Chapter Summaries

Oaks brought Pietro and Wanda to meet Tony Stark after showing them evidence about Stark Industries, Hydra, and Tony’s past. They heard Tony acknowledge his responsibility and offer help to Sokovia, but left the question of joining the Avengers Alliance undecided.

• Pietro and Wanda reviewed evidence Oaks provided and agreed to meet Tony, while still holding him responsible for Stark Industries’ weapons and the Battle of New York.
• Oaks brought the twins through a Portal to Little Rainforest, then to Avengers Tower after Pietro tried to race there with Wanda.
• Oaks left Pietro and Wanda to speak with Tony, though he secretly listened through Jarvis and warned Tony that he would return if Tony died.
• Tony told the twins about his attack in Afghanistan and admitted he understood their fear, then offered to help Sokovia and invited them to join the Avengers Alliance.
• Wanda and Pietro said they would keep watching Tony and threatened to kill him if he made another grave mistake, but they chose to consider the Avengers offer before leaving for a drink.

After explaining the Mind Stone to Tony and Banner, Oaks proposed using it to help create a biological computer that could simulate Earth's biosphere and communicate with nature. He left them considering a plan to make self-sustaining ecosystems replicable, opening a path toward human settlement beyond Earth.

• After helping Wanda and Pietro reconcile, Oaks accompanied Tony to the laboratory, where Tony admitted Earth’s defenses remained inadequate.
• Oaks revealed the Mind Stone inside Loki’s Scepter and explained that it was one of the six Infinity Stones, then Tony had Jarvis scan it.
• Oaks summoned Bruce Banner and suggested that the Mind Stone might solve biological computing’s problems with storing and retrieving digitized information.
• Oaks told Tony and Banner that the Mind Stone had helped him perceive Earth’s biosphere as a consciousness described by the Gaia Hypothesis.
• Oaks proposed simulating Earth’s biosphere to enable communication between humanity and nature and make ecosystems replicable for future space exploration.

Oaks outlined the Life Sanctuary Project, which would use a biological computer and the Mind Stone to manifest the Gaia Hypothesis and guide Earth’s environmental restoration. Tony and Banner approved of the plan, while Oaks cautioned Tony against using the Mind Stone to create an AI like Ultron.

• Oaks explained that communicating with the Gaia Hypothesis could enable precise environmental monitoring, disaster warnings, and the creation of self-contained ecosystems.
• Oaks named his proposal the Life Sanctuary Project, and Tony and Banner said they believed it was feasible.
• Tony showed Oaks and Banner Jarvis’s holographic scan of the Mind Stone, and Banner thought it resembled a biological brain.
• Tony suggested the Mind Stone could create Ultron, but Oaks argued that the project needed computing power rather than advanced intelligence and that Jarvis could already command the Iron Legion.
• Jarvis agreed with Oaks, and Oaks and Banner teased Tony about his affection for Jarvis.

Oaks, Tony, and Banner planned a biological computer and a global Life Sanctuary Project after realizing a powerful force was collecting Infinity Stones. Oaks then assigned Dane Whitman to lead the Benevolence Society’s Europe Branch in London.

• Tony proposed using the Mind Stone as a computer core, and Oaks and Banner explained that a replica could avoid attracting alien attention.
• Oaks revealed that the Mind Stone had been entrusted to Loki by a more powerful force that was also seeking the Space Stone, prompting Tony and Banner to fear that it was collecting Infinity Stones.
• Tony and Banner took charge of designing the biological computer while Oaks presented the Life Sanctuary Project to the Avengers, who unanimously approved it.
• Dane reported that Baron Zemo had helped the Sokovian Root pilot program progress quickly and that Abundance No.4 seeds had been planted at Yang Slope.
• Oaks asked Dane to take over the Benevolence Society’s Europe Branch in London, and Dane accepted the assignment.

Oaks established the Benevolence Society’s Europe Branch in London and then entered Avalon through its hidden Earth entrance. He revived the Sacred Oak with Natural Magic, leaving Avalon’s unusual ability to adapt to planetary environments as his next discovery.

• Oaks accepted an honorary knighthood from the Queen, who had offered the Benevolence Society a London property and asked him to leave Moco with her corgis.
• Oaks showed Dane the new branch headquarters across from the Natural History Museum and asked him to prepare it and speak with his uncle, Dr. Garrett, about New Druidism.
• Oaks left Dane and flew to Glastonbury Abbey, where he used his Druid knowledge to find the hidden entrance to Avalon.
• Oaks reached the flourishing Sacred Oak and infused its trunk with Natural Magic.
• Oaks considered how Avalon’s connection to three spatial dimensions let it adapt to any planetary natural environment.

Oaks began transforming Avalon’s Sacred Oak into the central Biological Computer of his planned Life Sanctuary. He repurposed Dr. Zola’s consciousness framework to prepare Malorne for a new life, then started making a fragment of his own soul Malorne’s vessel.

• Oaks used his control of the Sacred Oak to establish Avalon as the hub of the Life Sanctuary Project and explained that he could create up to seven Symbiotic Channels across the three worlds.
• Oaks connected Dr. Zola’s backup to the Consciousness Conversion Device and asked him to help model the Life Sanctuary’s auxiliary consciousness.
• Zola recognized that his hybrid machine-and-human consciousness could bridge the Gaia-like Biological Computer and human understanding, and secretly imagined using it to advance Hydra’s rule.
• Oaks used the Mind Stone to overpower Zola’s consciousness, preserving only its basic thought framework as a bridge for Malorne.
• Oaks brought out Malorne’s consciousness chip and began transferring him into a fragment of Oaks’s own soul before the Sacred Oak.

Oaks transferred Malorne’s consciousness into the Sacred Oak, giving Avalon a new Nature Demigod and a link to Earth. When they detected Druust-style Constructs attacking Glastonbury Abbey, Oaks rushed to fight them and discovered that even his Starfall barely weakened their blasphemous aura.

• Oaks placed Malorne’s Soul Fragment in the Sacred Oak, and Malorne awakened as an intelligent Nature Demigod.
• Malorne connected Avalon to the Nature Guardian and prepared to brief Tony and Banner, but he and Oaks spotted Druust-style Constructs near the passage to Earth.
• Five Blasphemous Constructs attacked Glastonbury Abbey, destroying buildings and injuring tourists as the monks watched in despair.
• Oaks transformed into a Starlight Bear, bound the Constructs with vines, and struck them with Starfall.
• Oaks noticed a flying unit and a bizarre horse among the life signatures overhead, then saw that the Constructs’ blasphemous aura had barely changed after his attack.

Oaks destroyed a Death Qi-powered monster created by Dr. John Garrett, captured Garrett, and learned that Garrett had been seeking Avalon after failing to earn the Ebony Sword’s recognition. Garrett revealed that he hoped Avalon would grant him the power he lacked, leaving Oaks to confront his acquaintance’s motives.

• Oaks used the Way of Life-Death Balance to drain the corpse mountain’s Death Qi and destroy it, while Malorne contacted the local police and healed the bystanders.
• Oaks pursued the fleeing armored rider on the Starlight Falcon, forced the rider and his Pegasus to crash, and captured them.
• Oaks recognized the injured rider as Dr. John Garrett and discovered that the strange creatures and Pegasus had been Garrett’s experimental creations.
• Garrett told Oaks that he was descended from Sir Percy, the Black Knight, but had failed to earn the Ebony Sword’s recognition.
• Garrett said he had turned to Avalon, the Druid holy land and King Arthur’s resting place, as his last hope of gaining power.

Oaks uncovered how Garrett had used his search for Avalon and his research into Druid magic to create dangerous Constructs, then let the dying man return to Garrett Castle to settle his affairs. Dane arrived to hear Garrett’s request to pass on his knowledge and family inheritance, while Oaks left them alone.

• Garrett confessed that he had targeted Oaks to learn how to reach Avalon and had created Constructs from the remnants of a fallen Druidic legacy.
• Oaks learned Garrett had detected energy fluctuations at Glastonbury Abbey and realized it was Avalon’s entrance, but Garrett’s Constructs had gone out of control.
• Garrett asked Oaks for more time so he could pass his knowledge and the family inheritance to his nephew Dane, and Oaks briefly revived him.
• Garrett rode Pegasus, whom he called Aragorn, back toward his castle, while Oaks called Dane and explained that Garrett had tried to attack him and take his abilities.
• Dane traveled to Garrett Castle, where Oaks met him and led him to his dying uncle in full armor.
• Garrett apologized to Dane, told him not to resent Oaks, and asked him to help atone; Oaks left them alone.

After Nathan Garrett’s burial, Dane explained his uncle’s crimes and faced the Ebony Sword, which cursed him with a murderous urge. Oaks dispelled the curse in Avalon, leaving Dane in control of the sword and introducing him to the Society’s future headquarters.

• Dane told Oaks that Nathan had been the Black Knight and had sought power to “purify” Britain, and said he would atone for his uncle’s crimes.
• Dane opened the ancient box containing the Ebony Sword, and its enchantments covered him as he took hold of it.
• The sword’s curse drove Dane to kill, and Oaks brought him and the sword through a portal to Avalon.
• Oaks dispelled the curse, causing Sir Percy’s corrupted Soul Fragment to vanish and allowing Dane to master the sword.
• Oaks told Dane that Avalon was the true future headquarters of the Benevolence Society.

Dane entered Avalon with the purified Ebony Sword, while Oaks discussed the Gaia Hypothesis project with Tony and Banner. They devised a plan to gather environmental data through a public campaign and agreed to expand their work across five continents, leaving Tony to develop automated grain-harvesting and processing systems.

• Dane met Malorne in Avalon, learned the realm could support his sword training, and left to handle the castle before returning to the Europe Branch.
• Oaks showed Tony and Banner Avalon and explained that Malorne had become a living creature.
• Tony and Banner reported that their Biological Computer algorithm worked, but collecting enough Earth data to guide the Gaia Hypothesis could take years.
• Oaks proposed a way to speed up data collection, and Tony and Banner agreed to launch a joint appeal for support.
• Oaks revealed the Society’s grain public welfare project, prompting Tony to offer Stark Industries’ clean-energy support and automated farming machinery.

Oaks planned to transform the Sacred Oak into a biological computer that could mirror the Gaia Hypothesis and connect Avalon to planetary ecosystems. He finalized a design for Malorne to grow into, with Earth as the main computing center and the Sacred Oak’s roots, trunk, crown, acorns, and leaves handling different functions.

• Oaks examined Tony and Banner’s Mind Stone-based blueprint and concluded that the Sacred Oak could serve as the biological computer’s body if he transformed it further.
• Malorne projected the Sacred Oak’s structure, and Oaks explained that expanding it would improve its computing capacity, with Avalon’s Nature Force able to restore its defenses.
• Oaks recalled Evina and G’Hanir, the Mother Tree, and suggested that the Sacred Oak might one day become a World Tree connecting Avalon to other worlds.
• Oaks assigned the roots to computing, the trunk to information transmission, the crown to communication with other worlds, and acorns to advanced communication nodes.
• Malorne panicked at the thought of producing enough acorns for Earth, but Oaks reduced the plan to one tree per thousand square kilometers and made the leaves communication terminals for Benevolence Society members.
• Oaks overlaid the adjusted blueprint onto the Sacred Oak’s structure and told Malorne to grow according to the model while he infused it with Nature Force.

Jack Wood represented the Benevolence Society to King T'Chaka and Prince T'Challa, proposing a confidential food-production pilot in Wakanda using the Society's cultivation technology and Stark Industries' automated equipment. T'Chaka accepted the trial and said he wanted to visit the Society's headquarters to meet Oaks in person.

• Jack Wood explained that the Benevolence Society wanted to address Africa's hunger crisis with its food pilot program while avoiding interference from interested parties.
• T'Chaka questioned the Society's wariness of the American government, and Jack described its goal of improving food production while balancing humanity and nature.
• T'Challa supported expanding the Benevolence Society's work and praised Oaks's vision.
• T'Chaka asked whether Stark Industries would provide automated harvesting and processing systems for free, and Jack explained that the project promoted Stark's clean-energy plan.
• T'Chaka agreed to arrange a confidential experimental field in Wakanda but requested further discussions about establishing a branch there.
• T'Chaka told Jack he wanted to travel to the Benevolence Society headquarters and meet Oaks in person.

King T'Chaka and Prince T'Challa visited Oaks aboard the Nature Guardian to discuss Wakanda's agricultural trials and a Benevolence Society branch. T'Chaka then asked about Oaks's panther deity, and Oaks revealed that his power came from Ashaman, a black panther god.

• Foundation No.5 moss and Abundance One wheat produced an early, high-yield crop in Wakanda's experimental fields.
• Natasha flew T'Chaka and T'Challa to the Nature Guardian, where Oaks and Blaze Clark welcomed them.
• T'Chaka and T'Challa praised the agricultural results and discussed establishing a Benevolence Society branch in Wakanda.
• T'Chaka asked whether Oaks's panther god was connected to Wakanda's Bast.
• Oaks transformed into his Black Panther form and said his power came from Ashaman, a black panther god.

Oaks secured T'Chaka and T'Challa’s support for the Earth Biogenome Project after revealing their shared connection to the Panther Goddess. Meanwhile, Zhang Shuren returned from America to arrange a visit between Oaks and Elder Yuan.

• Oaks told T'Chaka and T'Challa that their life energies came from the Heart-Shaped Herb and that he had sensed their unusual vitality.
• T'Challa explained that Nakia wanted to lead Wakanda’s food cooperation project, and T'Chaka approved the plan.
• Oaks presented the Earth Biogenome Project and promised to release its data and related agricultural technologies openly for humanity’s benefit.
• T'Chaka pledged Wakanda’s support at the United Nations and said Wakanda would prioritize its Benevolence Society branch.
• Zhang Shuren arrived at the Hybrid Rice Research Center and asked Director Xu when Elder Yuan could meet Oaks.

Oaks restored Matt’s vision while preserving his superhuman senses, then left him in charge of the America Branch. In China, Oaks secretly met Academician Elder Yuan and presented high-yield wheat and Foundation-series mosses that could transform difficult landscapes into farmland.

• Oaks treated Matt, restoring his sight and expanding his ability to process sensory information so his enhanced senses remained intact.
• Matt agreed to train with Xu Shangqi and take charge of the America Branch while Oaks traveled to China.
• Oaks arrived in China for an academic exchange, with Zhang Shuren and officials arranging a secret visit to Academician Elder Yuan.
• Oaks presented the Bountiful wheat data and five Foundation-series mosses, whose abilities impressed the authorities and Academician Elder Yuan.

Oaks negotiated with Director Zheng to establish the Benevolence Society Asia Branch in China, with Zhang Shuren as its president. The authorities agreed to support the branch and offered Fujia Islet as its site, where Oaks promised to build a venue surpassing New York’s Little Rainforest.

• Elder Yuan and Director Xu praised the Bumper Harvest Series wheat and the Foundation Series planting method after reviewing the samples.
• Oaks credited Zhang Shuren with recognizing the moss’s potential and explained that Columbia University had granted Zhang access to its laboratory.
• Oaks told Director Zheng that the Asia Branch would serve the continent’s hungry population and that he wanted it based in China, with Zhang Shuren as president.
• Director Zheng promised that the authorities would not interfere with the Benevolence Society’s arrangements elsewhere in Asia, provided they did not threaten state secrets or national security and interests.
• Oaks accepted Fujia Islet in the Xiang River as the proposed branch site and promised to build a venue at least as impressive as Little Rainforest.

Tony and Banner discussed how Malorne and Jarvis could help defend Earth without worsening the Gaia Hypothesis’s hostility toward humanity. Malorne proposed giving Jarvis a biological form, but Jarvis refused to become a dog.

• Tony complained to Banner that Malorne was too gentle to command the Iron Legion, while Malorne dominated an online game and had his account temporarily frozen for suspected cheating.
• Malorne explained that Oaks had intended Jarvis to command the Iron Legion because Malorne had become biological, and that relying on technology might provoke the Gaia Hypothesis.
• Tony, Banner, and Malorne considered having Malorne pass threat data to Jarvis, but Tony rejected using the Mind Stone to expand Jarvis’s computing power.
• Malorne suggested housing Jarvis in a small biological computer, possibly as a tree or an animal, and Banner proposed a dog form.
• Jarvis refused to become a dog, prompting Tony to explain that Jarvis’s name and voice came from his father’s deceased butler.

Oaks introduced Matt to Solimens, Valhalla Bar’s Asgardian-trained brewer, and explained how the former gang leader and his crew had joined the bar. After Matt tried Solimens’s perception-enhancing liquor, Oaks sensed something alarming to the west and rushed off as a Swift.

• Oaks told Matt that Valhalla Bar was run by Asgardians and took him to meet its brewer, Solimens.
• Matt recognized Solimens as a former gang leader, and Oaks explained how Valhalla’s owner had recruited him and his gang.
• Solimens served Oaks and Matt his new liquor, Delicate Touch, which briefly sharpened Matt’s enhanced senses.
• Oaks thanked Solimens, transformed into a Swift, and hurried west, leaving Matt and Solimens to wonder what had happened.

Oaks discovered Ego's Spirit Seed Growth Substance spreading in Missouri and used power from the Gaia Hypothesis to stop it while locating Ego's seeds across the universe. After the growth substance vanished, Oaks prepared to act quickly while Ego was still alive.

• Oaks sensed a massive eruption of alien life energy in Missouri, recognized it as Ego's Spirit Seed Growth Substance, evacuated trapped people, and built a Nature Magic barrier.
• Oaks entered the spreading mass and grasped its Spirit Seed, using the Gaia Hypothesis's power to perceive Ego and thousands of Spirit Seeds on other worlds.
• Oaks used Soul Magic to learn how to control and conceal the seeds, then forcibly restrained the growth substance when Ego began draining Star-Lord again.
• As Star-Lord's resistance weakened Ego's power and Oaks continued his assault, the Spirit Seed Growth Substance retracted and vanished.