American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

Manggog remained stiffly in place, unwilling, encased within a black pillar, connected to metal pipes extending from all directions.

The entire core energy chamber began operating at high speed, and the sound of liquid flowing could be heard within the metal pipes.

In an instant, the entire core energy chamber went from being semi-dormant to completely alive, operating under the control of the central control system.

"There shouldn't be any surprises, right?" Odin asked Luke for confirmation, looking at Manggog sealed within the pillar. He could see traces of magic from the lineage of the Ancient One on the sealing pillar.

"Of course, unless someone breaks into the room, destroys the sealing pillar, and releases it again," Luke replied confidently. With so many dimensional materials and technologies, as well as the craftsmanship of mages, this core energy chamber could be called an alternative powerful magical artifact! Luke was very confident in its effectiveness. "In addition, the intelligent control system of this core energy chamber can detect all its energy fluctuation data. It is now in a weakened, dormant state."

"In that case, let's talk about the distribution issue," Odin said, looking at both the Ancient One and Luke with a searching gaze.

"Let's proceed as agreed," Luke said, not refusing Odin's proposal. The Ancient One also agreed.

"Ten shares. As agreed upon at the beginning of our cooperation, I provide the energy source and the effort, initially taking four shares," Odin said. Luke and the Ancient One had no objections to his words.

Since the initial cooperation between the three was quite smooth and the results were clear, making for a good start, none of them were nitpicking over the distribution. The agreed-upon share at the beginning of the cooperation remained the same now.

Each of the three was clear that the real benefits lay in the future, not in the present. They had initially established a tacit understanding and a relationship based on mutual benefit, and of course, they would not be short-sighted enough to immediately fall out and argue.

In this trio, Luke's technology, Odin's combat power, and the Ancient One's ability and control were indispensable for future collaborations.

"Also, take one share from my portion and give it to Thor, is that okay?" Odin asked, seeing that Luke and the Ancient One had no objections, and then looked at his son, who was standing there blankly. Of course, after this battle, his perception of Luke had deepened once again, and he truly regarded him as someone who could communicate with him and the Ancient One on an equal footing. Therefore, his final statement was a question, rather than an unquestionable assertion from a superior.

"Sure, it's your right to decide how to use your quota," Luke replied. Two metal tubes, as thick as an adult man's thigh, snaked over, and under Luke's control, a precise metal adapter interface appeared on the Ancient One and Thor. The snake-like metal tubes opened their buckles, and the metal interfaces on the two bodies snapped together seamlessly. Then, a crimson liquid, like blood, was converted into energy and poured into their bodies.

Ugh...

The Ancient One calmly absorbed the energy pouring into her body, but Thor, standing next to her, couldn't manage her ease. Thor only felt an incredibly vast and powerful energy constantly pouring into his body, washing over him again and again.

At first, it was the feeling of that energy filling his body, but soon, the continuous and high-quality energy became a bit too much for Thor to handle, but he couldn't refuse the continuous infusion of energy. Thor even felt that if this continued, would his body explode like a balloon being constantly inflated until it reached its limit?

Odin noticed his son's discomfort, grabbed Thor's shoulder with his large hand, and vast divine power flowed into Thor's somewhat energy-congested body, helping him to sort it out and use magic to seal as much energy as possible within him. It wasn't until Thor reached his limit that he signaled Luke to stop the energy infusion for Thor.

"You can't even handle this little bit of energy," Odin said with a mixture of disappointment and exasperation. However, Thor didn't even have the mind to talk to him.

Time passed by, and the Ancient One opened her eyes and said softly, "I'm done too."

"Let's go back to Asgard. I've already dug a lake near the Immortal Palace," Odin said, looking at Luke and the Ancient One eagerly.

Luke indifferently gave the Ancient One and Thor teleportation permissions.

When the four reappeared, they were back in the Rainbow Bridge control room. Luke and the other two were fine, but Thor looked a little uncomfortable, with a feeling of wanting to vomit but forcibly suppressing it. His abnormality attracted the attention of Heimdall, the gatekeeper of the Rainbow Bridge.

Odin still took the lead, walking in front. Watching the backs of the three walking on the Rainbow Bridge, and then looking at Thor, who hadn't moved a step so far, Heimdall asked curiously, "Aren't you going to follow, Thor?"

"Ugh! I can't, I can't move," Thor replied with difficulty. His voice was hoarse and strange, like two stones rubbing against each other. Thor also wanted to follow, but his usually agile body was now extremely clumsy, his body turned into a stiff stone statue. He was like a soul consciousness sealed in a stone statue, able to think but unable to control his body to move.

Thor had never thought that one day, he would not even be able to control his own body. What he didn't expect was that the reason for this result was not that he was cursed or seriously injured, but because he had eaten too much, his body was full of energy, which made him feel that his body weight had broken through a level that he couldn't control for the time being.

To put it simply, his body used to be a wooden hammer, and his soul consciousness could easily manipulate it freely, but now, his body had become a heavy metal hammer, and his soul consciousness hadn't kept up with the changes in his body in a short time. He wanted to lift the metal hammer, but his previous strength couldn't lift it. So, it created the current scene. He wanted to move, but his body couldn't move.

"You are not injured," Heimdall carefully observed Thor's body and shook his head. "But your body strength has increased a lot. It seems that you have succeeded."

Thor stood like a wooden stake sculpture in the Rainbow Bridge control room. Heimdall thoughtfully called his little friends to take care of him, even though Thor had tried hard to refuse, it was to no avail.

"It's here," Odin stopped in front of a large pit with a diameter of over a hundred meters and a depth of at least thirty meters.

A green hole, as thick as a human waist, appeared in the middle of the pit, and crystalline energy condensed into liquid poured down. Soon, the ground of the pit was covered with a layer of crystalline water color, and even the energy density of the surrounding space increased somewhat.

As the God-King of Asgard, with a close connection to this land, Odin faintly felt a certain joy emanating from the surrounding air after the energy liquid poured down. This made the joy in his eyes even stronger.

No matter what happens in the future, as long as Asgard's land can become more stable and the physical fitness of Asgardians can become stronger, then correspondingly, Asgard's overall strength will also increase. In this way, even if it cannot delay the final arrival of Ragnarok, perhaps Asgard will have the strength to cope with it at that time?

At the very least, there are the Ancient One and Luke as helpers at that time. These two may be able to give some suggestions in the future, or find a way to solve the problem?

Thinking of this, Odin's attitude towards the Ancient One and Luke became even more gentle and amiable.

...

"The God-King is holding a banquet to entertain distinguished guests," a burly man, covered in armor, with a large axe on his back, and a face like a lion, with a thick brown-yellow beard, looked at the lively sounds coming from the Immortal Palace in the distance, licked his lips, and said with some longing.

"You, can, go first," Thor felt that he had regained a little feeling, at least he was no longer only able to feel numbness. He could now feel a pain like his body was being torn apart. This was a good sign, although it did hurt. Thor had had similar experiences. He had felt his limbs numb due to battle, but under his powerful self-healing ability, the numbness turned into pain, and then a tingling itch. At this time, the numb limbs could be moved at will.

Based on the current condition of his body, Thor judged that he only needed to stand here for another five hours, and he should be able to initially recover some mobility. Maybe he could even catch the tail end of the banquet then.

"I'll stay here with you," said a heroic woman, carrying a magic long sword given by Odin, dressed in military uniform, and said simply.

"We'll stay too," Fandral and Hogun exchanged a look and then shook their heads.

"I was just saying," Volstagg, the first to speak, wiped his face and sat down on the spot.

...

On the balcony of the Immortal Palace.

The Ancient One and Luke sat facing each other in their respective chairs.

"What do you want to ask?" The Ancient One spoke first, not waiting for Luke to take the initiative to ask or anything else.

"Mind/Emotional Energy," Luke said succinctly, stating the key point he wanted to know.

"Energy, yes," the Ancient One said, not surprised. She looked at Luke calmly and asked back, "What kind of people do you think the mages of the Ancient One lineage are?"

Luke raised his eyelids. The Ancient One didn't intend for him to answer. In the silence, the Ancient One continued her question, answering herself, "The mages of the Ancient One lineage are essentially just a group of mortals who can use clever ways to borrow and use high-dimensional energy. This borrowing and use is like a toddler using a weapon that is difficult for them to control."

Luke didn't expect the Ancient One to evaluate her lineage in this way. But thinking about it carefully, he felt that this evaluation was appropriate. It was somewhat similar to the believers in his memory who used faith, soul, and similar methods to borrow and exchange for the power of certain gods. It's just that the Ancient One in front of him was more free and had more choices than those believers.

"Do you think we lack energy?" the Ancient One asked again.

Luke didn't answer, and he knew that the Ancient One didn't need his answer. Sure enough, the next moment, the Ancient One gave her own answer again: "No, and yes.

What we don't lack is that we have our own stable source. What we lack is our own source of magic power.

Most high-dimensional worlds and powers have owners, and these owners control the distribution rights of these energies. If the one who lends you their power cuts off your energy supply, then correspondingly, you will lose your power and become a mortal again. Those spells that you once had at your fingertips all become rootless empty shells. No matter how skilled you are at mastering them, you cannot release any magic.

The authority for mages of the Ancient One lineage to use power is not in their own hands. We are essentially controlled by the [God].

Some mages once fantasized about finding another alternative energy source, and they did find it. Unfortunately, they didn't understand the opponent they were facing. Facing those dimensional demon gods, without the corresponding high-quality energy, it is difficult for you to harm them. Even me, you can't expect me to drain human energy and use electricity to fight against Dormammu, the lord of the Dark Dimension. Perhaps seeing me use the magic energy transformed from electricity, Dormammu's ugly face will laugh out loud, and then he will unceremoniously eat my attack, extract my soul, and have a good discussion with me about my debt problem with him. Maybe he will invite some other creditors."

The Ancient One calmly told Luke about her delinquent behavior. There have been people who dared to ask her for debts in these hundreds of years, but the strong ones couldn't get in or couldn't take her down, and the weak ones were beaten black and blue by her. The more miserable ones were directly killed and reduced to excellent dimensional materials that could be used to create powerful magical artifacts.

Who wasn't a violent enforcer when they were young?

The Ancient One continued: "The energy you created perfectly meets my needs. It can be considered a high-dimensional, high-quality energy in itself, and it has excellent energy plasticity characteristics. More importantly, it can be accommodated and absorbed by mages, and there is no other demon god's will residing in it for the time being. This means that the danger to mages is greatly reduced, more people can become mages, and they don't have to worry about the backlash of power.

This is a change from scratch!

Mages will no longer become powerless mortals once their power supply is cut off. Moreover, the energy you created has great potential to be tapped.

"Odin..." Luke pointed to Odin inside the wall, inside the Immortal Palace banquet.

"Of course, he has discovered the superior characteristics of this energy. Otherwise, with his arrogance, he would have rejected my cooperation proposal from the beginning. After all, there are too many treasures in his vault. If it wasn't necessary, he wouldn't have looked up to us," the Ancient One chuckled.

"You should be glad that this energy was created by you, you have mastered the technology to create it, and you have the potential to upgrade it! Although your dimensional ascension failed, that time was also a heavy bargaining chip, completely crushing the last straw in his heart," the Ancient One gave the answer again before Luke could speak.