Achieving a Divine Body

"Uh..."

After hearing Lin Xu out, Strange thought for a moment and flatly refused.

"Time loops have limitations. Aside from the caster and individuals who transcend time, no one else can sense time looping. Forbidden arts might work, but even then, they could only maintain it for one or two loops, not multiple ones."

Unexpectedly, Lin Xu gave a mysterious smile.

"Hehe, there actually is a way..."

"What way?"

"The Eye of Agamotto can temporarily free a person from the constraints of time. I can just wear it when the time comes, right?"

Strange stiffened his long, horse-like face, looking puzzled. "You wear it? Then what am I supposed to use to cast the mystic art?"

"Look here..."

Snap~

Lin Xu held out his right hand and made a snapping motion.

"...Huh? The gauntlet?"

"Shh!"

The two of them looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that no one was paying attention to them.

"Huh? Wait, that's not right. The Eye of Agamotto can only block the timeline's perception of mortals. Aren't you a god?"

"...Never mind that."

"All right." Strange assumed Lin Xu had some special method.

"Speaking of which, you've had the Time Stone for days. Why haven't you tried starting a loop yourself?"

"In my universe, the Ancient One is still alive, and I've never even seen the Time Stone. I've visited a few other universes, but the Time Stone was either missing or destroyed. It never even crossed my mind."

"All right. Come to Kamar-Taj when you have time. You can read whatever forbidden arts you like."

"Will Wong allow it?"

"Don't worry. Sorcerer Supreme or not, he and I discuss everything and decide together."

"Nice!"

"But how are we going to get the gauntlet?"

Lin Xu smiled. "Don't worry, leave that to me!"

With that, he stood up and walked over to the others.

"Hey, Fengxian, what are you two talking about?" That was Captain America.

"Sharing our insights as sorcerers~"

"Lin, want a skewer?" That was Hawkeye.

"Thanks~ Mmm~ Tastes good!"

"Uncle, want a drink?" That was Thor.

"Ha, look at that belly. Even your mother wasn't that big when she was pregnant with you!"

After dealing with everyone, Lin Xu went over and sat down beside Tony.

Tony poured Lin Xu a drink and asked, "What, not used to an atmosphere like this?"

Lin Xu took the glass and drained it. "Not at all. It's lively and festive~"

"Good. By the way, we were planning to send that thing on your chest back tomorrow."

He had been wondering how to bring up the subject, but Tony had brought it up himself!

"No problem. That's what we should do. But are you just going to send them back like this?"

"...What else would we do?"

"The other stones are easy enough to deal with, and the Aether can be returned to its original form with enough force. But what about the Space Stone? It was forcibly ripped out. Are you planning to glue the Tesseract back together?"

"Uh, I used nanotechnology to repair the Tesseract, and besides..."

Tony was about to explain further, but Lin Xu cut him off.

"Ridiculous! No matter how good nanotechnology is, it won't be the original Tesseract after being repaired. What will you do if something goes wrong?"

Lin Xu's words made Tony a little less confident. After all, Asgard had been the one to leave the Tesseract on Earth in the first place.

"Then... what should we do?"

"Simple. Give it to Strange and let him use time magic to revert the Space Stone to the Tesseract."

"All right~"

Seeing Tony agree, Lin Xu winked at Strange, who was nearby.

"No time like the present. Let's do it now, and we'll follow him to make sure he doesn't cause trouble!"

"Sure~"

Soon, the three of them arrived in the basement.

Tony had made thorough preparations. On a long table, the Infinity Gauntlet sat at the far right, followed by the Orb containing the Power Stone, Loki's Scepter with the Mind Stone returned to it, the repaired Tesseract, the Aether in a syringe, and the Soul Stone on a dinner plate.

All right, the Soul Stone had the least impressive presentation. After all, of all the stones, it was the only one an ordinary person could hold.

Strange and Lin Xu exchanged a glance. Lin Xu silently stepped forward, opened the Eye of Agamotto, and took out the Time Stone, placing it in the gauntlet.

Seeing Tony's puzzled expression, Lin Xu put the pendant back on and explained, "The Eye of Agamotto is different in every universe. He can't use mine."

"Then why aren't you the one casting the magic?"

"...I haven't learned it yet." Lin Xu, who could lie without blinking, found it somewhat difficult to speak when he told the truth.

Tony opened his mouth to make a sarcastic remark, but when he remembered that Lin Xu had given his daughter something to save her life earlier that day, he quickly shut it again.

Yeah, the sarcasm could wait until tomorrow.

Strange put on the gauntlet and took a moment to get used to it. Then he used it as a conduit to cast a mystic art on the Tesseract.

Under the influence of a green light, the Tesseract swiftly shattered, revealing the Space Stone inside. Then it reformed into the shape of the Tesseract.

"Oh! That's so interesting! Could you turn the wrapper from a burger I already ate back into a burger too?"

Ignoring Tony's exclamation, Strange immediately clenched the gauntlet, and a green rune rose from the ground.

Tony's vision blurred for a moment, as though something he knew nothing about had happened. "Hey, what did you do? Wait, I distinctly remember you were on the right just now..."

"Then you must have had too much to drink~"

Lin Xu tossed out a casual excuse, then put an arm around Strange and headed out, paying the stones no further attention.

Once they were outside, he asked quietly, "How long did you loop for?"

Strange's expression was equally grave. "Five years!"

"Then why did I only get four months?"

"I'd like to know too!!"

As it turned out, the moment the green rune rose, time had begun looping in that area, in twelve-hour units.

He divided his time in two. During the first unit, he spent three hours converting divine power and the remaining nine sensing the spatial fluctuations of the Peerless Blade. He spent the entire second unit cultivating mystic arts.

He had planned to finish converting all the divine power inside the loop, but unexpectedly, just as he finished strengthening his body and was preparing to make the divine power his own, he was kicked out.

Touching the Eye of Agamotto on his chest, he recalled what Agamotto and Strange had said.

[It can temporarily block the timeline's perception of you...]

[It can only block the timeline's perception of mortals.]

When I finished strengthening my physical body, my level of life leaped forward. I'm no longer human now; I count as a demigod. Is that why the Eye of Agamotto's shielding no longer works on me?

Did a god without divine power still count as a god?

Then a hint of relief appeared on Lin Xu's face. He had already stolen four months, so what more was there to be dissatisfied with?

Seeing Lin Xu's expression, Strange asked quietly, "Well? Have you figured out why?"

"Maybe it's because humans and gods have different constitutions!"

Strange: ???