Reborn as the God-Emperor in Marvel

The Ancient One was the ruler of Midgard, the king of Earth, a title earned through the magic battles fought and acknowledged by most beings in the universe. As a ruler, the Ancient One cherished humanity like a sovereign cherishes their people, carefully weighing every life in their hands. The Ancient One also instilled these values in Solomon, urging him to love humanity, to scrutinize the necessity of every sacrifice, and to prevent meaningless waste of life.

To the Ancient One, the Collins family fell into the category of acceptable sacrifices. 

While hiding a vampire wasn't a crime punishable by death, opposing the mystical mage hunters who were eliminating the vampires was. This was the law set by the Sorcerer Supreme as a ruler of this world, and although ordinary people were unaware of the existence of Kamar-Taj, they were still subject to its laws.

As for the burden of such difficult decisions, the Ancient One believed it was theirs to bear, and that one day, Solomon would also shoulder this responsibility.

Solomon quickly accepted this reasoning, especially when the Collins family attacked him in their attempt to protect their kin. Though he hesitated for a moment, he ultimately decided to take out the Aegis. He wasn't overly sentimental, just empathetic. Otherwise, his peaceful life from his past would have made it difficult to harden his heart and kill someone, but he did it nonetheless.

Once the decision was made, there was no room for regret. He just had some final tasks to handle.

After resting for a day, he would return to the small town of Collins to completely eliminate the vampires and werewolves there. Vampires and werewolves, after all, could propagate through ordinary people, much like cancer cells lurking within human society. These creatures hiding in the shadows had long been targets for extermination by Kamar-Taj.

Cleansing Collins Town was a task assigned to him by the Sorcerer Supreme.

The Ancient One believed that there was no need to rush the search for the Darkhold, since the book Solomon found was written by a medieval Italian alchemist. Even if Solomon arrived at the location, there was a good chance the Darkhold would have already been moved or hidden away.

If someone were currently reading the Darkhold, it would undoubtedly cause a major incident, and Kamar-Taj's planetary defense system would have detected it.

The Ancient One wasn't worried about Solomon encountering any danger in Collins Town either. In fact, they encouraged Solomon to "relax" by hunting some werewolves and vampires, treating it as combat training.

However, since the Collins family hadn't provided any information about the other vampires in town, Solomon had to start his search from scratch. This gave him time to hone his magic skills—after all, fighting in a training arena wouldn't lead to real improvement.

Over the next month, aside from his regular studies with Athena, Solomon would often bring seafood back to Kamar-Taj. He brought back salmon and tuna, but especially Maine's famous Boston lobsters. By opening a direct portal to the ocean floor, the pressure of the seawater would push the seafood through the portal. Even lobsters hiding deep in caves would be swept through, and once Solomon closed the portal, he would simply pick them up from the ground.

The apprentices at Kamar-Taj were incredibly grateful for the food Solomon brought. After all, the Ancient One required them to abandon their desires and calm their souls, which meant the only meal available at the main dining hall was boiled cabbage. To have a proper meal, they had to travel to the Hong Kong Sanctum.

Now, every night, the main campus of Kamar-Taj had fresh seafood, and the Ancient One turned a blind eye to it. Actually, the tradition of only having boiled cabbage had been self-imposed by past apprentices over the centuries, and it had strangely turned into a custom. The Ancient One wasn't sure if it was good or bad, so they let it be.

Apart from bringing seafood to Kamar-Taj, Solomon also sent some to his Wing Chun dojo and Athena.

"You did a great job!" After hearing Solomon's explanation for his recent absence, Athena's initial displeasure disappeared. In her view, a young hero should start showing their prowess by killing a few monsters, which would one day be sung about in the ballads of bards. As for the ordinary members of the Collins family, Athena didn't care about them at all.

What she did care about was that Solomon had used the Aegis she had gifted him, and this pleased Athena greatly. 

What did this signify? It meant that Solomon was a hero nurtured by Athena! If Solomon could ride the Pegasus in front of others, Athena would be even more satisfied.

Feeling content with her eccentricity, Athena cooked Solomon a dish of Atlantic salmon. This rich, fatty fish was prepared by removing the bones, marinating, and seasoning it before grilling. Solomon often ate several pieces until he was completely stuffed.

Because Athena's culinary skills were far superior to the chefs at Kamar-Taj, Solomon made sure to visit Athena's place every day for lunch during his time hunting vampires and werewolves in Collins Town. Each midday, Athena prepared meals like teriyaki salmon, beet-cured salmon, and grilled lobster to replenish Solomon's energy after his exhausting hunts.

In reality, the situation in Collins Town wasn't complex, but it was time-consuming. The third vampire in town was actually the Collins family doctor, Julia Hoffman, who had been missing for 31 years, according to the local police files.

Although Solomon wasn't sure how she had been turned into a vampire by Barnabas, after staking out for some time, he used her hair left at the crime scene (which he located using magic) to cast Hunter's Mark, a 2nd-level divination spell. This allowed him to easily track her down and swiftly decapitate the young vampire, leaving her head to disintegrate into ash under the sun.

Werewolves, on the other hand, were more troublesome. Though both werewolves and vampires had ties to the Darkhold, turning someone into a werewolf was much simpler than creating a vampire.

A werewolf bite was all it took to infect a person with the curse of lycanthropy through their saliva. If they managed not to devour a victim in their endless rage, their numbers would grow.

Solomon didn't know where the werewolves came from or how many there were. They all lived under normal identities in Collins Town and, unlike vampires, weren't afraid of sunlight, so they moved freely during the day.

After Angelique Bouchard's death, these werewolves scattered throughout the town, making Solomon's search longer. He had to use a large amount of honey and lotus ointment to repeatedly cast the 2nd-level spell Detect Disguise to identify the werewolves in their human form.

He also contacted the chatty, dark-skinned driver who had taken him to Collins Manor, asking him to help track the werewolves and record their addresses. Solomon planned to return to Collins Town once he was fully rested and at full magical capacity, picking off the werewolves when they were alone.

"Hey, man, I've noticed that the people you asked me to follow don't live very long," the driver remarked as he counted his money. "What do you actually do?"

"I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Those people were drug dealers." Solomon held out a black ID badge, but before the driver could touch it, he withdrew it. After all, it was just an illusion spell that would be exposed if touched.

"You're not joking?" The driver's eyes widened, almost ready to run, but after a moment, he voiced his doubts. He scrutinized Solomon, who was busy scribbling in his notebook, and in a mocking tone said, "You gotta be kidding me! You look younger than my son!"

"It's because I'm so smart that I got into the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy early," Solomon replied with an exaggerated sigh. "No video games, no comics, not even casual phone use. Life is hard, which is why I applied for this mission. Remember, you never saw me, and you can't mention me to anyone. Also, where's your dashcam? How come you don't have a dashcam in this old car?"

"Got it, got it, I understand!" The driver made an OK gesture.

"Now, go buy me a Coke. Cold, not Pepsi!"

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