"Me?"
Tony pointed at himself. He thought Ethan was joking. Although he was a super genius and believed that given enough time, he could figure out how to use the Infinity Stones, the fact that Ethan had waited until Thor awakened his thunder power before considering giving him the Power Stone clearly showed that Ethan had specific requirements for the user's base strength.
Even though he had injected some enhancement serum and could develop various high-tech armors, Tony didn't think he had the physical capability to handle an Infinity Stone himself.
"Of course not now. You still need to further improve your strength."
Once Tony's magic power reached a solid foundation, and his armor was further optimized and upgraded to achieve a perfect fusion of science and magic, his strength should hit its peak.
Moreover, Tony was still working on enhancement serums. Once completed, his body would be strengthened further, enabling it to withstand the force of more energy. At that point, he might barely qualify to use an Infinity Stone directly. Combined with specially-designed armor, he should be able to fully unleash an Infinity Stone's power.
While they were deep in discussion, Star-Lord, sitting nearby, was completely confused. He couldn't make sense of what they were saying. Why did it feel like the people around him were crazy?
"Are you guys... rehearsing a play or something?"
"…"
Tony and Thor both turned to look at Star-Lord, who was piloting the ship. Star-Lord looked at them as if they were a bunch of idiots, and Ethan was clearly included in that look.
"It's nothing. What we were just talking about, you'll understand once you see the item."
"Item?" Star-Lord recalled their objective for this trip. "You mean the Orb, which you just called the Power Stone?"
Ethan nodded. "Its real name should be the Infinity Stone. This particular one represents power."
Star-Lord didn't dwell on whether the item was real or fake and immediately asked with curiosity, "How many of these things are there?"
"Six." Ethan raised his hand and used his magic power to project the appearance of the Infinity Stones, just as he had done when explaining them to Nick Fury and the others.
Recently, he had been practicing with the Reality Stone. Although he still couldn't transform magic power into physical objects, creating a magical illusion nearly identical to the real thing had become much easier.
His right hand functioned like a high-end projection device. It not only showed the appearances of the six Infinity Stones but also displayed the Big Bang and the moment when the six Infinity Stones were formed.
Of course, he hadn't witnessed this scene firsthand. The visuals were thanks to what he'd seen in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Infinity War in his previous life. Both the Collector and Wong had specifically demonstrated it.
While explaining the origin of the Infinity Stones, Ethan also 'played' a scene depicting how easily the Power Stone could destroy a planet. This, of course, also came from the demonstration shown by the Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Star-Lord, who was piloting the ship, went from not taking it seriously at all (he assumed the images Ethan was projecting were from some kind of implanted tech, like his own translator implant), to gradually becoming shocked, and finally stared wide-eyed as Ethan dismissed the terrifying images.
"You know I almost peed myself just now? You actually asked me to help you find something that dangerous?"
"Correction. Even if I hadn't hired you, you'd still have gone looking for it yourself. My appearance actually helped you resolve a bigger problem—how to get rid of that thing as quickly as possible."
Star-Lord opened his mouth, then suddenly realized what Ethan said made a lot of sense. He didn't know how to respond.
"Who is that Thanos you mentioned earlier?"
In truth, Ethan didn't know much about Thanos either. He only knew a few things, which he summarized in one sentence: a madman who wants to balance the universe through force, and his method is eliminating half of all life.
"So that lunatic named Thanos wants to get the Infinity Stones and then use their power to wipe out half of all life in the universe?"
"Pretty much."
Thanos's actions weren't exactly secret in the universe. But most people assumed he was just showing off his power and never thought much about why he always killed half and spared half.
But no matter how good his reasoning sounded, no intelligent lifeform wanted their fate decided by someone else, no matter how weak they were, or even if they were already on the brink of death.
After hearing Ethan's explanation of Thanos, Star-Lord grew more curious. "This Thanos is that powerful? Sounds like he could do what you're talking about even without those Infinity Stones."
"You probably thought my 'kill half the universe' line was just a metaphor. But Thanos really plans to do it. And if he has to go planet by planet, he'd never even make it out of the Milky Way in his lifetime."
"So what do the Infinity Stones have to do with it? With them, can he actually wipe out half the universe?"
"Yes."
Even Thor was hearing this for the first time. Originally, he and Tony just thought Thanos wanted to collect the stones to make himself unstoppable, so he could destroy any planet at will.
It wasn't until now that they learned Thanos's true purpose was to wipe out half of all life. Their first reaction was, "This guy is nuts. He couldn't do that even if he tried for eternity." But once Ethan confirmed that the Infinity Stones could make it possible, they finally understood the full danger of the situation.
"Once Thanos gets all six Infinity Stones and embeds them into a piece of equipment so they can release power together, all he has to do is snap his fingers."
Ethan casually snapped his fingers, emphasizing the gesture.
"And half the life in the universe will be gone."
Thor and Tony's expressions darkened, while Star-Lord looked utterly horrified. He was starting to regret letting Ethan and his group onto the Milano. How had he gotten dragged into something this terrifying?
Even worse, it didn't seem like he could back out. If he backed out now, there was a real chance Thanos would end up with the stone. And once that happened, he might collect the rest. At that point, no matter which corner of the universe he hid in, he could be wiped out with a single snap.
"And you still want to carry this stone with you like that? Shouldn't you destroy it?"
Tony thought the same thing. To prevent Thanos from collecting all six Infinity Stones, couldn't they just destroy one?
If the stones couldn't be gathered, he wouldn't be able to snap his fingers. Although they would still have to deal with this lunatic, at least they wouldn't have to worry about dying suddenly in a snap.
"One of the six Infinity Stones represents time… I think you can guess what that means."
Among the group, only Thor had average intelligence. Tony and Star-Lord both had minds far beyond the norm. As soon as Ethan said the word "time," they understood.
"You mean, even if we destroy one, as long as Thanos gets the Time Stone, he can restore the destroyed one?" Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose. "How would he do that? Go back to before it was destroyed and take it, or just reverse its time to before it was damaged?"
"The latter."
The Time Stone could not only reverse time on objects, but also accelerate it, trap someone in a time loop, and see countless future outcomes.
"Even worse, we have no way to destroy the Time Stone, unless you want to be hunted down as enemies by the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj."
Tony smirked bitterly. He had originally intended to say, "Then let's just destroy the Time Stone," but after hearing Ethan, he realized the thing was being guarded by those sorcerers. Clearly, they weren't going to let it be destroyed.
"Actually, you don't need to worry too much. As long as the Space Stone is in my hands, Thanos won't be able to collect all six."
Star-Lord didn't understand what Ethan meant, but Tony and Thor did. They both let out long sighs of relief, and the tension from earlier eased significantly.
"I almost forgot about that."
"Can one of you explain why we're safe just because the Space Stone is in your possession? Do you have some kind of special method to keep it hidden from this Thanos guy?"
"Something like that."
Without explaining in detail, Ethan was already considering whether to use teleportation magic to head to Nidavellir after retrieving the Orb, or simply have Star-Lord fly them there.
In terms of efficiency, teleportation was definitely faster and more convenient. But if they traveled with Star-Lord, maybe they'd run into Rocket Raccoon?
He wasn't interested in kidnapping a raccoon as a pet. Rocket was a top-tier technician who understood high-level tech. He could handle things like weapon and spaceship repair, which were currently lacking on their team.
Not to mention, bringing Rocket would also come with the bonus of Groot. Having a mobile plant life form in a metallic environment could even improve the living conditions.
However, Ethan's interference had completely derailed the original plot. After getting paid, Star-Lord definitely wouldn't return to Xandar, as he could be caught by Yondu. So the chances of meeting Rocket Raccoon were slim.
That said, Ethan could make a trip to Xandar specifically to invite Rocket and Groot to join the team.
(To be continued.)