As Ronan expected, the next morning, the nickname "Mr. Fantastic" spread throughout New York.
On the front page of most New York newspapers, aside from the real identity of Mr. Fantastic, the headline was Tony Stark's bodyguard being injured in the explosion.
Some people speculated that Mr. Fantastic was actually just Tony Stark's "alternate identity."
After all, the guy also wore Tony Stark's Iron Man armor.
And in this world, only Tony Stark had Iron Man suits.
However, Tony Stark neither confirmed nor denied it. Instead, when he was stopped at the hospital entrance the previous night, he declared war on those responsible for planting the bombs.
He not only published his home address but even threw someone's phone away.
In the end, he successfully drew most of the heat while also facing two lawsuits.
Apart from the reporter's phone, two others jointly sued Tony Stark, accusing him of assault.
But Tony Stark didn't care about any of it.
Of course, it wasn't just Tony Stark; S.H.I.E.L.D. also went into a phase of adjustment.
Under Nick Fury's orders, all investigations into mysterious figures were put on hold for now.
Until Tony Stark's research took shape, Fury didn't want to relive that Christmas night.
If it weren't for his prior arrangement with Captain Marvel to only call her when Earth faced a major disaster, Fury would have contacted her just to have some backup.
And as for the instigator of this whole incident, Ronan was currently in a training ground at Kamar-Taj, learning some new spells with Wong.
According to the Ancient One, Ronan could now be introduced to more advanced spells.
Moreover, the Kamar-Taj library was now fully open to him—he could read any of the books.
Including those that had always been strictly forbidden.
This news, while unsurprising to most, still caused dissatisfaction among some.
And that "some" was none other than Kaecilius and his little group.
According to them, if these books were banned, why was Ronan allowed to read them but not Kaecilius?
To this, the Ancient One's response was—
Ronan was the next Sorcerer Supreme, while Kaecilius was not.
With just that one sentence, Kaecilius was left speechless.
Jealousy began to grow wildly in the unseen cracks.
Naturally, Ronan could see it, and so could the Ancient One.
As for Wong, he seemed to care less.
The reason was simple.
He was now in love—especially after experiencing that night.
The cannon fire of Christmas Eve had even reached him, letting him understand what true American-made goods were like.
Of course, Ronan didn't know who won that particular battle.
To Wong, who had fallen in love, Ronan "blessed" him every day.
He vaguely remembered that, in Marvel's future storylines, Wong did get a girlfriend and even married.
However, that happened while he was serving as Sorcerer Supreme.
He hadn't expected that the two of them would fall for each other at this stage.
"So, Wong."
"Aren't you supposed to thank me before teaching me spells?"
Ronan put his right hand on Wong's shoulder, smiling.
That night, Ronan's godly intervention certainly had an effect.
Wong served as the artilleryman for a night, while Ronan received $150 in pocket money.
Both of them had a bright future—a true win-win.
"Is there a possibility that even without you, I could have made it?"
"And you already blackmailed me for $50; how else should I thank you?"
Wong glanced at Ronan, unable to help but scoff.
That was fifty dollars!
More importantly, the secret he had kept buried deep inside had been exposed by Ronan.
"Don't think I look down on you."
"Judging from how things are going, you two must have been together for some time already."
"If I'm not mistaken, you two hadn't, uh, done anything before that night, right?"
Ronan gave Wong a rather disdainful look.
Why do people insist on being stubborn?
Why not admit it honestly?
"A 16-year-old like you sure knows a lot."
"If you know so much, then why are you still single?"
Wong delivered a soul-crushing blow.
Ronan's face darkened; he pushed Wong aside, snorting coldly.
"As the next Sorcerer Supreme, for my sake and others, of course, I can't fall in love."
"Haven't you ever heard this saying?"
"A wise man stays out of love, fools keep repeating their mistakes."
"You're just one of those fools!"
However, although Ronan spoke these seemingly insightful words, Wong's expression said it all.
He wanted to convey one thing—
You're being stubborn.
But Ronan absolutely refused to admit it.
Being stubborn was never his thing.
"Alright, just tell me which spell you want to learn; I've got a date with Sarah later."
"We need to make up for the Christmas dinner we missed."
Wong didn't want to keep wasting time with Ronan.
Ronan pursed his lips, almost choking on his own breath.
Damn it.
Even now, you're feeding me dog food? You truly deserve a beating!
"I want to learn The Images Of Ikonn, Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, Winds of Watoomb, and the Bolts of Balthakk."
Ronan rattled off four powerful spells in one breath.
Each of these spells was powerful.
Some of them were Kamar-Taj's strongest defenses, while others were Kamar-Taj's strongest attacks.
Of course, the term "strongest" was relative and based on levels.
To Wong, these spells were already the strongest he could manage.
"Why don't you just say you want to learn the Sword of Vishanti?"
"I don't have that kind of time—I told you I have a date tonight!"
Wong took a deep breath, regretting taking on this task.
Why hadn't he just given it to Mordo?
"Can I even learn the Sword of Vishanti?"
Ronan's face lit up.
The Sword of Vishanti was one of the second-tier highest-level spells.
The only ones higher than that were spells that likely only the Ancient One could wield.
"Get lost!"
"Didn't you hear what I was saying?!"
Wong couldn't help shouting.
He had meant it to mock Ronan for being greedy and wanting to learn everything.
If it were that easy, why would the Ancient One have waited until now for Ronan to learn these spells?
But he hadn't expected Ronan to take his words seriously.
"Tch, in short, you can't teach it, can you?"
"Fine, then let's start with Images Of Ikonn."
"We'll see if there's enough time left to learn the other spells."
Ronan clicked his tongue, seeing through Wong's intentions.
However, Ronan was very much looking forward to seeing what kind of effects "Images Of Ikonn +1" would bring.
Would his duplicates be able to help him with his homework?