American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

Shield Headquarters.

Nick Fury, having piloted a Quinjet back from the Helicarrier, was met on the building's landing pad by Agent Phil Coulson.

"Where are the people I asked you to find?" Nick's trench coat billowed wildly in the wind, his voice somewhat distorted by the gusts.

"I've already dispatched people to pick up top designers from various game companies. They're currently waiting in the conference room. Some others will arrive later," Agent Coulson said, his sparse hair stubbornly resisting the wind as he walked beside his superior, shielding his face with one hand while raising his voice.

"Good, take me there," Nick nodded in satisfaction.

After the Alliance meeting adjourned, he had extracted some information about Nightmare from Luke and Strange, and after getting some advice from Luke, he hurriedly made arrangements upon returning to the Helicarrier.

After reviewing the information about Nightmare, he also agreed with Luke's suggestion that creating a dream-like virtual game for Nightmare using the data dimension as a super platform wouldn't be difficult.

And as long as measures were taken and a relevant contract was signed with Nightmare, this cooperation might even become a benchmark for mutually beneficial cooperation between humans and a demon god.

Nick placed its importance above all existing affairs. Unless it was the end of the world, all SHIELD affairs and personnel had to give way to this matter.

Moreover, this time SHIELD wasn't just working without pay. If the game script and design were adopted and used, Odin and the others wouldn't mind giving Nick some compensation. According to Luke, his team could even become one of the operators in the future. If he could come up with a design and results that satisfied Nightmare, his position would be even more secure.

Heaven knows how touched Nick was when he heard this promise. He had been Luke's close partner since before Luke's rise to prominence, witnessing Luke's growth, the emergence of new energy, the establishment of the new currency, and the discovery of magic and more incredible hidden worlds.

During this process, he had transformed from a wealthy and generous figure to a stingy, debt-ridden pauper.

Was it that he had no money?

No! Now SHIELD no longer needed him to cut corners and make excuses to apply for funding. The current SHIELD was the darling of the council, not only had the allocation increased by a level, but Nick's authority had also risen a lot.

He could tell anyone on this planet that he was rich. Including that big spender Tony Stark. But that was only if Luke and Heberon were excluded.

To be honest, Luke and Heberon might not have more real-world currency than him, but they didn't want real-world currency! Luke and Heberon had so many good things that SHIELD or other organizations could only buy with the new currency.

Heberon only recognized this!

Thinking of this, Nick couldn't help but clench his teeth slightly. Luke and his Heberon were truly indispensable for him to owe so much money! To this day, Nick could only earn some new currency piecemeal from places that Luke and those big shots didn't care about. And he couldn't save any of it.

Either he was repaying debts or making expenditures, and now he even had to support several giant companies in the early stages of transformation and technological upgrades. Nick wished he could break a single new currency into ten pieces to spend.

Even though he was already very frugal, his debt was snowballing at a rate that made his heart ache every year. Fortunately, under Captain and his repeated efforts, Heberon and the Ancient One agreed to release a batch of new currency every year for exchange with real-world currency.

It was nominally open to all forces, but in reality, only SHIELD and the council countries behind him participated in this exchange feast every year. And SHIELD, as the darling of the countries, could eat up at least half of the share.

After all, Heberon still had businesses aimed at ordinary people, so it was no problem to reserve some real-world currency to improve welfare and so on. Anyway, the amount of new currency released wasn't much.

The mages of the Ancient One's lineage were not truly without desires or contact with the outside world. They also needed a certain source of funding. Without doing anything, they were happy to exchange a large sum of real-world currency every year to maintain their lives and expand their ranks.

Nick and the council countries behind him hoped that Luke and the mages would exchange more, but neither side was stupid. After all, the new currency was linked to the new energy, or it was extracted and refined, combined with the power of Heberon and the mages to compress the new energy.

Whether it was Heberon or the mages, the demand for new energy and new currency was increasing daily. This was a necessity.

Real-world currency?

That was really just paper to maintain a simple life. It was good to have more, but it didn't matter if there was less.

Nick and the council countries behind him wanted too much, but they offered too little hard currency, so they would naturally face a long-term state of insolvency. It was only natural that debts were constantly being replenished and added every year.

As one of the earliest veterans of the Alliance's establishment, Nick, whose presence was almost non-existent and not even a mascot, desperately needed a stable and sustainable source of new currency income.

But before, he could only think about it in his head. Without the help of the Ancient One and Gu Yi, he and his SHIELD didn't even have the qualifications to sit on that conference seat. Even if he was sitting in that position now, he couldn't do anything. But having this position and not having it were two completely different situations.

Just like now, a big gift bag was thrown on his head at the meeting.

Odin and other big shots were too lazy to intervene in this matter, and wouldn't intervene. SHIELD, as a member of the Alliance, even if it was seen as an appendage of Luke and the Ancient One, was still considered one of their own. So, unsurprisingly, the task that all the big shots didn't care about and couldn't operate was stuffed into his arms. And it came with generous rewards.

Before coming, Nick had passed the message to the major council members, and they were also packing their territories' game talents and sending them to SHIELD via special planes. There was no usual infighting, and the efficiency was extremely high, akin to a green light all the way.

"There's a mission that you must complete."

Pushing open the door of the conference room, Nick strode in with his men, looking sternly at the lead designers, planners, etc. from various game companies who were facing each other, preemptively issuing an unquestionable order.

"Who are you people?" A chubby man struggled to stand up from his chair and shouted at Nick.

"The highest-level special department," Nick placed his hands on the circular conference table, leaning forward, his intact lone eye scanning the seated gamers: "You can assume that this department has unlimited power on this planet."

"What did you call us here for? We're just a group of game designers," A thin man beside the chubby man also spoke.

"I need you to make a game for me," Nick said, taking his hands off the conference table, turning sideways, taking a document from Agent Maria Hill, and instructing her to distribute the printed documents. He threw the file bag in his hand on the table, tapping it with his fingers: "The specific content and requirements are all on this. You must follow the requirements above. And you must show all your skills and inspiration."

"What about our own games?" Another questioning voice sounded.

"Drop it. Put your energy and manpower into this one!" Nick gave the answer without hesitation.

"You can't do this, we'll lose a lot of money! Do you want us to waste our previous efforts?" An angry voice sounded.

"If that's what you think, then you can think that way," Nick took out the gun he had on his waist and gently placed it on the table: "Afterwards, you can complain about me, or even call the police and sue. All are fine. But the premise is that you have to complete my task first."

"What about our losses?" A female voice asked.

Nick glanced at the woman who spoke, "We'll help make up for it. If your game design can be finally selected, then what you get will not only be generous money. There are also more technologies and products that are not open to ordinary people at all."

"Can I ask about your funding? How much money do you plan to use to make this game?" A steady male voice picked up the file bag distributed to him on the table, and asked while reading it.

Nick tilted his head, and dozens of burly agents walked up carrying heavy sacks, lifted them up hard, and placed them one by one on the conference table and shook them.

Messy and numerous, banknotes exuding the smell of fresh ink poured down like a rain of banknotes, covering the table and the surrounding ground. This extremely impactful scene made many people present subconsciously widen their eyes.

"Unlimited. Unlimited money, unlimited support, unlimited everything! During the period when you are doing things, even if you want to eat the meat of alien creatures, we can get it for you. As long as you do it seriously and go all out.

Not only you, but also your peers from all over the world will come. You will be divided into groups for rounds of review and competition, and every winner will receive generous rewards!

If the most outstanding people in your industry can't make satisfactory works, then we will acquire one of the companies you work for, and then conduct design and script auditions to the world. I hope not to get to this point.

Do you have any other questions?" Nick ignored the money falling all over the ground, and asked, looking around, after finishing speaking to himself.

"What about the technology? Do we each use our own technology to produce it first? What is the production deadline you give?" Someone raised his hand.

"No, no, no, throw away the trash in your house. We have better technology and platforms. What you have to make is a large-scale production that can accommodate players in the hundreds of millions. Except for us, no one can provide you with this technology." Nick waved his hand again.

Several burly agents, surrounded by a group of soldiers with live ammunition, walked up carrying several metal password boxes, swept the banknotes on the conference table to the ground, and carefully entered the password to open the boxes with serious expressions.

Nick stepped forward, turned one of the boxes in a direction, and turned the side of the opened box towards the direction where the game designers were. He reached out and took out a silver-white metal strip like a ruler from it, and in full view of everyone, he gently buckled it to his wrist. The ruler-like silver-white metal strip instantly bent into a bracelet, firmly tied to Nick's wrist.

"This is the instrument we provide to you. Each one has a corresponding serial number. The serial number is unique. Once activated and logged in, it will be bound to your mental fluctuations. You can use it to connect to our host." Nick didn't tell the truth here. Whether it's Luke's data dimension or other things, for now, they are all confidential information that only a very few people know. Of course, Nick couldn't just leak it out like this.

"As for time? The sooner the better! Our technology is enough for you to reduce a lot of complicated and time-wasting processes. As long as you come up with your designs and scripts, the technology can quickly make it born. Our time is very tight, gentlemen and ladies, you must be prepared to work overtime until late at night. No need to worry about anything outside, whether it's family or the boss, we've already taken care of it for you. Prepare yourself, if you need help, you can ask, and then start working as soon as possible." Nick said decisively.

……

"Don't worry, I will protect you." Thor carried his hammer, his face full of stubble, looking haggard, but his mental state was surprisingly high. Or rather, he was like a husky who had been restrained for a long time and came out to go crazy. Even if he stood still, he couldn't hide the lively emotions that he would go crazy in the next moment.

"I actually want Loki to accompany me more." Strange covered his face and lamented.

"Loki? He can handle事务, but he can't fight as a bodyguard." Thor put his hand on Strange's shoulder,搂住him into his arms, and firmly locked his shoulders, fearing that he would shout to change people. He had finally managed to win this opportunity to get rid of those troublesome affairs that made him feel hopeless. He didn't understand, what's so good about handling those affairs? Can't you just hand it over to someone else?

"I don't want to fight! I suggest you don't start fighting as soon as you go up. Remember, we are going to talk about business! Business, do you understand?" Strange stood in front of the teleportation door he opened, and turned his head solemnly to remind Thor when he stepped in.

"Don't worry, I will definitely not make the first move!" Thor grabbed Strange and stepped directly into the teleportation door. Together with the teleportation door, he disappeared in place.

PS: Thank you to the silent peak classmate for the reward.