Click Ads to Speed Up by 1 Hour

Taken to the Mirror Dimension by The Ancient One, Lu Qi finally let out a sigh of relief.

He had no desire to be manhandled by a bunch of burly men.

Watching The Ancient One's calm expression, Lu Qi scratched his head.

"You knew all this would happen, and you've been watching it from the shadows all along, haven't you?"

The Ancient One nodded. She had indeed foreseen everything and had tried to influence the timeline, steering it in a direction more favorable to Earth.

"Then why did you let the fact that I have Dark Energy get exposed?" Lu Qi had figured it out by now. The energy he had felt he could control so freely had to be Dark Energy.

But to the mages of Kamar-Taj, Dark Energy was far more sensitive than any other kind of energy. After all, the one eyeing Earth most greedily right now was Dormammu, Lord of the Dark Dimension.

"Because I don't have much time left." The Ancient One said it quietly, as though she were talking about something unrelated to herself.

"How could that be? Haven't you been absorbing Dormammu's Dark Energy all this time?" Lu Qi said in shock.

In his original world, everyone said the Sorcerer Supreme had died because the special effects were too expensive, but no one said The Ancient One would die of old age.

"I have been secretly absorbing Dormammu's Dark Energy, but Dormammu has not failed to notice." The Ancient One revealed the dark mark on her forehead. "He has allowed me to absorb the energy because the Dark Energy he altered possesses the power to beguile hearts and locate worlds. As long as I absorb and use Dark Energy, he can use me to locate Earth and drag it directly into the Dark Dimension."

"I have been resisting those evil effects within the Dark Energy, but I am nearing my limit. If I keep absorbing it, it won't be long before I cause Earth to be devoured by Dormammu."

Only then did Lu Qi understand why The Ancient One had chosen death immediately after finding a successor. Otherwise, it would have been ridiculous. The Sorcerer Supreme who had kept Dormammu and countless demon gods outside Earth being killed by an elite mob? That would have been downright humiliating for the demon gods.

And having heard this much, Lu Qi understood what The Ancient One meant. "The best way to stop this is to stop absorbing Dormammu's energy, but then you'll die immediately. You originally intended to kill yourself, but my appearance happened to give things a new turn. That is, I have Dark Energy too."

"That's right."

"But why do you think I'd provide you with Dark Energy? Are you going to force me?"

"I will not force you, but signing a contract with me will bring you many benefits."

"What benefits?"

"First, you will not be hunted by the mages of Kamar-Taj."

"That's very tempting." Lu Qi nodded. After what had just happened, this mattered greatly to him.

"Second, if you sign a contract with me, I will protect you as well, serving as your shield until you have fully developed."

Hiss, a bodyguard for free?

Now Lu Qi was truly tempted. The Marvel world was no ordinary place; deadly dangers lurked everywhere. If The Ancient One could be his bodyguard, he would not need to worry about suddenly dying in the early stages.

"Lastly, I can help you develop more quickly."

"What does that mean?"

"Look at that... unknown thing of yours."

Unknown thing? The system?

"What about it?"

"There are only a few Dark Energy Crystals in that thing of yours. Once you consume them all, you will need to enter other Dark Dimensions and seize other people's Energy Crystals. But you have no coordinates for other dimensions. You could spend years without finding even one Dark Dimension."

"And you do."

Lu Qi stroked his chin, while The Ancient One nodded.

"Kamar-Taj has always kept watch over these dimensions and possesses coordinates for quite a few of them. If you sign a contract with me, I will provide you with those dimensional coordinates in the future, ensuring that you do not have to worry about your growth stopping before you can stand on your own."

"But there's a problem now. I don't know whether what you're saying is true or false. What if I sign the contract and you tell me you were lying?"

The Ancient One stared at him steadily. "I can add a condition to the contract. You may terminate the contract unilaterally, and I will die immediately. How about it?"

Lu Qi walked up to The Ancient One. "All right. Then how do we do it?"

The Ancient One raised her hand over Lu Qi's head, closed her eyes, and sensed for a while. A magic circle appeared in her palm.

Just as Lu Qi was wondering whether the electric sparks would set his hair on fire, he suddenly received a system prompt: Detected that 'The Ancient One' wishes to sign a contract with you. The host is deemed temporarily incapable of agreeing to the contract, so the system will assist in forming it.

Contract terms: 'The Ancient One' will receive the Dark Energy you provide, while you may unilaterally terminate the contract.

"'Yes' or 'No'"

It seemed the system was not just an idle mining system. It could even act as a little steward?

Lu Qi clicked yes. Some knowledge about portals appeared in his mind, while his energy, which had just recovered to its maximum, dropped to 0.

"Your Dark Energy is very pure, but there is too little of it." After signing the contract, The Ancient One had gained the right to draw Dark Energy from Lu Qi, which left Lu Qi's energy permanently at 0.

Lu Qi said helplessly, "I can't help it. I only just acquired this ability, and it hasn't been long."

Looking at the remaining Dark Power section, Lu Qi wondered whether he should borrow the Time Stone to play with, since The Ancient One wanted energy anyway.

The Ancient One had not expected the Dark Energy of the Dark Dimension to grow stronger along with the time of the main world. After all, Dark Energy could allow people to ignore time. It was an energy on the same level as time itself.

She waved a hand and summoned the Time Stone, then handed it to Lu Qi.

Lu Qi held the Time Stone as a system prompt arrived. "Would you like to watch an advertisement to speed up the game?"

Holy crap, it could even watch ads?

Lu Qi clicked yes with a shocked look, and then...

"Ad space for rent."

What the hell! That worked too?!

After forcibly watching the one-minute "ad," Lu Qi finally received his reward.

It was equivalent to speeding things up by one hour. He gained 6 Dark Energy, and together with what he had before, he now had 12 energy.

Seeing the ad count in the upper-left corner display 2/3, Lu Qi returned the Time Stone to the Sorcerer Supreme for the moment.

When he found that the ads were still there, Lu Qi breathed a sigh of relief, though he looked at the Time Stone with some regret.

When he had held the Time Stone, Lu Qi discovered that he could not use it to control time, which made him a little sad.

Once, the Time Stone was in my hand, but I simply couldn't use it.

It was like getting drunk on one's wedding night, passing out, and sleeping on the floor all night without doing anything.

That was a sad story, so Lu Qi forced himself to forget it.

"You seem unable to use the Time Stone?" The Ancient One also looked at Lu Qi strangely, surprised that he had simply returned it to her.

As a visitor from another world, Lu Qi had been sensed by The Ancient One the moment he arrived in this world. Numerous new branches had even appeared on the timeline.

But after Lu Qi did something unknown and gained a strand of Dark Energy, he became part of this world, and those timeline branches all vanished.

The Ancient One could also sense that certain beings outside the timeline had tried to locate Lu Qi. But once Lu Qi became part of this world, they gave up because they could no longer find him.

Still, Lu Qi being unable to use the Time Stone had genuinely caught her by surprise.

Lu Qi silently acknowledged the fact. Just now, he had discovered that the instant his Dark Energy came into contact with the Time Stone, it had snatched something from within the gem.

Then his system said there were ads to watch, but the Time Stone seemed to possess a will of its own and rejected his use of it.

Could it be sulking?

Lu Qi stared at the Time Stone, hoping it would give him some reaction.

Seeing Lu Qi's gaze, The Ancient One silently put the Time Stone away. "It seems your ability has undergone some new changes?"

Lu Qi shifted his attention back to the system interface. Looking at his 12 energy, he bought another Ninja Soldier.

After watching the remaining two ads, Lu Qi now had four Ninja Soldiers. He summoned all four at once, and seeing them appear before him even within the Mirror Dimension filled him with a deep sense of security.

His limit was 9.4. In another three minutes, he could buy one more.

Heh, wasn't he finally standing tall now?

Give me one day to develop, and won't I be able to pull together a hundred-man force?

No, not quite a hundred people, but it would still be a considerable number.

Lu Qi was so satisfied that he nearly forgot The Ancient One beside him. But seeing that she was not looking at him and had her eyes closed as though sensing something, Lu Qi waited for a while. He commanded the four Ninja Soldiers to jump around and even had them spar with each other.

They did not hesitate at all, immediately fighting one another. Watching their agile movements, Lu Qi was greatly shocked. He could not understand how those mages had instantly wiped out the little Ninja Soldier.

A group beating, huh? Well, that explained it.

Lu Qi recalled the elite mages filling the square and could not help feeling sorry for that Ninja Soldier.

So young, yet it had endured injuries no one should have to bear. Thinking of that group of strong, robust elite mages, Lu Qi estimated that even a hundred-man team could not defeat them. If those guys used magic, the Shadow Army would probably need a thousand-man force.

A few minutes later, Lu Qi bought another Ninja Soldier. Calculating that he would need to wait more than twenty minutes before buying another, he wanted to go outside and find an alarm clock to set.

But they were still inside the Mirror Dimension. Although he held a Sling Ring, Lu Qi still did not know how to use it and could not leave at all.

After waiting a while, The Ancient One finally opened her eyes and looked at Lu Qi in surprise. Seeing his energy rise and fall, she had been somewhat worried, only to discover that the energy she received every second had multiplied several times. Though it still could not support her casting spells, it was enough to slightly delay her death.

Indeed, Lu Qi's tiny amount of energy was truly like a universe at The Ancient One's fingertips.

But compared to Dormammu's energy, its advantages were its purity, its continuous supply, and the lack of any need to worry about backlash. This left The Ancient One very satisfied.

She took the Sling Ring from Lu Qi's hand and modified its spell structure.

"All right. As long as you channel Dark Energy into this Sling Ring, you can use portals freely. After this, you should hurry and develop. The current Dark Energy... is still not quite enough."

Afterward, The Ancient One said she needed to enter seclusion to completely purge Dormammu's energy from her body, then tossed Lu Qi out.

As Lu Qi sensed the energy in his body, it was almost immediately drawn away by the contract the moment it appeared, for The Ancient One to use.

Sigh, this time he was truly drained dry. Not a single drop could be squeezed out.

Fortunately, with the Sling Ring's help, portals consumed very little energy, and Lu Qi could still use them.

Putting on the Sling Ring, Lu Qi drew a circle with one hand and arrived at the previous square. He found many mages still training there, but when he arrived, they all stared at him like hungry wolves.

But unlike before, when they had wanted to kill him, these gazes were filled with desire for the energy on his body.

Under the watchful eyes of the burly men, Lu Qi summoned all five Ninja Soldiers to bolster his courage, then found Mordo in a corner.

You little punk, you were chasing me around before. Now it's my turn to chase you.

Threatening Mordo with, "If you don't play with my Ninja Soldiers, I'll grow stronger more slowly," Lu Qi commanded the Ninja Soldiers to rush forward and gang up on him. This also let Lu Qi see the strength of elite mages like Mordo, who was even stronger than ordinary mages. Several Ninja Soldiers were no match for him in a single exchange. If it had not been a group fight, Mordo could have instantly killed a Ninja Soldier in two moves.

But the Ninja Soldiers had unlimited stamina and could revive endlessly. That bug-level ability disgusted Mordo immensely. After discovering how strong their enemy was, the five Ninja Soldiers all adopted a style of trading injury for injury. Even if he split them in half, they would still leave a mark on him.

By the end, Mordo was gasping for breath, sprawled on the ground with an expression that said, "Do whatever you want. I'm done."

You're not so tough, little bro. Lu Qi shook his head, found an alarm clock, and slipped back to his room...