"Hey?! You little thing, you dare talk about me right in front of me? Forget it. I'll let it slide for now."
Thor looked at Groot, who was loudly badmouthing him at his feet, and ignored him. Instead, he strode into the treehouse.
Time was short. These two complete Infinity Stones represented complete laws, so absorbing them wouldn't be as quick as absorbing the fragments had been. By his rough estimate, even with his Heaven-Defying Comprehension, he would need about a week.
Once he came out and helped Betsy reconstruct her body, he could go have fun in the multiverse. First, he would swipe a few nanotech Iron Man suits. It didn't matter whether they were strong or not; the main thing was that they looked cool!
Then he would find an Asgard in some universe and borrow a Stormbreaker. Having no weapon to chop people with felt a little awkward.
Hmm... am I forgetting something?
Oh, right. That bastard Cassandra seemed to have made a threat before she died. What does that mean?
It meant she had a backup plan, but Thor didn't care at all. Once he had comprehended the two stones and figured out how to use the Sling Ring, he would follow the internet cable straight to that bald woman and deal with her in person.
Don't you love running your mouth online?
Then there's nothing wrong with me following the internet cable to your home and raiding it, right?
After deciding on his plans, Thor held the Sling Ring set with two Infinity Stones in his palm and sat cross-legged on the ground. Sensing the immense, complete law and its origin, he began absorbing and comprehending it.
Classic Loki looked at the many curious little faces and silently grumbled that this Thor was shameless.
But complaints aside, he still had to explain.
He gently raised his right hand, and projections of trees appeared one after another in his palm. In the blink of an eye, they formed a vast forest.
Classic Loki's tone was calm, as if he were explaining a commonplace fact.
"In the multiverse, no one is absolutely 'primary,' and no one is subordinate to anyone else.
"Every universe is a parallel world, born independently and operating independently.
"The world you come from, the world I come from, the world Thor comes from... all have equal status, and none is subordinate to another."
"There's no rule that says, 'If the Prime Universe is destroyed, every other universe will perish with it.'
"The collapse of one universe will only affect nearby spacetime. It won't drag all the others down with it."
He raised his eyes slightly, his voice soft but clear:
"You can think of them as countless trees growing independently,
"rather than the roots and leaves of the same tree.
"If one tree dies, the others remain alive."
"As for the 'Prime Universe' Thor mentioned..."
"It's simply his term for the core universe with the most complete laws, the most stable history, and the greatest power."
"Then would the Thor of the Prime Universe be stronger than the one we have here?"
Erik spoke up for once, asking a question that many others had also been wondering about.
"To be honest, I really don't know." Classic Loki glanced around and told the truth. "After all, I've never been to the Prime Universe, and I haven't experienced its laws to see whether they're stronger than those of my universe. I can't give you an answer."
"Then how are levels of strength classified across the multiverse? And are there any reliable ways to become stronger?"
Emma Frost decisively asked about the subject that interested her most. Thor had repeatedly provoked her because he was stronger than her, and she couldn't swallow that insult.
She was Emma Frost. How could she be content to remain beneath someone else?
Not even if the other person was a god!
"Hmm... there are indeed ways to steadily increase your strength, and quite a few of them. For example, there's the magic system of Kamar-Taj on Earth. You can make steady progress with it, but it depends quite heavily on talent."
"Then there's signing a contract with a dimensional demon god. You can gain considerable power, but the price is that your soul belongs to them."
At this, Classic Loki glanced at Madame Hydra, Ophelia. This woman carried a very strong aura of a dimensional demon god, and a relatively powerful one at that. If he remembered correctly, it should be Chthon.
At the thought, Classic Loki silently cast more than a dozen spells on himself. There was no other reason; he only wanted to block those dimensional demon gods from sensing him.
For now, he didn't want to run into those fellows.
"The third is the inheritance unique to divine pantheons like ours, such as Asgard, Olympus, and so on."
"The fourth is technological enhancement, which you're very familiar with. It uses the power of technology to strengthen your bodies and grant you powerful abilities. But just like magic, it depends on talent, and the top scientists capable of doing these things are rare in every universe."
"The fifth is to gain abilities through certain cosmic-level treasures, such as the Infinity Stones. But successful cases are extremely rare. Most ordinary people's bodies simply can't withstand the stones' erosion, let alone gain abilities from them."
Classic Loki paused after saying this. He was old, and talking for a while made him a little tired. He conjured a cup of tea out of thin air, brought it to his lips to moisten his throat, and continued.
"You probably don't have access to any of these reliable ways to become stronger right now. After all, you should know that this Knowhere we're in is a garbage dump."
"Then is there really no way for us Mutants to get stronger? Are we really limited by our genetic ceiling?"
Gambit Remy chimed in. He also wanted to know whether they could become stronger.
"To be honest, I don't know how you Mutants are classified, but I can sense that the energy inside the two of you hasn't been fully activated."
Classic Loki glanced at Emma Frost and Betsy.
"What about me?"
Gambit Remy still wouldn't give up and pressed for an answer.
"You? Your genetic ceiling is pretty much where you are now. There's no room for improvement."
"All right. Maybe I can still work as support staff, keeping up morale on the battlefield, can't I?"
Having received a definite answer, Gambit Remy felt somewhat dejected and made a self-deprecating remark.
"How can we fully activate the Mutant Genes inside us?"
Hearing this, Betsy grew curious as well.
"You shouldn't be asking me that. I'm a sorcerer, not a scientist. Perhaps you should find a highly capable scientist, someone like Tony Stark."
"So who is this Tony? Where can we find him?"
Emma Frost spoke up.
"If you're lucky, there's a chance you might run into a Tony Stark who's been thrown in here. But perhaps you could ask that Hydra Captain Steve."
At that, Emma Frost turned her gaze to the Hydra Captain.
Hearing the familiar name, the Hydra Captain couldn't help but pause. In his universe, the two of them had already become mortal enemies, but who told the man to stand in the way of Hydra's great cause?
"He is indeed a genius scientist. With him around, perhaps he really could help you solve this problem. But we've been stuck in this godforsaken place for so long, and we've never encountered a single Tony Stark."
Emma Frost didn't believe the Hydra Captain at all. She silently invaded Steve's mind, and after getting the answer she wanted, said nothing more.
The others were also thinking over the methods of increasing their strength that Classic Loki had given them. For a time, no one spoke, and the surroundings fell quiet.
Suddenly, the air grew hot and warped, and the surrounding temperature began to rise rapidly.
Boom-sizzle, sizzle, sizzle-
A wave of scorching flame exploded out of thin air, sending sparks dancing among the wreckage in Knowhere.
Three figures strode out of the shadows: Gamora; Human Torch, wreathed in faint flames and wearing a defiant expression; and a girl in a blue high-fiber suit behind them.
Johnny Storm swept his gaze over the group, his tone sharp and unpleasant. His opening words were full of hostility:
"Was it you bunch of freaks who killed Cassandra?"
"You don't look any stronger than me."