American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

“Nick Fury, in light of the fact that you concealed significant information, leading to substantial losses for this nation, we unanimously agree that you are no longer suitable to serve as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Nick's old acquaintance, General Ross, recited from the script on the podium. Below him sat Nick Fury, his expression calm and collected. In the surrounding tiered space, a scattering of important figures were seated.

Without a doubt, this was an emergency hearing that had caught Nick completely off guard.

Taiwan Novels Net →𝙩𝙬𝙠𝙖𝙣.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“Excuse me, which specific instance of concealing significant information are you referring to?” Nick raised his hand, inquiring calmly.

“It seems you haven't realized the gravity of the situation,” General Ross said with a hint of pity on his face.

“It is you, Ross, and all of you present, who haven't realized the gravity of the situation,” Nick said softly, glancing around the room. However, his voice, amplified by the sound system, was sufficient to reach every person in the venue.

He stated seriously, “Even if you want me to step down, you should at least state the reason clearly.”

“You concealed the existence of that 【Paradise】—as you call that game—you concealed its extraordinary power information,” Ross provided the answer.

“That was originally created for an extraordinary dimensional lord. I haven't concealed any information in that regard,” Nick retorted.

“But you didn't explain that this game can grant people power!” Ross accused. “At least thirty people have exposed their powers online! We initially thought it was another marketing ploy, but after investigating and contacting them, we discovered that those thirty people did indeed possess some form of extraordinary power.

If you had explained this earlier, the council could have internally digested all of this, instead of sharing it with the whole world.”

“All of this was approved by everyone,” Nick said.

“The decision was made based on the incorrect information you provided! We have always trusted you, but you have betrayed that trust,” Ross said coldly.

“I was not aware of this information,” Nick countered.

“Where's the proof?” Ross retorted.

“Luke, Thor, Odin, and the Sorcerer Supreme, Strange, can all vouch for me,” Nick named several witnesses.

“But we can't find them. They only contact S.H.I.E.L.D., or rather, only you personally,” Ross shrugged. “Before we clear you of responsibility, you must temporarily hand over the contact information of these individuals and the access rights to the data world, and you must accept monitoring during the investigation period, with no independent communication with the outside world.”

“What's the duration?” Nick asked.

“The time won't be long. You will still hold an important position,” Ross said meaningfully.

“So, this is a hearing intended to force me to step down and hand over the power in my hands? I'd like to know, did you obtain permission from others?” Nick understood the meaning behind Ross's words. The other party didn't even bother to hide it, almost directly revealing it to him. This time, they were targeting the power in his hands.

As for why it wasn't at another time, but at this critical juncture, after thinking it over, Nick could only attribute the reason to the 【Paradise】 game that Luke and the others had created.

Was it because this game could mass-produce extraordinary powers, thus attracting their attention and desire to control it?

This was possible! After all, the board behind S.H.I.E.L.D. and the radical figures like Ross were always defenseless against anything that could mass-produce extraordinary powers. They were constantly jumping around and stirring up trouble, which was within Nick's expectations. It's just that this time, they had gained a bit more support.

But it wasn't as if the other party could completely gain the upper hand. It was obvious that there were many important figures supporting Ross and the others around. Their emergency hearing was more like a fait accompli arrangement.

Nick wasn't sure how much these people had prepared for today, or how many people they had persuaded and won over, but it was clear that Ross and the others couldn't completely dominate the matter of removing him from his position. What they wanted more was to create a predetermined outcome.

Having figured this out, Nick became much calmer.

“The affairs of S.H.I.E.L.D. should of course be decided by the council,” Ross said.

“So you've settled the council? If you had really convinced the council, then you wouldn't need this hearing, you could have just removed me from my position. What's the reality? The reality is that my position is still irreplaceable for the time being. Even if you pass a resolution in the council, how do you plan to obtain the approval of Stephen Strange and Luke Field?” Nick laid out all the hidden dangers. After he finished speaking, Ross's expression visibly darkened.

“Strange is just a doctor,” Ross opened his mouth.

“He used to be a doctor. Now he's the Sorcerer Supreme of the magic lineage on this planet! In simple terms, he's the head of the mages, you'd better respect him a little,” Nick reminded him. “If you can still say that Luke is just a businessman in the next sentence, then I'll admire you.”

Ross's face immediately turned even darker.

…

“Is it okay? That Mr. Nick? He seems to be facing some trouble right now,” Strange walked beside Luke, curiously looking at the space inside the Silent City.

“What are you referring to? Those political intrigues and infighting? Don't worry about it, I believe he can handle it himself,” Luke said indifferently. His reliance on S.H.I.E.L.D. had greatly decreased, and conversely, it was S.H.I.E.L.D. that needed to rely on him. If it weren't for ensuring the stability of his backyard and providing him with some necessary assistance, Luke wouldn't need to keep pulling S.H.I.E.L.D. along.

He now rarely paid attention to things in Midgard other than technology, unless necessary.

“Then what do you want to talk to me about? There are still some troublesome things in the real world that I need to deal with,” Strange looked at Luke. After the meeting, he received Luke's signal and followed him to his laboratory in Silent City.

“Are you referring to those shallow believers who have been affected by Nightmare?” Luke smiled. Although he didn't pay attention, as the place where the data dimension had the deepest penetration, any disturbance in Midgard, especially information about technology and the supernatural, would be collected and summarized by the data dimension, then selected and sorted out for key points, and presented to him as soon as possible.

Of course, the mages might have some shielding methods, and Stark and Dr. Banner could also use technology to achieve similar shielding effects, making it difficult to collect their information silently.

But it didn't matter, as long as Stark and the others were still using the data dimension and helping him improve and maintain the data dimension, then Luke's purpose would be achieved. He wasn't some voyeur with an extreme desire for control.

“Yes, it's obvious he's crossed the line,” Strange said. Midgard, as a special place of life in the Nine Realms, was a delicious cake that many dimensional demon gods wanted to bite into when invading. This planet was filled with various dimensional demon gods and totem demon gods' believers. A planet like dust in the universe, with so many demon gods' apostles and believers hidden and mixed inside, was unique.

It was impossible to clean them all up. The only thing the successive Sorcerers Supreme could do was to try to isolate the demon gods who posed a great danger to this planet. Such as Dormammu and Mephisto.

As for the others, the ancient one, who had lived for hundreds or thousands of years, was too lazy to care. As long as they didn't touch the energy red line she set, and the barrier was operating well, they wouldn't attract her attention and strikes.

Compared to the ancient one, who had a Buddhist mentality and only thought about how to retire safely, Strange, who had just taken office and was still young in both mind and age, would be more tolerant and follow up on reality in corresponding aspects. Similarly, his sense of responsibility and desire for control would obviously be stronger.

“This is just the beginning, you know that once the game starts, it's difficult to stop this kind of thing. Perhaps more demon gods will join in the future,” Luke reminded him.

“But if we discover it, we can't just ignore it!” Strange replied, “Although Nightmare's power in the real world isn't strong, his power attribute is very special. Letting it go might bring us big trouble.”

“But there will always be people who touch those so-called Easter eggs he planted in the game for the sake of power. And the lucky ones will attract more people to chase after them,” Luke suggested, “If you really want to solve this problem from the source, instead of passively waiting for problems to arise before solving them, then the first thing you need to do is add a layer of power filter to 【Paradise】, or rather, a demon god firewall like the Midgard barrier.”

“That's a good method. But it's not appropriate to transplant the Midgard's barrier protection system into the data dimension's 【Paradise】. This might bring certain hidden dangers. I think it's better to gather the power of all the mages and recompile a set of firewalls tailored for Paradise. Although this still can't guarantee 100% safety, it will greatly reduce our workload in the future,” Strange pondered for a moment and agreed.

“But this still can't stop those who enter 【Paradise】 from chasing power. After all, simple scripts and games will always become boring after a long time. We must give it a strong attribute that cannot be abandoned by those who enter,” Luke said, planning ahead. In fact, 【Paradise】 currently doesn't have a high technical content in the major civilizations of the universe, except for the interfaces of the data dimension and the Nightmare dimension. They may not be able to connect to the Nightmare dimension, and they may not be able to accommodate an immeasurable number of people while maintaining authenticity like the data dimension. But it's not difficult to make a limited version in all aspects.

This was the place Luke intended to open up the multiverse in the future, allowing civilizations and smart, powerful people from all universes to communicate and use. He needed to constantly increase its importance and functionality in the early stage.

“What do you mean?” Strange asked cautiously.

“New currency and power,” Luke said.

“You plan to use the new currency as the currency of 【Paradise】?” Strange looked at him in surprise. This news alone was enough to make Nick and those people jump up and down, kicking all their subordinates into 【Paradise】 to work. For Nick and the others, who suffered from severe 【New currency shortage】 symptoms, a stable channel for obtaining new currency would be enough for them to fight over.

As a smart person, Strange also knew very well that once a certain currency attribute established its own trust and value, then its future potential and importance would also rise accordingly.

This was a good thing for them, the shareholders of the new currency.

The only thing that made Strange hesitate was the issue of giving power to those who entered. This obviously brought many uncertain futures, which would greatly increase his workload of peering into the future.

Unless it was a dead end, who would be willing to look at the future of all the participants in a person or event hundreds of millions of times for no reason? Unless you were gifted, your brain would be overloaded in a short time.

Luke saw Strange's hesitation and explained, “You can let them gain power in the form of data bodies. After they enter 【Paradise】, they will automatically be transformed into data bodies that are more suitable for the data dimension, so that the power they gain cannot be brought into reality. Of course, if necessary, they can consume a certain amount of new currency, and summon their data bodies to access reality for a period of time according to the amount of new currency they consume. In this way, they will also leave information in the mage's barrier and data dimension that can be monitored when they summon. If it's not right, you as GMs can also terminate the summoning at any time. This can reduce the losses and troubles to an acceptable level.”

Strange nodded silently after hearing this. If the problem could be solved by using permissions, then it was indeed not unacceptable. The only worry was that there would definitely be some BUG-like loopholes and dimensional demon gods that still needed to be monitored.

“Then it needs to be discussed at the next alliance meeting. But I can go back and create the so-called firewall first,” Strange said. He couldn't wait to find more things for the mages of Kamar-Taj to do. As long as they were busy, they wouldn't have time to watch the big show between him and Mordo.

Strange didn't doubt whether Luke's proposal would be approved.

As for the possible losses of the new currency?

The wool comes from the sheep, with Luke's personality, it must be those people who produce and sell themselves, and incidentally get some losses from Nightmare. Mephisto's financial talents and Midgard's top talent pool, which were hard to attract to the energy bank, will probably be pulled into this 【Paradise】 by Luke to add bricks and tiles for its smooth operation.

Anyway, Strange believed that Luke could not lose money. He and Nick were more firm in this than anything else!

PS: Thank you to the classmate of Quiet Peak for the reward.