Marvel Gamer Path Chapter 6: 107, a 13 tzameti fanfic

MARVEL: GAMER PATH Chapter 128 - CHAPTER 126

107 CHAPTER 106

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Christmas had passed, and I couldn't help but smile at the memories I had of the jolly celebration. Nat's first real Christmas, Emily's smile, it just warmed my heart to know they were happy, to see them smile, truly smile.

Funny how things change, from a guy in the forest to a dad that is friends with a cyborg, a superspy, the Nordic God of Thunder, and the supreme sorceress.

But enough about that.

Now, it was time to progress.

[Crafting LV 29]

Soon after Christmas ended, I poured all my time into one thing, and one thing only, improving my crafting skills so that I could have the army of golems I needed, that earth needed. Which had been easier thanks to my alliance with Nidavellir, the buffs the alliance gave in things related to crafting and such were incredible, but also confusing.

I mean, why didn't the alliance with Asgard, or the alliance with the Ancient One give me anything?

Perhaps it was a matter of chance, who knows?

But to be entirely honest, I am glad I got the buffs with Nidavellir, instead of the other two, while a buff in combat-related arts or magic would've been nice, crafting was what I needed, it was a more versatile buff in the great scheme of things.

Which is why I was currently in Nidavellir, learning under the King of Dwarves, Eitri.

"You are putting too much ore into the mix," Eitri sighed, as he approached.

"The instructions you gave me said I needed that much," I replied with a sigh of own, "If you allow me to absorb that book, I can learn how to craft this polearm in an instant," I added.

"No," Eitri shook his head, "To be a master in this art, you have to put your heart into it, no shortcuts, those are for the ones that finished the race without cheating."

"Then why did you give me so many books the first time I came?" I asked the Dwarf King, I mean, why give me a ton of knowledge, I already absorbed if you are against such a thing.

"To put on you a teachable level," Eitri chuckled, putting one of his fingers on my head, which made me feel like I was on Attack on Titan, dwarves my ass, "You learned a lot with your power, but you still lack the heart, the feeling you need behind your work."

"I suppose," I sighed with just the hint of a smile, "I mean, you are the best crafter I know,"

Eitri narrowed his eyes at me, "I am the only crafter you know,"

"What about the guy that brought me to your throne room?" I asked.

"He was a guard," Eitri rolled his eyes, "But yes, you are right, I am the best, and because of that, I know best."

"Ok, but let me finish this, I already started anyway," I chuckled, as I continued to work on the polearm I had been assigned to work on.

[Crafting has leveled up!]

—--

By the end of the day, my crafting skill had leveled up to [Crafting LV 35, meaning it was time to craft my first golem, a clay golem, currently the only golem I could craft, besides the most known one, the stone golem.

With a sigh of anticipation, I selected the ingredients from my inventory and started the process, two minutes later, the process had been completed, and a new item had appeared in my inventory. [Clay Golem - S]

"Well, here goes nothing," And so, I activated the item, bringing to life my first Golem ever, the golem was big, around four meters tall, and looked like a lion on two feet, but not like a normal lion, like those seen in Japanese art.

[Clay Golem S - LV 10

HP: 1000/1000

MP: 150/150

EXP: 0/100%

Description: Golems are magically created automatons of great power that follow the will of their creator without a question for they have no will of their own, the strength of a golem can vary even within their own kind, two golems of the same kind and level can have vast differences in strengths, the better the material, the stronger the golem will be, F being the lowest rank of crafting and S being the best one, this rank will appear beside the name of the Golem.

This is the weakest type of Golem, a clay golem.

Golems can level up, becoming stronger than when they started, some golems start at a higher level, with the weakest starting at level 10.]

"Level ten, but can level up, I wonder," I hummed, imagining taking the big guy to a dungeon or two, that for later, now it's time to craft a stone golem.

Once again, I repeated the process this time with the stones, and two minutes later I had a new item on my inventory. [Stone Golem - A]

"Come forth, the Rock!" I chuckled at my own joke as I activated the golem, soon after, a massive five meters tall behemoth appeared, his appearance was shockingly like that of a knight, a very big knight with no face but rocky armor.

[Stone Golem A - LV 25

HP: 7500/7500

MP: 950/950

Skills: Harden, Reflect, Recover.

EXP: 0/100%]

The golems could learn skills? Well, this is getting interesting.

[Harden = It increases the golem's defense by a 200%.]

[Reflect = It reflects all physical damage for a five-second duration as long as the golem has the minimal level advantage of 5]

[Recover = When the Golem's hp drops below the 10% mark, he will dig into the earth to recover, but this will only happen if the golem has backup, if the golem is fighting alone, he will prioritize dying to protect its creator.]

"Holy shit," I whistled, "Those are better skills than the ones I had at that level," I chuckled, this was definitely the right call, with an army of these, Thanos would be nothing but a nuisance, I mean, imagine the possibilities, a vibranium golem? An adamantium one? I could hardly wait to test every possible golem.

108 CHAPTER 107

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Golems were malleable creatures, even though they had no will of their own, they could adapt, learn, and evolve within their own parameters, like the golems I had created, a week ago, they were low level, but after a week of taking them to the dungeons to test a few scenarios with them, they had leveled up quite a lot.

I mean, it was to be expected. I had taken them to dungeons far beyond their level, each dungeon giving them ten or so levels per completion, and in less than a week they had leveled up to level one hundred.

[Clay Golem - S LV 102

HP = 100.000/100.000

MP = 1500/1500

Skills = Retribution, Clay Shot, Will of the Clay.

Retribution = The Golem stores 15% of the damage he receives to punish his opponents.

Clay Shot = Using his mana, the golem creates more clay to shoot at his opponents, it can shoot up to 10 clay shots at the same time.

Will of the Clay = The Golem burns all his mana to create four identical clones of itself that deal 50% of his damage, but have the same resistance and HP the golem had upon activation.]

[Stone Golem - A LV 112

HP = 275.000/275.000

MP = 9500/9500

Skills = Harden, Reflect, Recover, A Game.

Harden = The Golem increases his defense by a 200%.

Reflect = It reflects all physical damage for a five-second duration as long as the golem has the minimal level advantage of 5, otherwise he ignores 75% of all upcoming damage.

Recover = When the Golem's hp drops below the 10% mark, he will dig into the earth to recover, but this will only happen if the golem has backup, if the golem is fighting alone, he will prioritize dying to protect its creator.

A Game = Once dead, the Golem comes back to life, with all of his power, ready to fight. This ability is locked for one hour after use.]

They were already strong enough to kick anyone's ass on earth, I had just started testing things out, like, I had just found out you could equip items on them, as long as you created said items with the same base material they were made out, for example, a clay sword for the clay golem, and a stone hammer for the stone golem.

Another thing I had just discovered was, you could enchant them. They were basically sentient items without a will of their own, so as items, I could enchant them, like with a pair of shoes, or a weapon, increasing their overall strength even more.

And that was not all, I had also discovered you could give them skills.

How?

Well, by adding a scroll of the skill you wanted them to have in the mix, within reason, of course, golems had limited capabilities, but could still learn powerful skills, again, within reason, like my newest stone golem, who even though was level 15, had mana arrows on his arsenal.

Each new discovery added a new whole perspective to the crafting game and my end game in the great scheme of things. The more I experimented, the more I learned, the more I was sure about my original idea, that little by little was growing alongside my discoveries, showing me that I had been right all along, the industrialization of Golems and other magical structures and or items was the way to go.

For example.

Right now, my two high-level golems were doing a low level for me completely alone, they could enter dungeons without me, and 1% of all the EXP they earned inside said dungeons, was mine, regardless of my whereabouts.

Now, 1% EXP was nothing, when it came from two golems alone, but now imagine a few thousand golems leveling up for me, now imagine a million, at a certain point that 1% becomes something, right?

If I managed to fully industrialize their creation, I would essentially turn my entire leveling experience, into an AFK game.

I would at all times, be gaining EXP, eating? EXP, spending time with the girls? EXP, in the bathroom, EXP, 24/7, I would be getting gains.

Meaning right now my goal was to get my crafting skill to a high enough level to make an automatic magical forge to create thousands of my babies, which was already the original goal, but now that I had confirmed a few theories, and had seen a few things, well, I know knew what was possible, what could be, and what was not.

[Crafting LV 59]

According to the books I had acquired, the first magical forge was to be unlocked on level 135, said forge was made out of clay and was at one time used to create an army of clay soldiers, its sole purpose was that to create life out of clay, with a few minor modifications, I would use this forge an army of clay, clay golems, how I would automatize said process, I had yet to figure that out, perhaps I would put a golem there to manage the production, who knows?

"So… are you playing god know?" I heard someone ask, that someone was Fury, who was looking at my Golems with a bewildered look on his face.

"No," I snorted, "They are my soldiers."

"Huh, that answers nothing, but I won't press on, your magical bullshit confuses me," Fury replied without missing a beat.

"So, do you need a favor or?" I asked with a narrow look.

"Bitch please," Fury rolled his eye at me, with a small smile adorning his face, "It's movie night, or did you forget?"

Oh right, it's Friday, "Oh, yeah,"

"So… will your two creations join us?" Fury asked, eyeing the golems.

"No," I shook my head.

"Good, they freak me out," Fury sighed in relief.

"You are scared of golems of all things?" I laughed, "Well, ain't that a kick in the a,"

"Oh, I'm sorry, is the correct response to suck their magical nuts in awe?" Fury shot back, "Just because you deal with this shit on a daily basis, does not mean it's natural, I'm a spy, I deal with weird shit, and this," he pointed to the golems, "Is weird as fuck, which is a lot coming from me, I mean, I saw a fucking human centipede a week ago, and this two behemoths still get the cake in the end,"

"Ok, that's just too much, your sensibilities are all over the place, you see people forced to eat other people's asses, and two moving statues freak you out? I think the human centipede it's by far the most disturbing thing of the two, and I have seen Odin flirt with his wife," I snorted.

109 CHAPTER 108

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

[Eitri's POV]

Alex Walker was a very gifted individual, his unique magic, made it so learning was a smooth experience for him, no matter what challenge I put in front of him, he would eventually find a way to complete it, for all he needed was time, it was impressive really, at each turn he would surpass my expectations.

But even so.

He didn't see beyond the veil, for him crafting was the means to an end, not an art that needed to be treated with respect and care, and until he understood that, he would never reach the highs he wanted to with this.

But I had high hopes for him.

In all of my years, I had never seen someone with such talent, whatever his powers were, they adapted to anything, like the molten core of a dying star, his possibilities were endless, and if forged right, he could very well be the night Grand Crafter.

A title I myself had failed to reach.

A title only the first king of Nidavellir, the father of dwarves had achieved, Fafnir.

"I finished my assignment," Alex said as he entered my office, a small smile adorning his face with excitement in each of his features.

"Let's see it then," I smiled at him, putting on my glasses to examine his work.

"Here it is," Alex smiled, taking a deep breath of trepidation, always so nervous when it comes to showing his final work.

"Hmm," I hummed, as I took the piece out of his hands, a small knife carved from the asteroids of a fallen planet, enchanted to never lose its edge, the knife had a good weight, and the handle was perfect, once again he had surpassed my expectations, and still, the knife had no heart in it.

"So…?" Alex asked.

"It's good, but it lacks heart kid," I replied with a sigh.

"Well, duh, someone has yet to use it," Alex shot back with a small smirk on his face, cheeky little bastard he was at times.

"You know what I mean, each piece coming out of your smithy has to be perfect, full of heart and soul, like the drawing of a kid for his parents," Each piece had to have a meaning, beyond its purpose.

"I try, but… I don't know how to do that," Alex muttered his head down.

"You are a parent, right?" I asked, and he nodded, "Then watch your kids and learn, everything they do, they do it with passion, with heart, for the innocent flame that burns within them fuel every single motion they take, that flame dies eventually, we never know when, but at one point, you start to do things because you have to, not because they bring you joy, games that used to bring you joy, now are part of the monotony, the work that once used to bring you happiness is now just the means to an end, so learn from them."

"I see," Alex sighed, "I suppose kids do put their all to all,"

"They do, so learn while you can, that flame of passion will eventually die, but for now, it burns bright," I smiled at him.

"But beyond that, was the knife good?" Alex asked.

"It was perfect," I answered.

—--

[Loki POV]

Alex Walker, a man that in a month had earned Asgard's adoration, Thor's love, and Odin's favor. I hated that man, I hate how seemingly easy he made everything I ever wanted look.

Even Sif loved him, the Warrior Th– four, loved him, why him?

A weak pathetic mortal whose life would burn in the blink of an eye, why him?! A bug that would die in the time that takes an Asgardian take a breath, WHY HIM!? I just… I just didn't understand.

How could he a stranger get everything I had ever wanted, so easily.

It was a notion that I just couldn't comprehend.

A notion that infuriated me, beyond belief, so perhaps it was time to make this mortal remember his place, to make him remember the frail pathetic, and short meaning of his mortality.

"Loki," I heard Mother say, in a tone that said, I know you are planning something bad, so stop it.

"Mother," I replied as I turned around with a fake smile, "What brings to you my chambers this fine day?"

"Loki, I know you are planning something, so, please… don't," Mother pressed, it was infuriating how easy she was able to see through me, then again, she was the only one that has ever bothered to get to know me, it was to be expected.

"Worry not, it's nothing bad," For Asgard that is.

"You know, you say that, but I can't believe a word you say," Mother sighed, giving me a kiss on my forehead.

"What can I say, I am a mischievous child," I smiled at her.

"That you are," Mother smiled ever so fondly.

"Well, I have to go, mother, I have things to do," Mortals to eliminate, "And you know, time is of the essence," I finished with a broad smile.

"Take care, my little prince," Mother chuckled, blowing me a kiss.

"I shall," The one that needed to take care was Alex, for he soon would taste the painful wrath of a God.

—--

[Alex Walker POV]

Eitri's words echoed in my head. Putting my heart into my creations, sounded simple, but it was harder than it looked, I had no idea where to begin with, so I took his advice, after all, he was right, as kids we put our all into anything we do, a quality we later forget as the burdens of adulthood reach us.

So with that in mind, I enlisted no other than Emily for the job.

"Daddy, today you will learn how to do things with your heart, the old Emily way!" Emily started, she was so into this role I had jokingly given her, she had transmuted her clothes into pink military clothes, heck she even had a ruler on her hands, one that she would smack on her tiny hello kitty desk every now and then.

"Aye aye, captain!" I smiled.

"You will speak when spoken to, am I clear," Emily narrowed her eyes at me, and I couldn't help but laugh, she was so adorable. "Daddy! I am trying my best! Meanie!"

110 CHAPTER 109

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Happy holidays!

[Alex - Nidavellir - POV]

Learning from Emily had proven to be difficult, what was the true meaning of pouring your heart into something, in theory, I understood the principle of it, but in practice, I had no idea how to apply it.

I mean, I already loved crafting, and the power this skill brought me, but that was not enough according to Eitri.

"Alex!" I heard someone shout, snapping me out of my train of thought.

"Thor?" I turned around to find Thor entering my room in Nidavellir.

"Who else but the mighty!" Thor replied with a wide smile, but something seemed off, it was as if the space itself was bending around him, the mana around Thor seemed to oscillate creating a strange reading.

Now that I think about it, where's his name tag, why can't I see his level or name.

There were only two possible explanations the way I saw it, one, this was a being able to distort my power, or two, this was a mage of some kind creating an illusion to trick, and considering I was too much of a small fry to invoke the ire of the few possible gods able to distort my powers, I was inclining to the latter.

The question now was, who was the man standing in front of me? Whoever this person was, it was an enemy that much was clear, the minimap showed his presence as a red dot. Which alleviated my thoughts of him being a dangerous being messing with my powers because if he was, the minimap would also be affected, but that wasn't the case, his illusions didn't affect my map, I could work with that.

Now, what do I know? Whoever this person is he has to know of my relationship with Thor, so maybe an Asgardian, Loki mayhaps.

"So, brother, I wanted to invite you to a glorious quest of might!" Thor smiled, approaching me.

But why would Loki try and trick me, no, scratch that, he was the god of mischief, it was on his nature, the question was, why was he now my enemy, a month ago his dot was green, like all the other Asgardians, so what happened to make him an enemy?

Oh well, this was beyond the point now, if Loki wanted my head, he would have to fight for it.

"I'm not Thor, Loki," I replied with a sigh, "I am not easy to fool, nor I will be an easy prey, so drop the act,"

"Bravo," Loki replied, his illusional form changing back to his with each passing second, "I am impressed mortal, I truly am, it seems unlike Thor and his friends, you use that brain of yours,"

"So, tell me, why do you want to kill me?" I asked with a chuckle.

For a moment, Loki stared at me, as if weighing his next move, perhaps he was surprised with how easy I had seen through his little scheme, or perhaps he was shocked, I knew he wanted to kill me.

"Well, because you like many other mortals have stepped out of your line," Loki sneered, even from afar, I could fill his rage, his hate, his sadness, just what in the hell had I done to him.

And then it hit me, he was jealous, of my relationship with Thor, of my relationship with Sif, of my status in Asgard, he was jealous and out of jealousy, he was throwing a tantrum.

"Oh, I see," I snickered, my right hand covering my mouth ever so lightly, "You are jealous,"

At this, Loki glared at me, not saying a single word, his eyes doing all the talking, in short, I had pressed his buttons.

"You dare…." Loki hissed.

"I dare what? Speak the truth?" I smiled at him with a condescending look, after all, the more pissed he was, the easier it would be to deal with him.

"I will enjoy what's coming next," Loki hissed once again, his level finally appearing above his head, [Loki Odinson - LV 223]

"You will enjoy defeat? I have to say, how altruistic of you," I cackled.

"That's IT!" Loki screamed in rage, summoning two daggers as he ran towards me.

I looked at Loki as he approached me, and sidestepped as his attack was about to hit, then quickly, before Loki could respond with a follow-up, I swiftly punched Loki in the throat using [Savagery] followed by a second punch to the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of the God of Mischief, stunning him in the ground for a brief moment.

"I fight Thor almost on a daily basis, and you thought you had a chance?" He was a few levels ahead of me, but if I had to take a guess all of his stats were in non-physical areas, leaving him as a mage with no offensive skill, all he had was his illusions, and his conjuration, leaving him with no real offensive skill, meaning that while his level was higher, I was vastly more prepared.

"Sleep!" Loki hissed, touching my leg, immediately after I fell his mana invade my body, trying and failing to mold my head to obey his command, unfortunately for him I was immune to such attacks.

"Did… did you just try to mind control me?" I asked with a smile.

"This… no, it shouldn't be possible, why is your mind so strong, no mortal should have such mental defenses!" Loki hissed, coughing a bit of blood as he struggled to stand up.

"Had you had enough?" I asked, extending my hand to him, "I bear no ill towards you, Loki, I even admire you, so let's be friends? Shall we?"

"Friends?" Loki laughed, "FRIENDS?! I won't be humiliated like this by a mortal! If I can't hurt you directly, I will do it indirectly, perhaps your daug–" he hadn't had the time to finish his sentence, when I had already blasted him back to the ground, stabbing him with his own knife.

"I will be as clear as possible, Loki…" I muttered to his ear, digging the knife deeper and deeper into his body, "Walk on that path, and I will kill you, make no mistake, I am not Odin, I am not Thor, I am not Frigga… I will eliminate you the moment you become a nuisance, is that clear, little god?"

Before Loki could reply, a new presence came into the room, Odin.

"That's enough Alex," Odin said.

"I meant every word I said, Odin," I replied, turning my head around to face Odin.

"I know," Odin replied.

"I don't care about your rules, or his status," I sighed, taking the knife out of Loki's body, "If he threatens my family… ever again, it will be the end of him."

"You… di-" Loki growled only to be silenced by a glare from his father.

"Had I been once second late, he would've killed you Loki," Odin roared, "I will deal with your punishment myself, he's an ally of Asgard! For Bor's sake!"

"I understand, father," Loki replied, avoiding his piercing gaze.

"Remember my words, little god, for now, I consider you a threat, and my eyes will be forever on you," I added, walking out of the room, sharing a cold look with Odin that said, control your child, or I will for you.

111 CHAPTER 110

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Happy holidays!

Hohoho!

Loki had made his move, and now it was my turn, knowing what I did about him, the vindictive god of mischief was far from over with his quest to get me.

I knew he would strike again one day, sooner or later, it was in his wretched nature, as it was on Odin's letting him be the way he was, and while I had no qualms about facing him again, for victory was all but assured, my daughters were a totally different story.

They were not prepared to face Loki.

So I had to make some preparations. Preparations the Ancient One would assist me with.

Loki was a Magic caster, one that heavily relied on the use of high grade illusions to fight, alongside some low level conjuration.

Without that, he was an average Asgardian, maybe a bit better than the rest if I had to be begrudgingly honest, but overall he was weaker than the most trained soldiers in his own palace.

The funny thing was, he had immense potential, the potential to become a dangerous foe, even more dangerous than Thor, but his ego would not allow him to improve, for him, he was perfect, his Magic was beyond mortal reach and or comprehension.

But whatever his mental deal was that kept him being a side character of another's story, it worked for me, as long as he was overconfident, I would be able to read him, and plan ten moves ahead.

My measures against Loki were simple.

One, I had the Ancient One forge me an enchanted item whose sole purpose was to dispel illusions as soon as they reached the wearer of the time, the item obviously was not for me, but for Bucky, as he was the unofficial bodyguard of the girls.

Then, I had her teach me that enchantment, which I used to create eight metal golems, infusing the golems with the enchantment.

Golems I then put to level up under the higher level Golem's care.

The metal golems were essential for Loki's next move, their sturdy physique made them almost immune to Magic, and their unique set of skills, that included [Mana Reaver] and [Reflect] made them the perfect to face mages like Loki.

[Mana Reaver] Especially made it hard for mages to deal with these golem, as they ate away the mana of their opponent with each attack.

Heck, being around the golems consumed mana, as the skill also worked passively, however the mana consumption was highly more effective when attacks were in the mix.

With those eight golems, and the others I already had previous to all of this, Loki would not stand a chance, for unlike Thor his physical strength was mediocre at best.

However, my countermeasures didn't end there.

I had a few extra steps and plans set in place just for Loki, waiting for the moment he decided to step out of line once again, as I knew he would, plans that would bring the end of a god before it was his time.

—————————————————————————————-

[Odin Borson POV]

I glared at Loki before I let out a sigh, "Do you have any idea of what would've happened had I been there late?" I asked with a desperate look.

Before Loki could reply, a voice whispered into my head, a voice I hadn't hear in a few thousand years, Hela -You are getting weaker, old man—

"I apologize father, it won't happen again," Loki replied as I assimilated what had happened, why now of all times had Hela decided to talk to me, that she could be as not a surprise, I sealed her, but she had a connection with me, with Asgard, and could communicate with me because of said connection.

But since I sealed her, she hadn't said a word, for a couple millennia she was nothing but silent, yes the first month she screamed at me in rage, but after that, nothing, only silence.

"Father… are you alright?" Loki asked, his voice edging with concern.

"Yes," I nodded, shaking my head, now was not the time to ponder about my daughter.

—He will set me free… and I will pay him in blood, in more than one way, perhaps killing that brat that has annoyed him, that would perhaps win me his favor, don't you think?—

"Loki, you must behave, Alex is a very important man for Asgard, his death would bring us nothing but disgrace," I pressed.

—Ignoring me? My feelings are deeply hurt, wasn't I your princess? The eye of your heart?—

"I understand father," Loki replied, before I dismissed him.

—Then again, you said that with only one eye, so the question is… was I the missing eye, or the one you had, hmm.. I like to think I'm the one you have, that way I can rip it out when I get out of here, after all… it is mine.—

—What do you want Hela?!— I hissed in my mind.

—Me? Not much, your head, the throne, the universe, and him, I want him,-

—You will not be with him, of that I will make sure!- I replied.

—Oh please do, make my quest harder, I do love a challenge you know, in the end makes the conquest all the more sweet.—

—You will rot in there Hela, the only conquest you will ever see, if that of my son taking the throne before you!- I shot back, it pained me to talk to her like that, for the reason she was like she was… was me.

—Hahahaha, you truly have grown senile, you know you won't last long, one day or another… you will die, and we both know those two pathetic excuses you have for sons are no match for me, one is a spoiled brat and the other is a weakling with an ego too big for his own good—

—Alex will help them, if not for Loki he will for Thor, they are brothers,- A friendship I was proud it had formed, to the point Thor himself threatened Loki if he aimed his fangs at the girls of his brother, the ones he calls nieces.

—I know, and I don't mind… I know he will face me, but soon will realize fighting me is pointless, and if by that point he still loves that spoiled brat, well I suppose I could forgive my little brother… if he kneels, after all, one does have to make sacrifices to make a relationship work, and I am willing to make a few,—

112 CHAPTER 111

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Xmas is over, sad corn noises.

With the preparations ready for Loki, I changed my focus back to my crafting, this time, however, I was doing that on Earth, as to avoid Loki pulling a fast one on me, while most of the preparations were ready for his eventual move, the golems the most essential part of the plan were no ready.

I had just created them, and it would take up to a month for them to reach the level I needed, which was at least level 125.

So while that happened, I would be on Earth, where I would be able to notice his every move should he arrive on earth with my map, an ability he had no idea I had, which worked remarkably well in my favor.

Anyway.

As I was saying, my focus was now on my crafting, I was like Eitri had said, trying to put my heart into my creations, a concept whose answer still eluded me like a fish in a river.

But, I was getting there, I think.

At least, Eitri said I was, that each new creation I presented to him was more whole, and perfect than the last, so perhaps I was finding the answer without even realizing it.

"Maybe I should try to handcraft everything at least once," I hummed at the thought, perhaps that was the missing part, I was too reliant on my power, which made my creations feel lifeless in a sense, I mean, for Eitri, who had forged everything with his very own hands, something I make with my power must be manufactured, soulless so to speak.

As this thought settled within my mind, the idea of doing such became more and more appealing, I mean, handcrafting could be the answer, and if it wasn't it was still EXP I was getting, double exp to be precise, because manual learning gives more than gamer learning, but it takes more time, way more time.

With the idea already in motion, I decided to try and make a clay golem by hand, it was after all one of the easiest things to make.

I had the knowledge, and the ingredients, all that was left was to try.

—--

Forging a golem by hand instead of using my powers, was a rather problematic process, one that even with all the right knowledge, took a shit ton of time, to put it in other terms, creating my clay golem took one week.

One entire agonizing week, where I questioned why I even tried to do this?

I knew my powers were making things easier, but this was a fucking shock to me, from a few seconds to a week, it was a lot.

Never before the difference between a process with my powers and without them had been so big.

Then again, I had never truly crafted before, so I can perhaps understand why.

Anyway, once the golem was created, all that was left was to give him life, which according to my knowledge was by pouring some of your mana into the creation with the help of an incantation.

"Here goes nothing," I sighed, starting the incantation as I poured mana into my creation, little by little the golem started to shake until eventually, it came to life, and what I saw, shocked me.

[Clay Golem S - LV 50

12500/12500

8000/8000

The Clay was lifeless, and then it came its master, with love and power it brought what was lacking of purpose and life, to a life filled with purpose, now the clay has a purpose, now the clay is alive, and it will protect the one who blessed it with life.

Skills: Retribution, Clay Shot, Will of the Clay, Acid Absorption, Berserk, Immutable Form.

Retribution = The Golem stores 15% of the damage he receives to punish his opponents.

Clay Shot = Using his mana, the golem creates more clay to shoot at his opponents, it can shoot up to 10 clay shots at the same time.

Will of the Clay = The Golem burns all his mana to create four identical clones of itself that deal 50% of his damage, but have the same resistance and HP the golem has.

Acid Absorption: Whenever the golem is subjected to acid damage, it takes no damage and instead regains HP equal to the acid damage that was supposed to attack it.

Berserk: When the Golem's HP drops to below the 50% mark, the Golem gets a boost of 75% Movement Speed, and Damage.

Immutable Form: The golem is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form.]

First of all, the golem had started way higher than the first clay golem I had created, second, it had more skills, and seemed stronger all and all.

Was this the reward for crafting the beast by hand?

I suppose the question now is, quality or quantity?

"Haha," I laughed, how stupid, why pick one, when I can have both, after all, the purpose of my golems was to help me level up, meaning manufacturing them was still a green-lighted project, but on the side, I would most certainly make some hand made golems, as an elite squad of sorts.

—--

[Loki Odinson POV]

Defeated by a mortal, how humiliating.

The worst part was, he had barely put any effort into our fight, he handled me like a child, two hits and I was down for the count, and to make the matters worse, father scolded me.

Then Thor warned me of his human brother, his words still echoed in my head.

~~~~~

[Memory]

Thor walked to me and without a word slapped me, "I warn you Loki, don't bring his daughters into your petty vendettas, he is not me, he is not father, he will kill you."

I smiled, "And that would make you happy, right brother?" I asked with a sneer.

"No," Thor replied his tone going somewhat soft, "And is because of that… that I am here, to warn you, whatever you have against Alex, put it aside, or focus on only him, for Odin's beard if you want to focus on someone do it on me, but leave his children alone, don't invoke his ire Loki, or you will die,"

I wanted to scream at him, I remember that I wanted to tell him no mortal was my match, but the results of our encounter proved, I wasn't a match for him, so I turned around and walked away.

~~~~~

The truth was, Alex was stronger than me, and unlike Thor, he was not easy to fool, in fact, he had done something, not even father had done before with such ease, in a matter of seconds, he had seen through my illusions, meaning he not only had a talent for the physical ways of a warrior but the magical ones, making him even though weaker than Thor a harder enemy to deal with.

That of course only meant one thing, and that was that I had to prepare.

He had defeated me once, and that would be his last accomplishment in life… for the next time we faced, I would be ready to kill him, with my most ingenious scheme.

113 CHAPTER 112

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Xmas is over, sad corn noises.

It had taken me over two months since the Loki incident, but I had finally reached the crafting level necessary to start manufacturing Clay Golems with a magical building within my territory.

This meant, soon I would start leveling considerably faster, it also meant, the more Loki took to attack once again, the more dead he would be, after all, an army of disposable soldiers solves many things.

Anywho.

The Clay Golem Factory was the first building on the list I now had the ability to craft, this little factory could create one golem every three hours, making a total of eight golems a day.

With one golem operating the factory, I would produce clay golems 24/7.

And if everything went right, I would have over 50 golems by the end of the week.

Cool right?

At first, the process would be slow, I knew that because for the golems to be useful they had to reach a certain level, but in a matter of months, I would have an army of them above level 100.

So, for now, I would let things cook at their own given time.

I already had a golem operating the factory, whose sole purpose was keeping the production going, and I also already had the higher level golems ready to pick the new ones up for leveling, all while I continued to improve my crafting skills.

"This creature is remarkable," Eitri said, snapping me out of my train of thought, he was looking at my hand-crafted clay golem, who had within this two months reached level 135.

"Thanks," I replied with a smile, to be honest, the difference in strength between this hand-crafted golem, and the ones using my power was massive, it was shocking really.

"I told you, putting your heart in your creations, brings the best out of them," Eitri nodded.

In a way, he was right, though his preferred method took time, a ton of time, crafting a single clay golem by hand had taken me way too long, and this type of golem was the easiest to craft, a rock golem, the new one on the list could take up to a month to craft my hand, I don't even wanna check how long would it take to craft a metal golem or something beyond that.

"He even seems responsive," Eitri complimented, handing my golem some clay, who in turn looked at the clay with mild curiosity before looking at Eitri. "Way too responsi… for Bor's sake, he's not a simple golem… how could I not notice this before!"

He was right, because two weeks after Clay's birth, I had discovered the difference between golems, and that hand-crafted golems were… more alive, so to speak, they were still loyal servants but had a level of awareness vastly superior to the gamer-produced ones.

It was a weird feeling, I mean, when I decided to create an army of them, I expected mindless beasts, not… that, I guess for the most part I was right, after all, only the special ones have a mind of their own to a limited extent that is.

"That caught me by surprise, not gonna lie," I sighed, looking at Clay, who simply tilted his head meeting gaze.

"You are truly a gifted individual, do you have any idea how hard is to create a sentient magical construct of this level?" Eitri looked at me with a shocked look, "And to think you did this without even knowing… living constructs are better, for their potential is technically limitless."

"Limitless?" I asked.

"Yes!" Eitri grinned, "Unlike a sword, or a soulless golem, these types of constructs evolve, they learn, they adapt and they overcome because they are like us, always learning with each passing second, For Odin's beard, Clay here is stronger and better than he was a few seconds ago, do you have any idea what marvelous thing you have created? Have you truly not noticed the changes since its creation?"

Soulless, hold on a minute, Clay was truly alive?! But how?! my powers said nothing of the sort…

"Rewind a bit… he's alive, as in… he has a soul?" I asked, looking at Clay who waved at me with a smile.

"Yes, but not like you and I, well… he is, but not entirely, you see when one creates a golem, there is a magical toll to pay for its creation, the question is… what are you paying?" Eitri replied with an excited grin, "Well you are paying for the creation of life, quite literally, because when you poured your mana into the clay, you created a spirit a brand new spirit, an elemental, a soul to inhabit the golem and be one with it."

Where was that disclosed to me?! Did I forget to read a book or something?

"So Clay here has a soul…" I sighed, looking at Clay who once again waved at me.

"A newborn elemental spirit," Eitri corrected, "Which is kinda like a soul, but is not,"

"Any concerns about a possible rebellion?" I asked and before I could dwell on that thought, Eitri started to laugh.

"Oh dear, no, elementals are stubbornly loyal and very territorial, they live to protect the source of their life, like many natural elementals do, for Clay you are in a way mother nature, and you need to be protected at all costs," Eitri chuckled, patting Clay on the back.

"Well… I guess I learned something new today," I sighed, I was not expecting this to get so out of hand.

"Clay will continue to evolve, and serve you for as long as you live," Eitri added, "Use it well,"

Elemental Golems, also known as Living Constructs are creatures capable of intelligent thought, and critical thinking, while vastly different than other life forms, they share a lot of things with humans.

Elemental Golems have no gender meaning they can't reproduce, so they have to be created, so far only two ways have been recorded detailing their creation.

One, created by the hand of a powerful mage. These golems are born to serve and protect their creators, after all, they love their makers beyond human comprehension, in a way the best way to describe their love or attachment to their creator is how humans love God, on another note, these golems like all elemental golems, are extremely territorial and if threatened would not hesitate to kill anyone.

Two, natural-born golems, these are created by an overload of natural untapped mana in a random location, once born, they will guard the area they have been spawned until the end of time never leaving the place, killing anything that threatens their territory.

There have been rumors of other ways to create them, but so far only these two methods have been confirmed.

114 CHAPTER 113

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

After two months, I had finally done it.

I had unlocked the next step on my crafting agenda, the rock golem factory.

Needless to say, I created a few of these buildings in a lot I had bought and started the mass production.

Now, it was simply time to sit back and watch how things played out, I was after all already leveling without doing much leveling myself as of lately.

All thanks to my golems, heck, I already had over 100 clay golems leveling for me, most of them were already above level 140.

A day, I would get around 25% to 30% of my EXP bar, getting on an average of a level a week or so, which was by idle standards quite good.

I reckoned that If I continued the path I was walking, soon I would start getting at least a level a day, maybe even more.

Also, on another note, I had also discovered that the creation of automatons required space for them, meaning, that I could not create more golems that my area could hold, so far, I calculated my limit was around 1000 golems before I needed to buy some more lands to host my army.

Something I was already actively doing, buying lands in texas, and using magic to hide what was happening inside said lands.

Anywho.

With how things were going, it was time for a break.

I had invested over six months in my crafting, and now it was time for a well-earned rest.

Mayhaps time for a side project that didn't involve crafting.

"Dad!" I heard Emily call, as she entered my office.

"Princess, whatcha doing here?" I smiled at her, ruffling her hair.

"I wanted to show this!" Emily smiled, and doing a circle with her hands, opened the mirror dimension.

I wonder why I never learned this spell, it's so useful.

"Amazing," It truly was, this technique ensured she would be safe on most occasions.

"I know I am," Emily winked at me with a proud smile.

As I was about to hug her, I felt something, something I hadn't felt in a long while, my [danger sense] going off.

"Emily, bring us back to the real world," I told her with a tone that left no room for argument.

"On it," Emily nodded, without asking why.

Back in the real world, I gave Emily quick orders to fetch Bucky and then go with Nat to one of our safe houses.

With Emily out of the room, I opened my map, and checked, I needed to know what had set off my [Danger sense].

It didn't take me long to find a single red dot approaching my location.

Immediately, I used [Sight] to check who it was, and what I saw, surprised me.

On the back of a truck, there was a man sitting with his arms crossed and a bloodthirsty smile, the man was big, very big, and sported a rather unique helmet that looked like the head of a bullet.

That man was Juggernaut.

[Juggernaut LV 280]

Just his level alone was a fucking ominous thing to look at.

"You called?" Bucky asked, and I nodded.

"There is someone coming here, someone quite dangerous," I replied, a grave look on my face, "And I have no idea why…"

[A new quest has been created]

[Defeat the Juggernaut!

Description: The Juggernaut is a force of nature that can't be stopped, but you have to stop it.

Rewards: ????????

Failure = Death]

—--

[Alexander Pierce POV]

It had taken us a while to find the perfect candidate to kill Alex, a man of his power made our entire life-long goal, quite difficult, and he needed to be eliminated, but that was easier said than done, that man was beyond human reach.

So, I searched.

Day and night, I looked for the hunter that would turn our predator into prey.

Cain Marko was that man, or rather that monster.

A man blessed with unimaginable strength and a thirst for battle that could never be satiated. Just what we needed.

All it took to get him on our side was offering him a challenge.

The man took Hydra, the ever-evolving Mutant, Alex Walker.

Of course, needless to say, Cain Marko was a wild card, one that we knew the moment Alex died, would betray us, but we would deal with that later, unstoppable or not, in space he would be nothing but dead weight.

"Sir, are you sure this man can kill that monster?" One of my agents asked, and I chuckled.

"We ran some simulations, and the Juggernaut is above Alex in each category," I replied, with full confidence.

"But what if we lose?"

I hummed at that, there was always the chance of that happening, "Not to worry, if that came to happen, we will do what we have always done, survive."

Not that I worried about the Juggernaut's performance, I knew that monster was more than enough to kill Alex.

—--

[Odin Borson POV]

Alex was in trouble.

I could feel it.

That bastard was making a move, like always, I fucking hated Cyttorak.

"Thor!" I called, my voice booming through the halls of my castle.

"Father!" Thor shouted from far away, flying towards the throne room.

Too slow, I needed him now, so snapping my fingers I summoned my child in front of me.

"Well, that… you haven't done since I was but a child," Thor chuckled.

"No time to waste, you need to get to Earth now!" I ordered.

"What is happening? Is Alex okay? Did they hurt my mighty nieces?! Was it LOKI?!" Thor asked one question after the other.

"No," I shook my head, taking a deep breath, "If it was Loki, I would be sending you to protect your brother from his own stupidity, no… what Alex is about to face is something far worse, and it's known the Apostle of Cyttorak."

"The apostle of what?" Thor asked.

"A monster blessed with powers and bloodlust like no other, in my years I have seen many apostles, and they all share something in common, the madness that overtakes them… to make matters worse, their power is as big as that bastard of a God that blessed them decides it is…" Meaning I could not interfere, if I went, Cyttorak could take it as a challenge, and could very well decide to give his apostle all his power, and that would be a battle earth would not live to tell the tale.

115 CHAPTER 114

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Knowing very well how strong the beast known as the Juggernaut was, I moved the battle out of the city, allowing whoever was driving the truck with him inside to follow me to a farm I had bought outside the city of New York, where I would teleport all of us, to a very secluded location.

"I have never seen you so… distressed," Bucky commented.

"Well, to put it in terms we can all comprehend, we are fucked," I chuckled.

"That bad?" Bucky asked.

"Yes, it is," I nodded, "This man is like a million super soldiers in one, and is quite literally unkillable… my only options are teleporting his ass to a faraway location, which would only buy me a few days at most, or…. No, that's it,"

"So I take it bullets won't work…" Bucky sighed, "Will a rocket launcher do any good?"

"I suppose it would piss him off, I guess," I shrugged.

"I'll take that," Bucky nodded.

With a sigh, I stopped my car as I reached the farm, and before the truck following us could stop, opened a portal sending the entire truck to the desert.

"Well, time to see how much damage we can deal to this guy," I commented, opening a portal for me and Bucky to step through.

On the other side, Juggernaut was already out, killing the man that had driven the truck, "Where is my challenge, you moron!"

"That would be us," Bucky said, aiming his gun at him.

"Cute," Juggernaut smiled, cracking his neck.

How the fuck did he crack his neck with that armor, you know what, questions for later.

"Is there any way to avoid confrontation good sir?" I asked, to which he laughed.

So, with a sigh, I equipped my armor.

Soon after this, the behemoth began to march aggressively toward me, so I did what anyone in my position would've done, and blasted the beast with my most powerful spell, however, this did nothing, not even a single scratch was on him.

A spell that would hurt Thor, did nothing to him, just great.

"For Asgard!" I heard someone shout, followed by a hammer blasting Juggernaut out of track.

"Thor?" I chuckled, as he descended to the ground.

"Aye," Thor nodded.

"Can goldilocks here beat him?" Bucky asked, ignoring Thor for a moment.

"Not sure, but with him, on our side, our chances are significantly better," I replied.

"Not sure?!" Thor gasped, "You good sir, hurt my feelings,"

"I'll take you to Disneyland later, now help me kick his ass," I snorted.

"You better buy a hat for my hammer," Thor smiled, calling his hammer back to him.

"More toys to break?" Juggernaut laughed, walking towards us, again showing no injury.

"You shall be the one to be defeated!" Thor declared, with a confident smile.

—--

The battle erupted, with Thor taking the main offensive being the only one truly able to push the beast back a bit.

Meanwhile, I was thinking of a strategy.

If the battle continued like it was going, we would lose.

Juggernaut never tired, it was a part of his stupidly broken power, meaning he would outlast all of us if things continued the way they were.

"Don't think I forgot about you!" Juggernaut roared in delight, punching Thor a few miles away, as he ran towards me.

"Move!" Bucky shouted, shooting a few grenades at the behemoth trying to slow him down.

[LEVEL UP!]

Ignoring the notification, I jumped above the beast avoiding his charge, as I opened a portal to an active volcano behind bathing him in lava.

"This tickles!" Juggernaut cackled, charging at me once again, this time, twice as fast.

[Juggernaut LV 318]

Did he level up? No… his power increased all of the sudden.

Was he perhaps the version of Juggernaut whose power is regulated by a God?

Clearing my head, I made an attempt to dodge his attack, however this time, I had no time to react as I found myself violently attacked by a mountain of muscle, that knocked the wind out of me, sending my body flying like a ragdoll.

"Eat this!" Thor roared, blasting Juggernaut with the clap of thunder, as I fell into the ground with a loud thud.

"Alex!" Bucky called, running towards me.

Struggling to move, I stood up, before my body gave in, and vomited some blood, the damage would take a few seconds to heal with my insane regeneration, but still, the fact that monster had punched me so hard my armor even after mitigating 80% of the damage had left me in this situation was enough to show how much of a threat he was.

"I'm fine," I reassured Bucky, who gave me a look that said, yeah, don't think so pal.

"Nothing we do hurts him," Bucky hissed, "I have shot at the bastard with every weapon I have, and nothing happens, even goldilocks there is losing more and more ground, a few seconds ago, he was matching the bastard, now? He is being overwhelmed."

"STAY DOWN!" Thor roared, blood running down his mouth as he slammed Juggernaut with his hammer with all his strength.

"The one getting trained here is you! Now sit boy!" Juggernaut cackled, punching Thor to his knees, then out of the way, sending Thor flying with a trail of blood behind him.

Five minutes in, and we were losing badly, fuck this, it was time to regroup.

Before the Juggernaut could react, I encased him in a bubble before he started his famously stoppable charge, and threw said bubble into the sky, a few miles away from us, with that done, I gave three potions to Bucky, "Give those to Thor and tell him to wait for me, we need a new strategy."

"On it," Bucky nodded.

With Bucky out of sight, I focused my attention back on Juggernaut, the problem we had at hand.

If we continued to face him like this, or death was a matter of time.

No, we needed time to plan a better approach.

And my golems would buy that time.

I wasn't particularly happy sacrificing them, but what other choice did I have?

116 CHAPTER 115

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Summoning my golems was easy enough, now all I had to do was stay back, and let them buy me some time.

"Father was not joking," Thor sighed, drinking the last pot I had sent with Bucky, "That is a monster that needs to be put down,"

"Well, unfortunately, we lack the firepower to do so," I sighed, perhaps if Thor had his full powers, it would make matters more simple, but as we were right now, we were fucked.

"Any ideas?" Bucky asked.

"The sun?" I sighed.

"Of course, you can open a portal to the sun!" Thor smiled, and I shook my head.

"Not really, if I did, I would also be exposing us to the radiation of the sun, and the heat for the amount of time the portal is open, and considering how hot the sun is, we would all burn to ashes before we can see if he can be killed with the sun," I replied.

"How about opening a portal close to the sun?" Bucky suggested, "If we attack him hard enough, and open the portal, gravity and our attack should do the rest."

"It could work," Or Juggernaut could end up surviving, in which case I would call the cheating department.

"Wouldn't the gravity also suck us in?" Thor asked, which honestly surprised me, that was a mighty intelligent question for him.

"It would, but I would be opening and closing the portal in a matter of a second, also, I'll enchant our ground to have a better standing," I replied.

"Then let's do it!" Thor smiled.

"I am tired of this!" Juggernaut roared, apparently getting tired of the golems, now ignoring them as he charged toward us.

"I fucking hate this guy," I muttered under my breath.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but please, give me more Hydra," Bucky muttered with me.

"For Midgard!" Thor roared, flying towards the juggernaut.

"YOU MORON, THE PLAN!" I shouted at him.

"Oh, right," Thor stopped mid-flight.

"I will crush your skulls!" Juggernaut cackled, one-shotting three golems on his charge.

Twenty golems had died in a matter of two minutes, fucking monster.

Wait a moment, his momentum is unstoppable, he was the perfect example of an unstoppable force, meaning, even he could not stop his own charge, which meant, I could use his own broken power to deal with him.

With a smile, I opened a portal right in front of him, and let the overpowered bastard run through it, sending him in the sun's orbit.

"I… I feel so stupid," Bucky sighed, realizing what I had realized just now.

"Where is he?" Thor asked.

"On the sun's orbit," I replied, "Hopefully dead in a few seconds,"

[Quest completed!]

[YOU HAVE LEVEL UP!]

—--

[Odin Borson POV]

They had won, it had taken them a while, but they had won.

Kinda.

The only reason they had won was because Cyttorak got angry at his apostle for letting Alex pull a fast one on him, and took away his powers, allowing the sun to consume the man.

Had Cyttorak been in a better mood, not even that attack would've done a thing to his apostle.

But like most Gods of his pantheon, he has a short fuse and considers anything a failure, and for him the moment his apostle allowed Alex to outsmart him, he was a failure, one to be discarded.

"Do you think that man will be back?" The Ancient One asked.

"No, Cyttorak is not one to give second chances to his apostles," I replied.

"Good had that not worked, I would've been forced to intervene," The Ancient One sighed, "Dormammu would've loved the company, and unstoppable or not, a simple apostle is no match for a god on his domain."

"Ha, mayhaps," I laughed. "Though, Cyttorak is a sore loser, just to face Dormammu he would've given his minion all of his power."

"I suppose, but a God who embodies physical might, can't do much against him, after all, Dormammu is immune to physical attacks, making Cyttorak and his powers a futile endeavor," The Ancient One chuckled.

"The question now is… whose gonna be the next apostle," I sighed.

"All we need to do is seal the gem, to avoid another similar scenario," The Ancient One replied.

"That… won't work… the gem is Cyttorak's anchor to this dimension, and while without it, he can't bestow others with his power, the gem can't be sealed," I sighed, I had tried before, but it had been futile, had I not sealed Hela, I would be able to seal the gem, but with the power I had right now, it was far beyond my powers.

"Then… how about we put it somewhere where no one can find it? A planet without life for example?" The Ancient One suggested.

A good idea indeed, that just might work.

Without life, Cyttorak would be rendered useless.

At least for a while.

After a few thousand years or so, Cyttorak would notice no one had come to him for power and created another gem and hurl that gem to an inhabited planet.

"It could work, at least momentarily," I nodded.

"Better than having another Juggernaut," The Ancient One smiled.

"Yes," I admitted with a smile of my own.

117 CHAPTER 116

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Fighting Juggernaut had taught me a valuable lesson, things could and would turn unpredictable one way or another.

Thor, my strongest ally had in a manner of minutes started to lose the battle against the avatar of Cyttorak.

I had only won because Juggernaut was basically mentally disabled, and outthinking him had been quite an easy task once I realized that.

But, what if the next avatar of Cyttorak was a bit more intelligent, if I was like I was now, I would most certainly die.

I needed to get stronger, but how?

Defeating Juggernaut had given a lot of power, but even then, I was still too short to match the likes of him, the likes of Thanos, and those were low-level players in the great scheme of things if they represented a threat, beings like Knull were so far out of my current reach I might as well beg for mercy.

Crafting would no longer do.

If I wanted to become stronger, I needed something else, something extra.

With that in mind, I commissioned a few things with Eitri, who at first was reluctant to help me, mostly because of how outrageous my commissions were.

But, with the help of Odin, and a few very compelling points, he accepted.

To which I was immensely glad.

Anyway.

In the end, Etri had accepted to craft two things for me, one, a weapon for me to wield which I desperately needed, which Thor had offered to pay for, and two a Destroyer factory.

Out of the two things I had asked. The Destroyer Factory Eitri would create for me, was the hardest thing to get, because of the implications this brought in the larger picture, but eventually, both Kings accepted under the condition I would use my own metal to craft the destroyers, meaning no Uru for me.

I was completely fine with that agreement, I had all the Adamantium one could ask for, and would soon find some Vibranium to add to the mix.

Needless to say, I would not get my Vibranium from Wakanda.

I would get it from the source.

From the place, the meteor that had struck Wakanda had come from.

How would I do that?

By tapping into the space stone.

If my suspicions were correct, connecting my powers to the space stone would expand my map to all in existence, for everything existed within a given space, then from there, it would only be a matter of finding the birthplace of the Vibranium.

Which I was confident would be remarkably easy after I had my map updated to the entire universe.

All I currently needed were three levels.

[STATS

Name = Alex Walker

Title = The Gamer

Occupation = Crafter.

Level = 217

EXP = 98%/100%

HP = 1,074,000/1,074,000

MP = 1,097,500/1,097,500

STR = 2500 (1500) = 4000

VIT = 2148

DEF = 1899

DEX= 1875

INT = 2195

CHA = 756

WIS = 700

WILL = 1400

PER = 1289

LUK = 469

STAT POINTS = 550

MONEY: 14,548,142,752$

]

The required level to use the space stone was 220, meaning I was remarkably close.

Meaning that for now, I would focus only on getting those three levels alongside my golems, which if I pushed it through would get by the end of the week or so.

"Brother!" Thor shouted, bursting into my office through the ceiling… once again.

"Thor, what have we talked about?" I sighed, rubbing my temples.

"Not to break anything in your house?" Thor asked, and I nodded.

"So, why did you not use the door?" I asked, pointing at the perfectly usable door.

"Well… this is technically not your house… so… you know, grey areas and such," Thor replied with an innocent smile.

"I… never mind, I am wasting my time," He would never learn how to stop breaking stuff, I can't fix what he has learned in 1500 years, "So… what are you doing here?" I asked, already imagining my construction company wondering why my ceiling had a hole and burnt marks all around it.

They probably think I am crazy or something.

"Well, I wanted to ask you, what weapon do you fancy?" What weapon do I fancy, well ain't that a good question.

"To be honest, I have no idea," I replied scratching my head at the thought, what weapon would go well with my fighting style? A sword? No, I sucked at them, perhaps a whip? Maybe, whips are known for generating many times more force than the user can generate, so it could be a good idea, "A whip maybe?"

"A whip?" Thor tilted his head humming, "Maybe…" and just like that he was gone as Heimdall opened the bridge for him… in my office.

"Bye?" I sighed, looking at the markings on the floor, now my construction company was going to think I was satanic or something.

—--

[Alexander Pierce - Hydra POV]

Our plan had failed.

Terribly may I add.

Alex had countered our weapons by capitalizing on his stupidity.

And had once again, delayed our plans a few decades, but not to worry, eventually, he would fall.

"Start the next operation, the Wolverine," I ordered one of my agents as I walked to my office.

"Yes, sir, we find the mutant as fast as possible," Wolwerive while weaker than Juggernaut, was vastly more intelligent, and immortal, with a few added modifications he would prove a valuable asset to our cause, eliminating Alex Walker.

"You will not," A voice said, followed by the sound of a loud thud, as if a bowling ball had fallen into the ground, but unlike a bowling ball, this sounded soggier, immediately I turned around, to find not only the agent I had just talked to death on the floor, his head decapitated but everyone else in the base.

The once white and black room coated with blood and other body parts, painting a bloody work of art.

In front of me, stood a woman, around twenty or so years old, smiling at me in a sweet yet terrifying manner.

"Who are you?" I asked, and she giggled.

"Who are you, why are you doing this? Blah blah, they always ask the same questions, the wrong ones," The woman sighed, seemingly disappointed with what I had just said.

"What is the right question then?" I asked, buying as much time as possible, as I slowly reached for my gun.

"Well, that's a new one," The woman giggled once again, taking a seat on a blood-coated chair, index finger pressing to her lips as she hummed, "Well, I guess it would be, what did you do to become my enemy?"

"I don't know you," I replied, had we perhaps attacked her family, it could be, it was plausible enough.

"Oh but you do," The woman replied, "Not like this though, but you do know me, and well, you have been a very… very naughty man,"

Finally reaching my weapon, I aimed at her but my and body stopped, "What…" I mumbled, my body paralyzed by some sort of invisible force.

"What what?" The woman mocked, "Oh you silly goose," she booped my nose with her blood-covered finger in a lively manner, "The moment you saw my face, you achieved absolute death, there is no point in fighting it."

"Hydra will stand once again, you kill one head…" All of the sudden, I couldn't speak.

"I know, I know, hydra and their mythos, boring," The woman rolled her eyes, "The thing is, there are no more necks for a single head to grow," she grinned sending a shiver down my spine, "It took some time, but I killed every single last survivor,"

"Impossible!" Once again, I could talk, it appeared the woman was controlling my body with some sort of power, if only I could put her a mutant suppressant collar, we would get a valuable asset against that man, but unfortunately she killed everyone.

"Impossible?" The woman snorted, "You guys only had two bases, that's basically a snack for me, nothing like the old days, hundreds of bases…" she giggled, "Walker walked all about you,"

"So you are his ally?" I scoffed, when all of the sudden, I saw one of my agents move, there was a chance.

"More than that," The woman answered in a cryptically sweet manner, the little bastard was enjoying toying with me, "Anywho… time to die, so… any last words?"

"Yes," I smiled, "Welcome to Hydra," as soon as I said this, the agent that had somehow survived put the collar on her, neutralizing her powers, effectively releasing me from her grasp.

"One survived?" The Woman muttered in panic, good, she would soon learn to obey.

I chuckled, "It seems you got overconfident little girl,"

"Hahahahahahaha," She… was laughing?

"You think… I'm a mutant? Oh god, I wanted to play this charade a bit longer, but… look at you, all high and confident cuss of this little bitty collar?" I looked at the woman, and took a step back, witnessing in terror how she destroyed the mutant suppressing collar with some sort of invisible force.

Then, with her neck free of any restraint, she turned around and with a smile, eviscerated the last agent alive with a wave of her hand, "I left him alive to make a point you know?"

"What point?" I asked, my hands trembling.

"If you haven't got the point yet…" She giggled, approaching me with a disappointed look, "Well, there is no point in explaining it," and with that said, she killed me, ending Hydra once and for all, and leaving me with one question, just who the hell was her?

118 CHAPTER 117

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Three days later, I had reached the level required to use the infinity stone that controlled the aspect of the universe known as space.

I wasn't gonna lie.

I was nervous.

This was going to be a big step in my end game, with it, power beyond my wildest dreams would be within the tip of my fingers.

"Ok, time to bring the stone out," I muttered to myself, opening my inventory.

[The Space Stone - Aspect Of The Universe.

The Space Stone gives the user total power over space. Anyone holding the Space Stone with enough power can not only create portals from one part of the universe to another but bend space itself.

RECOMMENDED LEVEL: 220.

ITEM CLASS: LEGENDARY UNIQUE.

Currently, the space stone is trapped within the tesseract.]

Here goes nothing.

Taking a deep breath, I cracked the tesseract open, revealing the stone in all its glory.

The stone was relatively small, but even with its fragile look, I could feel the density of the power it emanated.

[Do you wish to equip the space stone?

YES/NO

Click ? for more information.]

Wait, what?

Shocked at the revelation I could equip the space stone, I opened the tab for more information.

[The Infinity Stones - The Aspects Of The Universe

At the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then... with a boom. The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence.

Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and Time.

Together these aspects give the user almighty powers, but to use all six of the stones, the user requires power to control the cosmic radiation these elemental stones generate.

1 STONE = LEVEL 220

2 STONES = LEVEL 300

3 STONES = LEVEL 390

4 STONES = LEVEL 450

5 STONES = LEVEL 500

6 STONES = LEVEL 550

Using more than one stone without the required level can result in death or permanent injuries, so it's recommended for the aspiring user to be the level required, or close at the very least.

Once you have the required level, and one of the six aspects, then it's time to equip the stone, you might be wondering, how does this work?

Well, by accessing your inventory, you can equip the stone as an accessory to yourself, keeping the stone within the deeps of your pocket dimension, but with access to its power.

Word of advice, this equipping system only works if you already have the required level for use.]

I can equip the space stone, and not have it on the outside?

Well, this is free real estate.

Happy with the explanation I had read, I equipped the stone, who in turn disappeared into my inventory as the explanation had said.

Immediately after, I felt a pulse of power, it was as if I was still holding the stone, but at the same time, no.

[The Space Stone has been equipped]

[Do you wish to reveal the map of the universe?

YES/NO

Click ? for more information.]

Of course, I want!

Without hesitating, I smashed the button, and waited, one, two, three, massive headache.

I had not considered how painful revealing the entire universe would be, well, painful was a strong word, it was more like a migraine I was having.

[The Entire Universe has been explored and revealed…

2926899456 EXP]

[LEVEL UP!]

[Hidden Quest Completed: Leave no corner unexplored.

You are in a new universe, so go and explore it, leave nothing hidden on your map!

Rewards: The Boons of The Living Tribunal x 10.

Additional Reward: Search Bar on the map.]

The Boons of The Living Tribunal?

Confused, I checked my inventory.

[The Boons of The Living Tribunal - Legendary Item

Quantity = 10

Each boon grants the user one level, and 10 on each stat.]

A rare candy basically.

Well, I am obviously saving that for a later date using it now would be a waste.

"Well, this turned out to be great," I smiled, seven levels just for discovering the entire universe, how wonderful was that, and to add a cherry on the top, ten rares candies, which I was happy to have.

But enough about that, now, now it was time to find where was the precious metal I so desperately wanted.

"Let's see," I chuckled, opening my map.

—--

[Ego the Living Planet POV]

I felt something, a pulse of cosmic energy expanding throughout the cosmos.

The question now was, who was responsible for such display? A celestial if I had to take a guess, perhaps they were searching for me, perhaps they had discovered my plan to overthrow them.

Regardless of that, I had to move, and then find out who had done such a thing.

Perhaps it was simply an idiot that had used the Space Stone and died, releasing such energy into the cosmos, perhaps I was moving to another corner of the universe for nothing, but it was best to assume the worst, and get the best than assume the best, and get the worse.

—--

[Alex Walker POV]

I… I could see everyone's movements on my map, all I had to do was type a name on the map, and my map would move to that person, or in my current case, planet, aka Ego.

I could see his dot moving, at great speeds may I add, as if running from something.

Then, I moved to Thanos, he was currently alone on his home planet, Titan.

This… this reward, was broken.

The Search Bar not only showed me people, but things, like with it, I had found the planet from which the meteor that had hit Wakanda had come from, I think, there were three planets with the metal, one of them uninhabited called Sufuro, one with only animals Rohirsch, and the last one, being the only one with a civilization, Torfa.

Fuck Wakanda, quite literally.

I now had access to more Vibranium that I could possibly use.

"Well…" I cracked my neck, "Time to farm some vibranium,"

119 CHAPTER 118

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

[The Ancient One POV]

Alex had finally used the Space Stone, in a way I had not expected, at least not entirely, then again, he had changed the timeline so much, I had no idea what to expect anymore.

Revealing the secrets of the universe to him, with his new knowledge, he had moved all of his golems out of Earth to mine some Vibranium off the crust of some uninhabited planets.

I was happy for him.

He was slowly but surely becoming stronger and more resourceful.

The question now was, how long would it be before he asked me for the time stone.

I hummed at that thought, watching through the window in my office as Emily bested his peers in everything, I smiled at the sight, Emily was truly a prodigy, in fact, she would probably be the best sorceress of her time, only second to Dr. Strange.

Back to the time stone.

I suppose soon enough he will come to ask me for the stone.

A momentary loan I am sure.

Especially since his power connects so well with the infinity stones, that it almost seems like he was made to wield them.

One second using the Space Stone, and he had uncovered the entire cosmos.

Perhaps with the time stone, he would uncover the mysteries of the past, or something else, who knows?

"Oh…" I muttered, getting a brief vision about Alex's arrival.

He's coming already, how fun.

I chuckled.

Three.

Two.

One.

"Hi, Mr. Walker," I greeted as the portal opened in my office, this portal unlike the ones we the master of the mystical arts use, was blue, and was charged with cosmic power, it seems Mr. Walker was learning how to use the space stone quite adequately if I say so myself.

"Hi," Alex replied in kind, with his usual smile.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" I asked, with a knowing smile, mostly because it annoyed him.

"You already know…" Alex rolled his eyes, taking a seat.

"I do?" I gasped with a playful smile.

"You enjoy this?" Alex sighed returning the smile.

"I have no idea what you mean," I chuckled.

"Ok then, I want you… to lend me, emphasis on the lending part, the time stone, for a few minutes or so," And there it is, it took him a week to ask me for the stone, frankly I expected this conversation a few hours after he used the Space Stone.

I hummed, pretending to think about it, "Sure… but only for a few seconds," I winked at him eventually, summoning the Eye of Agamotto to the office.

Alex beamed at my response, tackling me into a hug.

"Mr. Walker, please behave, I am fifty times your age," I teased him with a sigh.

"You are way too playful today," Alex laughed, breaking the hug.

"Well, what can I say, you bring the child in me," I smiled at him, handing him the stone.

"Thanks!" Alex smiled.

"Be quick, the last thing I need is others finding out I basically gave, that, which we are supposed to protect from everyone," I smiled, as he studied the stone with a scrutinizing look on his face.

"This won't be long, a minute at most," Alex replied, holding the stone in his right hand before it disappeared.

—--

[Alex Walker POV]

After sending the majority of my golems to mine the Vibranium in Sufuro.

I decided to test a theory out.

If equipping the Space Stone had given me so many rewards, and such, what would happen if I equipped another stone? The Time Stone let's say.

Would I perhaps get some rewards?

Would I perhaps get nothing?

I had no idea, but it was worth trying anyway.

So, with that thought in mind, I teleported to The Ancient One's office to ask her a favor, using the Space Stone to flex, of course.

I wanted her to lend me the Time Stone, just for a bit.

I was ready to negotiate for it, but surprisingly she accepted rather quickly.

I guess a part of me was waiting for a quick no.

Which was stupid now that I think about it, she had after all offered the stone before.

In any case, it was time to test that theory out.

[Space Stone Unequipped]

[Do you wish to equip the time stone?

YES/NO

Click ? for more information.]

With a smile, I smashed the yes option.

[The Time Stone has been equipped]

[Do you wish to reveal the history of the universe?

YES/NO

Click ? for more information.]

Don't mind if I do.

[Library/Gallery Unlocked]

[The Entire History of the Universe has been added to your library/gallery

9928999477 EXP]

[LEVEL UP!]

[Hidden Quest Completed: A True Scholar Never Rests.

Knowledge is power, and you need power to survive! So, seek the knowledge hidden in the past! For there lays the answers to your questions!

Rewards: The Boons of The Living Tribunal x 10.

Additional Reward: Time Walking Dungeons.]

The Boons of The Living Tribunal again… well ain't that a treat.

[Quest Completed: The Secrets of the Cosmos! And the Predators that Lurk Within!

Description: You alone know what is to come, but what can you do about it, how can a man prepare if he doesn't know how strong his enemy is? Well, the answer is simple, to prepare you must reach the skies, and find what you can about the Threats that will hold the universe to its knees.

Objective: Investigate in the ever-expanding universe about the predators that lurk in the cosmos, some of them are free, others are imprisoned, but all are very much alive and waiting for the time to strike.

Investigate about Hela 100/100%

Investigate about Thanos 100/100%

Investigate about Knull 100/100%

Investigate about Kang 100/100%

Investigate about Mephisto 100/100%

Investigate about Galactus 100/100%

Rewards: Fragment of the Cosmos]

Fragment of the cosmos? What the hell is that?

Confused, I opened my inventory.

[Fragment of the Cosmos - Legendary Crafting Item.

A piece of what was before the bang, elemental like the six aspects of the universe, but hollow lacking a purpose, maybe you can give it one?

This can be used for crafting.]

That… sounds like something I might want to add to my weapon.

120 CHAPTER 119

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

[STATS

Name = Alex Walker

Title = The Gamer

Occupation = Crafter.

Level = 238

EXP = 15%/100%

HP = 1,084,000/1,084,000

MP = 1,107,500/1,107,500

STR = 2520 (1512) = 4032

VIT = 2168

DEF = 1919

DEX= 1895

INT = 2215

CHA = 780

WIS = 720

WILL = 1420

PER = 1305

LUK = 480

STAT POINTS = 750

MONEY: 14,148,142,752$

]

I gave the Time Stone back to the Ancient One, already done with what I had needed it in the first place, I couldn't help but smile.

In the span of a week, I had gained eighteen levels.

By just equipping two infinity stones.

It was clear, what I had to do next.

I had to find the next stone to equip.

The mind stone according to my universal map was with Thanos.

Meaning that stone was currently a hard no.

The Reality Stone was nowhere to be found.

The Soul Stone, well, I was not willing to pay the price.

Which left only one stone for the taking, the power stone located in Morag.

It seems I would be stealing the stone before Quill, how sad, and by sad I mean terribly great.

"Thanks," I thanked the Ancient One, who simply smiled at me.

"Nothing to thank me for, Mr. Walker," The Ancient One smiled, "I just happy to help a friend,"

I looked at her, images of Dormammu flashing before my eyes as I came to the resolution, that I would help her, that I would recover her soul, one way or another, as thanks to all she has done for me, for Emily, for us.

"See ya later," I waved at her one last time, opening the portal to Morag.

—--

As soon I stepped into the portal to Morag, instead of finding something solid to step on, I found falling into the sea with a loud splash, most in this situation would've tried to swim into the surface, but for a moment I did nothing but allow the sea to drag me into the abyss.

I was processing the fact I had committed a big stupid mistake, I mean, I had access to basically all knowledge about all planets, and I had still failed to check what was I to expect on the planet, in other circumstances such a mistake could very well be lethal.

Finally, over my own stupidity, I let out of breath under the dark sea of Morag and used my telekinesis to fly out of the deep sea, as I opened my map to get some information about the planet.

Something I should've done a few minutes ago.

Oh well.

[Morag X78

Morag is an oceanic planet located in the Andromeda Galaxy at the Eclipsing Binary Star M31V J004437994129236. Most of the current inhabitants of this planet are rodent-like creatures and aquatic crocodile-like creatures in one of the early stages of evolution.

History: Thousands of years ago, Morag was the home of an advanced and flourishing civilization, that was wiped out by a global catastrophe. Sometime prior to their demise, the inhabitants of Morag built a temple to guard the Orb, an artifact that contained an Infinity Stone within it. Following the catastrophe, Morag became a desolated planet with nothing but seas. However, every three hundred years, the sea lowers just enough and the Temple is made accessible.

Many call this planet simply Morag, but in reality, its real name is Morag X78 as it's the 78th planet with Morag as a name.

The other 77 planets that share the same name are currently desolated from all life.]

"That explains the water," I chuckled.

"Rrr!"

A growl?

Now that I think about it, I feel something shaking on my leg.

Following the sound, and the shaking sensation I found a shark-sized animal that looked like a crocodile biting my leg, and… I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how to react.

I mean, I had the equivalent of a shark biting me on the leg, and yet I had felt nothing.

[Lipotrius LV 30]

"I am not food," I told the croco-shark, kicking him or her into the sunset, I wasn't sure about its gender, and quite honestly, I didn't care, I mean, I came here for stone, anything else besides that was not important.

Leg free of the Croco-shark clutches, I used [Sight] to locate the Power Stone.

"Hmm," The Power Stone was underwater, a few thousand miles under the sea to be precise.

Maybe the Ancient One has a spell for that.

"Well, I guess I–" before I could finish that sentence, a portal opened in front of me, followed by a book hitting me in the face with a note attached to it.

~Mr. Walker, I am currently busy doing… magic stuff, so please use this book to help you in your underwater adventure, with love, the Ancient One.

P.S: Sorry for hitting you in the face.~

Amazon Prime, Ancient One department.

Snorting at that thought, I grabbed the book and inspected its contents.

[The Eldritch Arts - Barriers and their application underwater, by Yao

Do you wish to learn this book?

Yes/No]

Needless to say, I pressed yes.

[A new skill has been created.

Eldritch Pressure Barrier LV1 = A barrier capable of withstanding the might of the seas.

For each 1 atmosphere, the spell consumes 100 extra mana.

1000MP/S]

That should do.

With a smile and ready to collect what I had come to get, I activated the barrier and opened a to where the power stone was, this time willingly diving into the sea.

—--

[Eldritch Pressure Barrier HAS LEVEL UP]

The moment I stepped into the temple, the skill I had just learned had started to level up non-stop, it was annoying really.

All I could see were notifications about the damn skill leveling one.

[Eldritch Pressure Barrier HAS LEVEL UP]

"God damn it, I can't see!" I cursed, the notifications and the lack of light in the place making my mission harder than it had to be.

[Eldritch Pressure Barrier HAS LEVEL UP]

I guess on some level I understood why the skill was getting so many levels, I mean, the pressure here was so big, that it was 2500 times bigger than the pressure on earth.

[Eldritch Pressure Barrier HAS LEVEL UP]

Thankfully, I had enough mana to sustain the spell almost indefinitely.

[Eldritch Pressure Barrier HAS LEVEL UP]

Fuck this.

Tired of the notification parade.

I created a ball of pure Eldritch energy illuminating the entire temple, finally locating the Orb holding the stone.

[Eldritch Pressure Barrier HAS LEVEL UP]

…..

Why didn't I just do that from the very beginning, I guess the notifications triggered me before I could think… I'll go with that.

[Eldritch Pressure Barrier HAS LEVEL UP]

Using my telekinesis, I grabbed the Orb, and [Eldritch Pressure Barrier HAS LEVEL UP]... opened a portal to the surface.

121 CHAPTER 120

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

[The Power Stone - Legendary Item

Aspect of the Universe = Power.

The Power Stone represents the aspect of power of the universe, when used it increases the user's physical abilities, allowing the user to manipulate energy, which, when used at full potential, has enough power to obliterate an entire planet when unleashed.

WARNING: Unlike the other stones, this one consumes energy when equipped, and will continue to consume energy for as long as the user has it equipped, be it mana, cosmic energy, or other, should the user have no energy to supply, the stone will consume HP, should the user have no HP, it will kill the user erasing it.

Recommended LEVEL = 220]

A warning, what a novelty, perhaps it's because of the stone's nature, but who cares, I mean, I had two infinity stones, and before the canon even started, how wonderful was that?

I would later see how big was the cost of having the stone.

"I guess it's time to equip it," I smiled, this last month had been wonderful for me, I guess in a way, I owned Juggernaut a lot, without his EXP reward, I would still be struggling on the high hundreds.

[Space Stone Unequipped]

Time to see the rewards on the Power Stone.

[Do you wish to equip the Power stone?

YES/NO

Click ? for more information.]

I pressed YES.

[The Power Stone has been equipped]

[Do you wish to reveal the Power Ranking of the universe?

YES/NO

Click ? for more information.]

Power Ranking, well ain't that interesting.

If this was what I thought it was, it would help me a ton, I mean, if this really showed me how strong my enemies were, then I would be able to prepare accordingly.

So, without further ado, I pressed yes.

[Power Ranking Unlocked]

[The Ladder of the Cosmos has been revealed!

9978999977 EXP]

[LEVEL UP!]

Holy fuck, more levels, yeih!

[Hidden Quest Completed: No one shall escape my sight!

Levels represent the power of an individual, and you have the eye to see their true strength, so leave no one out of your sight! Find everyone's level!

Rewards: The Boons of The Living Tribunal x 10.

Additional Reward: True Observe.]

True Observe?

I already have something like that, unless this is an upgrade of sorts.

Let's check that.

[True Observe LV - MAX = This skill allows the user to quickly gather information about the enemy with a simple glance.

Nothing escapes your powerful sight!]

Not much to go by.

Perhaps I need to use it to see how it works.

Time to visit the Ancient One.

But first, let's see how much mana does the stone consumes anyways, I mean, it did have a warning.

[HP = 1,100,000/1,100,000

MP = 1,000,500/1,190,500]

1 % of my mana per second, when equipped.

Not bad, considering I regen exactly the same per second.

The real question is, how much mana would it consume when in real use.

I'll find out later.

For now, time to check what True Observe means.

—--

I opened a portal to the Ancient One, who upon my arrival sighed.

"Am I bothering?" I asked her.

"Not more than usual," she replied with a small chuckle, "So, in what can I be of assistance, Mr. Walker?"

Time to see how this power works.

[The Ancient One - LV 219

Previous Name = Yao

Age = 681 Years Old.

Biological Age = 29 Years Old.

Gender = Female

The Ancient One, previously known as Yao, is currently the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth as well as the leader of the Masters of the Mystic Arts. For centuries, the Ancient One has dedicated her life to protecting the Earth from mystical threats and to helping others in need by educating them in the magical arts to give them new hope.

Relationship = She finds you indispensable for earth's safety and has plans in motion to protect you should it be needed.

Heart's Desire = To be free of Dormmamu's hold.

Current Thought = She is wondering why you have come to visit her again and is worried it might be related to her vision.]

"No, just wanted to test something out," I replied, closing the tab, True Observe was intrusive as fuck.

"Oh, and what were you testing?" The Ancient One smiled, index finger pressed upon her lip.

"Nothing," I chuckled, "See you later," I waved at her.

"I am sure that will be rater soon," She giggled, "Oh well, it is the price I pay for being so nice,"

"You are quite funny when you want to be," I snorted, opening a portal to my house.

"Well, in my youth, I was quite the comedian," She grinned ever so gently.

"I don't doubt it," I chuckled, stepping into the portal.

—--

[The Ancient One POV]

A vision had troubled me.

A sorceress of great power was hunting Alex.

One that had in her power, the darkest book of spells in all of existence.

The Darkhold.

I didn't doubt of Alex's power, in fact, he was already stronger than me in many ways, he only lacked the experience to back his power up.

The point was, I was confident in his power.

But, I was also wary of the power within the Darkhold.

And how could I not?

The Darkhold, also known as the Book of Sins, or the Book of the Damned, was an ancient book of spells that held unspeakable power. The book in its entirety was made of dark matter from the Hell Dimension, making it even more dangerous.

Some records even say it holds every dark spell in the universe.

Even those that have not been written yet.

The question was, what did that Witch wanted from Alex?

"I have no idea what you want from Alex little enchantress, but… you caught my attention and that… that was a mistake," No matter what she wanted with Alex, I would stop her, the Darkhold was enough reason to eliminate her, that she wanted to use it on Alex, that was just a bonus to convince me to act.

122 CHAPTER 121

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

Author note: In the rankings, certain are not there cuss they exist in other timelines or dimensions and not here, if they happen to break the veil and enter this reality the ranking would be updated.

[Morgan Le Fay POV]

Alex Walker was an anomaly, quite the delicacy if I say so myself, especially in this world full of disappointments, a dream come true.

Powerful, handsome, and mysterious. What else could a girl ask for?

Though I suppose he does have some… baggage in the form of two annoying little rats he happens to call his daughters, but I could deal with that, after all, I wanted him all for myself.

A powerful slave to do my bidding.

Sadly, I wasn't strong enough to subdue his will to mine, at least not on my own.

But he was worth the effort, and sometimes, a girl has to put some effort, am I right?

The Darkhold, the book that had the answers to all of my prayers, including the how-to subdue my man.

A book with the spell necessary to thraw the will of any man, but even with this, powerful tool in my hands, getting him would be difficult, his mental and mystical fortitude was so irrationally high, I needed more than the book.

I needed a source of magical power many times bigger than my own.

The Staff of One.

With it, alongside the Darkhold, controlling Alex would be a piece of cake, he would be mine forever.

There is only one thing that could possibly go wrong.

The Ancient One.

With her on the way, acquiring the Staff to power my spells was a fairly difficult manner, but I played for the long run, I could wait.

I had waited long enough already.

But first, let's have a talk with her, hehe.

—--

[Alex Walker POV]

The Power Ranking.

It was, to say the least, super useful.

With it, I knew everyone's level, regardless of the fact if I knew them or not.

Well, when I say everyone's level, it's… not entirely accurate. Some levels didn't appear, instead giving me the ???, but considering who were behind those levels, well, I understood.

[Power Ranking - Current Universe

1 - The One-Above-All LV ????

2 - The Fulcrum LV ????

3 - The Living Tribunal LV ????

4 - The Heart Of The Universe LV ????

5 - The Phoenix LV ????

5 - Oblivion LV ????

6 - Infinities LV ????

7 - Eternity LV ????

8 - Death LV ????

9 - Infinity LV ????

10 - The Protege LV ????]

Those were just the top ten, some of them, I recognized. Others, not so much, like for example, Infinities, or The Protege, in all my life, I had never heard such names before, but nonetheless, they were there.

Thanos for example was in the top 400, ranking in the 318th place.

His level?

LV 371.

As for me, I was also in the top 400.

My rank?

397th.

Which was higher than I expected it to be.

Way higher.

Especially considering those above me in the ranks, and I am not talking about the top ten, they are far beyond me as of now, no, I was talking about the ones right above me, who were simply above me by a level, or two.

Of course, the rankings didn't account for things like the infinity stones and such, otherwise, my ranking would be higher, I guessed.

In the ranks, I saw beings like, Zeus, Aphrodite, Hera, Sun Wukong, and others, in fact, every mythological pantheon I would've thought was not real, was in the ranking, some of their gods, above Thanos, others below.

Even Yahweh was in the rankings, which brought up a lot of questions on itself.

But by what I could tell, the realm of the gods, or so-called gods, started around level two hundred.

But enough about that.

The Ranking while troubling, was not the matter at hand.

No, the matter at hand was what I encountered in the top 100.

Tiamut The Communicator, according to the rankings, and the library, inside the earth, there was a celestial incubating, one with already enough power to rank in the top 100 of the universe.

His level, higher than Odin's.

High enough to make Odin seem relatively weak in comparison.

"Well, just when I was starting to feel powerful," I snorted, I still had a long way to go.

—--

[The Ancient One POV]

I had managed to track the enchantress that was targeting Alex to an abandoned warehouse, a cliche move on her part, one that was obviously a trap.

Nonetheless, I had to confront whoever was hunting Alex, and if possible, deal with them.

Inside the warehouse, I walked and checked every corner and found nothing but a wall painted with blood, with a single word written in it, -I see you-

"Yao, what a surprise…" A voice seemingly coming from every direction spoke, each word uttered with extreme care.

"My my, I don't recall meeting you," I replied, the voice seemed to know me, but I didn't know her the visions were unfortunately clear, meaning this witch had access to the dark dimension, adding more trouble to already hazardous mix.

"Oh, well, you haven't not yet," I could feel her presence, she was behind me, yet she wasn't attacking, what games was she playing, I couldn't help but wonder.

With a sigh, I turned around to find the enchantress smiling at me, a cup of wine in her hand.

"You must be the one hunting Mr. Walker," I smiled at her, a smile of no emotion, but pure hostility, I now knew who she was, in hindsight, I should've have known, she was no other than Morgana, the Witch of Camelot, and the lost soul of the Dark Dimension.

"I am," She nodded, winking at me, "Excuse me, but where are my manners, my name is Morgan Le Fay, a pleasure to meet you,"

"Of that, I have no doubt, can't say I feel the same though," I replied staring at her.

"How rude," Morgana pouted, "Oh well, no matter,"

"What are you looking for with Mr. Walker?" I asked, any information she provided would work to undo her plans, even if the information was something she thought to be useless.

"A man to call my own," Morgana smirked, taking a sip of her wine. "A man willing to do as I say, of course, he doesn't have to do it willingly," she added with a sultry smile.

"You wish to enslave him?" I chuckled in a bitter tone, "Mr. Walker has… some bad experiences in the area, I doubt he will take this… offense in good nature,"

"No wonder you are single," Morgana pouted in reply, "A man can cry and say no, they can even throw a tantrum, but in the end, it's not him who has the last vote, it's me, after all, I know best."

"Merlin really wasted his time with you," I sighed.

"Perhaps," Morgana nodded, "But… you know I am right,"

"No, you are not, that is the sad part, you see… for the one who has the last vote as you call it here, it's me," I smiled at her, "I am, after all, the sorceress supreme,"

"A title with no weight," Morgana shot back.

"It weighs more than your corpse," I replied.

123 CHAPTER 122

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

[The Ancient One POV]

Without a warning, the battle started, with Morgana attacking with a curse from the Darkhold.

I stood my ground, and created an eldritch circle of runes to dispel the curse. I could feel the curse struggling against the runes, trying to break through to no avail, good, this meant she was yet to tap into the book's full potential.

"How long do you think you'll be able to hold?" Morgana asked, with a grin of mad delight.

"You overestimate your own capabilities, Morgana," I replied, looking at her with a simple smile. "The Darkhold in your hands it's nothing but a book of wasted potential, had that book been in Merlin's hands, the. I would worry,"

Morgana chuckled, "Maybe, but… once I have Alex on my side, nothing will stand in my way," with that said, Morgana started to push more and more mana into her curse, as well as adding power from Dormmamus' dimension to the mix.

I sighed.

My runic barrier was going to break sooner or later with the current power of the curse, that much was inevitable, but I could still fight, I had after all defeated foes vastly stronger than me.

"Give up, and I promise, I won't torture you," Morgana said, "At least not too much," she added.

"You never stop talking, do you?" I replied, pushing a portion of my mana into the very ground beneath us, mana I would use later on.

"Well, I do love the sound of my voice… so no," Morgana giggled, pushing more power into the curse.

Sadly for her, such a thing was a terrible, terrible mistake, after all, she was not fighting an amateur, she was fighting the Sorceress Supreme.

Beneath her feet, three eldritch runes formed with the mana I had poured into the ground, each rune there for a reason, transmutation, relocation, and disruption, three runes that alone were nothing more than low tier spell, but together, well, together were quite the combination.

"Let's see how that curse works, shall we?" I smiled at her, snapping my fingers, activating the runes.

Morgana noticed the runes a bit too late, and found herself within the breaking shield I had created a few seconds ago.

"You forgot to deactivate the runic shield," Morgana laughed in relief, but I simply chuckled.

"You don't say," I smiled at her, I had after all added a few explosive runes into the runic mix of the shield, for this very purpose.

Morgana, seeing my smile, stopped laughing, clearly sensing something was wrong, and did what to her was the next best move, canceling her active curse.

But soon found out, she couldn't.

"What did you do to me?" Morgana hissed.

"I disrupted your mana paths," I replied, floating around the runic shield, "For the next thirty minutes you won't be able to cast spells properly, nor tap into your mana,"

"It.. this can't be!" Morgana growled.

"Normally that would be the case, but you see…" I smiled at her, "You left your mana guard wide open, that's the downside when relying on an item to fight, in your case… the Darkhold,"

Had this been a normal magical battle, this method wouldn't have worked, but unfortunately for Morgana, her overconfidence in the Darkhold was her outdoing.

Yes, the Darkhold had given her power beyond her wildest dreams, and had she been more careful, not even I would've stood a chance against her, but… in her hubris she had failed to see the glaring weakness of the Darkhold.

Which was the new mana path it created by connecting into the user's mana.

As mages we unknowingly learn how to protect our mana paths, it's a natural thing, like walking or blinking, but that natural learning process eventually comes to a halt.

Like a kid born with a single arm, if you suddenly add a new arm to him, he will forget to protect it, he will if he's not consciously focusing about it, forget the arm it's there.

Only time can fix this blindspot we living creatures have.

But it's something that takes time.

Time Morgana didn't spend, which allowed me to disrupt her mana by tapping into her one unprotected mana path, the one connecting to the book.

"Well, time to end this, don't you think?" I asked Morgana, who looked at me in fright.

"No! Don't do this, we can work something out," Begging, how unbecoming of a mage, Merlín truly wasted his time on her.

"Accept your fate with dignity, it's sad for the both of us," I sighed, truly disappointed in her behavior.

"I can give you what you lost… your soul!" Morgana shot back, "The fragment you left in the dark dimension,"

I looked at her, and without replying, dispelled my runic barrier, letting her curse and the explosives runes I had added to my shield, end our battle.

As tempting as that offer had been, betraying Alex was not something I could do.

"Now… what to do with the Darkhold," I muttered floating towards Morgana's corpse, but before I could touch the book, I felt a shiver running down my spine.

Dormammu, his presence, he was here, a part of him was here.

"She belongs to me," He whispered.

"You have no power over this dimension, so begone," I replied, spreading my mana over the area, readying myself for a fight.

"You belong to me," He added.

"Like I said," I replied, "You have no hold in this dimension," I added.

"For now," Dormammu replied, his presence leaving, but not without taking Morgana's corpse with him, leaving only the Darkhold where once stood the witch of Camelot and the book.

"This is bad," I muttered, Dormmamu was moving way too soon, I was not prepared for this, Alex was not prepared for this, what was I to do now.

"Bad is an understatement," I heard a voice say behind me.

Shocked someone had sneaked on me, I turned around to find a girl around her twenties smiling at me, her mana vibrating in manner I had only seen in one person, Mr. Walker, but unlike his, her was chaotic mess, instead of a symmetrical work of art, she was the definition of complete magical asymmetry.

Was she an agent of chaos?

And if so, how was she related to Mr. Walker.

"My name is Alice, Alice Walker, a pleasure to meet you," The Girl bowed ever so lightly, "And I need your help,"

124 CHAPTER 123

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

[The Ancient One POV]

I looked at the woman in front of me that said to be named Alice Walker and found myself at a loss for words, was she a time traveler? Was she Alex's daughter?

"Hello," Alice waved at me, "Home to the bald one,"

Regaining my composure, I looked at her, and asked, "What is your relationship with Mr. Walker?"

Alice smiled, and with a shy tone replied, "I'm his daughter,"

His daughter, meaning the only choice is time travel, unless Mr Walker is older than he preaches to be.

"And… you're my mom," Alice added, and just like that my brain stopped functioning properly.

My… no, it couldn't be, Mr Walker while attractive it's a child for me, I wouldn't… or would I?

As I had an internal meltdown, about the what ifs of this situation, Alice started to laugh.

"Hahahahah, I can't… that was too good," Alice cried in joy, tears overflowing her eyes.

"I… you pranked me," I glared at her, relieved it was all a prank.

"I did, I'm a bad girl, grr," Alice winked, taking a seat on the ground, "I am Alex, from a different timeline, a variant of him… a bootleg copy of what he is," she added with a smile.

"Another timeline?" I asked.

"Yes," Alice nodded, "You see, the moment he came to be into this universe, the multiverse sensed his birth, or… for the better word, his rebirth, and tried to restore balance, after all, singularities are not a thing the universe likes,"

And by trying to restore balance, the multiverse created versions of Alex to fill the hole his appearance into this universe created.

It made sense, on a multiverse scale, but… still, something was off.

"You are a result of that," I replied, studying her.

"Bingo!" Alice giggled, "I am one of the many though, arguably the most sexy,"

"That explains your existence, but not why you are out of your own universe," I replied.

"Well," Alice hummed, index fingers pressed upon her lips, "Alex, me, and the others are not supposed to exist, and we are hunted for it, at least his variants are,"

"Hunted by whom?" I asked, if Alex had an enemy that could kill versions of him, I had to prepare.

"By the TVA, in the present they don't exist, but in the future they do, it's… a complicated matter that involves a lot of the time traveling trope, the point is they erase timelines that don't play in their great scheme and stuff, and well, timelines with Alex or his variants like mine, don't play by their rules," Alice replied, her tone becoming so hostile, so angry, I could palpate the bloodlust in the air.

"How long till they come here?" I asked, I had after to prepare.

"Hmm," Alice hummed, the hostility she was emanating gone, "Don't know, but I don't think they will come though,"

"And why is that?" I asked.

"This timeline is shrouded by someone way above their pay grade, they will never find it, they know it exists, but that's about as much as they know," Alice replied with a sigh, her shoulders relaxing.

She was glad to be out of their reach, that much was sure.

"I see," I sighed, summoning a cup of tea, before offering her, "Want one?"

"Sure, why not," Alice smiled, taking the cup.

"So, now that we know each other better, can I ask you another question," I smiled, summoning Emily's handmade cup of tea to drink mine.

"Go ahead," Alice nodded.

"In what regard you needed my help?" I asked and she laughed.

"Nothing too hard really, just helping me break the news to the original," Alice sighed, "I have no idea how to, so… help me? Pleeeease?"

"Sure, I can help," After I confirm all you said that is, while the multiverse is something we know frighteningly little, I was not one to take anyone's word as a fact.

—————————————————————————-

[Morgan Le Fay POV]

Trapped with Dormammu back again, I guess in a way I deserved this. My own hubris had become my outdoing, and well, here I am.

"You belong to me, Witch," Dormammu hissed, looking at me.

"Well that would be sexy if you had a dick," I sighed, to which he electrocuted me.

"Remember your place," Dormammu roared.

"I'm sorry," I replied in pain.

"Now… about the main problem of your escape," Dormammu hissed, floating around me, in a menacing way.

I hate this, once again I was powerless, and all because of that bitch.

"My escape, that's cute… you let me leave," I replied with a hiss, only to be electrocuted again.

"I did, yes… but then… you stepped out of line, and instead of doing what I asked you to do, you found that wretched book of yours, using its magic to break our deal, and worst of all, you tried to brainwash that man, a man that is NOT YOURS TO COMMAND!" Dormammu was angry I wanted Alex what the fuck was going on?!

"Jealous I can actually get him?" I sneered, I was going to die anyway, so I might as well mess with the big guy, "All that power and my tits can do much more,"

As expected, he electrocuted me once again, this time to the point I started to bleed uncontrollably.

"That man, it's out of reach… unless he actively opposes me, I have no need to fight his kind," Dormammu growled.

"His kind?" I snorted, my eyes bleeding. "Are you really that afraid of humans?"

To my surprise, instead of electrocuting meDormammu laughed, which unnerved me more than being electrocuted.

"Human? He's not human you stupid worm," Dormammu replied, still laughing.

—————————————————————————-

[Alex Walker POV]

I was in love.

In love with the power stone.

In dungeons, it had a skill to one shot all the mobs below my level in a given area, quite literally I could do dungeons barely below my level and finish them in one second.

Just this past hourI had done over forty dungeons.

In short the power stone was the next best thing that had ever happened to me since Emily and Nat.

"I will forever hold you, my precious," I said, doing my best to imitate Gollum.

125 File: Alice Walker - Variant A1129

Name: Alice Walker

Powers: Enhanced Adaptability, Medium Tier Mimicry, Enhanced Survivability, Enhanced Durability, Enhanced Healing Factor, Reactive Adaptation, Chaos Magic.

History: Alice started just like Alex in an forest, but unlike him, her memories were a fog of misdirection that she herself didn't understand. Like Alex, she was captured by Hydra, but unlike Alex her somewhat unhinged nature made it she was impossible to contain.

Her weapon of choice are the katanas, ones she uses as wands for her spells, or to slice her enemies, whatever happen to come first.

Her powers are what who created her thinks Alex powers are.

File loading…. File incomplete.

126 CHAPTER 124

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

I was having a good day.

Emphasis on having, you see, as I was on my way to oneshot another dungeon, the Ancient One appeared and not alone, with her, there was a woman, and not any woman for that matter.

A gender bender.

At first, I didn't believe it, I laughed at the Ancient One when she explained the situation, but when I used [True Observe] on the woman in question, well, the information matched.

This was not only disturbing, but… troubling in a existential sense, I mean, I had come to this universe from a place where this place was fiction, and because of that I had always thought I was unique, one of a kind, but…

Alice Walker was there.

Standing in front of me with a smile, fucking what I thought to be true, and bringing up to life new questions, like…

Was I the original? Was I also a variant? How many versions of me were out there?

"You are adorable," Alice smiled, booping me in the nose with her index finger. "Stop overthinking this whole situation, you are the original,"

I looked at her and with trepidation asked, "How do you know that?" How could she be sure, for all I knew, I was just one of the many.

"Because I'm a copy, a defective one at that," Alice giggled, as the Ancient One who was sitting in the corner sighed. "We all know we are copies, variants, from the moment we woke up in that forest, every version of you knew… they weren't truly you, just a low cost copy ready for the slaughter," the level of hostility and sadness I felt as she spoke the last part was incredibly overwhelming.

"I'm sorry," Was all I could think to say.

"Don't be, the multiverse is the one to blame, besides, I got to exist, and this rocking body needed to exist," Alice grinned doing a sexy pose.

"Please don't," I groaned, averting my gaze.

"Ahh, don't be a prude," Alice winked, "I am you, but hotter, don't you wanna see how I look, in every.. place?"

"No I don't," I replied, still averting my gaze and soon after she started laughing.

"Oh god, that was priceless," Alice sighed, "Don't worry, I'm kinky, but not that kinky,"

"I… thanks?" I sighed, this was already a lot to deal with.

"So, where can I crash? I heard we are loaded," Alice asked, as I glanced at the Ancient One.

"I tried to explain to her you are the one loaded as she says, but she said and I quote, Alex, Alice, potato, potahto, same thing," The Ancient One sighed, seemingly done with Alice's shenanigans as well.

"That I will solve later, but… there is one thing I do not understand, how did you… get here?" I asked, and Alice hummed, index fingers pressed upon her lips.

"Luck, I guess?" Alice shrugged.

"Luck?" The Ancient One repeated, "Supposedly, this is a shrouded timeline, and you lucked your way into it?"

"Well, I did have some help, from a very very weird guy, that said his strongest weapon was love or something," Alice sighed, "He… helped come here, I just can't remember how exactly, all I know is that included a few infinity stones, that are not worthless pebbles."

A weird guy that uses love as a weapon, Cupid?

"I… no offense, but that feels like a load of bullshit," I replied.

"Oh, I know," Alice snorted, "But it's the only answer I have, you can do whatever you want to check, but that's all I know,"

I sighed, looking at her with [True Observe]

[Alice Walker - LV 229

The Chaos Mistress

Origins: —NULL—

Powers: Enhanced Adaptability, Medium Tier Mimicry, Enhanced Survivability, Enhanced Durability, Enhanced Healing Factor, Reactive Adaptation, Chaos Magic.

History: Alice started just like Alex, but unlike him, her memories were a fog of misdirection that she herself didn't understand, like Alex, she was captured by Hydra, but unlike Alex her somewhat unhinged nature made it she was impossible to contain.

Her weapons of choice are the katanas, ones she uses as wands for her spells, or to slice her enemies, whatever happens to come first.

Current Thought: She hopes you will give her a chance, she fears what could happen if she has to face the TVA alone.]

"Fine," I eventually said, "You can stay in my guest house, a few rules thought, touch my daughters, and I will kill you, do anything without consulting me that brings harm to my family, and I will kill you, and two, don't break my shit, I already have enough with Thor,"

"Aye aye Captain," Alice giggled doing a military salute, with her tongue poking out.

I could already feel Alice was going to be a headache, one way or another.

—————————————————————————-

[Alice Walker POV]

When I set off to meet the original, I expected to hate him, after all, his existence was the reason for my existence and by indirect connection to my suffering, instead, I felt relief.

I don't know why, but I felt relieved to finally meet him.

I was happy.

Perhaps it was simply confirming he was that original that made me feel safe.

I had after all seeing many timelines being erased, many variants being killed as I traveled trying to find him, and now that I was here, I was under the mysterious protection that kept his timeline out of sight.

All thanks to that man.

A mysterious man, whose sole presence made me feel small, insignificant, and yet he had the gal to say his only weapon was love.

Love my ass, which on another note should be loved, but anyways, love my ass, with the amount of power I felt from that man… blinking was a weapon.

Now that I think about it, with how overwhelming he felt, maybe love was truly a thing you could weaponize when that strong.

In any case, I owed him one.

He had saved me, from dying like many others.

127 CHAPTER 125

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https//cornbringer

Discord invite: https/discord.gg/XHduApz

I didn't know what to think of Alice Walker.

But one thing was sure, her presence alone unnerved me.

And if I had to be honest I had no idea why, maybe it was the fact she was apparently a female version of me, or that she seemed totally insane at times, but I just couldn't lower my guard around her, no matter how hard I tried.

A feeling the Ancient One seemed to share with me, as she was watching her with numerous spells placed around my house, just in case.

Perhaps I was being paranoid, and the only thing affecting me was that she was supposed to be a version of me, but it's like they say, better safe than sorry.

It also didn't help that her dot on the map was yellow, meaning neutral, tipping to both sides.

"Heya!" Alice called, walking into my room with a big smile.

"Didn't I tell you to knock first?" I said, annoyed at her sudden entrance.

Alice pouted, humming deep in thought, "Nah, you said, don't touch my daughters, don't harm my daughters, and last but not least, to not break your shit, so far, I am playing by the rules baby!" she added, pumping her fists into the air.

I sighed, remembering our talk, she was right, I had not said anything about knocking doors, though in fairness, that shit should be common sense, "Fair enough, next time, do try not to burst into my room without knocking, I could've been naked, or doing something,"

At this, Alice smiled, biting her lower lip in a rather seductive way, "That would've been quite the sight,"

"Please, stop that," I groaned, "We are basically the same person, at best, if we forget that, we are like siblings, so… don't, just don't,"

Alice laughed, "Relax…. Like I said before, I share the feeling, I mean, you make this pussy dryer than sandpaper, so don't worry," she winked.

Dryer than sandpaper, well ain't that cute.

"But, I won't lie, I am curious to see how I look as a man, naked I mean," Alice added with a nod, as if to make her point.

"Curiosity killed the cat," I chuckled.

"Come on…. aren't you even a bit curious?" Alice smiled, tugging my arm.

"I am, but again, Sister… is out best scenario in this multiversal shit," I replied with a sigh, I mean, she was right, I was a bit curious, but not in a sexual way, no no no, in a what would I look like as a woman kinda a way.

"Fair enough," Alice shrugged, "By the way, good package you have down there," wait, good… oh right, I was in boxers.

"Thanks?" I replied, equipping some pants.

"Don't be shy, if you have it, you gotta flaunt it, that's my style," Alice grinned, playfully punching me in the arm.

"I thought your style was, cutting heads first, then asking questions later," I shot back with a chuckle.

"That too," Alice nodded with a smile.

"So, what did you want with me?" I asked, she had to have a reason to bother me in my room.

"Hmm, well, nothing really, just saying hi," Alice shrugged, jumping into my bed, "This not fair, you have the good shit here, I mean, look at your bed, mine feels like a rock, with knives on it,"

So, my female variant is a drama queen, maybe I should ask the Ancient One to host her.

"Your bed is fine, but in my defense, I bought the bed inside the guest house with the clear intention of never using it," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, oh, can we buy a bed like this one? Pretty please?" Alice begged, in a way that looked like begging, but it was more like her playing the begging game.

"I'll tell someone to change your bed," I rolled my eyes once again.

"Yeih!" Alice grinned, pumping her hands into the air, "Now… about my clothes,"

This was going to be a long, long, day.

—--

By the end of the morning, I decided to hire Alice, so that she could use her salary in whatever she wanted, which after some pouting Alice concluded with me was fair, like Alexei, she would do some work for me, here and there, earning her keep.

After that, I had to explain to Nat and Emily, who she was.

The night she appeared, Nat and Emily were staying with the Ancient One, so that I had time to prepare and stuff. Sadly, twenty four hours was not enough to prepare for this conversation.

"So… she's you, but female?" Nat muttered.

"I… yes?" I nodded, not entirely sure if that was the answer, but it had to be right?

"Do I have a male clone?" Emily asked.

"No, and… she isn't my clone, it's… complicated," I sighed, rubbing my head.

"Can we trust her?" Nat asked.

"No," I shook my head, "The very definition of a variant implies she is different to me, for all we know, there could be variants that are better than me at being good, or those that are more evil, for example, we have no way of knowing which one she is, for now, she is… an acquaintance,"

"Got it," Nat nodded, her look full of determination.

"We will keep an eye on her daddy," Emily smiled, giving me the thumbs up.

"From afar," I ordered.

"From afar," The girls repeated.

"Talking about things… Nat has a date!" Emily added, getting a glare from Nat.

"With whom?" I asked, my tone going deeper than I intended, I swear to god it was not intentional.

"With… a boy from my math class," Nat replied, giving Emily the stink eye.

"I told you I would get my revenge for destroying my hello kitty mint condition collectors edition car!" Emily grinned, in a very, very evil way.

"Fair enough," Nat sighed.

"I want to meet his parents, we might need to plan an obituary," I added.

"It's a date to a dance the school has," Nat replied in a hurry, "He is not my type, but he's the only kid in school who is not an idiot, or a horny dog," she added.

I think it was right there, where I broke the pen I didn't even know I was holding.

"Did… you say, there are some kids, you would classify as HORNY, dogs?" I asked, in a seemingly sweet voice.

"Oh god, I talked too much," Nat groaned.

"Keep talking," I smiled at her.

"Yes… there are some kids, I would classify as HORNY dogs," Nat replied, her hands covering her eyes.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to visit the school, maybe have a talk with the Principal," I smiled at her.

All of the sudden, Alice teleported inside the room, with a grin, "I smell violence!"

"Alice, I told you to wait outside," I said, giving her a look that said, leave, or no more cake, on another note, she loves cake.

"But I smell violence!" Alice protested.

"Daddy wants to kill some horny dogs that go to our school, weredogs, I think," Emily answered the question Alice didn't ask.

"Killing dogs? And kids?! Animal abuse and child abuse, all in one! That's my favorite thing to do! I WANT IN!" Alice jumped into my lap, grabbing me by the shirt with both of her hands, "Please!?"

"How is she… version of you?" Nat asked, shocked by her… everything.

"I… multiversal shenanigans?" I shrugged.

"No, no, I see the resemblance," Emily hummed.