"When we get the Infinity Gauntlet and snap our fingers, couldn't we use that power to fish Ryan out of the river of time while we're at it?"
Captain America's suggestion had some merit. Tony nodded in agreement.
Only Hawkeye looked worried. "If we change time and reality so casually, won't there be consequences?"
Tony looked at him in surprise. "The moment we traveled into the past, that trip became part of the future. The consequences have already begun."
With saving Ryan in mind, the group prepared for a second journey through time.
Meanwhile, in a time and place too distant to reach, Ryan stood inside Kamar-Taj's lost library.
He returned the books to their shelves one by one. Roughly a day had passed.
He had committed every book there to memory. Besides all manner of magic, the library held two techniques that bordered on the divine.
Ryan had learned them both.
The first could bring the dead back to life, though it required an enormous amount of energy.
The second could supply that energy: absorption. It let him absorb other beings to gain their power, like a magical version of the Beiming Divine Skill.
Ryan had several options.
After putting away every book, he sat in an open space in the library and folded his arms to think.
He could absorb the life on this planet, turning everything into chocolate like Majin Buu.
But Ryan couldn't bring himself to do that. He only wanted enough power to live as he pleased, like Homelander. He had never wanted to hurt anyone.
Besides, the energy from individual lives would amount to little. What he really needed to absorb were extraterrestrial beings.
The Multiverse was full of beings far beyond ordinary life. Those magnificent creatures were Ryan's targets.
Once he had a