Noah's training never stopped.
Or rather, during his long stretches of meditation, there were only two things he did inside the system space.
Battle. Then process the gains from battle.
Of course, during breaks, he read books. That habit had been with him for many years, and he had no intention of changing it.
This rhythm made Noah feel as though he had returned to Hogwarts.
Because only at Hogwarts had he ever been that desperate.
Back then, he had been nothing more than a magic apprentice born to muggles.
Uncertainty about the future, and a complete lack of confidence in his own strength, drove him to absorb knowledge obsessively. Even after the system appeared, he never dared to slow down.
To be honest, Noah liked this feeling.
It was fulfilling. It was intense.
But that intensity often left him dizzy.
He didn't know what kind of madness the system was indulging in, but every opponent it arranged for him was... unpredictable.
Like the Balrog.
Yes, that Balrog. The one that once defeated Gandalf.
Only this one was far more monstrous.
This Balrog had mastered a complete fire-element domain. Noah didn't even know how many times he had been burned alive by it.
There were also countless other opponents-elves, Titans, and more.
The effect was obvious.
Noah's understanding and refinement of his own domain had reached an entirely new level.
The knowledge belonged to the system. And while Noah possessed the system, that didn't mean he possessed all of its knowledge.
Perhaps to ensure Noah retained the qualities a true sorcerer should have, the system restricted his access to its knowledge reserves.
Only through diligent study could Noah input knowledge into the system's storage.
So he studied.
Relentlessly.
It was no exaggeration to say that Noah's current mastery of magical knowledge was comparable to Wikipedia. Or Baidu.
This made him quietly proud.
Even his Hogwarts professors, and his current teachers, probably didn't possess more magical knowledge than he did.
Noah's domain had undergone a drastic transformation.
He had referenced too many complete domains.
And perhaps out of some mischievous humor, the system even allowed those creatures to actively modify their domains based on the memories in Noah's mind.
That Balrog's domain, for example, was a pure world of fire.
The ground churned with molten magma. The sky was an inverted sea of flames. Fireballs of all sizes rained down endlessly.
As for the elf-
When his elemental domain unfolded, it looked like spring itself. Birds sang. Flowers bloomed.
Harmonious. Peaceful.
But when that domain revealed its true power, Noah was genuinely shocked.
There was still so much he needed to learn.
Noah tried asking the system for help, but its response made him abandon the idea immediately.
"Is this your domain, or mine? I cannot leave you, and I will help you wholeheartedly-but you don't want to become completely useless, do you?"
"...I understand."
Noah really wanted to say that he did want to be useless.
But he couldn't bring himself to say something that embarrassing.
Besides, exploring and researching it himself benefited him far more.
His current domain had almost become a true micro-world.
Small, but complete.
Within a vast arc were four intersecting spheres. At their intersection existed a new region-land, rivers, wind, and flame.
Space existed there. Time flowed.
The only things missing were light and darkness.
That intersection could already be considered an independent micro-universe.
Or even a micro-world.
It was just too small.
So small it was like a speck of dust.
Even within Noah's domain, it was no more than a spatial fragment.
But that was enough.
This was the result of his effort.
Small now-but with deeper understanding and the system's continued integration, Noah believed this fragment would one day grow into something terrifying.
The days continued like this.
Noah never skipped his daily battles.
Everyone had grown used to it.
And Noah himself felt very comfortable.
Until one day, Tony Stark arrived at Noah's Sanctuary.
"Tea or coffee?" Noah asked, seated in the reception room, looking at the man across from him after a brief pause.
"Coffee, obviously," Tony said with a grin. "God, I thought you went missing. I couldn't reach you at all lately. What have you been busy with?"
"Things I needed to be busy with." Noah spread his hands.
With a casual wave, two small halos appeared in front of them. Two cups of hot tea emerged.
"Sorry. No coffee. You'll have to make do."
"I knew it." Tony smiled indifferently. "English afternoon tea isn't bad. Would be better with cake, though."
Noah shrugged.
That clearly wasn't happening.
He personally thought milk tea was better for quenching thirst-though far more bitter than the twenty-dollar cups he used to buy on the street.
Still, the tea and milk flavors were richer.
He'd been drinking it for over thirty years. He was used to it.
Taking a sip, Noah tilted his head and looked at Tony.
"So. What do you need?"
"Oh, definitely something." Tony took a sip, set the cup down, and got straight to the point. "Fury and the others found a new Hydra base."
"Oh?" Noah tilted his head. "Not in Sokovia, is it?"
"Huh?" Tony froze, then quickly understood. "Wait-did you also notice Loki's scepter was there?"
Loki's scepter.
So they had started searching for it.
Either they realized the scepter was unusual, or-
More likely, they noticed its true nature.
After all, it was given to Loki by Thanos.
And it contained an Infinity Stone.
Even without that, Hydra experiments were never simple.
The Battle of New York had reduced Manhattan to ruins, but the aliens had left behind plenty of technology.
Tony knew exactly what state S.H.I.E.L.D. was in. Recovering key items was necessary.
So this wasn't strange at all.
It wasn't even different from the original timeline.
"Simply put," Noah said, spreading his hands, "Loki's scepter is very important to me. So I left a signal on it. I can find it whenever I want."
"Oh?" Tony's interest was clearly piqued. "Sounds important. What is it?"
"An Infinity Stone."
Noah answered plainly.
"Pfft-!"
Tony spat his tea out.
He stared at Noah, eyes wide. Only after Noah nodded did he hurriedly set the cup down.
"An Infinity Stone?"
"Yes."
"The kind you said could destroy a planet?"
"Yes."
"And you let Hydra study it?" Tony stared at him. "Aren't you afraid they'll destroy Earth?"
Destroy Earth?
Noah scoffed internally.
Giving Hydra that much credit was absurd.
They talked about order, about eliminating freedom and enforcing obedience.
In a way, they were extremists of control.
Noah even wondered if they had discovered something about the Isu.
In the comics, or somewhere, their ultimate goal involved aliens.
If that was the case here, were they trying to revive the Isu?
He stroked his chin.
Then dropped the thought entirely.
It was meaningless.
Whether Hydra or the Isu, to Noah, they were already dead.
And not just him.
Asgard would never allow the Isu to return either.
If his guess was right, Hydra's fate was sealed from the start.
"I was planning to retrieve it soon anyway," Noah said, spreading his hands. "You just happened to show up."
"Oh?" Tony's expression brightened. "Then how about we team up to get it back?"
"Team up?" Noah looked at him strangely.
He hadn't expected that.
In the original events, Thor had personally come to Earth.
Maybe he sensed something off about the scepter. Or maybe for other reasons.
But now, Thor was busy improving himself-and helping his brother.
Loki was also adapting to the Infinity Stone.
Thor wouldn't have the time.
As for Tony's proposal?
Noah saw no reason to refuse.
It was his own thing, after all.
Why wouldn't he go?
After all-
It was an Infinity Stone.
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