After Ancient One brought him into the Mirror Dimension, Luke finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had no desire to end up under a pile of burly men, locked in their crushing embrace.
Looking at the perfectly composed Ancient One, Luke scratched his head.
"You knew all this would happen, and you were watching from the shadows the whole time, right?"
Ancient One nodded. She had indeed foreseen all of this and had tried to influence the timeline to develop in a direction more favorable to Earth.
"Then why did you let the fact that I have dark energy get exposed?" Luke had figured it out by now. The energy he felt he could control freely had to be dark energy.
But to the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, dark energy was a far more sensitive subject than other forms of energy. After all, the one coveting Earth most hungrily right now was the Dark Lord, Dormammu.
"Because I don't have much time left," Ancient One said quietly, as though it had nothing to do with her.
"How is that possible? Haven't you been drawing on Dormammu's dark energy?" Luke asked in shock.
Back in his original world, everyone said the Sorcerer Supreme had died because her special effects were too expensive. Nobody had said Ancient One would die of old age.
"I have been secretly drawing on Dormammu's dark energy, but Dormammu hasn't been oblivious to it." Ancient One revealed the dark mark on her forehead. "He has allowed me to keep drawing on his energy because he altered it to bewitch minds and locate worlds. As long as I absorb and use dark energy, he can locate Earth through me and drag it straight into the Dark Dimension."
"I've been resisting these evil properties within the dark energy, but I'm nearing my limit. If I keep absorbing it like this, it won't be long before I cause Earth to be devoured by Dormammu."
Only then did Luke understand why Ancient One had gone straight to her death after finding a successor. Otherwise, it really would have been laughable. The Sorcerer Supreme, who kept Dormammu and a host of demon gods outside Earth, had been killed by an elite mob. How embarrassing for those demon gods.
Having heard this much, Luke understood what Ancient One meant. "And the best way to stop that is to stop absorbing Dormammu's energy, but then you'll die outright. You originally intended to kill yourself, but my arrival happened to offer a new turn of events: I have dark energy too."
"Exactly."
"But why do you think I'll supply you with dark energy? Are you going to force me?"
"I won't force you, but signing a contract with me will bring you many benefits."
"What benefits?"
"First, the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj won't hunt you down."
"That's very tempting." Luke nodded. After what had just happened, that mattered a great deal to him.
"Second, if you sign a contract with me, I will protect you, sheltering you until you've developed your strength."
Whoa, a free bodyguard?
Luke was genuinely tempted now. The Marvel World was no ordinary world. Deadly dangers lurked everywhere. If he could make Ancient One his bodyguard, he wouldn't have to worry about suddenly dropping dead in the early stages.
"Finally, I can help you develop faster."
"What does that mean?"
"Take a look at that... unknown thing of yours."
Unknown thing? Did she mean the system?
"What about it?"
"That thing of yours contains only a few dark energy crystals. Once you've used them all up, you'll need to seize other people's energy crystals in other dark dimensions. But you don't have coordinates for other dimensions. You might spend years without finding even one dark dimension."
"But you do."
Luke rubbed his chin, and Ancient One nodded.
"Kamar-Taj has always kept a close watch on these dimensions and has quite a few dimensional coordinates. If you sign a contract with me, I will provide those coordinates to you, ensuring that you won't have to worry about your development stalling before you can support yourself."
"But there's a problem. I don't know whether you're telling the truth. What if, after I sign the contract, you tell me you were lying?"
Ancient One looked steadily at him. "I can add a condition to the contract: you may terminate it unilaterally, and I will die on the spot. How does that sound?"
Luke walked over to Ancient One. "All right. What do we do?"
Ancient One held a hand above Luke's head and closed her eyes, sensing for a while before a magic circle appeared at her palm.
Just as Luke was wondering whether those electrical sparks would set his hair on fire, a system notification suddenly arrived: "Detected that 'Ancient One' wishes to establish a contract with you. The host has been determined to lack the ability to consent to the contract for now. The system will assist in establishing it."
Contract terms: 'Ancient One' will receive the dark energy you provide, while you may cancel the contract unilaterally. "Yes" or "No"
So the system wasn't just an AFK mining system. It could act as a little assistant too?
Luke clicked yes. Some knowledge of portals appeared in his mind, while his energy, which had just recovered to its maximum, dropped to zero.
"Your dark energy is very pure, but there is too little of it." Having completed the contract, Ancient One had obtained the right to draw dark energy from Luke, which kept his energy at zero.
Luke said helplessly, "There's nothing I can do. I only just got this ability. It hasn't been long enough."
Looking at the remaining dark power field, he thought that since Ancient One wanted energy, perhaps he could borrow the Time Stone to play with.
Ancient One had not expected the dark energy of a dark dimension to grow stronger with time in the main world either. After all, dark energy could let people ignore time; it was energy on the same level as time itself.
She took the initiative to summon the Time Stone with a wave and handed it to Luke.
Holding the Time Stone, Luke received a system prompt. "Would you like to watch an ad to speed up the game?"
Holy crap, I could even watch ads?
Looking stunned, Luke clicked yes, and then...
"Ad space for rent."
Holy shit! That actually worked!
After sitting through a full minute of this "ad," Luke finally received his reward.
It amounted to speeding things up by one hour, earning him six points of dark energy. Added to what he already had, he now had twelve energy points.
Seeing the ad count of 2/3 appear in the upper-left corner, Luke returned the Time Stone to the Sorcerer Supreme for the moment.
Finding that the ads were still there, Luke breathed a sigh of relief, though he looked at the Time Stone with some regret.
While holding the Time Stone, Luke had discovered that he could not use it to manipulate time, which made him a little sad.
Once, the Time Stone had been right in my hand, but I simply couldn't use it.
It was like getting so drunk on his wedding night that he passed out and spent the whole night on the floor without doing anything.
It was a sad story, and Luke forced himself to forget it.
"You seem unable to use the Time Stone?" Ancient One also looked at Luke with some puzzlement, surprised that he had simply handed it back.
As a visitor from another world, Luke had made his presence felt to her the moment he arrived in this world, and quite a few additional branches had even appeared in the timeline.
But after Luke did something she knew nothing about, a current of dark energy appeared within him, making him part of this world, and those timeline branches all disappeared.
Ancient One could also sense that some beings outside the timeline had tried to locate Luke, but once he became part of this world, they gave up because they could no longer find him.
Still, Luke's inability to use the Time Stone had truly surprised her.
Luke responded to this fact with silence. Just now, he had discovered that the instant his dark energy touched the Time Stone, it actually snatched something from the stone.
Then his system said there were ads he could watch, while the Time Stone refused to let him use it, almost as though it had a mind of its own.
Was it sulking?
Luke stared at the Time Stone, hoping it would give him some response.
Seeing Luke's gaze, Ancient One quietly put the Time Stone away. "Your ability seems to have undergone some new change?"
Luke turned his attention back to the system interface. Looking at his twelve energy points, he bought another Ninja Soldier.
After watching the two remaining ads, Luke now had four Ninja Soldiers. He summoned all four together, and seeing them appear before him even in the Mirror Dimension filled him with a sense of security.
Looking at his maximum of 9.4, he could buy another one in three minutes.
Heh, now I was getting somewhere!
Give me a day to develop, and couldn't I field a hundred-man squad?
No, not quite a hundred, but still quite a few.
Thoroughly satisfied, Luke nearly forgot Ancient One beside him. But when he noticed that she was not looking at him and had her eyes closed, sensing something, he waited a while, directing his four Ninja Soldiers to leap around and even having them start sparring.
They showed no hesitation, fighting one another in earnest. Watching their nimble movements, Luke was deeply astonished. He had no idea how those sorcerers had instantly killed his little Ninja Soldier.
Oh, they'd ganged up on him. Never mind, then.
Remembering the plaza full of elite sorcerers, Luke could not help feeling a little sorry for that Ninja Soldier.
At such a young age, he had suffered harm he never should have had to bear. Thinking of that group of strong, burly elite sorcerers, Luke reckoned even a hundred-man squad could not beat them. If those fellows used spells, the Shadow Army would probably need a thousand-man squad.
A few minutes later, Luke bought another Ninja Soldier. Calculating that he would have to wait over twenty minutes before he could buy another, he wanted to go outside, find an alarm clock, and set a timer.
But they were all in the Mirror Dimension now. Although he had a Sling Ring, Luke still did not know how to use it and could not get out at all.
After another wait, Ancient One finally opened her eyes and looked at Luke in surprise. She had been a little worried when she saw his energy rise and fall, but then discovered that the energy she received each second had multiplied several times over. Though it still could not support her spellcasting, it was enough to prolong her life a little.
Indeed, to Ancient One, that little bit of Luke's energy really was a universe on a fingertip.
But compared with Dormammu's energy, it had the advantages of purity, a continuous supply, and no need to worry about backlash. That left Ancient One very satisfied.
She took the Sling Ring from Luke's hand and modified its spell structure.
"There. You only need to channel dark energy into this Sling Ring, and you can use portals freely. As for what comes next, you should develop as quickly as possible. The dark energy you have now... still isn't quite enough."
After that, Ancient One said she was going into seclusion to completely expel Dormammu's energy from her body, then tossed Luke out.
Sensing the energy in his body, Luke found that almost as soon as it appeared, the contract drew it away for Ancient One's use.
Ah, now I really was drained dry. There wasn't a single drop left to squeeze out.
Fortunately, with the Sling Ring's help, portals consumed very little energy, so Luke could still use them.
Putting on the Sling Ring, Luke drew a circle with one hand and returned to the plaza from earlier. He found many sorcerers still training there, but when he arrived, they all looked at him with the eyes of hungry wolves.
Unlike their earlier looks, which had meant they wanted to kill him, these gazes were full of longing for the energy within him.
Under the burly men's collective gaze, Luke summoned all five Ninja Soldiers to bolster his courage, then found Mordo in a corner.
You bastard, you were chasing me around earlier. Now it was my turn to chase you.
Threatening Mordo with "If you don't play with my Ninja Soldiers, I'll get stronger more slowly," Luke directed the Ninja Soldiers to rush in and gang up on him. This also showed Luke the strength of an elite sorcerer like Mordo, who was stronger than ordinary sorcerers. None of the Ninja Soldiers could withstand even one exchange with him. If they had not been ganging up on him, Mordo could have killed them instantly in a couple of moves.
But the Ninja Soldiers had unlimited stamina and could revive endlessly. Those game-breaking abilities made Mordo utterly miserable. Once the five Ninja Soldiers realized how strong their enemy was, they all began trading injury for injury. Even if he was about to cleave one in half, that soldier would insist on carving a tally mark into him.
By the end, Mordo lay on the ground, panting, with a look that said, "Do whatever you want. I'm done trying."
You're not up to it, little bro. Luke shook his head, found an alarm clock, and slipped back to his room...
Before you continue