[Directional Draw Available – Please Select a Target Category]
When Edward saw this message pop up on his system, he couldn't help but let out a helpless laugh. Even so, after thinking it over, he firmly selected the Medical Research category. What he needed right now was something related to medicine, something that could help him break through the current stalemate.
If he could get his hands on the right kind of resource, his NewHope Medical Hospital project would be able to help even more people. As for what others thought, Edward didn't particularly care.
[You have obtained: Blueprint and Principles for a Primary Medical Pod]
A glowing notification appeared. Edward blinked in surprise.
"Huh? There's even that kind of reward?"
Still, he was pleasantly surprised. Excitedly, he summoned the new reward but the moment he did, he was nearly buried under the flood of information. There were so many pages of schematics, technical data, and engineering blueprints that even Edward felt his head pounding.
Judging by the complexity alone, it was obvious that this device wouldn't be cheap to build, nor would it be small in size.
After studying the data for a while, Edward's expression changed to one of astonishment.
The so-called "Medical Pod" was incredible. Despite its name, it didn't actually heal people directly. Rather, its true purpose was in pharmaceutical research and development. It came equipped with an advanced AI chip capable of exponentially improving the efficiency of drug production.
In other words, this thing could drastically reduce the costs of running a pharmaceutical company.
With this, founding a medical branch under Devon Corporation suddenly seemed far more practical. Smiling faintly, Edward immediately sent a message to Kennedy, instructing him to establish a medical division within Devon, focused primarily on manufacturing these medical pods.
Kennedy was shocked when he saw the blueprints, but being the professional he was, he didn't ask unnecessary questions. He simply nodded, made notes, and started arranging for the creation of the new department.
Having solved one of his biggest worries, Edward felt a weight lift from his heart. His mood noticeably improved even during the filming of The Ring, his energy seemed brighter, and the entire production sped up.
However, halfway through the shoot, Edward received an unexpected piece of news.
"The audience… is demanding a Superman movie?"
He turned toward Zoroark, who stood before him with a nervous look. Edward couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Zoroark nodded repeatedly and began explaining the situation.
The overwhelming success of Batman: The Dark Knight had sent waves of excitement through the fanbase. Comic and manga readers everywhere knew that both Batman and Superman came from the same source, Edward Stone, so naturally, they had been anticipating a Superman movie.
But time had passed, and still, no news about a Man of Steel film had surfaced. Impatient fans had started sending letters en masse, begging to see Superman appear on the big screen.
Edward pinched the bridge of his nose. "These readers…" He couldn't decide whether to laugh or sigh. Still, it wasn't as if he hadn't thought about Superman himself. After all, along with Batman, Superman was one of DC's most iconic heroes—immensely popular and deeply symbolic. There was even a demand for his figurines and merchandise already.
The only issue was how to shoot it. Edward hadn't decided yet, and he still needed to write the script.
Superman's story wasn't particularly complex, but there were many variations of his origin. After thinking it through, Edward decided to go with the classic version "Man of Steel" which also happened to be a work by Zack Snyder.
The story began far away on the planet Krypton, where Superman, real name Kal-El was born. His father, Jor-El, was one of Krypton's leading scientists. When their beautiful world faced an inevitable catastrophe, Jor-El and his wife made a desperate choice: they placed their infant son into a small spacecraft and sent him across the vast expanse of space toward a distant blue planet—Earth—hoping he might survive.
The ship eventually crash-landed in Smallville, Kansas, on the farm of Jonathan and Martha Kent. The kindly couple discovered the infant and, rather than turning him in, decided to raise him as their own. They named him Clark Kent.
It was in this warm, loving household that Clark grew up and this upbringing would define who he became. Without the Kents, Superman would never have become Superman.
Edward couldn't help but reflect on that. Realistically speaking, if most people saw a spaceship crash and found a baby inside, their first reaction would be to call the police or the government. If the Kents had done that, Clark might have been dissected in a lab before he ever learned to crawl. In that case, the world wouldn't have had Superman—it would've had Homelander.
As Clark grew older, his extraordinary powers began to manifest—super strength, incredible speed, near invulnerability, enhanced senses, and even x-ray vision. At first, these abilities terrified and confused him.
But once again, he was lucky. The Kents, instead of fearing him, patiently taught him compassion and restraint. Guided by his father's wisdom, Clark eventually learned that he was not from Earth, but from another world altogether.
Still, despite this revelation, his love for his adoptive parents never wavered. He followed their teachings—living a quiet life as a reporter, using his powers only when necessary to save lives.
That was how the world came to know him as Superman.
Clark also fell in love with a colleague a completely normal, human relationship. Edward found that refreshingly wholesome. He even joked to himself that if Superman had been written in the modern Western entertainment industry, there was a decent chance he'd have been turned into either a minority caricature or a symbol of "progressive" politics—maybe even made gay or given a different skin color.
Thankfully, the original creators had lived in a simpler time. Superman was straightforwardly heroic—a symbol of idealism, not ideology.
In Edward's adaptation, Clark's peaceful life would not last long. One day, General Zod, a fanatical Kryptonian extremist, arrived on Earth. Zod saw humanity as a threat to Krypton's rebirth and planned to terraform Earth into a new Krypton, exterminating humanity in the process.
He also saw Superman as both a rival and a key—because Clark's powers could make or break his plan.
Thus began the great battle: Superman versus his own kind. Cities fell into chaos, war raged across continents, and Clark was forced to confront his past and his duty to humanity.
It was a grand, emotional story but also, Edward had to admit, rather formulaic.
He sighed. "Same old superhero plot again…"
It was true. No matter how he looked at it, superhero films all seemed to follow the same structure. The protagonist always had personal problems—family tension, lost love, moral conflict. Then a villain appeared, chaos ensued, the hero was defeated, rediscovered himself, awakened newfound strength, and finally saved the world. Everything tied up neatly, with some moral about courage or love.
It was a reliable formula—but too reliable.
Edward even joked that he wanted to tell every Hollywood studios:
"Stop making superhero movies! Every time you film one, the world almost ends again!"
At first, it was just cities under threat. Then entire countries. Then planets. Then universes. Apparently, in superhero worlds, the universe was constantly seconds away from destruction. No wonder audiences eventually got tired of it.
Even Batman: The Dark Knight, though brilliant, ultimately followed a similar structure. The hero failed the first time, faced loss, and only later redeemed himself. The only difference was that Batman didn't save his lover and instead became the fallen "Dark Knight."
This same template had been overused in countless films Black Panther, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania—all felt painfully similar.
"Superman won't escape that fate either," Edward muttered, rubbing his temples as he looked over his script. He had finally finished a draft, though it still felt incomplete. Superman was too perfect—a flawless god among men.
Some critics said, "Batman is a man who became a god, while Superman is a god who learned to be human." Edward thought that was accurate but such perfection also made the character less interesting. He briefly considered giving Superman some flaws, but after thinking it over, he gave up.
"Forget it. Perfect is fine—it's just fiction anyway."
He exhaled softly. "We'll film it later. Have the PR department release a statement saying the Superman script is in progress."
Zoroark nodded, jotting it down before hurrying off. Edward, meanwhile, returned to the set to continue filming The Ring.
The production went smoothly, though the team was swamped. The prop crew and sound department were working overtime—psychological horror relied heavily on atmosphere, color, music, and spatial tension, not just jump scares. The infamous uncanny valley effect was being pushed to its limits.
When filming finally wrapped up, Shutter had already finished its theatrical run. The box office numbers weren't particularly high, but what shocked Edward was the Fear Points the film had generated—over 600,000 points.
That meant he could roll another draw.
"Let's roll."
He didn't expect much. After all, it was just a random draw. If he got something good, great; if not, no big deal. At this point, Edward could buy almost anything he needed with money. What he really wanted was something that could make his horror films even scarier.
[You have obtained: Dreamlord]
"...?"
Edward frowned. "Dreamlord? What's that supposed to mean?"
Curious, he opened the item description.
[Dreamlord: Your films now have a chance to cause your viewers to experience nightmares related to your movie while they sleep. These dreams increase your fear points. Upon waking, viewers forget the dream and suffer no side effects.]
Edward twitched his lips. So, it was a passive way to harvest more fear. Useful in theory—but he wasn't sure he needed it. His Fear Points was already overflowing, and aside from converting it into fruit juice and candy, he didn't have many practical uses for it.
Then another message appeared:
[Your current Fear Value is sufficient to unlock Random Draws. Each draw costs 5,000 Fear Points and has a 50% chance to yield a random item.]
Edward raised an eyebrow.
"So there's also a fifty percent chance to get… nothing? How generous."
He glanced at his absurdly long string of Fear Points digits and decided to test his luck with a tenfold draw.
[Thank you for participating] ×9
[You have obtained: A Strange Umbrella]
"...A strange umbrella?"
He opened the description:
[Strange Umbrella: Can be opened once per day. Upon opening, there is a 50% chance for cloudy weather, a 1% chance for heavy rain, and a 0.0001% chance for extreme catastrophic weather.]
Edward rubbed his face. "...Good grief. I really can't buy something like this anywhere."
Another probability-based gimmick. He sighed and shook his head. "And what am I even supposed to do with it? I'm not trying to cosplay as a rain god."
Still, just to test it, he decided to open the umbrella once.
At first, nothing happened. Seeing that, Edward shrugged and folded it back up. "Figures—the probability's too low."
But the moment he turned around, the sky suddenly darkened. Clouds gathered overhead, lightning cracked through the heavens, and within seconds—
It started pouring.
No, it wasn't rain. It was like the sky itself had sprung a leak—an endless torrent of water crashing down from above.
Edward stared blankly.
"...Did I seriously hit the catastrophic weather chance?!"
Just as he was trying to process it, his phone started ringing.
He glanced at the screen. It was an unknown number.
After hesitating for a second, he still answered. Hardly anyone had his number, after all.
(End of Chapter)