"Are you ready to leave?"
Don't get the wrong idea—Fang Yuan was saying this to the Ancient One.
Since the Ancient One had accepted Fang Yuan's advice to try living an ordinary life, she would naturally move out of Kamar-Taj.
"Yes." The Ancient One nodded, then couldn't help laughing. "It's strange—leaving Kamar-Taj actually makes me feel nervous; the future looks challenging again."
"I've arranged an identity for you." Fang Yuan was rather thoughtful. "A Scottish noble descendant. Sure you don't want anything else?"
"No need." The Ancient One smiled. "Too much help defeats the purpose."
"When do you plan to leave?" she asked Fang Yuan.
"Next week." Fang Yuan kept a straight face. "I still have some packing to do."
The Ancient One didn't press further. "All right, see you next month!"
"See you next month!" Fang Yuan waved goodbye.
Next month he would have to return the Infinity Gauntlet to Odin, so Fang Yuan would only be gone from this Universe for a month—hardly worth a big farewell.
He hadn't even told Tony and the others he was leaving.
After the Ancient One left, Fang Yuan hurried to the underwater kingdom of Talokan; the leader had already prepared everything he needed.
A complete materials production line for the current Universe, Vibranium mines, and more than ten engineering Iron Man Suits Tony had designed.
Fang Yuan planned to return to the X-Men World—it was only the 1960s there, and he didn't want to climb the tech tree all over again.
Normally he couldn't bring much when crossing universes; it had to be something he could carry in hand.
But now he had the Space Stone. He expanded the Sling Ring's one-cubic-meter storage to the size of two football fields—plenty of room for resources.
Once his research into spatial magic deepened, the ring's interior could grow even larger.
Fang Yuan quickly stowed everything and raced back to Kamar-Taj.
He'd told the Ancient One he'd leave next week, but that was a lie—he was leaving right now!
Why the deception? Naturally, to throw people off.
Only after Athena confirmed the Ancient One had finally appeared in Los Angeles did he slip into Kamar-Taj's library.
"I knew the Ancient One would linger at Kamar-Taj a bit longer," Fang Yuan gloated. "Good thing I planned for it."
His purpose here was obvious—the Ancient One's private collection.
When he'd studied magic before, the Ancient One had kept these books from him; now that he was leaving this World temporarily, of course he'd make some mischief.
He figured the day he left would be the most heavily guarded, so he deliberately said he'd leave next week.
No need for a showdown—he was sneaking out tonight!
Invisible, Fang Yuan crept into the Ancient One's private shelves and spotted his target at once—
the book of cagliostro!
Required reading for the Sorcerer Supreme, packed with uses of the eye of agamotto and even some Dark Magic.
One of the tomes the Ancient One had explicitly forbidden Fang Yuan to touch.
"Guard against what? I'm not like that fool Kaecilius, summoning Dormammu without reading the warning labels." Fang Yuan snorted and tucked the book of cagliostro into his ring.
Although the X-Men World had no Time Stone and probably no link to the Dark Dimension, learning the spells early was smart—and good for building his mage knowledge.
Besides, the Ancient One had made it sound so serious; studying Dark Magic somewhere Dormammu couldn't stick his nose in might be safer.
Since he was here, one book wouldn't suffice. He kept scanning the shelves.
"Teleportation? Mind Control?"
Fang Yuan hefted the thick volumes, astonished. "A whole book for one spell?"
No wonder Kamar-Taj mages were mediocre.
"Magical Artifact Forging? How to Create Spells?"
"Whatever, I can use them all—if I see it, it's mine!"
Fang Yuan swept more than a dozen arcane tomes off the shelves, then quickly opened his company panel.
"Return to X-Men World!"
Grab the loot and run—thrilling.
[Teleportation complete!]
Fang Yuan vanished from Kamar-Taj's library, but the next moment a yellow-robed figure stepped in—the Ancient One, who'd been playing hide-and-seek with him.
She wore the same familiar smile and waved her hand; more books appeared on the shelves—everything had merely been hidden.
Old but cunning. Without the Time Stone the Ancient One was already centuries old; no matter how clever Fang Yuan was, he was still green compared to her.
X-Men World, top floor of Vought Tower.
Fang Yuan walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows, gazed out at the same New York but clearly more vintage, and exhaled slowly.
Returning here, he felt as if lifetimes had passed.
He'd only been away three years, and barely a single night had passed in this World.
Yet this place lagged nearly fifty years behind the future New York—truly a huge gap.
He tried to recall what he'd been doing when he left last time.
"Oh, I was making people."
Suddenly he remembered: he'd just survived a two-White Queen pincer, and at that moment Emma and Raven were still on the bed in the inner room.
He chuckled, stripped off his clothes, and headed into the room. A woman's startled cry immediately rang out.
"Huh? Again?"
"Didn't you just finish a moment ago?"
"Let her go first—mmph…"
After the workout, every last trace of Fang Yuan's unease about crossing Worlds vanished. The good thing about being the lord of a fishpond was that there were fish in every World; wherever he went, he was never alone.
The next day, the White Queen rarely stayed away from Vought Corporation.
Two White Queens had been exciting, but even one Fang Yuan taking Emma and Raven twice in a row was more than they could handle.
Come on—Fang Yuan's physique was far stronger now than when he'd left.
Only his high mental stats and fine control over his body let Mutants survive the onslaught.
Fang Yuan reviewed what needed doing next.
It was early 1964; he had just founded the Dark Council to consolidate anti-Vought forces, and simultaneously launched Augustus, a firm focused on information technology, placing even Vought's enemies under his thumb.
On the employee side, the X-Men were now global superstars, so no worries there.
Officially, the Vought Act had just been enacted, granting Vought Corporation its special status. The only caveat: this was an election year, and Kennedy was about to campaign for re-election.
But that was no big deal. Thanks to Fang Yuan, Kennedy wasn't the embattled "Muzak President" of the original history; his power was at its height, and his civil-rights focus kept him popular.
Re-election was in the bag.
So Fang Yuan began drafting Vought's Phase-Three plan—Expansion!
Phase One had been founding Vought; on his last visit Phase Two saw Vought firmly established. This time, Vought would rule the World.
The Black-Robe Vought Corporation was the model Fang Yuan aimed for.
And with the Vought Act backing it, the X-Men Black-Robe Company had far sturdier foundations than its inspiration.
"Super-hero merchandise is a must—Professor X's wheelchair, Magneto's magnet toys, we need them all. Little trinkets like these explode in popularity."
Fang Yuan mulled over each point.
"Then we tighten up employee training—Athena herself will design the program. We'll out-professionalize Black-Robe Vought!"
"And we must nurture junior heroes. Godolkin University's model is perfect. I'll talk to Charles about turning Xavier's School into a proper hero boot camp instead of an ordinary academy."
That would also solve employment and social acceptance issues for Awakened kids—Charles would agree.
Black-Robe Vought was a treasure trove; Fang Yuan only needed to copy their playbook.
And he had cutting-edge experience of his own.
"The Kamar-Taj Outer Disciple model produced great results—let's try it here."
"We'll rebrand it. Since it's just to buff employee reputations, how about 'Vought International Members'?"
He hadn't realized how much there was to do after his cross-World trip.
His first priority, though, was installing the production line he'd brought back. The X-Men World had Mutants, so compound v could wait, but Awakening Serum, Life Serum, and Longevity Serum would be snapped up instantly.
Fortunately, Athena the AI could handle all those tedious logistics.
Still, some matters required Fang Yuan's personal touch.
Like the President's phone call.
"Fang, we've got an emergency in South Vietnam—hordes of armed Awakened are inflicting heavy casualties on our boys," Kennedy said, vexed.
"Can the X-Men deploy?" he asked.
"What are you thinking?" Fang Yuan shot back, questioning the President's sanity. "The X-Men are a peace-loving Super-hero team—how could they help you wage a war of aggression?"
"Ahem." Kennedy shifted uncomfortably. "Let's not call it a war of aggression."
"If not the X-Men, surely other Awakened can enlist?" Kennedy pressed. "How about an official call-up of Awakened into the military?"
Outsiders seeing the mighty President so deferential to Fang Yuan would rub their eyes in disbelief.
But Kennedy had no choice—anything involving Awakened was Fang Yuan's call, not his.
"No deal. Send Viktor's special unit," Fang Yuan refused again, "or recruit Awakened outside Vought's payroll."
Having Vought-affiliated Awakened fight would tarnish the company's global image.
Kennedy was helpless; if Vought wouldn't touch those Awakened, neither could he.
"But the Awakened South Vietnam has fielded are hurting us badly—it'll damage official credibility," Kennedy finally admitted.
Fang Yuan had an easy fix: "Restore your image by focusing on the troops. Atlas Military Industries can supply loads of soldier-safety gear; leak that news and public outrage will cool."
Kennedy hesitated. "Safety gear? Will it actually work?"
"Of course not—but it's not the public using it. How would they know?" Fang Yuan replied matter-of-factly.
"That's unacceptable, I'm the—"
"Five-percent kickback!"
"…Deal."
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
patreon.com /AZofficial