The portal that Valeria had opened hadn't even had a chance to fully close before it was forcibly forced open again by a force.
A moment later, Valeria came out, her face still showing lingering anger.
But this time, she was followed by two other people.
The man in the lead was tall with slightly graying temples, wearing a blue and white uniform with a "4" symbol on his chest.
The moment he set foot on the Terraria Continent, he didn't even glance at Emma Frost and the Dungeon Guardian who were engaged in battle; instead, he was instantly captivated by his surroundings.
"An incredible ecosystem... The concentration of energy particles far exceeds that of a standard Earth environment, and the composition of these slimes... is actually a pure gel-like energy body?"
Mister Fantastic Reed Richards pushed up his glasses, and the scanning beam from his personal terminal began frantically analyzing everything around him.
He even crouched down and poked a passing blue slime with great interest.
Following behind him was a gentle, blonde woman with long hair, the Invisible Woman, Susan Stone.
Ignoring her husband's research fervor, she quickly went to her daughter's side and, with concern, took her hand on her shoulder. " Val, what are you doing? Where are we?"
"That bastard Thor actually called me bad!" Valeria stomped her foot angrily, pointing at Thor in the distance to complain, "I'll show him what a true research genius is all about!"
After she finished speaking, she didn't give Susan a chance to ask any more questions. She took out two small metal bracelets from her pocket and casually threw them on the ground.
Buzz--
The metal bracelet rapidly extends, deforms, and reassembles upon landing, its complex mechanical structure producing a pleasant clicking sound.
In a short while, a giant planet-destroying cannon, shimmering with a ghostly blue light and with a muzzle large enough to fit an adult's head, was assembled and placed steadily on the ground.
But that's not all.
Valeria then pulled out several more bracelets of different styles and threw them all around her.
In an instant, automatically tracking energy turrets, high-frequency oscillating particle beam emitters, matrix-style missile launchers... all sorts of futuristic and powerful weapons appeared out of thin air beside her, forming a small Arsenal.
Valeria leaped onto a control panel, her hands moving rapidly across the virtual screen as she manually locked onto the Dungeon Guardian who was locked in combat with Emma Frost.
Target locked! Energy full at 120%! Fire!
A thick beam of blue light tore through the air, carrying an aura of annihilation, and instantly blasted towards the Dungeon Guardian.
Emma Frost seemed to have anticipated this; a split second before the artillery barrage, she used a Star Diamond Teleportation to teleport to a distance, just in time to clear the path of the attack.
Boom!
The beam of the planet-destroying cannon slammed squarely into the skull of the Dungeon Guardian, unleashing a deafening roar and sending shockwaves that scraped away a layer of the ground.
However, as the smoke cleared, a bright red number slowly floated up from above the Dungeon Guardian's head.
-3!
Valeria's hand, which was manipulating the light screen, froze.
"This... this is impossible!" she screamed, unable to accept the result. "My Star Destroyer cannon can pierce the armor of the Kree Empire capital ship in one shot!"
Thor watched this scene from afar, arms crossed, and casually commented, "I told you, you're bad."
"You—!" Valeria was so angry she almost jumped off the control panel. She took a deep breath and threw herself back into the controls. "I refuse to believe it! Full power!"
What followed was both spectacular and comical.
Emma Frost, in her Star Diamond Body, acted as the most indestructible human shield in front, and no matter how frantically the Dungeon Guardian charged, they could not leave a single mark on her.
Meanwhile, Valeria activated all the high-tech weapons she had brought, unleashing a barrage of energy beams of various colors and miniature missiles trailing flames towards the Dungeon Guardian.
The explosions continued for a full half hour.
When the final high-frequency oscillating particle beam struck the target, the seemingly indestructible giant skull finally let out a mournful cry of despair, shattering into countless bone dust particles that dissipated into the air.
A Bone Key, exuding an eerie aura, clattered to the ground.
Emma Frost deactivated her Star Diamond Form and reverted to her human form.
She walked to the keys, bent down to pick them up, and gently shook them in her hand.
Something amazing happened.
A cloud of black mist surged from the key, coalescing at Emma Frost's feet into a tiny, cartoonish Dungeon Guardian the size of a basketball, which affectionately circled her ankle.
"Oh? A summoning item? Interesting." Reed Richards finally finished his research on the slime and strode over, his research spirit burning brightly once more.
Valeria jumped off the control panel and came over with a curious look on her face. The father and daughter stared intently at the miniature skull, as if trying to see through it to the atomic level.
Emma Frost glanced at them and casually tossed the Bone Key over. "Here you go."
The father and daughter were overjoyed and immediately took the keys and the miniature pet to the side to examine them.
In Valeria's private laboratory in Frost City.
Thor, seeing the Richards father and daughter engaged in a heated discussion around an energy analyzer, interrupted them, "Stop for a second, do me a favor."
"What is it?" Valeria asked without looking up.
"I'm going to open a portal to the DC Universe now," Thor said calmly. "Help me test the difference in the flow of time between the two different multiverses."
As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and made a light sweeping motion in the air.
Space was torn apart, and a portal, completely different from the one before, slowly unfolded.
On the other side of the door lies a bustling modern metropolis.
Thor closed his eyes, and his immense mental power instantly passed through the portal, enveloping the blue planet.
A few seconds later, he opened his eyes and came to a conclusion.
"Interesting. I've been back here for about a day and a half. But in DC, a full two months have passed."
He then opened several portals in the laboratory to different Marvel parallel universes, sensing and comparing them one by one.
Finally, he looked at Reed, who was frantically recording data. "It seems my guess was right. The energy level of the universe itself determines its flow of time. The stronger the universe, the slower its time flows; the weaker the universe, the faster time passes."
"Theoretically, that's true," Reed pushed up his glasses and replied rapidly, "It aligns with the relativity of time in the multiverse. But there's a Paradox here."
He pulled up a data model and pointed to an abnormal curve. "You mentioned before that the person called Hawkgirl stayed here for about an hour, and two years passed in her universe. This time difference far exceeds the range that a normal universe energy level could cause."
Thor nodded; that was exactly what he wanted to ask, "Do you have any clue?"
"I have a hypothesis," Reed said, his eyes gleaming with intelligence. He drew a complex string theory model in the air with his hands.
"What we usually refer to as the 'multiverse' may just be a 'large collection.' Within this collection, such as the Marvel Multiverse to which we belong, all parallel universes follow a relatively unified set of underlying physical laws and time standards. The differences in the flow of time between them are fluctuations based on this standard."
He paused, then pointed to an unknown area outside the model:
"But the DC Universe likely belongs to another completely different 'grand collection.' Its relationship with us is not merely that of parallel universes, but rather... a relationship between 'multiverses'. They possess completely independent laws and timelines."
"As for that exaggerated time difference," Reed continued his analysis.
"It is very likely that this is a kind of 'time calibration' stress response that occurs when two 'large sets' first establish a stable link."
And you, Thor, as a powerful Multiverse Level being, personally went to that universe and stayed there for a period of time.
Your actions are likely equivalent to forcibly opening and 'anchoring' a passage between two multiverses using your own existence.
Once this channel stabilizes, the difference in time flow rate will tend to reach a relatively stable range, which is the result you are currently testing.
Reed concluded, "Of course, all of this is just speculation based on existing data. To verify it, we must conduct field investigations and in-depth research."
Thor listened and smiled knowingly.
As expected of Mister Fantastic, he can guess things pretty accurately so quickly.
He closed all the portals, looked at Reed and Valeria who were still engrossed in the data model, and said, "In that case, why don't we go and see for ourselves?"
"I'm coming with you this time," Thor extended an invitation. "It'll be perfect for you to see firsthand the differences between the DC Universe and the Marvel Universe."
Valeria paused, then abruptly raised her head, her azure eyes flashing with intense light.
A completely new and entirely different multiverse?!
For a research fanatic, this was an irresistible temptation!