Two years later…
The sun rose over a world transformed.
Earth had become a planet on edge but not with fear. With focus. With discipline. Across continents, training centers pulsed with new energy, and in orbit, Earth’s first interstellar cruiser neared completion. Cities gleamed with reinforced towers, patrol drones, and new hero academies funded by a united council of nations.
But in the mountains of New Argentum, where air ran clean and skies blazed blue, the sharpest edge of Earth’s blade was being forged.
Here stood The Crucible, Starman’s personal training facility.
It was part dojo, part battlefield, part alien-tech marvel. Holographic terrain reconfigured at will. Artificial gravity fields twisted physics for combat simulation. Ancient statues from a hundred cultures lined the entrance path, heroes of myth and memory.
And in the middle of it all, Starman stood unmoving as the morning wind stirred his black cape.