It worked

"There's nothing wrong with that thing of yours, is there?"

The Ancient One leaned toward Mercer and asked with some uncertainty. They were facing an immensely powerful being, someone even she dared not treat lightly.

If anything was wrong with the little ball Mercer had given her, both of them could die here.

"Relax, I didn't tamper with it." The first half of Mercer's reply let the Ancient One breathe a sigh of relief, but the second made her scalp prickle. "It's just an energy bomb that could blow a medium-sized city to pieces."

"A medium-sized city? You gave her something like that to eat?!"

There was genuine horror in the Ancient One's voice. If anyone else had claimed it could destroy a medium-sized city, she would have scoffed.

But Mercer was the one saying it, and she had little reason to doubt him.

Seeing how nervous she looked, Mercer gave a faint smile. "Relax. This thing might be dangerous to us, but it isn't to her.

"It's pure energy. If it explodes, of course it only does harm. Swallow it with a weak constitution, and it'll burst you apart. But what if the person swallowing it already lives by absorbing energy?"

Mercer stopped there, and the Ancient One understood.

Of course. To an ordinary person, it would be as dangerous as a nuclear bomb. But the girl before them lived by absorbing energy. For her, it might bring nothing but benefits.

While the two chatted, the girl had already recovered, excitement showing on her face.

"This orb of yours is amazing! It has as much energy as ten slimes I'd have to track down!"

Mercer grinned, while inwardly he felt as though ten thousand alpacas had trampled through his mind.

Only ten?

I condensed lightning into that Lightning Orb without holding anything back. What I just told the Ancient One was actually an understatement.

It was true that this Lightning Orb could destroy a medium-sized city, but he could actually produce more.

When Mercer condensed the orb, he had still felt plenty of energy left in him. Throwing out seven or eight at once would be no problem.

So, with the right placement, he could even destroy a large city.

The girl hesitated. She could sense that the energy in the Lightning Orb was completely different from anything she had absorbed before.

Its composition was on an entirely different level. If it had been an ordinary mass of energy, she could easily have found it herself.

The energy contained in Mercer's Lightning Orb was far too unusual, its intensity far, far greater than the energy she could find in the universe.

Although she craved the Lightning Orb, she hadn't lost her reason and agreed on the spot.

"If I follow you, will I get to eat these things? You won't make me do anything bad, will you?"

"Of course I won't make you do anything bad. Honestly, one of my abilities is also 'eating things.' With you around, I'll have an easier time finding whatever I want to eat." Mercer smiled as he spoke.

But the way he tossed the Lightning Orb in his hand made him look just like a creepy older man. Watching from beside him, the Ancient One was speechless. He actually dared to keep a being like this at his side.

Was he a promising young talent, or just too ignorant to be afraid?

Hesitation appeared on the girl's face, and Mercer quietly waited beside her for an answer.

Honestly, Mercer was a little nervous too. If he could get the girl to stay, she would undoubtedly be a tremendous safeguard for him in this universe with its altered timeline.

That was why Mercer wanted to do everything he could to keep her around. If something happened in the future that he couldn't handle, she would be an incredible trump card.

"Then you can't keep putting off feeding me, okay?"

Her words made the corners of Mercer's mouth rise despite himself.

It worked!

"Hehe, no problem. Leave it to me." He would gain more abilities in the future, so keeping the girl fed shouldn't be a problem. At that thought, Mercer suddenly realized he still didn't know her name.

"Right, I'm Alex Mercer. What's your name?"

"My name is Galacta."

"Galacta. Nice name. All right, since everything's settled, let's head back. Talking out here in the middle of nowhere is a hassle." Mercer turned toward the Ancient One.

The Ancient One considered it for a few seconds. "Back to the Sanctum?"

"Of course. I've barely learned any of your magic yet. A Sling Ring alone isn't enough." Mercer took out his Sling Ring, opened a portal, and walked through with Galacta.

Mercer had won over such a mighty being so easily, leaving the Ancient One standing alone in the wind, utterly bewildered.

"I'll never understand the world of foodies."

With a sigh, the Ancient One opened a portal with her Sling Ring and left as well.

After an unknown stretch of silence, extremely tiny green particles began emerging from the soil where the slime had been. One, then two...

Countless green particles flowed in from every direction as though guided by intelligence. After a little over an hour, they coalesced into a dark green slime the size of a soccer ball...

The blob stared in the direction Mercer and the others had left, then finally wriggled away in the opposite direction.

Back at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Mercer threw himself into studying magic.

Although he didn't particularly like magic, preferring attacks that came from giving energy physical form or strengthening his body.

Magic required chanting, and all of that was a hassle.

"Ancient One, do you sorcerers all cultivate your own magical power?" Mercer turned toward the Ancient One, who was brewing tea nearby, as he leafed through a magic book.

The Ancient One poured Galacta a cup of tea. "Not entirely. Our human bodies can't actively connect with the universe's energy. Although we can absorb tiny amounts of cosmic energy through meditation and convert it into magical power.

"But that method is far, far too slow. So we make contracts with beings from other dimensions, or open dimensional gateways directly to absorb their energy and convert it into magical power."

As she spoke, the Ancient One glanced at Mercer.

Only the Ancient One and Mercer understood what that glance meant.

She meant that the energy the Ancient One used to sustain her immortality was absorbed from Dormammu.

Through human cultivation alone, a person could at most extend their lifespan to a hundred and twenty or thirty years. Living for centuries was simply impossible.

"Absorbing energy from beings in other dimensions?"

Leafing through the magic book in his hands, Mercer felt no objection to absorbing magical power from beings in other dimensions. Instead, he was rather curious.

He didn't want to pursue the path of magic. He had agreed to the Ancient One's request because of a system mission: if Doctor Strange turned evil, he would have to step in and deal with him.

He was reading here now because he wanted to find magic similar to summoning spells.

After all, he still remembered that his foundational ability was the blacklight virus. If he summoned beings from other dimensions and devoured them with the blacklight virus...

Mercer's strength would increase tremendously. Then he would stand a fighting chance even against those ancient gods.

As he pondered the matter, he condensed the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's energy into Lightning Orbs, tossing them to Galacta from time to time.

She caught the Lightning Orbs, as happy as a little girl receiving candy.

Watching the two get along so harmoniously, the Ancient One felt her entire outlook on life being rewritten.

A being of such immense power really had stayed here so obediently.