With Tony and Steve working together, Bucky was naturally easy to handle.
"Stark, how did you become so powerful?"
On the car escorting Bucky and the other Super Soldiers back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Base, Steve asked curiously.
In the battle just now, Tony wasn't wearing his suit. He fought bare-handed the whole time, helping him capture Bucky. This greatly exceeded Steve's expectations.
Tony said with a straight face, "Do 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 squats, plus a 10-kilometer run every day."
"Trust me, Steve, as long as you stick with it, you'll undergo a qualitative change."
Steve's face darkened, he naturally didn't believe Tony's nonsense.
Ever since he used the super soldier serum and transformed from a frail boy with congenital deficiencies into a super soldier, he had become a fitness fanatic. His daily training volume was many times higher than that, and he hadn't seen any qualitative change in himself.
After a while, Tony added, "Of course, a little other help is also needed."
Such as mystical energy.
Steve shook his head helplessly, no longer listening to Tony's rambling, but instead looked at Bucky with concern.
After the battle, Tony had explained in detail what Bucky's current situation was.
"Stark, do you think Bucky can still recover?"
Tony replied to Steve without hesitation, "Of course he can."
He explained, "Even souls that have entered Hell and become muddled can recover if properly nurtured. Let alone mere brainwashing."
Steve nodded, relieved.
The topic of Hell was a bit too advanced for him. But he still understood Tony's meaning — Bucky could recover.
"Also, I need him to recover his memories and tell me who ordered him to kill my parents." Tony's voice suddenly rang out again, making Steve's heart clench.
"Bucky killed your parents?!" Steve's voice was filled with disbelief.
He looked at Tony, who was sitting calmly beside him, and hesitated to speak.
"I know you want to ask what happened. In 1991, Bucky attacked my parents and faked a car accident."
"I also know you want to say that Bucky was controlled at the time, powerless, and it wasn't his intention."
Tony asked and answered his own questions.
Steve nodded. "Stark, your father Howard, I, and Bucky, were all friends and comrades during World War II. If Bucky had been conscious then, he definitely wouldn't have harmed your parents."
Tony shook his head.
For Steve, World War II was just over a year ago, so their camaraderie was naturally deep. But for Bucky and Howard, the war had ended forty or fifty years before the incident occurred.
After such a long time without contact, how much of their former camaraderie remained was questionable.
"Steve, I promise you. I won't harm Sergeant Barnes before he recovers. But once he awakens, if he was conscious when he killed my parents, don't blame me." Tony's voice was very calm.
He was very calm now.
Facing the calm Tony, Steve couldn't find any reason to refute him.
...
California, one of Tony's seaside Villas.
"Tony, you want my help to quickly restore Bucky?"
The speaker was Lucas.
At this time, two hours had passed since Steve and Tony captured Bucky.
The impatient duo took Bucky and left, returning to Tony's residence.
Originally, Tony planned to use his mental power to nourish Bucky's soul. But coincidentally, Lucas, who had just returned from the Dimension of Blood, heard that Tony was temporarily done with his work and immediately rushed over.
So...
"No, Lucas. If you help him recover, I can save time and get to work on debugging the cloning device sooner. Ultimately, you'll be the beneficiary." Tony corrected Lucas's statement.
Theoretically, this was a division of labor and not Lucas helping him.
"Alright, no big deal."
Lucas didn't pay attention to such small details.
He flicked his finger, and a pure white energy shot out, entering Bucky's body, quickly sorting and purifying his soul.
Although Lucas was now an energy pauper again, he could still spare a few points.
On this trip to the Dimension of Blood, he extracted 2 billion points and forced the Blood God to sign a series of unilaterally equal treaties.
One of them was to annually donate tens of millions of points as a gift to maintain friendly relations with Lucas.
This number was a bit less than Lucas expected. But after the Blood God's explanation, Lucas roughly understood.
The main energy source of the Dimension of Blood was also the incidental energy within souls.
That is, the energy Lucas absorbed during the first stage.
And most of all deceased souls would wander within the Universe, heading to the underworlds constructed by the deities they believed in.
Souls without faith would only, under natural attraction, pass through a mysterious transfer station and head to Hell.
And the number of Hells was far greater than the real Universe.
Typically, a single Hell could only receive the souls from a few, or a dozen, planets. This is why countless Hell Lords thought of invading reality through dimensional nodes. Then they would make a fortune, killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.
Like a certain guy from the Dark Dimension.
While waiting for Bucky to regain consciousness, Lucas had a thought and opened his panel.
[Points: 664,399]
[Sacred Body: 1803]
Hmm, the Sacred Body is still a long way from 10,000, and more effort is needed to earn energy.
And speaking of earning energy, Lucas happened to have a business tycoon by his side.
"Tony, if I want to earn energy, how should I do it?"
"Hmm, what do you mean?" Tony was puzzled.
"Energy isn't just something sorcerers extract from the Multiverse day after day, year after year, and then accumulate, is it?
"Or borrow from extra-dimensional entities."
"Tony, is your huge Stark Industries empire something you earned by working for others?" Lucas gave an example.
"Lucas, the business model of ordinary people and the business model between sorcerers and extra-dimensional entities have different logic."
"First, tell me how you currently collect energy. Specific problems require specific analysis."
Hearing Lucas's analogy, Tony became interested.
Of course, he wasn't interested in earning money, but in earning energy.
Lucas said, "Well, there are several ways. The main one is to find a Dimensional Lord, then try to 'accidentally' bump into them and extort them. Usually, I can earn hundreds of millions of units of energy at once."
"The secondary method is to convert physical energy in the Universe into mystical energy."
"Or absorb the incidental energy from deceased souls."
"This method typically collects tens of thousands of units of energy per day."