Rewards for Merit

Inside Sanctuary II, Thanos sat on his Throne, studying the Infinity Gauntlet on his left hand.

His followers stood below him.

On the left were the Black Order.

On the right were his new recruits, Laufey and Hela.

Corvus Glaive watched the two of them with intense wariness.

They might be allies now, but the gap in their strength made him feel his position was threatened.

There was nothing he could do about it, though.

He could hardly stop his lord from recruiting followers.

Laufey and Hela, meanwhile, paid the Black Order no mind.

The difference in strength was too great for them to consider the five opponents.

The only ones they took seriously were each other.

After a while, Thanos drew his attention away from the Infinity Gauntlet and looked at Supergiant. "How is the inventory of our spoils coming along?"

Odin's Vault was, of course, their greatest prize.

Most of its contents were ordinary artifacts, but it held plenty of powerful ones too.

The Casket of Ancient Winters and the Eternal Flame, for example.

There were many artifacts beyond those in Odin's Vault, so he had tasked Supergiant with cataloging them all.

At his question, Supergiant stepped forward and said respectfully, "My lord, we found 1,732 artifacts in total: 1,524 low-grade, 201 mid-grade, and seven high-grade. All have been placed in storage."

Thanos nodded, then turned to Ebony Maw. "Report our losses."

Supergiant immediately stepped back, and Ebony Maw stepped forward. "My lord, over the course of the campaign, we deployed ten billion Black Order troops and ten thousand small Pocket Universe warships..."

Ebony Maw soon gave a detailed account of every loss, including a tally of the wounded.

Thanos then asked about the economy and population back home, among other matters.

Half an hour later, the reports were complete.

Thanos looked over the group, particularly Laufey. "The treasures we seized are in storage. You may begin redeeming them. Use your Points to claim whatever you want."

Laufey nodded eagerly when he heard the treasures were finally available. He had earned over ten thousand Points in the war, and even if it cost him all of them, he would redeem the Casket of Ancient Winters and reclaim his artifact.

Finally, Thanos turned to Corvus Glaive. "Take the coordinates we recovered from Asgard and send fleets to subdue those places. Destroy any that refuse to surrender. But leave a place called the Solar System alone until I give the order."

He did not know what Blue Star was like now, so he had no intention of acting immediately.

Who knew which version of the Marvel Universe this was?

If it was that nightmare world with Ultron, he had no desire to deliver the Infinity Stones straight to him and die for it.

Better to send a reconnaissance ship first, learn what was happening on Blue Star, and plan his approach.

Blue Star was not going anywhere.

For now, he needed to collect the other Infinity Stones.

Corvus Glaive did not understand why his lord had forbidden him from going to the Solar System, but he nodded at once. "As you command."

Thanos then looked at Hela and Laufey. "You can follow Corvus Glaive's orders, attack those places on your own, or rest. I won't restrict you. But when I summon you, you must return to me within a day."

Hela and Laufey looked displeased, but both nodded.

One was a princess of Asgard, the other the leader of the Frost Giants. Neither was used to taking orders from others.

Now, though, they had no choice but to get used to it.

Following Corvus Glaive's orders was out of the question, so they decided to launch their own attacks.

With the arrangements made, Thanos did not return to the Panlong Galaxy. Instead, he searched the surrounding area for Life Planets on which to continue practicing the Star-Absorbing Technique.

At the same time, he prepared his plan to gather the Infinity Stones.

A month later.

On an unnamed Life Planet.

Thanos had absorbed the Planet's core, and it now showed signs of an apocalypse.

Its magnetic field was fading and its atmosphere thinning. Oxygen and atmospheric pressure were disappearing along with them.

The wild animals seemed to sense the end. They ran and crashed about in panic.

Countless creatures had already died. Only a tenth of the original population remained.

Thanos ignored all of it.

If it made him stronger, destroying a Planet was worth it.

Just then, a small Spaceship appeared overhead.

It quickly located Thanos and descended slowly.

A moment later, it landed about a hundred meters from him, and its hatch opened.

Two women emerged together.

The woman on the left stood 1.72 meters tall, with green skin and long red hair. Her hips swayed as she walked, showing off her long legs.

She looked alluring, yet strong and untamed, the sort who stirred an urge to conquer her.

The woman on the right was shorter, around 1.64 meters tall, with purple skin and no hair. Her round face was adorable, enough to make anyone want to hold her close and cherish her.

If not for the absence of a chin shaped like a sandal, anyone might have believed she was Thanos's biological daughter.

They were not his biological daughters, but they were his adopted daughters: Nebula and Gamora.

The two stopped five meters from Thanos and gazed at him with boundless admiration.

Gamora spoke first. "Father, we're back."

Thanos did not stop what he was doing. He turned toward his daughters, nodded, and asked, "Did you find the Stones?"

Neither daughter had taken part in the war against Odin because he had sent them to investigate the whereabouts of the Infinity Stones.

He had once struggled over whether to adopt the two of them as the story dictated.

After all, in the movies, both daughters eventually betrayed him.

But after giving it much thought, he had decided to follow the story.

He did not want to alter the plot and possibly draw the attention of certain beings. Besides, he was confident he could raise them better.

The fact that he had never replaced any part of Nebula's body with machinery showed as much.

Unlike his predecessor, he had combined their daily indoctrination with a gentler approach, giving them the fatherly love they deserved.

Gamora was about to answer when Nebula cut in. "Father, I found a lead on the Power Stone. They say it's on a Planet orbiting the Purple Silk Star in the Wankong Galaxy."

Thanos treated them equally and gave them both fatherly love, but Nebula was still like her counterpart in the movies: always eager to prove herself and earn more of his affection.