Chapter 54 54: Ancient One

— — — — — — "Sokovia, huh." Veyron's first impression of this country instantly reminded him of Avengers: Age of Ultron. The homeland of Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) and Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver). The final battleground between the Avengers and Ultron. It was also the trigger point for several major events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) later on. During the final battle in Avengers 2, Sokovia was lifted into the sky and then came crashing down. Even though the Avengers managed to stop it from hitting the ground full-force, the earlier destruction and the fragments that scattered afterward still caused massive casualties and enormous financial losses. This disaster was one of the key reasons behind the creation of the Sokovia Accords, which eventually led to the Avengers splitting up in Civil War. Then there's Helmut Zemo from Captain America: Civil War—the guy who tore the Avengers apart. His motivation? He lost his father, wife, and child in the Sokovia incident. As for the comics... Well, Veyron wasn't exactly a die-hard Marvel fan before all this. He only followed superhero stuff when it was super popular. After Avengers: Endgame, he barely watched any new superhero movies, and he definitely didn't touch the comics. So whether Sokovia exists in the comics, or what it's like if it does... he has no clue. What he can confirm is that Gwen's no longer in her original world. --- (A/N: I'm changing Veyron's chat group username from "Ordinary Person" to "Ordinary Human" for a more natural flow.) --- 『Ordinary Human: Hey, Gwen! Did you try contacting the superheroes in that world for help?』 『Ghost Spider: Of course I did, but none of them picked up.』 『Ghost Spider: I found a company called Pym Tech here, just like the one in my world. I thought maybe I could get in touch with Janet and figure something out.』 『Ghost Spider: Janet's an old-school hero who's already retired.』 『Ghost Spider: Before I got that "Weaver Song" charm from a random loot roll—you know, the one that lets me make webbing by burning stamina and mental energy—Janet actually gave me my first web-shooters.』 『Ghost Spider: But when I called, I found out the guy running this Pym Tech isn't even someone I know... heck, the guy's not even named Pym!』 『Ghost Spider: It's like that for most of the heroes I know—either they don't exist here, or they're totally different from the ones I knew... maybe they haven't gone through the key events that shape them yet?』 『Earth's Cancer: Wanna try using the chat group to refresh? Switch worlds?』 『Snake Empress: That won't work either.』 『Snake Empress: I just remembered—two days ago, Gwen actually showed up in my world for a really short while. She didn't say anything and left right away. I figured she just forgot something at home or whatever.』 『Snake Empress: I get it now. She was trying to refresh.』 『Ghost Spider: Yeah, Hancock's right.』 『Ghost Spider: Looks like, based on the system's judgment, this Earth—this 2008 version—has become my new "main world."』 『Lady Avalon: You just gave me an idea.』 『Ghost Spider: Huh?』 『Lady Avalon: No matter what kind of multiverse or alternate universe setup your world has, it's a good idea to set a strong "anchor point" mission at home. Something that locks you to your original world.』 『Lady Avalon: That way, if something like what happened to Gwen ever happens again, you could still jump to someone else's world first, then use the anchor point mission to get home from there.』 『Ghost Spider: ...』 『Catwoman: Now that you mention it, that's actually smart. I'm setting mine up right now—give me like three minutes.』 『Hellish Blizzard: Yeah... same here. Three minutes.』 "Mr. Veyron?" At Eientei, Fujiwara Chika looked over at Veyron. "Go ahead," he waved her off. "I doubt this will happen to anyone else, but having that extra layer of safety does make us feel better." A few minutes later, everyone except Gwen had set up their anchor points and rejoined the chat. ... 『Ghost Spider: Ugh, Miss Merlin, if only you'd thought of this a few days earlier... (sigh.jpg)』 『Lady Avalon: Please. If this hadn't happened to you, I wouldn't have thought of it even years from now.』 『Ghost Spider: ...Fair enough.』 『Ghost Spider: Who'd have guessed your 'main world' could even change?』 Up until now, they all thought the "main world" was permanently bound to each chat group member—one per person. That meant if a mission required world-hopping, only the person originally from that world could publish it. For example, Hancock could post a mission requiring everyone to visit her world, but if she were in someone else's world, she wouldn't be able to trigger the mission function for that world. Which is why these "glitch-style transfers" were more like hidden mechanics—things the chat system didn't openly show. 『Lady Avalon: Want me to come over and take a look?』 『Ghost Spider: Uh... honestly? Yeah.』 『Ghost Spider: But Merlin, before you come, you should probably set up some defensive magic.』 『Ghost Spider: If anything feels off, just force quit the mission and bounce back. I'll be keeping an eye on you the whole time too, just in case you need an emergency pull-out.』 『Earth's Cancer: Isn't that a bit overkill...?』 『Ghost Spider: Nope.』 『Ghost Spider: I've never posted missions that let you guys come to my world before—and that's because my world is dangerous.』 『Ghost Spider: Sure, I usually just deal with muggers and murderers on the streets of New York, but from what I've gathered—from Janet and other sources—there are cosmic-level threats popping up here all the time... and sometimes they involve more than one universe.』 『Ghost Spider: And now, this mysterious force just yanked me out of my own world and dropped me here with zero warning? Yeah, no such thing as being too cautious.』 『Catwoman: I used to think my world was dangerous... but now? I actually feel safe. Cosmic-level threats? If my world had stuff like that, I'd never dare slack off again.』 『Hellish Blizzard: Wait—cosmic-level? Like, the cosmos?』 『Ghost Spider』: Yep, the observable universe is about 93 billion light-years in diameter. Might be bigger—we just can't see past that. 『Hellish Blizzard: ...』 『Snake Empress: What's a light-year?』 『Earth's Cancer: Basically, under our universe's physics, light travels about 300,000 kilometers per second. Multiply that by how far it goes in a year—that's one light-year.』 『Snake Empress: !!!!』 『Lady Avalon: Alright, alright—let's cut the science lesson. @Ghost Spider, post the mission already.』 『Ghost Spider: Got it.』 --- A few seconds later... In the livestream window, Gwen—dressed in her black-and-white spider suit—was perched on a clocktower. Beside her, Merlin appeared out of thin air. After arriving, she nodded at Gwen. Then a deep, mysterious light flickered in her violet eyes. "Ooh!" A second later, Merlin looked up at the sky, eyes sparkling with wonder. "Oooooh~!!" Two seconds later, she tilted her head slightly and glanced in another direction—another wave of amazement washing over her. Three seconds later, her eyes darted left, forward, then settled to her rear-right. She raised her hand and tapped on the air in front of her. Knock knock knock! "Yo~! Anyone home?" The sound of knocking echoed as Merlin spoke. No answer. But the space in that direction suddenly rippled and fractured like a mirror cracking. From the broken, swirling space stepped out an old man in a flowing robe—weathered face, yet full of vitality. Watching the livestream, Veyron muttered, "...Well, damn." Based on the clues—Sokovia, 2008, Eastern Europe—he already suspected who it might be when he saw the iconic mirror dimension effect... But seeing it confirmed? Yep. That's the Ancient One. The true male version. . . . { 50+ advanced chapters available at???? patreon.com/_Coreal }