Of course, Daniel's gains were not limited to that.
The moment BT completely shut down the portal, the system's voice sounded simultaneously.
[Main Quest "Shut Down the Portal" completed!]
[Rewards obtained: 20,000 EXP, Skill 'El Toro Fuerte Never Takes Off His Mask', Equipment 'Magic Mask', Item 'Random Teleportation Scroll', Item 'Sight Ward]'
[Skill: El Toro Fuerte Never Takes Off His Mask (Grants a significant physical strength boost when wearing any mask)]
[Equipment: Magic Mask (Increases Spirit attribute, grants the ability to perceive surrounding magical energy and mental fluctuations)]
[Item: Random Teleportation Scroll (Instantly teleports the user to a random location, usable even in combat)]
[Item: Sight Ward (Becomes invisible upon placement, provides vision of the nearby area, disappears after a certain time)]
Well, would you look at that—the skill and the equipment actually complement each other.
Daniel felt like he was walking the path of a dual-cultivator of martial arts and magic, though the 'magic' side was slightly underdeveloped, with his Strength currently several times higher than his Spirit attribute.
But that wasn't a major problem.
Once he leveled up skills like Two-Handed Weapon, Charge, and Whirlwind, his magical power would naturally increase.
As for the Random Teleportation Scroll, that was a great item. He wouldn't have to worry about not being able to use map teleportation in a combat state.
When Daniel passed through the portal to the void earlier, he was a little worried that some foolhardy Chitauri soldier might accidentally put him into a combat state, preventing him from using the map teleport to return to Earth and forcing him to take a nuclear blast head-on.
Although he still had the Impenetrable skill, it was best to conserve such a god-tier item.
The Sight Ward was an excellent anti-GANK tool; he wouldn't have to worry about muscle-bound giants suddenly leaping out of the bushes, making it 'man-on-man' for him.
As the smoke from the Battle of New York gradually cleared, the system's voice sounded in Daniel's mind once more.
[Large-Scale Event "Battle of New York" has officially ended.]
[Congratulations to the player for ranking first in this event!]
[Calculating Ranking Rewards…]
[Rewards as follows: 30,000 EXP, Free Attribute Points × 10, Item 'Revival Coin * 1']
[Item: Revival Coin (The player can use this item to instantly revive upon death and restore a portion of HP. Rise, Player, Rise!)]
"!!!"
Daniel's pupils suddenly constricted, and his breathing hitched.
Although the rewards for this large-scale event didn't seem numerous, consisting of only one item besides the EXP and free attribute points.
The thing was, that item was a Revival Coin!
This meant he had an extra life, one chance for error, and no longer had to aim for a one-life clear!
Such a value was absolutely incomparable to ordinary equipment or items!
"Invincible!"
Daniel instantly straightened his back.
With this Revival Coin, he could adopt a more aggressive playstyle. At worst, he could just trade one-for-one!
Of course, if he encountered something that couldn't be taken out with a one-for-one trade, then a tactical retreat was still necessary.
[Congratulations, Player, you have successfully leveled up!]
Hearing the system prompt, Daniel opened his personal panel.
[Player: Daniel]
[Level: 22 (0/57330)]
[Attributes: Strength 77, Agility 37, Constitution 51, Spirit 23]
[Available Free Attribute Points: 15]
[Titles: No Way I'm Working, Nuclear Peace Envoy]
"Hmm, my 'Mage' character is coming along nicely."
Daniel nodded with satisfaction, quickly allocating the 15 newly acquired free attribute points.
The attribute panel immediately refreshed.
[Attributes: Strength 80, Agility 40, Constitution 53, Spirit 30]
This time, Daniel didn't follow any specific allocation method; it was purely an attack of obsessive-compulsive disorder, unable to resist rounding the attributes to neat integers.
It was a small annoyance that he didn't have enough free attribute points to round his Constitution as well.
However, Daniel knew very well that these were just base attributes. In real combat, what mattered were skills, equipment, and items.
With the Battle of New York over, the city was left in ruins, littered with the corpses of Chitauri soldiers and metallic leviathans, and the various alien technology that dropped from them.
Seeing this, many people started their automated looting, scavenging the streets for scraps. A fellow named Toomes was particularly enthusiastic.
But all this had little to do with the League members. They were only responsible for fighting, not for cleanup and aftermath.
Daniel returned to the top of the Stark Tower and immediately saw Tony and the others gathered in a circle, pointing at an unidentified creature on the ground. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Loki.
Loki was currently trussed up like a tamale on the ground, only his head able to move slightly. There were also numerous residual scorch marks from electrical shocks on his body—clearly Thor's handiwork.
Upon realizing Loki was awake and had the urge to escape, Thor delivered a round of electric shocks without hesitation.
This time, nothing Loki said worked. The more he talked, the more enthusiastically Thor shocked him.
The other superheroes who arrived later mistakenly assumed Thor was Loki's bitter enemy, shocked by the ruthlessness of the attack, and rushed forward to mediate. Only after realizing Loki was Thor's older brother did they immediately start cheering him on.
Naturally, no one had a good impression of the mastermind who had thrown Earth into chaos. After Thor was done with the electric shocks, they discussed how to deal with Loki—should they stew him, boil him, or feed him to the Hulk for dinner.
The Hulk roared in distaste, indicating that he had standards for food and wouldn't eat junk.
In the end, it was only after Thor repeatedly assured them that everyone decided to send Loki back to Asgard for continued imprisonment. After all, Loki was still Thor's brother, and even if they didn't show respect to the God of Thunder, they had to respect his Allfather.
Since even the local Americans had no objections, Daniel naturally didn't either.
Shortly after, a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team arrived on the scene. Leading them was Daniel's old acquaintance, Sitwell. They were there to recover Loki's scepter and the Tesseract.
Unsurprisingly, every member of this S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team was a Hydra spy.
Daniel was quite accustomed to this.
If a team composed entirely of legitimate S.H.I.E.L.D. agents showed up one day, he would be genuinely shocked.
Daniel glanced at the Tesseract's information.
[The Tesseract]
[Description: Its core is the Space Stone, one of the Universe's Infinity Stones.]
[Note: The more Infinity Stones you hold, the higher the chance of summoning Thanos. It is rumored that collecting all six Infinity Stones can summon a snapping purple giant.]
Another Infinity Stone.
Besides the Mind Stone in Loki's scepter and the Space Stone in the Tesseract, there were clearly several other Infinity Stones out there.
However, this item seemed to be a popular commodity, with both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra coveting it.
Even the true mastermind who sent Loki to invade Earth was eyeing it from some dark corner, ready to launch an 'evil descent' at any moment, much like a giant boss summoner.
Faced with the S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team's demand to recover the Tesseract, Thor was the first to object.
He insisted on taking the Tesseract back to Asgard. After all, Odin had only given him a one-way ticket, and he needed the Tesseract's power to return to the God Realm and to fix the destroyed Bifrost.
Steve also voted against it.
He believed the Tesseract was a scourge on Earth. Back in the day, his arch-nemesis, the Red Skull, used the Tesseract's power to develop a large number of advanced weapons, nearly changing the American flag to an octopus symbol.
After some debate, Sitwell was persuaded by Thor and dropped the plan to recover the Tesseract.
Seeing this, Thor also contentedly lowered Mjölnir.
Sitwell looked at Daniel. "Agent Daniel, please hand over Loki's scepter."
Daniel replied innocently, "Loki's scepter isn't with me. It might have been stolen. I suspect Loki himself is highly suspicious and suggest you subject him to enhanced interrogation."
Loki: "???"
If his mouth hadn't been gagged, he would have been cursing.
Sitwell naturally didn't believe this. He had seen the scepter in Daniel's robot's hand and frantically gave Daniel meaningful looks, indicating that this was an organizational directive.
If there weren't so many people around, he would have shouted the secret Hydra password.
Seeing Sitwell's eyebrows practically lifting off his face, Daniel thought for a moment and handed over Loki's scepter.
He had thoroughly studied the scepter. To modify another person's will at leisure, like Loki, or to fire energy rays, clearly required a specific operating method or a deeper level of control.
Unfortunately, at his current level of understanding, the best he could do was make someone pass out when the scepter touched them. His Sleep Spell could do the same, so the effect was minimal.
Since Hydra was essentially his own people, he could always go claim it back whenever he wanted.
Afterward, Clint was also dug out from the rubble.
He had managed to dodge Daniel's RPG in time, so his injuries weren't severe; he just had a knock to the head. However, Loki's mind control still lingered, unlike Steve and Nick Fury, who had completely broken free.
Daniel reasonably concluded that the impact wasn't enough, so he decisively delivered several more punches.
Sure enough, after those few punches, the clearness instantly returned to Clint's eyes.
"Do you have some kind of personal grudge against me? Was it really necessary to hit so hard?"
Clint clutched his swollen face, looking at Daniel with resentment.
Daniel shrugged. "What's this? Steve took over a dozen punches from me before he woke up."
Steve: "..."
Hearing this, Clint immediately felt much better about himself, even feeling that Daniel's relationship with him was quite decent.
But Steve felt a little less comfortable.
However, when he thought of Nick Fury, who took dozens of punches, he instantly felt that his own treatment wasn't so bad after all.
Indeed, the source of human happiness is often built upon the unhappiness of others.
The group, dragging the newly conscious Clint and joined by Thor, who enthusiastically volunteered upon hearing about a dinner gathering, arrived at the Arab Shawarma place Tony had recommended. Peter, still in his Spider-Man suit, was already waiting there.
"Hello everyone, I'm Spider... er, you can just call me Peter."
Seeing the openly non-masked veterans, Peter felt awkward continuing to refer to himself by his codename.
In a room full of unmasked heroes operating under their real identities, he, the one fully armed and cautiously hiding his identity, stood out conspicuously.
Daniel patted Peter's shoulder. "Don't be nervous. We're all team members here. These two are the newcomers, Clint and Thor. They're your juniors. Just call them Little Hawkeye and Little Thor."
Clint: "..."
Thor: "..."
When the restaurant owner saw the group of oddly dressed customers walk through the door, he was so startled he nearly dropped his broom, thinking the Battle of New York was about to have a second round in his small shop.
It must be acknowledged, however, that the owner had some skill.
The Chitauri army couldn't completely silence the heroes, but the shawarma he served managed to do the trick.
Even Steve, who could chew down a protein bar without batting an eye, silently fell into contemplation about the meaning of life after taking a bite.
Seeing so many superheroes gathered, Daniel felt like he couldn't let this impressive lineup go to waste.
"Friends, I have an idea. How about we keep this team going? We don't officially disband. We'll each do our own thing, but whenever an evil enemy like Loki shows up, we initiate a righteous group beatdown. What do you think?"
No one objected to Daniel's proposal.
In essence, this was similar to Nick Fury's Avengers initiative, only the team now had two extra members.
Daniel then seized the moment to nominate himself as the captain of the "Kick Nick Fury's Ass Alliance," but this suggestion was unanimously vetoed by everyone, who instead cast their votes for Steve, even Tony included.
Refusing the owner's enthusiastic offer of a complimentary special shawarma, everyone went their separate ways.
The latter part of that sentence referred to Thor, as he was the only one present who met that prerequisite.
The aftershocks of the Battle of New York continued to spread, or rather, the impact of the event was only just beginning.
As footage from various angles of the battle was released, people clearly saw the superheroes active on the New York battlefield.
It was only then that the public truly realized that there were so many superheroes in the world.
Many became fans of these superheroes. The very next day, fan merchandise and peripheral products for the heroes were quickly released and instantly sold out. The producers became one of the biggest winners of the Battle of New York.
Of course, there were also voices of doubt. Some people argued that the superheroes themselves were a potential threat and proposed various conspiracy theories.
But in the current surge of hero worship, these 'little naysayers' were quickly drowned out by the fans. Some extreme critics even faced doxing by the fandom.
Daniel also gained quite a few fans. Someone had captured his figure gliding through the air, standing on Iron Man's feet.
Thus, he was given a very fitting nickname: The Iron Glider.
But Daniel didn't pay much attention to this. What he cared about more was the internal changes within S.H.I.E.L.D.
Due to the significant damage caused to S.H.I.E.L.D. while Nick Fury was under Loki's control, even though he was manipulated, he could not escape accountability. Ultimately, the World Security Council decided to temporarily dismiss him, with Deputy Director Hill temporarily assuming the role of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director.
On the surface, this was a disciplinary action, but the actual impact was limited. Hill was Nick Fury's capable confidant, so the so-called change in leadership was merely putting one of his own people in charge.
In a way, all of this could be attributed to the subtle maneuvering of Hydra behind the scenes.
Although Nick Fury was their sworn enemy, they couldn't bear to see him truly fall. After all, Nick Fury's ability to secure funding was exceptional.
For years, every S.H.I.E.L.D. funding application had an unwritten rule of distribution: three-tenths of the money Fury secured was pocketed by him under various pretexts, four-tenths quietly flowed into Hydra's secret accounts, and only the remaining three-tenths was genuinely used for S.H.I.E.L.D. operations.
It could be said that a large portion of Hydra's current ample operational budget was thanks to Nick Fury.
If he truly stepped down, this lucrative funding chain would likely be severed.
Nick Fury was unaware of all this. Believing that his years of dedicated service had finally moved the World Security Council, he followed the arrangement, becoming the Shadow of S.H.I.E.L.D., fully hidden behind the scenes, yet still occasionally offering valuable advice to the current Director, Hill.
However, sometimes his advice was so outrageous that Hill had to veto it.
"Hill, you'll regret this."
"Fury, I'm the Director!"
Bang!
Seeing Hill remain unmoved, Nick Fury slammed the door in frustration and, coincidentally, bumped into Daniel, who had just returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
Daniel cheerfully greeted him, "Sir, what a coincidence. Are you here to submit a mission report too?"
Nick Fury: (灬●)
Just seeing Daniel made his face subtly ache.
Daniel had hit him too hard earlier, and the swelling on his face hadn't completely subsided yet.
Nick Fury quickly regained his serious composure, lowering his voice. "You're just the man I needed to see, Agent Daniel. I have something for you."
"What is it?"
"It's not convenient to discuss here. Come see me at this location tonight. Remember, knock using the Alpha code."
Nick Fury covertly slipped a piece of paper into Daniel's hand. Without another word, he turned and left.
Daniel was somewhat confused but didn't rush to follow him.
He walked into the Director's office and handed the mission items he had just acquired to Hill.
It must be said, Hill in the Director's office was certainly more aesthetically pleasing than Nick Fury.
One was an exquisite character model, the other looked like a randomly generated one—they weren't on the same level at all.
Accepting the mission items, Hill smiled at Daniel. "Excellent work, Agent Daniel. Your mission is complete. Take a good rest for a while."
Hearing this, Daniel was instantly displeased. "Rest? How can I sleep when S.H.I.E.L.D. has so many tasks waiting to be handled? Quickly assign me a new mission, or I'll lead the charge to support Coulson as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
Hill: "..."
She suddenly recalled one of Nick Fury's pieces of advice: never treat Daniel like a regular agent. Just assign him missions relentlessly; the more tasks he had, the happier he would be.
Initially, she thought Fury was being excessive. What was the difference between this and a slave driver exploiting labor?
Agents were people too; they needed rest!
But now, she suddenly felt that Nick Fury was absolutely right!
Late at night, following the address on the note, Daniel found an inconspicuous safe house.
He walked up to the door and gave a knock.
However, after waiting for a long time, there was no response from inside.
"No one home?"
Daniel knocked a few more times with more force. The door remained silent.
He grew impatient, pulled out his master key, and opened the door. Pushing it open, he saw Nick Fury sitting inside eating fried chicken.
Daniel was annoyed. "Isn't someone in here? Why didn't you open the door when you heard knocking?"
Nick Fury's mouth twitched. "Didn't I tell you to knock using the Alpha code?"
"What's the Alpha code?"
"It's a knock with a specific rhythm of heavy and light taps! Damn it, isn't that the most basic entry-level knowledge at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy? How did you even graduate?"
Who studies that stuff while playing a game?
Daniel pouted and quickly skipped the topic. He looked around and asked, "Sir, is this your house?"
"No, this is my Safety Room No. 157. Don't worry, it's absolutely secure here."
Daniel: "..."
You mean you have at least a hundred of these safe houses?
Daniel was slightly speechless. He changed the subject. "So, Sir, why did you specifically ask me to come here?"
Nick Fury's expression became solemn, and he said in a low voice, "I suspect... there's a problem within S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
Daniel: "..."
Wow, that's truly shocking news.
Seeing Daniel fall silent for a moment, Nick Fury thought he was stunned by the revelation and continued, "When Loki had me under his control and I broke into S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters that day, I noticed an anomaly: there was an agent in the building who had no registered information."
No, that was your own idea. Don't blame Loki.
Nick Fury's tone grew even heavier. "Afterward, I pulled the surveillance footage to investigate, but found that all relevant records had been completely wiped clean. Clearly, someone is deliberately erasing this person's existence."
Daniel understood immediately. Nick Fury was referring to the Winter Soldier.
And the mastermind behind wiping all traces needed no guessing; it had to be his Hydra superior, Pierce.
But Daniel had to pretend to be shocked. "So you mean..."
Nick Fury nodded firmly. "That's right, we have a mole inside S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
Daniel: "..."
Can you please tell me something I don't already know?
He feigned confusion. "Who do you think the mole could be?"
Nick Fury shook his head. "I don't have a clue yet. Maybe they're hiding right next to us."
Not hiding next to us. They're standing right in front of you.
"Furthermore, I suspect there's more than one mole. Right now, there are only a few people I can completely trust, and that includes you."
Nick Fury was full of trust for Daniel.
After all, the agent had gone through an all-encompassing loyalty test. His loyalty was absolutely unquestionable.
Daniel nodded. "Sir, even if you're not much to look at, your judgment is spot-on. So, tell me, what do you need me to do?"
Nick Fury said earnestly, "I need you to help me investigate the mole within S.H.I.E.L.D."
Daniel: "..."
I investigate myself?
Daniel was finding it hard to keep a straight face. He asked curiously, "Sir, why not assign this task to someone else, or do it yourself?"
Nick Fury explained, "I've been temporarily suspended, so many of my access privileges are restricted. Also, too many eyes are watching me right now. Any move I make will be instantly noticed."
"As for others, I'm not entirely confident in their abilities. So, this mission can only be entrusted to you. You don't need to rush the investigation, though. This is a long-term assignment. If you find any clues, report them to me immediately."
[NPC Nick Fury has issued you a new quest]
[Quest: Find the Mole]
[Goal: Locate the mole hiding within S.H.I.E.L.D. and report to Nick Fury].
[Reward: Determined by mission completion and intelligence value.]
Daniel's expression instantly became incredibly complex.
He remembered he already had a long-term quest, issued by Pierce, requiring him to monitor Nick Fury's every move and report back promptly.
Now, Nick Fury had issued him another long-term quest: to find the mole within S.H.I.E.L.D., which was Pierce and the rest of Hydra.
So, was he essentially acting as a double-agent for both men now?