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Kevin's understanding of magic and space had actually surpassed that of most ordinary people.
This was because not many people could be like Kevin, learning Marvel World's magic and personally creating the Mirror Dimension and portals for combat.
Moreover, Kevin also had the 'King's Treasury,' a space-type ability.
But when faced with something as complex as spacetime dislocation, Kevin truly had no clue.
He had no experience dealing with this problem.
However, while Kevin didn't, someone else did.
With so many powerful figures in the Marvel World, finding Odin or Ancient One could provide a solution.
Failing that, he could seek out people from the technology side, like Iron Man or Rocket, and have them devise a way to create a device that stabilizes space.
In short, for Kevin, there were truly more solutions than difficulties.
After using skill points to pause time in the The Boys world, Kevin immediately went to Kamar Taj to find Ancient One.
He originally intended to ask Ancient One if she had any way to resolve this matter.
But unexpectedly, Ancient One told him very decisively:
"Sorry, I can't do anything about this."
"?" Kevin was shocked: "You're the Sorcerer Supreme!"
"The current Sorcerer Supreme is you."
"You know I don't mean that!"
Seeing Ancient One about to push the responsibility back onto Kevin, Kevin rolled his eyes at her and then said:
"My experience and knowledge are far less than yours. I have no idea how to deal with this matter."
"Then why do you think I have a way to deal with matters in your world?"
Ancient One countered.
She poured herself a cup of tea, reclined comfortably in her lounge chair, and softly told Kevin:
"If the kind of thing you're talking about happened here, on the Earth where I am, I might still have a way to deal with it.
"But that's your world, and you've also said that our magic cannot be used in your world. So why do you think I could help you solve the problem of spatial dislocation if I went there?"
"..."
Kevin was silent.
Ancient One continued:
"Kevin, you can't rely on us for everything. You've become very powerful. You can solve the problems happening in your world by yourself."
"Even if you flatter me, there are things I can't do, and I have absolutely no clue!"
No matter how Ancient One praised Kevin or spoke of his power, sometimes certain problems couldn't be solved just by having great strength.
Dealing with complex matters like spatial dislocation required not strength, but one's own insight and crisis management ability.
These were precisely what Kevin lacked.
To put it bluntly, he only had strength but no brains. When encountering similar situations, he was completely helpless.
Perhaps seeing that Kevin was truly stumped by this problem, Ancient One put down her teacup and suddenly asked:
"When you returned to your world this time, were there any other changes?"
"I don't understand what you mean."
"For example... something appeared that you don't understand, yet it's crucial to you..."
Something he didn't understand yet was crucial?
Kevin initially didn't quite grasp what Ancient One was saying.
But soon he realized that he really did have something he didn't understand yet was very important!
The blurry icon brewing on his skill tree!
"I... went to a new world some time ago and gained new power, but after gaining new power, I couldn't see my future path forward.
"It wasn't until I returned to my own world that I could vaguely see how to proceed with the future, but the future I saw was still blurry... Is the change you're referring to this?"
Kevin used a special analogy to describe the current state of his skill tree.
Of course, he couldn't reveal his golden finger, even when facing Ancient One, so he chose this method to explain the current situation of his skill tree.
Fortunately, Ancient One could understand.
Not only did she understand, but she also seemed to know what situation Kevin was currently facing, and a smile appeared on her face.
"That's it. It seems that in your world, you've already begun to advance towards becoming a Dimension Lord."
"Dimension... Dimension Lord? Dimension Demon God?!"
Kevin was greatly surprised.
He had never imagined that his blurry icon was related to a Dimension Demon God!
"Something like that. Oh, I suddenly regret making you the Sorcerer Supreme. What if you become a Dimension Demon God in the future and invade our world?"
Ancient One said, half-jokingly.
Kevin, however, was not in the mood for jokes. He casually said: "If you're really worried, I can just give the Sorcerer Supreme position back to you. And don't change the subject, what's this about a Dimension Demon God?"
"Aren't you very clear yourself? You've read many of Kamar Taj's spellbooks. You should understand what's going on without me telling you."
A Dimension Demon God, or Dimension Lord, simply put, is the master who rules an entire universe.
Such powerful beings are supreme existences within their own dimensions.
Take Dark Lord Dormammu, for example. Although he might seem to lack gravitas, even a powerful figure like Doctor Strange could only negotiate with him in the end, rather than trying to seal or kill him.
That alone was enough to prove the power of a Dimension Lord.
Of course, not all Dimension Lords were equally strong.
But generally speaking, the broader the territory and the higher the quality of life within it, the stronger the Dimension Lord's power would be.
Kevin was currently only an Ocean Lord. To say he was invincible in the The Boys world was certainly true.
But to say he could instantly become a Dimension Lord, the spokesperson and ruler of the entire The Boys Universe, that seemed like too big a leap.
"I... I don't disbelieve you, it's just... isn't this leap a bit too big? I don't seem to have done anything... Could it be faith?"
Kevin thought of his previous conjecture again.
The God of Mist appeared in public, and the skill icon began to brew. This might indeed be the effect of faith.
And becoming a god through faith was indeed one of the ways to become a Dimension Lord.
For example, Dormammu found a way to invade Earth because of Kaecilius's faith.
If Kevin's new power was truly related to a Dimension Lord, then it might indeed be faith.
However, Kevin's speculation was rejected by Ancient One.
"Not faith."
"Then what is it...?"
"For you, it's cognition."
Ancient One softly uttered a single word.
"Cognition?"
Kevin was stunned.
"Yes, cognition."
Ancient One nodded:
"Your situation is different from many others. For you, belief or not is not important. What's important is the cognition of you. People's cognition of you will become an 'anchor point' in your world, becoming the source of your new power."
Listening to Ancient One's narration, Kevin looked at his still blurry skill icon.
If it was truly so, then the appearance of this skill icon could be explained.
Actually, from the very beginning, Kevin didn't think the appearance of this skill icon was related to faith.
He had only appeared once in front of the camera. Even if many people were watching the live broadcast that day, how many could truly develop faith in him?
Kevin himself claimed to be the 'God of Mist,' but he never said anything like 'I am a god, you must all believe in me.'
Most people would only view him as a terrorist and a supervillain.
So even if he could gain faith, the faith gained would not likely cause the skill tree to react and form a skill icon.
Instead, the reason Ancient One gave now explained everything better.
However, even knowing the true origin of his skill icon, Kevin didn't feel much joy:
...Ancient One, I think we've gone off-topic. You still haven't told me how to solve the problem I'm currently facing.
"Oh, isn't the problem you're facing that you can't find a way to continue advancing and increasing your power?"
"No! While that's also important, what I want to solve most right now is the problem of spatial overlap!"
"Then my answer is still the same, I am also powerless... However, I can offer you a suggestion."
"..."
Kevin didn't speak, his eyes fixed on Ancient One, signaling her to get to the point.
Ancient One smiled and said: "Wouldn't it be possible if you found a way to use our magic in your world?"
If I could do that, I wouldn't have come back to you!
Kevin rolled his eyes at Ancient One again. Perhaps seeing through Kevin's thoughts, she spoke to him before he could retort:
"You can do it, and you should have already done it. Learn from our spells to create your own. What you lack is just an opportunity, and this crisis... perhaps it can become the opportunity for you to master new spells."
Crisis is also opportunity.
Kevin had already moved many Marvel World spells into his skill tree as his 'original' magic.
But for spatial elements like portals and the Mirror Dimension, he simply couldn't find the inspiration to 'create' them.
And this spatial dislocation, while turning the abandoned cruise ship into an extremely dangerous forbidden zone, might also be an opportunity for Kevin to master original spatial magic.
The premise was that he could indeed create his own spatial magic.
...
"That thing should have gone far away by now."
The Ghost, who had poked his head out of the cabin to check outside, quickly turned back to Barry and the others and said.
Barry pondered the monster he saw in the Ghost's memory and asked:
"Are you sure that's not some Supe? Is there really no one else here besides you guys?"
"I'm very sure!" The Ghost first shouted loudly, then his voice became much softer:
...Well, I was very sure before, but now... I'm not sure anymore.
"Perhaps the Narrator would know something."
Flashback looked at the Narrator.
Although the Narrator's ability was said to be useless, it sometimes had some effect.
He sometimes not only narrated what he had seen himself but also what others had seen.
For example, when the Ghost was previously traversing the cruise ship, he saw a monster similar to a human tongue.
She hadn't told the Narrator about this, yet he still spoke of it.
This proved that in certain situations, the Narrator could know things others didn't.
Now, no one knew what was happening outside. Instead of running around like a headless chicken, it was better to remove the tape from the Narrator's mouth and see what he could say.
Flashback's suggestion received unanimous approval from the other two.
So, Flashback removed the tape from the Narrator's mouth.
And as soon as the tape was peeled off, the Narrator's mouth spewed words like a machine gun.
"Oh, Flashback and the others finally made the right decision! They can finally let the Narrator speak again!
"They should have done this a long time ago, otherwise they would have known that what walked by outside was not a monster at all, but just a few young people looking for excitement at night.
"Don't movies always have such plots? A few college students on vacation, bored, decide to explore an abandoned place. So this evening, Jack, who skipped class from public university, brought his friends to this cruise ship rumored to be haunted.
"There's certainly no haunting inside an abandoned cruise ship… Well, if you're talking about ghosts, then yes, there are, but they're clearly not the kind of ghosts Jack and the others understand.
"Under normal circumstances, their actions wouldn't bring them any danger; at most, they'd be scared away by ghosts. But today is clearly not normal. Flashback's ability went out of control, turning the cruise ship into a moving labyrinth.
"And the danger didn't stop there. Because they stumbled too close to the core, which is where Flashback's ability went out of control, they suffered an even more severe spatial overlap.
"They and their parallel world bodies were mashed together like squeezed playdough, and then… the 'monster' appeared."
The Narrator began to chatter, recounting what happened inside the ship's cabin.
After listening to what the Narrator said, Ghost instinctively covered her mouth, her eyes filled with an expression of disbelief.
"So… that monster just now… wasn't a monster?"
"It was a… normal person… who accidentally came here… Damn it, we have to go out and save them!"
When he realized that the monsters outside were just ordinary people who had stumbled in, Barry couldn't sit still.
He opened the cabin door, ready to find those innocent victims and try to rescue them.
But soon he heard the Narrator continue:
"The mysterious hero wants to save people, and of course, any true hero wouldn't be indifferent to such a thing. But what he doesn't know is that the 'monsters' who have already been squeezed and merged by space cannot be restored.
"And what they don't know is that the space closest to them has already begun to overlap. If they don't escape soon…"
"What?! Why didn't you say so sooner?!"
When she heard the Narrator say that the space they were hiding in had also begun to overlap, Ghost immediately screamed.
She immediately rushed out of the room, and Flashback quickly pushed the Narrator's wheelchair out.
Barry looked back and, sure enough, saw the space behind him beginning to move and overlap in strange ways.
It was like the building block game he played as a child, where one block would fall, and another would stack on top.
Many blocks interlocked with each other, then separated again.
They filled the distant space in the cabin and spread towards them.
"Run!!!"
Seeing this, Barry immediately shouted to Ghost.
At the same time, he picked up the Narrator, who was sitting in the wheelchair, abandoning the heavy wheelchair, and ran with Flashback deeper into the ship's cabin.
Fortunately, although the Narrator looked fat, because of his short stature, his actual weight wasn't too heavy, probably around 120 pounds.
Barry could still bear such a weight.
With the spatial overlap occurring, the four of them couldn't care about the victims who had stumbled in earlier; they just needed to get out of there first.
The golden-red lightning, carrying the Narrator, took the lead.
Ghost followed closely behind, and Flashback brought up the rear.
Ghost's flight speed in the air was not slow; having no mass herself and moving purely by her own consciousness, her fastest speed could be compared to a car on a highway.
And she didn't have to worry about obstacles. In such a narrow place full of obstacles, her speed was surprisingly not much slower than Barry's.
The four people ran quickly through the dimly lit cabin.
But soon, Barry stopped again.
Because right in front of Barry, a huge void suddenly appeared.
"Oh, my—!"
Barry, who almost overshot, nearly cursed as he looked at the void in front of him.
He never expected such a bottomless pit to appear inside the cabin!
However, looking closely at the void, Barry realized that it wasn't a pit at all; it was still the ship's cabin, just oriented vertically.
The path Barry was about to take turned ninety degrees straight down under his feet. From this angle, Barry could still see many distorted cruise ship cabins and even more abandoned clutter.
The spatial distortion was gradually worsening. If they didn't find a way to escape, the final result would likely be assimilation by this distorted distortion, turning into monsters just like those young people who came to test their courage!
"Mr. Barry! The 'thing' behind us is catching up!!"
Not long after Barry stopped, Flashback's voice came from behind him.
Looking behind him, the overlapping space had not stopped; it was still slowly 'advancing' towards them, like a beast that had smelled its prey, relentlessly pursuing Barry and the others.
Ghost's body flew in mid-air; being able to ignore gravity, she could smoothly run from one end of the void to the other, so there was no need to worry about her.
But it was very difficult for Barry and the others to run from one side to the other.
Perhaps Barry could do it alone, ignoring the constraints of gravity at extreme speed, running along the wall to the other side of the void.
However, the Narrator and Flashback couldn't withstand such high speeds.
"Let me think! Let me think…"
"The hero is thinking about how to leave this place, but he hasn't noticed that his foot has been entangled by the crisscrossing space…"
"???"
Barry was still seriously thinking about what to do, but the Narrator's words made Barry a little unable to hold on.
He looked down at his foot and, sure enough, saw that his left leg had already merged into the distorted building. Although he felt no pain, Barry could feel that his leg had become one with the building below.
"Couldn't you have warned me sooner?!"
Even though Barry was a good-tempered person, he was a bit speechless at this moment.
Although he could use vibrations to pull his leg out of the merged building, it would waste time!
If the Narrator had spoken sooner, with Barry's speed, couldn't he have avoided the spatial overlap's attack?
"The Narrator can only describe what he has seen and what has happened. In other words, his ability to handle sudden situations is very low…"
"Alright, alright, I get it!"
Interrupting the Narrator's incessant chatter, Barry quickly pulled his leg out of the fused area and said to the Narrator and Flashback:
"Next, I'll carry you both in a high-speed sprint. If we're lucky, I can take you from this side to the other."
"What if we're not lucky?"
Flashback asked weakly.
Barry's mouth twitched:
"Then we'll all fall! Alright, no time! I'll say one, two, three, and you take a deep breath! Quick!"
In the short time they delayed, the 'block stack' behind them had already caught up.
They didn't have more time to discuss a countermeasure. Regardless of whether Barry's method would work or not, they had to try to find out.
It was better than truly being assimilated by the distorted space behind them!
There was no time to explain, no time for more instructions. Barry held the Narrator in one arm and Flashback in the other, took a few steps back, and assumed a starting posture.
Golden-red electric light flashed in the narrow space, and everything around them turned into slow motion, as if a TV had been put on slow-motion mode.
Amidst the crackling electric arcs, the distorted space behind them was also approaching Barry.
Just as the space was about to touch Barry's feet, at that instant, Barry's figure suddenly vanished from his original spot!
Golden-red electric arcs flashed within the cabin, illuminating the dimly lit space.
Barry's body, carrying two people, leaped high, crossing an extremely long distance, and jumped towards the opposite side.
But Barry clearly underestimated the distance of the void on both sides, and also underestimated the combined weight of three people.
Barry, who had leaped high with two people, lost momentum and began to fall downwards when he was still a quarter of the distance from the opposite bank.
"Oh, no!!!"
Seeing Barry fall downwards with Flashback and the Narrator, Ghost let out a shrill scream.
Barry's eyes widened, and electric arcs burst from his body as he tried to figure out a way to salvage something.
But being unable to leverage anything in mid-air, he couldn't resolve the crisis he was facing.
The bodies of the three fell into the bottomless, distorted space under the influence of gravity.
Just as they were about to disappear into the void, suddenly, a burst of white mist appeared from nowhere, gathering at the place where they were about to fall.
The mist gathered very quickly; in just about a second, it had condensed into a white, cloud-shaped mass beneath the three.
Thump, thump, thump.
Three soft sounds rang out. Barry and the two fell onto the cloud, as if landing on soft marshmallows, without suffering any harm.
"This… this is…?"
Lying on the marshmallow-like mist cloud, Barry remained stunned for a long time.
Until a familiar voice spoke.
"Next time, if you can't do it, don't overestimate yourself and try to save people. Prioritizing your own safety is the most important thing."
With a scolding tone and clear footsteps, Kevin's figure emerged from the shadows, standing at the edge of the void, looking down at Barry and the others.
"Kevin! Thank goodness, you came just in time!"
Seeing Kevin, Barry was overjoyed.
Although he hadn't known Kevin for long, seeing Kevin here, Barry couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, as if Kevin's arrival could solve all their troubles.
But even if Barry trusted Kevin, he didn't think the other party could handle the problem of spatial intersection.
Seeing the space still moving erratically over there, Barry didn't bother with thanks and quickly said:
"Kevin, run!!"
As he spoke, he transformed into lightning, bringing the Narrator and Flashback to Kevin's side, speaking extremely quickly:
"There's a problem with the space here. If we don't leave quickly, once those altered spaces catch up, we'll all be finished!"
"I know."
Compared to Barry's urgency, Kevin seemed very calm.
He glanced at Barry and said:
"I came for this very thing. Alright, don't talk, stand behind me. Just watch my performance next."
"?"
Barry, who had originally wanted to say something more, froze in place.
Kevin, however, had no intention of explaining to Barry.
He took two steps forward, stood at the edge of the void, and suddenly raised his right hand, extending his palm towards the constantly changing space in front of him, his palm facing the rampant space.
At first, Barry didn't understand the meaning behind Kevin's action.
It wasn't until a few seconds later, when Barry saw the cabin space gradually restoring itself, that he realized Kevin was actually repairing this damaged space!
But… wasn't Kevin the King of Atlantis, only capable of controlling water?
When did he also learn to control the power of space?!
As he watched the surrounding space gradually being restored by Kevin, Barry's thoughts also fell into a momentary confusion.
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones=1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr | 16 novels being updated, I can't read all comments