Two days after Damian's battle against the Celestial,

Jen appeared through an orange portal in Madripoor Castle.

She wore her typical orange robe and the Eye of Agamotto around her neck.

Jen walked with familiarity through the palace, and people said nothing about her presence, clearly, she had permission to roam the place.

"Oh? Aunt Jen," Monica said, greeting her with surprise when they met.

"Hello Monica," Jen said, smiling slightly.

"You've been visiting us quite often lately," Monica said, smiling as she approached Jen.

"Well, lately a lot has been happening," Jen said, shaking her head. Not every day you see a fight between cosmic entities.

"Yeah, it was really crazy seeing my dad fighting the Celestial. I don't think I fully grasped how strong my dad was until that moment," Monica said, nodding as she walked alongside Jen.

"More problems will come in the future," Jen said, sighing, not believing that the death of a Celestial would go unnoticed.

"Dad says there's no problem, so I think we'll be fine," Monica said, smiling at her.

Jen just shook her head as she smiled.

"Papa is in the tower if you were looking for him," Monica said, sticking her tongue out playfully at Jen before leaving.

Jen watched Monica's back before starting to walk towards the indicated place.

She climbed the stairs slowly, feeling a bit nervous, her heartbeats quickened slightly thinking about what she was going to do.

Upon reaching the tower, she found Damian lounging in his chair with his legs stretched out on the desk.

He had his phone in his hand and looked animated as he occasionally let out a chuckle.

Jen continued to advance towards him before sitting in front of the desk in a position where they could both clearly see each other.

Seeing Jen sit down, Damian also adjusted his position and lowered his legs, putting his phone aside before resting his forearms on the desk.

"It's unusual for you to come to see me. Couldn't you finally resist and fall in love with me?" Damian said, sighing.

Normally Jen would have gotten angry and insulted him, but to Damian's surprise, this time she reacted calmly.

She reacted so calmly that Damian couldn't help but frown, reminding him of Jen when he first met her. Although she seemed to show emotions then, they were all fake. It was through their jokes and constant encounters that she gradually began to show her true emotions.

"Is something wrong?" Damian asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Jen.

"I want to propose a deal or something like that," Jen said, not entirely sure.

"I'll give you the Time Stone," Jen said.

Damian's eyes widened in surprise. The Time Stone was the most important thing to Jen, it was Kamar-Taj's most valuable treasure, and he couldn't believe she was willing to give it away.

"And what do you want in return?" Damian asked, hesitantly, his mind going through multiple possibilities.

Jen's expression couldn't help but become a bit nervous. She opened her mouth before closing it several times as if her voice wouldn't come out, finally, her original words couldn't come out.

"In the future, agree to one of my requests, but you can't refuse," Jen said, a bit discouraged for not being able to say what she wanted.

"It will have its limits, but as long as I can do it and it doesn't affect my family, I'll agree," Damian said after thinking for a moment.

He felt that his promises couldn't be taken lightly; in his current state, he really could do all sorts of things. It wouldn't be entirely wrong to say he could grant wishes.

"By the way, I see you've become stronger," Damian said, looking at her.

"Yeah, don't underestimate me, maybe I'll even catch up to you," Jen said, jokingly with a smile, feeling really relaxed now that Damian had accepted the deal.

Damian clearly noticed Jen's unusual mood; he couldn't help but think that women could be really hard to understand.

Both of them spent quite a while talking together, reminiscing about the past or joking about things that should have happened.

After a few hours, Jen finally stood up before making some hand signs.

From her necklace came a green stone the size of a thumb; the stone glowed slightly as it levitated in Jen's hand.

Extending her palm towards Damian, the stone floated towards him before positioning itself in front of his face.

Damian reached out and looked at the small stone between his fingers; he immediately felt a tingling sensation in his fingers where he held it, but it was completely unnoticeable.

With a thought, the stone disappeared and was stored in his storage space.

"You'd better keep your promise," Jen said reluctantly, with enough time you can get attached to anything, after centuries with the Time Stone, she felt reluctant to part with it.

"Do you even know me well? I always keep my promises," Damian said, smiling at her.

"I'll be back, see you later," Jen said, bidding farewell before making a portal and leaving.

Damian remained in the same position, looking at the place where Jen had disappeared.

Taking a look at the interface open beside him, he couldn't help but think that Jen had become stronger and was changing.

Jen / Ancient One

Species: Human (Slightly affected by the Dark Dimension)

Magic: 10,000

Strength: 10

Agility: 15

Intelligence: 7

She had had quite an astonishing growth in her magic, especially because it felt quite dense and pure.

Jen stepped out of the orange portal and arrived in her room; she sat down and finally let out the sigh she didn't realize she was holding.

She quickly poured herself a cup of tea and took several sips.

Although she didn't plan to admit it to anyone, after living her first 100 years, she had wanted to experience relationships and have children.

Because of her responsibilities and the apparent fear and respect everyone had for her, she never could even emotionally bond with anyone.

Then came the Dark Dimension, which shattered her body, leaving her barren and bald.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Although she couldn't say she loved Damian as Carol and Ana did, she could feel an emotional bond with him that she had never felt before and wanted to give it a chance.

Still, she has a problem; her appearance really isn't very attractive, despite aging very slowly, the passage of time has left traces on her body not to mention she is bald.

Before, she really didn't care, but now that she wanted to experience life and try new things, it became a problem.

It had been more than three months since the world had changed, and she had constantly increased her amount of magic while at the same time purging the dark influence from her body.

There was very little dark energy left in her body; once it was eliminated, she would reshape her body with magic to her youthful state.

At that moment, she will have a bit more confidence.

...

That day was very different from all the previous ones.

Cortana had sent an update alert and recommended that everyone pay attention to the new features.

No matter what time it was, at that moment almost everyone was looking at the countdown on their own personal interface.

On each person's private interface, a sound began to play that only they heard at the same time as the written content played on the interface.

"It's been three months since the world changed, and it's time for the first event."

The expression of many people couldn't help but become worried upon seeing the words.

"Every intelligent organism has the opportunity to participate in this event, although they can refuse, it would be missing the opportunity to have their lives in their own hands, so I don't recommend it."

"This happens at different time zones while the participants sleep, so what happens inside the event will not negatively affect the participants."

"The first time zone will start in a few minutes, so those who plan to participate should go to bed and get ready."

"Inside the event, not only will you have the opportunity to become stronger, but the best participants will receive amazing rewards, power, and longevity await you."

Cortana finished presenting the event with a quite attractive tone, like the whisper of a devil enticing them.

She couldn't help but smirk evilly at seeing the expressions of several people.

"Do you want to become an evil AI?" Damian said, gently tapping Cortana on the top of her head.

Cortana pouted, rubbing her head and looking at her master.

"How's the first zone going?" Damian asked, looking at Cortana and ignoring her show.

At that moment, Damian's phone softly chimed. Looking at it, he saw it was a message from Tony telling him to let him in early.

He could only chuckle before nodding to Cortana, initiating the event.

The first zone would be the Asian one where Madripoor was located, and it would progress as the other time zones reached midnight.

Thanks to the Time Stone that was added, they could make time flow faster in the event, giving people more time.

In Madripoor, it was exactly midnight, and everyone was sleeping at that moment, whether at home or at work; no one wanted to miss this opportunity or at least know what was happening.

At that moment, millions of people suddenly appeared in a dimly lit square room.

Inside the room, a large holographic panel explained the rules of the event.

(Until further notice, any conflict is prohibited, and those who break this rule will be disqualified immediately)

(You can withdraw from participation at any time)

(No matter how much you sleep, you will always spend 8 hours inside the event)

(Traveling to other time zones will synchronize you with the zone where you are; it is not allowed to travel to other time zones to have more time within the simulation)

Finally, below the holographic panel were some simple words.

(If you want to continue with the event, take the left door; if you do not want to participate, take the right door)

At that moment, a door appeared on each side, and everyone had to make a decision.

People quickly made their decision; those seeking power did not hesitate and immediately took the left door. Even people who did not necessarily have a goal in mind still went to the left door.

Anyway, they could leave whenever they wanted according to the rules.

Still, to Damian's surprise, there were still people who did not participate.

He couldn't help but shake his head, thinking they would definitely regret it.

When people went through the door, they were immediately blinded by a flash of light.

When their eyes adjusted, they saw a clear sky and a fairly small town.

There were already several people who had arrived at the town and were looking around with amazement; if they didn't know how they got there, they wouldn't know everything was fake.

Damian and Cortana gave them over an hour to look around and satisfy their curiosity.

At the same time, they could also meet their relatives and chat a little to relax the atmosphere.

When exactly an hour had passed, everyone was abruptly teleported to an open space.

Everyone was already lined up, and a man was in front of them ready to give them instructions.

This was repeated throughout the zone, and they divided people into groups of 100.

"Although this may be considered a dream for you, what you do here will be reflected in your body. This will be helpful for people who are in very poor physical condition; they may have the ability to exercise."

"However, it will surely hurt when you wake up since your muscles will be stimulated in the same way as if you had done the activity."

"You will exercise for a week; your body will unconsciously use your magic to recover faster, so do not hesitate and give it your all. In the end, this is for your own benefit."

"You will start by running 10 laps; let's go!" said the man in front, who could be considered an instructor.

Stimulated by the man's strict and military aura, everyone started running with some hesitation before getting into the rhythm.

Many people who were a bit older or very sedentary noticed that their bodies seemed to have a lot of energy, and they didn't have as many problems running as if they were in their own bodies.

Cortana saw thousands of scenes where people just ran forward; the terrain never seemed to end since the instructor was always to their left, watching them.

They almost felt like they were on a treadmill, but clearly, that wasn't the case.

To the people's surprise, they ran for almost an hour before they couldn't take it anymore.

The instructor nodded before having each one receive a bottle of water; that would comfort them a bit before moving on to the next point.

A few minutes later, with everyone calmer, the instructor began to speak.

"Now we will do a simple combat training; once the week is over, you will have to fight to earn your place. Only those who survive until the end can obtain the rewards," the instructor said before starting to give them a fairly basic combat class.

Time passed, and it quickly became apparent who was really interested in the topic.

Damian and Cortana didn't pay too much attention and just let everything proceed as it should.

The 8 hours passed, but the people did not wake up but continued sleeping since in reality only an hour had passed; they would wake up naturally when the time came.

As time passed, the other zones also entered the event and experienced similar things.

The next day, the world was filled with news about the event; there were millions of comments talking about their experiences and how they woke up sore.

Thanks to the magic in their bodies and a little help from the system, these muscle aches did not affect anyone's daily life, and they were able to recover for the next session.

It was the weekend, so the girls were not going to school.

The whole family was having lunch while casually chatting about what was happening.

"I'll enter the next stage of the event; return my stats to those of a normal human," Carol said, looking at Cortana.

"All right," Cortana said after thinking for a moment; it wouldn't affect much.

''Well, that's one less for evening activities," Ophelia said jokingly with a smile.

Ana and Natasha smiled slightly amused when Carol's expression froze as she realized she would have to be asleep.

Damian just maintained a slight smile as he watched his family laugh; at that moment, a message arrived on his phone.

Now that he thought about it, he actually had a phone only because of Tony; no one else called him. When Jen had something with him, she just came to the palace instead of calling him.

As expected, it was Tony, enthusiastically telling him about his experience in the event and asking him why he was doing it.

"There are two reasons. First, it would be boring if everyone were weaklings, not to mention me; not even my daughters would find it fun as they grew up," Damian wrote on the phone before sending the message.

"The second reason is secret; let's just say I benefit if the population's average becomes stronger," Damian wrote again before locking his phone and paying attention to his family.

"Daddy, can't we also join what's happening?" Alice asked, looking at Damian.

"No, honey, it's not for children; surely in the future, it will happen again, and you can participate," Damian said, smiling at Alice.

The three girls nodded and didn't say anything else; if there were no other kids either, it wouldn't be fun for them.

The day passed quickly, and soon it was time for people to go to sleep.

As they fell asleep again, they appeared in the dark room, and again there were two doors; everyone who had already gone the day before immediately took the left door and arrived at the familiar town.

This time they didn't have time to chat and appeared directly in front of the instructor.

"Today you will learn the most basic of magic, being able to move it through your body and therefore strengthen it. This is an easy skill to learn but difficult to master," the instructor said as he looked at them.

"Run for 15 minutes to warm up, and we'll start," the instructor said, looking at them.

Everyone started running, and they all had a look of excitement on their faces.

For them, who were normal people and had never come into contact with anything close to the supernatural, knowing they were going to learn magic made even middle-aged and elderly people excited.

After running, they formed up on their own, it took them some effort, and the formation seemed a bit crooked, yet they looked at their instructor intently, waiting for him to speak.

"Physical training activates magic in the body; after training, it is the time when it is most active. Take the small sphere in front of you and feel the movement of magic in your bodies, then release it and try to do it yourselves."

"You have half an hour; then we will continue with physical exercises," the instructor said. At that moment, small spheres the size of an orange also appeared floating in front of the people.

People took the sphere in their hands before feeling a shock in their bodies as their own magic began to flow through their bodies automatically; since they were just standing still, the magic expenditure was minimal.

Everyone concentrated seriously on the sensation before sitting down and releasing the sphere to try it for themselves.

This was repeated several times until the time passed, and they returned to physical exercises.

The 8 hours passed quickly, and everyone had achieved different kinds of results; there were still five days of this 'tutorial' to go.