However, the Ancient One found a loophole when borrowing. She ultimately chose to return to the embrace of the Great Eternal One herself. If Dormammu, the demon god of the Dark Dimension, wants to collect the debt, fine—he can go talk to Eternity.
Going to Eternity is impossible, so Dormammu could only suffer this loss in silence.
Makiya's aura, however, was much more aggressive. A blatant, overbearing presence washed over everyone, making it clear to anyone that he was not to be trifled with.
Kaecilius's eyes lit up as he pondered how to approach Makiya.
Mordo focused his gaze on the Ancient One's chest. It wasn't that he had any improper thoughts about his teacher; rather, it was the pendant hanging from the Ancient One's neck. A green gem was encased in a silver-white device at the center, constantly emitting a faint, glowing green light.
The Eye of Agamotto is a divine artifact the Sorcerer Supreme obtained from Agamotto, an extra-dimensional entity. The gem embedded in its center is the Time Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones.
After opening the Eye of Agamotto and activating the Time Stone, the Ancient One can see countless possible futures and choose the one most favorable to her. At the same time, she can record current points in time and use the Time Stone to reverse time, resetting any timeline where she is defeated.
In the original story, Doctor Strange, who inherited the title of Sorcerer Supreme, repeatedly used this trick of resetting the timeline to literally annoy the dimensional demon god Dormammu until he fled.
Because the power of the Time Stone can affect beings within this universe, and Dormammu has already transcended the universe—being a multi-dimensional entity by nature—he can ignore changes in a single universe's timeline.
In other words, every time-reset was the first time Doctor Strange faced Dormammu in battle. For Dormammu, however, who transcends time, he could clearly remember every way Doctor Strange had died before. The little bug in front of him using the Time Stone to reset the timeline again and again was like a greenbottle fly that wouldn't die, buzzing incessantly before his eyes.
Most importantly, if he didn't swat this big-headed fly, he couldn't consume the prize that was Earth, because Earth would reset along with the time loop.
Makiya originally thought he would also be affected by the Time Stone, but that wasn't the case. It seemed that due to the Mysterious Space, he had transcended this universe's timeline early, despite not yet having the raw strength. His memory and body were unaffected by the Time Stone's resets.
The result of the battle was that there was no result. From a standpoint of raw power, the Ancient One couldn't take Makiya down, but she could reset the timeline over and over.
Makiya suppressed the Ancient One throughout the entire fight. With a flaming longsword in hand, he executed various skills with ease, driving the Ancient One to the brink until she was drenched in sweat and exhausted. Yet, after every bout of overwhelming dominance, he would find the world restored to its original state.
Makiya was beyond annoyed. After unleashing several ultimate moves to vent his frustration, he immediately declared he was done fighting and wanted to go home to cool off.
Before the door, the two had another friendly discussion. The Ancient One acted quite politely, as Makiya had clearly earned the respect of the Sorcerer Supreme with his strength.
The Ancient One explained that her previous move to pull Makiya into the Mirror Dimension was an instinctive reaction. She had just returned to Earth from another dimension and noticed a massive shift in the timeline, so she acted to stall for time and investigate the cause.
Through her secret observations, she saw that although the suddenly emerged Makiya possessed very strange powers, there was no shadow of a dimensional demon god behind him. His holy light was also very pure and righteous, showing no signs of being a pawn for some winged master.
To ensure she hadn't misjudged, the Ancient One had quietly used the Time Stone to glimpse countless futures when Makiya struck to open the Mirror Dimension. She only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that in no future did a dimensional demon god successfully descend through him.
The responsibility of the Sorcerer Supreme is to block the dimensional demon gods of the heavens and isolate all eyes that covet Earth. If Makiya had the shadow of another entity on him, she would have activated the Time Stone immediately then and there.
Although the Ancient One found it unbelievable, all signs indicated that Makiya's powerful strength was indeed accumulated and cultivated by himself, bit by bit, without any external interference.
To summarize in one sentence: Makiya got strong entirely on his own, with no demon god providing him a cheat!
Since there was nothing abnormal about Makiya's strength, and his identity was that of a native with deep roots in this universe, the Ancient One would not interfere further. She sat by as Makiya killed Abomination and purged Hydra, and even as Hawkeye wailed in a corner, dying from the aftershocks of the battle.
The timeline had undergone a massive change, but every world has its own unique development. The Ancient One chose to stand by. Unless Makiya took the initiative to come to her door, she would not appear before him again.
After a short conversation, Makiya glanced at Mordo and Kaecilius standing nearby, gave them a friendly nod, and bid the Ancient One farewell before leaving alone.
Mordo approached the Ancient One with concern, fully showing the care a disciple should have for his master. Kaecilius, however, gave a perfunctory response and quietly followed behind Makiya.
Makiya walked out of the sorcerers' retreat and casually closed the door. Behind him, Kaecilius called out anxiously, 'Chairman-Man, please wait...'
Makiya wore an expression of pure confusion as he suddenly vanished before Kaecilius's eyes.
'What the hell is Chairman-Man?'
He knew the man's intentions. Sorcerers chasing power were indeed suitable for signing contracts, but Kaecilius had already practiced magic from the Dark Dimension. He was saturated with Dormammu's aura, and his soul was already claimed by that powerful contract.
He had already been marked by that dimensional dog. Anyone of a certain level could smell that distinctive rotting scent of the Dark Dimension; only Kaecilius himself was unaware.
Dormammu's strength was still very formidable. Unlike Uncle Galactus, who was always hungry and getting beaten by various powerhouses, Dormammu was a genuine, bona fide dimensional demon god. At his current stage, Makiya couldn't pick a fight with him yet.
'I still need to get stronger as quickly as possible!'
Makiya sighed inwardly and used space jumps to return to his base.
In the underground base, various production lines were constantly busy. Newly assembled game helmets were sent by mechanical arms onto logistics carts and then into storage, waiting for Makiya's clones to arrive and perform alchemy and artifact refining.
After counting, he had accumulated nearly thirty thousand. The feedback from the first batch of beta players was good; it was time to expand the scale.
Once the player base increased, their progression speed would also rise significantly. They should soon come into contact with the chakra cultivation system of the Ninja World. At that time, Makiya's energy accumulation speed would reach a whole new level.
Rubbing his hands together, Makiya got to work, submerging his consciousness into the network world to send out beta test invitations in bulk.
Tonight was destined to be sleepless. With the testimonials from the Origin Continent players, the method of receiving a beta invitation was also disclosed. Many people were hoping for Makiya to drop a miracle, praying for a chance to step into the supernatural.
In a small western town, a middle-aged man had just finished dealing with his wife. Amidst her dissatisfied grumbling, he lit a cigarette and walked into the living room to turn on the television.
As expected, the television was broadcasting the shocking battle in Washington. Although the man had seen it many times, he was stunned by Makiya's abilities every time, fantasizing countless times about how great it would be if he could be that powerful.
Exhaling a cloud of smoke, the man's thoughts began to drift. His wife always complained that his 'time' was too short. If he had the ability to create clones, he would definitely make a hundred of them to show his wife he wasn't someone to be messed with!
He took the remote and changed the channel. The content was a lucky person who had entered the Origin Continent and just resolved a bank robbery, proudly accepting a reporter's interview.
'Damn it, if only it were me...' The man wanted to complain but feared waking the lioness, so he could only mutter under his breath.
Suddenly, the picture on the television froze. Then, without warning, it jumped to an unfamiliar channel. Two lines appeared on it, both strange and familiar:
'Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to... truly be alive?'
The man was stunned: '!!!'
'Eee! I got it! I'm in!!!'
Happiness came so suddenly that the massive surprise rushed from the soles of his feet to the top of his head in an instant. The man lost his mind for a moment, running and howling wildly like he was insane.
This scene was not an isolated case. A wave of frenzy suddenly swept across the world. Many people reacted much like this man; they knew their chance to change their destiny had come.
In the virtual world, the floating continent was magnificent. Makiya floated in the air, looking at the players appearing one by one on the Starting Plaza, a farmer's smile appearing on his face.
These were all his leeks, and their sturdy growth was a joy to behold.
His soul sensed the number of contracts constantly increasing. Countless tiny bits of internal power were captured by the contracts, refined, and then transmitted into his body. Like melting snow on a mountain peak, small drops gathered into clear springs, and trickling streams gradually merged into a rushing river.
When their numbers increased and their quality improved step by bit, the feedback energy would one day be like a great river, flowing endlessly into the ocean of energy within his body.
Hiding his figure, Makiya entered the first floor of Aincrad to observe everyone's cultivation progress.
As the progress continued, the frontline clearance group was already clearing the path to the second floor. Among the monster swarms, a few figures made Makiya quite surprised.
It wasn't that the people themselves were surprising, but he hadn't expected these people could actually get together.
'Matt, watch your back!' Captain America shouted. Hearing this, Matt turned and slashed with his sword, cutting the ambushing monster in half.
On the other side, the Vanko father and son were cooperating closely, slaying the continuously surging monsters one by one. Ho Yinsen, holding a longsword, moved nimbly through the crowd, finishing off any fish that escaped the net.
After clearing the monsters, the group sat together to rest and recover their internal power and energy.
'Captain, can you log off now?' Matt asked casually after taking a drink of water.
As comrades-in-arms, the Captain had already explained his situation to them. Everyone had different opinions, but the Vanko father and son's theory was the most reliable.
They believed the Captain's body was likely frozen in ice. When his internal power reached a certain level and the energy flow dispelled the cold, he might be able to unfreeze himself and exit the game.
As for how the Captain entered the game, no one knew.
'I should be able to. I'll try.' The Captain nodded, then brought up the system panel and selected exit.
Under the surprised or intrigued gazes of the group, his figure turned into points of light and vanished.
The Arctic.
The frozen Captain America suddenly opened his eyes.
And not far from the wreckage of the bomber, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s excavation team was slowly advancing.