American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

The place responsible for housing the young wizards wasn't guarded by many soldiers, and he easily dismissed them.

As he stepped inside, he couldn't help but feel a sense of感慨 (gan3kai3, a complex feeling of mixed emotions, including nostalgia and reflection). Compared to the laboratories where adult wizards had been imprisoned, this place resembled a school. Opening one of the rooms, it was clear that it was actually a classroom. Neatly arranged desks and chairs, the wooden surfaces of which were polished smooth and fine. Several large windows opened in the walls, offering views of the blue sky and white clouds outside. The classroom walls were painted a pale yellow, giving it a warm and comfortable feel.

Rune understood something. Ironically, just a short distance away, their kind were being used as expendable resources, while here, the young wizards could not only study in peace, but perhaps even play and frolic during class. Only a few hundred meters away, yet their fates were so different.

Rune looked through the rooms one by one. Besides the regular classrooms, there was a small canteen and some offices. However, perhaps for security reasons, there were no photos of the principal posted, but rather common figures like Shakespeare and Newton.

Upon reaching the top floor, Rune saw a cabinet. It was locked, but the clear glass window allowed him to see what was inside—wands, probably dozens of them. He fell silent. Of course, how could those guys possibly believe in wizards? Even if they were just a bunch of children.

The young wizards had been led to hide in the basement by some ordinary people. Rune searched several times before finally finding them. When someone pushed open the door, a gaunt man with loose skin and high cheekbones stared wide-eyed. He trembled as he raised his pistol, his finger hesitating on the trigger, the gun shaking with his trembling. His eyes were filled with fear and tension: "Who are you?"

Behind him were dozens of children, boys and girls, some of whom looked older than Rune. Among them was a female teacher, which left Rune somewhat helpless. He did consider simply and brutally dealing with the two teachers, but there were children present…

Rune appeared behind the man in an instant. Amidst gasps of surprise, he seized the male teacher's arm. The man instinctively fired, but unsurprisingly missed, causing ricochets to fly wildly throughout the basement. Finally, Rune couldn't take it anymore and, using his animal senses, caught the bullet, which had been twisted into an irregular shape from the impact.

Without saying much, he pinned the man to the ground and used Legilimency on his eyes. Unlike the researchers, the man didn't turn to ashes; clearly, this teacher didn't deserve such "high-level treatment."

Of course, as Rune expected, this man didn't have any important memories in his mind.

He didn't even know how he got to the island; he only knew that he was teaching there and would receive five thousand dollars a month. That was a very high amount; at the time, the average American's monthly income was just over a thousand dollars. And all this man had to do was read aloud from the textbook.

Despite this, the man still sensed that something was amiss. For example, the absolute prohibition against leaving the building; the recurring memory lapses, as if his memories, except for those of his lessons, were being erased intermittently; and then there were those strange children—they seemed to possess some kind of special ability…

Most importantly, this textbook portrays wizards as evil, while ordinary people are the good ones who can rescue them from their den of evil.

When Rune read this part of the memory, he was speechless. The textbook also stated that the current wizarding world still primarily relied on the traditional master-apprentice system, and to learn anything truly valuable from older wizards, one had to endure their abuse and such. The wizards most oppressed by their teachers awakened, united, called themselves the Purifiers, and snatched these experimental subjects from those despicable wizards, handing them over to ordinary people for education…

The wizarding world still retains the ancient apprenticeship system, and undeniably, the treatment of apprentices may not be ideal. However, this is no longer the mainstream method of succession. Beyond Hogwarts, other continents have their own magic schools, and each student receives their own. Examples include Hogwarts in England, Vagabond in Uganda, and the Magic Institute in Japan. Moreover, educational resources are severely overabundant—due to the relatively small birth rate in the wizarding world.

Of course, this situation may improve in the coming years.

Not to mention the textbooks' attempts to whitewash the Purgers. This radical group also facilitated the Salem witch trials, which resulted in the execution of 20 people, mostly women, simply out of revenge.

It's safe to say that Rune felt no remorse whatsoever when killing the Purifiers; he even enjoyed it. Those beasts had no morals and were not bound by the law. Their reasons for betraying their own kind were unlike Superman's betrayal of the Kryptonians. The former was simply driven by self-interest and revenge, while the latter was far more complex.

In short, the Kryptonian Empire was originally a powerful colonizer. They promoted racism, ruled their colonies with ruthless methods, and carried out a genocide on Amarako. They also produced clones as slaves. These clones had no human rights and ultimately chose to rebel. All of this led many Kryptonians to believe that the rulers of the Kryptonian Empire were too cruel and immoral. Jor-El even believed that the entire planet was beyond saving.

Furthermore, Superman later saved Kryptonian cities from Brainiac's control, so Superman cannot be simply compared to a Kryptonian traitor. Even without the Life Codex, Kryptonians could still reproduce naturally—Clark was the first child born naturally on Krypton in hundreds of years.

As Rune continued reading the memories, he became even more helpless. Comparing Dumbledore to the most powerful wizard in the entire wizarding world was fine, but wasn't it a bit much to consider him the root of all the wizarding world's corruption? And how come I didn't know that Hogwarts had classes starting at 6:00 AM, continuing until 6:30 AM, and ending at 11:00 PM, with graduates becoming soldiers of the wizarding world?

If they really followed this schedule, would most wizards be unable to cast a single Ironclad Charm? That's ridiculous! It even made Rune chuckle. He didn't know if any of these young wizards would be sent to the magical world as spies, but if they were sent there like this, they'd probably be easily turned…

Wait a minute, this textbook... could this textbook have been compiled by the Purgers?

After a moment of contemplation, Rune nodded. "That makes sense then."

At this moment, another female teacher cautiously asked, "Excuse me, what brings you here?"