If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https://www.patreón.com/cornbringer
Now with audio chaps! Starting in chap 170, for those with bad sight.
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/XHduApz
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After inviting Bucky to our leveling group, I moved to invite the next person on the list, the Ancient One.
The woman that had filled many roles in my life, she had been a teacher, a counselor, a friend, and above all, a trusted ally. I needed her, in more ways than one, without me even noticing she had become an irreplaceable part of my life.
So here I was, knocking outside her office door, waiting for her to answer.
"Alex," The Ancient One greeted me, opening the door with a wave of her hand.
"Hi," I smiled at her, walking into her office.
"So, what brings you here today?" The Ancient One asked as I took a seat.
"Well… I'll go to the point," I sighed, "Do you want to become stronger,"
"I'm in," The Ancient One nodded.
As I stood there like the Pikachu meme, looking at her.
"Alex, I have noticed the growth within you, within Thor," She smiled, "And it flatters me you have decided to offer me, what you have offered, your brother,"
I laughed.
"Well, that was fast," I sighed with a smile.
"Well, the older you get, the less time you like to waste, besides, why would I even need to think of such an offer?" The Ancient One chuckled.
"I mean, you don't really know what I'm offering," For all she knew, I could've been offering something dark, and yet she accepted right away.
"Mr. Walker, I know you, I trust you, isn't the time stone in your hands enough proof of that?" She replied.
"I guess I'm lucky then," I smiled at her.
"Indeed you are," The Ancient One shot back with a playful wink.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Bucky and the Ancient One already on board, it was time to invite the last member of my leveling group, Sif, my girlfriend.
So, eager to recruit her, I opened a portal to Asgard to where she currently was, the training grounds.
"Alex!" Sif waved at me, being the first one to notice the portal opening in the middle of the training ground.
"Sif," I waved back, as Sif trotted towards me, leaving the rest of the Asgardians around to train without her.
"What brings you here?" Sif asked, jumping into my arms.
"Well, first, this," I replied, giving her a kiss, "Now with that out of the way, we can talk,"
"Or kiss more," Sif winked.
"That for later, for right now, I have a proposition for you," I smiled, giving her another kiss, just because.
Sif smiled, "What proposition, dear boyfriend?"
"Well, how would you like to become stronger?" I replied.
"Well… seeing how I train every day, I suppose very much," Sif chuckled.
"Well, what I'm offering you is something far more effective than traditional training," I nodded.
Sif paused, giving me a long look, before she asked, "What?"
"Can't really explain, but long story short, you'll get more results in a month, than a year out here," I replied.
"That sounds like a scam, but seeing as the proposition it's coming from you, and how strong you currently are, well, I have no other choice but to believe you," Sif replied, looking at the training grounds, "Thor is doing what you're offering me, right?"
"Yes," I nodded.
"Well then," Sif smiled, giving me a long aggressive kiss, "I'm in," she added, breaking the kiss for a moment before she started kissing me once again.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three hours later, where Sif and I trained, other things, I was ready to go back to earth with her, first, of course, I had to clear her with Odin, who gave her permission to stay on earth for as long as she needed, clearing her of any responsibilities on Asgard, for the moment.
After clearing her with Odin.
Well, I opened a portal to my house, where the rest of the team was waiting to start.
"Sif!" Thor barked with a grin, "I'm so glad you're here!"
"Same," Sif smiled.
"A group of five," The Ancient One commented, "It's been a while since I'm not the oldest person in the room,"
I chuckled, remembering that Thor and Sif were indeed older than her.
"Thor is a toddler a best," Bucky snorted.
"HEY!" Thor shot back in indignation, as he whispered to Sif a question, "What's a toddler?"
"Thor… how can you… nevermind," Sif sighed in exasperation.
"Anyway, are you all ready?" I asked.
"Yes," The Ancient One nodded.
"Always," Bucky nodded with a grin, cocking his gun.
"You already know brother!" Thor beamed.
"What the big oaf said," Sif chuckled.
"Alrighty then, let's kick some ass!" I chuckled, opening a portal to where the dungeon I had in mind to do was.
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[?????????? POV]
Things were about to get heavy for Alex.
The Beyonder was like a child, once he was fixated in something, in someone, your only hope to survive, to pass his stupid tests, and hope something else gets his attention.
Nonetheless.
The Beyonder had picked a curious individual to be the target of his attention, someone with untold power within them.
I was almost tempted to say, The Beyonder was playing with things he didn't understand, all in the stupid hope of finding something to complete him.
Who knows, if the multiverse happens to be on luck, Alex might just be the one ending that spoiled brat once and for all.
"Will we help Alex?" My companion asked.
I shook my head, "A battle between The Beyonder and me would only result in the end of this universe, besides, right now, he's not acting, not directly, he wishes to push Alex, meaning I have no reason to intervene,"
Besides, I wasn't sure I could even kill the Beyonder.
"Perhaps this little test from The Beyonder will finally break the limiters Alex has put on himself," My companion sighed.
"Hardly," I shook my head, "But, it will push him towards that direction, which is exactly what The Beyonder wants,"
"I will never understand you all-mighty beings," My companion sighed, "If anything Alex would be a threat, and yet, all of you want to see him grow,"
"The top is lonely," I chuckled, "And a challenge is always welcomed,"
If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https://www.patreón.com/cornbringer
Now with audio chaps! Starting in chap 170, for those with bad sight.
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/XHduApz
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[The Beyonder POV]
[Three months later]
Finally, after three earth months of wait, The One Above All was focused on something else, fighting the inner struggle of his alter ego One Bellow All.
Meaning, I was free to do as I pleased.
Free to set the stage for the games that were about to unfold.
The Beyonder Games.
I already had everything I needed.
The freedom to act, and my champions.
Created by my own power.
Reinhard.
Solomon.
The Spartan.
Dorothy.
And, their leader, Morpheus.
My champions, against Alex and his team.
"This will be so fun!" I grinned.
Now all that was left to do, was creating the stage, the grand terrain where this battle, this test, this tournament would be played.
Easy enough.
With the One Above All otherwise occupied with his inner yearly fight, well, I was free to do as I pleased.
Meaning that setting the stage, was but a simple task.
I would create a world, a dimension for this event.
"Time to start the games," I laughed, wondering if Alex and his team would pass this test, or perish trying, the possibilities were endless.
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Alex Walker POV]
The moment I invited Sif, Bucky, and The Ancient One to my party, I discovered something, each person gave the entire group a 25% EXP boost.
Needless to say, at the time, I was elated to see this, from an extra 25% of EXP to 100%, it was a big jump.
Especially considering the boost, boosted all EXP, including the one the Golems were farming for me.
With that thought in mind, I decided to leave the party forever on, after modifying some settings, to avoid party members annoying each other.
Anyway.
Since then, I had leveled up quite a few times.
Nearing the gap between me, and the most immediate threat, Thanos, more and more.
Heck, if things continued like they were going, with my leveling group and I, doing daily dungeons and such, I was sure to reach Thanos level in less than a year.
Of course, for that to happen, I had first to level up my other companions.
Because while it was true I was leveling up quite fast, well, I was doing lower level dungeons, because Sif and Bucky limited the options we had.
But I was certain that in no time, I would help them close that gap, opening more challenging dungeons.
[Party
Alex Walker - LV 321
Thor Odinson - LV 318
The Ancient One - LV 251
Sif - LV 189
Bucky - LV 177]
Maybe doing some low-level raids would provide more EXP, and help them close that gap.
"Brother!" Thor called, snapping me out of my long reverie.
"Yes?" I asked, turning to look at him, wondering what he wanted.
"I'm ready to kill more monsters!" Thor grinned, of course, he wanted that, he had a one-track mind.
"I'm down," Bucky said, walking into my room, "Like Thor said, killing monsters is therapeutic,"
"Alright," I nodded, "Let me talk with Sif and The Ancient One first,"
"Huzzah!" Thor grinned, skipping out of my room like a little girl on the flower camp.
"Was that perturbing, or was it just me?" Bucky muttered.
"It was," I nodded.
"Good," Bucky nodded.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After lunch, I used the party communication system to inform the Ancient One of our plans, to which she agreed immediately.
These last months, I had come to learn, The Ancient One had a rather adventurous spirit, that mixed with her scholar-like attitude, she was fascinated with my power, and how it created pocket dimensions, stable ones, so much, that she never missed a dungeon, ever.
"So, more monsters to kill?" Sif asked with a battle-thirsty grin.
"Stronger ones," I nodded, "We are doing a low-level raid, which is like a dungeon, but one that went to the gym and got jacked,"
"Seeing that rather simplistic analogy, I think it's safe to assume this raid you speak of is considerably more difficult than the ones we have been doing so far," The Ancient One added.
"By a lot," I nodded, "Dungeons are made for one person, raids require groups," I sighed at my elaboration.
"I see," The Ancient One mused with a smile, "I can't wait to see how this dimension differs from the rest we have seen so far,"
"And you were keeping those hidden! Brother how could you!" Thor gasped, "There was a challenge in front of us! And you didn't tell me! The nerve!"
"I first wanted to increase our overall strength as a team," I rolled my eyes at him.
"In other words, the rest of us would've died if we tried one, right?" Bucky sighed, catching on.
"Yes, beyond me, Thor and The Ancient One, I was not sure the rest was ready for a raid," I nodded, "Raids have mechanics, and other things, that require each member to be able to survive on its own, dungeons are more linear, you kill monsters, and proceed, here it's different,"
"Are we ready now?" Sif asked, looking around.
"Yes," I nodded, I had, after all, picked a raid that benefited Sif and Bucky most of all.
"Then lets us embark on this brotherly journey!" Thor declared grinning from cheek to cheek.
"Brotherly?" The Ancient One muttered, raising an eyebrow.
"Thor, there are two females in the group," Sif sighed, rolling her eyes.
"And? Brotherhood goes beyond gender!" Thor replied with an impossibly large smile.
"Please, let's just go do the raid, before I get an aneurysm out of sheer stupidity," Bucky sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Wow Bucky, didn't think you were that stupid," Thor replied with an innocent look.
"I… ugg," Bucky muttered, at a loss for words.
I laughed at the unexpected dragon ball abridged reference, "That was an unexpected comeback from the God of Thunder, one I'm glad I happened to witness,"
"Enough banter children, we have things to do," The Ancient One chuckled.
"Indeed we have," I nodded, opening the door to the raid, eager to start.
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