After leaving Surtur's palace, Algrim couldn't help but ask, "My king, do you really believe he'll honestly follow your plan?"
"Believe him? Of course not," Malekith laughed. "If he had the chance, he'd kill me without hesitation, just like he wants to kill Odin…"
"Then why work with him?"
"I never needed his loyalty. Whether he likes it or not, if he wants the Eternal Flame back, he has no choice but to keep Asgard's full attention on him," Malekith said with a smile. "He hates me, yes, but he hates Odin even more. Do you think he could resist destroying Asgard once he gets the Eternal Flame?"
"Probably not," Algrim admitted.
"Exactly. Once he attacks, Asgard will have to fight back. They won't stop until one side wins," Malekith continued. "By then, I'll already have the Aether under my control. At that point, neither Surtur nor Asgard will be a problem."
"I see… wise as always, my king," Algrim said, now understanding.
"All we have to do now is wait. When the Nine Realms align, as soon as the Aether appears anywhere in them, I'll sense it instantly because of my connection to it," Malekith said.
"When that time comes, I'll need you to help Surtur steal the Eternal Flame."
"Yes!" Algrim replied.
Back in Edinburgh, Raymond quickly found an excuse to return to his room alone and check his status:
[Strength: 4.5, Agility: 5.4, Constitution: 5.8, Mind: 3.6]
[Abilities: Kuro's Fighting Style, Transformation Technique, Shadow Clone Technique, Multi-Shadow Clone Technique (beginner), Navy Six Styles (intermediate), Ki Mastery (intermediate)]
[Universal Points: 13,630]
[Sub-Personalities: Kuro, Deadshot, John Constantine, Exorcist, Livebearer, Akainu, Tao Pai Pai, Orochimaru, Megatron, Itachi Uchiha]
He let out a deep breath when he saw the five-digit balance of universal points. This was probably the first time he'd felt this kind of sudden wealth since becoming a core member of the Hellfire Club and receiving his first Development Points.
Most of these points clearly came from the reward for taking the Reality Stone. According to the system, this counted as a small change to the course of the world.
Before this, even defeating the Shadow King or Killian only counted as a minor change, with rewards of just two or three hundred Development Points. Stopping the Reality Stone from merging with Jane Foster was also considered only a minor change.
But taking the Reality Stone itself was clearly a much bigger change than anything he had done before.
After all, many events still revolve around the Reality Stone, especially with Malekith coming soon.
Without the Reality Stone, Malekith could never overthrow Asgard.
This change was obviously far more serious than killing two A-level villains, so it's no wonder the system gave a reward of 2,000 Development Points in one go.
Those 2,000 points converted to universal points make exactly 10,000, which is more than half of what he has now.
The other 3,000-plus mainly came from stopping the Reality Stone from merging with Jane Foster and from meeting the Ancient One.
Those two alone gave him 2,000 universal points.
Adding the 300 from meeting Thor, a few hundred from meeting other core Hellfire Club members, and a few hundred from meeting other mages in Kamar-Taj brings the total to what it is now.
This time, Raymond was definitely going to trade for a Gold Character Card.
On top of that, he planned to get two Silver Character Cards and ten Bronze Character Cards in one go.
If that's not called rich and bold, what is?
Once he decided on the exchange, Raymond didn't waste time and started right away:
"System, exchange one Gold Character Card, two Silver Character Cards, and ten Bronze Character Cards—activate them all immediately."
[Activating Gold Character Card…]
[Gold Sub-Personality – 'Battle Wolf' Jiro, activated successfully!]
[Background: 'Battle Wolf' Jiro from the Toriko world, the strongest Knocking Master in the world, one of the legendary three, with terrifying strength that even shocked the Gourmet God Acacia!]
[Activating Silver Character Cards…]
[Silver Sub-Personality – 'Kizaru' Borsalino, activated successfully!]
[Background: 'Kizaru' Borsalino from One Piece, a Logia-type "Glint-Glint Fruit" user and one of the current Marine Admirals!]
[Silver Sub-Personality – 'Professor X' Charles Francis Xavier, activated successfully!]
[Background: Professor X from X-Men: Days of Future Past, a powerful telepathic mutant!]
Seeing this, Raymond was thrilled—none of them disappointed him.
Kizaru, for example, was on the same power level as Akainu—slightly weaker in raw strength, but far faster and more agile. His near-light-speed abilities might actually be more useful than Akainu's.
Jiro's power was also beyond question. As the number one Knocking Master in Toriko, he could freeze small pockets of time and space with a single strike and even stop a greatly enlarged Earth from spinning. While he was only one of the strongest within a limited range in his own world, in this world he could be at least Skyfather-level by Raymond's estimation.
The strength gap between Gold and Silver sub-personalities was truly massive. With Jiro, even if he couldn't maintain the switch for long, Raymond would still have a way to survive against high-tier enemies like that "Population Control Master."
But the one that shocked him most was Professor X.
Even though this was a version from another parallel world, Professor X was still Professor X—basically David's father.
Now, Raymond didn't think he could ever look at that kid the same way again…
Join .com/AHumanMadeMOFO to read ahead!