Fortunately, through the Ancient One, Zod learned that the girl's origins were anything but ordinary.
The Ancient One judged that the girl was likely a product of a dimensional demon god, similar to Red Tank, a tool meant to invade Earth's dimension.
Just like how the Elder God Chthon had bestowed Chaos Magic upon Wanda, the Scarlet Witch. Every time Chaos Magic was used, it would deepen the connection between Chthon's dimension and Earth's dimension, making it easier for Him to invade.
At the same time, the Ancient One also revealed the origin of the magic the girl was using.
Soul Magic.
A wicked form of magic that used souls as fuel, though it was unclear which dimensional demon god it came from.
Simply put, if the girl burned hundreds of souls and poured them into a single strike, then the stronger the souls, the higher their "quality," and the more evil they were, the stronger that strike would be. Like Chaos Magic, as long as Soul Magic had enough souls, it could accomplish whatever the caster wanted, including confusing minds, reading memories, creating spatial barriers, reversing time, and more.
It made even Zod feel tempted.
But the Ancient One also exposed the truth. Of the souls being burned, 90%90% were actually taken directly by the dimensional demon god. Only the remaining 10%10% became spell power.
Too ruthless. A straight 90%90% cut!
According to the Ancient One, all souls in the world went to the Hell Dimension or the Heaven Dimension after death. But if a dimensional demon god placed its power into a creature in a real dimension and had it hunt and kill, then the souls of those killed would belong to that dimensional demon god.
Of course, the Ancient One did not mention "Death," one of the five great cosmic entities, mainly because she didn't want Zod and the girl to know too much.
By usual practice, a creature like this would be eliminated first. Zod thought to himself, you didn't come out to eliminate Red Tank back then, did you? And Wanda too.
So the Ancient One decided she would seal the girl's Soul Magic.
"No problem. Neither she nor I have any objections, Sorcerer Supreme," Zod nodded and agreed.
Zod wasn't an arrogant idiot. If he truly attracted a dimensional demon god, he couldn't withstand it at all.
Don't be fooled by how he had mutated and gained powerful abilities like energy absorption and psychic power. Those were still "physical" kinds of strength. When it came to the mystic side, Zod was cautious. Toward unknown things he didn't understand, he had both human instinctive fear and the curiosity and fanatic thirst for knowledge of a researcher.
But he stayed calm.
The girl was still a little hesitant. After all, it was a rare superpower for her, and it sounded cool.
Soul Magic required souls that were more evil, or at least more powerful. If that was the case, then wouldn't killing more bad guys be enough?
After the Ancient One firmly sealed the Soul Magic inside the girl, she left. Zod still wanted to ask more, but the Ancient One ran off so fast.
"Morgan, what do you plan to do next?" Zod asked.
He had already gotten the girl's file from Black Queen. Raised in an orphanage, still in high school. With Soul Magic sealed, the tips of her hair and her eyes still didn't change back. She looked very distinctive.
"Mr. Heath, can I stay?" Morgan asked.
She had finally met Zod Heath and didn't want to leave.
This girl is in the terminal stage of being a looks addict, Zod complained inwardly.
"No problem. I'll introduce you to a brother and sister. Their situation is pretty similar to yours," Zod said with a smile.
Since Morgan was into looks, Zod naturally wouldn't be stingy about using his own advantages. More importantly, once the Ancient One died in the future, Morgan's Soul Magic might be usable again, right?
Morgan's cheeks flushed.
Then she met Wanda and Pietro. Pietro was startled too when he saw a beautiful girl like Morgan. But since nobody had superpowers right now, Quicksilver's way of showing off was to invite Morgan to go street racing.
Morgan, of course, refused.
Her mother had died in a car accident caused by a rich kid street racing. The rich kid suffered no consequences, and when the case went to court, Morgan's family house was even used as compensation. That made her resent all street racers. She ended up disliking Pietro as well.
Zod thought it over and had Urd establish a private academy. In the future, like Professor X, he could place the minors from his collected superhuman files there. As for adults, of course, they would be stuffed into World Serpent to work.
It was unclear whether Morgan's Soul Magic had stimulated Jessica Campbell, but the next day Jessica woke up.
The unfamiliar environment made Jessica uncomfortable. She shrank into a corner. At that moment, a screen appeared in front of her, broadcasting a news report, the very car crash incident involving Jessica's family. Seeing that the date on the report was already months later, Jessica couldn't believe it.
"This is all real, Campbell."
Zod appeared. His presence calmed Jessica. He didn't even need psychic power.
No way around it. Being good-looking and charismatic was just like that.
Soon, with Zod's comfort, Jessica accepted reality. But her superpowers still hadn't fully awakened. They required certain conditions. Zod didn't force it. Jessica's abilities were optional to him anyway.
Too weak.
After arranging for Jessica to meet Wanda and Morgan, Zod turned his attention to a piece of news.
The famous genius scientist Dr. Reed was about to explore a solar storm.
This was a space research plan funded by Doom Industries.
The Fantastic Four storyline!
It looked like the movie version. Through Black Queen's investigation, Zod learned that Reed had once sent a message to Blade Technology Industries, hoping to obtain funding support, but Urd ignored it the moment she saw it.
Mainly because as the executor and boss of Blade Technology Industries, Zod Heath had no intention of entering the aerospace field. At most, there was the Blade Technology Industries satellite launch plan he was preparing now, but the satellites were still under construction. Without a few years, launching was impossible.
Even though Blade Technology Industries was extremely rich, with daily transaction flows calculated in tens of billions, that didn't mean money should be wasted like this.
With nowhere else to turn, Reed accepted conditional support from his university-era rival, the billionaire Dr. Victor Von Doom.
Dr. Doom trusted Reed's talent even more than Reed himself, which was why he was willing to spend heavily to back this flight plan.
But he didn't know how many people "that charlatan Reed" would end up getting killed. Among them were both superheroes and supervillains. That was why Doom Industries went bankrupt outright in the original storyline. No wonder Doom would treat "that charlatan Reed" as a life-and-death enemy.
Cosmic rays…
Zod fell into thought. He was wondering whether those cosmic rays would benefit him. No matter how he looked at it, that solar storm felt far from ordinary.
/-\
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