The Noble Steed

Half price!

The moment Peter caught that keyword, he was ecstatic.

Without even a moment's hesitation, he immediately shouted in his heart:

"Random Charm: Choose One of Three!"

[Purchase successful!]

[Drawing charms...]

The instant the system notification ended, the system panel before Peter's eyes began to shift.

Three ancient, octagonal stone talisman phantoms slowly emerged.

They hovered silently in midair, like three stone gates leading to unknown fates.

Peter felt as though an invisible hand had gripped his heart, each beat heavy as a drum.

With a trembling thought, he "lifted" the first talisman's phantom.

On its face, an emerald-green spirit snake totem glimmered faintly.

[Snake Talisman: The holder can render themself, along with nearby people and objects, invisible.]

Tsk.

Peter's eyelid twitched violently.

A classic terrible start.

Invisibility.

In the Marvel Universe, where powerful figures were everywhere, this ability was little more than a toy. Supervillains like Chameleon and Mysterio possessed superior forms of invisibility with ease.

Among the Twelve Talismans, this thing was pure NPC-tier.

After taking a deep breath, Peter forcefully suppressed his frustration and continued, using his thoughts to lift the second talisman.

This time... the talisman's face displayed two symmetrical, opposing white tiger patterns.

[Tiger Charm: The tiger's magic of balance can harmonize all powers within the user, but if the charm splits, it will also divide the user into good and evil halves.]

Fuck!

Peter's vision went dark. He truly wanted to find a rope and cosplay a teru teru bozu on the spot.

This thing would absolutely be god-tier in the later stages, but at the beginning... it was genuinely useless!

The Tiger Charm's function was the power of balance. Without other talismans or power systems, a lone Tiger Charm had virtually no positive value...

Because while the Tiger Charm could help him balance conflicting powers, it could not help him quickly acquire other powers.

With his current weakling body, it would be far too difficult to obtain powers for the Tiger Charm to balance.

Damn it, were his five thousand points and first-purchase discount really going to go down the drain like this?

That kind of thing... no way!

Peter paused before lifting the third talisman. His gaze drifted uncontrollably around the swaying bus, trying to find something to calm his nerves.

After looking around, his eyes ultimately fell on Gwen Stacy beside him.

Gwen was quietly leaning against his shoulder. Her beautiful brows, which had been tightly furrowed in pain, had relaxed slightly.

It seemed that as long as she stayed by his side, the girl could draw a trace of peace from him.

Looking at Gwen's pale, lovely face covered in cold sweat, Peter's irritated mood miraculously settled somewhat.

He thought of Gwen Stacy's fate as Spider-Man in the memories of his previous life. After gaining Spider-Man's powers, the girl before him had not lived happily.

She had lost her beloved, lost her father, borne the heavy shackles of "with great power comes great responsibility," and could only lick her wounds alone in the darkness...

Her future life was filled with pain and sacrifice.

As a transmigrator, Peter absolutely did not want the girl beside him to repeat that thorn-covered path of destiny.

He might not become the happiest Spider-Man, but he would at least make Gwen the happiest Spider-Man!

Come on! I refuse to believe someone could have bad luck again and again!

Escaping bad luck and becoming European, starting today!

After taking a deep breath, Peter lifted the third talisman's phantom without hesitation.

This time, he did not close his eyes.

Instead, he stared fixedly into that void until a faint violet radiance blossomed within it.

Within the light, the totem of an exceptionally majestic horse's head slowly emerged!

[Horse Talisman: The noble steed expels all external forces from the body! Possessing the Horse Talisman can remove all abnormal effects caused by external forces from the holder's body and can even repair any damaged object!]

It was actually the Horse Talisman!

Peter stared at the Horse Talisman before him as an incredibly complicated emotion welled up inside him.

Ecstasy and regret intertwined, leaving him with an expression caught between laughter and tears.

The good news was that the Horse Talisman's healing ability was absolutely among the top tier!

Even if it was not insanely overpowered, it was still far above ordinary people!

Healing everything, banishing all illness, repairing everything!

In the peril-filled Marvel Universe, possessing the Horse Talisman was equivalent to having resurrection armor with unlimited endurance!

As long as he still had one breath left, the Horse Talisman could drag him back from death's door!

The regret, however, was that... this ability could not immediately increase his combat power.

Compared with the Dragon Talisman's energy, the Rabbit Talisman's divine speed, and the Ox Charm's strength, the Horse Talisman was more like a top-tier support ability.

For Peter, who desperately craved power at this stage and was trying to escape his "sacrificial protagonist script," it was somewhat beside the point...

"Forget it. A support god is still a god..."

"Getting one of the strongest abilities among the Twelve Talismans for only five thousand points is already unbelievably lucky!"

Though he felt caught between laughter and tears, Peter still made his decision instantly.

The Snake Talisman's ceiling was too low; the Tiger Charm was even more pathetic.

The Horse Talisman was the best option at the moment!

And besides...

Peter's gaze instinctively dropped to his side.

As the genetic restructuring progressed, Gwen's cheeks had taken on an unnatural flush. Her breathing was rapid and scorching, while fine beads of sweat seeped from her forehead.

She was enduring tremendous pain!

And the process was full of uncertainty.

In the animated Spider-Man, Peter had turned into a spider monster due to genetic mutation.

Now, no one could guarantee that Gwen would safely make it through this dangerous period.

But with the Horse Talisman now, that concern could be resolved with ease.

[Congratulations, Host, on obtaining the 'Horse Talisman'!]

The moment the system notification sounded, Peter could clearly feel his close connection to the Horse Talisman.

The connection was even stronger than Shendu's!

The current Peter had absolute control over the Horse Talisman.

The Horse Talisman's power merged directly into his body, no longer even needing to exist in the form of a stone.

After roughly sensing the Horse Talisman's power, Peter lowered his head to look at Gwen, who was trembling continuously from the pain, and placed his hand on her forehead without hesitation.

"Don't be afraid, Gwen."

Peter leaned close to Gwen's ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"I'm here."

The next second, a gentle magic suffused with hazy white light surged from Peter's palm and slowly flowed into Gwen's body.

As the Horse Talisman took effect, the pained expression on Gwen's face gradually faded, and she fell into a deep sleep against Peter's shoulder.

The bus slowly pulled up outside Peter's home.

Peter hesitated for a moment before deciding to send Gwen home first so she could get some proper rest.

He had wanted to carry her in a romantic princess carry, but he had underestimated just how frail he was.

Gwen did not even weigh a hundred pounds, yet he was already panting from exhaustion after carrying her less than ten meters...

Helpless, he could only switch to carrying Gwen on his back.

The girl's soft body pressed tightly against his back, but Peter felt no romantic thoughts whatsoever—only growing frustration and unwillingness.

Damn it, I can't stand this weakling body for even one more second!