"Hey, wait a minute!"
The moment Noah entered the system space, something clicked. His expression shifted. "Don't I lack the Mind Stone? System, are you messing with me?"
He had only just realized it. He didn't have the Mind Stone at all.
Even though he'd collected a massive number of Infinity Stones, the Mind Stone wasn't among them.
In the original plot, the Mind Stone was the final stone Thanos obtained. And among every version of Thanos Noah had encountered, not a single one had gathered all six. None of them had even held five.
So didn't that mean his plan-to use the Infinity Stones to expand the laws of his Domain-was dead before it even started?
The system had just confidently told him to rely on the stones to perfect his Domain's laws. Thinking about that now made Noah feel genuinely depressed.
This guy really was playing with him.
Other things could be perfected. But without the Mind Stone's guidance, those things would amount to nothing more than powerful but brainless idiots.
Even if he used the Soul Stone to tidy up those chaotic creations and give them souls, the leap from ignorance to wisdom was a long one.
Just look at the world today. Ignorant people were still everywhere.
Noah didn't expect the life forms in his Domain to be especially "wise." Being too smart wasn't always a good thing. He remembered the Overlord of Fate from Coiling Dragon. That old man could sense that the world itself was being manipulated by invisible hands.
Still, Noah didn't want the things in his Domain to be stupid enough to make his skin crawl.
In his view, possessing immense martial power without a functioning brain was just asking to be erased by history.
"I am not pulling your leg," the system replied quickly. "In fact, you have possessed a portion of the Mind Stone's power for a long time. You've had it for many years."
"...Many years?" Noah froze. He rubbed his chin, then something surfaced in his mind. "You mean what I got from Loki back then?"
"Yes." The system's voice remained mechanical, but the certainty was unmistakable. "Although it was only a few extracted elements, you have preserved them in your space all this time. This power lacks energy. However, with the Infinity Stones you now possess, you can fully replenish it, allowing it to become Mind Stone power that is independent of the external universe and governs only your own universe."
"...Condensing an Infinity Stone myself?" Noah stared. "Are you serious? These are Infinity Stones."
He paused, then continued. "There's a saying that at the dawn of the universe, the Cosmic Creators transformed six singularities of infinite energy into six stones of infinite power. Personally, I lean more toward the Big Bang-but wait. Cosmic Creator?"
Only then did Noah realize something.
If one spoke of a Cosmic Creator, he himself seemed to qualify.
His Domain still lacked many things to truly be called a universe. At least when it came to laws, Noah was the definition of substandard.
But one fact couldn't be denied.
He really had created something equivalent to the beginning of a primordial universe.
From a certain perspective, Noah could indeed be called a Creator. Even if his strength was only at the demigod level.
The limit of the Infinity Stones was also the demigod stage. And Noah possessed so many stones from other universes. In terms of energy, he had more than enough to pull this off.
And he could do it within his own Domain.
When that realization settled in, Noah's heart started pounding.
If he could condense an Infinity Stone, everything afterward would become much simpler.
The Infinity Stones contained laws. Those laws weren't especially useful during the Godhood stage, since gods specialized in their own paths.
But for a mage like Noah-one who possessed an independent Domain-this was a fatal temptation.
"If I succeed," Noah said slowly, excitement rising, "I can extract elements from other Infinity Stones and condense them inside my own universe. Then I can rely on those powers to feed back into the Domain itself."
The more he thought about it, the harder it was to stay calm.
"I could rely on external Infinity Stones to do this, sure. But it always feels incomplete when it isn't your own. Besides, I plan to return these stones eventually."
"That is entirely feasible," the system replied evenly. "Moreover, you may obtain additional law powers in the future and condense more stones-forget it. Those are things you absolutely cannot do right now. As for returning the stones, it is not the time. You still require their power to consolidate your Domain. Once the laws are extracted and internalized, you can condense them yourself."
"Of course." Noah nodded, smiling. He wasn't stubborn.
His strength was what it was. A single stone already reached the demigod stage, matching his own power. There was nothing more to expect for now.
Borrow their power to meet his Domain's needs. Then take them away.
Once the stones became useless, returning them was only natural.
As for benefiting from them in the meantime?
He'd just call it paying rent.
"Then let's begin," Noah said once everything was clear. "What's first? Guiding the Infinity Stones' power and creating a new Mind Stone?"
"You may," the system replied. "Although you could first arrange the other stones and release their laws into the Domain before replenishing the Mind Stone, your method is more complete and three-dimensional. It is more troublesome-but also an excellent choice."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
"As you wish."
-
Far away, within a magnificent and ancient palace in Asgard, the Ancient One and the All-Father Odin quietly observed everything before them.
They were studying a newly obtained ninjutsu from the so-called Ninja Universe, one Noah had given them. It could pierce both the material world and the world of the dead.
The technique itself was simple to understand.
Applying it through magic in this universe was not.
They had researched it for years. Even now, they had yet to truly master it.
The problem lay in one place.
Locking onto a specific soul.
In the Ninja Universe, this was trivial. Here, it was anything but.
Neither of them specialized in the soul. One was a god of time and space. The other, a god of power and elements.
Being able to use this ninjutsu to pierce the material and dead worlds at all was already an achievement.
"It really is difficult," Odin sighed. "Those mysterious people from the East were right. Every profession has its own specialty. Trying to brute-force understanding like this only gets us so far."
"Indeed." The Ancient One sighed as well. "To cross that stage back then, I had to discard my soul-related power. I couldn't find a symmetrical counterpart. I never thought it would become our greatest obstacle now."
To pass the hurdle of Divine Transformation, she had been forced to abandon that path.
Without opposing or compatible power, coexistence was nearly impossible.
Noah had made a similar choice. He hadn't retained much of that power either.
They could still use basic soul techniques. But that level was nowhere near sufficient for the magic they were exploring.
The power accompanying the soul was life. Or something even deeper.
None of them had truly obtained it. They hadn't even properly discovered it.
That wasn't good for a Domain.
Because of this, both master and disciple had made the same decision back then. They likely hadn't even considered soul power during the construction of their Domains.
It was simply too obscure.
"By the way," Odin said suddenly, smiling, "the five-year war has ended. We haven't returned in a long time. We didn't even attend the victory banquet. Perhaps we should take a break and go see the children. They've done something quite remarkable."
"Perhaps it is time," the Ancient One nodded. "After researching for so long, I feel tired. That's not good. And being out of touch with the times is even worse. We don't even know how the children are doing now."
Five years of staring at the same magic until their heads hurt was dangerous-especially for gods.
Going back. Seeing the juniors who had just won a great victory. Relaxing.
Then returning to research.
That was probably the correct choice.
They didn't know exactly what had happened outside. Only that a terrifying battle had taken place beyond Asgard, and that many tenth-tier demigods had appeared.
They had chosen not to intervene only because those hostile demigods kept falling.
So many tenth-tier demigods had been killed by their juniors.
No matter how you looked at it, that was something to be proud of.
Rest first.
Then continue.
Perhaps the results would be even better.