Marvel: You Call This A Sorcerer?

After that massive wave of enemy farming, Ronan leveled up twice in a row. From Level 5, he was now Level 7.

However, the stingy system only gave him two skill points—nothing more.

But that didn't matter. Ronan turned his attention to his system.

In his system, most of the spells were supportive; only two were true offensive spells.

One of them was the Ring of Raggadorr, primarily a defensive spell.

But spells aren't meant to be used strictly by the book. When Ronan was eliminating the Chitauri, those "pew-pew-pew" attacks were a modification of this spell.

So, Ronan gritted his teeth and put one skill point into it.

Instantly, the Ring of Raggadorr transformed.

[Ring of Raggadorr +1: The hands form a shield capable of blocking damage or being used offensively.]

[+1 Special Feature: The shield's defensive power is greatly enhanced. When it absorbs non-physical attacks, 50% of the energy is stored for one minute and can be released as a powerful attack. The strength of the attack depends on the amount of absorbed energy.]

[Note: If the absorbed non-physical attack exceeds the shield's defense, no energy can be stored.]

What?!

Seeing the new properties of the Ring of Raggadorr, Ronan was stunned.

This was insane! Was this really a spell from Kamar-Taj?

But considering his previous skills, Ronan quickly accepted it.

After all, the Sling Ring could even traverse timelines, and Astral Projection could insta-kill weaker souls.

So, it wasn't too surprising that the Ring of Raggadorr had such power.

However, this threw a wrench into Ronan's original plan.

He had initially intended to put both skill points into the Ring of Raggadorr.

But after seeing its new abilities, Ronan's attention shifted to another spell.

Energy Whip.

Since the Ring of Raggadorr seemed sufficient for now, why not upgrade something else?

Some say it's better to master one thing than dabble in many.

But others argue that having more cards up your sleeve is better—more cards mean more surprises.

Ronan was clearly conflicted.

But soon, he made his choice.

He decided to strengthen his fallback options.

With his current skill set, he could probably last a few rounds against Thanos.

And even if he couldn't win, he had ways to escape.

So why not add another trump card? It might come in handy.

"System, level up Energy Whip!"

Taking a deep breath, Ronan made his final decision.

[Energy Whip +1: A magical whip formed from energy, used to attack enemies.]

[+1 Special Feature: The whip's flexibility is enhanced, allowing it to be controlled by the caster's mental focus without needing physical contact. However, the whip cannot extend beyond 10 meters from the caster.]

What the…?!

This time, Ronan almost cursed aloud.

Now the whip could be controlled telepathically, without his hands?

At this point, Ronan was extremely grateful for investing his early skill points in Meditation.

Thanks to his enhanced meditation, Ronan's mental power was far stronger than that of a typical sorcerer.

According to the Ancient One, Ronan's mental strength surpassed all the sorcerers at Kamar-Taj, only falling short of her.

Of course, how big that "gap" was, Ronan had no idea.

But as far as his mental power was concerned, Ronan was undoubtedly strong!

"Wow…"

"Terrifying."

"System, you may be stingy, but not that stingy."

Ronan conveniently forgot his earlier complaints.

What? Someone called the system stingy?

Whoever that was, Ronan wouldn't stand for it!

His system was super generous! When it gave you power, it wasn't like those companies that trickle out upgrades.

Here, the strength was real!

With that in mind, Ronan couldn't help but glance at Thanos, still standing and looking at the sky.

Skill points—those precious skill points!

If he could just kill Thanos, leveling up at least once more wouldn't be too much to ask, right?

He couldn't defeat Thanos himself, but following behind the other heroes and stealing the kill? Not too much, right?

Heh heh heh.

Ronan even chuckled aloud at the thought.

"Hey, Ronan, are you okay?"

At some point, Tony Stark had appeared behind him.

He must have heard Ronan's laugh and was getting increasingly creeped out.

"I'm fine. I don't eat Sour Plums," Ronan replied, returning to his serious demeanor in an instant.

Huh?

Tony was confused by the answer.

Sour Plums? What the heck was that?

"Forget it, don't dwell on it. If you're not here to watch the fireworks or help fight Thanos, why did you come to me?" Ronan quickly deflected.

There was no way he'd admit to being a fan of a sour plum commercial actress1!

He was a pure, untainted sixteen-year-old high schooler!

"Alright, I just wanted to ask you something."

"Is the future you observed the same as what Strange saw?"

Tony took a deep breath.

Ronan raised an eyebrow.

It seemed Tony hadn't gotten a straight answer from Strange and was now turning to Ronan for help.

"Not necessarily. We observe the future from different perspectives, so there might be some discrepancies."

"Are you curious about the future again?" Ronan smiled, eyeing Tony.

He had previously dangled a future vision in front of Tony, but Stark had sternly refused.

Now, was he suddenly interested?

"No, I just want to know if this is the one chance Strange mentioned—the one time we win."

Tony shook his head. Though he had already guessed the answer, he wanted confirmation.

Because they wouldn't get another shot at this.

Right now, it was either them or Thanos.

And Tony didn't want failure to be the outcome.

"The future depends on the choices each of you make."

"Just like now, you've chosen to return the Infinity Gauntlet. But what if the van gets blown up?"

"As I've said before…"

"If you don't open the box, you'll never know whether the cat inside is alive or dead."

Ronan pointed to his head, smiling.

Though he hated riddles, he couldn't resist the temptation of being a riddle-master himself.

Because being the riddle-master felt so good!

Especially when he saw Tony's confused expression—it made Ronan want to laugh.

The riddle-solver had finally become the riddler!

"So, you're saying we need someone to open the box?"

"Or have we already opened it?" Tony pondered, trying to interpret Ronan's words.

But Ronan shook his head.

"No, the box isn't open yet. But the one who will open it has already appeared."

"Now, it just depends on how that person chooses to act."