Chapter 674: Someone is Stealing Electricity and Didn't Bring Me! (Part 1)

Beside the energy hub of the Kamar-Taj Research Center, Shiler and Strange looked at each other. Strange lowered his head to glance at his watch and said, "Hasn't he been up there a bit too long?"

Shiler also glanced at his own watch. Before Stark ascended, the plan was for his ascension above the universe to last no longer than 30 seconds, but it had already been nearly a minute, and Stark still hadn't recovered.

Shiler frowned and thought for a moment, but felt this duration was still within a safe range, so he said, "Let's wait a bit longer. If there's no news in a minute and a half, we'll contact Master Ancient One."

Strange had already pulled out his phone; if Stark didn't return after a long time, he was prepared to contact Ancient One and have her find Eternity to observe Stark's situation.

But just as the time reached one minute, a golden light suddenly lit up over Kamar-Taj. Strange took two steps back, looking at the light on the protective shield, and said, "This is... a new Demon God has been born???? Right here on Earth. Tony, I'm afraid..."

Strange took a deep breath, suppressing the gloomy expression on his face. He tried to calm down and then said calmly, "All mages of Kamar-Taj, assemble! If you discover a Demon God-form Tony Stark, do not act rashly. Let him leave Earth's vicinity first..."

"Wait, Tony shouldn't be that easy to ascend..." Shiler also frowned. He had confidence in Stark's self-control. In the dream world, he could instantly create a city, which proved his strength in controlling his soul was extremely high—far stronger than the vast majority of creatures in this universe.

That was why Shiler had agreed to let Stark go up and take another look, because he knew Stark's reason was enough to suppress those distracting thoughts. As long as he didn't want to ascend, he wouldn't become a Demon God.

But now, the situation exceeded everyone's expectations. In the time Stark ascended above the universe, a new Demon God had appeared on Earth. This couldn't be a coincidence; the only possibility was that Stark had truly transformed into a god.

Just as the mages were assembling toward the energy hub, suddenly, the magical light flickered again. A neon trail descended from the sky, and Stark's figure appeared within the light. Strange and all the other mages were stunned.

"Tony, you didn't... then what's going on with that new god???" Strange asked, very confused. Then he saw Stark reveal an exasperated expression. He looked around at the mages and helplessly stretched out his hands, saying:

"Don't make a move yet... It's hard for me to explain to you all, but now, I need to go back up again. You don't need to worry about me."

"Wait!" Strange called out to him again.

"I really don't have time to explain right now!" Stark seemed to be suppressing anger. He took a deep breath and said again, "Don't worry about me. As long as I don't want to ascend, I won't become a Demon God..."

Stark was about to leave again, but Strange called out to him again. Before Stark could say anything else, Strange spoke first: "Do you know how much magical energy it costs for you to ascend for one second? How is the electricity bill calculated?"

"I'll pay!" Stark said irritably. After finishing, he transformed back into his Demon God form and ascended above the universe.

Strange, still standing on the ground, sighed and waved his hand at the group of Great Mages, saying, "Disperse. Oh, wait a moment, don't leave yet. Who is in charge of the Finance Department?"

The other Great Mages all took a step back. Wong stood in front of the crowd and said helplessly, "Who else could it be but me?"

Strange grabbed his shoulder and, while walking, said, "You heard it just now, right? What did Tony Stark say?"

"Uh... he said not to worry about him, and that he can control whether or not he becomes a Demon God. Honestly, that's quite impressive. As long as there is sufficient magical energy, couldn't he maintain the realm above the universe indefinitely?" Wong said with great admiration.

"Who's talking to you about that? Didn't you hear him say he would pay?" Strange looked at Wong with an expression that said, "Are you not getting it?"

"Magical energy cannot be measured in value by any currency; it is a priceless treasure. Of course, exorbitant pricing isn't Kamar-Taj's style. We need a legitimate reason—a legitimate reason, do you understand?" Strange hugged Wong's shoulder, pulled him hard toward his side, and lowered his voice:

"Kamar-Taj's budget for the next quarter depends on the upcoming loss report. You should be confident in that, right?"

Wong revealed a difficult expression. Strange waved his hand and continued, "Think about the market price of molten steel, think about Vibranium which has fallen but is still expensive, and think about the precious metal raw materials needed for Mithril, and the prices of those precious gems used to store energy..."

Who knew, Wong maintained that difficult expression and said, "Kamar-Taj's magical energy has to supply so many mages. Losing so much at once, our next 3... I mean, 13 projects will all be affected. The resulting losses are immeasurable..."

Strange let go of the hand he had around Wong and gave him a thumbs-up.

Before turning to leave, he used his hand to pull down the corner of his eye, making an even sadder expression at Wong, then pointed at Wong's face. Wong gave him an OK gesture.

When Strange returned to the front of the energy hub, he saw Shiler was on a call. After Shiler saw Strange walk over, he hung up the phone. He gave Strange a wink, and the two walked to a secluded spot. Shiler looked at his phone and said, "Open a portal. Go to Nick's office at S. H. I. E. L. D. We have things to discuss."

"Swish," a portal opened. When Shiler and Strange landed, Loki and Nick were already sitting on sofas on opposite sides.

The four sat down on the sofas in four directions. After exchanging glances, they knew exactly what the theme of this meeting was: nothing else, just pure lack of morality.

Presumably, there are still those who remember that the last gathering of the "Four Squares of Lack of Morality" caused certain people to have terrible luck, and this gathering was no exception. First, the organizer of the gathering, Shiler, gave a speech.

"I believe you all should have figured out the source of the faith power on Peter. So, next, let Stephen introduce to us what exactly this power does."

The floor was passed to Strange. He took a sip of coffee, cleared his throat, and said, "As everyone knows, all power in this universe comes from the origin of the universe. Origin energy can be accessed and used by different creatures."

"Some creatures are born with the ability to convert the origin energy of the universe into energy they can use, for example, you all..." Strange looked at Loki. Loki nodded. He continued:

"There are also creatures that cannot actively use this power, or rather, the methods of using this energy are different."

"The reason human faith is so precious is because when humans supply the origin energy of the universe to Demon Gods through faith, because they themselves cannot use this energy, the transmission of energy is completely lossless."

"The human soul can process this energy, making it more refined, but because humans cannot actively use it, this refined energy will be transmitted without reservation to the object of their faith. Therefore, Demon Gods all like to come to Earth to proselytize. Here, the energy a single believer can provide them is ten or even a hundred times that of other creatures."

"However, not all human individuals are unable to utilize this energy. For example, mages can use magical energy."

"Whether it is faith power or magical energy, they are both a way of evolution of the universe's origin energy. Some have a shallower degree of evolution, some have a deeper degree, and according to the different degrees of evolution, they can be utilized by different types of creatures..."

"Similarly, they can be converted into each other. For example, faith power can be converted into magical energy, and because the degree of evolution of faith power is relatively shallow, it can be converted into a large amount of magical energy."

"For example, the vast majority of Demon Gods who left Earth were once ordinary humans. The reason they were able to achieve ascension was nothing more than collecting enough faith power."

"Conversely, if an ordinary human collects enough magical energy, they can also convert this energy into faith power, and eventually become a Demon God. These are all different paths to the same destination."

"And as for what magical energy actually does, I don't think I need to say much more, right? Of course, I'm not being arrogant, but I must say, even for many types of energy that are more powerful than magical energy, they might not be as useful in human hands as magical energy."

ahzww.

"It is precisely because of the fragility of the human body that we must use various methods to deepen the degree of evolution of energy, so that it is no longer destructive and becomes more refined. At the same time, because the magical energy humans can obtain is simply too little, Kamar-Taj has been forced to develop methods of energy utilization to the extreme..."

"It is precisely because of human poverty in terms of energy that we have cultivated every bit of magical energy to the extreme over tens of thousands of years, and thus, evolved unique magical techniques."

Strange raised his tone, his voice revealing a natural confidence: "There are too many races in the universe stronger than us, but from the moment the human race appeared, the place where we led other races was our unparalleled ability to manufacture and utilize tools."

"It is precisely because of our weakness that we have engraved the maximization of cost compression and efficiency into our genes. And when one day, we possess resources sufficient for us to control, the rise of humanity will be unstoppable."

Nick and Shiler applauded vigorously. Clearly, this speech by Strange had both substance and depth. In the time since becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, he had grown too much.

From an apprentice who knew nothing about magic and mysticism to the Sorcerer Supreme who stood above the entire mystical world, Strange had opened not only the door to a new world but also his perspective and vision.

After Strange's speech ended, Shiler continued: "Since this energy can be utilized by humans, then I think this seems to be another good opportunity to add bricks and tiles to the human magical energy reserve."

"Director Nick, what do you think?"

Nick adjusted the position of his eyepatch, rubbed his forehead, and revealed a smile. He also took a sip of water, cleared his throat, and said:

"I first declare that the faith of anyone on Earth should be absolutely free. Regarding Kamar-Taj monitoring the flow of human faith, I hold a disapproving attitude."

"Humans are so weak; their faith cannot change anything. Even if they believe in evil gods, it must be those cosmic Demon Gods using flowery language to deceive weak humans."

"We should always reject victim-blaming. Therefore, monitoring victimized humans is unjust. To ensure the safety and peace of the universe, we must severely punish the culprits."

"The Demon Gods deceived faith from humans... that's right, it's deception. Without informing humans of the value of faith power, they used some petty gains that were completely disproportionate to the harvest to cheat humans out of their most precious faith."

"Besides not giving humans sufficient rewards, they also deceived humans' precious emotions. Sorcerer Supreme, what do you think of this despicable behavior by the Demon Gods?"

Strange shook his head, sighed, and said: "In fact, I feel sad and angry about this. Humans started utilizing energy relatively late. Therefore, in the years when we were still ignorant, those greedy vampires, relying on their information advantage, ruthlessly exploited the poor humans, using those meager rewards to cheat us out of our extremely precious faith power..."

Strange covered his face, seemingly choking with excessive sadness, unable to continue. Nick snorted and said:

"Since that's the case, I propose that cosmic Demon Gods have the obligation and responsibility to be held accountable for this. Humans should use various means, including violent means, to reclaim the faith power that was exploited and plundered. This is a just revenge by human civilization against exploiters and aggressors!"

"Then, I announce, Avengers, assemble!" ===== CHAPTER 675 =====