"You should all hurry home, return to your families, and don't ever trust this kind of lie again..."
Inside the base, Carl wore a kind, approachable smile as he faced the nearly hundred volunteers he had just rescued.
Among them were elderly people in their fifties and sixties, as well as teenagers barely fifteen or sixteen.
The vast majority had been tricked into coming here by Hydra.
Although they had not witnessed the slaughter firsthand,
the intense gunfire echoing through the corridors and the unceasing 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 thanks.
Then, led by several soldiers, they fled the base in a panic.
[Prestige Points +1, +1, +1...]
Carl raised an eyebrow as he watched the numbers constantly jumping across the screen. That was it?
Even after a brush with death, the Prestige Points provided by ordinary people were this low?
Who were they looking down on?
Still, judging by the frequency of the increases, this was at least a decent start.
He just wondered whether famous figures could surprise him the way Auntie Ancient One had.
Otherwise, he would probably have to rely on sheer numbers in the future!
Just then, a researcher hurried over to report, "Boss, Miss Wanda has awakened first."
"Y-You... how did you do that?"
In the infirmary, Wanda blinked her big, beautiful eyes as she stared at the Hydra soldiers and researchers behind Carl, all of whom were treating him with utmost respect. Her lovely face was filled with disbelief.
"Did you forget? I'm a Dimensional Demon."
Carl looked smug as he spoke pointedly, seemingly trying to recover the dignity he had lost earlier.
"Hehe, what a petty man."
Although Wanda was secretly amused, she had learned her lesson from last time. She forced an extremely serious expression onto her pretty face and nodded.
"Mm, you're such an amazing Dimensional Demon!!"
What was obedience?
See that? That was obedience!
Carl was still an ordinary man who had not escaped low-level tastes.
So he found that answer immensely 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 won't be long in waking up."
Wanda's delicate brows furrowed slightly as she looked at Carl with unease. "But is it really safe to stay here?"
"That organization probably won't give up 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 hidden behind this base clearly would not let the matter rest.
They might even have already sent people here.
So leaving as soon as possible was the best option.
Carl had originally planned to do exactly that.
But now that he possessed power comparable to Captain Marvel's and had The Ancient One as a powerful ally, he had no reason to fear Hydra.
This base was the perfect place to farm several waves of Prestige Points from Hydra.
After all, both expanding the Warp Dimension and increasing Dimension Strength required vast amounts of Prestige Points.
Moreover, according to the researchers converted through Mind Control,
this base not only contained a large number of alien weapons left behind by the Chitauri,
but also various new types of equipment developed by reverse-engineering technology and combining it with energy output from the Mind Stone.
At the same time, it held numerous top-secret documents that were immensely important to Hydra!
Although Carl had not yet had the chance to inspect the contents of those files, they were surely nothing simple.
After all... Hydra products were guaranteed quality!!!
If he could firmly keep these precious resources in his own hands,
then when he formally built his own organization in the future, he would save a great deal of development and transition time.
At worst, if he ever ran short of money, he could sell off those advanced technologies and still become a billionaire.
It was a business with guaranteed profits and no losses!
So no matter how he weighed it, Carl could not possibly leave this place so easily.
"Didn't Hydra say, 'Cut off one head, and two more shall take its place'?"
"Then this time, I'll take a good look at just how many heads they can grow!"
Having made up his mind, Carl looked at Wanda and reassured her with a smile,
"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 him.
She thought Carl was willing to take such an enormous risk to save Pietro because of her.
Wanda pressed her lips together hard, trying to keep the tears of gratitude from spilling out of her reddened eyes.
She and Pietro had lost their parents to war when they were ten years old and had become orphans from then on.
So from that time onward, the two had relied on each other to survive.
As they grew up, they had endured countless cold stares and exclusion from others.
Before meeting Carl, no one had ever cared about the safety of her and her brother like this, or had nearly been beaten to death for her.
So Wanda naturally began to see Carl as her pillar of support.
Even as her savior!!!
[Prestige Points +79, +91, +85...] [Prestige Points +23, +2, +5...]
"Hm?"
At that moment, another string of Prestige Point numbers appeared on the screen before Carl's eyes.
Only this time, the jumping numbers were finally no longer all ones.
That proved Carl's earlier guess had been correct.
Sure enough, no matter what world one was in, people's "value" was not equal.
Judging from the current situation,
the group with the higher average values should have come from the mages of Kamar-Taj.
The Ancient One must have told the other mages about his situation.
That was why those powerful beings had contributed his largest haul of Prestige Points so far!
As for the lower row of smaller values, barring any surprises, they should have come from Hydra.
It also served as a warning to Carl.
The Hydra higher-ups led by Baron Strucker already knew that this base had fallen.
They had likely even dispatched troops to reinforce it.
But it seemed his actions had not attracted much attention from them?
Otherwise, how could there be so few Prestige Points?
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 this moment on, maintain the highest level of alert. Activate the base's external energy defense field. The enemy will attack soon."
To ensure the safety of Summit Base to the greatest extent possible,
Baron Strucker had equipped the entire base with an extremely advanced energy defense system.
Unless its internal energy supply was depleted,
even a relentless missile bombardment could not damage the buildings inside.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron,
if Tony Stark had not repeatedly fired at the barrier and used JARVIS to calculate the location of the power supply device,
then used bunker-buster bombs to enter from the unprotected area beneath the base and successfully detonate 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 slowly infiltrate from the outside with troops or launch a direct assault.
But either way,
it was precisely the outcome Carl wanted to see.
After all, he was a veteran player of Guard Athena!!
"Yes, Boss!!"
The soldier immediately acknowledged the order and left.
"Now all that's left is to wait for the enemy to take the bait..."
An eager expression appeared on Carl's face.
Although he currently had a total of forty-six combat personnel and thirty-two researchers, all of whom were utterly loyal to Carl after receiving Thought Imprint,
he had no intention of letting them participate in the coming battle.
First, these soldiers were too weak to give the enemy a crushing sense of impact and overwhelming force.
That would not be conducive to Carl harvesting Prestige Points from Hydra afterward.
Second, he simply had too few people available right now.
Especially the researchers; every one who died in battle would be one fewer.
So it was better to let them continue maintaining Summit Base's normal operations and security work.
"Huh?"
Carl seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and a faintly excited look appeared in his eyes.
He immediately turned to Wanda and said, "If... I mean if, you had the chance to learn magic now, would you be willing?!!"
Please keep reading, I'm begging you!!!
Before you continue