American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

"What's happening to him?" Stephen was surprised to sense that the dark and obscure aura缠绕 (chanrao - coiling) around Nick's soul had been cleared away. And the method of clearing it was simply a bizarre creature that looked like it was the opposite color of the black monsters outside, but seemed to be the same species.

It seemed as if the monsters outside fed on people's positive emotions.

The white creature in front of him, on the other hand, fed on the energy or negative emotions of those monsters.

Two sides of the same coin, opposites. They appeared to be the same species, but had opposing tastes and attributes.

"How did you get contaminated?" Becky summoned the white creature that was circling around Nick, reluctant to let it go.

"We were caught in the crossfire." Stephen clearly didn't want to recall his embarrassing situation, he just stared curiously at the white creature that had shrunk back to Becky's side, and tentatively asked, "Can it be used to filter and remove impurities and filth from psionic energy?"

"Little White really likes to eat those things. It and Little Black can't meet, they'll fight as soon as they see each other, and I have to work hard to separate them. But I only have one Little White, it's weak and can't beat the Little Blacks." Becky blinked, and while clenching the white creature in her hand and stuffing it back into her pocket, she replied.

"So, it can also clear the Abyss?" Stephen raised an eyebrow. Although he had always had high expectations for Luke, he didn't expect that even the energy of the Abyss could be cleared?

"You guys should ask Daddy about that. I'm just responsible for feeding them and letting them play with me." Becky pouted and glanced at Stephen.

"Cough, we came this time to find Luke, but we ran into those guys outside. Even the defense mechanism wasn't triggered." Stephen made a fist with his right hand and coughed twice near his lips, embarrassed.

"The defense mechanism is turned off during free time. I can open a door for you now." Becky enthusiastically stretched out her palm and jumped up to draw a azure blue space door in mid-air. The space door was about two meters high, square and stable, standing on the ground.

"Where does this portal lead to?" Seeing the appearance of this door, Stephen cautiously asked. He was afraid that Becky would teleport them to some strange place. What if she thought the two of them wanted to leave the storage room and go to the hall, wouldn't they have to face those monsters on free time again?

"The laboratory, of course." Becky replied matter-of-factly.

"What about you? I mean, what do you plan to do with those monsters outside?" Stephen, feeling embarrassed by Becky's strange gaze, turned his head away, stretched out his palm and slapped Nick's floating soul back into his body, bent down and helped the still dizzy Nick up from the ground, and asked as he supported him towards the space door.

"I'm going to catch them all back." After Becky finished speaking, she vanished in a flash of light.

...

"What's wrong with him?" As soon as Stephen came out of the space door, he heard a greeting. Following the source of the sound, Luke, with a capital name tag hanging on his chest, was curiously looking at Nick, who still had a bright smile on his face.

"Um, he was touched by a white creature." Stephen tilted his head to look at the dissipating space door behind him, and while freeing a hand to use magical shaping to create a illusory image, he explained to Luke.

"A Soul Eater?" Luke recognized what it was as soon as he saw the illusory image Stephen had outlined.

"Is he okay? Can you find a way to stop him from showing that bright smile? You know, it's a little embarrassing to see someone like him showing such a naive smile." Stephen put Nick on a chair that rose from the ground, looked at the uncontrollable smile on his face, turned his head away, unable to look directly at it. He had never seen such a pure and innocent, unadulterated smile on Nick's face. This kind of smile would be very healing on children, but on someone like Nick, it just felt uncomfortable.

"It's okay, he's just been affected after being touched by a White Soul Eater. His personality hasn't been contaminated and twisted." Luke stepped forward to observe carefully and made a judgment.

"Is this also a kind of contamination? I feel great!" Nick, immersed in some kind of happy emotion, wasn't unable to hear external sounds or perceive what was happening outside. It was just that the emotion was too strong, suppressing all other emotions, making him reluctant to speak, just immersed in it. But now, although the happiness in his heart remained, he was able to control his mental consciousness a little, get rid of those effects, and consciously control his body.

"Any dimensional energy is a kind of [contamination] for humans. Psionic energy is also like that. If you've seen the intelligence information about Azeroth, you should be able to understand that under the erosion of high concentrations of energy, even a species can be twisted into another species. Maybe they were all once a race, the same life.

They themselves have no good or bad, but for life and the universe, they have good and bad according to their camp and position. Switching to the present, negative psionic energy is a kind of contamination, and positive psionic energy is also a kind of contamination. It's just that the contamination of positive psionic energy is more in line with our order and moral cognition, and is more easily accepted. So it's not regarded as contamination. But in fact, there is no real difference between the two." Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme, corrected Nick's thinking.

"You should be glad that you didn't get a complete suck from a White Soul Eater, otherwise your moral standards would be on par with the current Captain's. But look at him, his excessively high moral standards only allow him to become a mascot. If you become like this, then your incredibly stable Director position will be strongly impacted. I don't think the people on the Council would tolerate another do-gooder Nick sitting in the Director's seat of S.H.I.E.L.D. after tolerating a Captain. After all, the importance of S.H.I.E.L.D. has exceeded that of most countries." Luke stated the facts and joked.

"So I should thank Becky's pet for showing mercy? Her pets almost sent me away! Don't tell me you didn't know the predicament the two of us were facing at the time. You just wanted to see us in a mess, didn't you?" Nick wanted to make an angry accusation, but his current state prevented him from generating any anger or bad emotions, which made him very embarrassed. The words he spoke with a smile and a relaxed tone could only be regarded as a joke.

"Don't say that, the manager here is that guy the Maker. But he's now working diligently for the prime universe." Luke easily pinned the blame on Maker Luke, clearing himself of responsibility. He wouldn't say that he felt very happy seeing the two of them running away in a mess.

Seeing the suppressed smile on Luke's face, Stephen and Nick knew that the other party had watched their embarrassing escape from beginning to end. This was in line with their basic understanding of Luke in front of them, he was a nasty person with a strong sense of mischief. He was the representative of Luke's annoying side.

"How exactly were those Soul Eaters created? What's the meaning of creating them? They're even immune to Stephen's magic. This strength is a bit too much." Nick rubbed his stiffly smiling face. He was now further regaining control over his body. He felt his emotions calming down, no longer in an uncontrollable state of loss. This allowed him to regain more clarity and thinking ability.

"What does Stephen the Sorcerer think?" Luke didn't answer immediately, he looked at Strange, signaling him to share his opinion.

"It's related to the Abyss, right? I felt the aura of the Abyss from them - referring to the black Soul Eaters." Stephen stated his opinion. If his guess was true, then he thought it was crazy!

"You can think of it that way, their birth did have some Abyss power mixed in. This gives them a close connection to the Abyss." Luke affirmed Stephen's guess and admitted this point.

"You guys are too crazy! I think the power of the Abyss should be sealed away." Stephen shook his head.

"This doesn't sound like something you would say. As the Sorcerer Supreme, you've even used the power of the Dark Dimension. There's even a deeper level, involving the power of the Black Magic God." Luke bluntly exposed Stephen's mask. After possessing the energy of psionic power, Stephen had never given up on the power of other dimensional gods and dimensional worlds. Including the source of black magic, the Crimson Dimension, the Dark Dimension, etc., he played even more excessively and unrestrained than his teacher, the Ancient One, had ever done. At least the Ancient One knew how to cover up, while Stephen said, I've covered it up, but if you know, then you know.

As for the price?

Anyway, Stephen had already sold himself countless times. When he died, or when the time came, it would depend on which of those creditors could fight over each other. Anyway, he wasn't without an organization and people behind him. If that didn't work, the Ancient One couldn't turn a blind eye to him and not save him. So he was now highlighting his wealth and power.

Stealing was the Ancient One's forte.

Defaulting on debts was the tradition of the Sorcerer Supreme.

Finding a way out was the lesson taught by the demon god Ancient One.

Stephen had been the Sorcerer Supreme for so long, he had already graduated and surpassed his teacher.

"What about that white Soul Eater?" Nick was very interested in the white Soul Eater that had cleansed the contamination in his body. He thought this Soul Eater would be very useful in some situations. For example, sending a white Soul Eater to suck on his enemies, turning them into a Mother Teresa? Although this Mother Teresa didn't mean that he wouldn't resist or use his brain, it was still a use.

"It's special." Luke replied.

"Special? A variant?" Stephen pondered, he was also very interested in the white Soul Eater. After all, Luke had already admitted that the black Soul Eater was connected to the Abyss, so the fact that the white Soul Eater could clear the contamination with the connection to the aura of the Abyss was shocking enough.

"It's the superior form of the black Soul Eater. It can also be said to be an evolved form. It's a new life that can only be produced after combining with some kind of spirit matter at a certain time. After evolution, they will become hunters, and in turn regard those unevolved black Soul Eaters as prey and food. Their probability of birth is not high. What the prime universe is doing now is to create an incubation bed for it. Or rather, a special world architecture." Luke gave an accurate answer.

"Is there really an opposing energy to the Abyss?" Stephen was slightly excited. For him, there was nothing more exciting and important than knowing about a new energy that could perhaps be comparable to the Abyss. This meant that in the future, the mages of Kamar-Taj, as well as his power, would once again increase by a large margin. What's more, a new, powerful dimensional force could also inspire a passion for collection.

"It can only be said that it's possible." Luke cunningly gave a vague answer, and then shifted the topic to another topic. "In fact, in addition to the white Soul Eater, the Soul Eater also has an evolved form, which is a bit like a formless substance like a ghost. In the words of a certain country, this evolved form can be called a demon. Of course, I prefer to call it a Mind Mapping Monster."

"Mind Mapping Monster?" Stephen and Nick exchanged glances, and both saw the confusion in each other's eyes.

"Simply put, it's the representative spirit of all living beings' inner desires. It's an existence similar to the manifestation spirit of the emotional spectrum. It's just that after it's born, it usually hides more in the deepest part of a living being's heart. At a time when you need to make a decision, it will suddenly appear and deviate your thinking." Luke explained. Seeing the confused expressions on Nick and Stephen's faces, he paused and re-explained: "If in the future Stephen and the Ancient One take the path of becoming gods, then the first thing they will face is all kinds of temptations. Any one choice may lead to a good or bad result. And at this moment, if you are influenced by the Mind Mapping Monster at a critical moment of choice, blinding your thinking and making the wrong choice, then it is likely to make your previous accumulation fall short.

And under normal circumstances, you don't even realize that you've been affected. You'll only think that it's the choice you made. Can you realize the horror of it when I say this?"

Stephen was horrified.

"Like another self?" He made an analogy with his own understanding. If the Mind Mapping Monster really had such magical and incredible power as Luke said, then as long as it could influence a life to make a decision at a critical moment, it could be said to be an alternative way of controlling the fate of a living being. (End of chapter)