"If you have time to deal with magical issues in other worlds, you might as well come back sooner to assume the role of Supreme Mage. I'll teach you how to operate the Protective Array then."
The Ancient One tapped the Eye of Agamotto hanging on her chest with her free hand.
"Uh... let's talk about it later. I'm a bit busy now." Su Ming felt a bit toothache; the plan was to keep delaying, after all. Better to change the subject: "By the way, I found a Divine Artifact. See if you can help me fuse it onto the visor of my helmet."
To divert the conversation, he pulled out the Eye of Ra from his backpack and handed it to The Ancient One.
The Ancient One took a look at it. The item was very beautiful, and its magic energy was abundant.
Although this kind of magic was unfamiliar, The Ancient One was quite sure it was some kind of magic, rather than Divine Power.
"I thought our world was already in the End of Dharma Era, but the world you're talking about has an even worse magical environment than ours."
Not exactly so, because strictly speaking, only God in the DC side could be called a god.
Those other so-called gods were once 'Prometheus,' which are today's warlocks, former humans who proclaimed themselves as gods with stolen fire.
Therefore, the Eye of Ra, termed as a Divine Artifact, was only seen as a powerful magic prop in the eyes of The Ancient One, not worthy of being called a Divine Artifact.
"Things over there are quite complicated and can't be explained clearly in a short time..."
"Alright, give me the helmet, although I would like to teach you fusion magic, you're not going to learn it. It seems you'll need a mage assistant after you assume the role."
The Ancient One saw that he had no intention of elaborating, presumably because time was tight, and she could understand.
As with the previous handling of the Magic Floating Cloak, The Ancient One simply chanted an incantation and then pressed the two items together, merging the Eye of Ra into the helmet.
Of course, the original power of the helmet's visor was only electrical energy, which surely couldn't drive this item, so Su Ming paid with a gemstone from Manhattan.
The Ancient One had mentioned that those gemstones were very precious, but clearly, their current usage was very rudimentary.
She knew something about these gemstones but considered it not the right time to explain, only giving him a vague hint.
Geometric figures composed of squares, triangles, and dots; ironically, Su Ming hadn't seen anything like that thus far.
"Alright, a detection tool is complete, but I've seen more crystal balls before." The Ancient One returned the helmet to Su Ming, more concerned about when he would come to take on the role: "The Magic Prince has a high evaluation of you; I think he can serve as an advisor after you take over."
"Uh, I'll discuss it with him."
Su Ming donned the helmet, secretly sighing helplessly. Why couldn't he avoid this topic?
"Haha, then go handle your own matters."
The Ancient One closed her eyes as if savoring the taste of spicy snacks.
Su Ming breathed a sigh of relief, left the room, greeted Mordo coming towards him, and then self-harmed again to return outside the Multiverse.
Mordo watched him disappear in the courtyard, leaving only a few footprints and a pool of blood in the snow, shrugged inexplicably, and entered the room.
"Teacher, the repair work is basically complete, and the array is operating normally." He reported respectfully to The Ancient One.
The Ancient One nodded slightly, placing her cup down peacefully: "Very good, go call Wang for me, I need to discuss something with him."
The snowflakes continued to drift in the courtyard, while Mordo went to execute the order, and The Ancient One enjoyed her tranquil state of mind.
Enduring the torment of chili while maintaining a calm heart was a decent practice, and The Ancient One began to consider the possibility of promoting this comprehensively at Kama Taiji.
As the next Supreme Mage, Slade would surely be willing to provide sufficient spicy snacks to aid fellow disciples.
............
Having returned to Kama Taiji once, a lot of time had already been spent, and Su Ming didn't have the time to go back to the group and rest. He immediately flew crazily towards the DC direction.
The cloak seemed to have come alive, now full of vigor and very fast.
Only when crossing the breach in the Origin Wall did he encounter a bit of trouble, as this place had already become a complete battlefield.
Multicolored lights swept across the stars, bringing silent destruction and death.
Judging by the colors, at least five Lantern Groups were fighting there, engaged in battle with those revived giant statues on the wall.
As a person from outside the Origin Wall, he was promptly stopped.
A Green Lantern young lady with big eyes and a brown-skinned Star Orchid blocked his way.
"Please step aside; I'm just passing through."
He bypassed them directly, speaking in English. After all, the Lantern Ring had a built-in universal language translation function, so they could understand.
The Green Lantern young lady chuckled with anger, her pointed ears twitching, and pursued along with the Purple Lantern.
This is the Sea of Origin and Light Storage outside! Do you think it's the docking bay of Star Port? 'Just passing through'... it sounds fake!
This must be some anthropomorphized, miniaturized giant statue, or some external concept like the Omega Four Gods!
A green light streaked across in front of him, a warning shot fired.
Su Ming stopped; these cosmic traffic cops really were a nuisance.
Everyone was fighting the giant statues so animatedly, so why stop him? Just like other Lantern Group members, why not go to the front lines as cannon fodder?
What's wrong with being blasted into cosmic dust by those super bigwigs on the wall?
Watching from a not-so-distant point as the members of the Lantern Group continued to fall one after another, Su Ming's heart remained unperturbed.
Anyway, the rings cost nothing, and once manpower dwindled at the front lines, the Lantern Furnaces on Oa Star or the major home planets would immediately produce more rings and select newcomers across the cosmos.
As far as whether the untrained newcomers were suitable to battle cosmic-level bigwigs... isn't it often said that real combat is the best training?
If they die, it's over; if they survive, they become elite veterans.
Currently, there were red, green, purple, blue, and cyan here, along with a White Lantern Kael, while the Yellow Lantern Corps seemed missing.
Sinestro became an invisible Lantern Demon, but where were the rest of the Yellow Lanterns? Was that big-headed fool Achilo the leader now?
"No passage allowed here, Demon, return to the outside of the Origin Wall."
The Green Lantern young lady raised her chin, gesturing towards the breach direction while her Green Lantern Ring glowed brightly, as if ready to act.
However, the woman from the Purple Lantern Corps was more restrained, continuously observing Deathstroke while whispering with her companion.
"Seems like an ordinary human from Sector 2814."
The Green Lantern shook her head, a smug expression on her elfin face: "You don't know as much as I do. I've actually been to Earth in Sector 2814, and those people there can't remove themselves from the planet, let alone survive in the cosmos. This must be fake."
The Star Orchid nodded, as if understanding, yet seemingly understanding nothing at all, as the Lantern Ring's scan was ineffective on the person in front of them.
Su Ming had no plan to fight them; they were too weak for him and could be easily dealt with.
But it wasn't necessary to do so, as there was no benefit.
"Who's in charge here? Hal? Carol? Just call them over; I can prove my identity."
"No need; he can pass through." A cryptic voice sounded, a blue light quickly flying in from afar: "His heart is full of hope, and the Blue Lantern Corps is willing to vouch for him."
"Thank you, Holy Walker."
Having cleared the checkpoint, Su Ming didn't want to linger there.
The leader of the Blue Lantern, the Holy Walker, was always mysterious, and chatting with him was unnecessary, purely wasting time.
The Blue Lantern Rings didn't have much direct lethality; they were the BUFF manufacturers of all the Lantern Groups.
Most Lantern Rings, at maximum power, could only utilize 100% energy from emotions, while with a Blue Lantern BUFF, that number doubled to 200%.
But the Blue Lanterns faced tough situations in the cosmos, and many, when dealing with collective Lantern Groups, would first target the Blue Lanterns.
Repeatedly, their numbers dwindled significantly, and because their selection criteria were much higher than other Lantern Groups, they were the group most noticeably reduced.
Historically, the Blue Lanterns dwindled to just their leader, the Holy Walker, and had to lodge with the Green Lanterns.
Incidentally, Harley had worn a Lantern Ring before; she bought a genuine Red Lantern and Black Lantern Ring on an online second-hand market, and those two rings even fused into a Black-Red Ring, instantly boosting her power.
However, after playing for a while and causing some pranks in the city, she felt death and anger within her didn't suit her style, so she threw the rings away, snatched Hal's Green Lantern Ring for a while, and even protected Earth once...
Though not as Saintly as the Cyan Lanterns, the Blue Lanterns were the nice guys of the cosmos. Su Ming admired them but wouldn't become one of them.
The hope in his heart? That was only hope for himself.
The Holy Walker stepped aside, making a gesture to proceed, and as Su Ming brushed past him, a whisper reached Deathstroke's ear.
"Beware of the invisible ring in your hand."
Su Ming glanced at him and swiftly flew toward Earth.