Most believed his story and chose to accept his offer. Although many of these decisions may have been very impulsive and spur-of-the-moment, he didn't care.
Some of the remaining people wanted more time to think about it, while others refused, hoping to return to their ordinary lives. Ian also included those who were hesitant on the rejection list, claiming that their mentality was too fragile to cope with the coming battle.
'Thirteen million people accepted the offer - almost even,' he thought to himself. The Golems counted the remaining seven million candidates and directed them to the five ships that would take them home.
Boom!
The sky suddenly turned black, and then a portal appeared. A man wearing an all-black robe and a mask that looked like a bone walked out in the air.
"Dark Priest?" Ian shouted. "How could you enter our timeline?"
"You underestimate our power."
Ian gritted his teeth and rushed into the sky to confront the priest. They turned into a dark red light, colliding and fighting everywhere in the sky.
At the same time, more Dark Speedsters rushed out of the portal and rushed directly towards the newly selected red speedsters.
"No," Ian shouted, and distractedly activated a shield around the crowd. The dark priest took the opportunity to insert his hand into Ian's chest. He punched the dark priest, but the other party dodged, and Ian took the opportunity to enter the shield.
"How long do you think your god can protect you?" the dark priest sneered. "It was a pure luck that he won the last war, and now, he is weaker than ever."
"Guardian God has stopped that crazy god countless times, and he will do the same this time."
"It's such a meaningless struggle. Anyway, I have got what I want." The dark priest glanced at the group of people who were leaving without protection. His Dark Speedsterss began to run around the group of people, and then everyone turned into a dark light and flew into the portal in the sky.
"No, stop," Ian shouted, but his sudden movements aggravated the injury, and he fell to the ground clutching his chest.
"Master Priest," countless survivors shouted.
"I... failed to protect them," Ian said, not hiding his sadness.
"Master Priest, leave them alone. You really should take care of your injury," said a humanoid creature with two horns.
"You don't understand. Their fate will be worse than death, because they will be corrupted and become Dark Speedsters," Ian sighed. "I failed them."
"Maybe we can save them in the future."
"Yes, so please take care of your injuries first."
"Maybe you're right," he breathed out. "Let's finish Initiation Ceremony."
"Sir--"
"Don't worry. I've been through worse. Plus, I'm not afraid of death, because that only means returning to the arms of Speed Force and Guardian God." He waved his hand, and a red lightning ball appeared in the sky.
It released a huge bolt of lightning and hit the crowd. The people screamed and thought they were going to die. However, they were unharmed.
Someone started running excitedly, but his body was surrounded by lightning and his speed reached a level faster than most motorized vehicles. More bold people began to try and realized that they all had super speed.
"I know you are excited, but calm down," Ian said with a pale face. "The ceremony is not over yet." A bowl filled with red liquid appeared in the palm of everyone's hands.
"This is the divine blood of Guardian God. After drinking it, your talents or your affinity with him and Speed Force will be greatly improved," Ian announced. "Usually, this is a gift given to his bravest and most loyal speedster, but there is an exception for all of you, because we have just returned and need more talents." Ian coughed. "Now, enjoy."
The power of peer pressure or herd mentality can be really scary. After a few people drink the potion, others follow suit. This process is further accelerated when people start bragging about the effects of the potion.
"Very good. Next is your training, I promise you, it will be very cruel." People shuddered, but Ian ignored them.
He has surrounded this planet with Time Bubble. It has been twenty years inside and only one week outside. He will use all this time to train and brainwash these people through psychology and religion.
When Golems started training, Ian walked straight into the temple. As soon as he left everyone's sight, he returned to normal.
"Sir, something is wrong."
"What happened again?"
"Speed Force is crashing."
"What did you say?" Ian immediately checked the data.
"It seems that when it was originally designed, it was not intended to allow so many people to absorb its power at the same time," Nara stated, and Ian snorted.
Speed Force users of DC Universe have never exceeded one million. In addition, their version does not exist as Tier 11, so it makes sense that this would happen.
"With this news, things have to change," Ian muttered. "Borrow energy from Infinity Stones to stabilize it. We also have to modify it so that it absorbs dimensional energy to sustain itself."
Ian quickly became busy. He modified Speed Force while training the speedster. The training involved a lot of content, including how to deal with people from other timelines.
He even took them to the "universe" destroyed by Dark God. He also organized a rescue mission to free those who had been kidnapped, thus increasing the number of his speedsters to 18 million.
In the 20th year, it is finally time for these new speedsters to graduate:
"You are now ready to protect Multiverse," Ian announced.
"For Speed Force, for Guardian God." 18 million people chanted in unison. The speedsters then stepped onto their Cosmic Treadmill and ran at unparalleled speed. When the portal to another timeline appeared in front of them, they rushed in.
Earth-278:
A speedster named Luo rushed into this timeline. He followed the training and found a deserted planet to build a temple.
According to his guide, he could find a Infinity Stones to sacrifice to Guardian God to secure his Resurrection, but since this was not mandatory, Luo decided to take his time on his first mission.
Luo was very satisfied that his first journey did not conflict with the local people in the universe or Dark Speedsters. So, after building the temple in strict accordance with the training specifications, he rushed to the next timeline.
Earth-304:
"How is the situation?" Ian asked:
"Speedster Plan succeeded," Nara reported. "More than 18 million timelines are converging on this location as we speak."
"Excellent," Ian nodded. The plan is simple: use these speedsters to forcibly create Fusion, and wipe out as many timelines as possible before the final [Fusion] arrives.
"Eighteen million isn't enough, so I have to recruit more people from these new timelines," he commented. Killing 18 million timelines at once would be considered a huge success to most people, but it's nothing in the grand scheme of Multiverse.
"What about data?" Ian's plans rarely have only one goal, and this time is no different. Speed Force's expansion is the key data for him to reach Tier 11.
"Incoming," Nara replied.
"Another good news. The next step is to pass this information to the main body as secretly as possible."
Ian does not want him or his Earth to have anything to do with Speedster Plan. He fears that some powerful entity will retaliate if it learns of what he has done. However, he is still eager to get the data from this experiment.
The main body already had a plan, so he just needed to execute it. After everything was ready, Earth-304's Ian went to another timeline to recruit and train more speedsters.
He cloned himself so he didn't have to duplicate the work; and after establishing a sustainable training and recruiting process that wasn't entirely dependent on him alone, he retreated into the shadows, logged more data, and awaited his eventual demise.