DOTM: Chapter 346/347

Chapter 346: Honorary Citizen of Asgard?

"This is truly... unexpected for me."

Odin had lived for countless years, and his knowledge far surpassed what ordinary people could imagine. After observing for a while, he already understood Loki's current situation.

"This is much better than the best-case scenario I had initially envisioned."

Loki had actually become a full-fledged Asgardian. Although there was still a trace of the Frost Giants' cold aura within him, Odin could sense that this coldness was different from the Frost Giants' energy. It was more like a frosty variation of the lightning potential within Thor.

He remembered Loki taking the Casket of Ancient Winters when he left, and now immediately understood the path Loki had chosen—arguably the most suitable one for him. However, in the past, Loki had been so obsessed with tricks and petty schemes that Odin thought he would never embark on this road.

Unexpectedly, after training with Ethan for a while, Loki not only eliminated his Frost Giant "bloodline," transforming it into an innate talent that allowed him to better control ice power, but he also began trying to master the power of ice, which was most compatible with him.

Judging by this stance, Loki must feel his strength has grown significantly and now wants to return to show off.

Odin had no dissatisfaction with this. In fact, he was somewhat happy, feeling that Loki had finally matured.

Regardless, a son's significant increase in strength and abandonment of childish ideas were things to be proud of. As for Ethan, who had orchestrated all of this, his status in Odin's heart had risen sharply.

If Odin was polite to Ethan before, it had mostly been out of respect for the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme. But now, he genuinely treated Ethan as a guest with whom he could converse as an equal.

After chatting briefly, Odin had Thor entertain Ethan while he went back to rest.

He was very polite and warm toward Ethan, but the difference in age made it inappropriate for him to host Ethan directly.

Compared to being with Thor, Odin and Ethan didn't have much to talk about anyway.

So after thanking Ethan, he had Thor show him around, saying that Asgard would always welcome Ethan's visits.

This might have sounded like ordinary politeness, but in reality, it meant that Asgard would no longer be guarded against Ethan. He could now enter and leave Asgard freely.

This was not a privilege just anyone could enjoy. Just because Ethan held the Tesseract and could teleport freely didn't mean he could go wherever he pleased.

At least in Asgard, with Odin in charge, if someone trespassed without permission, they would be met with the Allfather's power as a deterrent.

Now that he had Odin's explicit approval, as long as Ethan didn't teleport directly into the Allfather and Allmother's bedroom or the council hall where political affairs were conducted, he could freely roam other parts of Asgard. In terms of privileges, he was only slightly below Thor and Loki, Odin's two biological sons.

Leaving the great hall, Ethan was unaware that Odin had gone to discuss matters with his wife, Frigga. Thor, on the other hand, was enthusiastically entertaining him, hoping he could stay in Asgard for a few more days.

"That might not be possible. I promised Tony a few things earlier, so I have to return to Earth immediately."

"Earth, huh..."

Due to the damage caused by Loki earlier, the Bifrost still hadn't been repaired. What was more troublesome was that several major realms under Asgard's rule had fallen into conflict. Thor had been traveling around recently to quell the rebellions.

He had only rushed back this time upon hearing that Loki had returned.

"You want to go?"

Thor never hid his emotions. When Ethan asked, he immediately nodded.

"I want to see Jane."

Without the Bifrost, Thor would need to ask his father Odin to use magic to send him to Earth. But that placed a heavy burden on Odin, who was aging and weakening.

Thor didn't want to trouble his father over something so minor, so he'd been waiting for the Bifrost to be repaired. In fact, it wouldn't take much longer. The Bifrost was nearly complete, only missing a few final adjustments.

After that, he'd be able to travel freely to Earth and reunite with his beloved.

Speaking of which, Thor and Jane Foster were a typical case of "distance makes the heart grow fonder." When they were apart and unable to see each other, they constantly thought of one another, only remembering each other's good qualities.

Later, when Thor gave up the throne of Asgard and went to Earth to live with Jane Foster, no longer concerning himself with Asgardian affairs, the two quickly broke up.

This time, Ethan didn't plan to "interfere" in their future. Romantic relationships were inherently full of uncertainties. Perhaps because of his presence, they wouldn't break up?

After all, in the original movie, the character was written out due to disagreements between the actor and the production team, and a breakup was used to give closure to the audience.

In this real world, there wouldn't be issues like actors quitting, so no one knew how the two would develop in the future.

"If you want to go to Earth, I can help you."

"There are still some things that need to be dealt with here."

The rebellions hadn't been completely suppressed yet. A few relatively remote locations remained. Traveling by spaceship would take too long. Thor had returned this time to wait for the Bifrost to be repaired, so he could quickly travel to these places and put down the uprisings.

Only after that would he have time for his own matters.

"Seems like being the heir to the throne isn't easy."

With Loki's intelligence, he naturally understood that the current level of rebellion, even without Thor, couldn't threaten Asgard's rule. Thor's constant presence on the frontlines was simply because Odin hoped he could build up enough prestige to prepare for inheriting the throne.

"If you'd like, I can go quell the rebellions for you so you can go be with that Earth woman."

Having traveled with Ethan for several years and heard many ideas from him that he previously hadn't considered, Loki's interest in the throne had significantly waned.

Now, he was more focused on proving his own strength than seizing the throne of Asgard.

However, if Thor voluntarily gave it up, there was no reason for him to be modest. He didn't think he would be any worse than Thor.

If Thor had even a little bit of cunning, he would find an excuse to reject Loki's offer, because anyone with a normal brain would realize that letting Loki do this would be a massive obstacle to his future succession.

Did Thor lack cunning? Future events proved that Thor was actually quite smart, but he never used schemes on friends he trusted or on his own brother.

Faced with Loki's suggestion, Thor directly expressed his gratitude and even proactively offered to propose it to their father.

His reason also left Loki speechless: he felt Loki should contribute to Asgard and earn the merits and recognition that were rightfully his, since he was also a prince of Asgard.

"I already have enough merits. I can afford a good rest now."

"Truly... foolish."

Loki really wanted to mock him a few times like he used to, but in the end, he swallowed his words and just stood there silently, pretending to be mute.

"What's wrong with him?"

Thor said a few words to Loki, but his brother ignored him. So he turned to Ethan, wondering if Loki had contracted some strange illness recently?

"Nothing, just a tsundere flare-up."

Ethan's blunt explanation made Loki's face even darker, but in the end, he didn't react. He couldn't exactly start a fight with Ethan here, could he?

More importantly, he wasn't confident he could beat Ethan anymore—especially since that guy had the Tesseract.

In the end, he chose to endure it and wait for a chance to scheme against Ethan later.

He suddenly realized that ever since he boarded Ethan's ship, he hadn't tricked this guy even once. This was completely out of character. Where had it gone wrong?

Looking back, Ethan had drawn a big picture for him from the very beginning. Whenever he was about to hit a bottleneck in his training, Ethan would decisively give him a potion to help him continue advancing, forcing him to focus on his training. And after setting a more important goal in his heart, he unconsciously ignored the small things.

Like stirring up trouble or playing tricks—he simply hadn't had time for that. He had been single-mindedly focused on improving his strength, anticipating the moment he would shock Thor upon returning home.

And just when his strength reached a certain level and he finally had time to consider all these trivial matters, Ethan decisively sent him back.

The timing was incredibly precise. If Loki had stayed on the ship even a bit longer, there would've been no peace for Ethan in the near future. He'd be constantly dealing with the God of Mischief's antics every day.

Now that he had sent off this living headache, Ethan could finally breathe a little easier.

After chatting with Thor for a while longer, Ethan ultimately declined the invitation to stay for dinner.

An Asgardian banquet wasn't just a simple meal. If he stayed, with Thor's personality, he'd definitely call friends and throw a huge feast. By then, there'd be no telling when it would end.

They agreed that once Ethan handled his own matters, he'd come back to visit, or Thor could come to Earth to find him after finishing his tasks.

"It's a deal, then."

After a fist bump and shoulder pat with Thor, Ethan waved goodbye to the still-unhappy Loki and also thanked him for his help during this time—though there were a few times Loki had tricked him into stepping in.

As the Tesseract activated, Ethan returned directly to Earth.

He appeared in the new room Tony had given him. He remembered Tony saying earlier that there would be a barbecue party in the backyard to entertain Logan, Laura, and the others—in Tony's eyes, everyone else was just background.

When Ethan arrived and saw them barbecuing and drinking, Tony seemed to be getting along just fine with O'Connell and the others.

But after standing outside and listening for a while, he realized Tony spent most of his time bragging, while O'Connell, Jonathan, and the others were busy acting amazed.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 347: Preparing to Resurrect the Starks

"Oh? You're back?"

Tony Stark greeted Ethan with a surprised look, as if he had just noticed him.

But Ethan had been standing there for a while. Others might not have seen him because their backs were turned, but Tony Stark, who was facing him directly, absolutely couldn't have just noticed him.

There were also many people present who were sharp-witted and constantly alert.

For example, Ada, who was always on guard, Logan, with his sharp senses and astonishing sense of smell, and Happy, who faithfully performed his duty as a bodyguard—this guy just happened to be standing next to Tony and could clearly see Ethan.

"Are things done? Did you see Thor?"

"I did, and we talked for a while. Thor really wants to visit Earth, but there's a lot going on in Asgard right now. He needs to travel to several places to suppress rebellions."

Tony hadn't expected the Norse God of Thunder to be involved in something like that. Going to the front lines to quell rebellions felt like a topic far removed from his world. Although he came from a background as a weapons manufacturer, Tony was more like a hothouse flower, mostly immersed in research.

Even now, as Iron Man, having personally experienced quite a few battles, he still hadn't encountered situations like that.

His impressions of things like quelling war and chaos mostly came from entertainment media like novels and movies, and what came to mind were some overly dramatized "artistic" scenes.

"That's a shame. I was looking forward to seeing that guy."

In any case, he wouldn't be seeing Thor anytime soon. Tony quickly put the legendary god of thunder out of his mind and beckoned everyone to continue drinking and eating barbecue.

Through their interactions so far, and with Logan and Laura serving as intermediaries, Tony already knew what kind of people were in Ethan's new team.

In fact, Pepper Potts had used her excellent social skills to gather information on these people, and Tony had simply listened in.

With precedents like Arthur, Diana, and Logan, Tony wasn't surprised to see all kinds of strange characters among Ethan's companions.

So when he heard that Selene was a vampire who had lived for over six hundred years, his first reaction wasn't fear or disgust, but curiosity about a humanoid creature that survived by drinking blood. He really wanted to understand how a vampire could live on blood alone.

Ethan's appearance had already made him realize that many things couldn't be explained perfectly by modern science. But he was still used to analyzing everything from a scientific point of view. Or rather, he was doing his best to understand many mysterious things through a scientific lens, believing that if he succeeded, he would step into a broader field.

The mummy who had lived for over three thousand years also piqued his curiosity, but Imhotep was now fully resurrected. Together with Anck-su-namun, they were no different from ordinary people. After learning this, Tony thought of Ethan's previous promise but managed to keep his emotions in check.

However, the people who truly surprised Tony weren't Selene or Imhotep, but the ordinary individuals like Annette and Evelyn.

He couldn't figure out what role these people played in Ethan's team.

Through some casual conversations, he learned that Annette was a scientist. She had once assisted her husband in creating a terrifying virus. She had deep expertise in related fields and an above-average understanding of other disciplines. In short, she was a researcher and appeared to be handling logistics in Ethan's team.

Shirley, her daughter, was probably a bonus. Tony didn't pay her much attention beyond thinking that the little girl was cute and much more obedient than Laura had been at that age.

As for Evelyn and her brother, and O'Connell, he had no idea what purpose they served. However, Ada Wong did catch his interest a little more.

Evelyn was a very naive woman, and since she wasn't wary of Tony, Ethan's friend, she had already revealed that their boarding the ship had been an accident.

Ada was different. She had been personally invited by Ethan. As far as Tony knew, Ethan had only ever invited two people to join his team: one was Logan, and the other was Ada.

Others like Arthur, Diana, and so on had either been entrusted to him to temporarily accompany him on his adventures, or they had joined for a visit and left when they had enough.

Loki was with Ethan under the guise of exile, due to his relationship with Odin, the All-Father.

Although quite a few people had appeared around Ethan, most hadn't been actively brought along by him. So Tony was especially curious about Ada, who had received a personal invitation.

The biggest reason? Even he, Tony Stark, had never received an invitation from Ethan!

Even if Ethan had invited him, he wouldn't have left his vast empire behind to follow him into unfamiliar worlds.

But not wanting to go and not being invited at all were two very different things. Tony absolutely couldn't accept being outdone.

His thoughts were quickly picked up on by Pepper. Based on their previous interactions, Pepper simply gave her assessment: "Don't underestimate this woman. I feel like she's the same type as Natasha Romanoff."

Tony immediately understood. This woman was an elite agent—or rather, a super spy—just like Black Widow.

"Why would you want to recruit an agent?"

"Sometimes, you really need people like that." Ethan ignored Tony's disdainful look, glanced at the drinks, and casually opened a can of cola. "When I choose companions, do you know what the most important factor is?"

"What is it?" Tony was very curious about Ethan's selection criteria, and he also wanted to know where he himself had fallen short.

"Pleasing to the eye!" Ethan answered while sipping his drink. "For my companions, of course, I choose people I find pleasing to the eye."

He would absolutely never cause trouble for himself. If someone irritated him just by being around, no matter how beneficial they might be, he would never allow them on his ship.

Don't assume Arthur and Loki were forced on him. The prerequisite was that he could accept them. Otherwise, no matter how great the benefits, he would have refused.

Tony clearly misunderstood. He turned to look at Ada, who wasn't far away. This elite spy always paid great attention to her appearance and knew exactly what kinds of outfits best highlighted her figure and temperament. So Tony immediately interpreted Ethan's "pleasing to the eye" a certain way.

"If that's your standard... what about Logan?"

"Huh?"

Ethan immediately realized what Tony was thinking. He could only shake his head in exasperation, not even bothering to explain.

How could he explain it? Should he say, "It's not what you think!" That sounded even more suspicious. Besides, did he really have no such thoughts when inviting Ada? As an honest man, Ethan never lied to others—or to himself!

The small talk came to an end, and the two of them gradually moved away from the crowd, standing in a more secluded corner to talk about serious matters.

"About resurrecting your parents, I now have some confidence. But I can't guarantee success, and I'm not sure what kind of side effects there might be."

Ethan's past attempts were in other universes. He couldn't be sure whether the spell would cause issues in this one. To prevent Tony from having overly high expectations, he decided to temper them appropriately.

"I'm not some impulsive young man. I can already guess the possible consequences."

Tony wasn't young anymore. He knew how to think things through calmly. Besides, resurrecting the dead was something he'd never even dared to imagine before. If it really could be achieved, any outcome wouldn't surprise him. If it were too easy, Tony would feel something was wrong and wonder if he were dreaming.

"You don't need to worry too much. Even if it doesn't work this time, we can always look forward to the next."

Ethan truly wasn't worried at all. Even if he couldn't solve the problem in this movie universe, couldn't he just go to a more absurd anime world? He didn't believe those bizarre worlds couldn't solve the problem of resurrection.

So the real goal this time was to find the souls of Howard Stark and Maria Stark. As long as their souls were located, even if they couldn't be resurrected this time or summoned right away, once their location was confirmed, there would be endless hope for the future.

After explaining the plan to Tony, Tony also felt it was reasonable and well thought out. The next step was to find a suitable place to conduct the soul-summoning ritual.

To avoid offending powerful beings in this world or suffering backlash from some unknown rules, it would be best to hold the ritual in a special location.

"What kind of place would be suitable?"

"I'm going to ask the Ancient One at Kamar-Taj if she knows of any pocket dimensions that are closely connected to this world."

Such small worlds are attached to this universe and have a close enough connection to it so that they wouldn't find themselves unable to access this world's underworld once they got there.

And because these realms are relatively independent from the main world, if something goes wrong and they need to escape, the other side wouldn't be able to easily track them or retaliate through that space, helping them avoid the consequences of invoking forbidden forces.

Tony couldn't help with this kind of thing. He could only let Ethan handle it, offering support and helping prepare the items needed for the ritual.

Just as the two were discussing what they needed, a golden circle of light suddenly appeared in the open space nearby, and a bald woman in a blue-black robe stepped out.

It was none other than the Ancient One, the very person Ethan had just mentioned.

(To be continued.)