Smith's consciousness hovered at the edge of Kamar-Taj, observing through his connection to the Dragon Balls. His astral form remained as unobtrusive as possible while he tried to understand what was happening.
Just as Smith was thinking about how to face the Ancient One, he saw Karl Mordo appear in her meditation chamber.
Smith watched in silence as the Dragon Ball was handed from the Ancient One to Karl Mordo.
For two seconds, Smith remained completely still. Then understanding crystallized.
The Ancient One had transferred the Dragon Ball tournament slot to Karl Mordo.
Relief flooded through Smith's consciousness. If the Ancient One participated, there would be no suspense in the competition. She could be directly declared the winner. Even Thor or Xu Wenwu wouldn't be the Ancient One's opponent in Smith's eyes.
But Karl Mordo—although he'd been the Supreme Sorcerer in a few other universes—didn't have the Eye of Agamotto in his hands. Smith didn't need to take him as seriously.
Though he felt relieved, Smith was still a little curious. Didn't the Ancient One have any thoughts about the Dragon Ball? Didn't she have any thoughts about him?
Unable to guess what the Ancient One was planning, Smith decided to just fight it out as it came. After this Dragon Ball wish was over, perhaps he would have the confidence to face the Ancient One, Odin, and others head-on.
Even now, with his Great Ape transformation at 20,000 power level, he could already be called a star-destroying powerhouse. Although there were many powerful beings in Marvel, there actually weren't many who could truly destroy stars with their physical bodies. The Black Widows certainly couldn't destroy a planet with their bare hands even if they worked themselves to death.
After confirming the situation with the fourth Dragon Ball, Smith changed his perspective again to explore the whereabouts of the fifth Dragon Ball.
He saw a Dragon Ball standing on a small pile of stones. As the picture shifted, he saw a woman in white clothes sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Looking at the woman who appeared in the picture, Smith murmured, "Fox?"
But Smith soon realized something was wrong. Even if Fox wasn't at headquarters right now, she should be in New York. This desolate scene was obviously not in New York.
Instead, everything around the woman and her white dress reminded Smith of someone else. Thena from the Eternals.
Looking at Thena in the picture, Smith quickly thought of a rather ridiculous movie called The Eternals. Although the movie was ridiculous, it involved the universe he was in, which forced him to recall it seriously.
The Eternals were a race created by the Celestials to protect the birth of newborn Celestials. Their existence served two purposes: eliminate Deviants, and secretly protect the development of intelligent races on their planet—mainly to protect the successful birth of the underground Celestials.
According to the records in the movie, the Eternals on Earth currently included Thena, Gilgamesh, Sersi, Ikaris, Ajak, Druig, Makkari, Phastos, Kingo, and Sprite.
Each had extraordinary abilities. There were healers, assistants, tanks, damage dealers, high-speed assassins, and even technological manufacturing specialists. It was quite comprehensive, and each of them was very powerful.
Because he'd never encountered them before, Smith didn't know their specific combat power. But some of them had been compared to Superman and a female version of Quicksilver, which showed they weren't easy to deal with.
And most importantly, the appearance of the Eternals meant there was an unborn member of the Celestial race gestating inside Earth. Once it emerged, Earth would collapse and shatter instantly.
As for the Eternals themselves, they weren't entirely reliable. After all, the universe Smith inhabited wasn't exactly the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but something very similar. This could be the universe where the Celestials successfully manifested. Smith vaguely remembered that in one version of events, the Eternals had failed to prevent the Celestial's emergence, and Earth had collapsed.
Fortunately, there was still time. The Celestial inside Earth could be dealt with later.
On the other side, at the Dragon Ball's location, Thena had just recovered from her Mahd Wy'ry episode.
She and Gilgamesh had lived in seclusion here for years. Every time her Mahd Wy'ry attacked, she would sit in meditation under this ancient tree. She would return to normal after fighting with Gilgamesh to exhaust the violent episode.
This time, when Thena opened her eyes, she was stunned by the strange orange sphere that had appeared in front of her.
"Could this be something I brought back during my Mahd Wy'ry episode?"
Thena had no memory of the periods when she suffered from Mahd Wy'ry. She was curious about the sphere in front of her, so she picked it up.
The moment she touched it, information about Dragon Balls appeared directly in Thena's mind.
After receiving the information, Thena played with the Dragon Ball in her hand and murmured, "When did a dragon that can grant any wish appear on Earth?"
"The Second Dragon Ball Competition? That's quite interesting."
Thena stood up, took the Dragon Ball, and walked toward the courtyard not far away. She found Gilgamesh in the room.
After listening to Thena's explanation, Gilgamesh picked up the Dragon Ball from the table, looked at it, and said, "Thena, I didn't receive any message. Are you sure you're not confused?"
Thena rolled her eyes at Gilgamesh. "Besides Mahd Wy'ry, do you think we Eternals have any other weaknesses? We don't get sick, and we don't dream."
Hearing Thena's words, Gilgamesh nodded in agreement, then continued, "But it's still very magical."
"This Dragon Ball reminds me of another legend on this planet—the legend of Aladdin's magic lamp, which also contains a genie who can fulfill any wish."
"But Aladdin's lamp is just a witch's trick. There's a magician sealed inside."
"Is this dragon really as powerful as the information says?"
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