A permanent daily mission?
Darian's eyes immediately lit up.
One had to know that, up until now, the majority of his experience points and rewards came from the daily missions issued by S.H.I.E.L.D.
However, S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't always have missions available; sometimes several would appear in one day, and other times none would appear for days. It was entirely based on luck, and there were often mission droughts where he couldn't take any even if he wanted to.
Now that there was a permanent daily mission, it was undoubtedly a stable and sustainable channel for obtaining rewards.
The elderly Ancient One noticed the change in Darian's expression, and the smile on his face deepened, his wrinkles bunching together.
"How about it? Are you interested in becoming the next Sorcerer Supreme of my World?"
"I..."
Just as Darian was about to speak, a subtle cracking sound suddenly came from the surrounding space.
Immediately after, the void was filled with dense cracks, looking just like a shattered mirror.
"Back so soon?"
The elderly Ancient One's expression changed abruptly, and his previously smiling face turned guilty.
In the next second, his figure faded directly from the spot, as if being forcibly dragged away by some power.
Darian vaguely heard intermittent voices coming from the void.
"Wait, listen to my sophistry... oh no, listen to my explanation, this is all a misunderstanding!"
"We were just simply chatting and drinking tea, I absolutely had no intention of stealing your recruit!"
"Calm down, let's talk this through. Put down that fan of yours first, besides, you can't beat me anyway... Holy crap, is it that big a deal? There's no need to directly borrow Dormammu's power, is there!?"
"...."
The voice stopped abruptly.
The cracks in space quickly mended, as if nothing had ever happened.
Darian sat there with a look of utter confusion.
Before he could figure out the situation, a piece of white paper from nowhere drifted slowly in front of him.
Darian raised his hand to catch the paper and saw several lines of text written on it.
[Just now, a Dimensional Demon God disguised as a human invaded the real World. I have already dealt with him. Do not pay any mind to what he said. In the future, if you encounter such a Dimensional Demon God disguised as a human, especially one claiming to be Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One, stay as far away as possible.]
A Dimensional Demon God? Disguised as a human?
Darian's lips twitched.
Who would believe that? Besides, where would you find such a sleazy Dimensional Demon God?
Looking at the familiar handwriting and tone on the paper, Darian tentatively called out to the air, "Master Ancient One, is that you?"
However, despite calling out several times, he didn't see that shiny bald head; only a new piece of white paper drifted into his hand.
[It is me, but I have very important matters to attend to and cannot appear before you for the time being. There is no need to worry.]
Darian chuckled.
He didn't even need to guess to know that this big baldie was definitely hiding in the Mirror Dimension peeping. Who was she trying to fool?
Just as he was thinking this, a third piece of paper drifted down.
[By the way, I can fulfill all the conditions that the Dimensional Demon God promised you earlier. If you are willing to take up my mantle as Sorcerer Supreme, all the resources of Kamar-Taj will be open to you.]
Darian's eyes lit up. "Then can you give me the Time Stone?"
[I cannot. I still need to borrow the power of the Time Stone to resist the erosion of the real World by Dimensional Demon Gods.]
[Furthermore, with your current level of cultivation, you are far from reaching the threshold to control the Time Stone, and you would easily suffer its backlash. There is a 'book of cagliostro' in the Kamar-Taj Library, which details the laws and mysteries of time. Once you have finished studying that book, you will naturally have the ability to manipulate the Time Stone.]
"The book of cagliostro?"
Darian had some impression of it and said in surprise, "I remember that seems to be a forbidden book, and it involves the dark god Dormammu. People who read it are easily eroded by darkness and become Dormammu's lackeys. Aren't you worried I'll be influenced?"
[It is fine. There is a threshold for reading this book. Given your level of magic knowledge, I am very at ease with you.]
Darian: "???"
What kind of talk is that! What does that even mean!?
Just then, a piece of white paper with clearly different handwriting drifted into his hand.
[Mage Darian, don't listen to that baldie's nonsense. My promise is permanently valid. Come visit me when you have time ( - _ - )]
Darian: (- _ - ")
Good grief, the Sorcerer Supreme even uses emoticons?
The previous handwriting immediately followed up.
[That evil Dimensional Demon God actually hasn't left the real World yet and is still here spreading fallacies to deceive people.]
[I won't say more for now, I have things to do. That's all, hanging up.]
Holding the growing stack of white papers in his hand, Darian didn't know where to start complaining for a moment.
So he decided not to complain at all.
There was no other way; both Ancient Ones were in the Mirror Dimension. Don't be fooled by the fierce exchange of words; they might be standing side by side right now like best buddies, eating melon seeds and watching his reaction, just waiting for him to show a weakness so they could find an excuse to teach him a lesson.
The filter of Ancient One as a grand master in Darian's heart had long since shattered into pieces. With the wicked sense of humor and lack of integrity of these Ancient Ones, they were definitely capable of this.
So at times like this, the more one had to remain calm and not give the other party any opportunities to seize.
Darian pretended as if nothing were wrong and reached out toward the tea set, intending to taste Ancient One's fine tea.
As a result, his hand grabbed empty air.
He looked down; the tea table was bare, and the teapot and cups on it had vanished at some point.
"No, where the hell is my tea?"
Darian walked out of Ancient One's meditation room with a dark face.
After sitting for so long, not even getting a sip of tea was simply too much.
Darian decided to turn his anger into knowledge and dived into the Kamar-Taj Library to improve his magic knowledge and then study that book of cagliostro to slap Ancient One's face hard.
And so, he stayed there for nearly half a month.
As his spirit attribute increased, the reading time for books significantly accelerated, and his accumulation of magic knowledge grew like a rolling snowball.
After repeatedly watching videos over these days, Darian's magic knowledge had reached a new level, and the spells he could attempt to learn had also increased.
However, when Darian found the book of cagliostro, the game system prompted that his magic knowledge level did not meet the reading requirements. Forget about reading and learning; there wasn't even a progress bar.
Darian had no choice but to give up for now, waiting to slap Ancient One's face in the future.
But Darian's time over these days wasn't without harvest; he spent over ten days learning several new spells.
Slowness, Scare, Curse, Poison Blade...
In short, not a single one was a conventional spell.
It wasn't that Darian intentionally chose only these types of spells to learn, but rather that only black magic was so easy to learn.
Conventional white magic required long-term study and training to master; not only was progress slow, but the requirements were also stringent.
In contrast, the threshold for black magic was much lower; one could almost master the essentials and get started immediately within a short period.
After all, black magic was famous for being like a high-interest loan; most black mages didn't have many years to live. If learning took several years, it would truly be a case of 'from entry to the grave,' and who would be willing to learn it then?
Of course, due to the influence of the Light Spell, these spells were all more or less tainted with a bit of the light attribute.
However, this instead served a deceptive purpose.
For example, if Darian threw a ball of light filled with holiness, no one would ever imagine that it was actually an extremely evil Curse spell.
During this period, several incidents involving other dimensions occurred in various corners of the Earth.
Upon receiving the news, Darian immediately joined the Kamar-Taj mage field teams. Using a Sling Ring to open golden portals, they could fly anywhere globally to resolve those threats from other dimensions on the spot.
However, most incidents were caused by some magical creatures from other dimensions that had broken into the reality dimension through various special channels.
But these dimensional magical creatures were simply too weak; any few mages from Kamar-Taj could easily handle them. Thus, Darian could only obtain some experience points and common items like life potions as rewards.
Fortunately, these permanent missions could be completed repeatedly. Although the rewards weren't much for a single time, they added up to a significant amount.
Combined with the daily missions that occasionally refreshed from S.H.I.E.L.D., Darian's experience points could now steadily increase even without triggering any side quests.
In between studying magic, Darian would occasionally return to Sokovia to check in and listen to recent reports from his secretary-cum-bodyguard, Wanda.
Since the previous door-crashing incident, Darian had specifically arranged for Wanda to be his personal bodyguard. With his strength, if anyone else were his bodyguard, it would be unclear who was protecting whom. In all of Sokovia, only Wanda was fit for this position.
And truth be told, having Wanda as a personal secretary... ahem, bodyguard by his side certainly provided a full sense of security.
Even if Zombie Captain Marvel appeared before him again, Darian would dare to hide behind Wanda and face the opponent without fear, instead of running away in a panic like last time.
"According to multiple days of experiments, Sokovia has currently successfully cultivated twenty-six Extremis Soldiers, sixteen Super Soldiers, and one Interstellar Warrior."
On this day, Wanda was in the office reporting to Darian as usual.
At this time, Wanda was wearing a black office suit and high heels, showcasing her incredible model-like attributes to the fullest.
This was Darian's request; a secretary should look like a secretary.
Wanda originally wanted to refuse, feeling that this kind of outfit was too uncomfortable to wear, but then she heard Darian had found a geomantic treasure spot capable of catching a ten-kilogram fish and immediately stated she could get used to it.
"Not bad, not bad."
Darian nodded with satisfaction upon hearing this.
Ten or so days ago, he had handed over the ninety-nine vials of Super Soldier Serum obtained from the Wasteland World to Strucker.
Most of them were used to directly create Super Soldiers, while the remaining few were put into research, attempting to crack the formula for replication.
Now, Sokovia's military power had initially formed four main tiers.
The most basic were the ordinary soldiers.
They were originally soldiers from Sokovia who had undergone rigorous training, and their physical fitness was superior to that of ordinary people.
After being fully enhanced by the Monarch of a Nation title, their physical fitness had improved even further. Equipped with unified Alien Tech Suits, including Energy Rifles, Portable Energy Shields, and various tactical auxiliary devices, their combat power could be said to be quite astonishing.
Some of the elites were also equipped with Alien Heavy Armor with outstanding defense and powerful Energy Heavy Machine Guns. On the battlefield, they were like human tanks, capable of easily tearing through conventional defensive lines.
In addition to the basic troop types, there were three types of special units.
The first were the Extremis Soldiers, who possessed extremely strong self-healing abilities and could release high temperatures from their bodies.
As long as an Extremis Soldier got close, the enemy was basically dead. Even at medium to long range, they could act as flamethrowers. Their accuracy had been professionally trained, so there was no such thing as failing to burn someone to death.
The second were the Super Soldiers.
Under the double enhancement of the Super Soldier Serum and the Monarch of a Nation buff, their bodies had almost reached the human peak, possessing superb individual combat capabilities. After being equipped with lightweight alien gear, they were especially skilled in infiltration, assault, and decapitation operations.
The third were the Interstellar Warriors.
These were soldiers who had been injected with both Extremis and Super Soldier Serum. They not only possessed the high-temperature release and rapid self-healing abilities of an Extremis Soldier but also the peak physical fitness of a Super Soldier, making them the Super Soldiers among Super Soldiers.
However, the process of obtaining this power was hellish.
To become an Interstellar Warrior, a candidate first had to undergo Extremis transformation to obtain that near-immortal self-healing foundation.
The second stage was the injection of the Super Soldier Serum.
Two powerful forces of vastly different natures would clash within the body, with a very high probability of leading to a total collapse of the physiological system.
At this point, one had to rely on the powerful self-healing ability of Extremis to forcibly adapt, cycling repeatedly through the cruel tug-of-war between collapse and repair until the body finally accepted both serums and reached a new balance.
The pain brought by this process was beyond imagination; experimenters either suffered a mental breakdown or their physical bodies completely disintegrated. The failure rate was simply staggering.
After so many days of arduous experimentation, only one case had succeeded.
Since Darian planned to head into space in the future, he named these soldiers enhanced with multiple serums Interstellar Warriors.
Unfortunately, Bucky, the soldier Darian favored most, was disqualified at the first stage.
Experiments showed that those who had been injected with the Super Soldier Serum simply could not withstand the injection of Extremis, no matter how strong their physical fitness was.
Darian didn't want this Captain Sokovia to be wiped out just like that, so he dropped the idea.
In fact, Darian also wanted to perform a third stage of enhancement.
In his mind, the third stage would be injecting Adamantium into the body.
After all, he had quite a lot of Stryker's experimental data in his hands, plus the self-healing ability of Extremis; he might be able to replicate Wolverine's operation.
Unfortunately, because the failure rate of the Interstellar Warrior Enhancement Project was too high, the private soldiers left behind by the Sokovian nobles were no longer enough, and Darian was reluctant to use his own soldiers as materials, so he had to give up on the idea of the third stage of enhancement.
Of course, in addition to receiving enhancement, special soldiers also had to undergo repeated brainwashing to prevent betrayal.
These special soldiers had only one thought regarding Darian.
Loyalty! For the King!
Wanda continued her report: "Additionally, there is news from the spies we sent to Wakanda."
"Oh?"