Ian's next target is the DNA sample of Kryptonians, because it is of great use to him. Creating high-level clones is a very expensive project, because he not only needs to consume magic power to forcibly upgrade their ranks, but also considers how to nourish their souls.
After mastering Law of Soul, he gained the ability to create artificial souls, which made things slightly easier, but still costly.
Additionally, these clones have a very limited lifespan, which is a problem in itself.
But Kryptonians's Life Code is the key to solving this problem. He can now mass-produce them like other clones, and then house them in a facility with huge solar energy. He can design this place to accelerate the clones' ability to absorb solar energy, thus speeding up their growth.
Through this method, he can mass-produce clones from fifth to Sixth Tier, creating a powerful army.
The reason why these clones cannot be more powerful is because he needs to modify their Life Code to eliminate Kryptonians's natural weakness of fear of magic. Of course, he must also guard against possible rebellions and other problems.
After completing this work, he began to look for the next target-Anti-Life Equation. Anti-Life Equation is a transcendent mathematical formula. It is said that those who master it can dominate the will of any sentient race; this is also the ultimate goal of Darkseid.
Ian wants to get his hands on it because he believes that after studying it and Mind Stone of Marvel Cinematic Universe, he might be able to get his hands on Mind Stone Authority.
"It won't work," Morgana announced. "No matter what Divination methods I try, I can't find its location. We may have to buy intel from Akashic Records."
"I tried, but even information about where this thing is is too expensive," Ian replied. "Let's try a little Causality Spell and see if we can find it."
He places a curse on anyone who holds Anti-Life Equation; his purpose is to find that person through the causal link formed between them after cursing the target.
Normally, this strategy wouldn't work as the curse would require a medium or more information to take effect, but since he controls Law of Curse, it's much less restricted.
"It's no use," Ian sighed. "As expected; we were looking for a clue in Infinity's Multiverse," Morgana replied. "What now? We can try to hunt down the variant of Darkseid."
"No, we have a better way," Ian said.
"You mean luck?"
"Yes."
"That might work," Morgana nodded, summoning a bottle of Felix Felicis. Luck, or control over probability, is a powerful force. Luck Potions has been thoroughly studied and understood over the years, and has been used primarily as a curse of bad luck, bringing bad luck to people.
Ian wiped the corners of his mouth.
"So, what do you think?"
"I suddenly had a strong impulse to see Diana again."
"Are there equations in her timeline?" House-elf asked.
"Most likely."
"In that case, let's go. We can get the equation and say goodbye."
Netheril tore a rift in space and time, and then headed towards its destination.
"So, we can't land at the time shortly after I left?" Ian asked, looking at the modern metropolis in front of him.
"You also know how weird this world is."
"I'm not complaining," he said quietly. He scanned the entire planet, carefully checking all seven billion people. "Found it."
"Where?"
Ian showed her a projection: a brown-haired man in his sixties, smoking a cigar and wearing a gold ring on his little finger.
"Ten billionaire Bates."
"Can you get it from his brain?"
"No problem. Although this formula gives him Mind Control's abilities, technically speaking, he is still just an ordinary human being," Ian replied, quickly extracting the formula from the other person's mind.
The formula is: $loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth \div mockery \div condemnation \div misunderstanding \times guilt \times shame \times failure \times judgment, n=y \text{ where } y=hope \text{ and } n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side$.
Ian knew it in the comics, but it had to be read in a specific way. When successful, the alien symbol or hieroglyph materialized in mid-air. He tried it, and was successful.
"What an interesting equation," Morgana commented. "It releases a frequency that affects people's deep subconscious and instills in them an absolute mathematical certainty that life, hope, and freedom are meaningless, destroying their will in the process. Even someone with extremely high willpower like you can be affected if you are not careful."
"This equation will work wonders for the development of Mind Stone magic," Ian commented.
"Are you going to make it public?"
"Mind Stone magic is inherently dangerous. So, even without this formula, its development is a matter of concern," Ian replied. "So, we just need to continue to take strict precautions as before." His main research direction has not been Mind Stone magic, so it is best to let others study it.
"Indeed. However, before making it public, you should develop a Life Equation to counteract it."
"That's exactly what I planned," Ian nodded. "Let's go meet Diana." He disappeared from the place.
"Who is there?" Batman asked. He was the first person to notice an uninvited guest in the room. Everyone immediately became alert, and then saw Ian looking at them casually.
"Edward?" Diana asked.
"Sorry to bother you."
"It's really you." She flew down from her seat in front of him and hugged him, "I haven't seen you in decades."
"For you, it's decades. But for me, it's just over a year."
"Is this the wonder of interdimensional travel? Anyway, it's nice to see you again."
"Me too."
"Diana, aren't you going to introduce your friends to us?" Superman asked.
"Wonder Woman, stay away from that man," Flash shouted.
"Flash, why are you having such a big reaction?" she asked.
"The moment I saw him, Speed Force gave me a strong warning: this man is extremely dangerous." Everyone stared at Ian fully armed again.
Diana frowned, then looked at Ian, "What did you do?"
Ian smiled calmly, "Do you remember the research I told you about?"
"Remember."
"Well, I was studying how to copy Speed Force, but it was not very happy. Let's put it this way, I used some extreme means to succeed, so the relationship between us was not very good."
Diana wants to shake her head; she has known for a long time that he is not a peaceful person. Luck What is more interesting is that he usually resorts to peaceful means rather than force when dealing with things.
"What kind of extreme means?" Batman asked.
"It has nothing to do with you," Ian replied.
"Okay, Edward is my friend, I vouch for him," Diana said, turning to look at him. "We are having a very important meeting. If you don't mind, please wait until we finish."
"Are you discussing Darkseid?"
"Darkseid? Do you know who is trying to invade the earth?" Steel Bone asked.
"I saw Parademons on Earth, that was his army," Ian replied.
"Who is this Darkseid?" asked Hal Lee Jordan - a Green Lantern. Unlike Flash, he felt a connection to this stranger and was curious about its origins.
"Darkseid, the ruler of the nightmare world Apokolips. He is a new god."
"How do you know so much?" Batman asked, but Ian ignored him at all. He looked at Diana and said, "I am very interested in Apokolips's technology. I don't mind helping you if you need it."
Diana did not agree immediately, but looked at the team, "What do you think?"
"We need as much information as possible," Superman said, and soon, everyone except Flash and Batman agreed. So, Ian sat next to Diana and participated in Justice League's meeting.