Lord of Cinder in American Comics

"Welcome to Dragon Academy, Natasha. I am an assistant program for Dragon Academy; you can call me Cortana."

Cortana: Her soul was refined by the witch Carla, nurtured by the Fire Keeper, and created by Ludos. She is an intelligent AI designed using the super AI Samaritans as its foundation. She is the head butler exclusively for the Dragon Academy. Even traditional magic academies are attempting to incorporate modern technology; this is both a concession and progress for magic.

Natasha was also a little curious about this exclusive product: "When did you make it?"

“I took over part of Stark’s business, which also included a range of product technologies, so making this was easy.”

Turning the phone over, Natasha pointed to Cortana on the screen and said, "What about this? This isn't part of Stark's technology sales, is it?"

With a cigarette dangling from his lips, Constantine said with a hint of disdain, "What do you take those top mages for? It only takes three people to make this thing, and the communication channels are much more lively than on Earth right now."

Natasha, peeking around, saw the message on Constantine's phone.

'I hope someone can learn the twelve variations of the Crystallization spell as soon as possible. I have more ideas and need an assistant to help with the research—from Orbeck.'

'Carcharus, you need to go to class—from Comiccus'

'Oh my god, they're so stupid, I can't teach them at all—Karcas (rolling around jpg)'

'Yes! That's exactly how I saw you at first—from the outspoken Comiccus'

'The King of Souls is the future; the Black Church of Londor welcomes you all—Yulia from Londor.'

Yulia has been banned from speaking for three days.

Looking at the conversations on her phone, Natasha was dumbfounded. She knew these wizards had never been exposed to technology before, but Constantine had only been in charge of Stark's business for a few days, and they were already playing so smoothly.

Constantine was studying the crystallization spell variant released by Orbeck when Natasha, bored, found a chat app on her phone. Just as she was about to create a few chat groups, Constantine glanced at his phone and stood up.

"Let's go, we have news."

Constantine's information could only come from his multiple identities, and coincidentally, there were several new CIA agents under Ash's command. These old guys who lived to retirement were themselves mobile intelligence stations.

Having learned the exact location of the place from Marvin, Ash sent the information to Constantine. In order to play these roles well, Ash never creates unintentional troubles or mistakes just to save trouble.

Stepping through the portal, Natasha looked at the familiar scenery and said, "Back in NY again?"

"Your information is outdated. Fifteen years ago, this bar was in Ohio. After a bunch of idiots got beaten up in this bar for disturbing someone, the bar moved to NY. Yeah, physically beaten up..."

Although it's called a bar, it's actually located inside a building that advertises itself as a job placement agency. However, judging from the job listings, it's definitely not a legal place.

With just a quick glance, Constantine spotted seven hit-and-run jobs, four protection requests, and other tasks involving smuggling and illegal immigration. The manager had even thoughtfully grouped the hit-and-run and protection missions with the same objective together, and affectionately wrote "Two rewards for one mission" on them.

He patted the counter, and a burly man crawled out from under it, panting as he pulled open the small iron window on the counter. He threw out a thick booklet.

"Fill in the blanks yourself to indicate what tasks you want to take on."

Looking at the wine stains, cigarette marks, and unidentified liquid on the booklet, Natasha took a small step back, avoiding even touching the counter.

"I'm here looking for information, about..."

Before he could finish speaking, the big man put away the mission book and slammed the iron bars shut.

Frustrated, Natasha moved to another location and this time banged on the iron bars, trying to communicate with the people inside.

The window opened, and Natasha was still there. Just as the big man was about to close it, Natasha took out a roll of banknotes and held it in her hand.

Staring at the banknotes, the burly man finally spoke up, saying, "Speak, what do you want to know?"

"In 1995, in Ohio, there was a researcher named Alexei..."

Before she could finish speaking, the burly man inside the counter reached out through the small iron window and tried to grab Natasha.

"Fuck, what's your relationship with that guy?! Fuck, I'm going to kill him! If he hadn't beaten up a bunch of people here, I might still be in Ohio right now..."

Upon hearing this, Constantine connected the dots and stood aside, smoking and laughing as he watched the comedic scene unfold.

Unable to catch Natasha, the burly man withdrew his arm, cursing as he prepared to close the iron bars.

"Wait! Don't you want this?"

Natasha held up the banknotes in her hand to show the big man, shaking them repeatedly to attract his attention.

The lure of money was undeniably strong. The burly man swallowed hard and said, "Not enough. This isn't enough for information about that enhanced human."

"How about this?"

Natasha took out another scroll and placed it on the counter.

"not enough!"

The burly man's insatiable greed made Natasha's expression turn sour. She clearly reached for her weapon at her lower back, threatening him.

"Tsk tsk, you can't do that. Alexei used to brag to me every day about his two daughters. If you want to know anything about him, you'll have to give him more!"

"Then you must know he's a spy, and all his identities are fake!"

With a sly smile, the burly man said, "So what? It's not my problem to get information about Alexei right now."

"you……"

Natasha checked her pockets and realized she didn't have any more money with her.

When she looked at the big man, he shrugged and said, "We only accept small denominations of cash. No credit cards, no bank transfers, and no checks."

Just as Natasha reached for the banknotes on the counter, a large gold ingot slammed onto the counter and slid to the window.

Upon seeing the gold ingot in front of him, the big man immediately reached out to grab it, but the window was too small to fit it in. He could only hold the gold ingot firmly with one hand.

Seeing Natasha try to take the money from the counter, the burly man, fearing she might change her mind, immediately said, "In Siberia, Alexei is currently in the Siberian Black Prison, which is jokingly called the bottom of hell, an underground prison converted from a mine. Good luck."

After quickly finishing his sentence, the burly man stretched out his arm and reached for the gold ingot through the window. However, the small window was too narrow for the ingot to pass through. The man could only protect the ingot while grinning foolishly at Natasha, waiting for the two to leave.

Upon receiving the news, Constantine turned and left. Natasha hesitated for a few seconds after seeing Constantine leave, but then followed him.

"You don't need to pay him. Just threaten him and then give him the money."

However, Constantine simply put his finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture. Then he took out two rolls of banknotes and handed them to Natasha.

As Natasha took the banknotes, she realized that they were the ones she had just taken out, and Constantine had somehow gotten hold of them.

Taking the money, Natasha said in surprise, "So the gold ingots you gave me were fake? Or did you somehow get them back?"

After taking a drag of his cigarette, Constantine looked at the sky and said melancholically, "No, it's true, 99.99% pure gold."

Chapter 202: The Red Guard

Pure gold? And such a large piece? Natasha found it hard to believe.

“Those are gold ingots I use to balance my luck. They come from Irish goblins. Whoever gets them will be plagued by bad luck, and if they are unlucky, the goblins will come knocking on their door.”

Hearing this, Natasha felt a pang of sympathy for the Great Man's future. But she also had new thoughts about Constantine.

"Then what about you? Don't you need it anymore?"

Upon hearing this, Constantine finished his cigarette in one go, slowly exhaled the smoke, and said somewhat nonchalantly, "No need. Since I met you and Wanda, I don't need this kind of thing to bring bad luck anymore."

Natasha stopped in her tracks, somewhat taken aback, and tilted her head in confusion as she looked at Constantine.

Constantine then counted on his fingers and said to Natasha, "Who discovered my location? Who forced me to appear in public? Who made me lose the joy of winning the lottery? Who made me inexplicably have a grudge against Stark? And who might cause conflict with other gods?"

For the first time, I felt the King of Souls was becoming unmanageable. Should we find another powerful backer?

His grumbling made Natasha feel for the first time that the person in front of her was a human being, no longer the aloof person who seemed to have seen through everything.

And these words were clearly meant for her; it was just an outlet for his emotions. After all, she and Wanda had no background or connections. If Constantine found it troublesome, he could simply abandon them.

Just as Natasha paused, Constantine had already opened a portal to Siberia.

"Let's go."

"Don't you need to prepare any clothes? It's very cold in Siberia!"

"Always remember, you are a mage!"

On a mountain next to the black prison in Siberia, Natasha looked at the prison not far away and carefully recorded the exposed firepower configuration and personnel structure.

Constantine, however, acted as if nothing was wrong, staring at the sun overhead and smoking.

“We can temporarily hack into the prison’s network, sneak in from the northeast or airdrop at night, or send something in to Alexei so that he can cause a riot inside.”

Natasha drew a map of the prison in the snow, analyzing the situation with her intelligence. This only attracted Constantine's footsteps, which kicked the snow everywhere.

"You're a mage, even if you haven't learned many... just one spell. But remember, you're a mage. Don't analyze these things like an ordinary person. We have a simpler method..."

Constantine drew his staff and cast an invisibility buff on himself and Natasha, instantly disappearing from sight in the sunlight. If it weren't for the footprints in the snow, no one would have noticed their presence.

After Constantine's complaint, Natasha grew bolder and said to him, "You said this spell was the first one you learned? Is it for spying on girls bathing?"

"Don't think of me as something so despicable. I learned this spell simply because I was too weak back then, and I needed to avoid enemies and prevent myself from falling into traps or getting caught in group battles."

"You've never said any of this? You have such a past?"

"Otherwise, how do you think the Ringed City came to be? I only took over this dimension after I had cut down everything that could move."

As he spoke of the past, Constantine's tone inevitably became arrogant, but then he changed his tone and became frivolous and disrespectful. Even in her invisible state, Natasha could feel Constantine's gaze scrutinizing her.

"As for you? Your figure is average. Maybe I'll be interested in taking a look when someone wants to drink your bathwater..."

Such sarcastic remarks made Natasha want to punch Constantine a few times, but she refrained because she couldn't pinpoint his exact location.

However, Constantine grabbed Natasha's hand.

"Don't move, come with me."

"You can see invisible people? And you're not going to cast this spell on me?"

Suddenly, a plume of smoke appeared in the air, clearly from Constantine's cigarette. Constantine flicked the cigarette butt away.

"Actually, I can't see you invisible either; I can only see your soul. Powerful mages can do that..."

Along the way, Natasha had heard countless phrases about 'powerful mages,' but this idealistic definition without any quantifiable standards left her completely clueless.

Natasha had a feeling that this standard was something only Wanda could possibly reach in the distant future.

Led by Constantine, Natasha stepped through the portal and entered the prison. "Inside" wasn't entirely accurate; she had simply entered the surface structure of the prison.

Even on the outskirts, there were constant patrols, and each major thoroughfare had a fixed guard post. Looking at the blast doors made of metal, Constantine did not choose to use the portal or force his way through.

Natasha only saw a pink light appear in the air and land on the guard at the gate.

[Charm: A special spell of Krana, one of the witches of Izalith. It can charm enemies into becoming temporary allies. Fire attracts life, and this technique reveals another side of spellcasting. It can be used by anyone, regardless of gender.]

In Natasha's eyes, all she saw was the guard casually opening the blast door and walking inside.

"Andrei, what are you doing? Why aren't you guarding outside!"