Chapter 77: Inner Peace (bonus)

Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Inner Peace (bonus)

"Mark?" Daniel repeated.

Had Tony already started thinking about the Mark series? To this day, Daniel had never really understood what the name "Mark" was supposed to mean.

"No." Daniel immediately shook his head.

T’Challa and Susan did the same.

"Pick another one," Daniel said.

"What’s wrong with it?" Tony protested. "That’s the only name I could come up with. If you don’t like it, then you guys think of something. I’m done."

"How about Black Panther?" T’Challa suggested. "Black Panther Technologies. Sounds pretty cool, right?"

"Get out."

"Absolutely not."

Daniel and Tony spoke in unison.

Black Panther Technologies? What kind of name was that? To the general public, it would even sound more like a condom company rather than a future tech giant.

Was T’Challa trying to stage a corporate coup before the company even existed? Didn’t he know he was currently ranked dead last in the company’s power structure?

He’d better know his place, or they’d stop inviting him to things. Even Tony hadn’t shamelessly suggested calling it Stark Technologies.

"What about Solar Technologies?" Daniel proposed.

Tony rolled his eyes.

"How is that any different from Black Panther? Don’t think I don’t know your powers come from absorbing sunlight."

Daniel coughed awkwardly, as Tony just crossed his arms.

"Listen, either the company name contains elements from all of us, or it should be something completely unrelated."

The three of them spent the next hour throwing out suggestion after suggestion. Every single one was rejected, eventually, it was Susan who offered a name.

"What about... Future Technologies?"

The room fell silent, as the others exchanged looks. It wasn’t particularly flashy or dramatic, but somehow it fit. So, after a moment, they reluctantly nodded.

"Future Technologies it is," Tony declared.

"I’ll have someone register the company tomorrow."

The next day, Daniel and the others didn’t leave after all. Since the entire idea had originated with Daniel, and because his proposal had only been a rough concept, Tony kept him at the mansion for several more days.

Or more accurately, Tony squeezed every last useful idea out of Daniel’s brain before finally letting him go.

Tony himself never returned to MIT. He had already informed the university about his situation. Fortunately, the administration at MIT was surprisingly understanding.

Their response was simple: Whenever he had time, he could stop by and pick up his doctoral degree.

Half a month passed after Daniel returned to college. For that entire half-month, he barely slept, he had insomnia. The island operation had eliminated a major future threat, but it had also left his hands stained with blood.

Nearly ten thousand people.

Ten thousand.

Daniel wasn’t some cold-hearted monster. There was no way someone could kill that many people and feel absolutely nothing, he wasn’t made of stone.

Hell, some people couldn’t even bring themselves to kill a chicken.

Although he wasn’t having nightmares, an uncomfortable weight lingered inside him. A constant pressure, a suffocating feeling, as if something was lodged in his chest.

Daniel kept telling himself the same thing. Those people had already been brainwashed. They weren’t normal anymore so sending them to hell had been a form of release, a kind of mercy.

Yet no matter how many times he repeated it, he couldn’t get over that psychological hurdle.

In his previous life, Daniel had been an ordinary person. A law abiding, unremarkable guy, who had spent most of his time at home and had almost no social circle, never even had a girlfriend.

His future would probably have consisted of finding a normal job, settling down, and living a quiet, ordinary life. Then suddenly, he had become someone responsible for the deaths of nearly ten thousand people.

No matter how justified it had been, the reality remained and it unsettled him deeply. Susan walked over and handed him a cup of coffee.

"What’s wrong?"

She studied his face carefully.

"You look terrible."

Daniel accepted the cup.

"It’s nothing. I just haven’t been sleeping well."

Instinctively, he didn’t want Susan to know what he had done or how many people he had killed.

She sat down beside him.

"I feel like something’s bothering you." Her voice softened. "So, if you’re troubled by something, you can talk to me."

"You know, I’m a pretty good listener."

Daniel forced a smile and simply replied, "Really, it’s nothing. I’m fine, it’s just that I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately."

Susan looked unconvinced.

"If there’s anything at all, you can tell me, okay."

Neither spoke after that, as the room gradually fell silent. That night, Daniel made a decision. He was going to visit Kamar-Taj.

The Ancient One had lived for hundreds of years, and she had seen more than enough life and death situations. Maybe she could help him sort out his thoughts, besides, sorcerers were supposed to be good at all kinds of strange and mysterious things.

More importantly, Daniel liked the atmosphere at Kamar-Taj. Every time he visited, his mind seemed to calm down, his thoughts became quieter, his emotions steadier. So, once the decision was made, he immediately set off.

He just treated it like taking a walk, as for someone who could fly around the planet at incredible speeds, the distance wasn’t worth mentioning.

Because of the time difference, it was already night in America, but at Kamar-Taj, however, it was still afternoon. Having visited several times before, Daniel easily found his way there.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Sorcerers! I’m here to visit!" he shouted outside the door.

The door opened quickly. The person who greeted him was a practitioner he hadn’t seen before, probably a newcomer. The young sorcerer gave Daniel an irritated look, clearly thinking his behavior was extremely rude.

Daniel didn’t care; he walked straight inside. Passing through the main hall, he soon found the Ancient One. She was calmly drinking tea, and the moment she saw him, a smile appeared on her face.

"What brings you here today?" She raised an eyebrow. "I seem to remember you saying you’d never come back."

Daniel immediately sat down with a dissatisfied huff, he ignored her.

’That’s because you ambushed me!’

The complaint remained safely inside his head. There was no chance he was saying it out loud, as he’d already suffered enough. The last time he’d visited, the Ancient One had used some strange method that caused him to lose focus for a split second.

The next thing he knew, he’d been treated to an all-inclusive cosmic sightseeing tour. The memory alone made him uncomfortable and some experiences were better left unmentioned.

The Ancient One studied him quietly.

"Your mental state is poor."

Daniel simply nodded listening to that.

"I’ve been having insomnia."

"I don’t think insomnia is the real issue."

Her gaze sharpened.

"You killed people."

"And quite a lot of them."

Daniel’s expression stiffened. As expected, she saw through him instantly.

"You’re unable to move past it?" she asked.

"...Yeah."

The Ancient One calmly poured a cup of tea and pushed it toward him.

"Have some tea."

Daniel picked it up and took a sip. After a moment, he suddenly said, "If I hadn’t acted, they would’ve kept coming after me."

"I just didn’t want them harming my family and friends anymore." His voice grew quieter. "At the time, I didn’t really think much about it."

"I just... I just sent them all to the bottom of the ocean."

The Ancient One understood immediately.

"Hydra is troublesome, as they always believe they’re the ones controlling everything."

A faint smile appeared on her face.

"Yet they don’t realize they’re merely the most energetic ants in the colony."

Daniel lowered his gaze.

"I killed nearly ten thousand people."

"I know."

Her tone remained calm, far too calm.

"I’ve seen far worse." She then looked into her teacup. "I’ve lived for a very long time. So long that many of my emotions have gradually faded."

The room fell silent, then she continued, "My advice for you is..."

"Travel more."

"See more of the world."

"Meet more people."

"And with enough time, the memory will slowly fade."

"Hydra has always been an unstable element in this world, so one less branch means the world becomes a little more peaceful."

She took another sip of tea.

"My responsibility is protecting Earth and stopping threats from beyond this world."

"As for conflicts within Earth itself, I generally choose not to interfere."

Then she looked directly at Daniel. Her gaze seemed to pierce through him.

"In the future, you will also shoulder the responsibility of protecting Earth."

Daniel nearly laughed.

"Me?"

He pointed at himself.

"No chance, I’m just an ordinary person."

The words sounded ridiculous even to him. A man who could fly, move mountains, and vaporize armies calling himself ordinary. Still, Daniel genuinely felt that way.

The Ancient One didn’t argue; she simply smiled.

"The future belongs to your generation."

After that, she said nothing more, the two sat quietly, drinking tea. Neither felt the need to continue the conversation.

Time passed slowly. Perhaps it was the tea, perhaps it was the peaceful atmosphere of Kamar-Taj, or perhaps it was simply because someone had finally listened.

Whatever the reason, Daniel gradually felt lighter. The pressure in his chest eased and his mind became calmer. After sitting there for a while longer, he stood up.

"I should head back."

"My doctoral defense is coming up in a few days."

The Ancient One nodded.

"Go."

On the flight home, Daniel thought carefully about the visit, after thinking it over, he came to a conclusion.

He hadn’t really gained anything, the only thing he got was a few moments of peace and quiet and somehow, the Ancient One had casually shoved the responsibility of protecting Earth onto his shoulders.

’Protect Earth?’ Daniel scoffed.

’There are so many superheroes already. What does that have to do with me?’

Most villains weren’t even worth fighting. The only one who sounded remotely interesting was probably Thanos. Then another thought suddenly crossed his mind.

Dormammu, the villain from Doctor Strange.

"Wait..."

"Dormammu is actually pretty strong."

Daniel remembered that in the movie, Stephen Strange had only managed to drive Dormammu away by using the power of the Time Stone.

He trapped the guy in a time loop millions of times until Dormammu became so annoyed that he finally gave up and left. That guy had wanted to devour Earth itself.

The more Daniel thought about it, the more interesting it sounded. A smile slowly spread across his face.

"Yeah."

"When Dormammu finally shows up..."

"I should go have some fun with him."

After all, there was still plenty of time.

Daniel absolutely refused to believe that after spending another ten or twenty years soaking up sunlight, he’d still have any opponents left on Earth.

-------------

Well, we couldn’t really reach 200 stones, I also think it was kind of unrealistic, but anyways we still got in top 30, so here is the bonus Chapter for y’all. Now, let’s aim for maybe top 20 rankings today, so leave as many stones as you can.

And if you want some extra Chapters, be sure to check out my Patron page, it’s 30 Chapters ahead of webnovel and the Chapters are also long so you can check it out.

p at reon . com / NovaScribe

(Just remove all spaces and then search)