Loki, dressed in a neat suit and coat, left first.
Karl then casually drew a line in the air with his finger.
A golden portal immediately appeared.
Karl stepped through it together with Black Phoenix and Juggernaut.
The other side of the portal led directly to Karl's manor.
Karl had been away for about two days.
Fortunately, nothing in the manor had changed much.
As soon as they appeared inside the estate, the Extreme Speed Mimic Projection materialized.
"Welcome back, Boss."
After greeting Karl, the projection disappeared again and the manor's security mode automatically deactivated.
When Karl entered the main house, he noticed it was completely empty.
He casually summoned a holographic screen.
The system immediately displayed the locations of everyone in the manor.
May was shopping with Pepper Potts.
Gwen was attending classes at the university.
Helen Cho was busy conducting experiments in her laboratory.
Raven had taken Wanda, Pietro, and Peter out shopping—apparently buying snacks.
Karl then took out his phone.
He noticed several missed calls.
Both Tony Stark and Yinsen had called him a few times.
There was also a call from the East, but Karl didn't recognize the number and didn't bother checking it.
Meanwhile, Black Phoenix curled up on the sofa and leaned comfortably into Karl's arms.
Karl naturally wrapped his arm around her waist, enjoying the moment before dialing Tony's number.
"Tony, what's going on?"
"I went to Asgard for a few days."
"What did you need me for?"
Karl said casually while gently stroking Black Phoenix's red hair.
"What?!"
"You went to Asgard and didn't even tell me?!"
Tony's voice exploded through the phone.
"My God, Karl, you're a terrible friend!"
"That's literally the realm of the gods, and you went without taking me?!"
Tony sighed dramatically before continuing.
"Anyway, Yinsen couldn't reach you, so he asked me to pass on a message."
"Your Spider Serum is finished."
"The situation was urgent."
"Thor suddenly showed up with his girlfriend and dragged me straight to Asgard."
Karl replied calmly.
"There wasn't time to bring you."
"Alright, I got the message."
Without waiting for Tony to continue complaining, Karl simply hung up.
Since the spider serum had been completed, Karl decided to go check it himself.
He opened another portal and brought Black Phoenix with him directly to the laboratory where Samuel Sterns and Yinsen were working.
The lab looked the same as before.
Samuel and Yinsen immediately noticed Karl's arrival and stopped their work.
They walked over to greet him.
"Boss."
Samuel spoke first, his enlarged head looking even more prominent under the laboratory lights.
"The spider serum you asked me to develop is finished."
"There are only five vials available right now."
"The rest of the spiders are still in the breeding stage, so producing more serum will take some time."
"Good."
Karl nodded.
"Give me all five."
Then he casually opened his system space.
A dark elf corpse fell onto the floor.
"Also, this is a Dark Elf from Svartalfheim, one of the Nine Realms."
"You can study it."
Samuel's eyes instantly lit up.
"A Dark Elf?!"
"It's actually an elf specimen?!"
He looked like a child who had just received the greatest gift imaginable.
"Thank you, Boss! Thank you so much!!"
Meanwhile, Yinsen handed Karl a silver case containing the five vials of spider serum.
Karl accepted the case.
"Alright, continue your research."
"I'm leaving."
Before Samuel or Yinsen could say anything else, Karl opened another portal and stepped through it with Black Phoenix.
Neither Samuel nor Yinsen minded.
The two of them were already completely focused on examining the Dark Elf body.
For them, it was a priceless research subject.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in New York—
A man named Stephen Strange had just undergone surgery after a severe car accident.
When he woke up, he discovered something devastating.
His hands had been severely damaged.
They could no longer perform the precise movements required for surgery.
Stephen Strange was one of the most brilliant neurosurgeons in the world.
Without his hands—
His career was effectively over.
The doctor who treated him happened to know Strange personally.
Seeing Strange's despair, the doctor hesitated before offering a suggestion.
"There's someone in Manhattan who might be able to help you."
"But whether he helps you… depends entirely on you."
The moment Strange heard this, one name immediately appeared in his mind.
The Gold Saint.
Karl.
The man rumored to be able to grant people extended lifespans.
If someone like that existed, healing his hands would surely be trivial.
But Strange also understood something else.
Getting someone like Karl to help him would not be easy.
Karl was the youngest billionaire in the world.
If he wanted to, he could easily become the youngest trillionaire.
Compared to that—
The salary of a top surgeon was insignificant.
Strange had nothing valuable to offer in return.
But he refused to give up.
He had to try.
Half a month later, Stephen Strange was finally discharged from the hospital.
He spent days searching the internet for any information about Karl.
Unfortunately, the information available online was extremely limited.
He could barely even find details about Karl's family or private life.
He did learn one thing.
Karl had once exchanged lifespans for rare antiques.
But that event had occurred over a month ago.
And recently, almost no one had received such blessings.
Still unwilling to give up, Stephen Strange finally decided to go to Karl's manor personally.
Meanwhile, Karl had been living an extremely relaxed life.
Every day he spent time with the women around him.
To gain Karl's favor, they constantly came up with new and creative ways to please him.
Karl found it difficult to resist their efforts.
What Karl didn't know was that because of his existence—
Stephen Strange never went searching for Kamar-Taj.
Instead, he arrived directly at the gate of Karl's manor.
At the gate, Yelena simply ignored him.
Every day, countless people came hoping to meet Karl.
To her, Strange was just another desperate visitor.
Especially since he looked exhausted and disheveled.
Inside the security house nearby, Natasha Romanoff watched the scene quietly.
She was no longer an active member of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Whenever the Avengers were not busy, she would stay at Karl's manor.
Natasha also occasionally joined Karl's gatherings—
afternoon tea, barbecues, and other social events.
Karl never objected.
After all, Natasha had once declared that she wished to serve under him.
Karl hadn't taken it seriously at the time.
But Natasha had.
Since Yelena was already here, Karl simply allowed things to continue as they were.
Just as Karl was beginning to feel bored, he casually spread his mental power across the surrounding area.
It was merely an idle scan of the manor grounds.
But when his awareness reached the front gate—
He froze.
Standing there was Stephen Strange.
Karl couldn't help opening his mouth slightly in surprise.
He hadn't expected Strange to come here.
Karl immediately contacted Yelena through telepathy.
"Yelena."
"Bring him inside."
Since Strange had already come this far, Karl decided to help him personally.
Besides—
If something went wrong and Stephen Strange never found his way to Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One would probably come looking for Karl herself.
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