American Comics: Trading Tom Cat

Natasha's body suddenly went limp, and she said in a somewhat inexplicable tone, "Locke, you're still the same; you can always understand my thoughts instantly."

"You bastard, you've always been like this. So even if I hate you to the core, you only need to reach out and I'll fall uncontrollably into your hands. Locke, are you a devil? A devil specifically targeting me?"

"Heh, whether I'm a devil or not is unimportant. It's you, Natasha, that I've always felt you're a succubus, a succubus that ignites my anger every time I see you."

Natasha suddenly laughed, turned around, and gave Locke a passionate, deep kiss: "Isn't this interesting? I'm your succubus, and you're my devil. We're a match made in heaven, neither of us are good people."

"So, my devil, what are you waiting for~"

"Wait!" Locke pressed down on the other person's hand, which was beginning to move skillfully.

"What's wrong, my devil? Don't you crave your succubus anymore?"

Locke shook his head: "Wait a moment for those. Let me take you to receive a share of the power first."

"The world ahead is not peaceful. With your current strength, you could become cannon fodder at any time. I don't want to go to hell and fight those damn hell lords again just to resurrect you."

Natasha couldn't help but click her tongue in amazement. Just from these words, she knew that Locke had now completely reached a level beyond her comprehension.

But soon, she became excited. Natasha was different from other women. Her pursuit of power was no less than anyone else's. Or rather, because of her lack of security, she craved power more than most people.

It is only because this desire cannot be realized that it transforms into a kind of admiration for strength.

What kind of power can I obtain?

"The Way of the Knight - physical strength, meditation - spiritual elevation, or extraordinary potions, special mutations, etc., are all up to you."

Natasha was silent for a moment. She didn't have any trouble making decisions. Soon, she thought of something and said with interest, "Darling, it is said that the Twin Trees are related to angels. Can I choose the power of the angels?"

Locke frowned: "Natasha, first of all, the Twin Trees have nothing to do with angels; they just used a portion of an angel's energy as nourishment. Secondly, the power of angels is not as wonderful as you imagine."

“Angels are beings of faith, which can be understood as a special kind of artificial life. Since they are artificial, they must have a creator. These beings do not even belong to themselves, but only to their creator.”

Natasha's body tensed instantly. Her life was out of her control, which reminded her of her time in the Red Room, where she was also controlled by others and her life didn't belong to her.

The familiar scent behind her gradually calmed her down: "Then you should help me choose."

Locke smiled slightly: "Then let them choose you."

Locke casually tapped the two sacred trees beside him, and the trees immediately understood, their black and white branches shimmering with a bright light.

"Go ahead, try it out, and see which one suits you best."

Natasha walked forward slowly and achieved resonance with the Twin Sacred Trees.

The next moment, two leaves slowly drifted down, one with a lightning bolt symbol on it, and the other with a spider drawn on it.

Natasha almost instinctively turned to look at Locke, expecting an explanation from him.

Locke's eyes began to look strange.

"These are two powers bestowed upon you by the Twin Sacred Trees: the power of lightning and the power of a spider."

It's not surprising that Natasha was able to wield Thor's hammer, so it's reasonable that she received the blessing of lightning. And since Natasha's nickname is Black Widow, she is actually more suited to obtaining the power of spiders than Spider-Woman.

"The power of the spider~" Natasha glanced at it and then looked away. She had a good relationship with Spider-Woman, and it wouldn't be good to 'wear the same outfit' as Spider-Woman.

So she hesitated only slightly before reaching for the leaf that could grant her the power of lightning.

Chapter 73 If it were me, it would be quite delicious.

"Damn it, Locke, you bastard, you're getting worse and worse." The next morning, Natasha left Hellfire, cursing and leaning against the wall.

Although she was grumbling, her expression, full of spring-like joy, and the smile she couldn't hide showed that she wasn't really angry at all.

Feeling the inexhaustible power within her body, and the special badge on her palm that resembled a Hellfire emblem but lacked a clear serial number, Natasha's lips inexplicably curled into a knowing smile.

"That bad guy..." Knowing that she wasn't the type of woman who stayed at home, he not only didn't stop her from pursuing her dreams, but also gave her his support.

Love and marriage were never in Natasha's life plans, but what could be better than having a man who understands her and always supports her?

Suddenly, Natasha's expression changed: "Come to think of it, is it really just a mistake in vocabulary?"

With her instincts as a secret agent, Natasha could almost perfectly recount everything Locke had said to her. Apart from those witty remarks that were best left unsaid, Natasha would think carefully about the rest. However, yesterday, Locke had mentioned one word twice: S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Locke couldn't possibly not know the real name of S.H.I.E.L.D....

Unconsciously, a shadow fell over Natasha's face.

.........

On the other side, in a secret room.

Locke and Wanda sat facing each other, with streams of crimson chaotic energy intertwining between them.

A moment later, the two opened their eyes at the same time.

A hint of disappointment flashed in Wanda's eyes: "It was a failure after all."

Locke frowned. He planned to try to merge with Wanda's chaotic power. If they could merge, they could borrow each other's power at crucial moments. Then, when one of them reached its limit, they might be able to use this method to forcibly break through a higher level of barrier.

But now, 333 has failed. I don't know if it's a unique characteristic of the power of chaos, but when the power of chaos from the same source touches each other, they will not merge, but will instead devour each other frantically.

Locke rubbed his temples. His search for a way to strengthen the power of chaos had failed again. None of the methods he had considered recently had been successful.

Currently, the only two known methods that could succeed are: one is to devour the high-purity crystal obtained earlier, but that crystal is a non-renewable resource and is becoming increasingly scarce; the other is to use Xisorn's 'plant Wanda'. Locke doesn't consider himself a good person, but he wouldn't do such a thing.

A slender hand rested on Locke's brow, gently massaging it: "There's no need to rush. Anyway, your strength is already powerful enough. We can slowly find a way."

Locke pulled Wanda into his arms, feeling her incredibly hot body. Wanda gazed at Locke with undisguised affection in her eyes.

"Perhaps it's time to make a trip to Kamar-Taj," Locke thought to himself.

The Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, is at the pinnacle of the Heavenly Father and, as an observer of time, knows far more than ordinary people. Perhaps she has some good ideas.

Kamar-Taj, the holy land and temple of mages, is filled with dense magical energy. Various complex runes and symbols appear in every corner, and mages are engaged in arduous training day and night.

Suddenly, the mages who were diligently cultivating all looked up at the sky, their eyes revealing unprecedented horror.

Before everyone's eyes, the sky suddenly distorted, and a vast, majestic magical power, like a great sun, almost blinded the mages present.

"What terrifying magic this is!"

These guys, who call themselves mages but are actually sorcerers, have only ever been able to borrow scraps of energy from various gods and demons. They have never truly witnessed the power of a god or demon.

The Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, suddenly appeared among the sorcerers, and with a wave of her hand, she casually concealed the scene above, blocking the sorcerers' view.

Locke glanced down at the mages below: "Ancient One, why did you leave them with that trait?"

Locke only just discovered that these mages, through some unknown training, had actually acquired the ability to see through the force of life with the naked eye.

Otherwise, Locke, who had been suppressing his power with his life force, wouldn't have nearly scared these mages to death upon his arrival.

The fact that the Ancient One didn't go blind after directly confronting the essence of a top-tier sub-Celestial Father is a testament to her speed.

"Their eyes are not used to spy on beings above the level of sub-celestial fathers, but to identify the power of other dimensions. However, these two abilities often overlap."

Locke understood; if one wanted to identify the power of other dimensions, one could naturally also identify the true form of the demon god—there was no way around it.

“Also, the Ancient One…” Locke frowned and glanced at the mages below.

"You think you can fight a dimensional demon god with just this bunch of lowly mages? A bunch of guys who can't even reach the first-rate level, are they just cannon fodder?"

Gu Yi smiled slightly: "They can rely on the magic array to unleash even greater power. Besides, they have never been the main force against the dimensional demons."

Okay, Locke understands now. The purpose of these mages is to clear out the minions.

No, Locke guessed. It was more likely that it was to help the Sorcerer Supreme pass the time, to prevent him from being too lonely and going crazy, since humans are social animals.

"Speaking of which, Ancient One, how exactly did you choose your sorcerer?"

With Locke's strength, he could have seen through all the mages' secrets at a glance, but Locke couldn't see anything special about them.

The mages of Kamar-Taj don't practice elemental magic, nor do they possess anything like elemental affinity.

“Mental resistance!” The Ancient One gave Locke an answer that surprised him.

"Lord Locke is also aware of the Kamar-Taj lineage's cultivation methods. Our strength relies on borrowing the power of other powerful beings. And any being above the Father of Gods possesses a powerful infectiousness. If one's mental resistance is insufficient, it is easy to be corrupted by various forces, even if these forces themselves may not be malicious."

Upon hearing this, Locke suddenly understood why the Ancient One was so fond of Doctor Strange in the future. Even though that guy himself was a huge source of trouble, causing countless problems, he possessed the highest level of mental resistance.

The group of sorcerers below couldn't even bear to look at him, but Doctor Strange's mental resistance was so strong that he could stare directly at Dormammu and even play a time loop with him.

If time loops don't affect users, then the power of time is being underestimated. Doctor Strange being unharmed only proves that the other party's mental resistance is ridiculously high.

"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore, Gu Yi. You should know why I came to find you."

Gu Yi smiled slightly: "Since you've come all this way to Kamar-Taj, let me entertain you first."

Locke nodded; this was simply hospitality, and there was nothing more to say.

A moment later, the two arrived at a unique and secluded house, where the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, began to personally brew tea for Locke.

"What Lord Locke wants to know is probably how to cultivate the power of chaos."

"So, do you have a solution?"

Chatting with a time spy doesn't require any special effort, because it's pointless.

"Yes, there are." Gu Yi nodded.

"The reason why Lord Locke has been failing is that you have underestimated the quality of the Chaos Force. It is neither difficult nor difficult for the Chaos Force to become stronger; it only requires the nurturing of a higher level of energy."

Locke frowned instantly. He had considered this possibility before, but the problem was, where would he find so much higher-level energy?

"A stronger being naturally possesses stronger energy."

Hearing this, Locke frowned even more deeply. It was easy to say, and he wouldn't mind hunting down a Heavenly Father to become stronger, but the problem was that it wasn't something that could be done in one go.

In order to grow, one needs to have higher levels of energy, which means one needs to keep hunting down the Heavenly Father. How many true Heavenly Fathers are there in the entire universe?

Moreover, this is still the advancement from the sub-father to the father. When he advances to the single entity, wouldn't he have to hunt down single universe-level powerhouses all over the world?

After a moment of silence, Locke said, "Ancient One, this path is difficult and can only be considered as an alternative. Are there any other methods?"

Gu Yi nodded again: "Of course there are."

"Relying on external forces and having too much external demand, what about internal resources?"

"Internal?"

"Becoming stronger is not just about going from the bottom up or from small to large."

In just a moment, Locke understood what the Ancient One meant.

If the external Heavenly Father isn't enough, we can consider ourselves. Locke had always wanted to break through the Heavenly Father by relying on the power of chaos. Perhaps we can reverse the order, break through the Heavenly Father first, and then generate the power of chaos in reverse.

That's not entirely impossible; Locke can also follow the orthodox path of cultivation based on the laws of nature.

"In addition, there is one thing I need to remind you of: the grade of chaotic power is too high. If you want to generate chaotic power in reverse, it is best to cultivate some top-level laws. Laws also have different levels."

Locke understood this perfectly well. One was a player who played with time, and the other was a player who played with water. Even if they were of the same level, the former was superior to the latter in every aspect.

"Are the laws and powers of different worlds of the same origin?" Locke suddenly asked a question.

Ancient One shook her head: "No! Otherwise, those great multiverses wouldn't have left clones in every universe."

Locke's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly again. If this meant that he could only comprehend the laws of time within this world and then pursue other multiverse achievements, it would become increasingly unlikely. Even now, the laws of time remained Locke's greatest passion.

Gu Yi added, "Although they are different, they can be assimilated, but it will take some time to transform and adjust."

This is good news.

"Thank you very much. This explanation has saved me a lot of trouble."

“I don’t like owing people favors, but you should like this.” As he spoke, Locke took out a white, brick-like object.

The power of time flowed instantly in the Ancient One's eyes, and just half a second later, a clear look of joy appeared on the Ancient One's face: "Thank you, Your Excellency. Kamar-Taj needs this very much."

"Also, Ancient One, you've been telling me to take three things with me. The other two are optional, but there's one I really need."

As soon as Locke finished speaking, the Ancient One placed the Eye of Agamotto, where the Time Stone was located, on the table.

Locke's lips moved slightly. The Time Watcher, to be honest, is sometimes really annoying, but if it were me, it would be so appealing.

Therefore, Locke put away the Eye of Agamotto without hesitation.

"And what about you?" Locke asked casually.

Gu Yi smiled slightly: "Karmar-Taj still has some foundation. There aren't many treasures that can replace the Time Stone, but there are still some that are a step below it."

Locke suddenly became interested in the treasures of Kamar-Taj.

Chapter Seventy-Four: The First Divine Artifact