DOTM: Chapter 378/379

Chapter 378: Power Stone

He didn't mention Rocket Raccoon to anyone. The journey afterward was much smoother. The Milano was fast, and Xandar wasn't particularly far from Morag, where the Orb was kept. There was no need for a space jump; they could reach it quickly just by cruising normally.

After locking in the course, Star-Lord didn't need to stay in the pilot's seat. Once he set the autopilot, he began introducing the Milano to everyone.

Although Thor had already explained how to get food and drinks, there were still many things that needed Star-Lord to explain—what they were and how to use them.

Most of the equipment on the Milano was very advanced, which was why Tony had been fiddling with everything from the start. Only one item drew his mockery.

"Where did you get this thing? Are you into antiques or something?"

What made Tony even more speechless was that the cassette tape Star-Lord played was filled with songs from decades ago. This also led Tony to guess Star-Lord's origin.

Peter was a very common Earth name, and he was listening to old Earth pop music from decades ago on a cassette player.

Of course, that wasn't the main point. What Tony couldn't accept was the fact that this cassette tape could still play music flawlessly after all these years!

Ethan was nearby at the time, listening to Tony talk as he reached out to take the cassette, curious if it used some kind of black technology he didn't understand. Otherwise, how could it still function perfectly after so many years?

In fact, Tony wasn't the only one who wanted to complain about this.

As for the frequently played cassette tape, it could be assumed that Star-Lord had meticulously maintained it. With access to all kinds of advanced technology, it wouldn't be difficult to keep the tape in good condition.

But what Ethan really wanted to complain about was how, at the end of the first movie, when Star-Lord opened the gift box his mother gave him, the cassette tape inside—which had been used for decades and seemingly had no maintenance—still played perfectly!

"Where are you from?"

"Missouri."

"…"

Tony confirmed that this guy really was from Earth. He was very curious how Peter Quill had ended up in space. Judging by how proficient he was at using all sorts of advanced tech, he had clearly lived in space for many years. But he still remembered being from Missouri, so he must have been old enough when he left Earth.

After learning that Peter Quill was also an Earthling, the others felt slightly more at ease. Combined with the naturally outgoing personalities of some of Ethan's companions, they quickly struck up conversations.

After spending some time together, Star-Lord's relationship with the group became a little closer. At the same time, he also learned that the big guy, Thor, wasn't from Earth either, but a Norse god from Earth's legends.

"So Norse mythology is just a bunch of aliens?"

The galaxy was just too vast. Peter Quill had lived in space for so many years and still hadn't heard of a place called Asgard.

"Many so-called myths and legends are just records of events left behind by high-level beings from advanced civilizations in less-developed ones."

"Hearing it put like that, those legendary stories suddenly seem kind of boring."

If he were still just a regular Earthling, hearing that so-called gods were actually aliens might've felt exciting. But now that he was piloting a spaceship across the universe, aliens weren't mysterious to him anymore. In fact, to many civilizations, he himself was an alien.

"The truth behind many things is usually boring."

"You'd better find a place to sit down. The environment on this planet isn't great."

After a period of flight, they finally arrived at their destination—Morag.

This was a planet that had entered its "end of life" phase. The civilization that once existed there had long been destroyed, or perhaps the inhabitants collectively left the planet before the drastic climate changes occurred.

After Star-Lord's warning, those like Evelyn, who were considered "relatively delicate," obediently sat down or held onto something, ensuring they wouldn't run into any problems.

Thor and Ethan, on the other hand, stood calmly beside Star-Lord in the pilot's seat, watching him guide the ship into the planet's atmosphere.

Tony was sitting in another pilot seat. He wasn't controlling the ship, but he was using its instruments to scan the planet's environment.

After spending so much time on the ship, he had already figured out the functions of most of its systems and how to use them. He had also more or less learned how to pilot it himself, though he hadn't had a chance to practice yet.

Even more impressively, Tony had also learned the language displayed on the ship's interface. Although he could only understand the text and couldn't yet speak it, his learning ability was astonishing.

Through the ship's instruments, Tony gained a relatively clear understanding of the planet's conditions.

"The environment is awful. At the very least, regular people won't be able to move around outside. If Peter doesn't have enough protective gear, we'll have to wait on the ship while he goes."

Thor could understand the displayed data as well. After glancing at it, he patted Tony on the shoulder.

"It's fine. This environment doesn't affect me. I'll go with Peter to make sure nothing goes wrong."

"You mean you don't need a protective suit?"

"Yeah."

Peter glanced at Thor again, unsure if the guy was bragging, but he still brought protective gear before leaving the ship. The suits on Star-Lord's ship were actually disc-shaped metal objects. When activated, they adhered to the body and released an energy layer that enveloped the wearer for protection.

This protective gear didn't restrict the user's clothing or movements, making it very convenient.

Seeing how useful it was, and that there were several more onboard, Tony felt the itch to try it out again.

However, Ethan stopped him. The environment on this planet was unstable. At any moment, powerful winds, earthquakes, or ground fissures could occur, possibly erupting with high-pressure water columns. Moreover, despite the harsh conditions, the planet still hosted some highly aggressive creatures. Even with the protective gear, it wasn't suitable for Tony to wander around without his armor.

"I think you're underestimating me."

"No. It's just that there's nothing worth seeing on this planet, and we won't be here long. Thor and Peter will go find the Orb together. That way, they can avoid accidents and move faster."

With Thor accompanying him, Star-Lord wouldn't dawdle or aimlessly wander around. He wouldn't, for example, catch some strange creature and use it as a microphone to sing a song.

By moving faster, they could not only retrieve the Orb more quickly but might also avoid the group sent by Ronan.

According to Ethan's calculations, they had arrived much earlier than in the original timeline. If Star-Lord moved quickly, the group sent by Ronan might not even cross paths with Ethan and the others.

If Ronan failed to get the Power Stone, he wouldn't have to report to Thanos with empty hands.

Perhaps, by preventing him from obtaining the Power Stone, they'd also inadvertently keep him from betraying Thanos, and thus stop him from attacking Xandar. Not only would they have saved Xandar, but they might've saved this villain's life too?

While Ethan was deep in thought and Tony was still fiddling with the protective gear, Thor and Star-Lord had already returned.

Star-Lord had many scanning instruments, which was exactly why Ethan hired him to help, even though he already knew the Orb was on Morag. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been in the mood to slowly search an entire hostile planet.

It was thanks to those devices that Star-Lord found the target quickly and returned just as fast.

Back on the ship, Star-Lord held the Orb in his hands, inspecting it from every angle.

"This thing is the stone you were talking about?"

No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't see how it could be so dangerous.

"The Orb is actually a kind of cipher device, locking the Power Stone inside to prevent others from accessing it. To unlock it, you either need the 'password' or specialized decryption equipment."

The Collector used such equipment to crack the Orb layer by layer. This device isn't something you can just find at a street market.

"So are you going to get one of those next?"

Ethan smiled smugly. "My method is different from everyone else's."

Without taking the Orb, Ethan reminded Star-Lord to leave the planet first. This unstable environment wasn't the place to discuss such things.

"So what are you planning to do?"

Even after getting into the pilot seat and preparing for takeoff, Star-Lord still asked Ethan, his curiosity piqued.

He also wanted to see for himself what was so special about a stone that could supposedly destroy a civilization.

Once the Milano had flown a certain distance from Morag, Ethan had Thor hold the Orb while he took out the Space Stone.

Ethan's method was simple—use the Space Stone to "phase" the Orb, thereby extracting the Power Stone inside. This technique required precise control, phasing the Orb without affecting the stone inside.

But this was no challenge for Ethan. He accomplished it effortlessly.

As the purple gem emerged from the blue-glowing Orb and slowly floated in the air, everyone gathered around, staring at this Infinity Stone that represented pure power.

Power—a word that held irresistible allure. What was so special about an Infinity Stone that embodied power?

Everyone turned to Ethan, as if only he could answer that question.

Then they saw Ethan suddenly take a big step back, distancing himself from the Power Stone. Seeing this, the others instinctively took a big step back too.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 379: Nidavellir

Ethan suddenly backed away, instinctively wanting to distance himself from the Power Stone. He was holding both the Space Stone and the Reality Stone. If the Power Stone accidentally released an energy burst, he wouldn't be able to withstand it.

As for the others, as long as they didn't try to touch the stone, they wouldn't trigger its terrifying power.

"What happens if one of us touches it?"

Ethan's explanation wasn't very comforting. Star-Lord still asked out of curiosity, and the answer he got was: the more fragile ones might be instantly killed by the energy burst, while physically stronger individuals like Thor would only be injured.

That wasn't even the worst part. The Milano would definitely be destroyed by the energy burst, and very few people onboard could survive in the vacuum of space.

"Don't go near that thing. If something happens, don't blame me for ignoring our new friendship."

Putting everything else aside, if their ship was destroyed in the middle of space, they'd be in real trouble. Even if a distress signal were sent out, by the time help arrived, they'd probably only be able to collect their corpses.

"Don't worry. We're not that stupid!"

It was O'Connell who spoke. He felt that the reason he'd survived so many bizarre events so far was precisely because he knew what not to do. He immediately grabbed Jonathan, who had been drawn in by the stone's glow, stopping him from dragging them all into disaster with a moment of carelessness.

"Excellent!"

Seeing that everyone was still maintaining a safe distance and no one was approaching the stone, Star-Lord let out a sigh of relief.

But what came next gave him a headache.

"We can't even touch this thing. How do we store it?"

"It's not that it can't be touched. As long as the person touching it has enough strength to withstand the energy within the Power Stone, it's fine."

Only when the person touching it collapses from being unable to withstand the power will the excess energy burst out.

Thor hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should step up and take the stone. Fortunately, before he made a decision, Ethan already had a solution.

"Although Thor is strong enough, let's not risk something so dangerous while in space."

"You're right. I completely agree with Ethan."

Ethan casually took out a small box, then used Mage Hand to guide the Power Stone into it.

In truth, using Mage Hand was also a form of contact, so Ethan employed a small trick—he used Mage Hand to grasp the 'space' surrounding the Power Stone rather than touching the stone directly. It was essentially a loophole.

After placing the Power Stone into the specially crafted box, Ethan casually slipped it into his jacket pocket. The sight made Star-Lord's eyelids twitch.

Putting something this dangerous into a jacket pocket... wasn't that a bit too casual?

Ethan did want to store it in his space storage, but the Infinity Stones had special properties and simply couldn't be stored that way. Perhaps only after he deepened his understanding of space and upgraded the storage method would he be able to place items like Infinity Stones inside.

Everyone had seen the Power Stone, and Thor quickly fulfilled his promised payment—paying in cash. The currency looked like metallic flakes. Ethan had no idea how much they were worth.

Star-Lord felt much better after receiving the reward and asked where they were heading next. Since he didn't have a destination in mind anyway, he could give them a lift.

"Just don't go back to Xandar."

Yondu's buyer was on Xandar. Once Yondu realized the Orb was gone and that Star-Lord wasn't on Morag, he would quickly figure things out.

His first move would definitely be to chase Star-Lord to Xandar, and he might even put a bounty on him. So, as long as he avoided Xandar, Star-Lord could buy himself quite a bit of time.

Forget the universe, even just the Milky Way was vast enough that picking a random direction would make it almost impossible for Yondu to find him.

"We're going to Nidavellir."

Ethan hesitated for a moment, then decided there was no need to specifically head to Xandar to find Rocket Raccoon. They could go directly to Nidavellir and take care of Thor's matter first.

If he really wanted to recruit Rocket Raccoon, he could go to Nidavellir first and then use a teleportation spell to make a quick trip to Xandar. With the Space Stone, he could go anywhere in the universe freely. Getting somewhere was only a matter of an instant.

"Nidavellir?"

Star-Lord had never heard of this place, so he had no idea how to get there.

"I'll give you the coordinates."

Thor stepped up and helped him set the flight path.

"We'll need to make a few jumps. Everyone, find a seat and buckle up."

Spaceships in the Marvel universe were capable of space jumps, but Ethan wasn't sure what the maximum jump distance was. It seemed the common unit of distance in this universe was measured by jumps?

These space jumps placed a considerable strain on the body. Even though multiple jumps in quick succession wouldn't cause serious harm, they would make people feel very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Ethan's companions had all undergone enhancements. The weakest among them were still close to peak human condition. Tony, who had originally been the most physically average, had reached peak condition and was steadily improving thanks to enhancement serum and consistent training.

So when the Milano jumped to the star system near Nidavellir and approached the location at normal cruising speed, no one onboard felt any discomfort.

"Wow!"

Star-Lord had never been here before, and as he watched the dwarf kingdom built around a star, he couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

"This is the dwarf kingdom of Nidavellir."

Star-Lord, who had originally planned to drop everyone off and leave, suddenly became curious about the place. After parking the ship, he joined the group in disembarking onto this unique 'planet.'

Calling Nidavellir a planet wasn't exactly accurate. The dwarf kingdom of Nidavellir was a series of artificial structures built around a star, fully utilizing the nearby asteroids. The entire engineering marvel looked stunning.

"Is this... a Dyson Sphere?"

Star-Lord wasn't the only one shocked. After observing for a while, Tony finally understood what Nidavellir really was.

This was the legendary Dyson Sphere.

A Dyson Sphere was a theoretical artificial structure. Essentially, it was a massive facility that fully harnessed the energy of a star, extracting both material and energy from it. The energy powering the entire Dyson Sphere also came from the star itself.

He never imagined that such a construct truly existed. Though it differed from the designs he'd seen, those were all theoretical drawings made by scientists. Of course, there would be differences during actual construction. But the one before him was real.

Thor didn't understand what a Dyson Sphere was. After landing, he immediately went to look for the dwarf king, Eitri.

As the king of the dwarves, Eitri wasn't hard to find. You could just stop any dwarf and ask.

However… that wasn't what grabbed everyone's attention.

"Wait, you said this is the dwarf kingdom?"

Star-Lord looked around at the tall and busy 'dwarves' and suddenly felt like his whole worldview was about to collapse. He couldn't help but grab Thor.

He wasn't the only one. Everyone was looking at Thor with strange expressions.

You said this was the dwarf kingdom? It looks more like the giant kingdom. Aren't we the dwarves here?

Apart from Ethan, who already knew the truth, no one expected the so-called dwarves to look like this. It completely shattered their expectations. Watching these towering 'dwarves' walk by created an odd sense of pressure.

"The dwarves are very warm and friendly. You don't need to worry."

Thor completely missed the point. He casually reassured everyone and then asked around for Eitri's location.

As the king of the dwarves, Eitri wasn't difficult to find. Not only was he the ruler of Nidavellir, but also its most skilled craftsman. He could confidently claim there was nothing in this world he couldn't forge.

When Ethan and the others found him, Eitri was in the largest forge on Nidavellir, overseeing the crafting of various items. Thor's arrival didn't make him leave his station. He welcomed him right there.

"What brings you here? Do you need something?"

Nidavellir was protected by Asgard. In return, the dwarf kingdom provided Asgard with all its weapons and equipment.

As the heir to Asgard's throne, Thor showing up here instead of staying home told Eitri everything he needed to know.

Thor got straight to the point. Neither the Asgardians nor the dwarves liked beating around the bush—directness was better.

"Trust me, Thor. I will personally forge your new weapon. It will definitely be a powerful one."

Asgard had already 'deposited' a weapon with him, just waiting for the right time to be forged.

It seemed that time had come.

(To be continued.)