Alien invasion? Luckily, I'm Superman.

What else did the Ancient One prepare for herself? Could it be some kind of magical artifact?

Su Mo muttered to himself as he followed the Ancient One through the golden portal and returned to the main hall of Kamar-Taj.

In the main hall, Mordo was already waiting. He stood beside the long table, his hands hanging respectfully in front of him.

On the reception table sat a huge jar covered with a dark cloth, on which faint golden magical patterns flowed. Su Mo, using his X-ray vision, couldn't see through the cloth.

"Open it and take a look." Gu Yi sat down on her wooden chair and pointed at the jar.

Su Mo stepped forward and lifted the magic cloth. Below was a transparent glass jar. The jar was filled with a black, constantly writhing and splitting liquid. Sticky tentacles could be seen slowly climbing up the jar's walls, leaving dark marks.

This is... Venom? No, it shouldn't be. Then this... Several names flashed through Su Mo's mind. He scratched his head, looking at the Ancient One with a puzzled expression: "Sorcerer Supreme, what is this?"

"The symbiotic dragon Grendel," the Ancient One explained, "was defeated by Odin and sealed in the deep sea at the Earth's Arctic. It took me some time to retrieve it." She paused, her gaze returning to Su Mo, "Don't worry, I've erased its memories completely. You can safely let it possess you. You don't have magical talent, but the symbiote does. So after possessing you, you can use magic."

Su Mo looked at the black liquid in the jar with suspicion. He took a deep breath, reached out, clenched his fist, and smashed the glass jar with one punch.

The moment the jar shattered, the symbiotic dragon inside immediately came to life, black liquid gushed out, and countless amorphous tentacles frantically clung to his arm, rapidly spreading upwards along his skin.

Su Mo instinctively tensed his muscles, wanting to resist, but his will hardened. The symbiote's attachment paused for a moment. Realizing that he could resist and break free of the possession at any time, he relaxed, allowing the symbiote to enter his body.

Su Mo wasn't worried about what the symbiote would do to him. Just like Eddie Brock being possessed by Venom. Venom not only didn't devour his consciousness, but also sustained his life, allowing him to live for hundreds more years. Besides, don't you see that symbiotes are a standard feature in Marvel fanfiction? If others saw him, they'd think he, Su Mo, couldn't afford a symbiote!

Closer to home

The black substance seeped into his pores from his skin, clinging to his muscles and spreading along his blood vessels and nerves. Within seconds, the black substance covered his entire body, turning his skin a pure dark color. But then, the black substance receded like a tide, disappearing beneath his skin, revealing Su Mo's original appearance.

"How is it?" Gu Yi asked.

Su Mo did not answer immediately because he was communicating with the newly awakened young consciousness within his body.

"Eeya... Are you... my father?" The voice rang out deep within Su Mo's mind, as innocent as a child who had just learned to speak.

"Yes, I am your host, not your father," Su Mo responded in his consciousness, his tone very soft. "But I care about you more than your father does. You've never seen your father since birth, have you? And yet I allowed you to possess my body, to give you consciousness."

As Su Mo spoke, he secretly erected a barrier deep within his consciousness, shielding his memories from the other party's access. Moreover, the Symbiote God Nar was indeed no good; he created symbiotes merely as tools, discarding them at will and showing no concern whatsoever.

"Then...you'll be my father!" The voice leaped with joy, filled with trust. "Dad, what's your name? And I want a name!"

A name? Su Mo paused for a moment. Venom? No way, even if he's terrible at naming things, he can't come up with such a lewd name. Wangcai? No way either. How about Pudding? Yes, Pudding.

"Pudding, you'll be called Pudding," Su Mo said firmly in her mind.

"Pudding! I'm Pudding! Yeah!" Pudding cheered in her mind.

"I am Su Mo. Pudding, take a look at these memories first." Su Mo gave the command to the happy Pudding in his mind, opening up some memories within the scope he allowed. The memories contained common knowledge about the world and its language were enough for Pudding to grow, but without touching on his private past.

Pudding quieted down, curled up deep within Su Mo's consciousness, and began to process the flood of information.

Su Mo's attention returned to reality. The Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, was no longer in her chair; she didn't know when she had left. Only Mordo remained in the main hall, standing quietly by the door, waiting for him.

"The Supreme Mage has gone to rest," Mordo said as Su Mo came back to his senses. "I'll see you out."

Su Mo nodded and followed Mordo away from Kamar-Taj.

On his way back to the Sky Eye Association alone, Su Mo began to silently plan in his mind.

His current strength has reached the standard planetary level. Although Pudding is still relatively weak and the symbiote's abilities haven't been fully developed, with the other's assistance, his overall combat power is approaching the near-Celestial level. Given time, once he reaches the Celestial level, and has Nick Fury invite Captain Marvel to come ahead of time, his chances of defeating Thanos will greatly increase.

Half an hour later, Su Mo flew back to the base in Africa. He landed in the study of his office, took out the Kamar-Taj spellbook that Mordo had given him before he left, and sat down at the desk.

The warning from his future self forced him to accelerate his growth. Moreover, before leaving, the Ancient One had secretly told him that her days were numbered and asked him to look after Strange's Kamar-Taj after her death. He was obliged. Su Mo agreed. Su Mo didn't try to stop her death; if the Ancient One wanted to live, no one could kill her, so Su Mo didn't want to waste his efforts.

He turned the pages, and ancient runes unfolded before his eyes. Pudding quietly joined in. A black tentacle emerged from his shoulder, its tip slowly sprouting an eye, and moved closer to the page to look at it with Su Mo.

Su Mo glanced at the eye growing on the tentacle and found it somewhat eerie. A tentacle grew out of his shoulder, with an eyeball on top, circling around. If someone else saw this, they might mistake him for some kind of monster.

"Pudding, move your eyes to your forehead."

The tentacle retracted. A few seconds later, a thin crack appeared on Su Mo's forehead, and a new eye opened from it, positioned just above his brow, like the three-eyed creature in mythology.

This looks much normal now. Su Mo lowered her head and continued flipping through the book, all three eyes fixed on the yellowed pages.