Not long after phisto's projection was obliterated by Drex Valen, the Ancient One appeared before him.
"Ancient One, I think I deserve an explanation."
Drex imdiately questioned her.
After all, she had never warned him that helping her would leave him carrying the aura of a Hell Dinsion and attract the attention of phisto.
And now that ancient devil would most likely continue hounding him for information about that Hell Dinsion fragnt.
Drex Valen was not particularly afraid of phisto himself.
The devil could not directly descend onto Earth anyway.
What Drex truly disliked was dealing with the sches and manipulations of an ancient devil.
"That was my oversight."
The Ancient One openly apologized.
"However, you destroyed his projection. There's a good chance he never learned exactly what happened."
"Of course," she added calmly, "I know that doesn't erase the problem. So, Drex Valen... what do you want?"
She was refreshingly direct.
"I don't want anything."
Drex stared deeply at her.
Under the perception granted by Dragon Force, he could clearly see dark energy surging through the Ancient One's body.
So that was it.
Had she been too busy suppressing and absorbing the power of the Dark Dinsion to bother interfering with his acquisition of Hulk's blood samples?
"How has Morgan been lately?"
Drex changed the subject.
"Morgan's talent is exceptional," the Ancient One replied. "Though she frequently attracts the attention of demons and devils."
Morgan's magical talent was honestly astonishing.
Most of Kamar-Taj's spells only needed to be taught once before she mastered them.
Naturally, borrowing magical power still required paying a price.
But the Ancient One had taught Morgan how to secretly draw power from her father's dinsion instead.
A thod that basically amounted to magical tax evasion.
Morgan learned the technique almost imdiately.
As a result, not only had her soul magic beco dramatically stronger, but even the standard magic of Kamar-Taj had begun changing in strange ways whenever she used it.
Unfortunately, that sa talent had also drawn the attention of countless Hell demons and devils.
Recently, Kamar-Taj had been cutting down wave after wave of infernal invaders.
phisto himself had taken advantage of the chaos to sneak onto Earth.
Sadly for him, he was erased by Drex before he could accomplish anything aningful.
"phisto cannot exert much power on Earth," the Ancient One continued. "You mainly need to be cautious of his ability to corrupt and manipulate people."
"But he still has a Rider."
Drex shook his head.
At the mont, Johnny Blaze was still nothing more than a stunt motorcyclist.
But sooner or later, phisto would find him.
And once that happened, things would beco troubleso.
"The Rider's power should be insignificant to you."
The Ancient One nodded.
"Maybe," Drex admitted. "But the annoying part is that he's almost impossible to kill."
"You could always send him into space."
"And then he'd just co back as the Cosmic Ghost Rider to haunt forever."
The Ancient One fell silent.
After that thoroughly unproductive conversation ca to an end, she finally left behind what Drex actually needed.
Several magical artifacts capable of protecting against phisto's corruption and temptation.
Drex himself possessed Dragon Force, so he had no need for such protection.
But the won around him definitely did.
Just in case, Drex called them over one by one and distributed the artifacts under the excuse of giving gifts.
Urd received one.
Esdeath received another.
And Wanda, whom Drex valued very highly, received one as well.
Urd looked genuinely shocked that Drex Vale would actually prepare sothing resembling a romantic gift.
"Co to my place tonight," she said happily while accepting it. "I've got a surprise prepared for you too."
Although the artifact looked ancient and completely mismatched with her image as a modern career woman, Urd still treasured it imdiately.
In fact, she had already decided to wear the new "decisive victory" lingerie she had recently bought.
"Not tonight. I've got work to do."
Drex shook his head.
Nothing in the world was allowed to interfere with his research into Hulk's blood tonight.
Whether Hulk's transformation ca from genetic mutation or from the influence of the One Below All...
He intended to uncover the answer before dawn.
As for won?
With his hormones fully under control, Drex currently had absolutely no interest in that sort of thing.
When Esdeath received her "gift," she imdiately proposed having a very physical sparring match with Drex later that night.
He rejected her too.
Wanda's situation, anwhile, was different.
Drex did not fra her artifact as a romantic token.
Instead, he presented it as a reward for achieving perfect academic scores.
Wanda was both surprised and delighted by the gesture.
To her, it ant Drex Valen had genuinely been paying attention to her all this ti rather than simply sponsoring her and forgetting about her afterward.
Unfortunately, Wanda receiving a reward imdiately stimulated Emma.
Emma marched straight to Drex's office demanding one for herself.
"I work for World Serpent too," she declared confidently. "Even if I don't have great achievents, I've still worked hard. I deserve a reward too!"
Drex had already expected this.
Shaking his head slightly, he pulled out the final magical artifact.
"I already prepared one for you."
Emma froze.
Then her eyes imdiately lit up with surprise and happiness.
Clearly, this ant Drex Valen had been thinking about her too.
Her mood improved instantly.
The young beauty no longer complained about anything and happily left with her gift.
"She's easy to satisfy."
Drex sighed with amusent.
As for why Jessica never ca asking for anything...
That was perfectly normal.
Jessica never truly considered herself soone important in Drex Valen's life.
Deep down, she probably did not dare cross that invisible boundary herself.
Which was why she would never boldly storm into his office like Emma did.
Drex himself did not think much about Jessica either.
His plan to use her as bait to lure out Kilgrave still had not succeeded.
At this point, he was not even sure whether Kilgrave had been killed sowhere already or was simply hiding.
After researching throughout the entire night, Drex finally pushed open the laboratory doors without the slightest trace of exhaustion.
Hulk's genes and cells were undeniably abnormal.
There was a very real possibility that Bruce Banner's transformation into Hulk ca from his biology itself.
However, the One Below All existed on a level far too high for Drex to fully analyze.
Even he could not say for certain.
The only way to know the truth would be experintation.
Could other people also beco Hulks?
That question still needed testing.
Of course, now was not the ti to perform such experints openly.
Even if the Ancient One never directly warned him, Drex knew better than to recklessly cross certain lines in public.
Fortunately, other matters soon distracted him.
Such as the Superhero Association's rchandise plans and superhero film projects.
As the Association's chairman, Drex Valen personally reviewed virtually every major operation.
"Speak with the superheroes," he instructed. "Anyone willing to license rchandise can move forward with it."
"And create a public vote on Spiderweb. Any superhero with more than one million followers qualifies for a personal movie franchise."
Drex Valen might not have personally participated in entertainnt culture during his previous life, but he had certainly seen enough of it to understand how it worked.
To him, rchandise and movies were just pocket change.
But culture itself?
That was a weapon.
If superhero culture could fully spread across Earth, then eventually the world itself would transform into sothing similar to the world of One Punch Man.
A planet where heroes handled every crisis.
At that point, Drex would not even need to personally intervene anymore.
He would simply stand at the very top of the superhero pyramid.
With a single command and a raised hand, heroes across the world would move according to his will.
Currently, Earth already had over ten thousand superheroes.
After excluding the countless low-level street heroes, the remaining superpowered individuals were honestly strong enough to begin venturing into space itself.
After all...
Even soone like Gamora had already earned the title of the deadliest woman in the galaxy.
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