Village Chief of the Novice Zone

Thinking of his agreement with The Ancient One, Lu Qi simply drew a portal back to Kamar-Taj.

When he arrived outside The Ancient One's tea room, he happened to see a sorcerer bidding her farewell.

Most sorcerers came here with their own goals. Some stayed to continue their studies after accomplishing those goals, while others chose to leave.

"Pangborn, are you sure you want to leave?" The Ancient One glanced at Lu Qi, signaling for him to wait, then addressed the man before her.

Pangborn nodded. "Sorcerer Supreme, I've recovered physically, but my talent doesn't support continuing to learn other magic."

The Ancient One nodded. "Mm. Since you've made up your mind, go."

Pangborn gave The Ancient One a disciple's bow and left.

"Pangborn... that name sounds pretty familiar." Lu Qi spoke after Pangborn had gone.

The name had sounded familiar just now. Maybe he had been a supporting character in some movie.

"Complete spinal cord injury at C7-C8. Paralysis below the chest, including both hands." The Ancient One imitated someone's tone.

"Oh, that guy." Lu Qi remembered. Pangborn was the retired sorcerer from Doctor Strange who had guided Stephen to Kamar-Taj for treatment.

What surprised Lu Qi, though, was that The Ancient One now always wore a faint smile. She could even joke around with people now.

"What do your disciples think of your changes?" Lu Qi followed The Ancient One into the tea room.

"Mm, most of them haven't adjusted very well. Mordo and the others even think something went wrong while I was practicing magic."

As she spoke, The Ancient One picked up a teacup and poured herself some tea.

"You came to find a way to keep growing, didn't you?"

"Being able to observe time is really convenient." Lu Qi said enviously. If he could observe time, why would he need to rob gangs? He could just buy scratch-offs. Forget the lottery, though.

"But time can deceive you too, can't it?" The Ancient One took a sip of tea, opened a portal, took out a thick book, and handed it to Lu Qi.

"But clearly, time didn't deceive me about why you came here."

Lu Qi took the book, and the system automatically displayed a prompt.

'Dark Dimension discovered. Would you like to absorb its Dark Energy Crystal?'

"The Dark Crystal is the foundation that sustains a Dark Dimension's existence, and it cannot be created by human means. So you can only search other Dark Dimensions, absorb the Dark Crystals within them, and develop your own Dark Dimension," The Ancient One explained to Lu Qi.

"That book contains the coordinates of several Dark Dimensions. You can use it to locate them and seize their Dark Energy Crystals."

Lu Qi recalled that the Dark Dimensions had originally been one whole, only to split apart later, with Dormammu occupying the largest piece.

"Maybe Dormammu wants to conquer Earth because of books like this. That way, he could unify all the Dark Dimensions."

Lu Qi looked at the coordinates one after another and said it jokingly.

"Perhaps. Dormammu is now one with the Dark Dimension. Only when the Dark Dimension keeps growing can he continue growing stronger." The Ancient One sat at the table and poured Lu Qi a cup of tea.

"Hiss, then this thing is pretty hot. If Dormammu's followers find out, they'll definitely come to take it."

Lu Qi looked at the book in his hands, but he had no intention of giving it up.

The system could only mine one dimension at a time. Once it finished mining one batch, he would need this book to locate other Dark Dimensions. He had to keep it safe.

With a wave of his hand, he had a Ninja Soldier take the book into the Shadow World. Although Dark Energy possessed extremely powerful corrosive properties, having a Ninja Soldier hold it would prevent that and keep the item well protected inside.

Watching his actions, The Ancient One could not help reminding him, "Most of the Dark Dimension fragments in that book are unclaimed, but quite a few already have owners. If you seize their Dark Energy on a large scale, you may end up fighting those people."

Lu Qi looked through the lines of coordinates. With The Ancient One standing before him, he casually picked one. With a powerhouse right beside him, as long as it wasn't someone on Dormammu's level, wouldn't he just beat them all as they came?

'Remaining Dark Energy Crystals available for mining: 10324'

Seeing that his upper limit could continue rising, Lu Qi comfortably drank a cup of tea.

"By the way, when do you plan to bring Stephen here? And when are you planning to retire?"

The Ancient One glanced at him. "Don't worry, I won't abdicate through death again. As for when I'll retire, that depends on when Stephen has his accident. After retiring, I want to catch up with some old friends, then go study at another holy land of magic."

Lu Qi nodded. Although most people said that after The Ancient One died, her soul followed Eternity and she had not truly died, by the rules of the Material World, she was dead.

If this powerhouse did not die, fighting Thanos later might be a little easier. But first, they would have to lock up Star-Lord.

Before transmigrating, Lu Qi had watched Infinity War too, but he had only seen Thanos successfully snap his fingers. He had no idea how the Avengers would turn things around afterward.

He had decided that when the time came, he definitely would not leave the battlefield. He did not want his life decided by someone else flipping a coin.

When the time came, he would have the Ninja Soldiers knock Star-Lord out and send him away first, so that he would not throw another punch and make another movie happen.

After obtaining the coordinates, Lu Qi left and went to have another friendly spar with Mordo. Seventy-four Ninja Soldiers directly drowned Mordo. Even using magic, he could only block one or two attacks before getting thoroughly beaten anyway.

Seeing his strength grow, Lu Qi nodded in satisfaction and returned to his own dingy apartment.

However, after passing through the Spark Door, Lu Qi discovered that a guy with a slightly receding hairline was sitting on his favorite couch, playing his favorite game.

"I didn't expect a famous agent to play my game too."

Lu Qi silently appeared beside Coulson. Coulson's expression did not change, but a storm had already erupted in his heart.

What had that been just now? A portal? Some kind of black technology? And what was on the other side of that door?

Coulson stopped his rampage in the game. Lu Qi, unwilling to let the beautiful record worsen, took the controller and kept playing, only to soon get slaughtered repeatedly and bombarded with question marks by his teammates.

"I helped you climb a few ranks," Coulson said amiably.

Lu Qi glanced at Coulson beside him. As expected of Marvel's village chief of the novice zone—countless transmigrators faced this man first. It was just that his luck had been bad, and The Ancient One had gotten to Lu Qi first.

Feeling the friendliness radiating from Coulson and looking at the few ranks added to his account, Lu Qi felt that he was not quite so angry anymore.

He had originally been furious to see someone sneak into his home, but now his anger had faded.

He handed the controller to Coulson. Coulson smiled as he accepted it and continued playing, casually pressing a button on his cuff.

While slaughtering opponents and enjoying his teammates' repeated "666" messages, Coulson suddenly asked, "So you're from the famous Shadow Army? Are you its leader?"

"The Shadow Army only has me, so of course I'm the leader." Lu Qi watched the game screen and could not help sighing. Agents really could do anything. Maybe he should have Fury send a few people to help him rank up in the future?

Coulson froze for a moment and was shot dead by an enemy. Ignoring the other side's frantic crouching over his corpse, Coulson silently memorized the other player's ID and planned to investigate him later.

When Lu Qi saw his thirty-something kills and zero deaths turn into one death, he felt deeply disappointed. A Ninja Soldier silently appeared behind Coulson, pressing a gleaming katana against his neck.

"Oh, who is this?" Coulson looked at the Ninja Soldier who had appeared without a sound, already having a guess in his heart.

"My subordinate. And by the way, they're the Shadow Army." Lu Qi introduced them as though showing off treasures.

Ninja Soldiers emerged from the shadows one after another. Soon, countless Ninja Soldiers filled the cramped room.

"So it really is only you, sir." Coulson's expression remained unchanged, and he even made a joke. "Then why did you have them kill people?"

"I'm basically undocumented. I just got here, and I have no money or place to live." Lu Qi spread his hands helplessly. "You saw it just now. That big shot wouldn't let me stay with her and kicked me back here."

"Oh, do you need us to arrange identification documents for you?" Coulson ignored the latter part. There was obviously some sort of trap in that statement. If he asked about it, he might get assassinated by this man with portal technology.

Lu Qi nodded. That was exactly what he had been waiting to hear!

His current residence was in Hell's Kitchen, where he did not need identification. As long as he paid on time, nobody here cared who he was.

Besides, without identification, he did not even have a bank account. When ordering takeout, he still used some unlucky person's phone, and every order was cash on delivery.

"Sure. How much will it cost? Don't make it too expensive." A Ninja Soldier opened a small room, and a pile of cash came tumbling out, though most of it was in small denominations.

A coin rolled to Coulson's feet. Coulson set down the controller, and the match ended at that moment. Of his team's hundred-plus kills, more than fifty had been Coulson's. A crowd of people were furiously cursing "cheater" in the public chat.

Coulson stood up. "Then I'll head back and arrange your identification documents."

Coulson left the apartment. Lu Qi made no move and even had the Ninja Soldiers clear a path for him.

As Coulson watched the Ninja Soldiers shrink back into the shadows, he cursed inwardly at the Special Operations Team for not arriving yet. He opened the door and walked down the stairs, only to find elite-equipped agents lying all over the stairwell.

When he turned around, he saw Lu Qi standing in the doorway, with pairs of red eyes emerging from the shadows behind him.

Lu Qi returned to the living room. He was not afraid of S.H.I.E.L.D. coming after him, since he had only ordered the Ninja Soldiers to knock those people unconscious rather than kill them.

If S.H.I.E.L.D. was not stupid, they should be able to sense the friendly signal he had released and promptly deliver his identification documents.

He turned back, picked up the controller, and prepared to continue playing, only to see a message on the screen: 'Your performance has been determined to fluctuate excessively. Your account has been suspended.'

"Damn it!"

"You're saying he didn't kill anyone and only knocked them unconscious?" Coulson was reporting this trip to Fury. Fury's single eye gleamed as he calculated like an Old Fox.

Being able to silently knock out an entire S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Operations Team meant this man was not weak.

Although this Special Operations Team did not rank particularly high within the agency, knocking every one of them unconscious still required some skill.

Fury took out the information from this incident, his one eye continually sweeping over the key details.

"This time, you were used as a weapon. Next, the real aggrieved party should appear to deal with Lu Qi. You can go lend them a hand and sell them a favor. As for the identification documents, since he has such abilities and hasn't caused trouble recklessly, give him a... security consultant badge first."

Lu Qi was currently gloomily waiting for the result of his appeal. Otherwise, he could not even play the game.

He exchanged all the resources he had mined during this period through the system for Ninja Soldiers. He now had nearly ninety Ninja Soldiers.

And based on the usual nature of idle games, once he reached one hundred, he would unlock the next type of soldier. He could also strengthen the Ninja Soldiers on top of their existing foundation, multiplying their power several times over.

After calming himself down a little, he suddenly felt a bad premonition.

He turned to look out the window and saw a rocket flying toward him.