Ch67. Need to get stronger

The following days Tony worked on the Destroyer, scanning it and having an in-depth look into its functions and the enchantments that made it work.

It was a very enlightening experience and Tony found a ton of ways to improve his own golems with various enchantments he 'permanently borrowed' from observing the Destroyer's inner workings.

The Destroyer was an interesting piece of magical technology and despite the severed connection from the energy source that powered it up, there was still some residual energy, Odinforce, the Kamar Taj library called it, and Tony had a blast poking and prodding it in his research.

The biggest haul, however, was the Destroyer's body itself. Namely, the metal from which it was made.

Surprisingly enough, Tony found out it would help him with the ritual he was putting together. He wanted to make use of the findings from Extremis to give himself and Natasha a similar power as Carol Danvers and this metal was incredibly good for safely channeling magical energies.

Once he found a way to melt it, he could create a liquid alchemical ritual circle from it that should be able to fully facilitate the ritual with no need to look for additional ingredients!

It was a bit of a pity Tony couldn't use the metal to make a golem out of it, but he doubted he would be able to get a better ingredient for the ritual circle. At first, he planned to use Vibranium but this new metal was much better.

...

"You did something outrageous again." The Ancient One said with certainty and narrowed her eyes at Tony who calmly sipped tea in front of her.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Tony nonchalantly replied. It was still good. She had her 'I know something is going on but I don't know what' kind of face. He could still bullshit his way out of it. "Did you see me do something outrageous?" He flippantly asked.

"Don't be coy with me. You know well that since you learned warding, spying on you is extremely hard." The Ancient One scoffed.

She would have pouted but she had a reputation to uphold. Plus, there was no snowball chance in hell she was showing Stark of all people such lax behavior. For all she knew, he might take it as an excuse to behave even worse!

Yes, Tony knew extremely well how hard time she was having while trying to spy on him and was also incredibly smug about it!

He finally managed to get one over the magical grandma and that was an achievement he was not going to forget anytime soon.

It was also the reason he was so assured Heimdal would be unable to see through his anti-scrying wards. When a person with magic powered by a freaking infinity stone is unable to spy on him, what chance would some rainbow dude have?

Seeing that Tony was not about to crack and tell her what he did, The Ancient One sighed, "You are insufferable, Mr. Stark." Tony was about to open his mouth but Tao continued, "And yes, that is praise."

Now that confused him into shutting him up and Tao smirked.

When Tony realized he had been had in a verbal showdown, he clicked his tongue, "How did you even discover I did something."

"That's for me to know and for you to discover once you learn more magic." Tao shrugged and sipped from her tea.

Tony pouted. Unlike Tao, being childish was not beneath him. In fact, he reveled in it.

"I looked through every book on scrying magic and I have no idea..." He started.

"It's from my personal library I am not gonna show you." Tao smugly interrupted him, "By the way, I have seen your work with the Extremis Cradles. That was commendable. There will be people trying to misuse it, of course, but in the end, it will make the world a better place." And promptly changed the topic.

Tony would have loved nothing more but bugging her about showing him her personal stash of knowledge but he knew Tao. Since she outright said she will not show him, then she will simply not show him.

She was extremely generous with him already and Tony respected her far too much to be whiny about her keeping some knowledge away from him. He would simply have to find out how she did it himself and create some countermeasures. No biggie.

It was more fun this way anyway.

"And give me a new source of income that will push me higher on the ranking of the richest people in the world, hehe." Tony rubbed his hands in glee.

"As if you needed more money." Tao rolled her eyes with a slight smile on her face.

"Hey! It's all for the bragging rights!" Tony vehemently protested.

"You could have the bragging rights if you became the Sorcerer Supreme too." Tao offhandedly stated, not holding much hope for her wish to be fulfilled.

Tony instantly grimaced as if he smelled something bad, "Meh. You do a great job. Why bother?"

Tao didn't mind his refusal, though. She expected it even though it was a bit disheartening for her. Tony's talent at mystic arts would have made him an excellent candidate for the spot and his mindset was surprisingly correct too.

In fact, if he was trying to 'correct' the timeline according to what he thought was the 'best outcome' where no one suffered, The Ancient One would have been frankly mildly disappointed.

There was never a reality where no one suffers. The difference was only in the perspective.

But instead, Tony let the timeline flow as it should without much interference, focusing on preparing for the bigger threat which was Thanos.

She knew Tony was aware people died on daily basis because of this decision of his. Hydra's experiments were just one example of that. He could have put a stop to them or at least pressurize the organization enough to minimize them but he decided to not bother. He decided to leave Hydra to Rogers.

He could have saved Banner a lot of grief. He could have prevented unnecessary deaths in Harlem. He could have done a lot more... but in the end, that would have made Tony busy trying to correct every wrong in the world by himself and things like the Extremis Cradle would have not existed.

Well, Tao also knew Tony's motivation was mostly selfishness and that was the only reason why she was not trying to force him to become her successor. On one hand, he was far too selfish to let his reality be destroyed, on another, she shuddered at what reforms he would have done in the capacity of Sorcerer Supreme.

"Why bother, indeed. With how little effort you put into learning combat spells, there is no chance of you becoming one anyway." Tao snorted, goading him.

Unlike she expected, Tony didn't get riled up, though.

"Hah, I am quite fine with that. Natasha can learn the combat magic in my stead. I will just stay studying my alchemy and enchanting. Who needs a fireball when I can make a bomb." He said, cheekily smirking at Tao as he mocked her 'old-fashioned' magic ways.

"This modern world technology approach has spoiled you, Mr. Stark." Tao shook her head in mock disappointment.

Much to Tao's surprise, Tony nodded his head in acknowledgment. She would have never thought to see something like that happening. Tony Stark admitting that his approach was not the best? Was the world ending or something?

"You may be right." Tony wryly said, getting a flashback of Thor summoning a storm. "But I don't think the combat spells of sorcerers are the answer for me." He added a bit dejectedly.

The Mystic Arts combat spells were... not that impressive, to be honest.

The Ancient One didn't react even though her brain was going a mile a minute. She wondered if Tony had an encounter with some other supernatural beings... maybe vampires... and found out that the sorcerers were not really all that powerful on the power scale in the supernatural world.

There were too many more powerful things out there... but the Sorcerers had their ways to face even those unbelievably powerful things, much like they face Dormammu. With their wits and versatile magic. They simply did not rely all that on firepower, knowing it would have been a futile effort against things with so much power.

"Well, I am sure you will find what you are looking for. Eventually." Tao gave him an empty reassurance before she changed a topic to his alchemy studies.

Whether he did find out a method to get stronger or not, Tao didn't care.