After Stark finished speaking, without giving Meikyō and the Ancient One a chance to say goodbye, he casually drew a circle, forming a magic circle around himself, and broke through space to teleport himself into the rift of spacetime.
"Okay, let's start eating."
The Ancient One looked at the spot where Tony had disappeared and said.
Everyone has their own choices and responsibilities. Tony Stark, as the Sorcerer Supreme, made a mistake and naturally has to pay for it with his life. The deal between the Meikyō and the other party was also a mutual agreement. Anyway, by then he will be with Eternity, so none of this will concern him anymore.
Wang had already placed the dishes on the table.
"Master the Ancient One, Master Meikyō, this is Kung Pao Chicken, this is Chongqing Spicy Chicken, this is Dongpo Pork Knuckle..."
Wang's culinary skills are truly exceptional.
After a hearty meal, the Ancient One led Meikyō into a secret room.
"The Space Stone will take some time to arrive. The Rainbow Bridge in Asgard has been destroyed. Although Odin's Gungnir also has the ability to teleport, he is currently in Odin's Sleep and needs to suppress the increasingly violent Odin Force. However, he promised that within six months, Thor, the crown prince of Asgard, will bring the Space Stone to Earth. He also brought Odin's conditions, which need to be fulfilled after you become the Sorcerer Supreme."
Meikyō nodded, indicating that she understood.
It has been a month and a half since I came to the Marvel Universe. If I wait another six months, there will still be four and a half months left until the one-year deadline.
It should be fine.
"Then there are the Mind Stone and the Time Stone. I will activate the Eye of Agamotto in a moment to let you peek into the future of the universe. However, you should be aware that the Mind Stone is an item of the same level as the Time Stone. We cannot fully peek into everything about the future of the Mind Stone. We can only explore at the most recent important time-space nodes and select a suitable time range. As for a more precise time, you will have to find the opportunity yourself around the Mind Stone."
As the Ancient One spoke, she sat cross-legged on the futon and gestured for Meikyō to sit on the futon in front of her.
"The Eye of Agamotto is a magical artifact created to better control the Time Stone. It carries the All-Seeing Eye bestowed by Agamotto, which can see through all disguises and illusions and dismantle them. Even without the Time Stone, wherever the light of the Eye of Agamotto shines, it can summon past images through light and can also emit lasers that suppress the power of the dark side. It is the most important artifact of the Sorcerer Supreme throughout history."
The Ancient One removed the Eye of Agamotto from her neck and placed it between the two of them.
"Drip a drop of your blood onto this, and I will give you one-third of the artifact's authority. This way, we can both use the Time Stone together. In order not to affect spacetime, we will travel to the future through an invisible Astral Projection. I will teach you the method."
Meikyō made a sword-finger gesture with his right hand and used his sword energy to barely poke a small cut on one of the fingers of his left hand.
Although the small wound healed completely in less than a second, a drop of blood was still squeezed out with difficulty and dripped onto the Eye of Agamotto.
"Use your consciousness to connect with your blood, and let the blood seep into the magical artifact to strengthen your control over it during the refining process."
The Ancient One spoke up to remind him.
A dozen seconds later, the blood on the Eye of Agamotto gradually disappeared.
"Very good. Now, look at me with your eyes and copy my movements and the flow of energy within your body."
The Ancient One spread out his hands, and two green lights shone from his palms, connecting with the Eye of Agamotto and turning into two constantly rotating circles that fit onto his hands. His body also floated up from the futon.
The Meikyō copied the Ancient One's appearance, made the same movements, and then separated a part of its consciousness, transforming it into Astral Projection, which flew into the opened Eye of Agamotto.
This is a rather strange and magnificent scene.
When using the Destiny Reading, the Meikyō can only glimpse a corner of the future, like watching a VR video from a third-party perspective, and it requires consuming pupil power to make the video move.
Here, it's as if countless VR videos have been stitched together to form a tunnel, surrounded by flowing, fantastical lights.
"Is this... a time tunnel?"
Meikyō looked at the Ancient One and asked her.
"Yes and no. We are indeed in the flow of time, but we cannot perceive time completely and accurately. That is something that only higher-dimensional beings can do. So what we see now is what has evolved in a form that four-dimensional beings like us can understand. I think, therefore I am. What you see depends on all the information contained in your own soul and the feedback you make based on your perception. Everyone is different, so what you see and what I see will definitely be different, even though we are all here now."
The Ancient One explained with a smile.
"Well... since we're seeing different things, won't we get lost like this?"
"No, no, no, you can see me, and I can see you. What we see of each other now should be our real appearances. Everything you see here is fixed. No matter which way we go, it's the same. And as long as we both have normal thinking and possess the thoughts, consciousness, values, etc. of a normal human being, then although there are differences between what we see, they are not that big. After all, in the face of the entire Multiverse, you and I are equally insignificant."
The Ancient One took the lead and led Meikyō forward.
"The path we are on now is actually an abstraction of time. Everything you see around you can also be understood as the topology of the entire static universe. You don't need to worry about getting lost in spacetime, because the Eye of Agamotto will use the Time Stone to help us anchor ourselves with our physical bodies left at the original point in time. Aha, I see what you are looking for."
As soon as she finished speaking, the Ancient One reached into a corner of the room, Setsuna, everything around her froze.
The Ancient One held a yellow gem in her hand. Centered on the Ancient One, the surrounding light quickly faded, turning into a laboratory radiating white light.
"The time here is November 2012, which is two months from now."
Meikyō looked at the alarm clock hanging on the wall.
The yellow Mind Stone is being installed in a high-tech instrument and studied by Hydra.
In the lab, seven or eight people were busy working in front of computers, testing and analyzing data obtained from experiments using the Mind Stone.
A man wearing a Glasses sat in a chair, holding a glass of red wine, sipping it elegantly while listening to his subordinate's report.
"The funds that we had our eye on were misappropriated by Nick Fury yesterday, under the pretext of using them to upgrade the Quinjet. However, the estimated cost given by our people in the research department was $821 million, but Nick Fury transferred all of that $1.1 billion away."
"This guy is even greedier than us Hydra. Pass the information to Alexander Pierce. Our gem research here can't stop. Tell him to find a way to get another batch of funds. We also need to give Nick Fury a warning so he won't be greedy for a while."
Baron Strucker downed his wine in one gulp and then gave instructions to his men.
"Yes, Mr. Strucker, but..."
"Just what?"
"However, we have spent nearly a billion US dollars in this month but have not yet achieved any results. The other leaders have a lot of complaints, especially Madame Hydra, who has refused to inject the next batch of funds."
"A short-sighted woman."
Baron Strucker sighed.
Just then, a figure in a white coat walked quickly in from outside.
"The forty-sixth batch of test subjects has yielded results! There's a pair of twins! They survived the full-power gem energy radiation! And they've become different!"
"Different? In what way are they different?"
Baron Strucker looked at the newcomer and asked.
"They've become... just like those monsters in New York a month and a half ago!"
"That's what the Hydra scientist in the white lab coat explained."
"Like Captain America?"
"My lord, you might as well set your expectations a little higher."
The Hydra scientist replied with a smile.
On a level unseen by the two, the Astral Projections of the Ancient One and the Meikyō were standing beside them, chatting as well.
"This should be the most important time point regarding the Mind Stone in the next year or two. At other times, Hydra will likely use it frequently for experiments, and you'll have to put it back when they're conducting experiments. Also, there will be another extremely important time point for the Mind Stone in 2015. After that, you'll likely have very little chance to come into contact with Mind Stone again."
The Ancient One gave instructions to Meikyō.
"I understand. I will come back here two months later to use Genjutsu to control the people here, and also to study the Mind Stone until the Crown Prince of Asgard brings the Space Stone."
During the conversation, the two figures gradually faded away, returning to their own time and space.
How are you feeling?
Before the prayer mat, the Ancient One asked Meikyō with a kind expression.
"I have some insights. My eyes also have the ability to touch the soul and time, so the Astral Projection I just projected could probably hold about 30% of my main eye power. Therefore, I did gain some insights."
Meikyō picked up the teacup beside her and tossed it into the air.
The teacup seemed to float slowly on the moon, where gravity is extremely weak. When it reached its highest point, it slowly descended again, but only halfway down before it started free fall again, and was finally caught by Meikyō's hand.
"You slowed down the time on the teacup?"
The Ancient One's eyes lit up with surprise.
"I still used a trace of my eye power as a trigger, but I do have a better understanding of time now, which is hard to explain. It allows me to better influence time in conjunction with my original abilities, and the consumption is greatly reduced. Perhaps if I persist, I can use acceleration and delay of time as a common method. In the end, I should be able to have characteristics independent of the timeline, like those Multiverse- level powerhouses, and see a relatively distant future without using the Time Stone."
Meikyō thought for two seconds and then explained.
The compatibility between myself and the Time Stone seems to be really high.
The two time-related Dojutsu, Water World and Destiny Reading, served as catalysts for his understanding of the Time Stone and pointed him in a certain direction.
Now, it only requires far less eye power than before to cast these two Dojutsu. Later on, these two Dojutsu can even be turned into ordinary Ninjutsu, which can be used as long as there is energy in the body.
So, it seems that I have a high compatibility with the Space Stone.
"You also have a high level of expertise in space. When you obtain the Space Stone, you should be able to quickly grasp some of its rules. I just don't know how well you are compatible with the Reality Stone. As long as you can master the rules represented by these three stones to a certain extent, you will be able to replace the underlying structure of this universe with yourself to a certain extent and turn this spacetime into your dimension."
The Ancient One took the cup, and a green light flashed in his palm, instantly filling the cup with tea.
This is the Silver Needle White Tea I brewed yesterday.
"At that time, you will have stepped into the threshold of the Multiverse level and have the ability to contend with the Gods of the Multiverse. However, I do not recommend that you replace the underlying structure of the universe with yourself so early. Instead, use it as your trump card and ultimate goal."
What do you mean?
Meikyō asked, puzzled.
"Do you think Dormammu's Dark Dimension possesses the Infinity Stones? Can his power compare to the combined power of the six stones?"
The Ancient One took a sip of tea and asked Meikyō in return.
"Naturally, they are worlds apart. You mean that as long as I refine this universe into my own dimension, the Infinity Stones disappear because I will take their place in the universe?"
Meikyō quickly understood what the Ancient One meant.
"That makes sense. However, even if you don't refine this universe by then, your essence will still be at the level of Multiverse God. It's just that you won't have your own dimension, so you won't be able to call upon the vast power of an entire dimension, and you won't be able to fully unleash the power of Multiverse God. To give another example of Dormammu can only possess the power of Multiverse God and project it into other universes when he is in his own Dark Dimension. This is somewhat similar to the Infinity Stones, which can only work within their own universes and won't work outside. Therefore, every time Dormammu wants to invade other universes, he needs to find a guide to act as a transit point for his energy and consciousness to descend."
"So, even if I can't defeat Dormammu, as long as I don't stay in his Dark Dimension for too long, I can easily escape unscathed?"
Meikyō asked the Ancient One.
The Ancient One nodded in affirmation.
"That's why I didn't stop you from signing a contract with Stark, because you really have the ability to do it."