After sending Thor and Loki away, Lucas first went to the neighboring Maximoff Drinks to buy a milk tea, then returned to the bookstore's lounge to continue what he had left unfinished before his trip to Asgard.
He was searching for Mephisto's Hell by sensing the points he had proactively distributed.
During the Battle of New York with Thanos, he had proactively dispersed energy to protect innocent people in the vicinity whose souls weren't particularly dark. After the battle, some of these people died for various reasons, and their souls entered the Hell where Mephisto resided.
The souls of these individuals had been infused with Lucas's energy, making them natural coordinate markers for him. As long as he could sense the souls of these people, Lucas would be able to find the new coordinates of Mephisto's Hell. Then, he would give Mephisto a surprise.
After a while, the milk tea was finished, and Lucas had completed a round of sensing.
There were three areas where the markers were relatively dense: Kamar-Taj in Nepal, the Dimension of Blood, and the Dream Dimension.
The extra-dimensional beings and sorcerers in these three places had basically started using Lucas's energy for enhancement, making them his primary customer base at present.
Besides these three places and Earth-404, there were also three other locations, each with one or several isolated markers.
These were Earth-65, Earth-120703 (Amazing Spider-Man Universe), and Earth-14512 (Peni Parker Universe), which Lucas had not visited before.
However, Mephisto's Hell remained undetected.
"Is Mephisto too far away, or has he still not unlocked the dimensional blockade, which is why I haven't sensed him?" Lucas was a bit unsure about this question.
He didn't know how large the range of his energy sensing was.
Was it a range problem? Or a dimensional blockade problem?
But it didn't matter.
If it was the former, then he would continue to strengthen himself and increase his sensing range.
If it was the latter, then he would also continue to strengthen himself, improve his sensing sensitivity, and strive to break through Mephisto's blockade.
[Points: 315,574,396]
[Sacred Body: 5133]
He invested almost all of the 4 billion points extorted from the Watcher, increasing his Sacred Body by 1333 points.
Lucas felt that he had become stronger, but he quickly found it uninteresting.
Above invincible, still invincible.
Lacking a reference, he only knew that he was now invincibly strong, but it was difficult to clearly understand his destructive power.
After all, in the real Universe, destroying a Planet or detonating a star system was his limit.
Expanding the scope further would harm countless innocent beings. This was not what Lucas wanted to see.
"Should I try my hand against other Elder Gods? If I remember correctly, Chthon still owes me a favor. I wonder how much energy that can be exchanged for."
Chthon, to force the Inheritors to eliminate Spider-Man, cursed the Inheritors to be eliminated by Spider-Man. And Lucas, as Sorcerer Spider-Man, fulfilled this curse for him.
A grudge was thus formed between the two.
If Lucas wanted to claim this favor from Chthon, a fierce battle would be inevitable.
Thinking of this, Lucas took out the darkhold. If he remembered correctly, the darkhold contained magic for borrowing energy from Chthon.
And the transmission of energy required a channel. He could follow the energy transmission channel upstream to find Chthon's dimension.
Mount Wundagore.
As Lucas was attempting to borrow energy from Chthon through the darkhold, Chthon immediately sensed it.
During this time, he had learned a lot about this Earth through the perspective of Agatha, the holder of another darkhold on Earth-404.
The most important piece of information was that this Earth also had a Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff.
And coincidentally, Wanda's residence, Maximoff Drinks, was right next to Lucas's Bookstore.
The coordinates of the two, in Chthon's view, were the same.
This misled him.
Now, in Chthon's eyes, the holder of the darkhold was Wanda.
The new Scarlet Witch, his best vessel for returning to reality.
This was something Chthon had to take seriously.
Therefore, when Lucas tried to borrow energy from Chthon through the darkhold, Chthon readily agreed. He didn't even set any conditions, fearing that he might scare 'Wanda' away.
In the bookstore lounge, Lucas sat cross-legged, with the open darkhold resting on his knees.
The darkhold flickered constantly, its light uncertain. Suddenly, a crimson energy beam erupted from the darkhold, shooting towards Lucas's face, about to enter through his mouth, nose, and eyes.
Lucas did not have this ungraceful bad habit of consuming energy with his mouth.
The talent [Energy Absorption] activated, and as the crimson energy beam approached Lucas's body, it silently disappeared.
Because there was no price to pay, Lucas was not in a hurry to follow the energy channel to find Chthon. He couldn't refuse something for free. he would absorb the free energy first.
Time passed by, minute by minute, and after about ten minutes, the crimson energy beam disappeared and his points increased by thirty million.
'Very good, I got thirty million points for free in one go. Chthon is truly generous. Keep up the good work. there aren't many people this generous.'
Chthon thought, 'She absorbed so much energy in one go. It seems this world's 'Wanda' is quite strong. However, after absorbing so much dark energy, her mind should be affected. A few more times, and I'll find an opportunity to hide in the energy, invade her mental world, and seize her body.'
Both of them expressed great satisfaction with this transaction.
Since that's the case, how about another round?
Just as Lucas was about to activate the darkhold to 'borrow' energy from Chthon again, someone interrupted him.
The person who arrived was the genuine Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff.
"Lucas, I suddenly had a very bad feeling just now."
Golden sparks flickered, a portal rotated open, and Wanda stepped out of it.
Wanda didn't go to class today. Instead, she stayed at home. She had already skipped a week, so one more day wouldn't make a difference.
But even though her home and Lucas's Bookstore were only a few tens of meters apart, the strong sense of unease still made Wanda choose to use a portal directly instead of slowly walking over.
"Wanda, don't be afraid. What happened? Tell me slowly."
"I..."
Wanda's gaze fell on Lucas.
To be precise, it was on the darkhold on Lucas's knees.
Pointing at the darkhold on Lucas's knees, Wanda said, "I just felt a strong sense of unease, and it should be coming from this book."
Lucas looked down and instantly understood.
The darkhold still had a strong, lingering aura of Chthon.