Time passed like flowing water, with each day following the next.
Before he knew it, the old year had passed and a new one had arrived.
Feeney had grown another year older, and at the same time, the dangerous year of 2010 had arrived.
If he didn’t interfere, the world would begin its era of chaos from this year onward.
Iron Man’s battles, the arrival of Norse mythology, an alien army invading Earth, artificial intelligence seeking to wipe out humanity… one major event after another would suddenly erupt in rapid succession.
In April, it had been nearly a year since Feeney came to Kamar-Taj.
The peaceful rhythm of his life had allowed his strength to steadily increase, and he was even getting close to his fourth draw.
Just as he was becoming somewhat immersed in this kind of life, a piece of news shattered his tranquility.
It even caused him to successfully produce… sparks from a portal while practicing magic.
“It’s already been a whole year. Iron Man has already disappeared, so how come I still can’t even open a damn door?”
Looking at the Sling Ring in his hand, Feeney was so depressed that he wanted to disappear.
For the past year, he’d practically given up learning every other spell and focused exclusively on this one.
And yet he still hadn’t succeeded.
He felt that calling his talent merely “average,” as the Ancient One had done, was practically an exaggeration.
The news that Tony Stark’s whereabouts were unknown meant Feeney could no longer continue living peacefully at Kamar-Taj.
He had to start thinking about his family’s safety.
In fact, ever since the New Year, he’d been repeatedly urging his increasingly elderly parents to retire.
But the two of them, who considered themselves still young, naturally refused and kept putting it off.
Now that Iron Man was about to make his debut, how could Feeney dare to let them continue leisurely going to work in New York?
Who knew when a nuclear bomb might suddenly be dropped on them?
If they absolutely refused to leave New York, Feeney would at least make them move somewhere else.
Over the past year, he’d gone through all kinds of trouble and finally managed to buy a house right beside the New York Sanctum.
There was nowhere else in all of New York where he could feel even remotely as safe.
…
“Why do you insist that we quit our jobs and move there?”
Feeney’s parents couldn’t understand his request at all.
Even Skye didn’t understand why he insisted on having the entire family move over.
Faced with his parents’ confusion, Feeney hesitated again and again before finally gritting his teeth and explaining:
“New York is going to become very dangerous in the future, while that place will remain safe for a very long time!”
He couldn’t help smiling as he said, “Brat, you weren’t even born when we came to New York. I know what New York is like better than you do.”
Seeing this, Feeney sighed helplessly and cast the Raggadorr’s Rings, which he had become much more proficient with.
Looking at his parents’ stunned expressions, he said, “Believe me. You don’t necessarily understand this better than I do. This world is about to become far more dangerous than you can imagine.”
“Oh, and I forgot to tell you—I’m a sorcerer!”
After so many years together, Feeney was one hundred percent certain that his parents wouldn’t have any prejudice against his identity as a sorcerer or think he was some kind of monster.
That was why he chose to tell them frankly and directly rather than make up some sort of well-intentioned lie.
“When did you learn to do this?”
Eli stared dumbfoundedly at the Raggadorr’s Rings in Feeney’s hand.
He even reached out, apparently wanting to touch them, but Feeney quickly dodged his hand.
“Over the past year, I guess. Skye knows about it too.”
Feeney thought for a moment before answering.
As long as they believed him, there was no need to explain everything in detail.
Besides, he really had only learned magic over the past year.
Eli and Vera turned to look at Skye, who was equally unable to process what was happening.
They opened their mouths, but suddenly seemed to have no idea what to say.
“But what does this have to do with the danger?”
Eli asked in a serious tone.
As a lawyer, he was often able to grasp the key points hidden in the details.
He was somewhat worried that these dangers might somehow be connected to Feeney.
“Do you believe in aliens?”
Feeney understood what his father was getting at and began explaining.
“A sorcerer’s duty is to protect Earth from invasion, and there are many beings in outer space who have coveted Earth for a long time.”
“They may very well make their move over the next few years. The place I’m asking you to move to is a sanctuary established by sorcerers. If anything dangerous happens, they’ll protect you.”
“What about you?”
Upon hearing this, the first thing Feeney’s mother worried about wasn’t herself, but him.
She asked anxiously, “Are you going to fight those aliens too? Will it be dangerous? Do we need to notify the military?”
“Don’t worry. I’m actually pretty strong. As for the government, they should have organizations dealing with this sort of thing too.”
Feeney smiled reassuringly before answering.
At the very least, when it came to Dormammu, if he could stop him, Feeney certainly wouldn’t allow him to descend.
He definitely wasn’t going to put all his hopes into simply “negotiating terms.”
Although Feeney spoke lightly about it, his parents still couldn’t help worrying about him.
However, they finally agreed to move.
After that, they began carefully questioning him about Kamar-Taj.
With his parents’ safety problem resolved, Feeney finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had a fairly good relationship with Mage Daniel of the New York Sanctum and had specifically told him that his parents might be moving there.
As Kamar-Taj’s youngest sorcerer, the sorcerer who supplied food, and the Ancient One’s most favored disciple, these identities were enough to earn him the respect of many sorcerers.
The reason Feeney was so eager to resolve his parents’ situation was also because of something else.
Although his strength seemed to have increased rapidly over the past year, compared with powerhouses like Dormammu, Thanos, and Ego, he was still far, far too weak.
Not to mention the Green Hulk or the lightning-weak Thor—even against the Iron Man who was about to emerge, Feeney wasn’t completely confident that he could beat him.
Therefore, Feeney needed to increase his strength.
And battle was the best way to do that.
Once Iron Man made his debut, Earth would no longer be lacking in enemies.
So he needed to eliminate his worries at home first.
Only then could he devote himself completely to becoming stronger.
Strictly speaking, during his year at Kamar-Taj, the ability Feeney had improved the most wasn’t the Ghost Rider.
It was actually the rarely used Golden Amplification Technique.
What restricted the effectiveness of the Golden Amplification Technique was the Sanctums that protected Earth from invasion—in other words, the power of the sorcerers.
After becoming a sorcerer himself, Feeney gained a deep understanding of this power.
It was like studying your enemy.
Even if it didn’t necessarily mean you could defeat them, understanding them allowed you to figure out how to defeat them more effectively.
The Golden Amplification Technique worked in much the same way.
Although he hadn’t desperately practiced it, once he understood how the sorcerers’ power interfered with its effects, the technique naturally improved.
Although the Ancient One had once warned him that the power of the Golden Amplification Technique was extremely dangerous, she had actually never restricted his use of it.
In fact, she’d even helped him once.
However, the deeper Feeney’s understanding of the Golden Amplification Technique became, the more he understood what the Ancient One had meant back then.
A “magic that changes reality according to one’s thoughts” was indeed an extremely terrifying power.
Perhaps as Feeney became stronger in the future, simply losing focus for a moment could result in all kinds of consequences.