Chapter 202

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"That's right, it was equally unexpected for me."

"The immense energy contained within the scepter is actually alive and has its own consciousness!"

Tony's voice echoed as he formally explained to Nick Fury.

"So, you're telling me that the scepter itself is a... super artificial intelligence?" Fury, with a hint of disbelief, asked for confirmation.

"That's why I said things are not that simple."

"And I finally understood how the other me failed."

Tony's eyes sparkled as he laid out his theory to Nick Fury. "It's because of the gem, or rather, because of the gem's programming!"

"It clashed with J.A.R.V.I.S., attacking each other, and it might have completely defeated J.A.R.V.I.S., or they both suffered damage."

"But ultimately, Ultron's consciousness wasn't J.A.R.V.I.S.; it was something entirely new, beyond my control."

"That's why it wanted to annihilate humanity."

This had always puzzled Tony. The idea that robots can't harm humans, something encoded in their source code—how could an intelligent robot violate that?

It wasn't until now that Tony realized it was the Mind Stone's programming that destroyed his source code!

Creating robots using the Mind Stone wasn't just about building intelligent robots.

To prevent the "intelligent program" within the Mind Stone from conflicting and attacking the robot's intelligent program, they had to fully decode the Mind Stone's program.

And that was an extremely difficult task.

"Are you decoding the scepter's code?" Fury guessed, observing the scepter with his one good eye.

"This process has been going on for over ten days, but to be honest, it's not as optimistic as I imagined."

"In fact, it's far from optimistic."

"J.A.R.V.I.S. could only decode a portion of it, and there's a large part that can't be decoded."

"Even the parts that can be decoded require a lot of time. J.A.R.V.I.S.'s computing power just isn't enough."

Tony nodded, explaining the situation to Nick Fury again. And this was actually the main reason for Tony's failure in the movie.

The Avengers destroyed Baron Strucker's base and took the scepter, but they had only three days before it had to be handed over to S.H.I.E.L.D.

During those three days, Tony hastily researched it.

Even without completely decoding the scepter, he forcibly downloaded its data!

In other words, Tony downloaded an intelligent program he didn't fully understand!

That led to the tragedy.

"So, how long will it take to fully decode the scepter?" Fury asked, staring intently at Tony after a brief pause.

"I can't give an exact answer. At the current pace, it could take months, or even years."

Tony shrugged helplessly, "This is an Infinity Stone!"

The most powerful thing in the universe—how could a small artificial intelligence on Earth easily decode it?

After realizing this, Tony vaguely understood how the other version of himself failed.

Normally, with Tony's personality, he wouldn't wait that long.

His style was usually to act first and talk later.

Seeing that decoding the scepter's code would take so long, he likely wouldn't have the patience.

He would probably choose to directly download the scepter's program and use it immediately.

And that led to the tragedy.

But now?

With the diary's forewarning about Ultron's disastrous failure, Tony wouldn't dare proceed recklessly!

Not just Tony, but Nick Fury as well.

They both had the same thoughts.

Even though the time required was long and unbearable, they chose to wait for the sake of caution.

No one wanted to repeat Ultron's tragic failure.

"This is going to be a long battle," Fury remarked, shaking his head in resignation, "Stark, it looks like we have a lot of work to do."

"I like challenges!"

Iron Man shrugged and continued his work.

Fury didn't need to say much more; he provided every resource he could, fully supporting Iron Man's efforts. 

Even Banner later joined in due to unsatisfactory progress.

But unfortunately, Infinity Stones aren't easily decoded.

After over three months, the scepter's decoding was only fifty percent complete.

And that was just the parts that could be decoded.

At this pace, who knew when Vision would actually be born?

But even so, considering Ultron's disastrous example, neither Nick Fury nor Tony nor Dr. Banner dared to rush.

Everyone patiently waited for J.A.R.V.I.S. to decode, no matter how long it took.

Of course, during this period, neither Nick Fury nor Tony were idle.

Besides letting J.A.R.V.I.S. decode the scepter's code, they worked on other tasks together.

"Ulysses Klaue, a black-market arms dealer, has been confirmed to possess a significant amount of vibranium."

"Stark, not just a small amount like what your father used to make the shield for Cap, but an extremely large supply."

"Large enough to build a luxurious robot."

"I've already made arrangements. The vibranium should be in our hands within half a month."

In the secret lab, Nick Fury updated Tony on the situation during another meeting.

"Wait a minute, Klaue?"

Tony raised his eyebrows.

He knew Klaue! Both were in the arms business, though Klaue dealt in the shadier side. But yes, Tony was familiar with him.

Though Tony was surprised to learn that Klaue had a large amount of vibranium.

From the diary's spoilers, saying that only Ironheart could create a vibranium detector, Tony thought vibranium was incredibly scarce.

Turns out, a black-market dealer had it?

"That's right, Klaue," Fury nodded, "Your father, Howard, bought vibranium from Klaue's family."

"That damn swindler. He told Howard it was the last vibranium on Earth, and charged several times the price."

"That's right. Tony's father bought Vibranium from Klaue's father! The Klaue family has been in the Vibranium business for generations."

"What about your side?" After introducing his situation, Nick Fury began to inquire Tony about his progress.

"I've already talked to Helen Cho."

"We both believe that the Regeneration Cradle can meet our requirements and create a truly perfect Vibranium body."

"Moreover... Helen Cho is also willing to join the experiment," Tony added.

"So yes, there won't be any issues from Helen Cho's side," Tony reported his progress to Fury, who nodded knowingly.

It seemed that, apart from the scepter, everything else was progressing smoothly. However, the matter with the scepter couldn't be rushed.

Meanwhile, in a museum in London...

"Bye, Wesley."

"Bye, Hannah."

"Sersi, let me give you a ride. I'm heading that way."

"Thank you, but it's not necessary."

After finishing her day's work, Sersi packed up her things and began walking down the long corridor to leave. Everyone she passed greeted her warmly. Sersi, with her beauty, deep knowledge, and aristocratic aura, was very popular at the museum. Many men even tried to win her favor, but unfortunately for them, Sersi, having lived on Earth for seven thousand years and experienced a centuries-spanning romance with Ikaris, was not interested in ordinary men.

Sersi politely declined their advances.

Like many other ordinary people, Sersi chose to take the bus home. Sitting by the window, she watched the diverse scenery and people on Earth, feeling immensely fulfilled and quietly proud. 

No one knew that this woman, sitting in the back seat and listening to music, had significantly contributed to the progress and development of human civilization.

Around 5000 BC, except for Wakanda, most of Earth was in the late Neolithic stage of civilization. After a huge battle between the Eternals and Deviants on the Mesopotamian plain, Sersi turned a stone knife into a bronze one and handed it to the local natives, causing a monumental shift in human civilization.

Of course, Sersi wasn't the only one. Other Eternals also contributed to human civilization in various ways.

In 1894 BC, the Eternals helped establish the ancient city of Babylon; Sersi taught the locals farming, and Phastos invented the steam engine. The Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, were also built by the Eternals, specifically by Ajak for communicating with the Celestial Arishem.

There were many other examples, like the atomic bomb, etc. All in all, the Eternals invested a lot of effort in humanity. This was why, after the truth about the Celestials was revealed, almost all the Eternals unanimously decided to rebel against Arishem.

They had genuinely become attached to Earth.

Sersi was quite satisfied with her current life. With no Deviants left in the world, she could live as an ordinary person. If possible, Sersi would prefer to spend her whole life like this.

But on this particular day, her peaceful life would be disrupted.

Creak!

As she opened the door of her plain rented apartment, she was greeted by a blast of ear-piercing music. A teenage girl was lazily lying on the sofa, drinking rum and tapping her foot to the rhythm. This was Sersi's "roommate," Sprite.

Since the Eternals disbanded, Sersi and Sprite had stayed together almost constantly. Sprite had stopped hiding her true self from Sersi, revealing her "real personality."

Due to her eternal childlike appearance, Sprite craved adulthood and adopted seemingly "adult" behaviors like going to bars, drinking, and even experimenting with drugs, much to Sersi's helplessness.

"Sprite, you know I wouldn't mind if you went to bars," Sersi said helplessly. Being Eternals with supernatural bodies, she wasn't worried about Sprite getting into trouble. But Sprite wasn't keen on it, feeling isolated and often turned away.

"It's those shallow people who mind, not me," Sprite sighed.

After exchanging a few lighthearted remarks, Sersi went to her room to change. 

Hmm?

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something on her vanity table. A black diary that hadn't been there earlier had mysteriously appeared.

"Sprite must be up to something again," Sersi thought, assuming it was one of Sprite's tricks. Without much thought, she picked up the black diary.

???

"Zhou Cheng's Diary?"

Who's Zhou Cheng?

"Sprite, what's this?"

Sersi called out to Sprite, but she was too engrossed in her music and drink to hear her.

Intrigued, Sersi began to read. The contents were puzzling, mentioning people like Stark and Captain America, who seemed unrelated to them.

Just as she was about to ask Sprite about the diary, Sersi suddenly froze.

The Celestials?

Flipping through the diary quickly, she found several mentions of the Celestials, which piqued her interest.

Sersi didn't care much about Stark or Captain America, but anything related to the Celestials captured her attention. So, she continued to read, delving into the diary's secrets about the Celestials.