The screen paused on Stark's somewhat entangled expression. The frame slowly closed. In the Dreamland Base of the Luminous Alliance, Loki, with his arms crossed, looked at the overjoyed Shiller and shook his head, "You hold grudges like nothing I've ever imagined."
Shiller, hugging a bucket of popcorn and leaning against the arm rest, responded: "In any case, one of the Starks needed some misfortune. Although Tony escaped this time, the other Stark wasn't that lucky."
Loki shook his head again and sighed. Just then, the doors to the Dreamland Base's grand hall flashed, Strange walked in, brandishing his magic wand, and loudly asked: "How was my performance? Shiller, you really did it, just a few sentences, and you angered Stark. Hahaha."
"There's no pride in just using others' academic achievements." Loki propped his cheeks with two fingers and responded: "You're just good at reciting lines."
Strange rolled his eyes, walked over and sat in front of Shiller, looked around and asked, "Where's Nick? Why isn't he here? Isn't the Luminous Alliance meeting today?"
"Not exactly, we're just gathering privately." Shiller walked over to a liquor cabinet, opening it as he spoke, "Personal time, how about a glass of bourbon?"
"Sure, thanks." Strange replied.
"No for me, I'll take a Sherry." Loki intervened.
Shiller returned to his seat, pouring drinks and saying, "Certainly, if Professor X or the Captain were here, they wouldn't let us do this."
"I agree, Shiller." Strange frowned slightly, looking at Shiller and saying, "There's no need for you to hold such a grudge, right? Stark's proposed treatment plan may be a bit brutal, but it was effective, he was only considering what's best for you, wasn't he?"
Shiller gave Strange the side-eye, "Without his proposal, do you think I would've stopped at taking out my anger on this other-dimensional counterpart?"
"Besides, it's not all about dealing with Tony." Shiller leaned back with his glass, dropping an arm over the back of the sofa and sipping his drink before continuing, "The other goals were achieved too, weren't they?"
"The young heroes were indeed well-taught by Matt, they're kind, courageous, and most importantly, they know restraint. But the only problem is that they're a bit too young, sometimes it's necessary for us to not limit ourselves when we're reeling them in, right?"
"You do have a point." Strange grimaced from the fiery drink, then spoke, "The children under Matt, including the recently popular New Warriors Team, are not lacking in physical strength or wisdom, but they're too righteous, too rule-abiding."
"In times like these, good and evil are two sides of the same coin. A team needs both righteous and positive leaders, as well as those who can plot and do dirty work. Just like what's happening currently in Asgard, Thor is having a very profound understanding of it."
As soon as Loki finished, Shiller looked at him curiously and said, "How's the preparation for the wedding invitation and the expo going? Have any interstellar civilizations responded yet?"
"I was about to talk about it..." Loki nodded and began.
Loki then narrated to Shiller and Strange about the recent events in Asgard.
The royal family of Asgard proposed to host an interstellar expo under the pretext of the Divine King's wedding, this proposal caused quite a stir within Asgard.
On one hand, there was no such tradition in Asgard. Their Divine King and the Queen of Gods did not invite foreign guests to their weddings.
Because the Asgardians population is small and most people know each other, they pay more attention to whether friends and family can attend such celebrations, rather than how grand the arrangement is.
Therefore, the previous few Asgard's Divine King's coronations and weddings were held internally. When Odin and Frigga got married, they only invited some friends, generals and gave the whole of Asgard a few days off.
For a leader of a country, to be described as modest would be an understatement, but the people of Asgard aren't too bothered by it. Therefore, when they heard Thor was planning such a grand ceremony, some began to worry.
While Earth is developing at an unprecedented rate, Asgard is also not idle. Construction is happening everywhere, and it seems a wave of reform is about to begin within the Nine Major Kingdoms.
Ever since Thor took the throne, everyone in Asgard could see that the new king was full of ambition and aspirations, constantly churning out one decree after another.
The first was the military reform, followed by the reorganization of the internal affairs department of the Fairy Palace, the establishment of a civil officer group, the expansion of Asgard's territory, the encouragement of childbirth, advocating for a free death, withdrawing from external conflicts, strengthening defense, and so on. These all indicated he was eager to pave a new path for Asgard.
Factually, Asgardians are in a state of confusion about their future. They know that the road to destruction has no end, and war is not the solution to all problems, but when they are asked to devote themselves to development, they have no idea how to respond.
After all, the main Asgardian population is too small. Though unrealistic, imagining building an interstellar empire spanning several star zones like the Three Great Empires.
However, both their scientific and magical research have reached their zenith. Weapon technology has developed to the peak, allowing for instant teleportation and star-annihilating cannons. As for magic, the best weapon remains a fist enchanted with divine power+16.
In terms of infrastructure development, Asgard doesn't really have anything to build. As a race of divine beings, they are naturally strong and don't need any life-support systems - they can just float in the cosmos.
With plentiful resources and few demands, there were no concerns about distribution, and with the Divine King's supremacy unquestionable, they don't need to worry about the safety of their race. The small population and simple values mean there is no pressing need to enhance spiritual civilization either.
It could be said that Asgard's halted progress for many years wasn't without reason; they indeed didn't have much of a demand or need. The populace was not aware of the inevitable arrival of Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods, and thus lacked the drive to develop.
However, the newly ascended Divine King seemed unprecedentedly planning to do something. Most of the population felt panic about this sudden change,
During this time, Loki advised Thor not to talk about it as a technology exhibition, but to call it a parade.
Sure enough, as soon as the edict was announced, all of Asgard was in uproar. Everyone was overjoyed and went off to train.
Calling it a parade isn't wrong, because since Asgardians didn't have any survival needs, they focused their technology completely on weaponry. Most of these weapons required the divine power of Asgardians to operate, so wouldn't the technology exhibition be a parade after all?
Once consensus was reached internally, the Asgard royal family began to send out invitations. The civilizations that received these invitations displayed various reactions.
The interstellar civilizations that received the invitations all generally had the ability to freely travel through the cosmos. Such civilizations could be considered medium to large scale in interstellar society. After all, free travel meant interstellar colonization, implying territories, weapons, and population, and naturally, good development.
Upon receipt of the invitations, the first reaction of these civilizations was, was Asgard planning to entrap them and kill them off?
The reason for their reactions has to start from the notorious reputation Loki had in the cosmos.
Prince Loki of Asgard, who had "God of Mischief" written all over his face but still managed to deceive everyone, was a figure of commanding authority in the universe's con circles. In just a few years, he had established quite a reputation.
From the Three Great Empires of the Universe to young interstellar civilizations which had just left their homeland with their spaceships, there wasn't one that hadn't been tricked by him.
Adding up all the Cosmic Sorcerers and Asgard's Holy Sanctuary resources, Loki, in a short span of a few years, came up with a powerful combination of interstellar scams, creating a blue ocean industry for Asgard to fill the void of the World Tree.
And Thanos the Destroyer, the righteous mentor of interstellar fraud prevention, was commissioned by the united Three Great Empires to lead the various medium to large civilizations in strict defense, and the two went back and forth, sparring enthusiastically.
Although Thanos was backed by the Three Great Empires with extensive connections and resources, Loki had two Asgardian Kings behind him and the principle of might makes right. With help from peers and the support of Asgard's Holy Sanctuary think tank, Loki still took the upper hand.
Originally, Thanos merely wanted to use the identity of an anti-fraud mentor to penetrate into the upper echelons of interstellar society to expand his network and gradually realize his dream of becoming a Universal Overlord.
However, once he took up this identity, it was as if he were dragged into a quagmire and had to put in a great deal of energy to maintain his persona.
But eventually, Thanos discovered that he and Loki achieved a delicate balance.
If Loki gained the upper hand, the Three Great Empires, who couldn't stand his bother, could only ask Thanos for help. And once Thanos gained the upper hand, he would be invited by various people in the upper echelons, thereby raising his status.
Both of them being smart, were fully aware of this fact, and so when Conqueror Kang fell into this universe, Thanos wanted to kill him. Any decline in one side of the scale isn't entirely beneficial for the other. Moreover, the two didn't have any grievance against each other in the first place.
This time, Asgard widely distributed invitations, inviting heroes from all over to attend the ceremony. The medium-to-large civilizations that had been deceived by Loki were very worried, suspecting that this might be another trap.
However, despite their worries, they dared not neglect to respond. Being cheated by Loki at most resulted in some loss of energy and resources. But if the Divine King took notice, a disaster might be awaiting them.
In fact, Asgard's reputation in the cosmos was not good in the past, often being called a "Mobile Disaster".
Wherever Odin led his armies, the interstellar civilizations in those places had to move overnight, all those who tried to hold their ground and confront Odin became ashes under thunder.
Everyone dared to be angry but did not dare to speak. When Odin abdicated, many civilizations almost celebrated with firecrackers.
They never hoped that the disaster would disappear. At that time, they thought that the next Divine King would also have the same character. It was merely a momentary peace.
Unexpectedly, the moment Thor took the throne, Asgard became as tranquil as if it didn't exist. On the contrary, Prince Loki was swarming everywhere, and other interstellar civilizations felt like they had a stay of execution.
After a long time, people started hoping that such days would continue, even being deceived was better than being beaten!
They were afraid that if they received an invitation and didn't attend, they might anger King Thor and cause the disaster to return. Isn't that more tragic than losing property?
These medium to large civilizations were inevitably torn and determine to seek help from above. The Three Great Empires who had received the invitation had expected this and thus asked for the most experienced scam deterrent – Thanos the Destroyer.
However, Thanos simply said a sentence: "Go, not only go, but the more who go, the better."