Wanda, Do You Want to Learn Magic?

"Go home quickly. Return to your families, and don't fall for this kind of lie again..."

Inside the base, Carl faced nearly a hundred volunteers he had just rescued, wearing a warm, friendly smile.

Among them were elderly people in their fifties and sixties, as well as teenagers of fifteen or sixteen.

The vast majority had been tricked into coming here by [Hydra].

Although they had not witnessed the slaughter firsthand,

the fierce gunfire echoing through the corridors and the unending screams had nearly scared them out of their wits.

Now that they heard they could finally leave this hellhole, they tearfully bowed to Carl in gratitude.

Then, led by several soldiers, they fled the base in a panic.

[Reputation +1, +1, +1...]

Carl raised an eyebrow as he watched the numbers continuously flicker across the screen. That's it?

Even after surviving a life-or-death crisis, ordinary people gave so little [Reputation]?

Who were they looking down on?

Still, judging by how frequently it was increasing, this was at least a decent start.

He just wondered whether famous figures could surprise him like Aunt Ancient One had.

Otherwise, he would probably have to rely on sheer numbers in the future!

At that moment, a researcher hurried over to report, "Boss, Miss Wanda woke up first."

"How... how did you do that?"

In the hospital room, Wanda blinked her big, beautiful eyes at the Hydra soldiers and researchers behind Carl, all of whom stood with utmost respect. Her lovely face was filled with disbelief.

"Did you forget? I'm a dimensional demon god."

Carl looked smug and spoke with pointed meaning, as if trying to regain the dignity he had lost earlier.

"Hehe, what a petty man."

Though Wanda laughed inwardly, she had learned her lesson from last time. She tried hard to put on a serious expression and nodded.

"Mm, you really are such an amazing demon god!!"

What was obedience?

See that? That was what obedience looked like!

Carl was still an ordinary mortal who had yet to rise above such low-level pleasures.

So he found that answer extremely satisfying.

He then brought Wanda to Pietro's room and softly reassured her.

"Don't worry. All your brother's vital signs are normal. I believe he'll wake up before long."

Wanda furrowed her delicate brows and looked at Carl with unease. "But is it really safe to stay here?"

"I don't think that organization will give up on this base so easily, will it?"

"Why don't we take Pietro and leave... no, leave this country!"

Although Wanda did not know how Carl had defeated those soldiers,

she understood that the massive organization behind this base clearly would not let the matter rest.

They might have already sent people here.

So leaving as soon as possible was the best choice.

In truth, that had originally been Carl's plan as well.

But now that he possessed power similar to Captain Marvel's and had the Ancient One as a powerful ally, he had no reason to fear [Hydra].

Right now, he could use this base to harvest several waves of [Reputation] from [Hydra].

After all, expanding the scale of the [Subspace Dimension] and increasing [Dimensional Strength] both required massive amounts of [Reputation].

Furthermore, according to the researchers who had been converted through [Mind Control],

the base contained not only a large number of alien weapons left behind by the Chitauri,

but also all kinds of new equipment developed by reverse-engineering technology and combining it with the energy output of the [Mind Stone].

There were also many top-secret documents that were extremely important to [Hydra]!

Although Carl had not yet had time to inspect the contents of those documents, they were surely far from ordinary.

After all... Hydra products were always premium goods!!!

If he could firmly keep those precious resources in his own hands,

then when he officially built his own organization in the future, he would save a great deal of time otherwise wasted on development and transition.

Even at worst, when he ran short of money later, he could sell off those advanced technologies and still become a billionaire.

It was a deal with guaranteed profit and no risk!

So no matter how he looked at it, Carl could not possibly leave this place so easily.

"Didn't they say that when [Hydra] cuts off one head, two more grow back?"

"Then this time, I'll take a good look at exactly how many heads they can grow!"

After making up his mind, Carl looked at Wanda and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry. I've already figured out how to deal with them."

Then he pointed at Pietro on the hospital bed.

"Besides, Pietro still can't do without these machines and medicines. So no matter how dangerous it is, it's worth it."

"Th... thank you!!"

The innocent Wanda had clearly misunderstood.

She thought Carl was willing to take such a huge risk to save Pietro because of her.

Wanda pressed her lips together tightly, trying her best to keep the tears of emotion from spilling out of her reddened eyes.

She and Pietro had lost their parents in war when they were ten years old, becoming orphans from then on.

So from that moment onward, the two had depended on each other for survival.

As they grew up, they had suffered countless cold stares and exclusion from others.

Before meeting Carl, no one had ever cared so much about the safety of the two siblings, much less nearly been beaten to death for her.

So Wanda naturally began to see Carl as her pillar of support.

Even as her savior!!!

[Reputation +79, +91, +85...]

[Reputation +23, +2, +5...]

"Hm?"

At that moment, another string of reputation numbers appeared on the screen before Carl's eyes.

But this time, the flickering numbers were finally no longer all ones.

That proved Carl's earlier guess had been correct.

Sure enough, in any world, the "value" of different people was not equal.

Judging from the current situation,

the group with the higher average values above should have come from the mages of [Kamar-Taj].

That bald old lady, the Ancient One, had likely already told the other mages about him.

That was why these powerful beings had given him the largest haul of [Reputation] so far!

As for the lower set of smaller values, if nothing unexpected had happened, they should have come from [Hydra].

It also served as a warning to Carl.

The upper ranks of Hydra, led by Baron Strucker, now knew that this base had fallen.

They might even have already dispatched troops to reinforce it.

But it seemed his actions had not drawn enough attention from them?

Otherwise, how could there be so little [Reputation]?

Who were they looking down on???

"Overall, not bad. Things are progressing much faster than I expected, which will save quite a bit of time."

Carl nodded in satisfaction, then instructed the soldiers behind him.

"Notify everyone. From now on, remain on high alert. Activate the base's external energy defense field. The enemy will attack soon."

To ensure the safety of the mountaintop base to the greatest possible extent,

Baron Strucker had equipped the entire base with an extremely advanced energy defense system.

Unless its internal power supply was exhausted,

even relentless missile bombardment would not damage the buildings inside.

In the movie [Avengers: Age of Ultron],

if Tony Stark had not repeatedly fired at the barrier and used JARVIS to calculate the location of the power device,

then used a bunker-buster bomb to enter from below, where there was no force-field barrier, and successfully detonated it, even he would not have been able to enter the base so easily.

So if the enemy wanted to retake this base from Carl,

they could only infiltrate from outside bit by bit with troops or launch a direct assault.

But either option

was exactly what Carl wanted to see.

After all, he was a veteran player of [Guard Athena]!!

"Yes, Boss!!"

The soldier immediately left to carry out the order.

"Now we just wait for the enemy to take the bait..."

An eager look appeared on Carl's face.

Although he currently had forty-six combat personnel and thirty-two researchers, all of whom were utterly loyal to him after being enhanced by the [Thought Imprint],

he did not plan to let any of them participate in the upcoming battle.

First, these soldiers were too weak to give the enemy a massive shock or a sense of being utterly crushed.

That would not help Carl harvest [Reputation] from [Hydra] afterward.

Second, he simply had too few people available at the moment.

Especially the researchers—every one who died in battle meant one fewer.

So it was better to have them continue maintaining the mountaintop base's normal operations and security work.

"Eh?"

Carl seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and a hint of excitement appeared between his brows.

He immediately turned to Wanda and said, "If... I mean if, you had a chance to learn magic now, would you be willing?!!"

Please keep reading, I'm begging you!!!