My family runs an adventurer's guild.

"...Mr. Stark, could you please describe this supernatural object in your hand? Will it pose a threat to Earth?"

Somehow, a brave reporter squeezed through the crowd and shoved the microphone into the mouth of Mr. Tony, who was already in a daze.

"...It's called the Aether particle! Of course it poses a threat to Earth! It's far too dangerous to have this thing on Earth!"

A squad of Asgardian warriors had somehow appeared in the abandoned factory on the outskirts of London. The leader, a large, blond man in armor and a cloak, strode over, brandishing a hammer, and said, "...Long time no see, Tony. You've changed quite a bit! By the way, please hand over the Aether! Like the Tesseract last time, this kind of thing isn't something humans can control..."

Looking at Thor's familiar blond, goofy face, Tony Stark, Iron Man, was momentarily speechless.

I just had a stroke of incredible luck and found such a treasure, how come I immediately became the target of everyone's criticism?

—Over the past few days, Tony Stark, the undisputed "number one" wizard on Earth, has been traveling around London, scouting locations to help the British find a suitable site for building a magic school.

Xavier's School in New York and Lantau Island School in Hong Kong have already started teaching magic, leaving only London without any activity. Now, it's not just Britain that's anxious; the whole of Europe is in a panic—after all, it's the only superior spiritual place in all of Europe.

So, just as the security situation in London began to improve, the EU pulled some strings and got Tony Stark, Iron Man, to help with the feng shui...

—Although London is one of the three major spiritual vein nodes in the world, the distribution of spiritual veins varies from neighborhood to neighborhood. Tony needs to find the location with the most abundant spiritual energy, avoiding areas with unstable geological conditions. In addition, he also needs to avoid the subway and important underground pipelines, and take into account local security, traffic, and ethnic conditions: poor traffic conditions near the school site are certainly not good, but good traffic conditions are also not good, because too many pedestrians would be difficult to maintain the tranquility and safety of the campus... In general, it is somewhat similar to building a reservoir and an arsenal.

However, this morning, as he led his survey team past an abandoned factory on the outskirts of London, he sensed a rather strange magical fluctuation. Curious, Tony stopped the team and quietly went inside to search with magic, and sure enough, he discovered a rather conspicuous anomaly.

Or rather, a spatial passage connecting to somewhere deep in the universe, but it is currently blocked.

According to the information given to him by the Ancient One, and the mysterious theory that the universe cycles every five thousand years, when the nine kingdoms connected by the World Tree become interconnected in a few years, this passage will likely be temporarily and completely open. Then, gravity, light, and even matter will pass through this temporary passage, squeezing from one world into another, causing many incredible wonders...

Of course, this should be a year or two from now. Right now, the passage is still blocked, and no alien objects will break in.

However, due to some mysterious intuition deep within him, Tony always felt involuntarily that some treasure was waiting to be discovered on the other side of the passage.

So, relying on his superior skills and audacity, and with the protection of the Seven Gods, the newly appointed Sorcerer Supreme, Tony Stark, used magic to pass through the passage and arrive at the opposite dimension—a dark, bottomless abyss surrounded by jagged rocks. Only a striking red light flickered like a flame, or flowed slowly like viscous lava. When Tony approached for a closer look, he discovered that the red light was neither a campfire nor a lamp, but a strange, dark red liquid suspended in mid-air, emitting a bright glow.

Tony removed the "flowing fire" and used magic to suppress its activity, preventing it from entering his body. After carefully examining it, Tony finally matched it with the contents of a secret tome in Kamar-Taj.

This bright, dark red, unidentified substance is actually a famous cosmic treasure, an aether particle that once belonged to the dark elves!

Or rather, the Reality Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones in the Marvel universe!

What is the use of this gemstone? Its uses are far greater than you can imagine!

Without altering history or time, it can fulfill almost any of your wishes!

To give an example, in the Type-Moon universe, it would be almost equivalent to a Holy Grail that can be used an unlimited number of times!

(Because it cannot usurp the Time Stone's function, the scope of wishes is somewhat limited. For example, if the female version of King Arthur, Artoria, wants to go back in time and change the wish of choosing a king by "pulling the sword from the stone," it cannot be achieved by relying on the Reality Stone because it involves modifying time and history.)

—Using this gem, one can truly and without exaggeration bring many of the imaginations in the human mind to life. This gem is perhaps the most powerful of the six Infinity Stones, and also the most difficult to use. With it, people can realize any dream.

All scientific rules and natural laws are meaningless in its presence, because the Reality Stone can modify them at will.

The Reality Stone is not only capable of creating fantasies that are indistinguishable from reality, but it can also become reality if the user so desires!

For an inventor with an outrageously wildly imaginative mind like Tony Stark, the Reality Stone, which can arbitrarily alter reality, grant wishes, and give you whatever you want, is practically a magic pocket comparable to Doraemon's magic pocket—a super artifact that can fulfill all dreams!

Unfortunately, after Tony excitedly brought the Aether particles, which appeared as a dark red glowing liquid, back to Earth, he seemed to be too excited and not thinking clearly. When others asked what it was, he answered truthfully without even thinking...

As a result, when Tony finally calmed down, he found that the abandoned factory he was in was surrounded by all sorts of people, each of them shamelessly trying to force him to hand over the Aether under various high-sounding pretexts, which made Tony furious.

—What? It was found on British soil? This thing was clearly hidden in outer space!

If Lao Tzu hadn't opened the spatial channel and retrieved the ether particles from the other side, none of you mortals would have been able to get your hands on them!

So this should clearly be my private property, what right do you bastards have to whin?

Unfortunately, although Iron Man Tony thought so, the British government insisted on taking away the Aether, not even leaving Tony a drop of soup, regardless of whether they could take it or use it.

When the EU commissioner who accompanied them to inspect the school site learned of this, he immediately clamored to "split it in half upon meeting"...

Then, fully armed military police and journalists carrying long guns and microphones arrived, making the scene even more chaotic.

A while later, Thor, accompanied by a group of Asgardian warriors dressed in Norse Viking attire, arrived at the abandoned London factory where Iron Man Tony was. At first, Tony was somewhat pleased, thinking this Viking barbarian was there to help him out of a predicament. However, the moment the Viking spoke, it turned out he also wanted the Aether, which immediately infuriated Tony: "I considered you a friend, and you're trying to scam me?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Fortunately, just as Tony Stark, Iron Man, holding the Reality Stone, was about to become exasperated and mentally exhausted by these incessant and shameless arguments, and was almost ready to "modify reality" to make these shameless scoundrels disappear forever, the right person to save the day finally arrived.

—With a series of crackling sparks, a portal suddenly appeared in the abandoned factory, and Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain America holding a shield, Natasha, the Black Widow in a tight leather suit, and Phil, the cat who was watching the fun, walked out of it.

Then, upon appearing, the one-eyed, charcoal-haired director decisively declared that the Aether (Reality Stone) is the common treasure of all humanity, and no country or regional organization has the right to monopolize it! Only S.H.I.E.L.D., authorized by the World Security Council, is qualified to manage it!

If anyone has any objections, please appeal to the World Security Council.

—You're all waving your big flag, aren't you? I'll represent the biggest flag of all mankind and suppress you British and the EU together!

Next, as a senior advisor to S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man Tony Stark is naturally qualified to safeguard and use the Aether particles.

After this series of operations, it was as if the ownership of the Aether was transferred to S.H.I.E.L.D., leaving Tony with only the right to use it... Although Tony was not very satisfied with this, at least he could keep the Aether in his hands, so he reluctantly agreed.

In the end, won't everything be decided by fists anyway? Tony doesn't believe anyone in this world can beat him!

Thus, S.H.I.E.L.D. successfully cut off the thieves' hands from the EU and the UK. However, the Asgardians, led by Thor, were not an Earth-based force and were not buying into the bald-headed director's rhetoric. Thor insisted that there was already a Mind Stone on Earth (dropped by Loki during the Battle of New York), and that adding another stone would attract many madmen, greatly increasing the chances of burglaries.

To avoid triggering an interstellar conflict, Director Nick Fury had no choice but to bring the Asgardian warriors to London and discuss the matter at a leisurely pace.

However, what none of them knew was that just as Tony took away the dark red aether particles, in the distant dark star field, inside a small cluster of floating meteorites, a spaceship shaped like a cross sword with a blade-like tip suddenly flashed red light.

Inside the spaceship, a humanoid suit of armor on the control panel folded open layer by layer from bottom to top, revealing the face of a middle-aged man with defined features, pale skin, and long, pointed ears.

Then, as if sensing some kind of signal, the dark elf male, who had been asleep for countless years, suddenly opened his eyes...

A few moments later, the dark elf spaceship, which had been dormant for who knows how long, started its engines under the command of its commander in pursuit of something very important, and once again embarked on a long journey—its destination being Earth!

So, London, having just experienced months of riots and suppression, will soon welcome another massive alien invasion, just in case New York doesn't get to steal the spotlight. This will make the great city famous throughout the universe, and make other countries around the world gloat and rejoice...

Chapter 289, Reality Gem, Wishes Come True!

London, United Kingdom

This world-famous foggy city, once the heart of the British Empire, is no longer the prosperous place it once was.

Instead, amidst violence and flames, the land became a scene of widespread devastation, with countless lives lost and rubble scattered throughout the streets.

After dozens of days of chaotic fighting, most of London was left in a state of chaos, with only despair and hatred lingering and growing.

Sitting in an armored car that S.H.I.E.L.D. had somehow acquired, driving along the roads of the Thames, Phil's view was filled with dilapidated houses with their roofs blown off, alleyways blocked by charred vehicle wreckage, and citizens wandering among the ruins like lost souls, especially women and children with disheveled hair and tattered clothes.

They first lost their homes and loved ones, and then were attacked and ravaged by thugs amidst gunfire, explosions, and fire. Even after they were lucky enough to survive, they still had to face the hardship of having nothing left and had to try to find something usable from the ruins.

Although the riots, or rather racial conflicts, that lasted for dozens of days in London have largely ended, the city's appearance and the people's livelihoods remain dire. Three-quarters of the city is still without power, half of the city is without water, and at least 30,000 homes have been burned or destroyed.

Especially in the areas where the fighting was most intense, almost everything was reduced to ashes. In this unprecedented catastrophe, it became piles of indistinguishable waste materials and garbage...

The situation in London remains chaotic, and accurate casualty figures have not yet been tallied. However, it is certain that the death toll in the city is no less than 50,000, and more than 200,000 citizens have had their homes destroyed and are now homeless, becoming war refugees in their own country's capital.

These people, all looking indifferent and exhausted, struggled on this wasteland of embers. Some used planks and bricks dug out of the ruins to hastily build makeshift shacks to make ends meet. Others simply lived in the open, relying on government relief and scavenging for a living.

Looking down from the riverbank, the Thames was littered with planks, beams, debris, plastic signs, and even charred human and animal carcasses.

"...Just for a ley line node that hasn't been developed yet, and a magic school whose location hasn't even been finalized yet, London has been reduced to this state... God! Am I insane, or has the world gone mad?"

Staring dumbfounded at the familiar yet unfamiliar street scene around him, Captain America, this "righteous man of God," couldn't help but click his tongue and say, "...I came to London once during the World War (on the eve of the Normandy landings). At that time, although Britain had suffered bombing and missile attacks from Nazi Germany, and had millions of troops fighting bloody battles overseas, it hadn't ravaged London into this state..."

Watching the children rummaging through the ruins for broken toys, and the long lines of housewives collecting water purification supplies and cold medicine in front of the Red Cross headquarters, Captain America sighed with emotion, "...Hong Kong is a bit chaotic, but it's nowhere near this bad. But London? There's no large-scale foreign invasion, yet the citizens have ravaged their city more severely than if New York had been invaded by aliens!"

This is absolutely not something a few foreign spies and terrorists could accomplish! Look at these poor children! I see boundless numbness and hatred in their eyes! Why are Londoners of this era so eager to kill each other instead of living in peace?

"...Why can't we coexist peacefully? Because many of these Londoners who have been so easily instigated to destroy their homes with violence and fire are not descendants of the Londoners you saw during World War II! Captain! They arrived on this island later!"

Iron Man Tony Stark glanced at Captain America and replied, "...Just as the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings could not live in peace during the time of King Arthur and the Norman Conquest, the island of Great Britain today is also filled with people whose native languages ​​are foreign. These people refuse to be assimilated by our civilization and have never been able to integrate into British society, instead forming a small community within the larger society."

Can you imagine how terrible this would be? Two completely different societies existing on such a crowded island—it's a recipe for disaster no matter how you look at it… Even a small incident could trigger a massive catastrophe, just like the horrific war we're witnessing right now…”

"...Furthermore, all indications suggest that the French and Germans were involved in this, and even the Pentagon isn't entirely clean."

Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., hesitated for a moment, but still let slip a hint to Captain America, just in case the righteous man did something foolish: "...Whether it's the White House, Capitol Hill, or the Pentagon, there are people who insist that three magic schools are too many for this world, and one would be better...Of course, there are probably people in Beijing and London who share the same opinion. As for Moscow, Berlin, Istanbul, Tehran, and Riyadh, they would love for the world to have no magic schools at all, and at the same time hope that aliens will invade New York a few more times..."

"...This is truly...ugly politics! I had thought that after the Battle of New York, the world would be more united!"

Captain America shook his head repeatedly, "...The Tesseract's malfunction has broadcast Earth's coordinates to the entire universe. The Chitauri invasion is just the beginning, and a crisis threatening all of humanity could arrive at any moment... Under these circumstances, should the nations of Earth continue to play games and harm each other?"

"...There's no way around it, Captain. The international order is a never-ending game of mutual competition! But on the other hand, if the British hadn't caused problems in London, the mastermind behind it wouldn't have been able to unleash such a devastating wave that destroyed the city."

Having been here for some time, Tony Stark, the Iron Man, had a clearer understanding of the catastrophe in London. "...Firstly, the successive British governments in recent years have failed to govern the country well. Secondly, there are certain ignorant religions that still oppose modern science to this day—it's one thing to allow them to occupy their own territories in remote rural areas and indulge in their self-indulgence, but to actually allow them to make a large-scale incursion into the heart of the Western civilized world and force people to respect this backward culture that opposes modern civilization, instead of forcibly instilling knowledge in them and making them live like civilized people! I really don't know what the politicians are thinking?"

"...The politicians' explanation is that this is a respect for human rights and democratic freedoms, because people have the right to be foolish," Nick Fury said casually.

"...The people have the right to be stupid? What a joke! It's clearly some old bastards who don't want the people to be too smart, they just want the people to be stupid!"

Following this bizarre logic, if we use the excuse that people have the right to be stupid to prevent them from receiving education, then when aliens invade Earth, do people also have the right to surrender and commit suicide? If that's the case, why do we need to rack our brains to plan a defense war for Earth?

Tony shook his head and retorted, "...I've had enough. All the obligations are mine, all the responsibilities are mine, but the credit isn't mine, and all the benefits are divided up without my knowledge! Politicians take credit for everything that goes well, and shift the blame onto me when things go wrong! They demand I do this and that under the guise of some noble cause, while simultaneously framing me and smearing me! And the foolish public just joins in the commotion!"

Sometimes I think things like the London riots might be a good thing. At least it cleans out some self-important fools and anti-materialist bastards. And through blood and death, it forces these spoiled brats to become rational.

Relying on his special status, Tony made such outrageous remarks: "...Wanting to conquer Europe with uterine weapons isn't evil. Our ancestors conquered the Americas in the same way. But a uterus proliferating at such a rapid rate, coupled with medieval minds more stubborn than granite, would be a nightmare for all of human civilization! They would devour Europe like cancer cells and then starve to death! The Earth is already burdened too much. In order to squeeze out resources to reach the stars, we do need to get rid of some unproductive superfluous creatures."

This turmoil in London might bring some people to their senses. But that's far from enough. Without severely cracking down on those who condone or even support anti-intellectualism and superstition, attempting to disguise their methods of keeping the people ignorant as democracy and freedom—those vultures who feed on the masses—we will have no bright future to speak of…”

"...Your thoughts are dangerous; they remind me of Nazi racist propaganda." Captain America indicated that he couldn't take it anymore.

"...Nazi racism? What a joke. I have never believed in the division of races into superior and inferior races."

Tony shrugged. "...Using bloodline to distinguish between superior and inferior is the most foolish thing. The reason why Germans during the Nazi era emphasized racism was actually to cover up their inferiority complex. They forced themselves to believe that they were superior, but they couldn't find any reason to prove it, because they were actually complete losers. Only bloodline and ethnicity could give them a sense of superiority out of thin air, and then they would willingly be fooled..."

However, while there is no distinction between superior and inferior races in this world, there is definitely a difference between intelligent and foolish people. I don't believe that foolish people have the right to use their numerical advantage to force intelligent people to do foolish things or demand that intelligent people hand over their wealth..."

Indeed, Iron Man Tony Stark has never been a racist who values ​​skin color, but he is not the kind of "benevolent liberal" either—he doesn't discriminate against others based on skin color or ethnicity, but rather on intelligence, IQ, education, and so on.

In his eyes, stupid white people were definitely inferior to intelligent black people—and vice versa.

As a scientist, Tony was born with a reverence for knowledge and reason, abhorred ignorant fools, and hated any foolish and arrogant fanatics.

As for those vested interest groups that deliberately hinder technological progress, in his eyes they were practically equivalent to heretics who should be burned at the stake.

Tony's attitude towards those who were bought off or misled by vested interest groups and who tried to interfere with him under the guise of being great, glorious, and righteous was one of pitying annoyance.

That's why Tony has a very good relationship with Bruce Banner, the "real" Hulk (it's practically portrayed as a bromance in the Marvel movies), treats the studious Spider-Man Peter Parker almost like a son, while not getting along very well with the muscle-flexing Captain America...

Of course, Tony wasn't a perfect saint either, but a mad scientist poisoned by knowledge. For some noble goal, he often recklessly conducted dangerous research, resulting in various disasters and irresponsible actions, ultimately severely damaging his public reputation.

"...It's pathetic to think about it. When we look up at the Milky Way at night, among trillions of star systems, our Earth is practically invisible, insignificant. Faced with the vast universe, our civilization is pitifully small, and our military strength is pathetically weak."

Tony sighed and said, "...We have all seen the future. Without a fighting spirit of 'die if we don't leave Earth,' even if we withstand an alien invasion, human civilization will still collapse in a hundred years at most... Unfortunately, many people today not only refuse to fight for survival themselves, but also desperately interfere with the struggles of others, trying to drag all of humanity along the original trajectory toward the end of the world."

Captain, do you think we should still respect the right to be stupid of guys like this?

Captain America fell silent in response to these words.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Moments later, the S.H.I.E.L.D. convoy arrived at a small park on the banks of the Thames, not far from the famous Tower Bridge.

However, London Bridge had already collapsed by then. A huge explosion, caused by an unknown source, left it in half, with the entire bridge tower lying across the riverbed and the bridge deck torn to pieces.

"...Londonbridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London bridge is falling down, my fair lady. (London Bridge is collapsing! Collapsing! Collapsing!)"

Looking at the collapsed London Bridge before him, the naturally sarcastic Tony Stark immediately hummed the well-known children's song, leaving the Americans present both amused and exasperated, while the British glared at him angrily. Nick Fury, on the other hand, coughed and urged Tony to demonstrate the function of the artifact he had just discovered.

Tony nodded, then raised the Aether (Reality Stone) in his hand, "...Tower Bridge, restore to normal!"

The next moment, to the astonishment of the onlookers, the collapsed Tower Bridge seemed to be rewound like a video, with the fallen towers "standing up" again, the torn bridge surface restored to its original state, and even the charred marks and craters from the explosions disappeared instantly!

—That's the incredible power of the Reality Stone! Aside from its inability to interfere with time, it can grant you anything you desire!

Fifth wild idea: This Earth is terrifying!

The Trisolaran space fleet is approaching the solar system, and mysterious sophons are blocking Earth's basic technological progress.

Little did they know that Thanos, with his purple-sweet head, had already taken the Infinity Gauntlet and included them and the humans in his hunting range.

Mars and the Moon have also been occupied by BATE, who launched nests into Eurasia, only to be swept away by a spacequake caused by the Elves.

In addition, there are Martian cockroaches and Inhumans from the moon, who are locked in a fierce battle with BATE.

The Umbrella Corporation's T-virus has spread across the earth, with ghouls, parasites, and aliens appearing in the Japanese archipelago.

Nyarlathotep, the "wriggling chaos," also transforms into a silver-haired high school girl, sneaking into Tokyo for who knows what.

Giant monsters periodically emerging from a portal beneath the Pacific Ocean, along with Earth-native Godzilla and a fleet of fog appearing from who-knows-where, turned the vast ocean into a battlefield. The underwater city of R'lyeh, belonging to the evil god, also suffered collateral damage.

Skynet and Ultron are vying for control of satellite and nuclear weapons worldwide, and the whispers of the Cthulhu god echo in humanity's ears.

Even with my tired eyes closed, I still hear the terrifying laughter of Freddy Krueger, Sadako, and Kayako in my dreams.

Next, the ice age triggered by the "white frost" will soon descend upon Earth.

God, how should humanity live in this world?

So, in order to give Earthlings a way to survive, God opened a portal to a fantastical world in Ginza, Tokyo...