The process of refinement turned out to be even more troublesome than Arthur had imagined.
But he wasn't worried at all about encountering any kind of problem. He had plenty of time and enough energy to support himself, allowing him to manipulate his current body at will.
How much time had passed, he didn't know. Ever since taking this new form, Arthur's control over many things wasn't as precise as it had been before.
The differences in his body made certain previously familiar functions feel strange and alien. He needed time to slowly master them, to redefine his understanding of time and space in relation to himself.
In a way, it was an interesting process.
The golden energy within him was gone. The familiar spatial energy had vanished. There was no longer a Disassemble space, and even the Disassembler itself had disappeared.
His body was completely unlike a human's, utterly unfamiliar, yet this also meant different possibilities of control.
He believed that after completing this upgrade, his mastery over energy would reach a completely new level.
On top of that, the things he had Disassembled from Ego… they would inevitably push his power to an even higher tier.
Yet… as time passed, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had forgotten something.
What exactly had he forgotten?
…
Outside the energy field, the spaceship had approached as close as it safely could. This conclusion had come at the cost of two Šumer drones. One step closer and they would be sucked into the energy field, instantly falling into a realm of no return.
From this position, they could at least keep Arthur's face in view.
They no longer had to rely on long-range observation and dragging distant images back for processing.
At the same time, they attempted every possible method to monitor Arthur's bodily state from afar, to check his vital signs, that was the first priority…
But in the end, every attempt failed.
A single spaceship could only carry so much, especially since they hadn't come prepared with an arsenal of technological tools. They were prepared to fight a planet, after all, so they mostly brought combat-oriented devices… like Šumer.
This created an awkward situation: they couldn't truly monitor Arthur's bodily state. All they could do was watch him from a distance.
As they observed, Natasha suddenly spoke up: "Have you… noticed something? He looks thinner."
Everyone exchanged glances. Finally, Tony organized his thoughts: "I know you care about him, and I know the… situation between you two, but right now isn't exactly the time to talk about that. You could always tell him privately later that he should eat more meat or something."
"…No, he really is thinner," Spider-Man chimed in. "Mr. Stark, haven't you noticed? His combat suit is looser, and his eye sockets seem a bit sunken…"
Tony paused, watching closely, and indeed, there was truth to it.
With Spider-Man and Natasha pointing it out, the others noticed as well.
"More importantly…" Banner suddenly spoke up, "have you noticed that the energy field is shrinking?"
"The energy field is shrinking… and Arthur's body is getting thinner. Could there be a connection?" Tony asked.
"If the energy field keeps shrinking, does that mean we could get closer to him?" Brock suddenly blurted out.
Everyone shot Brock a look. Brock hurriedly raised his hands:
"Venom told me to ask that just now."
Before anyone could respond, Venom's roar echoed:
"Don't blame everything on me! Aren't we supposed to be the perfect partners?"
The group cast Brock a scornful glare. He hung his head in shame.
Tony spoke up: "I ran the numbers. Comparing the current shrink rate of the energy field with Arthur's thinning… if there really is a feasible connection here, he would become a pure human jerky before we could even get close! No, he wouldn't even be human jerky!"
"What do we do then?"
For a moment, everyone was at a complete loss.
And as time passed, the worst-case scenario began to unfold.
As Arthur's body grew increasingly thinner, the surrounding energy layer was indeed contracting inward.
The two processes were occurring in perfect sync.
No one dared to speculate on the limits of this phenomenon, they simply could not!
At some point, the spaceship had fallen into silence. Spider-Man rubbed his hands together and gritted his teeth. To him, Arthur was no ordinary being.
During the most confusing period of his life, the person who appeared beside him and guided him out of that maze was Arthur.
Just like the title "Instructor" suggested, to Spider-Man, Arthur was undoubtedly his Instructor.
And yet, facing this moment, he could do nothing.
It was suffocating. Their hearts felt as if a massive stone were crushing down upon them.
Until Tony spoke: "Maybe… he has a way."
"'He' has a way?"
The suggestion introduced a new line of thought: if all of this was Arthur's doing, then surely he had a way to handle it himself. The only problem was that no one knew what state Arthur was in at this very moment, why his eyes were tightly closed, why he hadn't awakened.
"Should we try to wake him?"
Everyone exchanged glances. Without any effective solution, this seemed like the only option.
It was unanimously agreed upon.
Using the spaceship's communication system, they began calling out to Arthur frantically.
This was the first attempt…
But it was useless. Arthur remained motionless, sitting there.
They then tried using the external speakers, but lacking a medium for sound to propagate effectively, the calls could not reach Arthur's ears.
Tony, red with frustration, angrily declared that whoever installed the external speakers on the spaceship should be fired immediately!
Countless methods were tried, but none proved effective.
Just as everyone exchanged helpless glances, Brock suddenly asked:
"Did anyone see… Natasha?"
The question jolted everyone, they realized they had been so engrossed in their discussion that they had forgotten Natasha.
Looking back at the display, everyone felt as if their souls had leapt out of their heads!
Natasha, clad in her combat suit, was using its thrusters to propel herself toward Arthur's location. She was about to enter the energy field surrounding him!
(End of Chapter)
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