The Upcoming Second Phase

"President Lin, Sorcerer Supreme."

The moment Wong and Mordo saw Oaks arrive, they immediately set down their books and came over.

"Well? Did you find anything?"

Ancient One took the Ten Rings Shaun handed over, placed them on the table, and waved her hand. A magical projection of the Ten Rings’ structure appeared in midair.

"We found no records concerning the Ten Rings."

Mordo and Wong exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

"But we haven’t finished checking all the texts. Perhaps we simply haven’t found it yet."

"Still, according to my memory, there shouldn’t be any."

Wong pondered seriously for a while before shaking his head.

"Even if I haven’t read every book in the library, I’ve read most of them. If there were any records, they would probably be among the forbidden books."

"Even my personal collection contains no records of the Ten Rings."

Ancient One gently shook her head. She had seen the Ten Rings before, but Wenwu had been unable to activate their power at the time. She had merely assumed they were one of his magical artifacts.

There were many magical artifacts with formidable power, and Kamar-Taj had quite a few itself. The inactive Ten Rings had not been worth much of Ancient One’s attention.

More than a month ago, when Kamar-Taj sensed Shaun using the Dragon Force at its peak to activate the Ten Rings’ ultimate move and kill the Soul Eater, Ancient One had begun analyzing the source of that signal.

After searching through all the texts without finding any information on such a signal, and then discovering that the Ten Rings’ signal was together with the Magic Mark she had left on Oaks, Ancient One had come directly to the Ten Rings headquarters to find him.

"I previously concluded that the Ten Rings were a powerful magical amplifier. It seems that was indeed the case."

Oaks carefully studied the structure Ancient One had projected. It seemed that only Kamar-Taj possessed technology capable of directly analyzing a material’s structure through magic without damaging the object itself.

"This clearly wasn’t made of Vibranium, but neither was it Uru Metal, which has a strong affinity for magic.

"I don’t know much about materials in the universe, but at least the records I saw in Asgard contained no material like this.

"As for whether it came from Earth, I think I’ll need to contact Bruce for help."

"Mm, it would be best to confirm it. But it’s hard for me to imagine anyone on Earth being able to forge a magical artifact of this level…"

Ancient One narrowed her eyes slightly and turned to the bewildered Shaun.

"How long has your father had the Ten Rings?"

"Uh… probably more than a thousand years?"

Shaun thought about it, then nodded with certainty.

"I don’t know the exact time, but definitely no less than a thousand years."

"But the Ten Rings themselves have existed for far longer than a thousand years.

"And…"

Ancient One carefully watched the phantom image of the Ten Rings, then reached out and sharply pulled apart their structure—

Under magical detection, the enlarged internal structure of the Ten Rings appeared before everyone.

They could clearly see a constantly flickering structure within each ring. Bright lights blinked again and again, identical in every ring.

"What is that?"

Xialing frowned as she looked at the gleaming structure.

"It looks a bit like… a signal light?"

"The Ten Rings are indeed transmitting a signal, but we don’t know where the receiving point is."

Ancient One nodded. Even with her mastery of magic, she could not trace the Ten Rings’ signal.

"Could this thing have some more specialized purpose instead of merely being a magical amplifier?"

Oaks carefully observed the flashing lights inside the Ten Rings. They seemed to be nothing more than signal lights, not some kind of binary language.

"In any case, it would be safer to seal a signal whose purpose is unknown."

Ancient One waved her hand, dispersing the phantom image of the Ten Rings. She glanced at the worried Shaun and curled her lips into a smile.

"Relax, young man. I won’t make the Ten Rings lose their function… I’ll only seal the signals they transmit. It won’t take long."

Now that Ancient One was no longer troubled by Dark Magic, her research into sealing spells had reached perfection.

"Wong, tidy up and prepare to open the library. Mordo, come help."

"Yes, Sorcerer Supreme."

Mordo nodded and stepped forward, beginning the spellwork alongside Ancient One.

"Hmm… President Oaks, will Shaun join the Avengers?"

The question came from Wong, who had picked up his feather duster. He seemed quite interested in Shaun.

"Come to think of it, the Dragon Force he cultivates is also a kind of magic, right? It seems very similar to our White Magic."

"Not bad for a librarian, Wong."

Oaks knew that among Kamar-Taj’s sorcerers, this inconspicuous, portly man possessed the greatest wealth of knowledge. He had even temporarily served as Sorcerer Supreme in Strange’s place for several years later on.

"That’s right, you have a sharp eye. But I don’t plan to invite Shaun to join the Avengers for now.

"He’s too young…"

As he said that, Oaks’s eye twitched as he thought of a certain kid who had been bitten by a bug.

"Mm, and he still has many things he needs to resolve."

Shaun himself was somewhat disappointed, but Oaks had not said he would never be allowed to join. He secretly resolved to settle the Ten Rings’ affairs as soon as possible.

Before long, the Sorcerer Supreme and Mordo finished sealing the signals transmitted by the Ten Rings and returned them to Shaun.

Then, she carefully observed Oaks, whose expression had suddenly turned serious.

"You… seem to be approaching a critical point?"

Ancient One blinked in surprise. Oaks gave her the impression that he had suddenly entered an indistinct state—

He hadn’t been like this just moments ago!

"What happened?"

"My preliminary goal… is about to be achieved!"

After carefully sensing his own condition, Oaks’s face showed heartfelt joy.

"The Life Sanctuary Project is about to enter its second phase!"

"You mean…"

"That’s right!"

Oaks had already confirmed that, in that brief moment, his Gaia Hypothesis reputation had finally risen another level.

Revered, achieved!

Now, he could approach the Gaia Hypothesis once more at any time!

"It happened a little faster than expected… It seems that matter really had a tremendous impact."

The reason Oaks had been certain that he could meet the conditions to guide the Gaia Hypothesis in the first half of the year was because this year, 2016, was a major year for global environmental protection.

On April 22, 175 countries signed the famous Paris Agreement at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, a landmark international legal document for addressing climate change.

It was called the Paris Agreement because on December 12, 2015, the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris formally adopted the agreement setting out global arrangements for climate action after 2020.

The event at the end of April marked the formal opening of the Paris Agreement for signatures.

As global authorities in environmental protection, Oaks and the Benevolence Society gained an enormous amount of reputation from this news.

It proved that what they had been doing all along aligned with the understanding of all humanity.

This meshed perfectly with the Benevolence Society’s global expansion.

The Paris Agreement had established the basic route through political means, while Oaks and the Benevolence Society needed to thoroughly study how to make it happen.

And the new phase was about to arrive.

"Sorcerer Supreme, excuse me. I need to return immediately to make preparations. Please send Shaun back first…"

Oaks opened a Portal to Avalon.

"Come on, Xialing. We also need to make preparations in advance regarding your mother—once the plan begins, I may not have the time to handle that matter."

"Yes, Teacher!"

Xialing nodded excitedly, raised a fist toward her brother, and followed Oaks into the Portal.

"…"

The Sorcerer Supreme smiled as she watched them disappear, then nodded.

"Wong, send Shaun back. Mordo, come with me."

"Yes!"

Wong answered, and the Sorcerer Supreme left the library with Mordo.

"Mordo."

"Sorcerer Supreme."

Ancient One nodded slightly.

"Before long, an American man will come to Kamar-Taj seeking to heal the disability in his hands. You… keep an eye on him then. Observe his character."

"To heal disabled hands?"

Mordo froze, and his steps involuntarily slowed.

"This… Sorcerer Supreme, although we have helped others recover from injuries before, wouldn’t it be better to ask President Oaks to handle something like this?"

When it came to healing, who could compare to Oaks?

Now that Mordo "knew" the reason for the Sorcerer Supreme’s longevity, he held the Druid lineage’s miraculous nature magic in profound awe.

Besides, how important could a disabled man personally singled out by the Sorcerer Supreme be?

There should be no problem asking Oaks to act personally.

"No…"

Ancient One did not pause in the slightest. She was already some distance ahead of Mordo.

"This is his destiny."

"…Understood, Sorcerer Supreme!"

Mordo seemed to understand something and nodded solemnly.

Come to think of it, most people who joined Kamar-Taj in this era had unfortunate pasts…

Mordo began to take an interest in this man.

Upstate New York, Avengers Base. Tony, Banner, and Oaks had gathered together once more.

"You… are sure this is feasible?"

Tony stared at Oaks as though he were some kind of monster. This man’s ideas were becoming increasingly horrifying.

"Sorry, even though I have a grudge against Man… uh, Wenwu, I still think making him spend the rest of his life sleeping while hugging a plastic wife is a little… inhumane."

He stroked the little mustache on his chin with a strange expression, shaking his head repeatedly.

"Oh God, this feels awful. Wenwu isn’t Japanese—can he even handle it?"

"Honestly, you’re probably the only one who could make that association, Tony."

Banner looked at Tony’s slightly green face, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Didn’t Oaks say it? That isn’t plastic… or rubber, either."

"Besides, by your logic, Japanese people probably couldn’t handle it either…

"What they like are those soulless two-dimensional wives."

"Why do I feel like you two have some serious misunderstandings about this technology?"

Oaks looked helplessly at the two men who were probably the smartest people on Earth right now.

"What plastic wives or two-dimensional wives? Dr. Helen Cho’s Cradle of Life technology can perfectly merge with the special plant cells I cultivate with magic. It would be far more convenient than cloning someone from incomplete DNA…"

"So it’s a vegetative wife, then!"

"…Fine. Whatever makes you happy."