Chapter Seventy-One: Gu Yi's Second Visit

After bidding farewell to Heimerdinger, who had come up to apologize, Yang Qiu’s script reached its conclusion.

Script Nine: The Fusion of Technology and Magic

Script Synopsis: The advancement of technology has allowed scientific thinking and innovations to permeate the realm of magic, giving rise to one of the most outstanding research institutions in the magical world—the Hextech Institute. On this new path, many geniuses have emerged, though their tender youth reflects the institution’s relatively recent founding…

Script Evolution Result: Favorable

Script Evolution Products: Hextech Institute, Heimerdinger, Jayce, Viktor

Hextech Institute: A premier research facility on the magical side, staffed by hundreds of researchers and occupying a floor of the Clock Tower. It possesses its own generators and energy recycling systems, serves as a primary development and maintenance platform for Ouroboros, boasts thousands of proprietary technologies, and owns a star-system level research vessel currently under repair.

Heimerdinger: Master mechanic, head of the Hextech Institute, recipient of the Silver Moon Honor, renowned for unique insights into materials science, energy studies, and elemental theory, and has made outstanding contributions to the fusion of magic and technology.

Jayce: Intermediate knight, intermediate researcher, advocate of the “firepower above all” theory, one of the genius researchers, principal leader of the Blitz Research Project, inventor of various energy compression and electrical conversion technologies, and creator of the Mercury Hammer.

Viktor: Junior mage, intermediate researcher, proponent of the “mechanical supremacy” theory, one of the genius researchers, deputy leader of the Blitz Research Project, inventor of universal mechanical technologies, expert in mechanical automation research, and creator of the Chaos Storm Singularity Generator.

The planet representing this script was the smallest in Yang Qiu’s mental universe, yet its density far exceeded the others. On this planet, the most striking feature was the towering Hextech Institute, surrounded by a hundred experimental sites.

Hextech was also a mineral and energy-rich planet. Supported by its self-sustaining resource and recycling systems, it could fulfill ninety percent of the Institute’s needs, lacking only some magical materials that could not be mass-produced.

Watching the busy researchers on Hextech, Yang Qiu shook his head, thinking, “Human ambition knows no bounds.”

They had invested plenty of mental energy, but because there were so many evolution targets, Heimerdinger’s strength was capped below legendary rank. In terms of personal power alone, Heimerdinger might not even rival Blaze Mage—unless he deployed those massive energy-guzzling super weapons.

Meanwhile, with the emergence of the ninth planet, a miniature star system finally took shape. The connections between the nine planets became increasingly close, and Yang Qiu’s mental energy circulated and grew within this star network, generating abundant renewable and some non-renewable resources on several planets with suitable environments, all linked to script evolution.

These resources were still stretched thin for the current personnel, but it was far better than at the beginning. The blue pouch fish could finally swim not only on Earth but also in the Hextech Institute’s breeding pools, or slumber in the alchemy workshop’s cryogenic storage.

Surveying Hextech from a god’s-eye view, Yang Qiu’s lips curled upward. The future looked promising.

Just then, a portal opened outside his house, and the familiar figure appeared once again at Yang Qiu’s door.

“Mage Ancient One? Please, come in,” Yang Qiu said softly.

This time, Ancient One entered with noticeably more ease, radiating an aura of impending retirement.

The development speed of Yang Qiu’s faction far exceeded her expectations. She had thought that a few years would suffice for a budding foundation. Once the foundation was set, Ancient One planned to hand over the Time Stone to Yang Qiu upon retirement to accelerate his growth, hoping that, by the time Thanos arrived, Earth’s chances of victory would be higher—but now, it might no longer be necessary.

If things continued at this pace, Yang Qiu might well inherit Ancient One’s courage and keep Thanos at bay from Earth.

Recently, as she studied the timelines, Ancient One distinctly sensed a shift in Thanos’s future attitude.

At first, after Odin and Ancient One perished, Thanos viewed Earth with utter contempt, watching the various stones converge on the planet, confident in crushing any resistance as long as all six weren’t gathered.

Especially regarding the successors of Odin and Ancient One—utterly disappointing.

Thor’s combat ability was nowhere near Odin’s, and even failed to protect their main strategic deterrent, the Rainbow Bridge.

Doctor Strange, even worse—a self-taught mage, talented but with too little time to grow, and nowhere near Ancient One’s mastery of the Time Stone.

But with the rise of Yang Qiu’s faction, every time Ancient One glimpsed the future, Thanos’s invasions of Earth involved increasingly formidable forces, and sometimes even cunning strategies—unprecedented behavior.

“Mage Ancient One, is there something you wish to discuss today?” Yang Qiu asked, noting her cheerful smile as she entered.

If there was nothing urgent, he preferred to continue probing his mental universe—the nascent star system drew him far more than the bald-headed guest before him.

“I came today to inform you: what happened in New York is now known to every mage in the world,” Ancient One said, sitting across from Yang Qiu.

Every mage in the world?

Yang Qiu was momentarily puzzled. There were only two mage factions on Earth—his Clock Tower and Ancient One’s Kamar-Taj. Both were essentially his own people; if they knew, so be it.

“You misunderstand,” Ancient One stood to explain.

“Kamar-Taj is different from your Clock Tower. It was originally a forcefully unified group created through my own power. Its stability over the years depended entirely on my suppression.”

“The so-called Three Sanctums arose from conflicts of interest between regional mages, developing into internal factions.”

“And within these factions are various groups, some of whom harbor dubious intentions. They stayed quiet only due to high-pressure policies.”

Yang Qiu nodded in agreement. No matter what Ancient One said, her control over subordinates could never equal his; after all, his people were all products of script evolution, hers were not.

Even so, he could already see signs of small groups emerging among his own people.