บท 596: Dark Kamar Taj
After learning about the future and the limited time available, Edward knew it would be impossible to train countless new sorcerers using the same system as back home. Although the Tier System is powerful, it also takes time and a lot of resources. So, he opted for a better solution.
The Sorcerers in this world focus more on skills. If someone is talented or skilled enough and has the right resources (i.e., dimension or energy), they can achieve Tier 10 feats or even higher. So, he created a Mana Dimension for these Sorcerers to tap into unlimitedly. With this method, it will only take him a few decades to cultivate skilled Sorcerers with Tier 6,7,8, and maybe Tier 10 once Steven Strange joins in.
"One last thing," said Edward, and his voice brought everyone back to their senses. These sorcerers could not keep the smile from their faces; that dimension and its power were truly intoxicating. Edward raised his hand to show a small orange orb: "This is a soul orb with the ability to increase the strength of your soul and accelerate all your mystical skills or abilities. Everyone will receive 10 of them, but you must buy them afterward. I recommend you do so.
"Everyone is dismissed except for Kaecilius. You follow me."
The sorcerers slowly left, leaving only Kaecilius and Edward in the room. "What can I do for you?" Edward did not answer but looked at him intently for a few seconds: "I believe a man is at his strongest when he has suffered tremendous loss but cannot let go of it."
Kaecilius frowned but remained quiet.
"I once was such a man after losing my parents. So, I delved into magic, or the mystic art, to find answers," continued Edward, which deepened Kaecilius's eyes. "In one dimension, I found a system of Alchemy where they had developed homunculus. Although they were deformed rampaging monsters, their research was valuable. After improving upon it, I could now create any human body with the right genetic material."
Edward waved his hand to manifest two drops of blood. "Can you guess whose genetic material those are?" Kaecilius' body trembled; he wanted to say something, but the words could not escape his mouth. Edward directed the blood to the ground, where a magic circle appeared.
It then released electric impulses to signal the transmutation process, and after a few seconds, two bodies lay in the group: a woman and a young boy. Kaecilius almost fell to the ground as he looked at his wife and son — the two people he had spent years pawning after, wishing to see one last time — even if he gave his soul.
"Once I could reconstruct my parent's body, it was only an issue of the soul. Where did it go after their death? Was it possible to summon back to the world of the living? Or would I need to create a soul? If so, what about their memories? What should I do about that? Luckily, fate was on my side, and I succeeded in summoning their soul from the Afterlife."
Edward pointed in the air, and two phantoms appeared from a tear in the void. Kaecilius was already in tears as he recognized these souls, but Edward was calm, almost cold, and indifferent.
"The last step was simpler than the second: a perfect fusion between the soul and the new body." The souls entered the body, and Kaecilius rushed to them.
"Kae?" said Adria, and Kaecilius' eyes became red. How long had he heard her call him that?
"Father!"
"Cillian!"
"Cillian, is that you?" asked Adria. They had lost their child way before she died from the illness. She could not believe she would meet him again.
Bang!
Adria and Cillian's bodies suddenly dropped on the floor, becoming unresponsive. Then, their souls flew out of their bodies to disappear into the void. Their newly created bodies also disintegrated into particles.
"No!" roared Kaecilius. "Bring them back." He rushed toward Edward, but with one look, a terrifying pressure forced him to kneel. "This is what I'm talking about — that fire in your soul to do anything for your loved one." Edward looked at him, his eyes still terrifyingly calm.
"What price are you willing to pay to see them again?"
"Everything," said Kaecilius, his head bowed and tears streaming down his shirt. "I'll give you everything."
"That is not as valuable as you think, but that's a start." Edward pointed his finger at his temple to place a mark on the depth of his soul.
"Master, what is your command?" asked Kaecilius, who slowly wiped the tears from his face and looked Edward in the eyes.
"Despite their choices, the Sorcerers at Kamar Taj are still restricted by their morality. When push comes to shove, 95% of them would be unable to make the cruel choices, let alone do some dirty jobs. So, I need someone or a group that serves as our shadows — our dark side.
"You must leave Kamar Taj and recruit people like you: desperate people with that same fire in their soul. Your task will be to do the dirty things these sorcerers are unwilling to do. Can you do it?"
"I can."
"Excellent," nodded Edward. "The mark I gave you contained information on establishing your group, including how to establish a connection to the Gate of Truth. I also created a Dark Mana Dimension for you guys, but I should warn you Dark Mana will influence your mind and temperament; that's why I ask you to choose people like yourself since you usually have high willpower. However, just in case, I also left a method of increasing Willpower for every member free of charge. Okay, leave before sunset tonight."
"I understand. But master, my–"
"You haven't gained my trust or proven your worth enough for me to save them," Edward responded casually.
"I won't let you down." Kacilius stood up and walked out with a look of great determination. The void next to Edward broke apart, and the Ancient One walked out of the mirror dimension.
"Was that really necessary?"
"It is."
She sighed. "Kaecilius would have offered his servitude as long as you saved his family."
"Like I said to him, I need that fire in his soul," explained Edward. "If I revived his family now, that fire would be gone, and he would only serve me as an obligation or cause if he had no other choice. Now, he's doing it for a greater purpose, and in my experience, such people make the fiercest soldiers."
The Ancient One was quiet. What Edward did was extremely cruel and immoral, but this is far from the worst thing she had seen when she saw the future. In one of the infinite possibilities she saw, the Demon God of Fertility, Belial, successfully invaded Earth by using millions of pregnant women all over the world to give birth to demonic spans.
Once she successfully killed all the sorcerers and the Avengers, she turned the entire planet into a fertility machine to produce more demons and soldiers and increase her power. The future was bleak, and in too many timelines, Earth failed the fusion with another universe and was wiped out, or some other powerful entities invaded and killed or imprisoned every life.
"I said I won't intervene, and I'll keep my word," said the Ancient One before leaving.
บท 597: Allies
Ancient One's Quarters:
Wong knocked on the door and only entered after hearing her voice. "Wong, what can I do for you?" Wong hesitated momentarily, "Are you sure he's trustworthy?"
"I thought we had this conversation before."
"All I'm saying is he's from a different dimension and has no incentive to protect ours." The Ancient One once had this reservation as well. However, in the future he saw with Edward, he never left for his own dimension, which made the Ancient One suspect that something had happened to it; this could explain why he crashed in this place.
"What brought this on?" she asked.
"I spent the past few hours looking at those missions, and I'm wondering whether he was not trying to kill us, given how absurdly difficult, nay, impossible, some of them looked."
"Have you tried to take on one of these missions?" The Ancient One asked.
"No."
"Try the hardest difficulty."
Wong was confused but still followed her example. He focused his mind on his Gate of Truth, and a hologram screen materialized before him. He found an SSS-rank mission: Infiltrate the Hell Dimension to steal or destroy the [Pool of Soul].
[Mission Selected. Detecting Sorcerer's Ability.] Wong was surprised by this cold voice and looked around to detect its origin.
[Detection Ended. Survival Rate: 0%. Sorcerer's Ability does not meet the mission requirement. Please increase your skill before taking a mission of this caliber.]
Wong looked in shock.
The Ancient One suggested, "Try the lower difficulties," and Wong did so. The mechanical voice said the same thing until he chose a C-rank mission.
[Survival Rate: 70%. Sorcerer meets the requirement, but continuing training and increasing the survival rate is recommended. Do you still wish to take this mission? Yes/No.]
"No," said Wong instinctively.
[Wise Choice. Prudence is the key to a long life.]
"As you can see, not anyone can do the missions," said the Ancient One. "The Mission System is designed to ensure your maximum survival rate. Although the percentage is not a hundred percent accurate due to too many possibilities, it is the best we have."
"I see. I did not expect it to be so meticulous."
"One of the reasons I choose him is because of his meticulous mind that is brought upon by his maddening paranoia," said the Ancient One.
"I understand," nodded Wong.
"Edward should still be at Kamar Taj in the following month. You should take this opportunity. Ask him as many questions as possible, and he will answer you. In terms of teaching, there is no better instructor."
…
After Kaecilius's departure, Edward still had some work to do. Firstly, he must prepare for the assembly of the Avengers. He needed to contact these people, and the best way to do so was not as his status of the Sorcerer Supreme but with a more acknowledged position of power. So, he will send a clone with an identity that even SHIELD could not tell was fake, and the clone's job will be for one purpose: becoming a member of the World Security Council that oversees SHIELD and using whatever means possible to increase its strength.
Kamar Taj, the Avengers, and SHIELD will not be enough for the future. So, he will need the help of militaries worldwide as he would provide them with technology and magitech to combat certain forces. However, he must have the necessary recognized status and power.
After sending his clones, Edward spent the next months training these Sorcerers. He taught them how to train and use their [Combat Aura], Gate of Truth, and many basic mana applications. Wong spent the next month close to Edward, asking him questions daily and every time he had one, and Edward patiently explained everything. Other sorcerers saw how approachable he was and followed suit, so Edward started giving public classes or lectures to everyone.
During this month, besides teaching, Edward also planned four new Sanctorums in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Lagos (Nigeria), Sydney (Australia), and one in Antarctica. With the previous four (London, New York, and Hong Kong), Edward covered all seven continents. The physical locations of the Sanctums were built, but Edward had to upgrade the Earth Dimension Protection Shield. Luckily, he had the Ancient One at his side and tasked her to oversee the upgrade.
Once the month ended, the Sorcerers began to execute their missions. Wong came to see Edward before leaving since they had developed somewhat of a friendship.
"You're leaving?" asked Edward.
"Yes," nodded Wong.
"Are you sure you don't want to work in the library?" he asked with a smile. Wong once told him his goal was to work in the library, read, and stay peaceful to himself.
"And miss all the action?" Wong shook his head.
"What mission did you take?"
"The Lamp of Zanloon."
"A B-rank mission? Are you sure?" Edward knew about this mission since he had written all of them. This mission takes place in Dimension Z-098, and the task is to retrieve a lamp with a powerful genie. Why does Edward want this lamp? It's because, in the future, he saw a Sorcerer in that dimension acquire that lamp and absorb its power, becoming a powerful reality warper. Then, that sorcerer came to Earth, causing chaos and killing many people. Wang Wei created this task to prevent the birth of that Sorcerer and reduce the risk to his timeline.
"The mission is one of the easiest at the B-level, and I have an 85% chance of survival."
"Do you want me to give you some secret help? I won't mind, given our friendship."
"No, that won't be fair." Wong declined without hesitation.
"If you say so," nodded Edward. "Be careful."
"I will."
Edward calmly watched Wong leave before muttering, "Send a golem to protect him secretly."
"Already on it," replied Morgana.
"How is Mordo doing?"
"He's following your instructions and dealing with his mental health."
"Good. Now, let's get us some allies," muttered Edward before opening a portal in Wakanda: not the one seen by the outside world but right before their nation's cloaking field. Edward touched the field and waited a few seconds before saying:
"Black Panther, protector of Wakanda, I'm the Sorcerer Supreme. I believe your intelligence network has alarmed you of our existence."
After a few seconds, T'Chaka, T'Chala's father, walked from the field dressed in his black panther suit with the Dora Milaje behind him.
"The mystics from the Himalayan Mountains?" asked T'Chaka.
"Correct."
"How do you know about our existence?"
"Since you know about us, why can't we know about you?" replied Edward. T'Chaka was not happy with this explanation and did not focus on it. "Why have you contacted us?"
"I've come for an alliance."
"Wakanda does not intervene in the affairs of the outside world," immediately declared T'Chaka.
"And you don't have to. I'm here merely for an exchange of resources."
"As expected, you are here for our vibranium," said the commander of the Dora Milaje, and her words increased the tension of the meeting.
"Wakanda does not exchange vibranium."
Edward was interested in vibranium since it was a great inducer of magic in the comics, but he was unsure about the ones in the MCU. Regardless, vibranium was not his main interest in coming here. He waved his hand to conjure a box.
"This is my gift for the Kingdom of Wakanda. After analyzing it, you will realize the value of trading vibranium with me," declared Edward. "And once our alliance is stronger, we can exchange more things, such as the location of Ulysses Klaue."
"You know where that thief and murderer is?" asked King T'Chaka.
"Who knows?" shrugged Edward. "Anyway, please consider my words." He opened a portal behind him and left. King T'Chaka looked at the remaining box and ordered someone to take it with him.
"Your majesty, we should be more careful."
"You saw the magic he used. Do you think it could ignore our cloaking field?"
The commander paused, "Very likely."
"Then, you understand."
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