Marvel: Starting as a Time Criminal, Stealing Powers

Elrios' weakness was too obvious.

As long as you went deep underground, that time monster wouldn't be able to find you.

In a hidden cave, Old Loki sat on the ground with a dazed expression.

He had been ready to die gloriously and shouted heroically for quite some time—but in the end, nothing happened.

Despite the awkwardness, he turned around and asked:

"Thor, if I had died just now, would I have gone to Soul Castle?"

Russell, still examining the Reality Stone in his hand, didn't even lift his head as he replied:

"The Void is outside the real dimension—it could be either the Negative Zone or the Chaos Dimension."

"If you were inspired by Soul Castle, not only would you not end up there, you might have fallen into some twisted cosmic crevice."

"More likely though, you'd be devoured by Elrios. Nothing would be left."

Old Loki was stunned.

Russell didn't care what he was thinking. The system notification had already echoed in his mind:

[Looted entry complete.]

[Spell - Portal (Purple)]

[Entry duplicate detected. Merging…]

[Spell - Portal (Purple)]

Portal conjuration speed increased.

Note: This entry can be upgraded further.

[X-Ability - Psychic Power - Defective (Purple-Gold)]

[Matching entry detected. Merging...]

[Merge complete.]

[X-Ability - Psychic Power (Gold)]

Stronger than Professor X. Enhanced mental body. Upgraded telekinesis. Ability to invade other people's mental worlds through touch!

Mental projection, possession, cellular division, and full regeneration—(even from a single cell).

Weakness Removal: Cassandra's madness stripped.

Looking over the new entry info, Russell smirked in satisfaction.

The merged Cassandra entry was undoubtedly more powerful.

In addition to enhanced telekinesis, the ability to invade minds was especially useful. And the cellular regeneration? Incredible.

At the same time, he finally understood why Cassandra had reappeared in her original body instead of possessing someone else.

Because as long as a single one of her cells was left behind, she could revive.

It was her ultimate trump card.

Even if she failed and died, her spirit would escape and reconstruct her body using those hidden cells.

If Cassandra hadn't been so arrogant—delaying until Elrios arrived—Russell truly wouldn't have had a chance to kill her permanently.

Of course, this trick wasn't invincible.

For powerful mages or telepaths, it was still possible to destroy the spirit.

Russell wasn't greedy.

Nothing is perfect. This ability was already broken enough.

But the looting wasn't over yet!

[Magic Ability - High Level (Purple)]

Cassandra possessed exceptional skill in arcane knowledge, spellcasting, and witchcraft.

Note: Can be stacked with the "Knowledge Curse" entry. Increases your proficiency in mystic arts!

Another surprise?

Russell almost laughed.

He hadn't expected this bald old witch to drop such a jackpot. This was an absolute windfall.

And stacking it with the Knowledge Curse? That meant a future path toward Kamar-Taj. Becoming Sorcerer Supreme might actually be possible.

At the same time, Russell felt a bit relieved.

This mutant had only learned Doctor Strange's teleportation spell.

If she'd also gained Thor's powers or mastered the Mind Palace, killing her might have been impossible.

Once the entries were fully loaded, Russell looked again at the Reality Stone in his palm.

His magical knowledge wasn't enough yet—he wasn't sure if it could be used by embedding it in a Sling Ring, or if he'd need some complex rune ritual to harness its power for dimension travel.

But he didn't plan to try just yet.

The Time Pad would be unlocked soon. There was no need to rush.

As for using the Reality Stone's power?

No interest.

Reality alteration demanded a price, and it was proportional to the magnitude of the change.

Thanos could ignore the cost by using the Space Stone to supply energy and the Infinity Gauntlet to contain the power.

Russell had neither.

So, he decided to keep it for now. Maybe it would come in handy someday.

Just then, he turned to look at Old Loki.

Old Loki instantly felt awkward.

Despite knowing this "Thor" was just a variant, he still feared him. He also still missed the real Thor.

Russell didn't bother correcting the misunderstanding. Otherwise, he'd have to explain how he got Thor's power.

Besides, Loki had been pretending to be Thor for days. Let him keep going.

But before he could speak, Old Loki took the initiative to share his illusion magic.

He passed along the full spell structures, key challenges, and personal experience—all in great detail.

Thanks to his powerful mental abilities, Russell absorbed everything instantly and flawlessly, without writing anything down.

After more than ten hours of studying, he felt a deep admiration.

It was unfair for such a powerful magic to be limited to Loki alone.

If practiced to the extreme, this spell could easily qualify its user as the top magician in the Nine Realms.

Besides the illusion spell shown in the movies, the Phantom Magic also involved shadow manipulation, teleportation illusions, mental deception, and even complete disguise.

Even Old Loki had only mastered illusion projection—and that was already formidable.

But Phantom Magic had an even scarier side:

Its true name origin—Phantom Power!

If trained to its peak, it could turn illusions into reality!

With sufficient magic power, it could even manifest something as massive as the World Serpent, Jörmungandr.

According to the spell record, its max potential rivaled that of a god—capable of swallowing planets.

With further upgrades, it could go beyond even that.

Russell could only marvel at this.

It truly was the pinnacle of Asgardian magic. Queen Frigga had really treated Loki as her own son.

"Of course, it's extremely difficult to master powerful spells," Old Loki commented.

"Most Lokis can't even learn the basics. Those who manage to enter the field often give up because it's too difficult. Even I spent a lifetime reaching my current level."

"Thor, I don't know why you suddenly want to learn this spell. My suggestion—just dabble a bit. Don't invest too much time."

He was being tactful.

Just like most Lokis were failures, most Thors were magic idiots.

This Thor had probably gotten his hands on basic Phantom Magic from some variant and thought it looked easy.

Old Loki didn't believe he'd be able to go further.

But then…

Day 1: Old Loki watched in shock as Russell managed basic phantom invisibility.

Day 5: He admitted, "Okay, maybe this Thor isn't completely useless." Russell could now manipulate his shadow.

Day 10: Old Loki furrowed his brow. Something was off. Russell had begun creating small illusions.

Day 16: Old Loki's worldview cracked—Thor could now teleport with illusions.

It had taken him seventy years to achieve that.

This was beyond belief.

Day 25: Old Loki was in complete denial, muttering repeatedly:

"Impossible… absolutely impossible…"

He had clearly been traumatized.

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