Nepal, Kamar-Taj, The Ancient One's courtyard.
In the afterglow of the sunset, a figure leaned against a tree, feigning sleep with closed eyes.
Lucas was catching up on sleep, he hadn't woken up early in a long time.
Thinking of his agreement with the Ancient One last night, Lucas had woken up early for once. However, he was careless.
Nepal and New York had a time difference!
The former was in the East Fifth Zone, the latter in the West Fifth Zone. Nepal's time was about ten hours earlier than New York's.
Whoosh!
In a daze, Lucas heard something being thrown at him. He could dodge, but he didn't want to move. It wouldn't hurt even if it hit him.
Thud.
A green gem, with its radiance contained, hit Lucas's forehead and then fell into his arms.
Lucas stretched lazily, slowly waking up.
The bright moon was already high in the sky.
The Ancient One slowly walked out of the room. "Didn't I tell you to come tomorrow?"
"Sorcerer, time difference."
The Ancient One remained silent.
After a moment, he finally spoke, "Lucas, what do you think time is?"
What the Ancient One was asking was probably not the definition or concept of time.
Lucas focused his mind, carefully sensing the passage of time.
The gem in his arms glowed green and his perception of time became even more acute.
Speed, the speed at which time flows.
The speed of time's flow is not the same for different objects.
Lucas looked at the Ancient One in confusion.
The Ancient One asked, "Want to know?"
Lucas nodded. "Mm."
The Ancient One pointed to the green gem in Lucas's arms. "Here, Time Stone. Go find the answer yourself."
"This is the Time Stone?" Lucas picked up the gem in his arms, incredulous.
"Mm, I just replicated it." The Ancient One said calmly.
"Phew..." Lucas breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought that the gem was common, but it turned out to be a fake.
The Ancient One added, "Its function is similar to the Time Stone, though its effect might be a bit weaker. And it doesn't have the characteristic of infinite energy, activating it requires consuming your own energy."
Lucas looked at the Time Stone in his hand, his expression conflicted.
It consumes energy?
He wondered if the invisible energy representing [Physique] and the mental energy representing [Spirit] would work.
If it meant sacrificing his life, he'd rather not. He needed to save it for increasing his stat points.
He would try mental energy first.
Mental power surged into the Time Stone. Instantly, the scene in the courtyard flashed into his mind, then quickly flowed past.
In the vision, Lucas and the Ancient One sat quietly for a long time, and then Lucas bid farewell and left.
This was... foreseeing the future?
Lucas opened his eyes, looking at the Time Stone in his hand with surprise.
His ability to foresee the future had been amplified by nearly a hundred times.
Suddenly, the Ancient One stood up and asked, "Lucas, what do you want to drink? Coffee or tea?"
Saying this, the Ancient One winked at Lucas.
This scene wasn't in the future he saw.
Lucas suddenly understood. "Sorcerer, I understand. You want to tell me that the future is just a deduction, a possibility. The important thing is, what kind of future do I choose?"
The Ancient One nodded meaningfully.
I just want to tell you that the future is uncertain, that's all.
The latter part about choosing the future, you figured that out yourself. If you cause trouble later, it's not my business.
"Lucas, you can play around with it. If you don't understand anything, come ask me tomorrow."
Saying this, The Ancient One took out a hammock and tied it between two trees in the courtyard.
"I've been busy for most of the day, time to sleep."
Lucas shook his head and chuckled.
The Ancient One was trying to send him away.
Taking a step, a halo flickered, and Lucas arrived at an uninhabited deserted island.
Coincidentally, a red sun was rising above the sea.
It was sunrise.
It wasn't that Lucas and the Ancient One had no concept of time. Time zones applied to ordinary people and were not very friendly to sorcerers.
On the deserted island, Lucas continued to familiarize himself with the usage of the Time Stone.
Hmm? Gwen and George?
With a swipe of his hand, an image moved in front of him and began to play.
In the scene, George was explaining to the teacher with Gwen why they hadn't attended school for half a month.
This image, which happened a few hours ago, was recorded by the Time Stone.
Half a month? Shouldn't it be more than twenty days?
Lucas pondered, then suddenly realized.
It was the speed of time's flow.
The speed of time's flow in both Universes fluctuated within a certain range. Therefore, an error occurred.
What was the speed of time's flow related to?
Speed?
Mass?
Energy?
What about in the microscopic domain?
It was too complicated, he couldn't figure it out.
'It seems I am still better suited to be a Superman.' He sighed.
Lucas began to deduce the future of Gwen and George.
'Let me clear some obstacles for you, lest I leave this Universe and return and some irreversible tragedy has occurred.'
Although it could be reversed with the Time Stone, the Time Stone only reverses time, not events. If an event happened, it happened.
Life experiences events, not time.
Lucas seemed to understand something.
When Lucas began to deduce, he found it much more difficult than expected.
Whenever a choice was encountered, several branches of different thicknesses would appear. The thickness represented the probability of occurrence.
Almost every short period of time, a choice would appear.
Feeling his mental power rapidly depleting, Lucas stopped the deduction.
This deduction method was incorrect. A person faces countless choices, but many choices are irrelevant, only a few are important choices.
Lucas tried to deduce again. This time, he ignored the small branches and focused on the key points.
Finally, he saw it.
A major obstacle in Gwen and George's lives!
The event occurred on a night a few months later.
Ghost-Spider was injured and surrounded by several police cars.
George shielded Ghost-Spider, trying to explain to his colleagues. Finally, the police were persuaded, opened the encirclement, and let Ghost-Spider leave.
Afterward, George was held accountable and demoted.
Just as Lucas suppressed his anger and continued to watch, the vision collapsed and dissipated.
"How could this happen?" Lucas couldn't help but exclaim.
Just now, Gwen chose a low-probability branch, and reality overwrote the deduction.
Was this deduction method also wrong?
Deduction itself was wrong!
A flash of inspiration struck Lucas.
The important thing was not how many possibilities the future held, but what kind of future to choose.
Feeling his mental power about to be exhausted, Lucas stopped fiddling the Time Stone. He would rest and wait for his mental power to recover. After that, he would go straight to their door.
Although the mastermind's figure was not in the deduction he just saw, Lucas had a general understanding of the plot.
In the original plot, this event involved George pointing a gun at Gwen.
There were several versions of the mastermind: one was George himself, one was Kingpin, and another was Mark Murdock.
But now that the plot had changed, George was ruled out. So it was either Kingpin or Matt Murdock.
If they were good people, Lucas would have a psychological burden of judging them for future crimes. But in Earth-65, neither of these two were good people.
To be safe, he would investigate again, lest he mistakenly kill good people.
Oh, and there was a criminal organization called SILK. He would deal with them all at once.
Lucas silently sentenced the aforementioned individuals to death in his heart.