Mages Here Are So Playful

After the Battle of New York, Annie no longer needed to go to school for the time being. After all, she was now a red-hot celebrity: the top dog of the Avengers! The most powerful member! That wasn't a title she gave herself—it was universally recognized by all the citizens of New York and netizens alike.

Ever since her battle videos were broadcast by major TV stations, she had been praised and pursued by countless people, gaining tens of thousands of fervent fans. Annie even had a new nickname now: the Flame Goddess! Of course, there were also some ill-intentioned people who feared her and hurled all kinds of curses her way.

But Annie didn't have the mood to care about any of that right now. Because what she cared about more was: the Space Stone and the correct way to use it. After thinking about someone in a certain place who should be able to use the Space Stone to send her back to Valoran, Annie had no intention of going to school anymore. That was basically the situation.

As for how to explain it to the school and teachers, that was Coulson and Aunt Melinda's problem to worry about. She wasn't going to bother with that! Right now, her mind was full of one thing: going home, going home. Anyone who dared to stop her now was going to get punched! The consequences of blocking Annie's way home were terrifying. Yesterday, that bad guy blacksmith tried to take her stone, and Annie still had a belly full of anger with nowhere to vent!

So now, Annie was standing at the entrance of 177A Bleecker Street in Manhattan, New York. This was the New York Sanctum of that circle-drawing mage organization called Kamar-Taj. What Annie wanted probably required the mage organization called Kamar-Taj to provide.

As for why Annie knew this was the New York Sanctum? Come on! A building that blatantly propped up magic arrays to block instrument detection and shield ordinary people, mixed with confusion spells to drive away common folk, and built right on a magical node of the Earth—such an important location. If this wasn't their Sanctum, then Annie might as well not bother asking them for spatial magic knowledge. An organization that couldn't even pick a good spot for a mage tower—how good could their knowledge reserves be?

"Annie, are you sure this is the place where those guys who attacked us last time ended up getting caught by you instead? That so-called New York Sanctum?" Outside the entrance of this ancient building, Coulson, Melinda, and Annie were sitting in a black SUV. This S.H.I.E.L.D. special vehicle was now parked right on the roadside in front of the building.

Under normal circumstances, if Coulson and the others came here alone, they definitely wouldn't notice this place, because the magic would automatically make them ignore it and subconsciously leave. But now, things were different. With Annie by their side, those low-level expulsion spells couldn't interfere with them at all, allowing them to see the true face of a magical building for once.

"That's right, it's here! There seem to be a few more places like this on Earth! But this one's the closest, so I came here first." In Annie's perception, the several Sanctums on Earth were very obvious. But Annie had never bothered with them before, because there was no need. Now, however, things were different. Annie needed the spatial knowledge this organization possessed.

Annie had been to Uncle Black Charcoal Head Nick's office last time. There, she sensed that his office had once been visited by a very powerful spatial master, because the residual magical fluctuations were still quite clear. Annie could naturally feel them.

That must have been left by some powerful spatial mage. What was rather amazing was that the person's Mirror Space seemed to have not affected the office in the slightest. That was exactly why Annie was certain the other party was a master of spatial magic.

If she wanted to return to Valoran, she definitely needed the Space Stone, and she also needed some help from this spatial master, using their spatial knowledge as a reference. After all, Annie's specialty was still flame magic. Teleportation within a planet was barely passable, but once it came to long-distance interstellar teleportation, she was somewhat helpless.

Before coming here, Annie had asked Uncle Black Charcoal Head about the mage he had encountered that day. He said that a bald female mage named Ancient One had once kidnapped him. She belonged to an organization called Kamar-Taj and was its leader. Moreover, she had a branch in New York called the New York Sanctum. But Uncle Black Charcoal Head said he had sent people to search everywhere and still found no trace at all.

Such an obvious place, and he said he couldn't find it. Uncle Black Charcoal Head's subordinates were really useless. Annie sneered disdainfully in her heart. But Annie also had no idea where that powerful mage Ancient One actually was. Finding a master proficient in spatial magic was just too hard.

But since this New York Sanctum was the territory of that mage Ancient One, Annie figured coming here was the right move. She'd just have the people inside pass along a message. Annie believed that the mage called Ancient One would be willing to come see her.

"Alright, since we're here, let's go in!"

Annie didn't want to waste any more time. Rejecting Coulson's suggestion to observe a bit longer, she directly opened the car door and jumped out. Coulson and Melinda quickly followed behind. They had just reported to the Director, and his orders were: have the two cooperate with Annie's actions while observing and investigating the New York Sanctum's secrets as much as possible.

As for this illegal mage organization that S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't recognize and whose behavior was bizarre, Director Nick Fury said he had long held a grudge and wanted to shut them down! A big part of the reason he had originally formed the Avengers was because he was provoked by that bald female mage, Ancient One, who had coerced him.

It was just that he could never find her or figure out her background, so the matter had been delayed until now. That damn bald thief! Ahem, wrong again! Black Charcoal Head Director Nick Fury felt that now that Loki's matter was resolved and the Battle of New York was wrapping up, it was time to prepare to deal with this unruly group of mages. Of course, if they could be recruited, that would be best! S.H.I.E.L.D. welcomed the addition of a group of mages! Provided they were willing to accept the Director's command.

After getting out of the car, Annie walked properly to the Sanctum's main door. Looking at the mysterious magical runes on the door and the abundant magical energy flowing through them, she nodded in satisfaction.

The familiar fluctuations confirmed that this mage tower was the place she was looking for! So she stepped forward and, using magic, lightly knocked twice on the door. She believed this action would make the people inside open up. The knocking spell she just used had shown her strength to those inside. As long as the mages inside weren't idiots, they would recognize the gap in power and wisely come to open the door.

After Annie knocked, about five minutes passed, but there was still no reaction from inside. No sound of movement, no sign of opening at all! Were all the mages inside nocturnal animals? Sleeping during the day? Otherwise, there was no way they wouldn't come open the door! Annie thought in confusion. Well, she'd wait a bit longer...

"Annie, what's the situation now?" Coulson and Melinda, watching from behind, saw that nearly ten minutes had passed since Annie knocked, and there was still no movement from inside the building. So Coulson asked.

"..." Annie frowned and thought hard for a moment, then her patience ran out immediately! She had already knocked very politely! And they still wouldn't open up? Then don't blame her. Hmph! Magic enhancement: Bull's Strength!

"Annie? Uh..." Coulson was about to ask again when he saw Annie's face darken. She raised her leg and kicked, sending the wooden door flying inward! The two wooden door panels crashed into the interior of the house, hitting who knows what, followed by a clattering sound of collisions.

"Alright, let's go in!" Seeing the power of her kick, Annie clapped her hands and nodded in satisfaction! Then she called out to the stunned Coulson and Melinda to follow her inside.

Sure enough, Annie felt that this simple, crude method suited her personality better! It was their own fault for not opening the door! She had knocked very, very properly just now. They forced her to kick it in. Serves them right! Not blowing the door up with a fireball was already her showing restraint.

"Wow, looks like a fight just happened in here!"

Walking into the hall of the house, Annie and the other two looked awkwardly at the mess. Don't get the wrong idea—this wasn't caused by Annie's kick just now. Annie had only broken two wooden doors. But here, almost everything was already destroyed. It looked like a lot of people had fought here. The hall now had corpses, bloodstains, and various traces of spellcasting.

And more importantly, this Sanctum, which was like a mage tower, had been completely wrecked. It had lost its basic functions as a mage tower. From the outside, it might not be obvious, but once inside, Annie could clearly sense that its energy nodes had been maliciously destroyed, rendering it useless.

"Is this... Did they just have an internal conflict? Do mages kill each other too?" Coulson and Melinda spread out to observe for a while. As agents, they easily reached a conclusion.

In their view, it looked like two groups had been fighting fiercely. And from the traces, neither side was ordinary, because the scattered weapons weren't modern firearms but strange, odd items. From this, they could basically conclude: it must have been an internal conflict between the mages originally here and another group of mages.

"This isn't fun anymore." Annie had originally come here to learn spatial magic knowledge, and now she saw this?

Even the mage tower was smashed to pieces! How much hatred did they have for each other? Couldn't they have waited? Waited until she got what she wanted before fighting? Now, it was so bad that Annie didn't even have anyone to ask for directions. How infuriating!

"Huh? Looks like I've found something!" Annie, who was sulking, suddenly sensed something. A powerful dark aura was descending! And its location was roughly on the other side of the Earth? And coincidentally, that place was near another mage tower that looked just like this one? That should be another one of their Sanctums, right? In that case, she might as well go check it out. Maybe she could find that Ancient One? That's right! Decision made!

"Hey! Annie?" Coulson was searching on the other side of the house when he suddenly saw a blue Arcane Flash appear around Annie. Before he could even ask, Annie had already vanished. Coulson knew that Annie must have teleported somewhere.

"Coulson, what do we do now?" Annie had run off on her own for some reason, leaving Melinda to ask Coulson.

She had just roughly inspected the house. There were no living people left.

But there were still many amazing things. Some of the windows here seemed to be spatial doors, leading to different places. It was incredible! Because when Melinda opened one window, she almost lost her balance and fell into the ocean. She was still shaken and didn't dare touch anything else in here.

"What else can we do? Call headquarters and have them send people to take over." Since there was no owner here anymore, it would belong to S.H.I.E.L.D. from now on! Coulson believed the Director would be satisfied with this move. Getting a mage's base so easily—nothing could make the Director happier than that.