Chapter: System Upgrade
[Ding! You have gained 1 Prayer Point!]
[Ding! You have gained 1 Prayer Point!]
[Ding! You have gained 100 Prayer Points!]
[Ding! You have gained 1.23 Prayer Points!]
...
On the way back, Quinn kept hearing the sound of Prayer Points being earned. Including the gains he'd made on the way there, he'd already surpassed 110,000.
But he didn't seem to care much about it.
While accumulating so many Prayer Points was certainly cause for celebration, it wasn't the greatest reward of this trip.
The biggest gain was successfully concealing his true identity.
He'd physically traveled through dimensions and ended up on a commercial street in Manhattan, where countless people watched him suddenly appear. Not to mention powerhouses like the Ancient One—even S.H.I.E.L.D., the FBI, and the police could discover his identity as a dimensional traveler.
If you were just an ordinary person with no ability to impact society, at most you'd be monitored by S.H.I.E.L.D. for a while and then left alone.
But he had a system—and the kind where he could only become stronger by causing chaos with things obtained through the system.
Learning skills and taking action himself was too risky. Entrusting everything to puppets would attract attention from relevant agencies and powerful figures to the dimensional traveler phenomenon.
As a dimensional traveler, he'd inevitably be implicated and subjected to further investigation.
Investigations by powerful figures were manageable. They mostly used supernatural abilities and powers to investigate, and these methods were precisely what the system could obscure and block.
But investigations from human agencies like the police, FBI, and S.H.I.E.L.D.—with various interrogation methods such as lie detectors, psychological assessments, verbal probing, and truth serums—would probably make him confess everything.
At that point, those powerful figures paying attention to dimensional travelers would instantly learn the truth.
To avoid being discovered, he'd have to resist and avoid being arrested and interrogated.
But once he resisted, he could no longer remain detached like a bystander.
It was a vicious cycle.
There seemed to be no solution.
Unless he gave up using the system from the beginning and lived as an ordinary person.
But was that really viable?
If the people S.H.I.E.L.D. sent to investigate were Hydra agents, they wouldn't let him go just because he posed no threat like S.H.I.E.L.D. might. Instead, they'd use him for experiments to see how a dimensional traveler differed from locals.
Even if he were lucky enough to avoid Hydra, he couldn't escape the various catastrophic events Marvel would bring later. The chances of an ordinary person living peacefully were incredibly low.
But did anyone think that was all?
That would be incredibly naive.
Even if he were incredibly lucky and lived to be a hundred years old, he'd still end up in Hell or Heaven after death—or possibly return directly to Death itself.
And he'd have the system with him...
Imagine how a lord of Hell, God, or even Death would react if they received a soul with a supernatural ability to summon things from beyond the multiverse—or even the Omniverse—whose power level surpassed their own.
Think of Thanos, who was driven mad by Death's attention across every multiverse!
Think of the souls that had been toyed with by various lords of Hell!
Imagine those who'd had all their thoughts washed away by God, becoming mere tools to fight only for the missions He assigned them—like the Spirits of Vengeance!
If things really turned out that way, it would be torture for eternity.
Quinn seemed to have a choice, but in reality, he had no choice at all. He could only walk this dark path.
Of course, he didn't care about S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra at all.
At this point in time, even Muzan and the Twelve Kizuki summoned by his newbie gift pack would be enough to eliminate them.
But he couldn't do that.
After all, whenever you encountered difficulties and powerful enemies, dimensional travelers from different worlds who were completely unfamiliar with you just happened to help eliminate those enemies... Once or twice was fine, but if it happened too often, it would arouse suspicion.
Moreover, once these two organizations were destroyed in one fell swoop, various supernatural events would lose their professional containment and inevitably be exposed to the world more quickly. To understand what would happen then, one could reference the aftermath of the Battle of New York in the movies.
In the films, after the Battle of New York, ordinary passersby chased after superheroes like they'd seen celebrities, asking for photos and autographs. They'd react to supervillains like ordinary criminals—fearful, but not panicked—waiting for superheroes to arrive as if waiting for police.
At that point, obtaining Prayer Points would become extremely difficult.
Therefore, Quinn had to accumulate sufficient Prayer Points before the Battle of New York or during major supernatural events while still being relatively unknown to the public.
By then, even if the extraordinary became commonplace, he could still summon even stronger beings—who were also extraordinary—to shatter people's established values once again, thereby evoking profound emotions and gaining Prayer Points.
Therefore, he needed an identity...
An identity that could conceal his role as the mastermind. An identity that allowed him to openly and legitimately have puppets assist him. An identity that could protect him from attacks. An identity that would allow more people to learn about the puppets and participate, thus accelerating the acquisition of Prayer Points.
And this identity was the one he'd created for himself...
Someone who possessed the supernatural ability to gather intelligence and only wanted to live peacefully. However, because he knew too much, he worried about being persecuted due to his dimensional traveler status and thus united other isolated travelers.
The combined power of the dimensional travelers would deter ordinary agencies like S.H.I.E.L.D. from taking rash actions against him. If he encountered trouble, he could openly seek help from other travelers without arousing suspicion.
His character—possessing intelligence-gathering superpowers but only wanting to live peacefully—would attract the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. and other organizations increasingly affected by the arrival of more and more dimensional travelers. This would allow more people to learn about the travelers more quickly and accelerate the acquisition of Prayer Points.
Otherwise, if he had to go to such lengths to guide investigations into demons every single time, how long would it take to complete a major incident?
It seemed the Battle of New York was approaching, and they still hadn't figured out the characteristics of demons!
Moreover, the inefficiency wasn't the key issue. The key issue was that if such deliberate actions were repeated too often, flaws would be revealed.
Now, he didn't need to deliberately guide anyone. Once the puppets caused trouble, people would naturally come to inquire.
When that happened, all he needed to do was act out a scene of mutual assistance when his puppet arrived. He could wait for easy targets to come to him while also covering up his true behind-the-scenes identity.
While it might not be possible to keep it secret forever, as long as he could maintain the deception until he summoned a multiverse-level powerhouse—or became one himself—that would be enough.
However...
"Let's upgrade the system first!"
Quinn glanced at the Prayer Points that had risen to 120,000 and silently thought, System upgrade.
[Ding! Upgrading the system requires 100,000 Prayer Points!]
[Ding! The Wish Function will be unlocked after system upgrade!]
[Ding! System upgrade unlocks the ability to synthesize different F-grade fragments!]
[Ding! System upgrade unlocks lottery draws costing 1000 Prayer Points!]
[Ding! Do you wish to upgrade?]
Upgrade confirmed!