"Hahahahaha!"
Arale's cheerful laughter kept drilling into Kraft's ears, forcing him to activate his goggles' soundproofing module.
After returning to the Crossbone Vanguard from Earth, he had begun experimenting with the Reality Stone, but had made little progress so far.
Whether it was because it was still in the form of Aether or because Kraft lacked the so-called Infinity Gauntlet to serve as a vessel, all he could currently do with the Aether was conjure nonliving things that already existed in reality-and only things he knew about.
He could not conjure any of the special materials from the Dream Realm. Even when he managed to produce something, it was merely a fake with the right appearance, actually made of colored glass or ordinary elements such as sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, and phosphorus.
"Do I need to feed it first?"
The Ancient One had once told him that casually touching the Aether would cause it to infest the human body and absorb its host's life force.
So perhaps it needed to absorb enough life force before it could fully coalesce?
Kraft arrived at that theory as he watched the Aether churn endlessly inside the energy barrier.
In fact, upon closer inspection, he could faintly make out a glowing red core inside the churning mass of dark red liquid. However, none of the many methods Kraft had tried could extract it.
So Kraft tossed a laboratory mouse into the energy barrier containing the Aether.
The Aether swiftly merged into the mouse's body. The previously lively mouse instantly grew listless, lost all signs of life shortly afterward, and was soon completely consumed by the Aether inside it.
He glanced at the nearby monitor. The energy reading had not changed at all.
"Maybe one mouse's life force is too little."
Kraft continued feeding the