Fengxian Borsen

After reading the message, Tony Stark fell silent.

One out of more than fourteen million?

A quantum van? The Quantum Realm? Time? Space?

Go back to the past and suffer defeat all over again?

He was quite satisfied with his life as it was. If he could live out his days in peace, raise Morgan Stark, watch her get married, and hold a great-grandchild, that wouldn't be so bad.

As for Scott Lang, of course he knew him. Eight years ago, they had only managed to defeat that super-sized hulk without getting hurt because the kid had watched so many movies...

Before he knew it, he was thinking about the kid again.

"Peter..."

He slowly got up, went to the cabinet, and took out the photo of the two of them. The corners of his eyes began to twitch involuntarily.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., make travel arrangements for the San Francisco Bay Arena."

New Asgard

"Hey, Thor, we came over to hang out!"

Bang!

"Whoa, did a typhoon hit your house? Where's the TV? The game console? Why are you sleeping on the floor?"

After the rock man Korg shook him for a while, Thor finally began to wake from his drunken stupor.

"Hey, Korg, morning... Where's my bed?"

A long while later, Thor finally remembered what had happened. He then looked at Stormbreaker.

"Stormbreaker?" (A transliteration of the battle-axe's name, like Mjolnir.)

Bzzz... (It's true.)

"Where?"

Bzzz... (It's hiding. I can't sense it right now.)

"Then forget it!" For some reason, Thor felt a little relieved to hear that.

A God King's weapon with an ancient aura, whether it was his father's Gungnir or his grandfather's unnamed battle-axe, presumably had a consciousness of its own, just like Stormbreaker.

They were both his father and grandfather's comrades-in-arms, and his elders. Yet under his leadership, Asgard had fallen into such a sorry state.

He couldn't face them!

Thor set the battle-axe aside and prepared to continue his life of drunken oblivion.

Bzzz...

But Stormbreaker clearly didn't see it that way. As a God King's weapon, its power and authority were unique. When a new king ascended the throne, the old gods stepped down; that was a fundamental law of heaven and earth.

This newly appeared God King's weapon was a challenge to authority and power!

Thor cast an indifferent glance at the "bottle opener" and strode outside.

"Anyone there? A sofa! A bed! A TV! A game console!"

Kamar-Taj

Everyone was busy. The three Sanctums and the other dimensional rifts all needed to be guarded by the remaining forty percent of the sorcerers, leaving Kamar-Taj almost empty.

After completing his three hours of daily study, Lin Xu went to the training grounds. The mystic art he planned to practice next was "Hoggoth's Hoary Hosts," a typical defensive mystic art.

This move was a little like Yasuo's Wind Wall. It could block attacks of any energy form and turn the energy into butterflies that filled the sky. On Titan, Strange had used this move to block the energy of the Space Stone.

After practicing for five hours, he felt he had more or less mastered it. The only thing he lacked was actual combat experience.

He had also noticed an obvious flaw in the move: its casting windup was a little long, taking about two seconds. Strange had only been able to use it to block Thanos's attack because he had employed plenty of distractions beforehand and had even anticipated the attack to some extent. If caught off guard, one might not have time to cast it.

These things were ultimately just external means. If one's physical body became strong enough, why would one need all these flashy tricks?

Lin Xu stopped practicing mystic arts as a sudden idea occurred to him. Since it was a move that imitated Hoggoth's divine presence, then...

Acting on the idea, he placed the pendant formed from Hoggoth's bone armor in his palm and cast the spell again. This time, he concentrated all the mystic energy over his palm.

Roar!

The sudden blast resounded throughout Kamar-Taj.

The phantom of a giant white tiger abruptly appeared, enveloping Lin Xu's entire body!

True—Hoggoth's Hoary Hosts!

True—martial soul true body!

Majestic, desolate, ancient, and domineering!

Only at that moment did Lin Xu truly understand what it meant for divine might to dominate the world. Who had he met before? The Ancient One, who wanted to retire; Odin, whose lifespan had run out; and the courteous Agamotto.

And this was only a phantom...

Lin Xu withdrew the mystic art, and the phantom dissipated. His gaze grew even more resolute!

He would become a god...!

"What was that move just now? Did the Ancient One teach it to you?" Perhaps sensing the divine might, Wong had come to the training grounds, his gaze solemn and serious.

"Hoggoth's Hoary Hosts."

"Bullshit! If that was Hoggoth's Hoary Hosts, then what is this?"

As he spoke, Wong conjured a magic circle about five meters across, with a tiger pattern flickering across it.

"Ahem, perhaps you've been practicing it wrong? Why don't you go take another look in the library? Maybe the answer's in there."

Without the permission of this universe's Hoggoth, Lin Xu didn't dare speak of it freely, but he could still give Wong a hint. As for whether Wong could discover it, that would depend on how well he had managed his relationship with Hoggoth.

Wong was somewhat shaken by that. He had been a librarian for years and had looked through those mystic arts more times than he could count. Could he really have been practicing it wrong?

With doubts in his mind, Wong hurried toward the library.

After sending Wong away, Lin Xu planned to continue practicing mystic arts. This time, he was going to practice the "Mirror Dimension"!

It was an upgraded version of a "subdimension," or perhaps a stripped-down version: its adjustability and capacity had been upgraded, while its privacy and sturdiness had been reduced.

"Meow... mrr..."

But before he could cast it, Fat Orange sprang out from who knew where, carrying something in his mouth. He came up to Lin Xu and lay down, resting his head on Lin Xu's instep and whimpering.

"Oh, what's wrong?"

Since getting Grani, this was the first time Lin Xu had seen him like this. He stopped what he was doing and scooped him into his arms.

"What's that in your mouth? Oh, gold? I didn't know you were a treasure-hunting cat..."

As he spoke, Lin Xu noticed something was wrong. Fat Orange's eyes were red, and little pearls of tears were falling from them.

After taking the piece of gold from the cat's mouth, Lin Xu noticed that it was no ordinary piece of gold, but the corner of a gold bar, with scorch marks on it.

Looking at Fat Orange's condition, Lin Xu knew where he had been for the past several hours.

Although Grani, at over eight hundred years old, was still only a child by the standards of the winged horse clan, more than eight hundred years of life in Asgard had taught him what a home was.

And now, his home was gone!

"Asgard hasn't been destroyed!"

Fat Orange looked up at Lin Xu, little pearls of tears still brimming in his eyes.

"Odin once said that wherever the people of Asgard are, that is Asgard. The new king has now established a new Asgard. Do you want to go see it? There may be people you know there."

"Meow~"

"All right! Then take your original form!"

Lin Xu held the folding fan in his hand and transformed it back into Gungnir.

"Thor, I, Fengxian Borsen, your long-lost uncle, have come to see you!"