American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

"How do you feel?" Luke came to Mordo's side, squatted down, looked at Mordo's face as the straps loosened, and asked softly.

"Terrible." Mordo wanted to rub his throbbing head, but his whole body was still tightly bound by the red straps. "It feels like there are strange consciousnesses in my head, and they come together to form some kind of emotional consciousness. I understand the danger you mentioned. Without proper protection and mental preparation, even with a strong mental will, one would face the risk of being assimilated and eroded."

There was a hint of lingering fear in Mordo's eyes.

"It's like a huge spiritual entity is fighting with you for control of your body, can you understand that feeling?"

"That's why we need to filter and transform it," Luke said softly.

The red straps loosened from Mordo's body and then returned to Luke's side, wrapping around his waist. Freed from his restraints, Mordo supported himself with his hands and stood up from the ground. "However, that power is very strong. I feel that if it is used to cast matching spells, the power of the spells might be extraordinary."

"That depends on the Ancient One and you. If you think of an energy as an operating system, then what you have to do is to write all kinds of programs [spells] for this new system to enrich it. Of course, after filtering, this energy will allow you to use any magic commonly used by the Ancient One's lineage that you are familiar with, a system platform compatible with other energies. But this does not take full advantage of it, and compatibility itself is prone to problems," Luke said, getting up and spreading his hands.

"So, every mage who wants to use this energy needs one of these bracelets?" Mordo looked at Luke in front of him and touched the bracelet on his wrist. The bracelet did not have the coldness of metal, but rather felt like human skin, with a peculiar touch and temperature.

"Just to be safe. You've also experienced the true face of this energy. Even elite mages need a period of familiarity and confrontation to gradually bring it under control. Ordinary mage apprentices cannot perfectly master this power, but instead will bring some trouble under the influence of this power," Luke nodded.

"So, according to your agreement with the Ancient One, do mages need to place orders with you?" Mordo couldn't explain what he was feeling, but he felt that some changes caught him off guard.

"The correct way to say it is to place orders with Hebron," Luke corrected. Although this correction seemed completely unnecessary to Mordo.

"Can you authorize the technology?" Compared to other mages in the Ancient One's lineage, Mordo, who held the title of nobility of a small country, had some experience and understanding of such commercial cooperation in the human world, and he asked instinctively.

"Of course, I can. But my suggestion is, there's no need," Luke replied very readily and honestly. "The Ancient One's lineage and Hebron are now bound together for mutual benefit, you don't need to painstakingly turn a technological product into a magical product. It's meaningless.

Even if you are authorized and you successfully transform it, what about the subsequent upgrades and iterations?"

Mordo was speechless.

"You need my technological products, and I need your dimensional materials. We both have the same interests and mutual needs, don't we?" Luke continued.

Mordo nodded. In fact, even if he had any objections, they would most likely be ineffective in the face of the agreement between the Ancient One and Luke to cooperate. Mordo was very clear that the biggest flaw of the Ancient One's lineage was the lack of a magical energy source that was free of future troubles, was in their own hands, and belonged to the mages living inside this planet!

Mages could certainly borrow power from other dimensional spaces and dimensional demons, but the word "borrow" clearly demonstrated the plight of the mages. Once the source of the borrowing was cut off, then these mages would truly become ordinary people with "no power to restrain a chicken." Facing the master of the power source, they could not make any power-based resistance except for being respectful and powerless.

Except for powerhouses like the Ancient One, facing a platform that had been kicked out of the system and refused to allow them to use all the programs [spells] of this system, they could only stare blankly and helplessly. Even if they found some way to embrace another dimensional demon and borrow the other party's power, not to mention the various troubles and sequelae caused by changing platforms, as well as the possible spiritual erosion, the fundamental hidden dangers still did not change in any way.

They were not the masters of the power they used.

So on this point, Mordo was a staunch supporter of the Ancient One.

"Your Silent Fortress?" Mordo suddenly shifted the topic to Luke's fortress.

"I'm just about to start construction," Luke said.

"What about the one in the dark?"

"I need some help from you mages, of course, with payment," Luke smiled. If you were to ask who had the most new currency in their hands right now? Then without a doubt, it would be the Ancient One and Luke. And the reason why Luke had less than the Ancient One was because he had purchased a large number of materials from other dimensional worlds from the Ancient One.

Although the Ancient One didn't care about these material transactions, Luke still had to maintain the newly established and fragile trading order for the time being. Anyway, compared to Nick Fury, who was working hard and trying to accumulate a little more new currency for S.H.I.E.L.D., Luke's new currency financial situation was much healthier and wealthier.

"After completion, will the so-called energy veins really be able to penetrate every corner of this planet as you said?" Mordo asked curiously.

"The Ancient One has no doubts about this. Even one day in the future, just like a dimensional demon, you will be able to sense, collect and use this power no matter where you are in this universe."

"What about other people?"

"What other people?"

"I mean, people other than mages, will they also be able to sense this power and use this power?" Mordo asked.

"What's your opinion?" Luke was noncommittal about Mordo's question.

"This energy is very dangerous, it cannot be wantonly abused," Mordo said. "If it is abused, I can't imagine the consequences."

"It's a net, Master Mordo. The mages of the Ancient One's lineage can sense it through meditation and use it, because the Ancient One and I are collaborators. She has opened up the corresponding access permissions for other mages under her command.

You borrow the power of any dimensional demon, which is equivalent to having a copy there at a certain price. Why do you think that the Ancient One and I have not taken such measures? The mage's meditation and Hebron's filtering bracelet are equivalent to the network access license and ID access permission that the two of us have given. Even if someone accesses this network through some clever way, the Ancient One and I can kick them out as a black account and give them a ban package," Luke replied casually.