World within the Ring

"Later, take this report to Mrs. Felton at the Dean’s office. As for the club, wait until after final exams to organize anything. I doubt the students have much free time to worry about that now."

Evans nodded, holding a stack of documents in his arms. "Indeed. Almost everyone has been studying hard. Even those with records of skipping class have been going to the library a lot lately."

Schiller rummaged through his desk, then handed him another stack of papers. "Although I told you the entire book was important, at your current level, trying to memorize the whole thing would be a fool’s dream. This contains the scope of materials for the essay topics. Tell them to finish reading it as soon as possible…"

Just then, Bruce knocked on the door. Evans said, "Then I won’t disturb you any longer, Professor. I’ll get everything arranged as soon as possible."

After Bruce entered, he casually pulled over a chair and sat down. As Schiller tidied the textbooks on his desk, he asked, "Finished reviewing?"

"Of course. There wasn’t that much to review." Bruce was quite proud of his intelligence and memory.

"You’d better make sure your essay passes. Otherwise, I’ll call your butler… What was his name again?"

"Uh, Alfred, Professor. My butler’s name is Alfred."

"Oh, right. If you fail this exam, I’ll call your butler Alfred."

Bruce fell silent for a moment. "Fine. Give me some more materials…"

He had a strange feeling. Schiller’s utterly matter-of-fact attitude about "calling the parents" made him feel like he was being treated as some little brat. He was somewhat indignant, but the moment he imagined that scene, Bruce decided he should probably go home and read some more.

"What are you planning to do over break?"

"I have a lot to do. You know that. What are you planning to do?"

"Yesterday, the attending physician at Arkham Asylum called me. We were classmates back in the day. He’s overwhelmed over there and invited me to help out. I’m planning to bring two students with me for internships."

"Oh? Who are you planning to bring?"

"I’ve already spoken with Falcone. Evans is definitely going. His grades are excellent, and he’s already first in the class. As for the other one, I haven’t decided yet."

Bruce had just opened his mouth when Schiller said, "But it definitely won’t be you. Your grades are terrible."

Bruce curled his lip. "The trouble at the East Docks still hasn’t settled down. Without the Edward family, things have become chaotic there again. I’ve been busy at night lately, and so has Gordon."

"I imagine your nights have involved more than just your heroic pursuits. How is that thief who stole your heart?"

"Of course, I’ve only been busy with the other half of my work lately. Selina’s friend Maggie hasn’t been well recently, so she hasn’t been out and about."

"Still…" Bruce smiled. "Our righteous lawyer, Mr. Harvey, seems to have made some progress."

Schiller raised an eyebrow. "He’d fall for a Gotham girl? Now that’s rare. Who could possibly be so charming?"

"Christine. It’s Christine."

"The captain of the cheerleading squad? But isn’t she a Batman fan?"

"That old principal was sued and imprisoned again because Harvey helped Christine testify against him once more. And this time, thanks to Harvey’s defense, the old principal had no excuse like medical parole to fall back on. He was sentenced to 137 years. He probably won’t ever get out again."

"You know how it is—eloquent in court, showing off his prowess. How could that fail to earn a girl’s gratitude and admiration?"

Schiller rubbed the corner of his brow. "Tsk, tsk. Our lawyer is quite lucky with women."

After Bruce left, Schiller returned to his apartment building. In his mind, he was still chatting with Green Lantern.

He had plenty of experience with this sort of thing, because Green Lantern’s current state was exactly like Spider-Man’s when he had first gained his superpowers.

Clearly, he had obtained the Green Lantern ring from that alien.

Compared to Peter, Hal was more mature. He was older, had a pilot’s license, and was far more mentally resilient than high schooler Spider-Man. So even though he was excitedly chatting with people online, he had not revealed anything about aliens or magical rings.

Schiller chatted with him for a while, then clicked on his profile picture and discovered that Green Lantern’s abilities could indeed be copied.

Schiller clicked Copy, but unexpectedly, there was a long delay, and the system’s notification did not arrive.

After a while, he suddenly noticed that the Symbiote in his mind was emitting a faint hum.

He called out to the Symbiote several times, but received no response. A moment later, the system’s notification finally sounded.

"The World within the ring has been loaded."

While Schiller was still baffled, the Symbiote suddenly sent over a string of excited brainwaves. Then Schiller felt something appear on his finger. Looking down, he saw an ancient-looking silver-gray ring.

Schiller found it very strange. The system’s ability-copying function should not have been able to copy external objects. And even if it had copied Green Lantern’s Green Lantern ring, it should have been green. Why had it turned gray?

Then, the Symbiote gave Schiller the answer.

Green Lantern was an exceptionally special hero. Most of his abilities came from the Green Lantern ring, including the creation of green energy weapons, Green Lantern energy force fields, teleportation, healing, and so on. These were all special abilities granted by the ring.

Therefore, the abilities belonging to Green Lantern that the system had copied also required a vessel.

Schiller did not have a Green Lantern ring, so the system had transformed Symbiote Grey Mist into the vessel for these abilities.

"So you’re the vessel. Then what is this ring for?"

"It’s not for anything, but it looks nice," the Symbiote said.

"Fine," Schiller said.

He looked at his finger. The ring was actually very simple: a silver-gray band decorated with several wavy lines. It did not look conspicuous. The only slightly strange thing was that it sat on his ring finger.

"So how do I use this ability?" Schiller asked the Symbiote.

"Just think about it."

Schiller closed his eyes and focused. Soon, he found a cloud of gray mist in his pitch-black field of vision. The mist gradually expanded, and after a flash of white light, his consciousness appeared on an island shrouded in gray fog.

The island was not large. He could see its edges from wherever he stood. Schiller directed his vision toward the island’s edge, then looked down.

Beneath the island sprawled an enormous, boundless city.

Layer upon layer of hazy gray mist still blanketed the space between the island and the city. The city was impossibly vast. Through the haze, every building took on bizarre shapes, and from time to time, massive creatures whose forms could not be clearly seen moved through its streets.

This was a lonely island floating above a gigantic city.

Schiller began recalling Green Lantern’s World within the ring. In the comics, the Green Lantern ring contained an independent world. Green Lantern had once shrunk his enemies and imprisoned them there, and he himself had once been trapped in the Emerald Dunes within a Green Lantern ring’s World within the ring.

Even the Green Lanterns themselves seemed unable to fully control their Worlds within the ring. Just like Schiller now, his consciousness could only remain within the island’s boundaries, while the vast city below, where no details could be made out, lay entirely beyond his control.

Fortunately, the island seemed to have no connection whatsoever to the city below. The enormous shadows that suddenly emerged from the fog did not notice that something had appeared above their heads.

Schiller was also surprised to discover that he seemed to have entered this world in the flesh, and he could still communicate with the Symbiote here.

He severed the connection and returned to reality. Looking up at the clock, he found that time had continued to pass.

In other words, that place was like an independent shelter. Theoretically, if he encountered a danger he could not resist, he could enter the Gray Mist world directly and wait for the crisis to pass.

Schiller thought that the giant city beneath the island, along with the immense figures looming in and out of the gray fog, surely concealed enormous secrets—and were equally dangerous. Staying there too long was not a good idea. Unless he encountered a threat to his life, it was best to visit that strange and bizarre World within the ring as little as possible.

Later that evening, Mrs. Felton from the Dean’s office came by. She had originally come to check next semester’s textbook expenses with Schiller, but she was quite a warmhearted woman. She told him, "Our new principal was discharged from the hospital yesterday. He may return to his office tomorrow."

Without making it obvious, she reminded Schiller, "He looked rather anxious. He may be planning to make some major moves."

Just as Mrs. Felton had said, Schiller received a call from Principal Sheldon that very evening.

This time, Sheldon seemed to have learned his lesson. Rather than aggressively demanding that Schiller complete some task as he had at the beginning, he first spouted a great deal of empty talk about working hard. Only at the end did he tell Schiller that certain professor positions at Gotham University might soon undergo changes. He had invited several old friends he had known at Princeton to recommend experts and professors, so they could form Gotham University’s new faculty.

He seemed to be trying to make Schiller nervous this way. After all, at a university, the resources available to professors depended on how much importance the school placed on their field of study. Schiller was indeed one of Gotham University’s crown jewels. His résumé was exceptionally impressive; some out-of-town students had even applied to Gotham University specifically because of him.

But if more world-class experts and scholars joined the university, established their own laboratories, and led students in research on world-class projects, then whether the school’s resources would continue to favor psychology so heavily was another matter.

Schiller had originally had no objection to this. After all, he also hoped Gotham University would improve and add luster to his teaching résumé.

Until he saw the name Victor Fries on Principal Sheldon’s list of newly hired professors.