"A sorcerer is both in harmony with one's body and mind. The link between a person's thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors and their physical health is important to master before having complete proficiency of the mystic arts," said Master Mordo as he circled me as a predator would do with his prey.

"Yes master," I reply. I knew where this was going, he was going to test me physically in a spar.

In the background I could hear other sounds of grunting, shuffling, and shouting indicating other students also undergoing the same training as me. Every sorcerer in Kamar-Taj must be trained both physically and mentally to ensure that they are worthy of learning the Mystic Arts. It was a Mjolnir situation except it had less to do with items and more so to the individual itself.

Mordo takes an attacking stance, I take a defensive stance, something I learned from my coach in the boxing classes I took.

We circle each other for a few seconds before Mordo lunges with a kick to where my face currently was. I ducked before I see another fist coming to my current head position. Once again I move my head out of the way to dodge the punch coming my way.

Since I had faster perception, quicker reflexes, and superhuman agility, I could easily read every attack of his even without using the speed force. This went on for another few seconds with me simply dodging and weaving each of Mordo's attacks away from me.

I dodged another punch before aiming one right near his stomach, landing a solid hit which once again, was not enhanced. Mordo stumbled back a bit and I capitalized on the opportunity. I connected another hit directly on his shoulder before grabbing his neck with one arm and using it as an anchor I rotate myself behind. Finally, I land him in a submissive chokehold.

The martial arts master who is more experienced than me, presses his chin into my hands, elbows me into my stomach harshly which causes me to wince ever so slightly, breaking the chokehold advantage I had on him. I recovered however quickly enough to stop dodge a right hook coming for my face and send an uppercut straight to the man's jaw which connects. Of course, I make sure to regulate my strength and speed, careful to not channel any of the speed force energy present in me.

Mordo takes a few steps back, seemingly reevaluating me. There was a tense silence for a few seconds before he breaks it.

"Your punches are quite fast, you are quick on your feet with above-average reflexes and have a good intuition."

"Thank you, Master Mordo," I replied with a genuine smile.

"Again…", he says, however this time he takes a defensive stance and I take an offensive one.

I smirk, sending a punch, once again making sure to hold back the strength and velocity between each of my blows. Mordo dodges each one, albeit with some difficulty. He was good, definitely good but when you have superhuman abilities like mine, it was easy to predict your opponent's movements.

When he went on the offensive, I avoided each of his attacks came with practical ease, keeping my movements fluid and graceful like a swan. I could feel my ego being stroked with each punch of his being dodged by me. After all, how can you react to something that could defeat you in the blink of an eye?

"Stop," a voice says to our left and we both instantly freeze. Turning to my left, I see the Ancient One looking at me intently like a puzzle that needed to be solved. Her gaze then hardened, as if she had a goal to accomplish.

"Thank you, Master Mordo. I shall take it from here," she nods at him, however not once does she take her gaze off me.

From the corner of my eye, I see Mordo nod to the Ancient One, gave me a once over, before leaving the training area.

"Mr. Langston," hold on, what? At some point, once we were well acquainted with each other, she started calling me by my first name. I wonder why the change? "I see that you have been doing well in your combat skills."

"Yes, I have. Thank you," I reply slowly wondering what the yellow outfitted woman in front of me wanted.

"Good. Come with me, there is a place I would like you to continue your training for the time being," she says. Then she turns the opposite way and walks… somewhere.

I quickly catch up to her and ask, "Where are we going?"

She turns to me and smiles ominously before opening a portal.

I couldn't get rid of the foreboding sense of feeling I was getting.

"Where are we?" I ask as I step into the portal.

"This is planet Gliese-978. As you can see it looks quite similar to our Earth itself. If one were to live here, that person would find no difference between our Earth and this earth apart from the absence of civilization." She replied.

Staring at my immediate surroundings, I could see why the Ancient One said that.

The view was absolutely breathtaking. The white snowy mountains were far larger than Earth, each of them would tower over Mount Everest as a human would to an ant. The thin white clouds covered the sky, each one like wisps of floating cotton. They were, however, much thinner than that of the Earth's.

The plant life surrounding us was a mixture of exotic colors, shapes, and sizes, each different from the other. Tall trees were bent in unnatural angles, varying from the colors yellow to blue and green. The floral life was thriving easily without the presence of fauna, without fear of extinction

But I could admire the scenery later, I had to know why I was brought here.

"You are wondering why I have brought you to this place?" The Ancient One asks the unspoken question.

"Indeed. The view is beautiful and all but I don't think you have brought me here for admiration." I reply. Just what did she want?

She nods once before speaking. "At first glance, this planet may seem like a copy of the Earth. Apart from the flora surrounding us with its varying degree of colors and the absence of mobile organisms, nothing sets it apart from our very planet."

"Indeed." I find myself saying. Where was the ancient lady going with this?

"However…," she smiles like a shark smelling blood in water and I get a sudden chill up my spine. She snaps her fingers and I fall on the floor with a thud, my face only a mere inch from the rough sandy rock I had been standing on just a second ago. It was only my enhanced perception that prevented me from getting a concussion. I look up to see the Ancient One still smiling, that same dangerous smile.

"The planet's gravity is far greater than that of Earth. Humans would not be able to live here for longer than a few seconds." Well no shit woman, the gravity here practically smashed me on the ground, how the fuck am I still alive?

As if she knew my question, she answered, "The combination of a telekinetic shield I have enclosed you in, along with the extra-dimensional energy you have surrounded yourself with, is the only thing keeping your blood vessels intact."

"Well that's great and all… but for what reason am I here?" I said worriedly. What was she playing at?

She snaps her fingers teleporting us to… somewhere. I start floating upwards into an upright position until I come eye to eye with the yellow garbed woman. "This is the mirror dimension," my eyes widened in recognition. "I see you know this dimension and its usefulness to sorcerers. Excellent… now for the reason I brought you here…"

Once again, she snaps her fingers and reality becomes her bitch. The ground I was floating above just a second ago gives out to a clear sky, the flora surrounding us becomes larger, the mountains start coming closer, pieces of rock start levitating from the ground… fucking hell this was insane! I knew that the sorcerer supreme was powerful, but to actually experience a being warping reality directly in front of you was an entirely different experience.

My head is jerked up due to some kind of… force, breaking me out of my trance. The Ancient One looks at me eye to eye. "Your task is to form a simple portal and transverse through it. Do not worry, you will not die as I will monitor you while you complete the exercise."

With those words, she simply says, "Begin."

Immediately whatever shield she had encompassed me in that prevented me from falling outright, gave away. Instantly I fall downwards landing on some purplish red, grasslike substance with a sounding 'thud'.

I channeled the speed force energy within myself and time slowed down in my perception.

'Ok deep breaths, David… calm down you can do this.' I turn my head slightly and see the Ancient One frozen in time also but still with that damn smile.

I forced myself up, continuing to channel as much energy as possible within my body until finally, I could get up (with a lot of effort). Moving my hands in a circular motion just like I would normally do to make a gateway, I try to conjure up a portal.

I froze as I suddenly remembered a detail. If I am in Flash time, I could not create magical constructs as fast as I perceive my surroundings. This meant that I had to do it without staying in Flash Time, which was a bad thing since gravity would affect me, forcing me to be unable fabricate a portal as long as the Ancient One continued manipulating reality around me. Or at least I though it was impossible at that point of time.

'Guess I have to do this the hard way,' I sighed. Time moved normally, although still slightly slower than a normal human to my eyes.

Once again the gravitational pull of the planet slammed on the floor. I was pushed again from the ground opening beneath me causing my fall downwards onto another patch of grass. I tried to create a portal by rotating my hands, only for me to nearly crash into a tree nearby that I just barely managed to avoid.

This landing, crashing, and falling of myself continued for another 2 minutes, making me very exhausted physically. The altering of viewpoints did not help either. I had to find a way, no I needed to find a way out of this, but how?

I channeled the speed force within myself once again, slowing down objects around me to find a solution to this problem.

'How can I do this? If I can't do form constructs while in super speed it means I'm too fast, if I can't do it at normal speed, it means I'm too slow.' I thought to myself while free falling. I should be worried about that, but right now I was too engrossed in my thoughts to care. 'There has to be a middle ground. A speed which is fast enough to create a portal while both gravity and reality manipulation is affecting me.'

Then I remembered, I could create tornadoes or vacuums depending on how fast I rotated my hands. However, in those cases, I only rotated my hands at super-speed, not my entire body. 'If I could incorporate that concept to this, then maybe I could form a gateway?'

I nodded to myself once before willing the speed force energy out of my entire body except my dominant hand. My body slams into the ground due to the free-fall state I was in just a second ago.

I concentrate, cleared my mind, and pictured the destination I wanted to enter. Ignoring my body hitting a tree, the exhaustion, and the physical wounds I was currently struggling with, I rotate my hands fast enough.

Yellow-orangish fiery sparks could be seen, when suddenly half a portal forms, only to be extinguished once I lost concentration hitting my head on a particularly hard piece of wood. But none of that mattered. The fact that even half a portal formed meant that my solution had worked. I was ecstatic internally, but I had to first complete the gateway to truly end the exercise.

Ignoring the pain when getting hit by a rock to the side of my rib, I concentrate, picturing the destination I wanted to transit to and repeat the same hand movements I did only a few seconds ago. This time instead of a half portal, a full portal forms, and on the opposite side I could see the training area of Kamar-Taj.

Instantly I channel the speed force into my entire body, slowing down time to my perception. I could see the portal, the fully formed version. I thought I could see the portal disappearing slowly or at least that was how it looked to me. I was still dazed due to my body being tossed like a ragdoll multiple times.

'Yeah like I'm going to allow that to happen,' I thought with a mental scoff.

Buckling up my knees I jump as high as possible and enter the gateway before it accidentally closes somehow or the Ancient One tries to pull a few tricks to prevent me from entering.

I land on the floor of the training grounds, rolling on the floor. Right now I was running on only adrenaline, my body aching like a bitch and I was beyond tired. All that reality-warping, falling multiple times, disorienting my viewpoint which really fucked me up. But I did it. I succeeded in whatever trial the Ancient One put me through.

'Yes!,' I scream internally. I did it!

I look through my half-lidded eyes to see the yellow-garbed woman smiling at me with praise, genuine praise. She uttered two words, "Well done."

That was when I blacked out, letting my exhaustion claim me.

I woke up with a groan. My eyes opened very slightly and with a slight haze, I could see a wooden ceiling. I felt pain at the back of my head, although it was mild, it was still very concerning. Every joint of my skeleton felt like it had been worked to the bone with slight aches running all over my body. How the hell did I get here?

Then I remembered. I remembered every single moment on that planet I struggled to make that gateway. The Ancient One put me under some kind of… trial I assume. There was no way she would manipulate reality just to take amusement from tossing me around like a 3-year-old child would with their toys.

"I see you have woken up David," a voice says to my right. It took me a second to know who said those words. I sit up once my view was a little more… stable. I come face to face directly with the Ancient One who was sitting on a brown-colored one-seater couch.

I wanted to know the point of the task she had assigned me.

My throat however had other plans since I felt thirsty, very thirsty. "I want water," I croaked out.

"Of course," she says. A bottle of water appeared directly into my hands. I instantly start chugging down as much as possible, not caring about my manners one bit.

Once I finish the entire bottle of water, I keep it to the side.

The Ancient One breaks the silence between us, "I trust that you are feeling better now?"

I nod once without saying anything. My mind was still disoriented and it would take a few seconds before I would be completely functional.

"You remember the exercise I had tasked you with once you had completed your combat training with Mordo?" I nod once more. "I suppose you have a few questions regarding the subject."

I finally found my voice. "Yes. I would like to know what was the point of the test."

At that she smiles, "You would be correct in the assumption that it was a test. The point of the trial was quite simple… I used it to understand what kind of person you are."

"What kind of person I am?," I questioned with a raised eyebrow. How would that work? How can a test like that find out my…. oh I get it. "You put me in a moment of desperation to see how I would perform. You wanted to know how I would react in certain situations."

Her smile grows wider at my proclamation. "You catch on remarkably fast, David. Indeed that is true. It was also a test to see how fast you can come up with a solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem. In that, you passed with flying colors."

I nodded once. That made sense… "But can't you see the future through the time stone? You should know these answers even without the trial."

"I can do that, however…", she says.

"… You wanted me to experience it myself." I finish her sentence.

"Indeed." She says. There was silence for a few seconds before I asked another question.

"So what did you find about the type of person I am?" I inquired.

Her expression turned slightly serious. "Throughout the entire test, not once did you show any sign of rage. It was mostly bafflement, agony, alarm, or calmness. As far as I can say you have no anger management issues and are in good control of your emotions," she pauses before continuing. "You managed to find a solution in a situation where most with the same abilities as you would simply accept the fact they had failed after being tossed around for nearly two minutes."

"But quite a few people who were under the same circumstances would figure out the answer easily," I interject. It was true that I wasn't the smartest person on the planet.

"Indeed. However, the greater part of those people you may be considering haven't encountered what you have experienced. Knowledge doesn't help an individual when he or she isn't in control of their emotions." She replies before continuing, "The test has additionally shown me that you have a fantastic command over your powers, both in eldritch magic that has been rehearsed by you and the extra-dimensional source of power that you have been blessed with."

"So to summarize, I am smart and I have good control over emotions and abilities."

"Right you are." She replies.

I sigh, "But that isn't the only reason is there? You were trying to show me something else along with it."

She smirks. "Once again you catch on quick, and yes there is." Here her expression morphs into a very serious one, making me instinctively sit straighter. "It was to show that you are not always prepared for the future even if you do know what is to come. You need to differentiate between what you want and what you need. One cannot always prepare for the upcoming events, so you must never become arrogant of your own power." My eyes widened when I realized she was talking about the spar between me and Karl Mordo. The powerful figure in front of me must have been watching our fight. "I see, you know now what incident I am referring to. Yes, during the spar between you and Master Mordo, your pride and arrogance over your abilities were showing. Many have perished due to unnecessary arrogance once they have power over other individuals. You have potential David, potential to be one of Earth's strongest warriors and I do not want to see that potential wasted."

I sighed at that. "You're right, I was starting to show my hubris during that spar, in the end looking down on Master Mordo." I take a deep breath before continuing, "My thought process at the time was even if a person is very powerful, how can he or she react to something they cannot perceive? So yeah, I did feel as if I was on top of the world at that point. It was, however, only for a brief moment."

"Brief moment of elation or not, you must know that arrogance will always lead to the downfall no matter how powerful you become." Unless you're the One-Above-All I add that part mentally.

"Yes, master," I reply.

"Good. Take rest for a few more hours and then you may leave," and with those parting words she teleports... somewhere.

I've got a lot to think about.

It was morning, 7:00 AM, and there were quite a few people outside. The glimmering Sun peaked through the fluffy clouds, illuminating the sky in a bright blue tint. The weather seemed to be very good today, the air being neither too hot nor cold.

I enter the closest restaurant to my left, a nearby burger place that I usually ordered for my high-calorie intake items, my newfound metabolism needing much more food than I consumed back when the world I currently exist in was nothing but fictional entertainment.

Once I received my orders I take a seat at one corner, and began to eat, thinking about words the Ancient One had left me with.

'You must differentiate between what you want and what you need.' I remembered her exact words.

'What do I need?' I thought to myself. I needed to prevent various events from happening, the creation of a few dangerous supervillains, more power, to redeem myself of my past sins, to correct certain events, and to kill Thanos of course.

'What do I want?' I ask myself. I wanted to be powerful such that no one could threaten me, but I would only take that power if it did not destroy the lives of innocent people or there were no consequences to my well-being. I wanted to help people because seeing them helpless just reminded me of my mother and her condition, on her deathbed, hopeless. I wanted to be prepared for every possible encounter I would have in my life.

I take a bite out of my burger and remember something else the Ancient One said: 'It was to show that you are not always prepared for the future even if you do know what is to come.'

Was I prepared for the future? Did I have what it takes to come on top in the Endgame?

'You have potential David, potential to be one of Earth's strongest warriors and I do not want to see that potential wasted.' The Ancient One believed that I could indeed be one of Earth's strongest warriors.

If the oldest woman on the planet believed in me, then maybe I should stop my self-doubting.

I nodded to myself, once again more confident of my abilities to survive this world. Not pride or arrogance, but confidence.

I would survive and take on the threats that the Marvel Universe had to offer. If I die, well then I die. I'll accept my fate and move on.

"Doctor Connors are you sure this is a good idea?," I ask him the third time in a row.

"Yes David, you don't have to be that paranoid. The calculations and the science behind the serum ensure 100% success. The procedure will be complete and my arm will be good as new."

Doctor Connors and I had been working on the lizard serum for about two months now. He was a cordial man, enjoyable to talk to and very well mannered, which was why I decided I wanted to prevent him from going insane. With some initial protest until he finally caved in since 'two heads are better than one', we both worked on isolating the healing capabilities of a lizard. So far it combined perfectly with the human blood without any repercussions whatsoever, but since this is the Marvel Universe, anything could go wrong at any moment. Can you blame me for being paranoid?

Once we finally completed the serum, both of us agreed to keep it a secret from the businessman snake also known as Norman Osborn.

Now one of Spider-Man's would be supervillain had I not interfered was currently strapped on a metal table within a 2x2 meter glass chamber. I just hoped all would go well.

"Once you do this Doctor Connors, there is no coming back." I warn him.

"It's fine. If anything goes wrong I'll deal with the consequences." Yeah like that went well for you I thought with a mental scoff.

Sighing, I look at him once more before pulling the lever.

Let's see if this goes smoothly.

AN: Character development, ladies and gentlemen. This chapter was actually planned for a while, but once my readers pointed out that the MC seems as dull as a dishwasher, I realized I had to publish it earlier with a few additions here and there.

Who would you want for the pairings? I'm leaning for Wanda Maximoff with the SI's caring personality.

No Harem in case you're wondering.

Crywolfseven: Thank you for your review and yeah re-reading my content, my MC seemed rather bland. The next few chapters will focus on his interests and relationships.

Zoom99: Looking back I understand why you would think that. I'll improve upon it.

Doctor Doofenshmirtz: 2007. Edited it.