Preparing for Expedition

"Pitiful..." Hearing Loki's words, Thanos did not mock him again. Instead, he shook his head, finding the other man both pitiful and tragic.

Loki had wholeheartedly sought Odin's recognition, yet from beginning to end, Odin had merely treated him as a pawn to control the Frost Giants.

Odin had even given Loki hope that he could stand on equal footing with him, only to crush that hope in the end and cast him into a cosmic Wormhole.

As Odin had grown old, he seemed to have become kinder and no longer launched wars at will. But that was only because he had obtained the Eye of Wisdom and learned of the Celestial Gods' existence, forcing him to suppress his ambitions and begin relying on schemes and cunning.

One had to know that when Odin was young, he had even sealed his own biological daughter, Hela, in the underworld because he feared her achievements would overshadow his own. He had not hesitated to sacrifice all the Valkyries to do so.

This showed that before Odin, all familial affection and all lives could be sacrificed for his power.

Would someone like that become better? The sun rising in the west would be more likely.

As the saying went, it was not that old people turned bad; bad people simply grew old.

To claim that Odin had become good because he was old was simply a cosmic joke.

When Loki saw the pitying look on Thanos' face, he immediately became agitated like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"What does that expression mean?! Are you pitying me?! What's so pitiful about me?! I am Asgard's future Wong, the future overlord of the universe! When the time comes, all of you will kneel at my feet!"

Watching the other man roar as though he had gone mad, Thanos frowned and said unhappily, "Enough. Put away those little schemes of yours, God of Mischief."

How could someone known as the God of Mischief possibly lose his mind over just a few words?

He was merely deliberately exposing a flaw in his heart, making others believe they could control him.

Over the past five hundred years, Thanos had seen plenty of people who considered themselves clever.

When Loki heard Thanos call him the God of Mischief, he immediately understood that his little scheme had been seen through.

His expression instantly returned to calm as he said lightly, "Tell me. What will it take for you to let me go?"

Though Loki seemed to have accepted his fate, Thanos did not answer immediately.

He knew this fellow was definitely not an easy pawn to use.

While Thanos was using Loki, wasn't Loki also using him?

Therefore, with someone like this, he could only be used, never exploited.

After thinking for a while, he said, "I don't need you to do anything. You only need to obediently serve as a bargaining chip."

He had only come this time to confirm whether the other man truly was Loki.

When Thanos left the room without hesitation, Loki finally became genuinely anxious.

"Wait! I have value! I can bring you the Infinity Stones! I know where the Space Stone is..."

But no matter how he shouted, Thanos remained resolute and left without looking back.

After confirming that he had indeed found Loki, Thanos summoned his other three subordinates.

Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, and Supergiant.

Together with Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive, the three of them were known as the Black Order.

They were also Thanos' capable assistants, allowing him to continue expanding his forces while constantly cultivating himself.

Once the Black Order had all returned, he launched a Level One war mobilization.

A Level One war mobilization meant that all civilian activities and resources had to yield to the war effort.

First, he dragged ten meteors roughly ten thousand kilometers in diameter around the Black Hole and built interstellar War Fortresses upon them.

These Space Fortresses represented the pinnacle of Thanos' current technology.

If their shields were activated, he... well, would probably need ten moves to destroy one.

Since he had never tried it, he was not entirely sure and could only make a rough estimate.

Next, he ordered the planets under his command to increase their population growth rates.

This was in preparation for the coming war against the Asgardians.

A war between two powers naturally would not be like in the movies, where a few leaders slaughtered one another and the victor became Wong.

That was only because movie runtimes were limited and the stories had to cater to the market, so everything was presented simply.

In a cosmic war between forces like Asgard and his own, the number of subordinates killed would be at least hundreds of millions. If the fighting dragged on, even tens of billions or trillions could die.

Increasing the population in advance could effectively ease the pressure of future war.

After all the preparations were complete, the next step was naturally to manufacture all kinds of cosmic Spaceships at full capacity.

His goal was to assemble a fleet of ten thousand cosmic Spaceships within a year.

More than a year passed quickly.

Inside Sanctuary.

Thanos sat upon the throne at the highest level, calmly looking down at his five subordinates.

After more than a year of training, their strength still did not satisfy him, but they had improved considerably.

They probably would not be instantly killed like minor cannon fodder in the movies anymore.

After a while, he had several subordinates bring him his weapons: Tyrant's Blade and Tyrant Armor.

Tyrant's Blade was a two-meter-long double-edged weapon formed from two one-meter-long broad blades, its main component being Adamantium.

That was why it could chop apart Captain America's shield with just a few strikes in the movies.

After all, Adamantium was a metal even harder than Vibranium.

Tyrant Armor was golden overall, marked with black patterns. Besides its extremely strong physical defense, its magical resistance was also formidable.

In addition to Adamantium, its main components included a certain amount of Uru.

It was this Uru that provided its magical resistance.

In the movies, although the Scarlet Witch in her berserk state had overwhelmed Thanos, the Tyrant Armor prevented her from killing him immediately. That gave him the opportunity to have Sanctuary II launch an indiscriminate attack.

After equipping himself, Thanos raised his head, swung Tyrant's Blade a few times, then pointed it toward the sky.

"A new round of war has begun. Are you ready?"

The Black Order immediately dropped to one knee and shouted.

"My lord is our guide. Wherever your gaze falls is the target of our conquest."

"We swear to follow in my lord's footsteps until the end of the world, until the universe is united."

"We are my lord's most loyal servants!"

After the Black Order delivered their impassioned oath, the surrounding subordinates also dropped to one knee and began to swear allegiance.

Among them were the Dark Order's bioengineered soldiers, Chitauri, Titans, and many others.