Howard’s Setback

Josh wasn’t sure whether Howard would deserve it in the future, but he was certain that the man had indeed waited long enough. By the time Josh arrived at the temple with his group, Howard had nearly leapt to his feet and started cursing. Of course, he didn’t. Instead, he greeted them with a smile.

Because he didn’t have the nerve. He truly was furious; in his worldview, wasting time meant wasting life. Although he understood that extraordinary beings like Josh had long lives—two or three hundred years was already plenty long—but he didn’t. He was only a mortal.

And Howard was no idiot. Anyone who could hang around Josh while dressed so strangely had to be, by his reckoning, either extraordinary beings like Josh or people Josh had approved to become extraordinary beings. Naturally, he wouldn’t dare lose his temper recklessly.

He knew Josh had taken an interest in him solely because of his talent. Whether he could become an extraordinary being like them was still uncertain. But Howard had confidence in himself. His talent certainly wouldn’t be a problem. Even if, in the worst-case scenario, he truly couldn’t understand magic, couldn’t he develop drugs to improve his physical abilities?

"According to Josh, practicing magic is essentially about increasing one’s strength and raising one’s level of life. If that’s the case, then I refuse to believe I can’t produce results by researching along those lines!"

Fine, Howard did have both the ability and the confidence. But the key issue was this: where was he supposed to get those special elements? Even Captain America’s successful experiment had become a one-of-a-kind case. There had been some later examples that resembled success, but who could compare to the original Captain America?

The Muya Continent certainly had plenty of those special elements, but could Howard handle it if no one was willing to help him? Without those elements, the best his experiments could achieve would be barely reaching the limits of humanity. Even slightly surpassing human limits would probably be difficult.

"Sorry, man. We got here a little late."

Josh naturally noticed that Howard was somewhat unhappy, so he took the initiative to greet him. This really was his fault. He had gotten caught up talking with Master Ancient One and completely forgotten the time, as well as what time meant to an ordinary person. Since he had made a mistake, admitting it wasn’t difficult.

"It’s fine, man. I only waited five hours for you. Just five hours!"

"Hmm, five hours doesn’t seem all that long. For us, even a single meditation session lasts more than five hours. Forget it. You’ll understand in the future."

Josh shook his head, no longer dwelling on the subject, then turned to introduce the others to Howard. "Natasha, I think you’ve met her before. Like you, she’s from this world, but she’ll be traveling with me in the future. This is my good friend Garen, and also my traveling companion."

"As for this one, she is the Guardian of Earth in this world, the Sorcerer Supreme who protects Earth from invasion by creatures from other dimensions. She is also Master Ancient One, the owner of this temple. You should feel fortunate. The reason you can live so comfortably is because she and her disciples are constantly watching for fluctuations in other dimensions. Your world is actually very vast."

"Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you all."

Howard warmly greeted everyone Josh introduced. Though he was doubtful about what Josh had said regarding Master Ancient One, considering that Josh himself seemed to be a visitor from another world, he still respectfully bowed to her. Even if only for appearances’ sake, he had to do so.

"As for this guy, his name is Howard. Howard Stark. A genius in the scientific world and a playboy. I don’t think there’s anything else."

Howard’s introduction was much simpler. Josh simply stated everything he knew. Though Howard looked deeply dissatisfied, Josh didn’t care. Even Howard himself couldn’t deny it, since that was exactly what he was.

After a brief round of introductions, Josh’s group followed one of the temple’s mages into a room at the very back of the temple. The temple’s manager was not yet the Black Daniel from Josh’s memories, but an old white man. Thinking about it, that made sense—those events were still decades away.

Placing the teleportation point here had been decided after Josh and Master Ancient One discussed it. First, this place was in New York, America, a city where future stories would begin. As for the Secret Ones Alliance, they had no intention of placing it here. The future S.H.I.E.L.D. would be troublesome enough already.

In any case, to the two of them, the distance between cities or countries on Earth was merely a matter of opening a spatial gate. Josh had mentioned that all the students he had brought from Hogwarts were from the United Kingdom. If they wanted to accommodate their lives, they could consider placing one there.

Besides, Josh knew that one of the Infinity Stones would be unearthed in the United Kingdom in the future. Of course, that was a matter for the future. Josh didn’t want to dwell on it now. He was going home. With his previous experience building a fixed portal, Josh barely had to make any effort this time. He easily opened the Void Gate and stabilized it, then stepped through first.

"And just like that, we’re leaving this world?"

Howard’s face was full of disbelief as he carefully examined the gate. Aside from looking beautiful and mysterious, with a strange magical force flowing at its center, there didn’t seem to be anything special about it. Could this really allow them to travel between worlds?

"What else did you expect? How did you think it would work?"

Garen glanced at Howard. Honestly, he didn’t particularly like this sort of playboy. But since Josh had invited him, he must have some ability. As for what kind of man he truly was, they would only know after spending time together. Shaking his head, Garen stepped through as well.

Natasha hesitated a little. It wasn’t that she had never gone through a portal before, but now she was leaving this world, and she couldn’t quite describe how that felt. Gritting her teeth, she stepped through too. Nearly all her family in this world was dead, and Josh had said she could return. She felt she shouldn’t hesitate.

Ancient One was perhaps in the best mood of all. She inspected the portal from top to bottom, gave Howard a reassuring look, and followed the others inside. At this point, Howard was the only one still standing there hesitantly.

"Damn it, it’s just walking through a door. I’ve gone through more doors than I can count. Am I really scared of this one?"

After a long while, Howard knew he couldn’t keep waiting. After reassuring himself, he cautiously stepped inside. The next instant, he discovered that a tremendous force had dragged him in, and he began spinning endlessly as though he were weightless on a roller coaster!

Howard found the sensation unbearably awful. Fortunately, it didn’t last long. While dizzy and disoriented, he finally saw the exit—or rather, was pulled toward it by the exit’s attraction—and then crashed directly onto the floor.

"Damn it!" Howard felt like he was about to throw up, but fortunately he held it in. He had no intention of embarrassing himself.

"Looks like neither you nor Natasha are used to that feeling."

Josh looked at him with amusement. Natasha wasn’t doing much better, but when she tumbled out, Josh had caught her swiftly enough to keep her from landing as embarrassingly as Howard had. Without paying too much attention to it, Josh quickly handed Howard a gemstone.

"Take it. Find a way to draw out the energy inside. The best way would be to use mental power, but you don’t have that ability, so figure out how to smash it instead."

"What is this?"

Howard had mostly recovered. He took the gemstone and asked in confusion. It was similar to the one hanging around his neck, and both had something like liquid magic flowing within them. It looked rather strange.

"A Memory Magic Crystal," Josh explained directly. He had already distributed the Memory Magic Crystals he had made to these newcomers.

"You should know that being a mage is an expensive profession, otherwise I wouldn’t have considered you. This gemstone is merely a fairly ordinary naturally formed crystal. It isn’t worth much, but it’s excellent at storing magic. I put some basic knowledge about this world into it. You only need to draw out that magic."

Howard was somewhat stunned. Mages burned money? That was a concept he had never encountered before. Even Josh, as a mage, differed greatly from the mages in the novels he had read. In his mind, mages should rarely use magic and spend more time cutting people down with swords. Someone like Josh, casually casting spells at every turn and using magical items constantly, was simply hard to imagine.

"Um, can you help me? I can’t crush it. And honestly, you don’t seem like the mages in novels at all."

Josh, who was helping Natasha activate her Magic Crystal, found that strange. Master Ancient One needed no help; she had already finished and was reviewing the memories in her mind. But Josh quickly understood what Howard meant—one of the rules set by The Lord of the Rings novels: never use magic lightly.

"Were you expecting me to put all my skill points into health, stamina, one-handed swordsmanship, two-handed swordsmanship, blocking, critical strikes, charging, whirlwind dancing, decapitation, and armor breaking? Then put just one point into Holy Light for healing? Come on, I’m not some dual-wielding berserker Gandalf."

Josh rolled his eyes. Howard didn’t fully understand what a skill tree was, but he could grasp Josh’s meaning, which made him feel a little embarrassed. It seemed that real mages really should be like Josh, casually casting spells and using magical items throughout their everyday lives.

But then he noticed something else. "You know Gandalf too? Have you read The Lord of the Rings?"

"What’s so surprising about that?" Josh shrugged indifferently. "If we ever reach that world, I’ll consider taking you there. If I hadn’t found this world first, Legolas Greenleaf would have been my original target. But her future is pretty good too, so this choice isn’t bad either."

Natasha tilted her head. So I’m just a substitute? Though she had no idea who Legolas Greenleaf was.

"If that’s the case, you’ll probably never find a girlfriend," Howard suddenly said with a wicked grin. "That guy is so handsome it makes people jealous."

"No chance. I’m a prince. To put it bluntly, if I wanted to, every girl in my territory would be willing to climb into my bed. But I’m not like you. You’re as desperately horny as a stud in my stables!"

"…"

Thanks for the tip, Xiaojiu’s Wine Temperature! Thank you, thank you!