Ch. 7 - Attempt to go back home!

(I would just like to announce that this fanfic is now competing on the power stone ranks, so please kindly spare me some of your power stones :) )

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As tempted as I am to test my strength by punching a tree, I don't think that would be a good case considering I'm in a world where Gods are real and highly active.

Trees are part of Nature itself and I can name many Gods related to Nature with both of my hands.

Call me a highly cautious person, but I'm not going to harm Nature without being assured that it won't trace back to me.

Especially since I'm now a devil and devils are considered the enemy of not only humanity but also the entire world.

It took me quite a long time before finally finding a huge enough boulder to practice on. The boulder itself looks like it would crumble apart just from its cracks where green mold starts to form.

"I hope you hold on for a bit, buddy." Giving the cracked boulder a small pat before stepping back.

The first thing I want to test on the boulder is to see if I can carry it with my bare hands. I went a little closer and bear-hugged the boulder before clenching my ass cheeks.

I could feel my fingers slip through the small cracks on the bottom as I pulled my weight up, going not only against the mass of the boulder but also the pressure of gravity itself.

It took me quite a while before finding a good posture and finally lifted the entire boulder a few inches from the ground.

Insects alike start to crawl away upon the exposure of their nests due to their home being lifted. Some crawls around my forearm, causing me to twitch slightly.

If I wasn't trained to handle such minorities, my past self might've panicked and started rolling on the ground.

Thankfully, I didn't and only twitched out of annoyance.

I tried to lift it a few more inches and succeeded, only coming to a stop once the boulder was hovering 5 feet off the ground, almost carrying it on my shoulders.

It's not like I'm feeling the strain already but because the boulder felt like it would crumble apart any moment now, I still have to test my punching strength so I can't have the boulder giving up on me yet.

Note to self, find something better than the boulder to carry.

Gently placing it back on the ground, I readied myself by cocking my arm and closing my fist.

My eyes scanned around the surface of the boulder before finding a good spot to strike.

Breathing in and out, I launched my fist forward and the four knuckles on my left hand connected with the boulder, burying my fist deep into the boulder, causing an imprint of my fist and causing the cracks on the boulder to worsen.

From what seemed like a few long cracks earlier, it started to spread across the surface and I know that any moment now, the boulder will fall apart.

So I stepped back and watched as the third law of motion unfolded itself in front of my eyes.

Two seconds later, the cracks had fully covered the surface of the boulder and each piece fell apart, crumbling the entire boulder.

Okay, I'm strong, that's a fact, I could punch a human's head and pop it like a watermelon.

Next is my defense, which was already tested during the punch, my knuckles which would normally hurt if I punched the same boulder as a human, look completely fine, not even a tiny bit of scratch can be found.

So it's a yes that my resilience was also enhanced.

Next on the list is my endurance or in more basic terms, my stamina and energy.

This is the test that I've been eyeing since earlier. The fact that I can hold my own weight for almost an entire hour under that cart is a testament to my greatly increased stamina, so let's go past that test already.

Now we're on the energy test. This is what has been bugging me off since earlier. I could clearly feel that my connection to the previous universe's energy was gone and instead, I could feel an ominous yet superior kind of energy swirling inside of me.

You see, back in the MCU world, the sorcerers can either draw energy from two sources depending on the spell they'll use.

If a sorcerer is using a mind-related spell, it would only require the spell to be powered by the caster's mind itself. The rest of the spells, on the other hand, are powered by either the universe's energy or dimensions from the Multiverse.

Such example that can be used is Dormammu's dark dimension, if you can convince the Dimension Master himself, the aforementioned individual can give you access to draw the energy from his dimension with, of course, an exchange.

The exchange can vary depending on the Dimension Master, such as the caster's loyalty for eternity, or worse, your soul will be given to the Dimension Master.

There are many other known exchanges.

As for the benefits of having access to a dimension's energy, not only it would increase the strength of the caster's spells but the caster would also gain the capability to use the dimension's personal spells, the kind of spells where only by using the said dimension's energy can the caster cast those certain spells.

But this energy of mine. It feels quite different compared to the universe's energy. It feels untamed and so raw.

Although it also feels dark and sinister, it's not to the point that it would harm me, the user.

I wonder how magic works in this world, more specifically, the magic of devils. I've seen Serafall use the said devil energy a few times such as the teleportation magic.

"She didn't exactly tell me the full properties of the devil energy…" Muttering under my breath, I decided to discover it myself and experiment.

I closed my eyes and got a feel of the said energy.

A few minutes later, I had already written a few notes about the devil's energy in my mind.

First of all, it's ten times more potent and thick than the universe's energy that I previously used back in the world of Marvel.

Second, this one is both an advantage and disadvantage. A disadvantage because I now have limited reserves, unlike the previous universe's energy in which I have a near infinite amount of energy to draw my spells from. However, this is also an advantage as casting spells would no longer strain my physical body.

You see, using the universe's energy might seem overpowered but it also has limits, and among them is that the caster's capability to cast spells as much as he wants depends on his physical body.

Using the universe's energy too much would put a burden on the caster's physical body, rendering the 'infinite energy' useless.

Hence, why sorcerers aren't exactly so overpowered because they too, have limits in what and how much they can cast.

My last note about the devil energy, it can be expanded, increased, and enhanced in efficiency.

How you might ask? When I say efficiency, I mean being able to cast a spell without using too much devil energy, in layman's terms, using little to no of the said energy while achieving the same results when cast in the normal way.

Putting these babblings aside, it was time to put it to the test.

Earlier I already used it by casting a wind spell to disrupt the coachman.

And now, I'll use something stronger and mostly used by me.

Transmutation.

A spell capable of altering the forms or structure of matter itself, and even energy if the caster is strong enough.

Now, there are two types of transmutation spells. The temporary one and the permanent one.

The temporary one is where the casted spell will revert shortly as it would continuously siphon from the caster's universe's energy and like I said earlier, constant use of the said energy will strain and even kill the caster's body.

Permanent on the other hand, is more advanced and requires intense focus like the spell that Dr. Strange used in the Infinity War movie when Thanos literally threw a blackhole toward him.

Whereas Dr. Strange used a permanent Transmutation to turn the said blackhole into a bunch of butterflies.

Now, what I'm about to cast is obviously just the temporary one, I don't think I'm fit enough to cast the permanent one.

I grabbed a small pebble on the ground and held it on top of my palm. Focusing on the pebble, I willed the devil energy inside me to power the spell I was about to cast.

I tried to use as little as possible to see how much potential the devil energy has.

To my surprise, I only used what seemed to be a single drop from a bottle of water and the pebble's molecular structure started to remold into a new form.

The small pebble covered in dirt was gone and replaced by silver, albeit the same size as the pebble earlier.

Now, I was holding a silver instead of a pebble. But I could tell it was temporary due to the fact that for every second, a single drop from my devil energy reserves is being spent.

Which means I can't maintain the transmutation indefinitely.

As much as I want to test out how long I could hold it, I still have other spells to test.

Dispelling the transmutation, the constant stream of my devil energy finally came to a halt, as if putting a cap on an upside-down bottle.

Closing my eyes, I noticed that almost half of my initial reserves were depleted just by maintaining the transmutation for 5 minutes.

I guess I have to find ways to increase my devil energy reserves. I'm not sure if my reserves are normal among the Middle-class devils.

For the next few minutes, I tested several other spells, some took minimal ounce of my reserves while others took large.

Thankfully, I discovered that the depleted reserves slowly get filled back up as long as I rest and don't waste anything more.

I also tested to see if I could recover devil energy while depleting them at the same time but unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.

After a few more tests, it was finally time for the last one.

Staring at the Sling Ring on my palm, I nervously inhaled and exhaled.

Whatever is going to happen, I was hoping for the best.

Hoping that I would be able to conjure a portal back to the Marvel Universe.

I may seem like a person who lacks friends because of my profession as a sorcerer but during my stay in the Marvel Universe, I actually made quite a few friends with some of them appearing as characters in the Marvel films.

Wearing it on my index and middle finger, I raised both of my hands and moved my right hand in a circular motion, drawing sparks in front of me.

My mind was forming an image of the New York Times Square, it was the only image I could form that would ensure that the portal would form to the other side.

A few moments later, the small sparks expanded in size, fully forming a circle made of orange sparks.

Before a smile could crawl on my face, I saw nothingness on the other side, similar to the same portal I last formed but interrupted by Kaecilius.

All hopes in my heart were quickly dashed, replaced by fear and defeat.

Noticing that the portal was still open, my curiosity got the best of me, and couldn't help but walk closer to the portal to have a good look.

As my sight became closer, the appearance of the void beyond became distinct.

It turns out, that it wasn't exactly a place full of nothingness, instead, there was some variety of colors flowing around, it looked something like when you place a single drop of food coloring on a plain glass of water.

That's what the place looks like to me.

My first thought was that this was the same place I found myself floating around after entering the unstable portal earlier.

"What is this place?" I couldn't help but mutter to myself as I extended my hand beyond the portal.

As soon as it entered through, I felt nothing. And when I say nothing I mean nothing, not even a small gust of wind can be felt, it's like air doesn't exist inside!

Is this space?

I resisted the urge to step inside and explore, but thankfully, but survival instinct told me that I was not ready yet to discover what this space inside was.

So I gave the portal one final look before dispelling it, closing the portal for now.

Maybe in the future when I'm strong enough, I'll try my luck and find out more about the space, who knows, maybe it is the key to my way back to the Marvel Universe.

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[Next Chapter: Ch. 8 - The Tarnished]

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