xo108-114
Ch: 108 [Astral Plane]
April 16
[Next morning][3rd Person POV]
They put Peter in a wheelchair and took him to the main hall where the Ancient One was waiting. It was still early. The rays of the sunlight didn't reach inside the ancient building yet.
Ancient One led Peter's wheelchair to the garden.
"So, how do we begin?" Peter asked with a low, hoarse voice. He had woken up around an hour ago and had drunk the herbal medicine prepared by the healers.
Ancient One brought him under an oak tree and stopped the wheelchair, "To learn magic, you must know what magic is and the risks that come with it." She grabbed his neck and pulled out the soul of his body.
Peter's soul slowly flew out of his scaled body.
"Wow!" He looked at his body. A disfigured freak-show body. But his soul looks normal without any scales. "So, this is the Astral body?" He asked excitedly. "Are you going to throw me into the Astral Plane just like you did with Dr. Strange?"
"Oh, you seem to know a great deal about it. Have you ever been to Astral Plane before?" Ancient One asked. She had an idea about his real origin and knowledge, but it seems he is really confident with the information he possesses, so, this should prove to be more useful in his growth than she thought.
"Nope. First time experiencing it," Peter told the truth.
"Then, have a nice trip," She touched Peter's soul's forehead with a smile.
[Zooom!] A suction force sucked Peter into an endless pit as he fell backward and looked around the changing world. He didn't panic or feel scared, if so, he was excited to see the real Astral Plane. After going through a tube-like space, Peter suddenly got sent out as he saw a vivid, clear version of multiple webbed-like structures connecting and arching over an endless space, forming a vast and complex structure.
Ancient One's voice came to his ears, "The multiverse consists of an infinite number of universes which branch off of one another, making an ever-growing multidimensional web of infinite possibility. That is our universe. Some branches will never meet, while others will continue to intertwine over and over, crossing each other."
Peter saw countless possibilities coming from Earth, where there are not one, but tens and thousands of realities. In these worlds, some possibilities had similar paths, but with completely different endings, while other timelines and events deviated completely.
"What's interesting is you, Peter Parker," The Ancient One's voice reached his ears.
He looked around to find her, but couldn't. No sign of her was visible anywhere. Her voice didn't echo, and she was talking to him, no, it's almost like she's inside his head. He turned and looked around again before seeing a thread.
"As far as the laws of time and causality would allow, there are as many of you, the Peter Parker, as there are realities. With a few altercations in time and causality, any possibility can become reality."
Peter immediately followed the thread, trying to get a peek.
There were different Peter Parkers from different realities, ranging from different timelines. Some looked identical and were doing the same, others had different mutations, a couple had spider symbols, while others wore different costumes. He looked carefully to find what was different, but it was hard to tell from just looking.
[Zooom!] His world turned upside down along with the space around him. Countless mirrors crashing, shattering, continuously and rushing toward him with blinding speed. It was as if he was watching one of those augmented-reality shows like Ready player one, just the chaotic mirror pieces reflected many possible versions of himself from various realities.
Suddenly, an image of a ginormous spider sitting on a thick woven web appeared before his eyes.
"The hell?!" He rubbed his eyes, "What was that just now?"
"God, deities, higher beings. They are as real as any one of us. Their powers are not easily quantified as the vast and unknown forces operate in an entirely different system. Every existence within this universe is no more than a figment of someone else's imagination. An endless web of causality that stretches forward through the lives of billions of innocents and monsters alike. Beyond space and time are countless beings controlling all with merely a thought," Ancient One continued.
He suddenly felt a sense of dread at these words, especially at her nonchalant tone.
"However, there are some chosen ones. They were created with a destiny of either power or destruction, their fate lying entirely in the hands of these invisible forces, but some are irregular ones who appear every once in a while. Irregular ones who are not bound by causality. You are one such anomaly. Peter Parker of our Earth and timeline was supposed to be dead before he could become Spiderman. Gwen Stacy was supposed to become the Ghost Spider in your place, yet, here you are, defying the pre-written destiny without shattering the timeline and walking down a self-created path and challenging fate," The Ancient One explained.
Colorful stars, limitless energy, chaos and destruction, new planets, dying planets... Peter saw everything as his soul continued the journey.
"Magic is the most flexible form of energy. You can shape reality, time, space, and anything you could imagine. Those who are powerful enough, like Gods, can even manipulate life and the multiverse and twist the very fabric of reality itself with their very presence," The Ancient One kept on explaining things, but Peter's mind was on something else entirely.
'Everything that is created will, one day, die. This, too, will someday crumble into ash. Life is born only to one day be destroyed by time. Everything will repeat in an eternal cycle. Everything is perishable but time remains,' A realization washed over him as a revelation struck him like lightning, sending shock-waves across the sea of his emotions and awakening something deep, deep within. 'I need to bend time to my will. Make it my slave. It's only when I do that will I be truly powerful, only when time cannot touch me will I remain true and powerful. Fuck! That was deep. What the hell am I even thinking? Hahahaha... But..."
The space shifted again and he fell like a burning meteor as it tore the void and slipped into something different, where he suddenly came to a stop.
"Dark Dimension," the Ancient One explained as he soared across the chaos, through the enormous chaotic power as dark energies raced alongside them.
There was a gravitational pull that tried to snatch him away, but it felt weak, and insignificant in the presence of chaos. His body wasn't his own. He could sense something, an unusual and terrifying consciousness emanating through the empty nothingness, a looming presence with eyes focused upon him.
"A place of endless darkness and mystical beings... However, here also lies vast arrays of knowledge and conflicts. This place is closely connected to Earth, with various mystical portals and gateways allowing beings to travel between the two realms," She explained.
'Travel between realms!' Peter finally found the answer he had been looking for.
[Zooom!] With a gravity pull, Peter instantly found himself floating in the garden back on Kamar Taj.
"So in the end it's limitless, huh?" Peter looked at the bright light and soft-green leaves above him.
Ancient One continued with her speech, "Infinity... From an eternal slumber, a beginning without ending, or a dream from a forgotten realm, one has said it best; 'through the five Infinity gems, all will fall before the powers of one god.'"
"Well, that's a long stretch. Anyway, so, how about teaching me something quick to heal that scaly body of mine? Then, we can take it from there?" He asked enthusiastically.
Ancient One smiled mysteriously.
"How about we start with something basic till you get a grasp of magic?"
"Well, yeah, why not? But what are all these weird strings floating around us?" Peter flew up higher in the sky as he looked around. After the journey through the Astral Plane, things have become much clearer for him. His senses were heightened even further. He could see the magic flowing around the place.
'How did he?!' The Ancient One took a step back in surprise. He learned how to view the astral aura around everything the second he visited the Astral realm. Normally it takes months if not years to see these, let alone traversing through the Astral space freely like moving a limb. She saw Peter flying around freely examining every little thing that can be observed through the Astral sight. 'This is too fast and dangerous.' She pulled his soul back to his body.
"Oh, come on, it was getting fun," Peter complained as he stood up from his chair and pointed his finger at the Ancient One, "Pull my soul out again." He saw the woman before him smiling and suddenly realized that he was standing on his own. "Wow! I can feel them!" He mumbled as he examined his arms. He could feel each and every single scale on his body as if they were part of his body. It feels comfortable.
'Bingo! I don't know what or how it happened, but...' He manipulated the scales and pushed his imagination, forming a proper exo skeleton armor around his body. It's like a black Spiderman suit with a glossy texture. He clenched his fist as he felt way more powerful than he was before.
[S-0X]Ch: 109 [Peter & Wanda]
6 days ago
[Peter's first person POV]
This is dope. I can tell that I'm stronger than before and this weird feeling inside my body, it's as if every cell in my body is itching for something. I can sense the mystical energy seeping through every corner of the Earth. It's intoxicating. And this exo skeleton armor, I can manipulate it to transform according to my needs. It's as if a symbiote is wrapped around me.
"You are thinking of leaving right now to meet your family, right?" The Ancient One suddenly said with her usual stoic expression, but I can tell that she's kinda happy for some reason. Weird.
"Not yet. Since I'm here, teach me. I was too arrogant and careless last time. I don't want to face such a situation again. So, teach me magic and help me understand my power or something," I asked her. This is my last resort. As much as I would like to meet them, I can't go there in my condition. Although the exo skeleton armor is under my control, what if another weird freaky power pops up? Can't take that chance. Before I leave this place, I'll learn magic and master my spidey power.
"Hmm," She rubbed her fingers across her face with a contemplating look, "Very well. Let us begin your training, Peter Parker."
She teleported me to the training ground with a flick of her finger. There was a group of newbies in orange training clothes, practicing the classic transportation portal spell.
I watched them create portals, some successful while some failed.
"Peter Parker, stand next to them," She ordered me with a serious tone.
[Zoooo!] Wow! She used magic to change my clothes. It was weird and creepy. I can feel a new underwear appearing out of nowhere and it's a fit. I looked down and saw myself wearing an orange training cloth with a symbol of the Kamar Taj. Then she gave me those magic rings to wear like the rest of the students.
"I'm sure you won't have a problem mimicking their movements. Feel the flow of magic and focus. Imagine the garden we were standing in a few moments ago and open a portal," She instructed me as she walked behind everyone and started observing them individually.
Alright! Here goes nothing.
I copied them as they waved their hands and imagined the garden clearly with its green grass, oak trees, and stone buildings as I tried opening a portal, but nothing happened. Damn! I repeated it a few times, but it didn't work. I tried imagining the garden with better clarity and even closed my eyes to visualize everything clearly, but still nothing.
Wait! I can see orangish sparks as a faint rune or whatever it is called appeared before my eyes briefly. I can do it. After eight months, I got a new chance and I won't let it go to waste. I know what's wrong here. I am thinking too much about it and trying to run where I'm supposed to walk. I'm getting frustrated and restless right now because I doubt I've ever failed this many times in a row.
Yeah! Focus...
I took a deep breath and relaxed my mind as I imagined the garden again while waving my hands and orange sparks appeared briefly again. Just relax, Pete. You got this. I calmed my mind and controlled my breathing. I imagined those weird magic lines around the garden.
[Sizzzle!] [Crackle!] As I opened my eyes I saw a round portal and beyond it was the garden I just imagined. Success!
That's just the tip of the iceberg...
"Good job. It took Stephen quite a while to use this spell. I had to throw him into the North Pole for motivation," Ancient One patted my shoulder as she praised me with a proud smile.
Yeah, I know. I don't even want to imagine where she would have thrown me had I failed repeatedly.
Anyway, I repeated the spell multiple times until it became easier and the portal appeared faster.
------
After eight days of gruesome training with the Ancient One, she finally allowed me to enter the Kamar Taj library.
I spent most of my time reading various books related to magic and some ancient history. Sadly, I'm not allowed to go into the forbidden section. Oh, well, no need to rush. Let's take one step at a time.
While reading books about magic, I learned more about these mystic arts and how they function. My theory about these mystic arts being similar to science turned out to be true. But the only difference is that instead of using science rules, they use magic rules. They manipulate mystical energy by following certain rules to cast spells. It's fascinating.
Those magic threads I keep seeing after coming out of the Astral Plane are what connects everything together like the web.
While I was engrossed in reading, I didn't even notice when Wanda entered the library. Yeah, I got Spidey Power, but that Ancient One forbade me from using them. She tried to seal off my power, but thanks to my Immunity power, it failed. Since her power doesn't work on me, she made me wear some kind of metal rings around my fingers that suppress my power. It's hard, but I'm getting used to it.
"Peter Parker," She greeted me with a stoic expression as she sat opposite me with a bag of food that she must have gotten from Dr. Strange.
I glanced at her for a moment and went back to the books, "You do know, you can't bring food into the library, right?" I reminded her. I didn't want to get in trouble for eating in the library.
"Don't you get bored of eating fruits and veggies all day? I mean, you haven't eaten anything for almost eight or nine months, and then for the last eight days, you've been eating fruits and veggies. Don't you want something else?" Wanda argued with me as she placed the food between us on the table.
Girl you have no idea how long I can go without eating fancy food or no food at all. Haaa... Bad memories flashed before my eyes when those lunatics were performing experiments on me. They didn't give me any food, just some tasteless gooey liquid laced with poison. Damn! To think I survived years like that. Anyone in my place would have found a way to somehow kill themselves, but not me.
Anyway, I sighed heavily as I put the book aside and opened a portal to the rooftop, "Come on, better safe than sorry..." I urged her to move.
Wanda smiled slightly as she picked up the bag of food and jumped into the portal. I followed her and closed it afterward. We sat down on the ledge of the roof looking down at the beautiful snowy mountains below. One would think it's cold up here, but there's a magic dome protecting this place and keeping the temperature in check.
Ah! When you have magic, there is no need for AC or heater. How cool is that?
"So... Spicey meat burger. I thought you were a vegan," I asked Wanda as I unwrapped the burger and took a big bite.
"Yeah, when you go through certain situations, you gotta adjust accordingly. And food is one of them," She replied while taking a sip from her cola bottle.
"Can't argue with that. So, what's new?" I asked as I munched on the burger while enjoying the view. "Heard you got an earful from Wong yesterday. What happened?" I teased her as I finished my burger within seconds and grabbed another one from the bag.
Wanda frowned as she recalled the scolding Wong gave her yesterday, "Yeah... Apparently, I messed up during meditation. He kept telling me that I wasn't concentrating enough. It's hard to focus with all these thoughts going through my head constantly."
"Talk to me," I urged her as I focused on chewing my burger slowly so that I could listen to Wanda.
Wanda stared at me with conflicted emotions flashing in her eyes for a moment before sighing heavily, "You sure you want to hear my story? It's nothing special. It's just that I don't know if what I want to do is right or wrong."
"Go on, it's the least I can do for someone who took care of me for eight months without a complaint," I assured her with a genuine smile.
Wanda stared into my eyes for a moment to find any signs of lies, but she couldn't find any. Finally, she sighed heavily and began narrating her life story.
[S-0X] Ch: 110 [Spidey and Scarlet Witch]
4 days ago
Wanda's origin story was more or less like that from the comics, but instead of Hydra or maybe the High Evolutionary, Norman captured them for experimentation. They refused to work with him, so Norman put them in isolation and performed whatever experiments he could and soon Wanda and her brother awakened their power. After that the usual story...
Wanda blames Stark for the missile strikes on Sokovia in which their parents died. The trauma of that experience found a focus in the prominence of the Stark Industries logo printed on the missile. This left the twins with the belief that Stark himself was ultimately responsible for their parents' deaths as it occurred via sales of his company's weapons which he had intentionally profited from.
"Do you still blame him?" I asked her as I looked at her sad face.
"N-not anymore, no," Wanda answered quietly after thinking for a bit. "After some time of not thinking clearly. It became apparent how stupid my actions were. Then..." She took out a USB and placed it on the roof's ledge. It's the drive that I found when Norman blew up the warehouse. Damn! To think it survived that fire. It must be made of some kind of special metal or something like that. "I found this on you when I found you back then. And I was curious, so I kinda took a peek..."
"And?" I asked as I took a drink from the bottle. Damn, Fanta tastes amazing.
"It was Norman from the start. Just to get his hands on us, he blew everything up. Even made it look like Stark was responsible for the attack. That and many more of what that bastard had done... Everything is recorded in this drive," Wanda explained.
"Humm... Seems like you found your answer, but you feel empty from inside, aren't you? Now that Norman is dead and OsCorp is gone, you don't have anyone to blame or any mission left to fulfill in your mind," I concluded after pondering on it.
"Yeah... I guess. That must be it, isn't it? Having no goal or purpose in life seems strange. Before it felt as though my whole existence had a deeper reason to fulfill something. Now, there's nothing..." She clenched her fist tightly as her voice choked from the onslaught of various emotions, tears glistened at the edge of her eyelids. She turned toward me, "I should be happy that Norman is gone, yet... Do you ever feel empty like this? Does this emptiness disappear one day, or do you end up spending your entire life chasing a never-ending purpose or something?"
That's a deep question. Why can't she ask about something else? Haaa...
"Yeah. I took my revenge and it did taste good for a time being, but slowly you start to realize that you can't stay stuck in the past forever. You gotta find new things, do new things, and so on. I had a dream that I was working on before all this... I wanted to earn money, more money. But I have so much money that I don't know what to do. I made gadgets, and suits, and bought shares, lands, and houses. A private Yacht that no one is aware of..."
I paused for a moment before continuing, "Anyway, it was getting boring every day following the same old routine... So, I decided to do something new. Something that only I can do as me, not Spiderman. So, I developed cybernetic implants and Neural implants. I was so close to achieving my dream... The collateral damage after the heroes' fights or villains' attacks... Missing body parts, critical injuries, organ damage, vegetative state... No one will ever have to experience that loss ever again after my creation. I worked on it so hard. So much for those sleepless nights."
Wanda just listened to me while I complained.
"Haaa... Then everything changed just like that. It was so fast... Hahaha... It was my fault. I should've known. I should've been careful. I should've trained a bit more... Fuck! I was too fucking arrogant. All the gadgets, nanites suit, and my power got to my head. I felt invincible... Then as you already know the rest," I sighed as I shook my head, "Over eight months, gone just like that. Caused pain to my family and friends... Now..."
"Is that why you decided to stay here? You are afraid of facing your family and friends!" Wanda interrupted me and stared at my face.
Afraid?
No, I am not afraid. It's complicated. I miss them...
I...
I could have called them...
Gwen! I should have called her...
May and MJ...
Michelle and Liz... Ned... Frank...
Damn! I ran away, huh? It feels like I'm having some midlife crisis or something on that line.
"Who knows? Maybe, I'm afraid or maybe, I don't want to repeat the same mistake again and want to master my power before going back. Anyway, as for your answer, you just gotta find something new to live for. I know what I want to do and I'm sure you too will find something worth living. One thing is for sure... That there's always someone that cares and loves you in the world. No matter what," I shrugged as I smiled at her. I quickly finished off the bottle of Fanta.
"What if I join you? You know, kicking the villain's butt and saving the day... I mean, a team?" She asked and my eyebrows raised involuntarily as my ears perked up at her words.
"Spiderman and Scarlet Witch, a team, huh?" I touched my chin, thinking about this situation.
"Scarlet Witch?" Wanda looked at me questioningly.
Wait! She doesn't have a name yet?! Ah! She never got to wreak havoc outside, no wonder. Well, I'll give her the signature name.
"Your hero name. You know, I have spider power, so I'm Spiderman. Your magic is red chaos magic, strongest of all, so Scarlet Witch. An obvious choice, no?"
She looked confused at first but soon it was replaced with a small smile that graced her lips.
"Scarlet Witch," Wanda murmured quietly as she let the words flow, testing their syllables. She smiled, "Strongest of all. I like the sound of that."
"Ok. Let's do it. But you think the Ancient One would allow you to leave this place?" I asked her. The Ancient One knows the future, and I have no idea what this new future is or what's going to happen next... Is this version of Wanda gonna go full-on killing mode? She might have some pent-up anger issues that need to be released. Or she might not go full-on killing mode. No one knows the answer other than that old lady.
"Leave that to me," She jumped onto the ledge of the roof and changed her clothes to a short nightgown-like dress with magic. "I better go to sleep and think of a way to butter her up..."
And, she's wearing a red panty...
"Uumm... Wanda," I called her with an awkward smile. My eyes were on her red... Ahem! I mean, on her face.
"What? You got any good ideas to help me out?" She asked, a smirk on her lips.
"I can see your..." I pointed at her red underwear, "Panties?" I wasn't sure which one she'd prefer to call.
[Booom!] An explosion sent me flying a couple of feet away. Oouch!
"You pervert! Forget everything you saw or else I'll poke your eyes out," Wanda opened a portal and ran away.
What was that for? I shouldn't have said that. But if she caught me looking at her and found out of her own... Well, I'm pretty sure there would have been multiple explosions instead of one. Oh, well, it was worth it.
.
.
[Wanda's first person POV]
[Wanda's room]
That perv. He saw my panty. Uggh! It was my bad. I shouldn't have changed there without thinking. Shit! What was I even thinking? To change before a boy. Even if it was with magic. Ahhh!
Well, I also kinda saw his penis when I was cleaning his wounds. He didn't have scales there and...
Fuck! Wanda! What the hell are you even thinking? Why are you thinking of Peter's penis?
But, it was my fault. Not like he meant to look at me... Damn, this is frustrating. I messed up pretty badly. He might think of me as a weirdo. What if he refuses to make a team with me now? What do I do?
Should I let him hit me once?
I jumped on the bed, burying my face on the pillow.
If I tell him that I took off his underwear and kinda touched his penis and cleaned him up, and that for the last eight months, I helped him take bath regularly since magic wasn't affecting him, and I cleaned up every nook and corner of his body... He will get mad and hit me, right?
No! No! Wanda, get a hold of yourself.
Can't tell him that explicit details. And why the heck I can't get rid of the image of his naked body from my mind? It was so fucking difficult to talk to him for this long. And now I messed up.
I jumped down from the bed.
Alright, gotta apologize like a normal human. I'm sure he will understand.
[S-0X] Ch: 111 [Wanda's weird confession]
3 days ago
[Peter's first person POV]
I'm sitting on my bed and I've finally managed to separate my soul out of my body without any help. The thing is, I thought that my soul's face would be different considering I'm another soul in Peter's body, but why the fuck do I look like Peter Parker in my soul or astral form? This is kinda weird. I thought I took over this body... But, now, I'm having some doubts.
Did I really reincarnate as Peter Parker and awaken my memories later? Or, is it something else?
Shit, it's better not to think too much about this kind of thing. Maybe I just want to know what really happened to Peter Parker. But now that I have the possibility of me being Peter from the beginning only to awaken my memories later... Shit! Well, let's not go into the past anymore and forget everything bad things I said about myself at the beginning after waking up, yeah?
Anyway, I'm satisfied with this progress.
Although I can't enter the Astral Plane, I can still practice magic in my astral form. Well, time to get back into my body. It's getting late and tomorrow we are going for combat practice. I'm gonna have a hard time. Yeah, I know how to fight, but without my Spider Senses, it will be hard. Better get some rest...
Just then the door opened, and Wanda entered the room.
She entered the room in silence. I saw her hesitating a few times.
"If you are here to blast me up again, I'll let you know that it was just an accident..." I prepped myself to open a portal, in case she throws in another bolt of magic. I have to time it perfectly and...
"I'm sorry. It was my fault. I overreacted and blasted you for no reason. You too are at fault for not closing your eyes, but I can't blame you either. After all, I did change right in front of your face," Wanda sighed and apologized.
"Nah, it's fine, really. I forgive you," I stood up and moved toward her.
"And I got something to confess..." She said with an awkward expression.
"Which is...?" I encouraged her to go ahead.
"About your injuries... I bathed you and saw you naked. I bathed you every day for eight months since magic wasn't working on you and I've cleaned you thoroughly... You know..." She babbled out as her head tilted downward while her toes rotated and a faint blush crept up on her face. She glanced at my face now and then. "I mean, I've washed your penis and all your intimate parts..."
Eehhh! She was taking care of me all this time? No, that's not the point. Why the heck is she talking about my cock? What kind of confession is this? Is she sane up there? I... I'm lost for words. I don't even know how to react. She washed me every day like a nurse or maybe... Could it be? No way! Why the heck did she go that far? Don't tell me I released my pheromone in my comatose state. But I doubt that would work on someone of her caliber. Besides, that ancient old woman would have noticed it.
Wanda waited for a moment as if allowing me to process everything she said.
"You are angry, right? For seeing you naked and touching things I shouldn't have. So... Do you hate me or disgusted with me? Are you perhaps angry and want to hit me? Go ahead then. I'll take a couple of blasts from you. After that, forget my panty incident, yeah? Go on, do it," She said quickly, her hands spread wide, daring me. "Please don't kick me out of the team." She mumbled softly.
Huh? What the heck is she talking about? Why the heck am I gonna hit her?
I walked over to her as she closed her eyes, ready to receive some blasts. I hugged her tightly. God! She feels so small in my arms. I have no idea what a teenage Wanda was like in the comics, but considering the future has changed drastically, so have our present. She is just a 19-year-old teenager who never had much human interaction, other than with her brother.
"Woah!" She squealed and went silent for a moment. She was rigid, perhaps out of shock.
"Don't you dare think that low of me," I whispered in her ears. "You saved me, nursed me, so, how did you even for a moment think that I'd get angry with you and go as far as to hit you? Seriously, what was going on in that little head of yours? Also, stop acting like that... Stop thinking all those stupid things... I know this is new to you, but trust me, I'm not angry with you and I'm not going to kick you out of the team. Okay? Promise. So please drop these stupid thoughts. Trust me," I assured.
After hearing my words, she hugged me back and we stood there for a moment. She isn't stiff anymore. Well, more than a couple of minutes.
"Thank you," She mumbled softly.
"I should be the one thanking you for taking care of me," I patted her head and she stepped back, blushing slightly.
"Well, I... I better go back. I'll let you sleep," She said pointing a finger toward the door.
"See you tomorrow then," I smiled and gave her a thumbs-up, which she didn't seem to know what to make of it but she did give me a smile and a nod.
I stood there like a stump for a few seconds after she left.
Ok, that went well, right?
.
.
[Next morning] [Training ground]
Today, Wong will be supervising our combat training. There were other students as usual, so full of energy and discipline. I mean, come on, guys, chill out a little. Stiffness is bad for your spine, man.
We did our stretching as instructed before we started.
Then, Wong divided us. There were ten platforms and we were supposed to fight one vs one.
Oh yeah, and... There was a protecting spell on my clothes to prevent any critical injuries.
"Choose your weapons or you can choose to fight barehand," Wong said, gesturing toward the piles of weapons at the back of the platforms.
I chose nothing. I'm not much of a sword or spear guy. I'll fight bare-handed. Although I can't use my spidey power, I'm still somewhat experienced. And I secretly learned how to create weapons from magic, thanks to all those books from the library. You see, Wong said we can use any weapons to spar, but he never forbade using magic. And, I got some nice new spells, I'm itching to use in a fight.
I walked up to my platform. My opponent is a freaking huge guy. His name is Jin. I don't know his last name. He's around what... Like 7'1"? Too tall, and he is using a long pole as his weapon. I know that this pole can stretch and even work like a freaking chain. Gotta be careful to not get caught up or he's gonna beat my ass. And with Wanda watching from the balcony, I can't lose to this giant human. Ahem! I'm definitely not trying to impress her or anything like that. Trust me.
"Where's your weapon, Peter?" Jin asked with a wicked grin on his face.
You see, this guy is like one of those overconfident and way too smart for his own good type of guy, you usually see in school.
"It's already here," I grinned, pointing my finger toward myself. "Don't look down on me just because of my size, okay?"
"Awe, a cocky one. Do go crapping your pants after I beat your ass," He taunted while spinning his pole around his neck like one of those guys from a martial art or kungfu movie.
Woohoo, how cliche, dude! But still... Very effective! I gotta stay focused.
"Begin!" Wong shouted loudly with his voice magically amplified, echoing in the area.
With just two leaps, that guy is on top of me with his pole held over his head as he slammed down like a freaking meteor.
I quickly jumped back and performed the hand signs then slammed my palm on the ground.
The impact was tremendous but fortunately, I used the rubber spell to make the ground a bit rubbery. It's a lowest-tier spell, but super effective and handy.
The way he slammed down on the rubbery ground and the way the ground returned his attack back at him, made him fall back with a loud thud.
I quickly kicked his pole away and saddled on his chest with a large grin, "Jin. Try not to crap your pants." I unleashed a flurry of punches on his face. A couple of them landed hard, but he raised his arms trying to protect his face. "All bark and no bite?"
"Enough, Parker," Wong pulled my back with magic threads, "He's already out."
Huh?! I looked at Jin. Fucker is unconscious. His nose is kinda pointing in a bad direction along with his jaws. Two front teeth are missing... Wait! Didn't he put a protection spell to avoid unnecessary injuries?
"Haaa... That annoying ability of yours..." Wong sighed, "You win. Go back, you are free to do whatever you want today. I'll allow you to go to the second section in the library."
[S-0X] Ch: 112 [Training & Fun]
2 days ago
Alright, time to go to the new section. No time to waste, the faster I learn things, the faster I'll be able to go closer to my final goal. Just as I walked into the hallway, I saw Wong carrying Jin to the medic wing. He glanced at me. "What?"
"I thought these weird rings suppressed my powers?" I asked showing the ancient rings in my fingers. "How did I just punch the guy until he passed out?" I mean, I smashed his face pretty badly back there, and man, it felt good to see his arrogant expression turned to pain. Serves him right. Every once in a while, I should humble people like him a little bit, that way, their ego can become less inflated, so to speak.
"That's what I thought. I'll have a talk with Master Yao. Maybe she knows what's wrong. But I'm pretty sure it's your immunity ability. Anyway, gotta take this poor sod to the healers now," And he walked away with Jin on his back. I mean, why the fuck is he walking when he can just open a portal and go there faster? Haaa... God knows what he's thinking.
Anyway, I made my way to the library. Time to read like a nerd once again. I might find something useful that can increase my survivability. I mean, I do know martial arts and street fights, but I have yet to grasp their skills fully. These guys, these higher-level students, and the guards and their moves are just beyond me.
The next two weeks, I fought four or five more people, and each time, they ended up hospitalized or, in a worse condition than before. Each one of those idiots got a bit more confidence and attacked me straight out. And just like that, my ego began to rise once again. I can feel it. I'm overestimating my opponents every time. But can you blame me? They are attacking me for their pride or superiority and such, but they end up losing horribly and are unable to get over their losses.
The Ancient One checked on those rings and according to her, the rings are working just fine. They were really suppressing my spidey power, but my immunity power remains active all the time. So, Wong was right. My power is interfering with the protection spell.
That's good to know. I'm kinda magic proof too. I wonder what else I'm immune to. I've a plan to do something stupid with Wanda to test out my immunity power, but that'll have to wait for a bit.
Apart from sparring, I read more or less all the books in the second section of the library. I self-learned some interesting spells and man they are kinda powerful. Just like this spell to summon a barrage of flaming meteors over a small radius. I can summon three meteors with my power and they are small, but the damage is good enough to take down mid-level villains. Then, Wong taught me the spell to change my clothes. It's fun. You see, I can transform any outfit of mine into other outfits just by concentrating hard and doing a simple hand gesture.
Then, the spell to summon magic chains. Wong says it comes in handy in almost every situation. I can use it for attack, and defense, and even restrain my opponent with it. Then, there's this barrier spell which comes in handy to reflect any kind of attack. And there was this one interesting spell that created enormous shock waves in the air.
I wanted to learn even more, but... 'Don't be impatient,' said Wong.
Well, I'll grind these new spells and the couple of prank spells that I've learned on my own and master them. If you are wondering what are prank spells, well... they are, how do I say, they have various effects like making the butt hairy like a freaking squirrel's tail, making one feel that they are on fire without any real damage, changing someone's smell, and stuff. They considered such silly spells as useless as dirt and never even bothered to learn them. But man, they have no idea just how dangerous these prank spells are if used correctly. I mean, just imagine what would happen if you made your enemy smelly or turned him into a hairy bear or made their toes and nails hurt like hell, or even made their food taste like raw shit. Or changing their clothes inside out in public. The possibilities are limitless.
However, I've noticed one thing. There's been a rumor going on in Kamar Taj about my fast progression rate. I mean, yeah, I did kinda blast through all the tests with ease and I've surpassed most of the trainees when it comes to spell casting. Heck, I can even use my Astral Projection without anyone's guidance. So, it's kinda understandable. But from the whispers that I've heard, they are saying that the Ancient One is prepping me for the next Sorcerer Supreme and that I'm some kind of humanoid alien that she rescued from another dimension and whatnot.
Haaa... Now, in the third week, no one wants to spar with me.
"So, what are you doing, Mr. Humanoid Alien?" Wanda poked fun as she saw me yawning in the garden after taking a break from solo training. She held a bottle of soda before me.
"Ha... Ha... Very funny," I took it without looking at her, took a long slurp, and burped loudly. "Why, thank you very much, and just for the record, I'm really an alien and I'm gonna..." I pressed the bottle's mouth with my thumb and created pressure within the bottle by stirring the soda with magic, "...attack you first." I pointed the bottle at her face, removed my finger from the mouth of the bottle, and sprayed the soda in her face.
"Hey!" Wanda squealed.
"Payback! You think I don't know who started that Humanoid Alien rumor? Just because I ate your fried chicken you did this to me? Now, take my soda attack," I said smilingly as I shot another round of soda and splashed her clothes, followed by the second batch.
"Wh... Wh... How dare you?! I was saving that bucket for a late-night snack and you ate it all. Sixteen pieces... There were sixteen pieces in that bucket... Six. Teen. You ate everything you, pig! Pig! Pig! Pig! Pig!" she pointed her finger at me and summoned two hand-shaped Astral Phantasms made of chaos magic and aimed them at me and shot two deadly beam attacks straight at my ass, but I opened a portal and sent her beams into the sky.
[Booom!] [Bang!] The two destructive magic blasts shot up to the sky and exploded harmlessly over the clouds.
"Hey! That was deadly. Are you trying to kill me? Besides, there was no name written on that chicken bucket. And you expect me to know where these nice juicy fried chickens came from?" I made the hand signs and summoned magic chains then threw them at Wanda with great speed and force but then they reached a barrier made out of crimson magic and disintegrated.
"Settle down, the two of you! You're disturbing the serenity of nature!" yelled Wong with a high authority from his usual reading chair and sipped his green tea.
"You set us both against each other like a rat, didn't you?" accused Wanda furiously at the Wong. "I read your mind. You paid Peter with six different flavors of Mt Dew, for six pieces of chicken. You think I wouldn't figure it out?! Apologize. Right. NOW!" she summoned a full-on flame saber and prepared to attack the ever-living shit out of me and Wong, her rage blinded her reason. "No better, go and buy me a new jumbo bucket. Or..." She quickly calmed down, "I'll just tell Master Yao, that you sneaked outside when you were on the guard duty that night. I'm sure she won't say anything to you, Mister Wong." She gave him a wicked grin.
[Zing!] [Zing!] It took merely ten seconds.
Wong opened a portal, went to a restaurant, and brought a jumbo bucket for Wanda.
"What were you saying?" Wong asked coolly with a blank face.
"What? Did I say something?" Wanda took the bucket and cooly walked out of the garden after giving me a small 'Good job' smile. I returned her smile awkwardly.
Haaa... It's fun to let loose and act like kids every once in a while...
[S-0X] Ch: 113 [Magic & Chi]
Yesterday
That night, I decided to train a bit more with my exo skeleton armor, so I took off the rings and began...
Just like how webs shoot out of my wrists and fingertips. The armor construct is similar to webs too. Organic fluids gush out of the skin pores and join to create a metal-like skin in the form of scales. As I said before, the fun part is that I can manipulate these scales according to my wish and shape them however I desire. It's like a liquid metal with nanites that's capable of forming anything and everything. The only bad thing is I get tired and can only maintain this form for like three minutes.
So, I brought enough water and energy drinks with me.
I gotta train more and increase my stamina, only then I'll be able to maintain my armor form a bit longer.
As I continued my training with the exoskeleton armor, I focused on maintaining the form for longer durations. The sensation of the organic fluids shifting and solidifying into the metallic scales was tickling and at the same time, I felt powerful. But as the minutes passed and my energy reserves depleted, a stinging pain ran through my body. It felt as if the organic metallic liquid was trying to go back inside my body.
"Arggg! Not yet!" I gritted my teeth as I sat there, using every bit of my focus and willpower to endure the pain and exhaustion. I grabbed a bottle of water and chugged the entire thing, the coolness felt awesome. I closed my eyes, took a few calming breaths, and tried to keep the exoskeleton skin activated for at least another minute.
Right now, I'm moving past the usual three-minute mark. Three minutes and thirty seconds. Three minutes forty-five. Three minutes fifty. Three minutes fifty-five... Four... Fiv...
Yes! I've crossed the four-minute limit. I can still...
Everything turned black and I could feel my body fall backward. Haaa... Four minutes... Not bad...
Ugh... My head ached, my throat was parched, and the dryness that lingered inside made me open my eyes. I'm so fucking tired that I could barely move a muscle. Just give me a few minutes... I tried to control my mind, trying to calm down. Yeah, meditation is the best option to regain some lost energy. I let my muscles relax, the calmness took a toll on me as the slow breathing accompanied by the fast-beating heart pumped life into me and gave me back a sense of consciousness.
Minutes passed and I managed to calm myself down. The aches and tiredness were still there but more manageable than before. Just give me two to three hours and I'll be all pumped and ready. But right now, all I need is sleep. I chugged another bottle of energy drink and before I knew it, I fell asleep.
I practiced it for another week or so alongside my magic learning. I sparred with Wanda every now and then, and then, I decided it was time to test out my perfected exo skeleton armor against real magic. I can now hold my armor form for ten minutes without sustaining damage. I wonder how long would it last while receiving damage.
I stood in the training ground, outside, with my exo skeleton armor on.
"Are you sure about this?" Wanda asked me with a hint of concern in her voice. Today, she's wearing a red t-shirt and black jeans and tied her long red hair in a ponytail. She looked slightly different, maybe it was because she changed her style from a girl-next-door type of look to a sexy girl. Wait. What. Nope. I don't know what's going on with my thoughts.
'Focus on the fight, Peter.'
"Yeah. Let's go," I replied to Wanda who nodded. I felt an arcane flow in her direction as she made a couple of quick hand seals that reminded me of those anime fighters. After finishing the series of hand seals, she muttered something under her breath as a red color magic circle formed underneath her.
She pointed her finger at me.
Red droplets of chaos magic rose from the ground, surrounding her, and soon gathered around her finger, forming a sphere of red chaos flame.
"Chaos spear."
In an instant, the red sphere was launched at me. But I was prepared for it. Time to find out how tough this armor is against the pure destruction magic.
It shot at me like a lightning bolt. In reflex, I brought my arms closer like the instinctive defensive pose. The red spear struck my arms.
"Humfff!" I stood my ground. I can feel the destructive power within this freaking spear. It's spinning like a drill machine, trying to drill through me. Yes, this is good. Although I can feel the tremendous pressure, the armor is still holding on. I quickly grabbed it with both hands, trying to stop the spinning.
Wanda's chaos magic clashed against my organic armor.
Sparks went up, sparks went down, some parts of the armor were cracking under pressure, and I could feel the faint traces of hot, prickly energy seeping through the cracks. But she is doing well controlling the intensity of it.
"You alright?" Wanda yelled in concern.
"Yeah. Increase the power. Don't hold back."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
Wanda's red-colored magic circle spread around the training ground, slowly getting bigger and bigger. In just a few moments, her entire circle covered the ground, encircling us, and giving an eerie vibe with its dim light.
"This will hurt..." She unleashed a barrage of magic bullets from all directions.
I can feel my armor cracking and her energy seeping through them. Need to focus more. I can just use more fluids to create even tougher armor. Yeah! Since it's a part of me and it's like using the toxins of my claws, why can't I just increase the fluids and concentrate to repair and reinforce the damaged areas? Just a second. Just one sec, I can do it. I can increase and harden the surface.
"Here we go!" Sparks of yellow lightning burst out of my body, shattering the old exo skeleton armor as a wave of energy emerged from my body, destroying Wanda's Chaos Spear and her magic circles. "Wow! What the fuck is going on?!" I have no fucking idea. Is this a new ability I've unlocked? Something inside tells me that this was my subconscious self creating and hardening the existing fluid with static and some kind of charge. Whatever it is, it's incredible.
I watched my arms as the old armor disintegrated or I should say crumbling away. What surprised me was that my skin began to crumble away, yet I didn't feel any pain. I can feel a weird feeling around my stomach. It's freaking hot and spinning like crazy. Is it magic or a new power? I have no idea. The air is cold yet my inner body feels really fucking hot. It feels like I'm melting from the inside.
"Arggg!" I yelled as the energy gushed out of my body like an exploding geyser.
It was a blast! The yellow sparks and that weird energy continued to send out wave after wave. If this continues, things will get complicated.
"Peter, what the fuck is going on?" Wanda asked me loudly. I wanted to explain but I can't. I have no clue and it's pissing me the fuck off! What the hell is going on!? Is this another magic evolution?!
"Focus, Peter..." The Ancient One's voice came to my ears. She's speaking to me through telepathy. "Contain the energy. It's a part of you, so you can control it. Just like you weave magic, or shoot your webs, you can contain the energy," Her voice spoke calmly.
Hahaha! I'm already trying to do just that. Tell me something I don't know.
It was hard, I won't lie. It felt awesome and this power is insane... I don't feel any pain or exhaustion. I closed my eyes and tried to absorb it all back into my body like how I retract my claws and the organic fluids. And it worked. The waves stopped.
I... I kinda feel different... Something weird is going on...
I flew up in the sky. I can see far... Really far away... I can hear things even the fluttering of the birds in the sky... I can tell the difference between using my Spider senses along with magic versus this present me and... It's intense! It's more than before. Every muscle fiber felt lighter than feathers. Every single sound, every movement was coming to me as clear as day. Everything is in my control.
My skin is glowing with a yellow glow...
One thing I can tell is that this shit isn't magic. I'm 100% positive. I can feel it. This is something similar yet different from magic.
Think... What could it be if not magic and this yellow glow?! Wait! No way! I looked down. The trainees and the teachers were all staring at me with shock. Huh?! Oops! My clothes! I quickly hid my junk with my palm and flew down on the ground. My clothes were burned and not a single thread was remaining... Damn. No matter.
I once again tried to use my exo skeleton armor and it worked like a charm. It's faster than before. I mean, there wasn't even a little delay. Just a thought and the organic fluids transformed into my black stealth suit.
Wanda rushed to me with a wicked smile on her face.
"Not a single word," I glared at her with a slightly threatening voice.
"Tsk. Peter in full glory... Ahem! Anyway, how the heck did you learn to use Chi?" Wanda asked.
"Chi?!"
Yeah, other than magic, there's that Chi.
[S-0X] Ch: 114 [New threats rising]
10 hours ago
After the display of power, I'm sitting before the Ancient One in the main hall. I guess, some explanations are on the way—first magic and now Chi.
"Sooo... What now? I don't want to stay here stuck forever learning one thing after the other and I'm pretty sure there's a place called K'un-Lun where they teach Chi and all that stuff, but there is no way I'm gonna use my youth moving from one temple to another and spend half my life on the training ground for god knows how long. So, use that op magic of yours and fix this. I don't want those crazy single-minded people from K'un-Lun knocking on my door wanting me to go with them or try to kill me for having Chi..." I lay it all out.
I've spent enough time and learned enough from them and I'm thankful for that. But I have a life outside of all this mess. I want to go out and meet my family and friends. I've worried them enough to last a lifetime... Can't do it anymore.
"You know the existence of K'un-Lun?" She was a bit surprised.
"You already know that I know many things. But that's not the problem. The main problem right now is I have too many powers and I don't want to spend the rest of my days just training. And yeah, you will say, have patience and all. You see, this is me, having patience. I spent eight months in bed, then almost two months here, learning magic, patiently by suppressing my emotions and everything, but at the same time, I've caused too much pain to my family and I've many things still left to do out there, so... Give me a solution. Peek into the future. Yeah, I know, you said you can't see mine. But I'm sure you found a way around that... So, help me out..." I asked for her help.
The Ancient One looked deep in thought as she tapped her finger on the table for a few seconds.
"I could have used my magic, but sadly, it won't work on you. As for 'what now?', it's simple. You are going to learn to use Chi. There's no other way. I understand your situation, but going out with unstable power... You'll put your loved ones in danger. I can use artifacts to suppress your power, but are you going to take the risk?" She said with her usual stoic expression.
"And how long it would take me to master that?" I raised my eyebrow at her.
"Not as long as you think. You see, Peter, you are unique. You possess immense focus and the ability to process complicated things very easily. You breezed passed all the tests and even managed to learn advanced magic without any help in less than two months. You are a fast learner..." She explained the things I already knew.
My spider power gives me focus and fused with my mind, I can easily understand things others find complicated. Just like how easily I've mastered all those spells from the books. But with these many powers in my body, I don't even know which one to learn or use. It's like a jumbled-up mess.
"And... How's all that going to help me?" I asked once again.
Even though I know what Chi is and what I can achieve with it, I don't have a training manual.
"Just as magic uses focus, to learn Chi, you will need that focus. You see, every living being has Chi flowing in the veins. But using it is a completely different matter. To do that, you will need to be patience and you will need immense focus. So, meditate, but instead of focusing on magic, circulate the Chi in your body. You can feel it, can't you? It belongs to you, So, how difficult do you think it is going to be for you to control something that belongs to you?" She added another set of logic, but, really, there was no guarantee I would be able to control my Chi on the first try...
Hahaha! Damn! Since when did I start doubting myself?
Let's give it a try, shall we?
I sat there and began the process. Just like the Ancient One asked. Instead of magic, I started to circulate the Chi. Feeling the flows, grasping at the veins where it travels. Though at first, the energy slipped through my grasp, the more and more I tried, I got used to it.
I kept going until I lost all sense of time, not realizing the whole day had passed by. It's like if I get up now, I'm gonna lose something real good.
But, just sitting here and circulating Chi is kinda boring.
So, let's think about what I can do with Chi.
Humm...
Chi blasts, glowing fists one shot kill, rapid healing, superior senses... Although I already have my Spider Senses and rapid healing. I wonder how far my senses and healing would improve after using Chi. Anyway, let's see...
What else?
Ah! I remember it now... I'll be able to use pressure points to hurt my enemies, sounds nice. Next is, Nervous System Control, which will allow me to suppress pain, and bleeding and even pass through a lie detector test. But the deadly one is the Black-Black Poison Touch, a Chi blast that can kill anyone within a certain radius around me. It's like an AOE instant kill ability.
Anyway, now that I think of it, will I be able to use Kamehameha?! I mean, DBz also has Chi, so how much difference can it be? I'm pretty sure everyone who's a fan of the Dragon Ball series, at least once in their life, tried to use the legendary Kamehameha move. And it's a dream of a DBz fan to use this legendary attack. Some might say, nah! I don't do that, but we all know that when no one is looking, kids or adults, everyone's tried to use Kamehameha out there at least once.
Oh, then will I be able to fly using Chi? Ahem! Let's just keep it till this for now.
Anyway, speaking of Chi, I remember a couple more skills that Danny used in comics.
Chi constructs like those Lanterns from DC. Although it's not as perfect as them, yeah, to a certain degree, Chi could do the trick. Then there's energy absorption, be it Chi, magic, nuclear, or other forms of energy, if I master it, I'll be able to do that. After that, there's Magnetism Manipulation and Mind Manipulation.
Seesh! There are just too many of these skills. I'll need to learn different fist techniques to learn these skills. Haa...
---
[3rd Person POV]
While Peter was busy mastering his newfound power, new threats began to rise in New York. One from the unknown expanse of space, One driven by the urge of revenge while the other one driven by jealousy and envy.
[Location: Unknown Forest]
Kraven just hunted a genetically mutated tiger, six times the size of a Siberian Tiger. Its appearance was strange; A brown fur body with a patch of blue and white around the waistline. Its claws were longer and sharper than usual and its fangs were exceptionally bigger and sharper as well. The majestic creature lay there in a pool of its own blood.
On top of that giant, sat Kraven, wiping the blood from his machete onto the dead creature's hide, an evil smirk bloomed on his lips, "Norman did a good job creating these serums. I wonder what he's up to these days." He wondered.
Kraven was in isolation for almost a year or two, honing his skills and survival instinct in the deepest part of the forest specifically created by him to help him break through the human limits and hunt his prey. But even after all these months of hunting genetically mutated animals, he never felt a sense of satisfaction. This was the last of the serum he used to mutate that tiger, but it was too easy for him.
"Time to hunt a new prey," He jumped down from the tiger's corpse and walked towards the cave where he kept his hunting equipment. He had more of his weapons and clothes designed to withstand the toughest environment. Even a bullet to the shoulder or the chest wouldn't be able to take him down. Plus the SSS he took made him even tougher.
Kraven opened the computer in that cave and noticed pending messages.
He opened the first one...
[Dmitri Smerdyakov: Dead. Killer: Unknown. Spiderman was seen at the site.]
"Arggg!" He punched the stone wall next to him out of anger. A large chunk of rock flew off from his punch, but his face returned to calm a second later, "Dimitri, you should have taken the Serum... Dead? Hahaha! Spiderman, is it? Interesting... I wonder if you are worthy of being my prey."
He opened the next message...
[Norman Osborn: Dead. Killer: Caught up in an explosion along with Spiderman. Both of them are dead. But there was someone else at the scene. Identity: Unknown.]
"Damn it!" He sighed. He thought he found a new prey but the news of his death pissed him off more. His eyes fell on the last part of that message, "Someone else... Did he instigate the scenario and kill them both in one go? How cunning! And you are working under the darkness, hiding your identity?" A wide grin appeared on his face. "Hunting you down and ripping your heart out... Finally, a new challenge I look forward to!..."
.
.
[Location: Octavius Industries]
Otto Octavius was performing an experiment on himself. After he learned about Peter's condition and that he might not wake up again, he lost all hope. His body was deteriorating daily and now he barely has three months before he loses everything.
Degenerative Neurological Disorder: Otto is suffering from a degenerative disease, causing him to slowly lose his motor functions. He is estimated to be fully disabled within the next three months. With Peter out of the picture, all the experiments and implants he was working on got shut down and his family refused to sell it to him or any other organizations. Plus with Sue Storm with them, it was impossible for Otto to get his hands on Peter's research. So, Otto found no other way but to develop it himself.
He developed mechanical limbs with artificial nerve conductivity, but even after attaching a billion microtubules to the four tentacles to aid in the conduction of signals from his brain, it was still far away from what the artificial arms needed to be able to do, but the new AI he developed might just help with that.
He also attached four microdrones with metal fibers. He spent sleepless nights working on it and today he was ready to use those microdrones as artificial legs, thus increasing his sensory perception and moving speed. Although they cannot perform like real legs, they are still more than enough to enhance the quality of his life.
He strapped himself to a machine then he injected a serum into his spine and pressed the start button. Instantly, the restraints activated, binding him in place and the process began. The machine attached the tentacles to his back then the small microbots were slowly connected to his nervous system.
All he could feel was unbearable pain like a billion needles were trying to eat their way through his nervous system.
However, the sudden fluctuation in power caused the machine to short circuit, causing a big explosion. Otto's body flew out of the machine like a bullet and crashed into the wall.
.
.
[Location: Unknown]
A small shooting star fell on Earth. The place where it crashed was completely burned and a small crater was seen. From inside the crater, a gooey red blob-like mass got out. It didn't stay there for long and began to crawl toward the highway.