Important Things

Leon had basically shown off every trick he possessed, determined to leave a deep impression on the people from S.H.I.E.L.D.

He had used everything he could use; as for what he could not...

He could not exactly perform the Physical Anesthesia Technique for Agent Coulson, could he?!

Mysterious and powerful, a battle mage proficient in both martial arts and magic!

After all, enemies that existed only in one's imagination were the strongest and most unbeatable~

For now, though, it was naturally just a bluff.

Sure enough, Coulson was stunned by the various unbelievable abilities Leon had displayed.

According to the intelligence they had obtained, Lister, who called himself "Doctor" and might have been using an alias, could fly through the air and withstand bullets with his body.

The Bureau had never rated this superpowered individual codenamed Doctor as particularly dangerous.

But the abilities this "Doctor" had displayed today were far more complicated than the report Coulson had received before setting out on this mission!

First, regarding his ability to fly, the Bureau had initially judged it to be something similar to a mutant ability.

Now, however, it looked more like something along the lines of "kung fu."

Their assessment of his flight ability had also been wrong. They had originally thought it was a useless ability akin to a small drone: unable to charge forward at extreme speed and unable to evade technological detection. Thus, it had not been considered particularly useful.

Coulson recalled the moment when Doctor had instantly moved before him.

That was definitely not just "simple levitation."

Coulson warned himself inwardly.

Next came his resistance to attacks.

When facing the low-caliber, watered-down pistols carried by street thugs, the report had stated: the target was knocked down and appeared to be in considerable pain.

Pain?

That had been an act, right?!

Even after taking dozens of rounds from standard-caliber automatic rifles head-on at close range, all that could be said was: the target was knocked down and appeared to be in considerable pain.

Could this be the legendary caliber nihilism?!!

If so, the original theory that he was merely wearing some new type of body armor clearly could not hold up either.

Perhaps this was also some kind of "kung fu," like... Coulson recalled legends he had heard in certain movies and from the neighboring Spear Bureau.

Golden Bell Shield, Iron Body Shirt, Youthful Body Technique...

Any of them were possible.

That was the second thing.

The third was the Transformation Spell that Doctor himself had called a "druid ability."

Right before his eyes, from less than ten meters away, Coulson had personally witnessed Doctor turn into a Black Cat—and one that spoke human language in a thoroughly unphysical manner.

Then, under his gaze, he had changed back into a human body.

That was definitely not some deceptive trick like misdirection or stage magic.

Coulson's conclusion was: magic!

Though he did not understand such surreal things very well, Coulson was, after all, an adult with a complete worldview and understanding of reality.

And, without exaggeration, he was one of the most knowledgeable people on this planet.

In Coulson's estimation, magic, regardless of its type—curses, transformations, elements, divination...

Could not possibly exist in isolation.

Mutually reinforcing, with cause and effect, forming systems with one another—that was how a discipline or field could endure over time.

"So... Life Magic?"

Coulson was utterly baffled and could only hope that the Bureau had specialists he did not know about.

That was one aspect. The other was the strange items on Leon's person.

Although S.H.I.E.L.D. possessed countless bizarre objects with all sorts of different abilities, in theory, S.H.I.E.L.D. had everything from technological artifacts to magical ones, even items bearing remnants of Divine Power.

Like that Tesseract!

But most of the time, these things could not serve as assets to S.H.I.E.L.D. On the contrary, they were burdens.

They could not be effectively used, because they were not understood.

They could not be completely destroyed, because they were not understood.

Yet they could not be allowed to spread into the outside world! Who knew how much trouble they might cause!

All they could do was build all kinds of permanent or semi-permanent containment facilities, expend enormous manpower and resources, and guard against the covetous eyes of interested parties—even their own people.

Doctor Lister's things were very different.

At least, they seemed different to Coulson.

Because they were simple enough.

Sometimes, simplicity and complexity, weakness and strength, had no absolute right answer. There was only the right timing.

That Tesseract was certainly powerful, but using it meant risking being blown to death.

Unless it was absolutely indispensable, something like that ought to remain sealed away forever.

That toy race car was different.

Its power was just right. Neither too great nor too small.

Its technology was just right. Not so advanced that it could not be understood through research.

That was the best choice.

And the truly important thing was this Doctor Lister himself.

Sometimes, knowledge and experience were themselves a kind of power.

But no matter what, for the moment, the stronger this Doctor proved to be, the greater the benefits S.H.I.E.L.D. could gain.

Before "Doctor Lister's" power expanded to a certain degree, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cooperation with him would only grow closer and closer. Close enough to overlook certain matters of principle from before.

"Then, we can discuss the price each side needs to pay."

Coulson looked directly into Leon's "eyes."

"Huh? You can make the decision on a partnership of this level yourself?"

Leon felt as though he was not as important as he had imagined?

Coulson blushed with embarrassment.

That was true.

He could not make the decision on cooperation at this level, at least not make a promise right there in that room.

With an apologetic smile, Coulson hurriedly said, "My rank is indeed not high enough, but I believe my superior will make a choice that serves both our interests."

"Doctor Lister, let me wish us a pleasant cooperation in advance!"

Leon shook Coulson's outstretched right hand, expressing his stance. Then he shook his head.

"It won't be that simple."

Facing Coulson's puzzled gaze, Leon said directly, "Not everyone can learn my kung fu and spellcraft. While the threshold for these things is not as high as you think, it is definitely not as low as you think either."

Leon said this partly to lay the groundwork for brushing them off in the future, and partly because he wanted to make himself seem scarce and desirable.

Cases of apprentices learning everything and leaving their masters starving had never been rare. Leon did not want to truly get tied to S.H.I.E.L.D. and become an instructor to eight hundred thousand Hydra agents.

Every bandit under heaven would become my disciple!

He would not even be able to finish cleaning house!

But... maybe that really would be a good way to level up...

On second thought, forget it. It would be sinful, and why bother?

Born into the free world of Marvel, was he actually afraid there would be too few villains?

Perhaps only the neighboring Gotham City, with its abundance of talent, was suited to Leon.

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