CHAPTER 131

"So what now?"

"Now you go back to doing what it is you do." She said with the same disarming smile I've come to know her with.

"And pray tell what is that?"

"Why, it's doing your best to live while the universe tries otherwise. A very fitting irony considering who you are."

I groaned at that. "Tell me about it."

"Thanks, I guess." I said. 

"What for?"

"For not being my enemy, I guess. It would have been a fight I would have hated to happen." That was my sincere thought. 

"That is quite arrogant of you to say that." Though she said that, the smile on her face just widened. "While I would admit you are quite the tricky opponent, there are more than one way to win a fight. You would do well to remember that in the future."

"I know that. But I'd rather my enemies stay dead. Saves me a lot of trouble that way. But regardless, not having to fight you is a big boon to me. While I might be able to put up a fight, I think that the final victory would go to you." Magic was bullshit like that. It didn't adhere to any rules except its own, and they were more like guidelines than rules. And presently, no one on earth could match her in magic. I didn't know half the spells she did nor a quarter of the experience she had. 

"I think you sell yourself short. I think the reason for your current belittling of your abilities stem from the fact that you can't perceive your current limit."

"Be that as it may. I just came here to clarify. Thank you once again." That was one less worry off my mind. All I needed to do now was hasten the absorption rate of cosmic energies then I'll be good to go. 

With that I left her room and opened a portal but instead of the normal yellow portal, this one contained wisps of blue. 

"I see. But you still can't absorb it can you?" She said as she studied the portal. 

"I can't, no. I can store a bit of it but I would have to release it sooner or later or else I'll just warp to somewhere in the wide universe." I walked through the portal and landed on my couch before releasing a loud sigh. The world just got more dangerous than I was comfortable with. All due to a single decision on my part. I had been putting it off for a while just trying to enjoy what I had but something at the back of my mind kept telling me what a bad idea that was. 

And given whatever that was today that made my danger sense scream, those at the higher levels were not happy with it. The only thing keeping them from acting was that they were just waiting for someone to break the stalemate and then it would be a free for all. 

Everyone was weary of the other when you were at a certain level of power and it was because of that caution that they would leave everyone below them to do what they liked. 

They were content with just watching and making sure it didn't hurt them but what I did, or rather would do was going to break that rule. 

One thing about those in high power was that they hated when someone trespassed into their domains. Or when someone rose to power very quickly and surpassed them. No one liked the proverbial executioner's blade hovering near their necks. 

I just hope I wasn't too hasty. I still had a lot to do and I felt that I was running out of time. It was always one thing after another that it barely gave me enough time to just sit back and ponder on everything so far. 

The best free time I've had in a long while was the trip to the beach and even that was interrupted with the X-Men fighting the Juggernaut nearby and after that was Essex. 

Well I can't complain all that much since it would be quite stupid of me and it wouldn't change anything. 

There were still things I needed to do. One was finding something that came to my mind after my recent talk with Ororo. I had told her how much of a pain it was. I had to look for a living island somewhere in the Pacific to act as a nation for the metas. 

That was all I could do for them since Ororo finally took my advice and started doing something about it other than waiting for Charles to get out of his wheels. 

It was somewhat of a surprise for me when she told me that she was in a collaboration of sorts with Emma Frost and Mystique. 

That grouping was a very rare one even in the X-Men franchise but they do them, I guess. I wasn't interested in what they planned to do, nor was I going to get actively involved. The most I could do is point them to a place that might be able to house the rising mutant population. 

The living island of Krakoa. 

I think they had to fight the island at one point, but well, not my problem. Between whatever lineup they could build, taking care of the man-island would be a walk in the forest… literally. 

But for that, I would have to wait for my satellite to be launched first before I could find it, so there was that. 

And then there was also my research in energy augmentation related X-genes. And there was also the berserker staff to still look into. 

'One thing at a time, I guess.'

The first thing I went into were the runes in the staff. How conceptual runes like War and Power were used the way it was to create a staff like that. 

Runes were very tricky to use. Just because you know the way they were written doesn't mean you know the effects of it. And just because you wrote them in the order they were written didn't mean you'll get the same effect. A simple rune could have multitudes of meaning and effects and that was why I studied them as much as I did. 

The only sophisticated rune I could had etched on my axe was the flow 'ᛚ', along with the runic symbol for untamed strength, uruz 'ᚢ'. These two runes worked together in tandem to increase every successful striking force of my axe for as long as I could handle it. It would take me a few days to decipher the staff and then to start experimenting on Asgardian magic but without a book of study, there was no way for me to take it further. 

Fighting Doom hadn't pushed me to what I felt was my limit. It was more of me overpowering him than anything else. Maybe the Ancient One was right. I didn't know how strong I currently was because I've never fought someone who could take me to the brink. Magneto and Doom were the only ones that had made me fight with everything I had then but even then I was still overpowering the both of them and Magneto quickly lost when Ororo started fighting Doom. 

The same thing happened the second time I fought Doom. Sure he was stronger than he was at Christmas but so was I so I didn't really feel the strain of a limit. 

Essex didn't even count nor did the masters at the Sanctum. Though I sometimes lost to them, it was a magic-only battle and not a no holds barred fight. If it was, I would have slaughtered them. It was the same reason that gave me confidence of being able to fight the Ancient One but I still knew I'd lose because like she said, there was no one way of defeating an enemy. 

Me being able to absorb magic wasn't something that would deter her as it was not like I could absorb the whole thing but rather a portion of it. So at the end of the day, all I took was reduced damage, the same way as was all physical and elemental attacks that were sent my way. 

I would know better than anyone that the lines were blurred when it came to magic. There was no concrete path to follow, nor were there absolutes. Magic could be channeled with almost any form of energy in the known universe, even with electricity, which made the possibilities of it as endless as the size of the universe. 

It was the one reason why I never slacked when it came to magic. Sure I could get stronger without it but when it came to energy manipulation, nothing thought control more than magic did. 

I could lift everything in my house with just my telekinesis which I strengthened in my training with Chi. And not to mention my other abilities that dealt with energy projection which was frankly more terrifying ever since magic was added to the mix. 

It was the realization of this fact that made me sure that while I outclassed the Ancient One in brute force and possibly speed, she far outclassed me in magic and the sheer complexity of it. I might be able to beat her in her weakened state but if she so much as draws power from the dark dimension then my chances of winning would go down to the negatives. 

Even Doom surpassed me in magic after learning it in less than a year but even him couldn't compare to someone who had dabbled in the arts for centuries. At least not the him of then. But too bad he never got the chance to be God Emperor Doom. That would have been quite fucked up for everyone in the multiverse. 

With the thoughts of magic out of my mind, I got up from the couch I sat on and went outside before blasting off into the sky, leaving a trail of booms. 

Flying was a good way to clear my mind…the same with free falling thousands of kilometers from the sky, which I was currently doing. 

"Looks like I'll have to step my training with the stone up a notch. First, Space, then Power and then Reality." It was shoddy at best but it was what I could walk with given my current predicament. 

"Maybe it's the Space Stone. It encompasses every point in the universe, maybe that's why it's harder to absorb. If it was maybe the Power Stone then I think it would have been faster."

By comparison, the Power Stone was the least complex of the Infinity Stones. Space, Soul, Mind, Reality and Time: these were complex domains of existence with Time, Reality and Space being the most complex. Trying to absorb the crystallized essence of these aspects was more harder than utilizing it using the stones and a gauntlet as a medium. 

Trying to 'absorb' space and everything in its aspect, thinking about it now, was bound to be a lot harder. Thankfully I didn't start with something like Time or god forbid, Reality. Those would have proved a lot harder. 

I slowed down as I came nearer to the ground before blasting off once more into the sky and freefall after getting to a highly comfortable height. 

Right now my strength was at a point I was comfortable with but it still wasn't enough. Hopefully the stones were enough to bridge the gap by a wide mile. 

But even at that point, just having the stones won't be enough. It wasn't as if there weren't people who could defeat those wielding the stones. Just having the Infinity Stones by no means made anyone omnipotent, not by a long stretch. 

It was just a step up, nothing more, but one I needed nonetheless. All in due time, I guess. 

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