Three days have passed, and Ian has not been bored in the room. During the day, he will walk around the island; at night, he will continue his calculation work. During this time, Diana will come to him, and the two often talk all night long.
Today, Queen Hippolyta finally came to see him.
"So, have you calmed down?" Ian asked calmly.
"We deeply apologize for our previous offense," the Queen said. Ian looked at her, unable to tell whether she meant it or was just wearing a mask of diplomacy, as he himself did with some people.
"Let bygones be bygones," he responded calmly.
"I'll be blunt," the Queen said, "What price do we have to pay before you are willing to repair our protective barrier?"
"I only have two requests," Ian also chose to speak bluntly. "First, let my spaceship be parked here until the repair is completed. Second, allow me to study all your magic Divine Artifact, especially Lasso of Truth."
"Research?"
"Yes, just research."
"This can be arranged," Hippolyta replied. Since the intruder is already on the island, it doesn't hurt to let him stay for a while. "When can you start?"
"Tomorrow." He had just completed the calculation of the Flash dimensional coordinates and needed to discuss it with Morgana.
"I'm waiting for your news."
"Morgana, these are the coordinates."
"Okay, I'll enter it into the system." A few seconds later, her voice sounded in his mind again, "No."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't get any signal at that coordinate."
"How is this possible? Did my calculations go wrong?"
"No, I checked it and there is nothing wrong with the calculation," Morgana replied.
"Did Akashic Records give us the wrong coordinates? No, this is unlikely. Their signature is knowledge Kazuma, and they should not make such a serious low-level mistake."
Ian frowned, "If it's not their problem, then what's going on?"
"Let me run some deep diagnostics," the purple-haired House-elf said and then fell silent. It wasn't until more than half an hour later that Ian heard her voice again.
"We might be in trouble."
"What did you find?"
"Because this world is constantly Fusion and expanding with other worlds, it is currently impossible to find the exact coordinates."
A projection screen unfolded in front of Ian, and he quickly understood what she meant. Due to the [Fusion] event, the time and space of this universe are in continuous turmoil. To deduce a specific timeline from Infinity's Multiverse, the amount of calculation required is too huge.
Moreover, even if they could accurately locate the coordinates, the current Netheril does not have the ability to navigate such chaos as Multiverse.
"In other words, we need a brand new navigation system?" Ian groaned. He knew that this would take a lot of time, and this was what he least wanted to see now.
Boom! Boom!
"Please come in."
"What happened?" Diana asked. Although I had only known this man for a few days, he was usually calm or smiling, but tonight, his handsome face was full of sadness.
"My ship was damaged more than I expected."
"Really? Is there anything we can do to help?"
"I will speak if there is," Ian replied, waving his hand to summon a table with tea and snacks on it. "Where did we talk last time?"
"Before I begin, I would like to apologize for the behavior of my mother and my compatriots; they sometimes went too far when it came to protecting the island."
"I don't blame her, because in my dimension, I am also a ruler. So I can understand the feeling of taking all necessary means to protect my people."
"Yes, you mentioned it, but you never said it in detail. Why don't you tell me more about your dimension?"
"Of course." So, Ian told her about his rise from the student days, establishing Arcane Empire, and Empire's recent achievements.
"What a wonderful world, a legendary story," Diana murmured to himself. She knew that even if Ian might embellish or omit some details in the story, she could feel how many ups and downs he had experienced.
"I didn't realize that you are still a prodigal who shows mercy at all times," she commented.
"This is one of my few shortcomings," Ian calmly took a sip of tea and replied. "It's getting late."
"Indeed. See you tomorrow."
The next day, Ian immediately started working on the island's protective barrier. Solving the problem was easier than he expected.
The reason the barrier was weakening was that the gods no longer provided the Divine Power to keep it running, so he just had to create a device that would allow Diana to use her Divine Power as energy. The entire process took less than two days to complete.
Seeing that Ian was so fast and efficient, Hippolyta did not break their promise and sent people to send over all the Divine Artifact that the gods had given them during their long service.
"How's it going? Did you find anything?" Diana chose to stay with Ian to study these Divine Artifact and asked.
"Is this the work of Hephaestus?"
"Yes, have you met him?"
"You can say that," he replied. During his journey in the Mummy universe, he had indirectly learned the forging technology from Hephaestus.
"You don't seem too surprised," Diana added.
"Except for that Lasso, I can easily duplicate any of these items, maybe even better."
"Even if you are not a god, you don't have Divine Power?"
"I can convert any form of energy into Divine Power, including sunlight," Ian replied casually.
"So, magic is really that amazing?"
"Most power systems are 'magical' when you reach a sufficiently esoteric level."
Diana looked at these Divine Artifact, "After you scan them, what do you want me to do with them?"
"You can take them away. However, keep Lasso."
"Is it really so valuable?" Diana asked, playing with Lasso in his hand.
"Its abilities are not unique, but its indestructible properties are worthy of study. Of course, that is assuming it is truly indestructible."
"What do you mean?"
"I have seen many things that claim to be indestructible. But it turns out that the reason why they have not been destroyed is simply because they have not encountered a strong enough force. So, let's see if this is the case with Lasso of Truth."
Diana took away other items, while Ian focused on the navigation system. He had a lot of work to do, but very little time.
Although he knew that world Fusion would take millions of years to complete, time was relative.
To him, millions of years might be just hundreds of years, and to someone in another dimension, it might be just decades.
Therefore, he had to complete the project as soon as possible, go to the destination and leave this world. So, he temporarily put the Lasso incident behind him and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the research and development of the new navigation system.
A week later, Diana flew to Ian's new residence - a hut located near Floating City, far away from the main inhabited area of Amazon people.
"You came here very early today," he said while continuing to stare at the screen in front of him.
"Today is training day."
"No one can compete with you?"
"Unfortunately, no." Diana sighed, paused, and looked at him. "You are very strong, right?"
"It depends on who you compare me to."
"Why don't you come as my sparring partner?"
Ian stopped what he was doing and glanced at her. "Okay, I need to take a rest too." He stood up, two swords appeared in his hands, and a sword and shield also appeared in front of Diana.
"I thought you were a mage?"
"If I use a mage's fighting style, you will have no chance."
"You have no shame in talking big. Let me see if you have the ability to talk big."
Ding!
This discussion lasted for more than an hour, and the result was that Diana collapsed on the ground panting, while Ian didn't even have a scratch on his body.
"Are all mages' swordsmanship so powerful?"
"If they're good enough, yes."
Diana shook his head. "So, what is my level?"
"Compared with whom?"
"Compared to the top fighters you have fought or seen."
"Well, not bad."
"Just 'not bad'?"
"How should I put it? According to the evaluation system of my dimension, your attributes range from Fourth Tier (Tier 4) to Sixth Tier (Tier 6). Therefore, you can only be regarded as 'not bad'. What? Not convinced?"
"Kind of."
"Different dimensions have different laws."
"How do you say this?"
"My dimension has a stricter and more hierarchical power system. People start from Zero Tier, and can steadily improve after years of hard work and study.
However, in this place, as long as an ordinary human of the Zero Tier th rank accidentally obtains a certain Divine Artifact or some kind of cosmic power, he can instantly possess the strength of the Tenth Tier th, Eleventh Tier th rank or even stronger."
"I understand."
Ian saw that she was still a little unwilling, so he continued, "I can tell you frankly that in terms of combat skills, you are one of the most talented people I have ever seen, even better than my wife Olivia. The only thing you lack is actual combat experience."
"How could I lack experience? I fight and train with my sisters every day."
"I'm not talking about this kind of training to the point, but the life-and-death fight with a powerful enemy."
Diana immediately smiled bitterly. "How could I have such a chance on this island?" Apart from participating in several Olympus's missions or events, most of her battles were with her sisters.
"I can help you with this." A black portal appeared in front of him, and he took out a helmet from it.
"What is this?"
"Virtual reality equipment. You can think of it as an extremely real illusion, in which you can choose any opponent to fight."
"This is quite interesting."
Diana put it on her head without hesitation and closed her eyes. Ten minutes later, she suddenly opened her eyes and exclaimed, "Where am I? Wasn't I beheaded?"
"The illusion is so realistic that you will feel a little lost. It will get better after a while."
As her thoughts gradually became clearer, she looked at the helmet excitedly, "Can I let my sisters use this too?"
"As you like."