Chapter 209. Time Travel

[Golden Pocket Watch (1/1)]

In terms of ability alone, the [Golden Pocket Watch] was undoubtedly the most powerful item Ryan had drawn so far, without a doubt. The ability to travel back in time, regardless of the movie, was an extremely powerful and even game-changing ability.

Although the [Golden Pocket Watch] was capable of travelling through time, there seemed to be some limitations to it.

According to the introduction of the system, it seems like the ability of the [Golden Pocket Watch] could only send the user back by 70 years and couldn't control the direction of time at will.

In that case, although the ability of the [Golden Pocket Watch] was powerful, it was undoubtedly less useful.

After all, 70 years ago was the year when Captain America was born. If Ryan applied the ability of [Golden Pocket Watch] at this moment, it would mean that he would travel through time and cross paths with Captain America in World War II.

And the (1/1) label reminded Ryan that he only had one chance.

But Ryan had thought this through long ago, and in fact, he didn't have much of a choice. The [Golden Pocket Watch]'s ability to travel back in time was limited, so if he didn't use it now, using it to travel back 70 years would be useless in the future.

So, in that case, it was better to take it out and be done with it.

It would be best if he succeeded. Even if he failed, it wouldn't really be much of an unbearable loss for him.

The [Golden Pocket Watch] could easily be an unexpected opportunity for him.

Understanding that, Ryan no longer hesitated. He opened the system's item section and immediately took out the [Golden Pocket Watch].

Inside the antique shop, Ryan looked down at the [Golden Pocket Watch] he was holding. The pocket watch was ordinary, with an antique pattern on the old gold housing, and at a glance, it didn't seem to be anything special. However, opening the cover of the pocket watch, the golden glint of light on the glass of the watch inside was revealed, and the faint sound of the hands ticking in his ears gave the watch a magical quality.

'So this is the [Golden Pocket Watch], but how do I use it?'

Opening the system's data panel, Ryan re-read the introduction for the [Golden Pocket Watch] again and gradually had some ideas in mind.

It was obvious that the [Golden Pocket Watch] didn't simply transport the user's body back in time but also transported the user back to the time when he or she wanted to travel to. In that way, there were new questions Ryan had to figure out. How was he going to manage his current clones when he travelled 70 years into the past?

Although, in theory, the time that the time traveller passed through wasn't parallel to the time in his current timeline, Ryan still felt the need to make some arrangements just to be on the safe side.

Fortunately, things about Jiu You and Peng Lai had come to an end. Currently, Ryan had been keeping his clones active in two places– Ip Man in Chinatown and Shell in front of Stark Industries. The arrangement of these two identities was relatively simple, and it didn't take Ryan too much effort.

A few days later, a 'Temporarily Closed' sign went up on the door of the antique shop in the West End, near Hell's Kitchen.

At home, Ryan, who had changed into a vintage 1940s-style outfit, looked at the [Golden Pocket Watch] in his hand and readjusted his emotions, trying to calm himself down.

Taking a deep breath and lying down silently on the bed, Ryan placed the pocket watch in his hand on his chest, mentally muttering something about its use.

With Ryan's assent, the hands on his pocket watch began to spin backwards, and the sound of the hands ticking echoed in his ears.

In the next moment, darkness fell over his eyes, and he lost consciousness.

...

Kathmandu, Kamar Taj.

As a portal appeared, the Ancient One passed through and saw that Wong was in the library.

"Wong? What happened?"

"Just a moment ago, the Eye of Agamotto seemed to sense something that generated a slight change."

Looking at the Ancient One in front of him, Wong turned and pointed to the Eye of Agamotto behind him.

Just a moment ago, the Eye of Agamotto, which had been sleeping, opened by itself. Wong noticed a hint of something unusual in it.

"Change?"

Hearing Wong's explanation, the Ancient One then turned her attention to the Eye of Agamotto. She gazed at the Eye of Agamotto with tens of thousands of magical symbols flashing in her eyes, which eventually dissipated and returned to normal.

"Someone travelled through time and rewrote the past..."

"How on earth did they manage to do that without using the Eye?"

[Reputation points from Wong +235]

Hearing the Ancient One's answer, a look of surprise passed over Wong's face, and he couldn't help but ask.

"In this world, there are many mysterious forces that remain unknown to us."

In this regard, even the Ancient One, as the Sorcerer Supreme, couldn't speculate.

"So, what should we do about this?"

With her arms folded, gazing at the Eye of Agamotto in front of her, the Ancient One's expression was neither happy nor sorrowful.

"What do you think, Wong? "

"We should stop them and fix the changes in the past." Frowning, Wong offered his opinion.

"No..."

However, the Ancient One rejected it without hesitation. Retracting her gaze from the Eye of Agamotto, the Ancient One turned her gaze back to face Wong, "The moment there was a change in time, the whole world changed with it. Although I'm still not sure whether this change is for the better or for the worse, such a change may be a necessary existence for the future of this world."

"To use against Dormammu?"

"Perhaps."

Faced with Wong's question, the Ancient One didn't respond with a precise answer but replied with a faint smile and a somewhat meaningful expression.

...

"...."

'It feels like I had a long and chaotic dream.'

After an unknown amount of time, Ryan regained consciousness and opened his eyes. His thoughts, which had been fuzzy, gradually returned.

'When is this?'

A few seconds later, Ryan remembered his situation.

He used the [Golden Pocket Watch] and experienced time travel, going back in time by 70 years.

Looking around, he appeared to be in a modestly decorated room, covered in a new quilt, with wood crackling in the fireplace. Turning his stiff body and stepping down from the bed. Ryan approached the window, pushed open the old window and looked out. What caught his eye was a scene from a different era.

On the streets, women of all shapes and sizes wore simple trousers and thick, durable denim. Where there were short skirts, even knee-length ones, the colours tended to be grey and dark, while the men, mostly in broad military uniforms and hats, looked serious and walked around in a hurry.

Frowning and looking at the pedestrians on the street, Ryan noticed something strange.

It was obvious that the place where he arrived wasn't in the United States in the World War II era. On the contrary, judging from the distinctly Nordic faces of the pedestrians in the streets, it looked more like he had arrived in a Nordic country like Norway or Denmark, and the language spoken by the pedestrians in the streets was more or less Norwegian.

'Did I arrive in Norway?'

With the scene before him, Ryan took a wild guess.

'This is really...'

The result of the time travel was somewhat unexpected. Ryan couldn't figure out why that was; the pocket watch had taken him to what he suspected was Norway.

He didn't know much about Norway. At best, he knew that this country's salmon seemed quite famous. As for World War II, there's not much to say. It was occupied by Germany early on.

'Could it be that the pocket watch wanted me to come to Norway and liberate it?'

After thinking for a moment, Ryan quickly denied the idea.

For one thing, he didn't have such grand ambitions, and for another, he didn't think he had such powerful abilities to change the direction of the world war.

He could sort of see that the time travel result from the [Golden Pocket Watch] was not precise and uncontrollable. So for a while, Ryan couldn't quite work out where in the Second World War he had travelled to. If he wanted to get the exact time of the era he was travelling through in more detail, he would obviously need to go through some additional trouble to explore it for himself.

With that in mind, Ryan focused his attention on the system's data panel.

Although the time period in which they were located was very different, the system didn't have problems because of the time travel and remained quite reliable.

Now, the most important thing was to find out exactly what year he had travelled through.

Also, exactly where he was located now, and whether he was really in Norway or not, as he had guessed.

...

Inside a bar, the noise and shouting continued, but it couldn't hide the depressing atmosphere.

The gloom of war hung over the city, the country, and every citizen. As the German front continued to advance, a battle was on the horizon, and everyone knew that, in such a situation, they couldn't escape the Nazi occupation.

As for resistance, not even Poland could stop them from moving forward.

"Will we be able to hold off Germany?"

Within the bar, a muffled question suddenly rang out.

However, not a single person in the bar could offer a comforting reply.

The Nazis in World War II, with their display of great military power, were as good as invincible.

In the silence, the door to the bar was pushed open, and a tall, blonde man walked in.

The man's handsome appearance couldn't be hidden even though he was dressed in the plainest of clothes.