'Temporarily? Do nothing,' Ian replied. 'However, if Death Lady comes again and puts more pressure on us, we may be able to use this to make her quit, or get some benefits.'
'Don't you want to study the possibility of the so-called [World's Flaw] and what kind of existence it can give birth to?' Morgana asked.
'Of course I want to, but we are overwhelmed with projects at hand and things to do,' Ian replied. 'Besides, we don't have Deadpool, Wolverine in our timeline, nor are there any immortal entities that can be counted as defects. This war will be long anyway, and we have plenty of time.'
'You really think so?'
'I hope so,' Ian sighed. Now is not the time to be sentimental, so Ian turned his attention elsewhere.
He checked on his clone and the progress of Avengers. The team was still in the public relations phase and they were making public appearances to build their image. In the meantime, the clone was dealing with military training matters in various countries around the world.
"Everything is going according to plan now," Ian commented. "So, we should have some time to refine that Soul Potion."
"Not exactly," Morgana reminded him. "There are a few things you need to deal with."
"What happened?"
"Loki came and left a message. He wants to know when you will build a staff for him."
"Send a clone to do it," Ian said. "What else?"
"Odin sent a message saying that Thor will be ready to fight Hela in as little as half a year or as long as one year."
"It's great to hear this news. Just spread the word that I will be there during the battle," Ian nodded.
"The Wakanda people reported their progress and asked for help," Morgana continued.
"Oh?"
"They have successfully built a set of the 8th Black Panther Suit."
"So fast?" Although he provided them with potions to improve their intelligence, their speed was still beyond his imagination. "Show me." A screen appeared in front of him, and he saw a set of black and gold Black Panther Suit floating in Void. Black Panther waved its claws and released a blast of Dimension Slash, tearing apart a planet. Then, it gathered a huge amount of purple energy and released it. The purple energy spread out, erasing the entire star system wherever it passed.
Ian shook his head.
"What? Are you not satisfied with this suit?" Morgana asked.
"That's not - it's a design problem. I understand that Black Panther is their country's symbolic animal, but..." He originally thought that after giving them Empire's technology, the suit would have a different design.
"That's a good thing. It means they haven't been assimilated by the Empire culture in the information you gave them," Morgana said. "Well, maybe that's a bad thing. These people are extremely talented, so it might be a good idea to bring them back to their hometown."
"Let's not talk about it for now. Why do they need help?"
"They built a Quantum Time Force Field."
"So fast?" Ian was really shocked. Quantum Time Force Field means that Wakanda people will have their own version of Time Enchantment. Compared to the time that passes in the outside world, they can accomplish a lot of things in a very short time.
"How did they improve so quickly?"
"It's because of the little girl named Shuri," Morgana explained. "After experiencing the education of the Empire, her talent has basically reached the level of those in 'Young Saint Project'."
"Are you serious?" Young Saint Project is a school specially set up for children whose IQ or talent can be considered outliers even among the Empire. After conquering Milky Way Galaxy, the population of the Empire has exceeded trillions, but there are only 52 Young Saints.
"Although she has not been formally tested, she does demonstrate a level similar to theirs."
"I see. So, what kind of help do they need?"
"They're worried something might go wrong in the experiment, so they want you to check it out first."
"Have you seen their schematics? Are there any problems?" Ian won't do things that Morgana can solve by himself.
"Look, they were too anxious and made some mistakes," Morgana nodded.
"Send it to them with the errors corrected. Stay tuned in case anything goes wrong."
"As you wish," Morgana nodded. "Finally, Kaecilius wants to see you. He looks very anxious."
"He? What happened to Dark Kamar-Taj?"
"I didn't notice anything unusual."
"Okay, let's contact him."
Ian was floating in mid-air with his legs crossed. A screen was suspended in front of him, and a few minutes later, Kaecilius's face appeared. He bowed politely. "My lord."
"What happened?" Ian asked straight to the point.
"A man came to me and tried to incite me to rebel against you. He claimed that he had the souls of my family in his hands."
Ian narrowed his eyes. "Is his name Mephisto?"
"That's right."
"Finally I caught you by the tail," Ian sneered. "How did you answer him?"
"I said I didn't trust him, and then he showed me the souls of my family members, so I agreed to cooperate with him."
Ian gave him a meaningful look. "The souls of your family have always been with me. The information you provided about this man is crucial, so I Resurrection them and give you a certain amount of visiting time."
"Thank you, sir," Kaecilius said, quickly kneeling on the ground.
"Did the man say anything else?"
"He just ordered me to wait until he contacted me at the right time."
"I know," Ian nodded. "Give me some time." He cast two spells: the first was to construct a perfect dimension that could accommodate life, and the second was for Resurrection Kaecilius's family. He wasn't lying when he said their souls were with him. After completion, Ian condensed a token and sent it to Kaecilius.
"On the 3rd and 10th of every month, the token will be activated and take you to the place where your family is. You can stay with them for 2 hours at a time. If you can help me deal with Mephisto, I will return them to you, and you can see them as long as you want."
"Thank you," Kaecilius held the token tightly, with the deepest sincerity in his voice. "There is one more thing. I feel that Mephisto is spying on my brain. Although the means you left prevent him from discovering anything, I think he has become suspicious. Next time, I think I may not be able to hide it."
"Thank you for the reminder," Ian nodded. He thought about the countermeasures and decided to carve out Mental Origin Rune and leave it in Soul Dimension of Kaecilius.
With this rune, the latter should be able to hide his memory from Mephisto, and even modify it accordingly to eliminate suspicion. So, Ian spent several hours making the rune and then sent it away.
"If we play this card well, the problems of Hydra and Mephisto should be completely solved," Morgana said.
"Indeed."
"But you should also be wary of Kaecilius. This man is probably hedging his bets to make sure he's the ultimate winner when it's all over."
"I know it well. Why do you think I gave him the Mind Stone rune?"
"Yes, I knew you would do this," Morgana nodded. The moment Kaecilius accepted the rune into his Soul Dimension, his fate was already doomed. If he cooperates obediently, Ian may allow him and his family to live a prosperous life. If he does not cooperate, nothing but disaster awaits him.
"That's almost it, right?" Ian said.
"Yes and no," Morgana said. "Arishem should have contacted us by now, but there is no news at all. This is very strange."
"Where is Eternals? Has he contacted Ajak or any of them?"
"No."
"This is indeed a problem," Ian frowned. "In that case, let's go see what's going on over there before something goes wrong."
Unfortunately, Ian's words seemed to be cursed. As soon as he finished speaking, he received an urgent message from La and Time Force.