Mario stood on his Twilight Forest platform, admiring the battle sign that had just materialized in his hands. It looked exactly like a regular Minecraft sign, same blocky shape, same wooden texture, but the stats were anything but ordinary.
[Thorns:
Reflects 200% of melee damage]
The beautiful part? That damage reflection was based on his own attack power, not the enemy's. If he was holding weapons that dealt 50 damage in each hand, even the lightest tap from an opponent would bounce back 100 damage straight into their face.
The freshly crafted battle sign currently reflected 15 damage points. Not bad for a baseline, but he had big plans. After leveling it up through combat, that number would easily hit 30+.
"Three obsidian large plates to boost durability. Then I'll grind proficiency until I can enchant Unbreakable on it."
Tinkers' Construct weapons came with three upgrade slots by default. Add in the Tool Leveling mod, and with just five total slots, you could obtain the most broken attribute in the entire modpack, Unbreakable.
He crafted an obsidian pickaxe next. He'd need it to harvest cobalt and ardite ores from the Nether. His old netherite pickaxe was still functional, but Tinkers' Construct introduced higher-tier materials that required progressive mining levels to access.
With everything prepared, he stepped through the Nether portal.
After passing through the portal, he immediately noticed how much it had changed. New ores dotted the landscape, the most eye-catching being clusters of bright green crystals.
Tiberium Ore. Part of the Tinkers' Alloy addon mod, it spawned in massive quantities throughout the Nether.
"I knew it generated frequently, but this is ridiculous."
A quick scan revealed over a dozen tiberium deposits within visual range. If he remembered correctly, each vein contained 10 to 35 ore blocks. The sheer abundance was almost insulting compared to how rare the actually useful ores were.
"If only cobalt and ardite spawned like this."
He had zero intention of mining Tiberium. The ore was essentially a trap, like Lucky Blocks, but worse. Each block had a 10% chance to explode when mined, dealing damage. Even worse, the explosion could chain-react, triggering other tiberium blocks within the blast radius with a 50% chance.
Based on his gaming experience, and his notoriously bad luck, mining tiberium was the equivalent of tap-dancing on a minefield made of TNT.
The blue cobalt ore and gold-veined ardite were easy to spot in the distance. Neither ore was particularly rare, but the vein sizes were small, comparable to diamond deposits in the Overworld. Some veins contained just a single block.
Snort... grunt...
A group of zombified piglins wandering across the netherrack caught Mario's attention. He glanced at the battle sign in his hand, and an idea formed.
Since the piglins weren't aggressive yet, he walked right up to them. He placed blocks behind himself to prevent backstabs, then raised the battle sign like a baseball bat.
"Come on, baby! Let's dance!"
WHAM.
The battle sign made first contact.
His attack instantly drew aggro from every zombified piglin in range. They raised their golden swords and charged at him.
He crouched in the corner he'd created, huddling behind his battle sign like some kind of abused shield-bearer waiting for the beating to end.
Gold nuggets, gold ingots, and golden swords began raining onto the ground as the piglins repeatedly slammed into him, only to take massive reflected damage and die.
"Really should've enchanted Looting on this thing," he muttered. "I'm leaving so much value on the table."
---
One hour later.
"What the fuck... do these things have infinite spawn rates? I've already burned through all my sharpening kits."
Fortunately, he'd crafted the sign from netherrack and made several repair kits beforehand. Otherwise, even a sign made of manyullyn, the strongest Tinkers' material, wouldn't have survived this sustained assault.
He stared at the endless waves of zombified piglins fearlessly charging from every direction. Without computer hardware limitations constraining spawn rates, their numbers far exceeded anything he'd experienced in the game.
He'd never intentionally provoked them before. This was his first time actively engaging zombified piglins in combat, and the results were... FUCK!
"This doesn't make any sense. Since when were zombified piglins this powerful?"
His sign's durability was dropping fast.
"Durability's tanking again. I'm out."
He pulled an ender pearl from his inventory, aimed it at the distant Warped Forest where his portal waited, and threw.
His sudden teleportation sent the piglin horde into a frenzy. Every single one of them wheeled to track Mario's fleeing form.
Snort... GRUNT...
Standing inside the Nether portal's protection, Mario watched the enraged mob stampeding toward him. A wild grin spread across his face. He raised his hand and flipped them all off.
Three seconds later, he vanished through the portal, leaving behind a crowd of impotently furious zombified piglins who slowly began despawning.
"Nether zombified piglins are insane. I never realized how brutal they were because I'd never pissed them off before. These guys are the real monsters."
Wither skeletons? Blazes? They had nothing on the chain-aggro nightmare that was a pissed-off piglin horde.
He checked his battle sign, which had reached [Proficient] level, and his grin widened. With the Tinkers' Tool Leveling Mod active, using weapons, armor, or tools raised their proficiency and upgraded their level. Each level-up granted one additional modifier slot.
The progression went: Clumsy, Comfortable, Accustomed, Adept, Expert, Master... Sixteen titles total. But those were just cosmetic labels.
The actual level had no upper limit, meaning that given enough time, he could fully enchant any weapon to godlike status.
Sitting on his couch, he closed his eyes and ran through the plot of Thor in his mind. Then his eyes snapped open.
"Thor went home and destroyed the Bifrost. The next time he shows up... it'll be during the Battle of New York. Shit. I need to go see the Ancient One."
---
"177A Bleecker Street. This is it."
Mario stood in the heart of Greenwich Village, New York City, staring at the building before him. The New York Sanctum, one of three Sanctums protecting Earth, looked exactly like it had in the movies.
"This place just sits here in plain sight, and nobody questions it. Does the Ancient One use some kind of Muggle-Repelling Charm?"
He chuckled, shook his head, and approached the wooden door. He knocked.
Knock knock.
"Hello? Anyone home?"
Footsteps approached from inside. A moment later, the door swung open to reveal a man in his thirties wearing simple sorcerer's robes. His eyes scanned Mario.
"I don't remember ordering takeout today."
A sorcerer who lives on delivery food?
Though honestly, New York delivery was expensive as hell and painfully slow. Mario had tried it once while fishing by the lake. Once had been enough.
He smiled at the man. "Hello, my name's Mario. I'm a student of the Ancient One."
Whether the Ancient One would acknowledge that claim was her problem, not his.
Hearing the Ancient One's name, Daniel Drumm's frown deepened. As guardian of the New York Sanctum, he knew every student she'd ever taken. He'd never seen Mario before, or even heard the name.
"Come in."
He couldn't afford to be dismissive. Anyone invoking the Sorcerer Supreme's name deserved at least some respect.
Mario stepped into the Sanctum and looked around. Directly ahead, a staircase led up to the second floor, carpeted in red. Various artifacts were displayed throughout the hall, all of them ancient and mysterious-looking. The place could easily pass for a museum.
Following Drumm, they arrived at a small seating area with a table and chairs. On the table sat a cup of tea and a thick book, Drumm had clearly been resting here earlier.
"Please, have a seat."
He gestured politely. "Mr. Mario, my name is Daniel Drumm. Pleasure to meet you. What brings you here?"
Hearing the name, Mario's memory supplied the relevant plot details. Drumm was the guardian of the New York Sanctum, but in the movies, Kaecilius and his followers had killed him almost instantly in their first encounter. He had no idea how strong Daniel actually was, but being appointed by the Ancient One to guard a Sanctum meant he wasn't weak. Kaecilius had just been monstrously powerful after absorbing dark dimension energy.
"Mario is fine. I want to use the Sanctum to travel to Kamar-Taj. I need to see the Ancient One about something important."
Drumm's expression grew cautious. His gaze sharpened. "If you're truly the Sorcerer Supreme's student, why don't you just use a Sling Ring to open a portal?"
Mario could tell Drumm was on guard. He gave an awkward smile. "My path isn't quite the same as the Ancient One's. I can't learn portal magic."
Just thinking about portal magic made him envious. It was the signature spell of Marvel sorcerers, even the Mirror Dimension couldn't compare. Not only could it transport you anywhere on Earth, it could connect to parallel universes. The spell was basically a cheat. If he could learn it, he'd have a field day.
Drumm frowned. "In that case, why don't you just call the Sorcerer Supreme?"
That single sentence made Mario's eyes go wide.
Right! Kamar-Taj has Wi-Fi now. Even if the Ancient One doesn't use phones, someone there must have one.
Then his frown returned.
Wait... He's testing me?
Is this about the furniture? Should I just buy new furniture and send it to her as an apology?
He looked up at Drumm, who was waiting for a response. "Could you help me contact the Ancient One? Just tell her Mario needs her help with something."
Drumm stared at him for over ten seconds before nodding slightly. He pulled out a simple flip phone and dialed.
A moment later, the call connected.
"Sorcerer Supreme, it's Drumm."
"Someone's here to see you. Says he's your student. His name is Mario."
The instant Drumm finished speaking, a golden portal opened beside him. The Ancient One stood on the other side.
"I'll take it from here. Thank you."
Drumm hung up and bowed respectfully. "Of course, Sorcerer Supreme."
The Ancient One sat calmly at a tea table, sipping from a cup. She didn't seem surprised at all that Mario had come.
Seeing her, Mario stood up and stepped through the portal, nodding to Drumm. "Thanks for the help, Daniel."
The portal closed behind him.
"Sit down. Have some tea," the Ancient One said.
She picked up a plain glass cup from the tea tray. The tea inside refilled itself automatically, steam rising gently.
Mario squinted at the lone glass cup, feeling distinctly targeted. Everyone else gets fancy ceramic, and I get the cheap glassware?
"I came here because—"
The Ancient One lifted her cup and interrupted. "I know. You want to go to Asgard."
She took a light sip.
"Can you see my future now?"
"No. And as you grow more active and your connections to this world deepen, I can no longer see other people's futures either. Even the Eye of Agamotto can't help me anymore."
Mario was stunned. He hadn't expected his butterfly effect to be this powerful.
"Then how did you know I want to go to Asgard?"
The Ancient One set down her cup and walked to the window, gazing outside. "When you made that deal with Odin's son, I was there too, watching from the Mirror Dimension. You didn't notice. The Bifrost has been destroyed. I figured you'd come to me eventually. I just didn't expect it to be this soon."
Mario chuckled. "I just want to collect the reward Thor promised me as quickly as possible."
He paused, then added, "Also, there's one more thing I need to ask."
The Ancient One gave a slight, unreadable nod.
"You know I can't learn portal magic. It's really inconvenient. So... why don't you assign me a couple of your students? I think Wong would be perfect. Or, if he's not available, Kaecilius would work. I can personally guide him back onto the right path."
Even the Ancient One's hand trembled slightly at that.
Last time he stole furniture. Now he's trying to poach my students.