"Sorcerer Lucas, the gratitude I promised you is still being prepared. Once it's ready, I'll have him deliver it to you."
Ikor smiled apologetically at Lucas, pointing to the Apprentice as he spoke.
"Gratitude? That's not necessary."
Lucas hesitated for a moment, then explained, "The reason Infinite Ultron discovered the existence of the Multiverse and conceived the idea of forming the Ultron Legion was because of me. Since this crisis originated from me, it should naturally be ended by me. In fact, I'm the one who implicated you."
Ikor smiled again, but this time his smile was a bit bitter.
He sighed, "My punishment this time is not your fault, it's only because I was blinded by being focused on a single thing."
"Mm." Lucas nodded in agreement.
He didn't know what to say to comfort Ikur.
Thirty million years.
He couldn't help but feel how long that was.
For a moment, the atmosphere became stiff.
"Sorcerer Lucas, how about a walk with me? Consider it a final journey before I, your friend, go to prison." Ikor invited with a smile.
Lucas nodded in agreement.
"Alright."
Seeing this, Ikor stepped out, gesturing for the Apprentice behind him to follow.
The Apprentice quickly caught up, walking beside Ikor.
Lucas followed behind the two of them.
He noticed that Ikor's always-straight back seemed to have hunched slightly.
Along the way, the three of them didn't speak. Only the sound of their footsteps echoed in the prism space corridor.
Ikor was not like his colleague Uatu, who liked to babble. He always only brought his eyes and ears.
But gradually, Lucas noticed something was off.
Wasn't this the path he had just taken?
"We're here." Ikor suddenly spoke.
He stopped in front of a prism.
In the scene within the prism was a bustling modern street.
And at the edge of the scene, there was an ancient building, about three or four stories high.
Earth-616 Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum.
Why did Ikor bring me here?
Just as the doubt arose in Lucas's mind, Ikor extended his right hand and waved it in front of the prism.
In an instant, countless scenes flashed across the prism, an unimaginable number.
The scene finally settled on a star system.
Ikor made another enlarging gesture, and the scene in the prism magnified accordingly.
Planets, continents, cities.
Lucas looked at the scene.
The cities were inhabited by a species whose appearance and physique differed greatly from Earthlings, but they all had heads, torsos, and four limbs (two hands and two feet). And the distribution of their facial features was also similar to Earthlings.
Clearly, these were not-so-sci-fi aliens.
In the scene, these aliens were using various technologies that seemed advanced to Earthlings.
Holographic projections, airships, brain-computer interfaces.
After a long while, Lucas couldn't help but ask, "Aren't we going to take a closer look?"
During this time, Ikor had been standing in front of the prism, observing this alien civilization through the screen.
"No, let's just watch like this." Ikor sighed.
His face was full of stories.
Lucas asked, "Then I'll be going first?"
"Uh..."
"Heh."
Lucas chuckled softly, then cooperated with Ikor and asked, "Where is this?"
"Prosilicus."
Ikor slowly spoke the name of this Planet, as if it took a great deal of effort.
"Prosilicus!?"
Before Lucas could react, the apprentice beside him suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
"Prosilicus... is there anything special about this Planet?"
Lucas looked at Ikor and the Apprentice, then asked.
This time, Ikor had piqued his curiosity.
Ikor didn't answer, he gestured with his eyes to the Apprentice.
The Apprentice understood.
He pondered for a moment, preparing to tell the history of this Planet slowly.
"Prosilicus was the first living Planet discovered by the Watchers when they returned to this generation of the Multiverse."
"Oh, then I understand."
Lucas interrupted Ikor, suddenly realizing,
"After that, you Watchers wanted to help the Prosilicus civilization evolve and develop, but they accelerated their corruption due to technological advancement, and eventually destroyed their own Planet."
"Uh... yes."
The Apprentice looked distressed.
He thought for a moment and added, "But the truth of the matter is far from that simple. There's also..."
"Alright, those things are no longer important." Ikor interrupted the Apprentice.
He looked at Prosilicus again. "Countless years ago, this Planet was destroyed by its indigenous species. And now it has been revived. It has once again given birth to life and formed a civilization."
"And this nascent civilization has developed technology even more advanced than the previous generation of Prosilicus, without the interference of the Watchers."
Ikor withdrew his gaze and looked at the Apprentice, saying meaningfully, "This is the power of time. We are Watchers, we don't need to actively do anything. These are all superfluous. Give civilization time, give civilization freedom."
Seeing the Apprentice's thoughtful expression, Ikor nodded.
Although this approach was a bit passive, a bit 'giving up', this was indeed the core principle of the Watchers.
This was also Ikor's last lesson for his disciple.
Afterward, Ikor looked at Lucas.
Meeting his gaze, Lucas suddenly had a guess.
Could Ikor be the Watcher who discovered Prosilicus?
At least, he was one of them.
"That's right, I was among the first Watchers to land on Prosilicus. And I was also responsible for helping them evolve and develop." Ikor answered first.
He couldn't read Lucas's thoughts, but he was skilled in micro-expressions. Through Lucas's eyes, he saw his doubt.
"The Watchers are largely to blame for the demise of Prosilicus. Because of the Watchers' long-standing help, the Prosilicans regarded the Watchers as Gods and worshipped them."
"When the Watchers were present, they were an active, progressive, and developing civilization. Once the Watchers left, their many problems would instantly erupt. But this was only the internal cause."
"Internal cause?" Lucas murmured.
If there was an internal cause, there would naturally be an external cause.
He looked at Ikor, waiting for him to continue. But at this moment, Ikor suddenly seemed to zone out, as if he couldn't grasp his intention.
This damned Watcher.
Lucas cursed silently in his heart.
"Teacher, what about the external cause?" The Apprentice's voice rang out, and he looked up at Ikor.
The childlike innocence on his face made Lucas believe he truly was just a child, even though he was 270,000 years old.
Ikor sighed inwardly, but still began to explain, "The external cause was the interference of the Celestials. After we left, the Celestials also came to Prosilicus. They deemed Prosilicus unqualified and recycled it."
"The Celestials' philosophy is almost diametrically opposed to the Watchers'. The Celestials believe they are the masters of the Universe, and that all civilizations and life in the Universe must develop according to their requirements."
"Once a civilization doesn't meet the Celestials' standards, the Celestials will destroy it."
At this point, Lucas roughly understood why most aliens in the Marvel world were "human-like," with only a few being strange.
This was not sci-fi at all.
It turned out to be the result of the Celestials' selection.
"The Celestials are truly despicable. If it weren't for violating our tenets, I would definitely stop their self-righteous actions." The Apprentice said hatefully.
The clash of philosophies made him despise the Celestials immensely, even though he had never seen them.
Ikor shook his head bitterly.
From the Apprentice's perspective, Ikor's expression was due to being restricted by the Watchers' non-interference principle, unable to act against the Celestials.
But that was not the case.
"We fought against the Celestials for billions of years, trying to stop their actions." Ikor's tone was bitter.
Even the Apprentice, this 270,000-year-old child, heard the unspoken second half of Ikor's sentence.
'Only we failed.'
Ikor said, "Sorcerer Lucas, beware of the Celestials. Besides judging civilizations, the Celestials also forcefully demand that other powerful Gods obey them. Knull clashed with them for this reason."
"Because of this Infinite Ultron incident, you may have already been targeted by the Celestials."
When mentioning the Celestials, his tone showed resentment.
The Watchers not only failed in their struggle against the Celestials but were also enslaved by the Celestials for a period of time. During that time, they were required by the Celestials to observe the living Planets created by the Celestials and report to the Celestials regularly.
"Mm, I understand." Lucas nodded.
In Ikor's view, he had never interacted with the Celestials and should not understand them.
In fact, he had indeed never interacted with the Celestials. But that didn't prevent him from understanding the Celestials.
Ikor reminded him again, "Sorcerer Lucas, just be careful. With your strength, a single Celestial is far from your match. But all Celestials are connected to each other through quantum telepathy."
"This means that no matter where or when they are, they are communicating with each other. Once you fight a Celestial, it means you're going against their entire species."
This was a secret about the Celestials that the Watchers discovered during their billions of years of struggle against them.
Hmm?
Lucas frowned slightly, he hadn't known this before.
But it's just the Celestials.
"No problem." Lucas waved his hand.
Ikor still seemed uneasy. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, said nothing.
He just seemed to silently strengthen a certain belief.
He turned back and looked at Prosilicus one last time, his eyes complex.
Then he bid farewell to Lucas and hurriedly left with the Apprentice.