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After writing that line, Arthur put down the pen and quietly waited for ten minutes.
“Alright, I’ve taken out the sunset finger snap… Just kidding!”
Arthur rolled his eyes. Such things were obviously impossible, right?
This was the Pen of Thoth, not the Death Note or anything like that…
Moreover, even if Thanos were to die of a heart attack at this very moment, he wouldn’t know!
Should he call Star-Lord with an Interstellar phone to ask if Thanos had croaked?
Shaking his head, Arthur muttered, “Let’s think of something more practical…”
After pondering for a moment, he wrote another line on the paper: “Lily’s coat appears in front of me.”
After writing this, he waited a bit… but nothing happened.
“Well, it can’t weave reality or change it… It’s clearly unrelated to that.”
Arthur thought for a moment and decided to change his approach.
He drew a bird on the paper. The drawing was ugly, and he couldn’t help but think of Lily’s expertise. He felt that if she saw it, she would probably ridicule it thoroughly.
However, the bird did not fly off the paper.
“Well, if it could do such things, Loki’s scribbles would have made Asgard much livelier back in the day.”
Arthur stood up helplessly: “But… what’s the use of this?”
His intuition told him that the pen must have some significant use, but he didn’t know what it was.
“If only there was a manual.”
Arthur sighed and decided to draw a teleportation circle on the ground.
He wondered if the Ancient One would be angry if she saw it tomorrow.
Since he was here, Arthur decided not to hide anything. After all, those two, the Ancient One and Odin, had been spying on him for over thirty years, and they probably knew more about his abilities than he did.
He quickly drew a teleportation circle on the floor.
In a flash of light, something unexpected happened: the teleportation circle disappeared.
With a thought, Arthur clearly sensed the teleportation circle was right in front of him. With another thought, it reappeared.
“So… it can automatically hide after being drawn?”
Arthur considered that Odin and the others probably didn’t know this. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had to go through the trouble of erasing the marks left by the pen with his own power.
“Perhaps it’s because the teleportation circle was drawn with this pen.”
He glanced at the paper on the bed; the text was still there and hadn’t hidden itself.
“That’s fine too. If it hides, it would be more secretive.”
After pondering for a while and finding it difficult to determine the pen’s true use, Arthur decided to put it back in the Disassembler space.
Sitting on the bed, looking at the bright moon and starry sky outside the window, he thought, “I… guess I’m back.”
It felt strangely unreal.
Shaking his head, he picked up his phone and dialed a number.
Moments later, a stunned voice came through: “Don’t tell me this is a prank?”
“A prank you didn’t expect.”
Arthur chuckled softly: “But from what you’re saying, it’s clear that the people who reached some kind of understanding with you didn’t let you know about my existence. I’ve actually made an appearance at SHIELD before.”
“Incredible. Where exactly have you been?” Tony’s voice was slightly trembling. “Where are you now? I’m coming to get you right away. I can’t wait to hear about your adventure. Though it’s probably very mundane! But if Banner and Dr. Connors find out, they’ll be thrilled! Wait, you’ve met with SHIELD people? Who?”
“Coulson,” Arthur said with a smile. “I’m sure you know him.”
“Of course, I know him. He went to handle a mysterious item incident before… So, you were in New Mexico at that time? Why didn’t you come back?”
Tony’s voice paused for a moment before continuing, “Are you ready to accept your identity now?”
“What identity?”
Arthur shook his head: “I just don’t want to keep hiding anymore. You know, after going through a lot, one’s mindset changes in different ways. This mundane adventure might exceed your imagination. It could make a wonderful bedtime story for you.”
“Good. At least you haven’t changed that annoying part of you. I’m so relieved!”
“You mentioned Banner and Dr. Connors earlier. How are they?”
“After that terrifying experiment of yours, so much has happened… We’ll talk about it when you come back.”
“I probably won’t be able to come back soon. I’m in an interesting place right now, preparing to undergo a test from an ancient and powerful being.”
“I’m sure that excites you.”
“Yes, it does,” Arthur said. “So much so that I’m excited to the point of not being able to sleep, and ended up calling my nephew in the middle of the night.”
There was a long silence on the other end before Tony’s voice finally came through: “When will you be back?”
“I don’t know. Can you give me a rough idea of what happened after I ‘left’?”
“Well, since you asked, I’ll reluctantly give you an explanation. After all, it’s quite cruel to leave an old man with an unsolved mystery.”
“…”
—
The next morning, Arthur yawned and opened his eyes.
He glanced at the time and realized he had only slept for about half an hour. He never imagined that chatting with a man on the phone all night long would happen.
Once Tony started talking, he wouldn’t stop.
The conversation initially was about the status of Banner and Dr. Connors after Arthur’s departure.
Both were very downcast at the time, with Banner feeling especially guilty, thinking everything was due to his suggestion of using ‘Gamma-Ray.’
There wasn’t anyone around to comfort him, so Banner would feel down for the whole day whenever he thought about that experiment, to the point of losing his appetite.
Tony even maliciously speculated that Banner might secretly wipe away tears every night.
Dr. Connors, on the other hand, was much more resilient and stubbornly believed that Arthur was definitely fine.
His theoretical basis was probably something like ‘Good people don’t live long, while evil lasts a thousand years.’
After that, both of them were brought by Tony to work at his company.
Dr. Connors’ status as a wanted criminal caused some trouble, but with Tony’s SHIELD connections and various other relationships, plus Arthur’s previous intervention, although Connors’ transformation into the Lizard caused quite a ruckus, it didn’t result in any actual casualties.
As a result, Connors only faced some symbolic punishment, and after Tony helped cover a large portion of the repair costs for the building, the matter was concluded.
—
(End Of Chapter)
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