Avengers' Training: Sam Wilson [END]
The fight was intense, but Maria was steady. She divided her fleet into two, one side focused on attack while the other focused on defense by intercepting the enemy's attack. She saved countless fleets with this approach while taking a decent chunk of the enemy's power. However, this was far from enough, as she was still outmatched by 4 to 1.
Maria remained calm and steady, using all the things she had learned in her training, including stuff like the Holdo Maneuver, to destroy countless ships. She lost countless ships in the process, but she remained steady. Losing these ships indeed placed psychological pressure on her, but it also reduced the burden on her spirit since she did not have to control so many ships. With more psychic powers, she could use better maneuvers with the surviving ships.
After hours of fighting, Maria won this fight with only a little over 10,000 ships remaining. The simulation gave her a [S] grade, the second highest beyond [S+]. Edward nodded in approval after seeing this. In the Empire, [S+] was the theoretical limit in this test, and the only people who ever received that score were artificial intelligence and six others — including Edward's wife, Olivier.
'With her talent, she should be able to reach [S+] rank eventually,' Edward thought.
"We must bring such a talent back to the Empire,' Morgana suggested. 'The Psychic Space Fleet Department needs such a talent to compete with the others.'
The concept of using psychic abilities to command spaceships has been introduced ever since Tower Masters Narcissa and Soleil discovered psychic energy. That department made great achievements during the war against the Death God Guzznad. Unfortunately, it was not until after the war that they perfected their system.
Due to the lack of achievements, this department cannot compare to departments like the Mana Space-Fleet Department or Artificial Intelligence Space-Fleet Department. Their departments need two things to become the best: a great war to prove themselves and an unparalleled talent as their leader. Maria Hill might be that talent.
'Indeed,' Edward nodded. He had great hope for that department as they were his way of dealing with what he called [Horde Civilization], like Skynet with AI, the Zerg, or Abyss Demons. These civilizations dealt with threats by overwhelming their opponents with numbers.
Edward has spent countless nights worrying about such a situation, thinking he would deal with these civilizations. He even tried to create his own version of the Zerg Queen, with some level of success. After capturing that creature from the Rick and Morty World, who was a Hive-mind, he created a Zerg-like queen. However, he hasn't wholly recreated the fundamental aspect of that race that made them so terrifying: their abilities to use resources.
As long as the Queen has enough flesh, blood, and soul, she mass-produced Zerg Soldiers from Tier 0 to even Tier 9 — maybe 10. Edward has not yet reached such a level of energy utilization. So, his primary plan for dealing with those [Hord Civilization] is to rely on the weaponized Obscurus, which has become a devouring force of nature with no limit, and the use of technology; to be precise, the use of AI.
After reaching Tier 10 and with the Empire's current technology, it should not be a problem to mass produce Tier 1 to 7 robots and be on par with these Horde Civilizations. Then, the Arcanists in the Empire will have to make up for the gap at higher Tiers.
However, Edward has always been paranoid about artificial intelligence, especially the purely technology-based ones. So, he openly and secretly helped the Psychic Department Develop because they were an alternative to AI. One Psychic Commander can command a fleet of millions of ships. At higher levels, that number can reach billions, maybe trillions, making them the perfect replacement for these robots.
"The second part of the test is about to begin," Morgana said, and Edward woke up from his thoughts. Maria had a new set of 500,000 Tier 4 ships, but this time, her opponent was a Tier 6 Arcanist. In the upcoming battle, independent individuals with immense powers will be the focus instead of a vast military, so Maria's main focus was on this aspect.
Maria controlled her fleet to fight this Arcanist, who mastered countless spells; she had to respond to his numerous methods to ensure she could kill him. After defeating him, she had to fight countless more individuals. After all, there are vast differences in powers for Arcanists based on how they condense their Mana Core at Tier 5 and their understanding of magic. There is also the fact there are different branches of Arcanists with unique ways of fighting.
Edward and Morgana calmly watched her experience this test. Maria not only fought different branches of Arcanists, but she also had to fight various creatures from the Empire's record and the ones from this world that Edward created. Finally, she received a [S-] as a final score.
"As expected, that Spiritualist is her nemesis," Mogana commented, and Edward nodded. She would have received a higher score, but the Spiritualist broke her mind's defense, and she almost lost control. Maria opened her eyes and removed the headset.
"What do you think?" Edward asked.
"Still not enough," she said calmly. The others finished their training but stayed behind because of that Spiritualist. Before she received an [A-] as a score and was not satisfied, she stayed to train and raise her score.
"Indeed," Edward nodded. Just as she had high expectations for herself, he did too. "However, you've reached the minimum required to end this training. You can do the rest yourself."
"I understand," Maria nodded. "Any news from Fury?"
"No, but he's alive, and that's all that matters," Edward replied. Fury has already reincarnated, and Edward used a Divination Artifact that he left in the Blank Realm that can determine whether he's alive. Although it's annoying that someone has to check occasionally, this was the best move since he did not want to leave any causal link to his timeline.
"That's good to hear," Maria nodded. "What about my fleet?"
"It's prepared," Edward replied, handing her access to the fleet.
"So many ships?" Maria commented. She sensed more than 10 million, many of which were so powerful that her current Tier 6 Psychic Power could not control them.
"That's nothing,' Edward said calmly. He was not bragging. After reaching Tier 10, his level of productivity reached another level. Many things now can be easily automated and mass-produced. For this fleet, he only made a second synthesizer and provided enough energy, and voila, he built such a large army. The one he showed Maria was only a fraction.
Maria nodded and did not say anything else. During these past few years, she understood how scary of a being this person was. "Do you have any orders?"
"Not for now," Edward replied.
"In that case, I'll take my leave." Maria left, and Edward calmly watched.
"What? Interested in taking her into your harem?" Morgana teased. "She meets the criteria: talented, ambitious, and extremely hard working." During this training, the little elf saw how crazy Maria trained. She seemed to understand that as long as Edward was present, she could not die, so she pushed herself beyond the limit. That's why she reached Tier 6 despite the fact her talent paled to the Avengers.
Edward shook his head. He was too tired mentally to be thinking about women now. Was he interested in Maria's beauty and talent? Of course, he was; otherwise, he wouldn't have been Edward. However, now was not the time.
"Let's get this over with," he uttered before summoning Sam Wilson, the falcon and future Captain America.
Sam was not like the others; he showed no reservations as he looked around everywhere with curiosity.
"So, what kind of power will you give me?" he asked. "Will it be magic? I can wear a hat since I'll be a wizard. Maybe laser visions — I always wanted such power as a kid."
"Your power will be based on your talent," Edward explained. "Stand before that orb."
"Oh, okay."
Edward received the results a few minutes later and looked at him strangely.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong." There was nothing wrong with the results. Even his talent, which was on par with the Avengers, was "normal" in a sense. Edward looked at him strangely because his talent was "Beast Control."
Sam in the MCU was a regular human with no powers, but in the comics, he had Ornithokinesis or Aviankinesis, the power to control or influence birds. However, after being blessed and granted a supernatural power, Sam Wilson in this multiverse gained control over all beasts.