Chương 93: Chapter 93: Earth's 'Lord' is Not Earth's 'Chief,' and Kamar-Taj's Arms Factory 

Inside the Royal Infirmary of Asgard, Tony Stark sat up on the medical bed, an expression of profound astonishment on his face as he ran his hands over his chest. 

"I honestly never expected removing those shrapnel fragments to be this incredibly simple," Tony marveled, glancing at the highly advanced medical apparatus beside the bed. 

The Asgardian healers had utilized the device to effortlessly stabilize the microscopic shrapnel threatening his heart, magnetically extracted them without making a single incision, and seamlessly regenerated the damaged muscle and tissue in his chest. The entire procedure had taken less than ten minutes. 

Loki, sitting nearby and idly twirling a pair of curved daggers, rolled his eyes. "Despite my oafish brother's general lack of intellect, Asgard has possessed highly advanced civilization and technology for tens of thousands of years. Our capabilities are entirely beyond your primitive mortal comprehension." 

"Tony! Are you really okay?!" Pepper Potts rushed forward, her hands hovering anxiously over Tony's fully healed chest. 

"Hey, relax, sweetheart. Let's not get too excited. We have an audience right now. Whatever 'business' we need to handle can wait until tonight," Tony smirked, gently catching Pepper's hands and shooting Loki a highly pointed look. 

Loki smoothly twirled his daggers one last time before making them vanish seamlessly into the folds of his tunic. 

"Alright, Stark. Now that you are fully healed, it is time for you to fulfill your end of the bargain. We need to repair the various defense mechanisms scattered around the palace. The workload is rather extensive," Loki stated, rubbing his temples as he thought about the sheer number of automated turrets that were currently offline. 

"Don't worry about it. Your Uncle actually gave me an incredible artifact recently. I'll show you what it can do shortly," Tony said confidently, turning back to Pepper. "Looks like my shift is starting. You might have to wait around for a bit." 

Pepper nodded understandingly. "Honestly? This feels exactly like it did two years ago, when you were constantly locked in your lab." 

"Except this time, I won't ever regret the promises I've made," Tony kissed her forehead softly before tapping his smartwatch to signal his armor. 

After ensuring the 'Thursday' armor securely enveloped Pepper, Tony donned his own 'Saturday' armor and followed Loki out of the infirmary. 

"Honestly, the interior of the Royal Palace is arguably the absolute safest location in the Nine Realms. You genuinely don't need to be this incredibly paranoid about her safety," Loki remarked casually as they walked down the golden corridors. 

"Perhaps," Tony replied evenly. "But I significantly prefer to rely on my own methods to protect the people I love." 

Loki shrugged indifferently and led Tony to a specific courtyard overlooking the rainbow bridge. He stopped in front of a perfectly smooth section of the golden floor. 

Loki tapped his foot against a specific tile. Instantly, the floor shifted, and a sleek, incredibly advanced golden energy turret smoothly rose from the ground. 

"Are you absolutely certain this needs repairing?" Tony asked, highly impressed by the flawless, silent mechanical transformation. 

Loki simply sighed, reached out, and gently tapped the barrel of the turret. 

CLANG! 

The entire internal support structure of the turret instantly disintegrated, and the massive, heavy barrel violently collapsed onto the golden floor. 

"Alright, yeah. That definitely requires some heavy maintenance. Do you happen to have the schematics?" Tony asked, rolling his eyes beneath his faceplate. 

Loki nodded, clapping his hands twice. A squad of Einherjar guards immediately marched forward, carrying massive stacks of detailed blueprints. 

"Uh... okay then. I really hope I can finish this before my date tonight," Tony muttered, looking at the mountain of schematics and preparing to begin his analysis. 

Just then, a figure gracefully dropped from the sky and landed beside them. 

"Tony, I've just been unexpectedly promoted to the 'Lord of the Earth'," Luke announced, looking incredibly exasperated. 

"Lord of the Earth? Wait, are you planning on running for planetary president?" 

"No, I mean literally. The entire planet Earth." Luke sighed heavily. 

"Uh... you're saying Earth now literally belongs to you?" 

"Exactly," Luke groaned. 

He genuinely hadn't wanted to deal with the absolute migraine of managing an entire planet's worth of annoying political squabbles. However, Odin had cunningly dangled the Reality Stone (Aether) in front of him! Luke simply couldn't resist the temptation of acquiring a new Infinity Stone and unlocking whatever insane new abilities the System would grant him! 

Sure, he knew exactly where the Reality Stone was hidden on Earth and could theoretically just wait a few years for the plot of Thor: The Dark World to unfold and grab it then. But why wait? If he got it now, he could deal with Dormammu early and then officially retire to play video games forever! 

As for 'ruling' Earth? He fully intended to just let humanity govern itself. However, to maintain his 'ownership,' he would establish a few absolute, unbreakable rules: mandatory carbon neutrality within a decade, an absolute ban on dumping nuclear wastewater into the oceans, and a strict prohibition on creating artificial AI. If humanity broke those rules, he would literally revoke their 'Earth privileges.' 

Currently, Odin was enthusiastically rushing off to break the ancient seals protecting the Reality Stone, leaving Luke and the Ancient One alone in Asgard to kill time. 

Since the grand banquet didn't start until tomorrow evening and most of the interesting locations were currently heavily restricted due to the ongoing preparations, Luke had decided to come bother Tony. 

"Wow. So you've officially upgraded from an annoying tenant to the absolute landlord. So, are you planning to return to Earth and violently establish your own supreme, global empire?" Tony asked, his scientific curiosity momentarily entirely derailed. 

"Of course not! I'm way too lazy to manage that kind of administrative nightmare. I'll just let the politicians keep playing their little games. I have absolutely zero intention of significantly altering Earth's current geopolitical landscape," Luke replied casually. 

"That sounds exactly like you," Tony nodded, entirely reassured. He immediately returned his focus to the mountain of Asgardian schematics. 

Luke crouched down, examining the collapsed turret. "You know, looking closely at this... I feel like this weapon system isn't actually that highly advanced?" 

Seeing Loki's highly offended glare, Luke elaborated. "Even on Earth, the military relies heavily on guided missiles and smart munitions. Why is Asgard—a society tens of thousands of years older—still relying on direct-fire, line-of-sight energy cannons?" 

Loki shook his head disdainfully. "Your primitive mortal projectile weapons require massive, highly vulnerable logistical supply chains and physical storage space for ammunition. Directed-energy weapons are fundamentally superior. Yes, an energy blast might not be as perfectly 'guided' as a smart missile, but as long as the primary reactor provides power, an energy turret can lay down an infinite, continuous barrage of suppressing fire. Furthermore, absolute precision is often unnecessary in large-scale cosmic warfare. Instead of obsessing over hitting a target within a one-millimeter margin of error, it is significantly more effective to simply increase the destructive blast radius of the weapon by several meters." 

"Assuming, of course, that the internal focusing matrix doesn't violently collapse," Tony interjected, standing up. He had quickly grasped the fundamental operating principles of the turret. 

Just as Loki had said, the turret itself was relatively simple—essentially just an incredibly robust energy projector. The true complexity lay within the massive, subterranean energy conduction pipelines and the unimaginably powerful, centralized reactor powering the entire palace grid. 

Studying the Asgardian energy-routing architecture actually provided Tony with several brilliant new inspirations for his future armor designs. 

When he had been upgrading Saturday and Sunday's combat loadouts, he had quickly realized a fatal flaw: the physical dimensions of the Iron Man armors severely limited their ammunition capacity. If he were forced to engage a massive Chitauri armada without Luke's magical support, he would likely exhaust all his physical munitions within minutes, long before he was actually destroyed. Integrating Asgardian-style directed-energy weapons powered directly by a miniature arc reactor would completely eliminate his ammunition constraints! 

Tony forcefully detached a heavily damaged focusing array from the collapsed turret. His right gauntlet seamlessly transformed into a highly precise plasma cutter. He began meticulously slicing the component apart to analyze its internal microscopic structure. 

Seeing Tony deeply engrossed in his research, Luke decided not to bother him any further. He glanced at Loki, who was currently idly tossing a dagger in the air out of sheer boredom, and turned to leave. 

Returning to the luxurious guest suite he had occupied during his previous visit, Luke collapsed onto the incredibly soft, massive bed and opened the System interface. 

Over the past two days, the Dimensional Exploration Module had successfully scanned and mapped numerous new Dark Dimensions. Looking at the radar screen, which was currently densely packed with blinking dots, Luke sighed heavily. 

Despite the sheer quantity of discovered dimensions, the vast majority were pathetic 'Micro' dimensions, offering negligible Energy Points. Even 'Basic' dimensions were relatively scarce. As for highly lucrative 'Intermediate' dimensions? He hadn't found a single one yet. 

At this rate, how long is it going to take to farm enough Energy Points for my next massive upgrade?! 

Luke boredly scrolled through the data readouts of the discovered dimensions, calculating their available Energy Points and estimated Combat Power. He could casually order the Shadowkhan to conquer the 'Micro' dimensions one by one, slowly draining their energy reserves, but the process was tedious and slow. 

Looking at a cluster of 'Basic' dimensions with Combat Powers hovering around two or three hundred thousand, Luke felt profoundly frustrated. 

His Shadowkhan army's combined Combat Power currently exceeded 2.4 million! They could easily steamroll an 'Intermediate' dimension! But since the radar hadn't detected any, his massive army was basically sitting idle! 

However, just as Luke was lamenting his inability to fully exploit his army's labor potential, the radar suddenly pulsed. A massive, glowing red dot appeared on the edge of the scan radius! 

[Intermediate Dark Dimension Discovered. Estimated Combat Power: 1,780,000. Extractable Energy Points: 70,000,000.] 

Luke's eyes instantly widened. Seventy million Energy Points?! And the enemy's Combat Power was barely over half of his own?! 

I am conquering this dimension immediately! Not even Jesus could stop me! 1

Luke instantly dispatched two Shadow Ninjas through a portal to Kamar-Taj to summon his 'allies.' He then immediately opened a massive portal and dove into his own primary Dark Dimension. 

A few moments later, a large group of Kamar-Taj sorcerers, armed with a bizarre assortment of heavily modified, glowing weaponry, stepped through the portal into the Dark Dimension. 

"Uh... Mordo? Are you holding a magical staff or a baseball bat?" Luke asked, staring at the thick, heavy, glowing wooden staff Mordo was gripping tightly. However, Mordo was holding it like he was preparing to physically bludgeon someone to death, not cast a spell. 

"Ah, this! I call it the 'Spell-Bat'!" Mordo introduced the weapon enthusiastically. "We designed it to serve a dual purpose! We can channel Eldritch magic through it for ranged spellcasting, but it's also dense and heavy enough to be used as a devastating melee weapon in close-quarters combat!" 

"Furthermore," Mordo continued proudly, "the internal runic matrices actively assist the wielder in rapidly condensing magical energy, allowing for significantly faster spell execution! It's also incredibly durable, significantly reducing equipment replacement costs. But the absolute best feature is that the manufacturing process is highly standardized, meaning we can easily mass-produce these for every single sorcerer in Kamar-Taj!" 

"Uh... that actually sounds incredibly practical," Luke noted, deeply impressed by the sorcerers' ingenuity. 

Not only had they successfully combined a magical staff with a blunt-force melee weapon, but they had also heavily modified and enchanted various other standard weapons. Looking at a sorcerer holding a longsword etched with glowing, pitch-black runes, Luke could tell it was heavily enchanted, though he didn't know exactly what the enchantment did. 

"Wait a minute..." Luke's eyes suddenly widened with excitement. "Are those weapons compatible with my Shadow Ninjas?!" 

He stared intently at the longsword radiating dark energy. Because the enchantment utilized raw dark energy, the weapon wouldn't be corroded or destroyed within the Dark Dimension! Furthermore, a physically enchanted steel blade would be significantly sharper and more durable than the standard, temporary dark energy constructs his ninjas normally wielded! 

Mordo, completely unaware of the horrifying implications, nodded without hesitation. "Absolutely! The enchantments are powered directly by ambient dark energy. Your constructs should be able to wield them perfectly." 

Luke smiled an incredibly warm, deeply predatory smile. 

I have just discovered an entirely new, highly lucrative industry for the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj! 

He would immediately dedicate a massive section of his Dark Dimension to serve as a secure manufacturing facility! He would contract the sorcerers to mass-produce these enchanted weapons specifically to arm his Shadowkhan army! It would provide Kamar-Taj with a massive, desperately needed secondary income stream, ensuring the Ancient One didn't have to constantly pawn her precious, ancient artifacts just to pay the Wi-Fi bill! 

And to ensure maximum production efficiency and profit margins, he would naturally implement a rigorous '996' work schedule (9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days a week) for the sorcerers! 

Wow. I am truly a benevolent, incredibly generous patron! 

Seeing Luke's terrifyingly bright smile, Mordo suddenly felt an inexplicable, chilling breeze run down his spine. He glanced down at his 'Spell-Bat,' confused. I didn't cast a frost enchantment, did I? 

Having successfully invented a new, highly exploitative labor paradigm, Luke turned his attention back to the impending inter-dimensional war. 

Tens of thousands of glowing red eyes suddenly ignited within the absolute darkness behind Luke as the entirety of the Shadowkhan army materialized from the shadows, their weapons drawn and ready for slaughter. 

Seeing that Mordo and the sorcerers were in position, Luke mentally initiated the dimensional breach, forcefully connecting his Dark Dimension directly to the newly discovered 'Intermediate' dimension. 

ROAR! 

The absolute microsecond the dimensional tear stabilized, a terrifying, deafening, guttural roar echoed through the breach. 

Immediately, an endless, terrifying tidal wave of monstrous, heavily mutated biological creatures poured through the rift, flooding into Luke's dimension! 

"CHARGE!" Luke roared, waving his hand forward. 

The Shadowkhan army surged forward like an unstoppable wave of pitch-black death, violently crashing head-on into the monstrous horde. The two armies instantly became locked in a brutal, bloody stalemate. 

Taking advantage of the chaotic frontline, Luke carefully observed the enemy forces. 

The sheer quantity of the enemy was staggering; there had to be at least ten million of them! However, their composition was incredibly bizarre. They were primarily composed of various recognizable, terrestrial animals—wolves, bears, massive apes—but their bodies were grotesquely mutated. They possessed bizarre, superfluous organs, extra limbs, and heavily armored, unnatural carapace plating. 

Sensing the highly unstable, chaotic dark energy radiating from the creatures, Luke quickly deduced their origins. 

It seems the ruler of that dimension desperately wanted an army capable of surviving and fighting within the corrosive environment of the Dark Dimension. Since normal biological entities would be instantly annihilated, he clearly conducted horrific, mass-scale biological experimentation in the material plane, forcefully injecting dark energy into these animals to forcefully mutate them! 

These aren't true 'Dark Creatures.' They're just heavily corrupted, unstable biological weapons. 

Because these mutations are highly unstable and technically 'failed' experiments, these creatures probably have incredibly short lifespans. However, the raw dark energy infusion definitely drastically increased their physical strength and aggression, Luke analyzed mentally. 

Despite their enhanced strength, their individual combat power was still significantly inferior to a standard, elite Shadow Ninja. 

The Shadowkhan easily sliced through the creatures' mutated armor, slaughtering them by the thousands. Furthermore, because the dimensional rift acting as a chokepoint was relatively narrow, the enemy couldn't leverage their massive numerical advantage effectively. They were simply feeding troops into a meat grinder. 

Just as the Shadowkhan were beginning to completely crush the vanguard of the beast horde, another, significantly deeper and more commanding roar echoed from deep within the enemy dimension. 

Instantly, the chaotic, mindless horde of mutated 'cannon fodder' abruptly ceased their mindless charge and began executing a rapid, highly organized tactical retreat, leaving behind mountains of grotesquely mutated corpses. 

"Wait... why are they retreating?" Mordo gripped his 'Spell-Bat,' looking utterly confused. He had been preparing to test his new weapon in melee combat. 

Luke's expression, however, remained incredibly grim. He didn't relax in the slightest. 

Despite suffering catastrophic casualties, that horde of mindless, rabid beasts instantly executed a perfectly synchronized retreat upon hearing a single command. That implies a terrifying level of absolute discipline and control. 

The enemy commander is incredibly intelligent. 

But then again, it made sense. This was an 'Intermediate' dimension. To achieve this rank, the dimension's ruler had likely conquered and assimilated hundreds of weaker dimensions. They wouldn't rely solely on mindless beast hordes. 

Suddenly, the heavy, rhythmic pounding of massive war drums echoed ominously from the depths of the enemy dimension. Luke's expression hardened further. 

As the war drums intensified, a new army slowly emerged from the darkness and marched purposefully through the dimensional rift. 

These creatures were also heavily mutated biological entities. However, unlike the chaotic, unstable beasts from the vanguard, the dark energy within these creatures was perfectly stable and flawlessly integrated into their biology. These were successfully evolved, true Dark Species! 

Their numbers were significantly lower than the cannon fodder horde—perhaps numbering around a hundred thousand—but their discipline was terrifying. As they marched into Luke's dimension, they flawlessly deployed into highly organized, complex, interlocking tactical battle formations! 

"They actually understand complex military tactics and unit cohesion," Luke muttered, his heart sinking slightly. 

He realized that as his power grew and he inevitably engaged in larger, multi-dimensional conflicts, he would increasingly encounter massive, highly organized military forces. Eventually, he would be fighting apocalyptic wars involving millions of highly trained soldiers. 

To maximize the combat effectiveness of an army of that size, complex tactical formations and strategic coordination were absolutely essential. 

Luke looked at the terrifyingly organized enemy battle formations, and then glanced back at his own Shadowkhan army. While his ninjas possessed flawless individual combat instincts and naturally formed small, highly lethal strike teams, they lacked any overarching, unified military strategy. They were a swarm of elite assassins, not a disciplined, coordinated army. 

I desperately need to find some high-level, strategically brilliant military commanders to lead the Shadowkhan in large-scale engagements. 

Who in the Marvel Universe has extensive experience commanding massive, intergalactic armies in apocalyptic wars? 1