American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

Just as Rune was preparing to devise a puppet for himself, Clark walked in.

"Wow! You're finally back!" Clark said happily. He looked at Rune and saw that his eyes were filled with fatigue and worry.

"Saving the world... must be exhausting, right?" Clark asked cautiously. Looking at Rune before him, Clark finally felt the weight of responsibility.

"Yes, it's tiring." Rune nodded, then handed him the two puppets and taught Clark how to use them. He then pointed to the Doomsday puppet: "If you really encounter something you can't fight, call it out, have it hold the opponent off, and then ride the other puppet away quickly, okay?"

Clark frowned. Although he was pleased to have acquired two exquisitely crafted puppets, the worry in Rune's tone weighed heavily on his mind.

"What happened?" Clark asked.

"Don't ask too many questions, just keep it to yourself." Rune didn't say much. To be honest, he was a bit paranoid right now, even looking at Clark, he felt that he was different from usual in many ways. Moreover, Rune had a feeling that Deadpool's warning might just be the beginning.

Well, at most we'll just deal with whatever comes our way. Being too fixated on these riddle-maker's predictions might actually lead us astray.

When Rune came to his senses, he found Clark already playing with the alien puppet. It was understandable; the shrunken puppet was fully movable, the details were meticulously drawn, the colors were perfect, and most importantly, it could move on its own. The most common toys in this town, besides dolls, were small plastic junk with only a head and four movable limbs—the quality of which was completely crushed by Rune's handmade puppet.

Wait, I think I know how to make money. Rune narrowed his eyes. With his shapeshifting abilities, creating a few exquisite miniature models was a piece of cake. If he priced them a little higher, someone should be able to buy them, right?

That evening, while having dinner with Jonathan's family, Rune distributed the puppets to his nominal adoptive father and mother.

"Is it because of that time you saved the world?" Jonathan asked. "Like in the comics, did you make some kind of nemesis because of it?"

"No, it's just a precaution." Rune calmly gave a reason: "Clark's extraordinary physique will be discovered sooner or later, and then someone may threaten you. These two puppets are just for protection."

"Hmm, that makes sense." Martha examined the puppets closely, then sighed. "But my little runes, the way these two puppets look will keep me up at night."

Clark had a mouthful of spaghetti, but that didn't stop him from retorting, "I think it's cool! Look, this alien even has a mouth inside its mouth!"

Although Jonathan agreed with Clark's statement, he still gently shook his head at Clark, signaling him to stop talking.

"It is indeed somewhat terrifying," Jonathan patted his wife's back, gently comforting her. "But a terrifying appearance is also a tactic, right?"

Martha pouted, then nodded. She knew, of course, that this was Rune's concern for her, but the puppets really weren't good-looking. Rune hadn't considered this either; he wasn't a girl. In the end, he decided to change Martha's alien puppet to a cheetah shape and the Doomsday puppet to a burly human man.

After dinner, Rune returned to his room and pondered deeply. The puppet he made for himself must have some effect in compensating for his weaknesses, but what were his weaknesses?

He brought up the system and looked at his status bar: beast perception to deal with speedsters, mind control to deal with mind control, and relatively common physical and magical resistance... Looking at it this way, apart from time and space attacks for which there is no way to defend against them for the time being, he might only be missing poison resistance.

In that case, Rune thought he should go find dung stones. This stuff is a universal antidote; although it can't cure all poisons, it should be enough for a quick fix.

What's even more exciting is that this stuff isn't some Hogwarts-exclusive potion; it's just a stone taken from a goat's stomach. While still relatively rare, Rune knows who can get their hands on it, though they're separated from America by an ocean. Hmm, this stuff is also considered a traditional Chinese medicine in some countries.

All you need to do is turn it into a beetle and set it to crawl into your own mouth and reveal its true form whenever it gets poisoned.

That evening, Clark urged Rune to tell him his story of saving the world. Rune then recounted his experiences over the past few days, and Clark almost immediately took a liking to Logan, hoping to meet him someday.

Rune shrugged and said, "Perhaps you'll have a chance to meet in the future."

Clark nodded excitedly, as if he wasn't the one who had been frightened by Rune's expression that morning.

When it was time to sleep, Rune, who hadn't slept for several days, fell asleep almost as soon as he closed his eyes. Even for a wizard who only needs four hours of sleep a day, it's very difficult to go without sleep for several days without a vitality potion.

Slytherin Common Room.

It was still as dark and damp as ever, and Rune felt a little out of place after being away for several days. He practiced his puppet shrinking spell as usual, but even though he had successfully shrunk it several times, Rune still felt somewhat unskilled. After only a few attempts, it was time for breakfast. But as he walked through the Hogwarts Castle foyer, Rune noticed a significant drop in his Gryffindor house points.

It was probably Harry and his friends who did it, but Rune was still curious about what kind of trouble they could possibly cause. After all, the biggest incident of the year had already been resolved: Peter had been captured, Black had been exonerated, and even those somewhat terrifying Dementors had been recalled by the Ministry of Magic. It was hard to imagine what they could possibly do to deserve so many points being deducted.

However, while eating in Rune, they discovered that Harry had led the fight with Slytherins, and the impact was far-reaching, with most of the third-year and second-year Gryffindors receiving a week-long detention.

As for why Rune didn't know... he's basically isolated right now, so naturally no one is willing to tell him.

Perhaps because only Gryffindors were in detention, the tension between Gryffindors and Slytherins escalated during breakfast. What started as insults gradually turned into a food fight. Both prefects tried to stop it, but failed, until a piece of bread nearly hit Rune in the face.

While the others were still engrossed in the food fight, the little snakes around Rune watched in horror as the bread that had almost hit Rune quickly turned to ashes; they hadn't even seen Rune chant a spell.

"Quiet!" Rune shouted, taking out his wand and placing it against his throat. While most ignored Rune's command, the next moment, they were bound to the chairs beneath them.

Enjoying the newly added Chinese dishes, Rune silently thanked the Hufflepuffs. The new dishes the elves learned were tested by the Hufflepuffs, and only those approved by the majority were served. For a time, the Hufflepuffs' lips were swollen.