"This kind of cultivation will make you stronger, and it'll also let you stand against powers from the mystic side."
The Ancient One pointed out the most tempting part.
What Zod feared most had always been the various mystic-side forces. That was a domain he couldn't truly understand.
"Unless you add the Eye of Agamotto for me to study."
Zod was tempted, but he stayed rational.
"You want this?" the Ancient One asked, lifting the necklace on her chest. The Eye of Agamotto rested within it.
Zod stared at her in surprise.
She was willing to lend out even the Eye of Agamotto?
That could only mean trouble.
But if you asked whether Zod wanted it, of course he did.
That was the Time Stone, basically one of the strongest things in existence short of the Cosmic Cube and the Uni-Power.
And the Cosmic Cube and the Tesseract, which was the Space Stone, were not the same thing.
"Fine," the Ancient One said, nodding. "I agree."
"Tell me what you need me to do first," Zod said warily. She'd agreed too readily, and that gave him a bad feeling.
"A fragment of the Hell Dimension has come into contact with the Real Dimension," the Ancient One said plainly. "I need you to enter with me. While I complete the magical seal to isolate that dimension, you protect me and make sure I'm not interrupted."
"This sounds like a trap, Ancient One." Zod sighed, then asked, "Is that Hell Dimension fragment unowned?"
"If it were owned, then the moment it touched, Earth's dimension would count as being invaded."
The Ancient One shook her head. Even with the tri-fold protections of the three Sanctums, incidents like this still happened.
An unowned Hell Dimension fragment…
Zod weighed it. If it was unowned, then it wasn't like he was walking straight into someone else's territory.
"Ancient One, don't you have the Eye of Agamotto? Why not use its power?" Zod asked.
"Those who toy with time will eventually be toyed with by time."
The Ancient One shook her head. She wasn't very willing to use the Eye of Agamotto's power anymore.
Zod paced back and forth, hesitating. He knew the Ancient One's situation. She didn't have more than ten-plus years left. Someone like that could do anything.
Maybe she wanted to end it all in one go because he kept causing trouble?
It wasn't impossible.
Maybe she feared he'd ruin the future she had planned, so she came up with this.
"I want the payment first," Zod said.
"I originally intended for you to start learning first anyway," the Ancient One replied, nodding.
You're saying I should learn first, and you still claim it's not a big deal?
In the end, Zod still followed the Ancient One to Kamar-Taj.
Mainly because he really was curious.
"Where's Morgan?" Zod asked after arriving at Kamar-Taj and not seeing her.
"I isolated Morgan in a separate dimension," the Ancient One said calmly. "That place can block dimensional demon gods from harassing her."
Zod had no idea whether she was telling the truth. He had no way to verify it.
The Ancient One led him into Kamar-Taj's library. With a beckoning motion of her hand, a book flew into her palm.
"This is the Iron Fist cultivation method recorded by K'un-Lun."
She handed it to Zod. He took it and flipped it open.
Then he realized the text that had originally been in English had changed into…
Zod immediately began reading with full focus.
From what he knew of the Iron Fist's power, this book recorded it in great detail. It also mentioned that the reason Iron Fist power was so miraculous was because of the power of the divine dragon.
Without the dragon's power, Iron Fist was just an ordinary iron fist, nothing special at all.
Zod looked at the Ancient One. She shook her head.
Fine.
Then he'd try it.
Zod sat cross-legged, taking the posture the book described. The Ancient One helped gather the required qi around him.
Then she realized Zod had already entered a meditative state.
"As expected. His talent in this area is high too."
The Ancient One didn't leave immediately. She stayed nearby to guard him. In K'un-Lun, at the beginner stage, a master had to be present so that a cultivator wouldn't be invaded by inner demons while in meditation.
The moment Zod closed his eyes, he felt as if he'd slipped free of restraints. His thoughts soared into the clouds.
He became light as a feather, roaming rivers and mountains, sometimes diving into the sea of clouds, his back against the blue vault of heaven.
I… am I a dragon?
That thought jolted Zod awake. He snapped out of the state.
And on his body, there was now a divine dragon tattoo.
"You truly are extraordinarily gifted," the Ancient One said, praising him when she saw the dragon mark.
"The dragon's power…" Zod rubbed the tattoo, feeling a mysterious force sleeping within it. "Just now, did I become a dragon?"
"You connected with the dragon's power," the Ancient One explained. "That's why you don't need to kill an ancient dragon."
She had thought Zod would need several attempts before he could link to that dragon power drifting between heaven and earth. She didn't expect him to accomplish what others couldn't manage in an entire lifetime, so quickly.
"So that's how it works…" Zod nodded.
He already knew how to use the power of the divine dragon. It was strong, vast, boundless like an ocean.
"You have one day," the Ancient One said.
She set down the Eye of Agamotto and removed its seal.
Zod picked it up. Within, the pale green Time Stone emitted an enchanting glow.
He didn't touch the Time Stone. Its power might be more than he could bear. Even with a body of steel, he was still too weak right now.
Zod began observing the Time Stone's atomic structure out of curiosity. That was the real reason he wanted the Eye of Agamotto. He wanted to see what the Time Stone's atomic structure looked like, and whether he could replicate it.
"No atomic structure? How is that possible!"
Zod discovered he couldn't see the Time Stone's atomic structure.
Or rather, it had no atomic structure at all.
Fine.
Zod was already used to things like this.
At most, he felt a bit disappointed.
In the meantime, he continued cultivating the power of the divine dragon.
He realized that with the dragon power reinforcing him, he could become even stronger.
If obtaining dragon power meant he had merely touched the threshold of Skyfather-level, then now, he had stepped into Skyfather-level for real.
If you hadn't experienced it personally, you couldn't understand the enormous gap between Skyfather-level and near-Skyfather.
And the Ancient One and Odin were veteran Skyfathers, likely far stronger than him.
So he still had to keep a low profile.
"Are you ready, Zod?" the Ancient One asked, arriving as if she'd timed it perfectly. It almost made Zod suspect the Eye of Agamotto she'd given him might be fake.
"I'm ready," Zod said, nodding.
/-\
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