside."

With that, his down jacket flashed and transformed into a red battle suit. He raised an eyebrow and flew straight out.

A battle suit—like he was the only one who had one.

Clark's cheek twitched, and then he obediently got dressed.

Jor-El watched the scene with a kind expression, feeling even more relieved. At least Carl had a friend now. He would not have to be alone.

Clark's First Impressions of Gotham

Dane waited until Clark and Jor-El had finished catching up before making his request.

"You want to study the knowledge inside this ship?"

"Yes."

Dane explained the situation. In particular, when he mentioned Zod, he noticed Jor-El's expression shift.

"You are Carl's friend. If he is willing to trust you, then I am willing to place my trust in you as well."

Clark spoke up at the right moment. "I trust him."

Jor-El had nothing more to say. He nodded and granted Dane permission to browse the technological archives.

"How would you like to learn? This ship can directly instill knowledge through neural pathways."

"However, this is an old relic from twenty thousand years ago. This device will have difficulty forming long-term memories for you, so the transfer can only be done bit by bit."

"That's not a problem."

He had plenty of confidence in Wisdom of Solomon.

"Very well. There is another independent intelligent AI on this ship. She will help you receive the knowledge."

Jor-El's digital AI had been brought from Kal's ship, while this ancient Scout Ship had its own artificial intelligence.

Dane nodded.

"Welcome."

After detecting Dane's usual language, a pleasant female voice echoed by his ear.

"Recursive program diagnostics complete. Navigation authorization confirmed."

"All systems operating normally."

"An unknown applicant has requested archive access authorization. Do you accept?"

Dane realized it was referring to him and answered, "Accept."

"Kryptonian archives contain knowledge from one hundred thousand different worlds."

"Excellent."

Just as Dane was about to enter, he seemed to remember something and called out to Clark.

"Clark, I'm about to start studying. Want to join me?"

"No!"

Rejection was written all over Clark's face. He might have a super brain, but Dane felt it should be called a super cerebellum. Other than helping him control his superpowers better, he had never seen Clark use that ability for anything serious.

Had America's happy education poisoned him too badly?

As a proper top student in his previous life, Dane could not understand, but he respected Clark's choice.

"Then what do you plan to do next?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to invite people to join our organization?"

"It's the Justice League!"

"Isn't that name a little too deliberate?"

"Your future title will be 'Superman.' I think that's even more deliberate."

"I have a title too? What about you? What's your title?"

"Shazam."

"That title feels kind of unremarkable."

Clark was actually evaluating it with great interest.

"Does it mean anything?"

"Because I possess Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles, and Speed of Mercury."

"Take the first letters of the six gods' names, and together they spell Shazam!"

"That's kind of cool. You can explain it to your fans like that in the future."

Dane rolled his eyes so hard they nearly reached the sky. He did not mention that Shazam's former title was Captain Marvel, since that was a little too close to a copyright collision.

Besides, whenever he heard that name, he thought of a square-faced auntie.

"If you really have nothing to do, you can go to Gotham and see if you can get in touch with Batman."

"Didn't you say he was very suspicious?"

"Yeah, but you should be fine."

"Didn't you also say he was hard to deal with?"

"Yeah, but you should be fine."

Clark looked utterly confused. What did he mean, he would be fine?

Dane said nothing. Looking across the DC world, Superman and Batman were a pair of close buddies most of the time.

For some reason, the scheming Batman could always quickly accept the simple-minded Big Supes. As long as Big Supes treated him sincerely, Dane believed Batman's icy exterior would melt.

Besides, Zod had not arrived yet, Wayne Tower had not collapsed, and Batman did not yet hold such deep prejudices against Superman. Sending him was suitable.

The only question was whether the current Big Supes was too innocent to handle a place as wholesome as Gotham.

"All right, I'll make a trip there. What about the others?"

Dane thought for a moment and said,

"Wonder Woman and General Swanwick can wait for now. I'll find a chance to invite them later."

There was a reason for that. If he remembered correctly, Wonder Woman should be working in Paris right now and had not yet returned to America.

The Martian Manhunter had already infiltrated the upper ranks of the military, so Dane could not just show up at his door recklessly.

The other heroes had not grown up yet, making them inconvenient to invite.

He had once considered inviting Hawkman Carter Hall and Doctor Fate Kent Nelson from the Justice Society.

But when he thought of how those two had performed in Black Adam, he hesitated again. It was not because of their strength.

Although Hawkman did not look particularly powerful, he was genuinely tough to take down. His combat instincts and experience were exceptional, and he had enough leadership charisma to lead a small team.

But he was somewhat hypocritical and completely rigid.

In the movie, for the sake of so-called procedural justice, he strictly forbade Black Adam from killing. Yet when the International Gang had piled up countless blood debts in Kandahar, he had not seemed to do anything.

Dane labeled him "pedantic" and "rule-bound."

No wonder Adrianna, who had released Black Adam, would rather trust Black Adam than the Justice Society. She simply did not think much of them.

Then there was Doctor Fate, well...

When Dane read the comics, he thought the character was awesome. But in the movie, he gave off the impression of wanting more than he could accomplish, completely failing to display the power a god should possess.

And after Kent became Doctor Fate, he would be possessed by Nabu. Dane really disliked that god. The way he spoke was as infuriating as Amanda Waller.

In short, both of them felt somewhat undeserving of their reputations. Of course, Dane's judgment was based on the comic-book world's power scale.

If they went by the movie universe's upper limit instead, they actually seemed decent enough. He would wait and see.

After Dane finished discussing things with Clark, he stopped paying attention to him, entered the archives by himself, and buried himself in study.

As for going to school? To hell with that!

Clark dressed like an utterly ordinary farm boy and entered Gotham.

Night had fallen. Under a light drizzle, Clark entered a diner called "Pauli's Diner." He was a little hungry.

"Hello, what can I get you?"

A blonde waitress came over from behind the counter.

"Waffles, bacon, and a cup of coffee."

Clark gave her a friendly smile. The waitress was delighted by his handsome face and smiled as she went to prepare his order.

"Terrible weather, isn't it?"

Clark heard someone speaking to him and looked over curiously, only to see a middle-aged man in a police uniform.

"My name's Owens. I'm a local police officer. You're not from around here, are you, kid?"