Just when Lucas thought he could spend these two years slacking off, Tony informed him he was mistaken.
One day, Tony arrived early at the bookstore's first floor, waiting for Lucas to come down.
He said, "This material requires fragments of the stellar core from the death of the earliest star at the beginning of the Universe."
"What does that have to do with me?" Lucas asked, pretending not to understand.
Tony remained silent, just looking quietly at Lucas.
These materials only appeared under certain specific cosmic conditions. Among the people of Earth-404, the only ones capable of traveling the Multiverse to find these materials were Lucas and Strange.
Considering efficiency, Lucas was undoubtedly the best candidate.
"Alright, when do you need it?"
"The sooner, the better."
Lucas reluctantly got up, left a message, and immediately prepared to depart for the Multiverse to search.
Behind him, Tony's gloating voice rang out. "You should also bring these (a list of materials)..."
"I know, I've seen the documentation."
Lucas waved his hand helplessly without looking back.
He absolutely hadn't expected Tony to play a trick on him here.
These future Sorcerer Supreme candidates, were they really so bothered by him, the future Sorcerer Supreme, being idle?
As the golden-yellow sparks settled, Lucas vanished from the bookstore.
Yao's Clinic.
He knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Today was a weekday, and the time in New York was ten in the morning.
Therefore, Lucas's nominal son was not present. The owner of the voice was Dr. Yao, the proprietor of the psychology clinic.
Pushing the door open, Lucas saw the female Ancient One sprawled on the sofa, legs crossed, and watching television.
"Master, help me."
"What is it?"
The female Ancient One's voice sounded from the sofa.
She moved, trying to sit up, but her crossed legs blocked her.
Deciding to just lie where she fell, the female Ancient One shrank back down.
"Help me find these (a list of materials)..."
Lucas's voice trailed off as he noticed the female Ancient One staring at him with a look of astonishment, her expression growing stranger.
"Lucas, why would you think I have a way?" The female Ancient One asked.
"Master, your variants are all over the Multiverse. Don't you have any information?"
"Hold on."
The female Ancient One interrupted Lucas, asking, "What master? I'm retired. Now I am just a psychologist, an ordinary, unremarkable psychologist who graduated from Stanford University."
As she spoke, the female Ancient One removed the eye-shaped pendant worn on her chest and solemnly handed it to Lucas.
She leaned close to Lucas's ear and whispered, "Go find the Ancient One of Earth-616. He once followed Eternity, traveled the Multiverse, and is very knowledgeable."
Lucas took the Eye of Agamotto handed over by the female Ancient One and sighed deeply.
Afterward, in order to eventually return to the lazy, comfortable retirement life the female Ancient One currently enjoyed, Lucas had no choice but to set off for Earth-65 to seek help from the male Ancient One.
Although he was fast, he couldn't possibly search every single Universe, could he?
That would be exhausting.
...
When Lucas arrived, the male Ancient One was busy wielding a hoe, loosening the soil for his crops.
Seeing Lucas, he One smiled, motioning for Lucas to wait a moment, then continued his work.
Lucas, seeing this, wanted to help, but just as he picked up a hoe, the male Ancient One waved him away.
The male Ancient One could tell at a glance that Lucas had no farming experience, and letting him mess around would only ruin his excellent farmland.
So, Lucas dejectedly walked to the side and prepared tea for the male Ancient One.
Soon, seeing the male Ancient One finish his tasks, Lucas quickly offered him tea.
"Master, you must be thirsty. How about a cup of tea?"
The male Ancient One glanced at Lucas, his mustache trembling slightly at the corners of his lips.
Showing excessive courtesy for no reason usually means mischief or theft.
Taking the tea, he took a small sip. "Speak, what do you want?"
"What kind of talk is that? Can't I visit Master when I have nothing to do?"
The male Ancient One's mustache trembled as he said, "If you were truly here to visit me, why didn't you bring Gwen and Wanda?"
Lucas argued, "They have classes, you know."
Hearing this, the male Ancient One chuckled, full of teasing. "I heard that Gwen and Wanda have taken quite a few days off this semester. What? They can't take time off now?"
Lucas said with a dry laugh, "Ahem, those were all out of necessity."
"Hehe."
The male Ancient One shook his head with a smile, picked up his teacup again, and took another sip, the tea in the cup now more than half gone.
Seeing this, Lucas refilled the male Ancient One's cup.
While Lucas was pouring the tea, the male Ancient One lightly tapped his index finger and commented, "Your tea tastes decent, but your technique needs improvement."
"Thank you for the compliment, Master." Lucas automatically omitted the second half of the male Ancient One's sentence.
"I wasn't complimenting you. I was just lamenting that such good tea leaves were wasted by your terrible technique." The male Ancient One said, shaking his head with a smile.
Afterward, the two stopped talking and simply enjoyed their tea in silence until the sun set.
The male Ancient One saw that dusk had arrived and Lucas still hadn't spoken. He smiled and said, "Speak, what do you want? If you don't say it now, I'm going back to sleep."
"Master, I truly came to simply visit you this time. Since you're going to rest, I'll head back first." Lucas stubbornly said, and with that, he began to pack up the tea set, preparing to leave.
This surprised the male Ancient One, who sat quietly, somewhat bewildered.
Soon, the tea set was cleaned and put away by Lucas.
After Lucas stood up and bid farewell to the male Ancient One, he raised his hand and, with two fingers, drew a line through the void.
As golden sparks scattered, Lucas stepped into the portal and disappeared.
Seeing this, the male Ancient One became even more bewildered. He mumbled something, then stood up, picked up his hoe, and walked towards the farmhouse.
"Strange, could it be... never mind, I won't think about it. Time to play cards."
Even after the male Ancient One had put away his farming tools, he still couldn't understand what trick Lucas was playing. But if he couldn't understand, he wouldn't think about it.
Night had fallen, and it was time for his intense and exciting card game.
Tonight, he was going to break the record of winning three rounds in a row.
Rubbing his hands with some excitement, the male Ancient One pushed open the door, but his expression instantly froze.
It was Lucas, who had returned silently, standing wordlessly in front of the male Ancient One's door.
At this moment, he had just raised his hand, preparing to knock, when the male Ancient One happened to push the door open.
Before the male Ancient One could react, Lucas spoke first, "Good evening, Master. I have something I'd like to ask you this time."
Lucas had deliberately emphasized the word "this time."
The male Ancient One understood Lucas's meaning: His previous visit (during the day) was merely a casual visit, while this visit (tonight) was when he actually had something to discuss.
But there was only a short interval between the two visits. What was the difference?
His lips twitched, and he said testily, "I need to go play cards, I'm busy."
Before the male Ancient One finished speaking, he saw a faint green light emanating from Lucas's chest. Approaching the eerie green light, time itself seemed to slow down slightly.
"Speak, what is it?" The male Ancient One waved his hand, signaling Lucas to put away his magic.
Lucas obediently complied.
After a moment of thought, he said, "Master once traveled the Multiverse with Eternity, so you must be very knowledgeable. I'd like to inquire about a few materials."
The male Ancient One frowned and asked, "What materials?"
"Uru."
Upon hearing the name of the first material, the male Ancient One's frown relaxed.
Uru, a mysterious and extremely rare metal from Asgard.
But for people like the male Ancient One and Lucas, who could easily traverse the Multiverse, acquiring some was effortless.
The male Ancient One nodded, indicating no problem.
"Galactic glaze."
Upon hearing the name of the second material, the male Ancient One's brows furrowed slightly.
Galactic glaze, the unique metal on Silver Surfer's body, allows one to freely traverse space, stars, and black holes.
The Creator of this metal is the renowned cosmic being Galactus.
It would be quite difficult for an ordinary person to obtain this material from Galactus, but...
He glanced at Lucas, and secretly nodded.
Galactus in his normal state was only slightly stronger than him, and his disciple could easily handle him.
The male Ancient One nodded again.
Afterward, Lucas listed the remaining materials one by one, and the male Ancient One nodded frequently.
The male Ancient One had an impression of all these materials and knew where to obtain them, which was undoubtedly good news for Lucas.
After learning the coordinates for various materials from the male Ancient One, Lucas bid farewell and left again.
The male Ancient One also set off, rushing to his card game appointment.
However, when he arrived, he tragically discovered that his seat had already been taken.
"Rebellious disciple, you've ruined my plans!"