American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

Silent City.

“I have a big deal!” Mephisto's high spirits were palpable.

“This is a meeting to discuss the future of the Nine Realms.” Odin interrupted Mephisto with displeasure. Thor and Loki stood behind him; Odin had brought them to the meeting for cultivation purposes.

“Precisely, my deal is closely related to the future of the Nine Realms.” Mephisto didn't care about Odin's displeasure, showing he was determined to push his big deal. But this big deal probably needed the cooperation and support of everyone at the meeting. Otherwise, with Mephisto's character, he would have already started.

“The energy bank's expenditures have been a bit high recently.” The Ancient One sat calmly in her seat, saying casually.

“There's no way around that; it's a necessary expenditure for expansion.” The soul fire in Mephisto's eye sockets flickered twice, as he said calmly, “After all, according to the rules, I need to pay my employees, and currently, the energy bank's largest number of employees are the devils and demons of my Hell dimension. There are also some loan expenditures; I am strictly following the agreed rules and signed contracts. Luke has a data backup of every expenditure. I can stand investigation!”

“Your hands are clean, but that doesn't mean we haven't caught you red-handed. Believe me, the Sorcerer Supreme is still very skilled in calculating energy consumption and understanding dimensions.” Stephen Strange said from beside the Ancient One.

He suddenly produced a thick bill, his tone a little helpless, “For example, this travel expense was established by the first president of the energy bank, Mephisto, against all opposition—well, actually, it was a unilateral decision without notifying us shareholders.”

“I think this is very reasonable! My demons run business all over the universe; several have run to other dimensional universes and even permanently disappeared, losing contact. I think it's time to add some businesses like safety insurance manufacturing; um, what you call personal accident insurance?” Mephisto argued, even wanting to push his luck.

“We also think this is very reasonable. But what's unreasonable is that all the demons we secretly interviewed said they never saw this money! All the money ended up in your hands, Mephisto. Those poor demons even owe Luke and us a lot of money that they haven't been able to repay.” Stephen bluntly exposed Mephisto's words.

The mages don't understand finance, but in terms of energy consumption and calculation, it has become as natural as breathing for them. Especially the Ancient One, who has reached the extreme. Earlier, her method of shearing the wool could even alarm the masters of the dimensions, causing them to follow the clues to her door, forcing the Ancient One to kill several debtors.

But practice makes perfect. Now, the Ancient One can figure out the energy fluctuation lines of the major dimensions. As long as she wants, she can completely call and steal the other party's energy when needed without alarming the dimension's master. And there's no need to worry about the other party cutting off the energy supply.

If you can't find the information of the thief, how can you cut off the energy supply?

The name "Energy Thief" was widely circulated in the multi-dimensions in the early years. It was only later, as the Sorcerer Supreme became more and more powerful and her methods became cleaner, and the dimensional demon gods didn't communicate and contact each other privately for thousands or tens of thousands of years, that it disappeared.

But there are still living people who know!

“Who told you? I'm going to send them to the Heart of Hell and lock them up for tens of thousands of years.” Mephisto was stunned when he heard this.

“So that's what happened.” A faint smile appeared on Stephen's face.

“Damn it, you tricked me?” Stephen's smile made Mephisto a little embarrassed, and he glanced at the Ancient One beside him, “Is this the successor you chose? He's a bit dishonest. I don't think he should speak and interrupt.”

“I grant Stephen the power to speak; I grant him the power to represent me.” The Ancient One gave a very Buddhist response, with an expression of serenity. But in Mephisto's eyes, the Ancient One's attitude was an old silver coin mode. She could attack or defend, and many things she couldn't say or do, Stephen, as her successor, could do unscrupulously. Thinking of his own so-called children who were kind fathers and filial sons, Mephisto immediately felt exhausted.

“So, at this shareholders' meeting, I propose to limit Mephisto's power to mess around and increase our three parties' manpower into the energy bank.” Stephen raised his hand to propose.

“Damn it, I spent a lot of energy and manpower to build the framework, and it's about to succeed, but you want to steal my peaches?” The soul fire in Mephisto's eye sockets flared up, and terrifying energy pressed towards Stephen Strange.

“Don't be so angry, Mephisto.” The Ancient One waved her hand, drawing mysterious trajectories in the air, and vast magical energy blocked Mephisto's power for Stephen.

“This is a formal meeting! Mephisto, you shouldn't be venting your power here!” Odin also intervened, helping the Ancient One to block, dissatisfied. He sensitively noticed the beauty in Stephen's words.

Three parties?

That must include Asgard!

So even if this meeting was to discuss with the Ancient One and Luke how to fight against the Dark Elf Legion, at this moment, Odin didn't mind suppressing his inner anxiety and first grabbing this benefit with the Ancient One and the others.

When the energy bank had nothing before, everyone could of course wait and see, but now that Mephisto has built the framework and it looks like it might succeed, then of course they have to get more involved. It's just a matter of time.

As for whether Mephisto would be dissatisfied?

Dissatisfaction was inevitable.

Odin and the Ancient One were even prepared to fight Mephisto if he turned his face. After all, the style of dimensional demon gods is so simple and unpretentious: if you disagree, speak with strength.

But Mephisto didn't turn his face on the spot. As a cunning dimensional demon god, he could still judge the situation and the gains and losses. If all the early expenditures were his responsibility, then undoubtedly, he could do whatever he wanted and didn't need to pay attention to Strange's questions. But precisely because the early expenditures were made together by several people contributing manpower, effort, and money, Mephisto didn't want to overturn the table and ruin everything in the case of being weak, so he could only force himself to calm down.

Otherwise? Be beaten by the Ancient One, Odin, and even Luke before calming down?

Anyway, it's not his real body, so he doesn't need to worry about the problem of death. But he needs to consider the future cooperation that will continue, and if he continues to cooperate, the problem of his face that he doesn't care about.

As for why not abandon the Ancient One, Luke, and the others and play behind closed doors, it's of course because he can't play alone. Just the convenience provided by a data dimension alone would be enough to give Mephisto a headache if it were gone.

Seize the ownership of the data dimension from Luke?

Mephisto had considered this idea. After all, he's a dimensional demon god; backstabbing and turning his face are habitual operations. Luke, who dares to open certain dimension permissions to other dimensional demon gods, is really big-hearted!

But after seriously studying the data dimension in depth using the permissions, Mephisto simply gave up his idea and admired Luke, who was at least covered by three layers of shells.

The seemingly omnipotent and coveted data dimension, after an in-depth understanding through permissions, will find that it's just an empty shell! In Midgard's words, it's just a system integration.

If you want it to work, you need hardware, energy, and a database.

Mephisto has reason to believe that Luke has at least three unknown dimensions in his hands besides the data dimension! The combination of those three unknown dimensions can make the data dimension perform so powerfully.

If someone really thinks that mastering certain permissions can seize the ownership and control of the data dimension from Luke without knowing the reason, then it can only be a waste of effort, a complete loss.

The victory or defeat depends entirely on when Luke presses the restart [pretend] button.

Even if Luke wants to, he can completely start a new stove and reintegrate a data dimension, original flavor, data restoration. And the data dimension that you have worked so hard to grab will eventually find that, after losing the support of the other dimensions, it will change from being easy to use to being tasteless and a pity to discard.

The only value is to absorb more energy before its energy is exhausted. Could it be that you still have to consume energy to supply and maintain its operation that has become mentally retarded? This broken dimension is not another dimension with its own energy.

Mephisto was amazed by Luke's operation.

No one has ever played like this!

A dimensional demon god, binding one dimension is already the maximum, you bind at least three or four dimensions together, which makes it difficult for people to attack your dimension.

So Mephisto can't do it himself at the moment. What's more, he also needs to hold on to these relatively trusted and tacit partners.

“What are your opinions?” Mephisto restrained the power he had released, and his face swept towards Luke, who had not said a word from beginning to end, the Ancient One who didn't know when she had appeared with a cup of tea in her hand, and Odin who was watching the play, but whose position was undoubtedly biased towards the Ancient One, twisted twice in his seat, and asked awkwardly.

“We agree with the opinions of the Ancient One and Master Strange.” Nick Fury, beside Luke, stood up with a stiff head, echoing Stephen's words. They had already had some communication before coming, so he naturally wouldn't jump out inexplicably to sing a different tune at this moment. What's more, even if he sang a different tune, how much power would his different tune have?

He and his S.H.I.E.L.D. are just a small shareholder with a lot of debts!

“Which positions do you plan to occupy?” Mephisto glanced at Luke, who was silent, the Ancient One with a cup of tea in her hand, and Odin who was watching the play but whose position was undoubtedly biased towards the Ancient One, twisted twice in his seat, and asked awkwardly.

“The dispatched business personnel still belong to the Hell dimension.” Stephen said, “The mages can be responsible for the planning and finance department.”

“We can provide financial talents to be responsible for the accounting department and the information technology department.” Nick raised his hand.

“Asgard can be responsible for certain security.” Odin thought about it. It seemed that Asgard's rough style could only temporarily be competent in the security department.

“Ha.” Mephisto was so angry that he was about to laugh. “Is this your opinion?”

“Of course, it can be discussed. But this is the most suitable for each other.” Stephen shrugged, “Believe me, in terms of energy planning and utilization, you can always trust the Sorcerer Supreme. After all, we have always been so frugal and calculated. We have rich experience.”

“We have a lot of financial talents in our hands, you know.” Nick gave Mephisto a “you know” look. After all, the two sides have had cooperation and transactions. Midgard can cultivate a lot of financial talents, choose the best of the best, all with full points of cheating attributes, and even super-evolve according to the environment. These people are certainly not welcome in Midgard, but Nick is still happy to use them to shine in the energy bank. Anyway, even if something happens, Mephisto will be the first to take the blame. As the president, it's a natural duty!

He and S.H.I.E.L.D. can also earn a brokerage fee, training fee, introduction fee, salary sharing fee, etc. from it.

“Asgard has the Rainbow Bridge, which can deploy a large number of warriors to the target point at the fastest speed. My sons Thor and Loki can both enter to take positions and gain experience.” Odin not only wanted positions, but even wanted to stuff his sons in. He didn't have much hope for his eldest son, but he could still look forward to his second son. If Thor takes over Asgard in the future, then with his support, Loki should also be able to gain a firm foothold in the energy bank and hold a high position. It would also be a good thing for Asgard if the brothers cooperate with each other at that time.

“Do you have to pay them wages?” Mephisto felt a pang in his heart. The money used to be his, but in the future, it was uncertain whether this money would be his.

“Since demons and devils have wages, then employees in other departments naturally need to have them too.” The Ancient One and Odin nodded together.

“I hate the salary system!” Mephisto wanted to say something more, but finally waved his hand weakly.

“Now you can talk about your big deal.” Luke finally opened his mouth after everything had settled.

“Haven't many of the Nine Realms fallen? They must need a lot of energy and manpower to help. We can lend them money! We can even send people!” Speaking of business, Mephisto was somewhat energized. His eyes kept glancing at Odin, whose face was twitching after hearing his words.

“I can't accept it.” Odin's beard trembled. Was he reaching into his territory?

“I think it's okay.” The Ancient One said.

“Seconded!” Nick raised his hand on behalf of himself and Luke.

“Look, four to one.” This time, Mephisto thoughtfully included Nick, the small shareholder.

“Are you sure you're not going there to sabotage?” Odin questioned Mephisto. There was no way around it; Mephisto's credibility was always bankrupt.

“Look what you're saying; this is a deal that's destined to become a benchmark! How could I go there to sabotage?” Mephisto had a face that said, “You misunderstood me”: “I just want to go in and make some money to subsidize the bank's expenses. It's mutually beneficial, you'll definitely agree, right, Odin?”