Sling Ring

"Master Ancient One, I take my leave." After two years at Kamar-Taj, Shen Fei had decided to leave today. The reason was simple: he had received an acceptance letter from New York Empire State University Medical School. During those two years, Shen Fei hadn't just trained in magic—he had also completed his high school education through online courses.

With the Op-Op Fruit, not pursuing medicine would be foolish. Even Law had his nickname, the Surgeon of Death.

At Shen Fei's departure, Ancient One merely nodded faintly, saying nothing.

Likewise, Wong and Mordo had no objections. Many had left this place before, and Shen Fei was still young, having experienced little.

Across all of Kamar-Taj, Shen Fei only had a good relationship with Wong. His ties with the others, including Mordo, were merely surface-level. Pretending came easily to everyone.

After Kaecilius left, Mordo had positioned himself as the leader beneath Ancient One, meddling in everything. His eventual betrayal might not have been solely due to discontent over Ancient One drawing from the Dark Dimension—more likely, it was because Ancient One hadn't chosen him as successor.

Among all of Ancient One's disciples, Mordo was also the most zealous in hunting Kaecilius, as if seeking Ancient One's approval through the pursuit.

Before Kaecilius's betrayal, nearly everyone at Kamar-Taj believed he would be the next Sorcerer Supreme. After his fall, many disciples followed him away.

When Shen Fei decided to leave and asked if he could take a Sling Ring, Mordo was the first to object. No Sling Rings could be taken. Shen Fei understood why.

Though Sling Rings were only used to open Portals, a Kamar-Taj mage with one could accomplish far too much—banks, vaults, nothing could stop them. With a bit of ambition, assassinating a president or king wouldn't be difficult.

Likewise, without a Sling Ring, using Mirror Dimension magic would trap you inside forever.

Understanding was one thing, but when it affected him personally, Shen Fei couldn't help feeling resentful.

"Looks like I'll have to wait until Ancient One dies to grab a Sling Ring," Shen Fei thought as he stood outside Kamar-Taj's gates.

After Ancient One's death, Kamar-Taj's order would collapse. Taking a Sling Ring then would be no problem. Of course, making one himself would be even better.

"Next up, Pym Particles." The Pym Particles in the Marvel world were astonishing. Imagine a building or a Laboratory shrinking into a suitcase, a tank into a keychain, a toy car turning out to be real—it was practically magic.

Thankfully, Dr. Hank Pym had kept the Pym Particle formula hidden from S.H.I.E.L.D. back then, or the world might have descended into chaos.

The Ant-Man Suit and Wasp Suit made with Pym Particles were impressive, but they didn't fully utilize the particles. With their shrinking ability, using them for war logistics or transporting powerful weapons would be unstoppable.

Imagine turning a bomb into a toy and sneaking it into enemy ranks—total annihilation in one go.

Or transporting troops and equipment. Yet only two suits existed.

"If I get Pym Particles, what should I do with them?" Sitting on a sofa in the VIP lounge at Kathmandu's airport, Shen Fei muttered to himself.

During these two years, even while at Kamar-Taj, Shen Fei had been making money. First-class plane tickets were well within his means. His method was simple: buy Stark Group stock.

Before Stark became Iron Man, the stock price had been steadily rising.

Other companies like Oscorp and Pym Technologies were top-tier arms dealers, but their stock prices were highly unstable. Among arms dealers, Stark Group was the best.

Oscorp's stock had risen recently, reportedly due to acquiring many research results from Umbrella Corporation, but it had since plummeted.

Pym Technologies had no major news, remaining lukewarm.

Shen Fei wasn't a stock market genius, so he naturally chose the most stable option: Stark Group.

"Hm." Just as Shen Fei was pondering whether to build an Ant-Man Iron Man suit after obtaining Pym Particles, he suddenly noticed his surroundings changing.

As the buildings around him began to warp, Shen Fei immediately understood the situation. He had been pulled into the Mirror Dimension.

"Who are you?" Leaping onto a wall, he stared at the four hooded figures before him and couldn't help shouting.

The Mirror Dimension allowed the user to freely alter gravity within it. Right now, he appeared to be standing on a wall, but that was actually the ground in the Mirror Dimension—and it could change at will. Fighting here required constant awareness, or gravity shifts alone could kill you without the enemy lifting a finger.

Beyond that, Shen Fei knew the Mirror Dimension was the perfect magic for murder, robbery, and disposing of bodies. Killing someone here left no trace.

The key point was that every time you used Mirror Dimension magic, a new instance was created. For example, if you pulled someone in, killed them, then left and reopened it, the body wouldn't be there.

This magic had pros and cons. The pros were obvious; the con was that it couldn't be used as storage space.

The Marvel world had magic, divine power, and black technology, but disappointingly, none of it offered storage solutions. One major reason Shen Fei was interested in Pym technology was that it could be used for storage—the only issue was the potential cost.

But considering Hank could shrink a building and numerous cars, the cost probably wasn't prohibitive, or he wouldn't have produced so many Pym Particles.

Of course, another possibility was that Pym Particles were incredibly potent—one vial might be enough to shrink a building.

"I am Kaecilius." The newcomers simultaneously lowered their hoods.

"You? What do you want with me?" Recognizing Kaecilius, Shen Fei immediately went on guard.

"Kill him." Kaecilius didn't answer directly. Instead, he pointed at Shen Fei and commanded the three behind him.

At his order, the three moved their hands, conjuring weapons of various shapes, and slowly advanced toward Shen Fei.

"I haven't offended you!" Shen Fei shouted quickly, inwardly cursing his bad luck. He wasn't Strange, nor did he have any plan to interfere with Kaecilius's schemes, yet here he was being targeted.

"The disciple of a hypocrite deserves to die," Kaecilius said bitterly.

At this point, Kaecilius hadn't yet found the dark ritual to summon Dormammu or gained the Dark Dimension's power. He was no match for Ancient One. If not for her mercy, Kaecilius and his followers would have been wiped out long ago.

Whether by fate or coincidence, Shen Fei had avoided him two years ago, only to meet him again now.

"If I kill him, would Ancient One blame me? Better not." Against a Kaecilius empowered by the Dark Dimension, Shen Fei had no confidence. But the current Kaecilius? If he caught him off guard, there was a chance.

Without extra power, a Kamar-Taj mage's combat strength largely depended on whether they had a Mystic Item. Since their abilities were similar, and Kaecilius had left Kamar-Taj in haste without acquiring any Mystic Items—and lacked the nerve to raid the three Holy Temples for them—Shen Fei's Op-Op Fruit became decisive. Combined with his virus-enhanced body, he had been hiding his true strength at Kamar-Taj. Here, he didn't need to.

As these thoughts raced through his mind, weapons appeared in Shen Fei's hands: a shield in his left, a sword in his right.

He then tossed the shield into the air ahead, without force. The three approaching figures found this odd. But at that moment, the one in the middle suddenly appeared beside Shen Fei, while his shield materialized between them.

Over these two years, Shen Fei's Op-Op Fruit ability had grown significantly, with a range of eight meters.

The person who suddenly appeared before Shen Fei was filled with shock and tension, completely unable to defend against Shen Fei's attack. Shen Fei didn't kill him but instead directly severed the five fingers of his right hand, taking the Mystic Item on his fingers—the Sling Ring.

This was the Mirror Dimension after all. If Kaecilius hadn't tried to kill him outright but instead trapped him here, he would have been finished. Plus, Shen Fei had long coveted the Sling Ring, so with such an opportunity, he naturally wouldn't let it go.

This was robbing Kaecilius's crew; he didn't believe Gu Yi would come after it.

When Kaecilius had defected back then, he'd stolen quite a few Sling Rings.

"I have no interest in the matters between you. Don't come looking for me again." After seizing the Sling Ring, Shen Fei immediately opened a Portal. As he jumped into it, he left those words behind.

Shen Fei's escape made Kaecilius roar in fury, but it was too late. With the Sling Ring's identity, he had no idea where Shen Fei had gone.

"Thank you so much, Kaecilius. You're practically a Treasure Delivery Boy." Getting his hands on the Sling Ring made Shen Fei extremely excited. According to his plan, obtaining a Sling Ring would have taken many more years.

"This makes stealing the Pym Particles much more convenient."

"Right now, the Wasp should be in the Quantum Realm. Too bad Hank doesn't know Gu Yi, otherwise it wouldn't have taken so long to bring the Wasp out."

The Quantum Realm seemed very mysterious, but it was actually similar to the Dimension Space—simply put, one was microscopic and the other macroscopic, like a world in a grain of sand. With Gu Yi's strength, finding someone in the Quantum Realm would be quite simple.

"There's also finding the people from Asgard." As a divine race, Asgard might seem backward in warfare, but in truth, their technology far surpassed Earth's. The Quantum Realm had long been a mature technology for Asgard, though there they called it the Soul Forge.