The Ancient One might not exhibit the massive strength gap seen in Doctor Strange, capable of restarting the universe at his peak and becoming nearly powerless at his weakest, but his consistency is terrifyingly formidable in the Marvel world.
With such a godlike presence, Shin wasn't worried in the least about Dormammu making any successful moves.
Before his departure, the Ancient One gave Shin a serene smile and said, "Don't forget our agreement. After I retire, I'll come to you for help."
"Don't worry," Shin replied with a cryptic grin. "Though I do wonder if you'll get used to other worlds."
It was clear the Ancient One didn't care too much about different Marvel universes. Shin, however, planned to take him into the DC world eventually.
But the very structure of the DC universe was fundamentally different from Marvel. The powers of Vishanti, Eternity, or even dimensional demons wouldn't be able to reach that universe. In other words, the Ancient One's magical spells would become virtually ineffective there.
Not that his magic power would be completely severed he had long absorbed a significant amount of energy from various dimensional beings and higher deities. Some of that mana would remain within him. But compared to what he was capable of in the Marvel universe, his power would be dramatically reduced perhaps only a few times stronger than a regular Kamar-Taj sorcerer.
And the difference between a basic magician and the Ancient One? That was like comparing an elementary school graduate to someone with multiple PhDs. Most mages in the world would be no more than fledglings in his presence.
Of course, Shin guessed the Ancient One had already considered all of this. Even with the decline in power, the knowledge accumulated over countless years wouldn't fade.
In fact, much of the magic system in the DC universe was derived from similar fundamental principles. Most magic was still reliant on channeling power from deities or other planes. With his knowledge base, it wouldn't be long before the Ancient One found new ways to regain strength.
Later on, Shin and the others purchased a villa in a small town not far from New York. Housing prices were rising fast clear proof that others had the same idea about escaping the chaos of the city.
Luckily, none of them had any aspirations of becoming self-sacrificing superheroes concerned with New York's plight.
In fact, after hearing the horrors Jessica Jones had gone through, Pietro was terrified that Wanda might be dragged into hero work. He clung to her constantly, whispering in her ear about the dangers of fighting supervillains until a frustrated Wanda erased his mouth with Chaos Magic for an entire day.
Despite being outside the city, the group wasn't at all inconvenienced. Shin could teleport using the Flying Thunder God Technique. Wanda teleports as well. Pietro was absurdly fast. Even Jessica, who was the slowest, could fly and now mostly just tagged along as Wanda's bodyguard, often teleporting alongside her.
If there was one major change the Galactus battle brought, it was that the entire group had now entered the upper echelons of national security. Wanda was now viewed as a top-tier weapon an unmatched humanoid nuclear warhead. And Shin? No one even knew how to define him, only that his power was both overwhelming and mysterious.
Fortunately, Shin had the Hand as his organizational base and he also had numerous experiences for counter-espionage. He had nothing to fear from any agents monitoring them.
Wanda, on the other hand, was a psychic. Few spies could hide their intentions from someone who could read and alter minds at will.
Meanwhile, Shin continued strengthening both his body and mind.
It took nearly a year for him to fully absorb the energy from the small star in his dark dimension. When he finally did, his physical body had evolved to near-Superman levels.
His speed now surpassed thousands of times the speed of sound. He could theoretically lift small continents. His chakra reserves and Haki had both expanded immensely. At this point, even Shin wasn't quite sure how strong he truly was.
In the field of biology, after Bruce Banner quietly left the military base and never returned to Oscorp, all scientific work fell onto the shoulders of Dr. Curt Connors.
To aid him, Shin uploaded all his accumulated knowledge into a biochip and installed it in Connors' brain. The results were immediate, Connors' research sped forward like a rocket.
Most notably, he perfected his original lizard serum the one that could regrow limbs but had the unfortunate side effect of turning the subject into a monster. The new version was flawless limbs regenerated, and the user remained fully human.
With this invention, Connors became the frontrunner for the Nobel Prize in Medicine. He was even being hailed as one of the greatest scientists of the 21st century, ranking above even Tony Stark.
Stark himself didn't object. After all, it had been Connors' serum that finally healed the arc reactor wound in his chest. Publicly disagreeing now would only make him look petty.
Still, as miraculous as the serum was, it was incredibly expensive to produce. Even if priced modestly, each dose would still run into the millions. It wasn't something the average person could afford.
Determined to make the treatment accessible, Dr. Connors continued his research trying to refine the formula and reduce costs.
That was when disaster struck.
He was kidnapped.
…
At the Oscorp's main lab, Shin arrived accompanied by Wanda, Pietro, and Jessica Jones.
Realistically, Shin felt he could've handled the investigation with just Wanda. But Jessica insisted she had investigative experience, and Pietro absolutely refused to let Wanda be alone with Shin. So, the whole gang showed up.
"So," Shin said, rubbing his chin and looking curiously at the two people before him, "can someone tell me how Dr. Connors managed to get kidnapped, Mr. Parker?"
Despite being a scientist, Dr. Connors wasn't weak. He had a military background and had been enhanced by his own serum, correcting his physical impairments.
More importantly, he had a biochip in his brain originally intended to aid scientific work but was fully capable of controlling all muscle movement, effectively giving him near-superhuman combat experience. The chip was also loaded with every fighting technique known to man.
While he looked like just another researcher in a lab coat, Connors could probably go toe-to-toe with someone like Hawkeye or even Black Widow in hand-to-hand combat.
That made his kidnapping even more concerning.
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