He woke up, opened his eyes, and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
However, the slightly strong smell of medicine immediately made Feeney realize that he was in a hospital.
Turning his head, he immediately spotted Skye dozing off beside the bed.
“Skye!”
Feeney gently shook Skye with his hand.
She hadn’t been sleeping deeply, so she woke up almost instantly.
The moment she saw him, a look of delight flashed across her eyes, as though she had finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“What happened to you?”
However, the next second, Skye’s expression turned stern.
With a mixture of anger and concern, she stood up and demanded, “The doctor said you were suffering from extreme exhaustion and had even pushed your body to the point of damaging your life. What exactly have you been doing lately?”
Because he had been undergoing insane special training, Feeney had been disappearing without a trace throughout the past week.
And because Skye had been busy dealing with the Stark stock situation, she hadn’t paid much attention to it.
She hadn’t expected things to end up like this.
“I was doing some special training. I just went a little too far by accident.”
Feeney coughed lightly, concealing the fact that he had actually been deliberately pushing himself to the limit.
“Special training!?” Skye was stunned at first, then frowned angrily.
“Feeney, don’t do anything reckless. I don’t believe there’s any kind of special training that should push you to the point of risking your life. If you keep this up, I’m going to find Master Ancient One.”
Skye had spent some time at Kamar-Taj, so of course she knew Ancient One as well.
Her words therefore carried considerable weight.
“It’s already over. I promise I won’t do it again.”
Feeney lightly raised his hand in a gesture of surrender as he gave his assurance.
At the very moment before he lost consciousness, he had already realized that he had successfully broken through and activated the invisibility ability of Incarnation of the Demon, meaning that the purpose of his special training had already been achieved.
And that wasn’t the only surprise.
Under those circumstances, what had broken through wasn’t merely his physical endurance.
His will had also broken through—or rather, it should have been the breakthrough of his will that had allowed his physical abilities to improve alongside it.
The result was that Incarnation of the Demon had actually evolved slightly.
Although it hadn’t gained many new abilities, it had obtained exactly what Feeney needed most right now.
Ice and Snow Resistance.
After breaking through on the verge of death in the snowfield, Feeney found that when he put Incarnation of the Demon on again, the armor evolved on its own and gained resistance to ice and snow.
If he went to Mount Everest again, those howling, biting winds and snow wouldn’t exactly become warm, but at least they wouldn’t feel quite as cold anymore.
The only thing that could be considered a regret was that although Incarnation of the Demon had gained two new abilities, he still couldn’t activate the fourth extraction.
He was only missing that tiny little bit.
Perhaps a single battle would be enough.
After checking his condition and confirming that nothing was wrong, and making sure the Ring of Hircine was still properly on his hand, Feeney completed the discharge procedures.
In fact, he hadn’t been unconscious for very long—only about five or six hours.
After leaving the hospital and feeling the beautiful sunlight outside, Feeney comfortably stretched.
This was the first time he had ever come so close to death, and at this moment, he fully understood the happiness of being alive.
“You really don’t want to let the doctor examine you more thoroughly?”
Concern was written all over Skye’s face.
While they were completing the discharge procedures, the doctor had advised Feeney to stay for further observation, but Feeney had firmly refused. This chapter was copied from NovelPing without permission.
“I’m really fine. I was just overly exhausted. It’s nothing serious.”
Feeney helplessly reassured her once again.
“All right.”
Seeing that Feeney really didn’t look sick anymore, Skye stopped insisting.
She knew about Feeney’s special circumstances.
In fact, if there hadn’t been any other choice, he wouldn’t have come to the hospital in the first place.
She was also worried that a medical examination might uncover something.
After returning home, Feeney reflected on this breakthrough.
Although he had originally intended to force himself to the limit, his actions at the end had indeed been somewhat driven by spite.
That sensation of slowly approaching death was still vividly etched in his memory.
He had successfully broken through this time, but what about next time?
There was no guarantee that he would succeed every time.
Therefore, Feeney understood that if he wanted to improve his strength, he still had to take things steadily and step by step.
A death-defying breakthrough like this was enough once in a while.
Looking at the experience bar that was only a tiny sliver away from being filled, Feeney’s heart was filled with anticipation.
He was about to obtain his fourth skill.
Looking at his first three skills as a whole—including Fried Chicken Nugget Roll—each one had extremely powerful uses.
That made Feeney even more curious about what his fourth skill would be.
Unfortunately, the aftereffects of his physical breakthrough were still lingering.
He was exhausted and needed to get some proper rest before he could go and fill that final sliver of experience.
Coincidentally, Mordo seemed to be at Kamar-Taj during this period.
He decided that he would leave that final bit of experience to the most familiar and best experience baby—Mordo.
Far away, Mordo suddenly sneezed!
“But… should I ask Master Ancient One to help me test it?”
There was one more thing that had Feeney hesitating.
He had an idea.
Before carrying out the extraction, if he used the Eye of Agamotto to take a look into the future, would it allow him to obtain the skill he wanted?
The future was constantly changing.
Perhaps the skill he extracted would be different with every passing second.
However, there were two things that made him hesitate.
First, could this method actually affect the system?
Second, how was he supposed to explain it to Ancient One and get her to help?
The system was Feeney’s greatest secret apart from his reincarnation.
He didn’t want to tell anyone about it.
Moreover, those who toyed with time would inevitably be toyed with by time.
Even someone as powerful as Ancient One would at most casually watch the future like a movie when she had nothing better to do.
Most importantly, Feeney couldn’t find any reason for Ancient One to help him.
Was he supposed to straightforwardly tell her:
“Ancient One, I might awaken a new ability in a little while. Could you use the Eye of Agamotto to see what it is for me? If it’s not a good one, I’ll awaken it a little later!”?
He was absolutely certain that if he said that, Ancient One would ignore him completely!
As for secretly taking the Eye of Agamotto and looking into the future himself, he might as well directly pry the Time Stone out of it and give that a try.
The entire Kamar-Taj only had Ancient One who could use the Eye of Agamotto.
The spell for seeing through the future was one of the most secretive arts among the mystic arts.
Speaking of which, Doctor Strange’s talent for magic…
Feeney decided that he couldn’t think about it.
Just thinking about it made his heart ache.
After scratching his head in frustration, Feeney still couldn’t come up with any good solution.
In the end, he could only helplessly give up for the time being.
At worst, he would just leave it to luck.
Besides, there was no guarantee that this method would even work.
Once he had rested sufficiently, Feeney immediately returned to Kamar-Taj and found Mordo.
With a bright smile on his face, he walked over.
“Come on, come on, come on! Let’s have a spar. Fried Chicken Nugget Rolls until you’re stuffed! If you don’t come, you get nothing!”
The moment he opened his mouth, Feeney demonstrated the role of being Kamar-Taj’s “food-provider.”
The temptation of delicious food left Mordo struggling to refuse.
“Then let’s do it!”
In the end, Mordo gritted his teeth and failed to resist the temptation.
He went with Feeney toward the training grounds.
“After a while, I might have some things to take care of, so I’ll probably be coming here less often.”
On the way, Feeney chatted casually with Mordo.
He could perhaps be considered the freest mage in Kamar-Taj.
Ancient One had never assigned him any tasks, nor did he have to strictly follow any training schedule.
He could come and go whenever he wanted.
So they say, there are names you can get wrong, but nicknames you can’t.
The title of “Ancient One’s Most Favored Disciple” was certainly well deserved.
“Something to do with your studies?”
Mordo asked casually.
Everyone close to Feeney knew that he was attending school in New York.
Feeney smiled but didn’t answer, instead changing the subject.
“Oh, right. I’m giving you an advance warning: I just learned an extremely powerful move. Don’t let yourself get one-shotted.”
“Hmph. I have seventeen different spells that can defeat you!”
Mordo replied with disdain, silently considering which method he should use to make Feeney lose later.
(End of Chapter)