Within the sanctum sanctorum, Ray and the Ancient One sit at a table drinking tea.
Ray sips the bitter tea so as to not seem rude before speaking. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Sorcerer Supreme."
"It is a pleasure, isn't it?" The Ancient One says, a glint of mischief in her eyes.
Ray rolls his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course… I am humbled that one such as you would grace me with your presence."
A light chuckle leaves her lips. "As one should… Your etiquette is acceptable for breathing the same air as my venerable self."
Ray's lip quivers as he tries and fails to hold in his laughter. The Ancient One also chuckles lightly before getting serious.
"I have been expecting your arrival, Ray. I have looked through many strands of time, finding that you are an anomaly of time itself."
Ray looks at her in confusion. "An anomaly of time? What do you mean by that?"
The Ancient One takes another sip of her tea. "When I look at a particular future, you appear quite differently than any other being. It's as if the flow of time cannot determine what version of you is the correct one, as you constantly change weapons, armor, and even the type of magic you wield. It is quite fascinating…"
Ray scratches his chin. "You know, while that sounds strange, it actually kind of makes sense because of my powers."
The Ancient One sets down her tea cup. "The current you seems to be of the arcane magic variety, which makes this much easier for me. You see, it is my job to keep an eye on any threats to this dimension, so I noticed immediately when you connected yourself to this crystal dimension of yours."
Ray takes his glintstone staff out of his inventory. "My glintstone sorceries? The Primeval Current is an entire dimension?"
She nods whilst staring at his staff with a quizzical gaze. "Yes, your magic comes from a dimension of sentient crystal, a realm of inorganic beings that wield power over crystal and starlight. If you are not careful, you may find yourself among their number in the future…"
Ray gulps in shock, picturing in his mind his body turning into that of a Crystalian. "I-I better be more cautious then…" He stutters out.
The Ancient One gives him a soft smile. "Well now that you are here, I can personally train you to harness this energy and to understand it fundamentally. Of course, you will also be training in the mystic arts as well. Your body can only handle so much power from this 'Primeval Current' as you call it, but the mystic arts draws on power from this dimension, making it immensely easier to handle."
Ray returns his staff to his inventory and rubs his hands together. "Now we're talkin… When do we start?"
The Ancient One's mouth twitches into an almost sinister smirk before turning back to a neutral expression. "We shall begin immediately, you just have to open your mind…"
Her hand flashes towards him faster than he can react, her thumb pressing against his forehead. He doesn't even get a chance to swear as he is thrown through a tunnel of kaleidoscopic colors.
***
While Ray is having a psychedelic trip through dimensions thanks to the Ancient One, the Black Widow, AKA Natasha Romanoff, is currently inside the office of one Bolivar Trask, the founder of Trask industries.
Natasha expertly disables the hidden alarms in the room before grabbing the side of a large painting of Trask himself. The painting is actually a hidden door, hiding cabinets filled with classified documents.
She sifts through the files at lightning speed, her dexterous fingers soon alighting on a single file marked 'Project Sentinel'. She uses a small camera to take a picture of each page before placing it back and closing the painting door.
Just as she plans to make her escape, Bolivar Trask walks into the office. Natasha slinks into a hiding place before he can see her, lamenting at her bad luck.
Trask walks confidently to his desk before glancing around nervously. His eyes soon find the painting, his hands grasping the side and opening the secret door.
Natasha watches him from the shadows, her eyes squinting in suspicion. 'That is definitely not Trask… A shapeshifter?...'
The fake Trask sifts through some files before leaving the room as well, Natasha making sure to exit the building without raising any alarms.
A few hours later, Natasha is sitting in front of Fury's desk, his eyes scanning over the reports.
"This is more serious than I thought… These sentinels have the ability to adapt to any outside stimuli, becoming immune to any attack that is thrown at them. If these things fall into the wrong hands or go rogue, the death toll would be astronomical…"
Natasha doesn't even blink, her stoicism born from countless missions for the Red Room. "What do you suggest we do, Director?"
Fury looks Natasha dead in the eye. "We cannot allow a threat to humanity to exist… We will start by going through the proper channels. We shall make the government tell Trask to halt construction of the sentinels. If that fails, we send in the troops and shut him down at all costs. We especially have to keep an eye on Magneto. The fake Trask is highly likely to be Mystique, meaning that Magneto has this info as well. He might stage an attack on the facility before we are ready..."
Natasha nods in agreement. "Any clues to the whereabouts of Ray or the mutants?"
Fury sighs loudly. "Not even a breadcrumb left out… Whoever took them covered their tracks perfectly. There isn't a single organization on SHIELD's radar that has the capacity to do this. Either there is a third party we have no information about, or there is something fishy in our own house."
Natasha tilts her head quizzically. "You think SHIELD is compromised?..."
"It's just a hunch, I don't have any evidence to confirm or deny my claim. Just continue as you have been and don't go snooping without my say so. I will subtly look into things from my side."
"I will keep my eye out while keeping a low profile like always."
Fury smirks. "I know you will… Dismissed."
Natasha nods curtly before leaving Fury's office. Fury sits down in his chair and swivels it to face the window, his face a mask of calm as he sifts through his mind for any suspicious missions or projects that SHIELD has done in the past few years.
He turns back around and grabs a folder from his desk drawer. He opens the folder and looks through the papers contained within for a moment before a small paperclip falls out onto the floor.
Fury leans down and grabs the paperclip, his brow furrowing as he stares at it intently. As if a veil is removed from over his eyes, he gasps in shock before standing up abruptly and heading to the archives room.
***
"Was that really necessary?..." Ray says, his hand on the side of his head to alleviate his headache.
The Ancient one smiles brightly. "Of course it was necessary… This is a tried and true method to understanding the magnitude of danger of messing with dimensional energy."
"I'm sure you say that to everyone. You must get some kind of sick pleasure from doing that though…" Ray grumbles in annoyance.
"No comment." She says with a straight face.
Ray sighs in relief once the gamer's mind skill heals his headache. "So what's next?..."
"Well now I shall guide you through the process of attunement to our world's energy. The founder of the mystic arts, Agamotto, created the structure we use to harness our dimension's energy to cast spells.
Our dimensional energy is very versatile in its applications. Conjuring energy constructs, weaving arcane spells, and even projecting your astral self from your body. And these are some of the more simple applications of the mystic arts.
The first spell that our new disciples learn is to create energy constructs that can interact with the physical and spiritual world. These constructs usually take the form of weapons or armor, becoming both the sword and the shield in the battle to defend this dimension from other dimensional invaders."
The Ancient One looks to the side with a piercing gaze for a moment before turning to Ray. "But before you can learn to cast spells, you have to study the ancient texts in the library. I am sorry to cut our lesson short but I have matters to attend to."
Ray rolls his eyes, dreading the sight of more books. "Alright, I can't keep you here just for me. Where is the libr… AHHHH!!!"
Before Ray can finish talking, a portal opens up below him and he falls to the floor roughly six feet below, his butt landing squarely on the hardwood floor. The impact sends a jolt of pain throughout his body that could have been dangerous if he didn't have Gamer's Body.
Ray winces in pain for a moment before the pain vanishes and he stands up. In front of him is a wooden desk piled with books and old parchment. Seated behind the desk is a man with short brown hair and a light tan. He dips his quill back into the inkwell before looking up and seeing Ray.
"Ah, a new disciple. It's been a few months since she dropped someone off like that… Where are my manners? You may call me, the Librarian."
Ray walks up to the desk. "I'm Ray Winters. Could you help me get started with the books that I will need?"
The Librarian nods assuredly. "Of course. Follow me."
Twenty minutes later, Ray is walking down the hallway with a stack of books about the height of his chest and head combined. He has to turn his body to see down the hallway as he follows a fellow initiate that was kind enough to show him to his quarters.
Once he enters the small room that only has a bed and a small nightstand he softly puts down his books before turning to the initiate and materializes a phone in his hand.
"So what is the WiFi password?..."
***
(A/N) Hello readers!!! Life has been hitting me below the belt a lot the last few months so I haven't been able to write as frequently as I would like. I am still committed to writing this novel so you don't have to worry about that. I have big plans for the future of the novel so check in every week or so for a new chapter.
I do have some questions for you though... How strong would real guns be in the Elden Ring world? I kind of already had Ray use crossbows in a more realistic way, so should guns also be as realistic as possible?
secondly, should I drive vehicles in Elden Ring or stay with our good boy Torrent? Maybe I could have a few scenes where he is running over enemies or something but I mainly took them for marvel world shenanigans.
Let me know what you think and don't forget...
Stay Awesome!!!