Ethan suddenly backed away, instinctively wanting to distance himself from the Power Stone. He was holding both the Space Stone and the Reality Stone. If the Power Stone accidentally released an energy burst, he wouldn't be able to withstand it.
As for the others, as long as they didn't try to touch the stone, they wouldn't trigger its terrifying power.
"What happens if one of us touches it?"
Ethan's explanation wasn't very comforting. Star-Lord still asked out of curiosity, and the answer he got was: the more fragile ones might be instantly killed by the energy burst, while physically stronger individuals like Thor would only be injured.
That wasn't even the worst part. The Milano would definitely be destroyed by the energy burst, and very few people onboard could survive in the vacuum of space.
"Don't go near that thing. If something happens, don't blame me for ignoring our new friendship."
Putting everything else aside, if their ship was destroyed in the middle of space, they'd be in real trouble. Even if a distress signal were sent out, by the time help arrived, they'd probably only be able to collect their corpses.
"Don't worry. We're not that stupid!"
It was O'Connell who spoke. He felt that the reason he'd survived so many bizarre events so far was precisely because he knew what not to do. He immediately grabbed Jonathan, who had been drawn in by the stone's glow, stopping him from dragging them all into disaster with a moment of carelessness.
"Excellent!"
Seeing that everyone was still maintaining a safe distance and no one was approaching the stone, Star-Lord let out a sigh of relief.
But what came next gave him a headache.
"We can't even touch this thing. How do we store it?"
"It's not that it can't be touched. As long as the person touching it has enough strength to withstand the energy within the Power Stone, it's fine."
Only when the person touching it collapses from being unable to withstand the power will the excess energy burst out.
Thor hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should step up and take the stone. Fortunately, before he made a decision, Ethan already had a solution.
"Although Thor is strong enough, let's not risk something so dangerous while in space."
"You're right. I completely agree with Ethan."
Ethan casually took out a small box, then used Mage Hand to guide the Power Stone into it.
In truth, using Mage Hand was also a form of contact, so Ethan employed a small trick—he used Mage Hand to grasp the 'space' surrounding the Power Stone rather than touching the stone directly. It was essentially a loophole.
After placing the Power Stone into the specially crafted box, Ethan casually slipped it into his jacket pocket. The sight made Star-Lord's eyelids twitch.
Putting something this dangerous into a jacket pocket... wasn't that a bit too casual?
Ethan did want to store it in his space storage, but the Infinity Stones had special properties and simply couldn't be stored that way. Perhaps only after he deepened his understanding of space and upgraded the storage method would he be able to place items like Infinity Stones inside.
Everyone had seen the Power Stone, and Thor quickly fulfilled his promised payment—paying in cash. The currency looked like metallic flakes. Ethan had no idea how much they were worth.
Star-Lord felt much better after receiving the reward and asked where they were heading next. Since he didn't have a destination in mind anyway, he could give them a lift.
"Just don't go back to Xandar."
Yondu's buyer was on Xandar. Once Yondu realized the Orb was gone and that Star-Lord wasn't on Morag, he would quickly figure things out.
His first move would definitely be to chase Star-Lord to Xandar, and he might even put a bounty on him. So, as long as he avoided Xandar, Star-Lord could buy himself quite a bit of time.
Forget the universe, even just the Milky Way was vast enough that picking a random direction would make it almost impossible for Yondu to find him.
"We're going to Nidavellir."
Ethan hesitated for a moment, then decided there was no need to specifically head to Xandar to find Rocket Raccoon. They could go directly to Nidavellir and take care of Thor's matter first.
If he really wanted to recruit Rocket Raccoon, he could go to Nidavellir first and then use a teleportation spell to make a quick trip to Xandar. With the Space Stone, he could go anywhere in the universe freely. Getting somewhere was only a matter of an instant.
"Nidavellir?"
Star-Lord had never heard of this place, so he had no idea how to get there.
"I'll give you the coordinates."
Thor stepped up and helped him set the flight path.
"We'll need to make a few jumps. Everyone, find a seat and buckle up."
Spaceships in the Marvel universe were capable of space jumps, but Ethan wasn't sure what the maximum jump distance was. It seemed the common unit of distance in this universe was measured by jumps?
These space jumps placed a considerable strain on the body. Even though multiple jumps in quick succession wouldn't cause serious harm, they would make people feel very uncomfortable.
Fortunately, Ethan's companions had all undergone enhancements. The weakest among them were still close to peak human condition. Tony, who had originally been the most physically average, had reached peak condition and was steadily improving thanks to enhancement serum and consistent training.
So when the Milano jumped to the star system near Nidavellir and approached the location at normal cruising speed, no one onboard felt any discomfort.
"Wow!"
Star-Lord had never been here before, and as he watched the dwarf kingdom built around a star, he couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.
"This is the dwarf kingdom of Nidavellir."
Star-Lord, who had originally planned to drop everyone off and leave, suddenly became curious about the place. After parking the ship, he joined the group in disembarking onto this unique 'planet.'
Calling Nidavellir a planet wasn't exactly accurate. The dwarf kingdom of Nidavellir was a series of artificial structures built around a star, fully utilizing the nearby asteroids. The entire engineering marvel looked stunning.
"Is this... a Dyson Sphere?"
Star-Lord wasn't the only one shocked. After observing for a while, Tony finally understood what Nidavellir really was.
This was the legendary Dyson Sphere.
A Dyson Sphere was a theoretical artificial structure. Essentially, it was a massive facility that fully harnessed the energy of a star, extracting both material and energy from it. The energy powering the entire Dyson Sphere also came from the star itself.
He never imagined that such a construct truly existed. Though it differed from the designs he'd seen, those were all theoretical drawings made by scientists. Of course, there would be differences during actual construction. But the one before him was real.
Thor didn't understand what a Dyson Sphere was. After landing, he immediately went to look for the dwarf king, Eitri.
As the king of the dwarves, Eitri wasn't hard to find. You could just stop any dwarf and ask.
However… that wasn't what grabbed everyone's attention.
"Wait, you said this is the dwarf kingdom?"
Star-Lord looked around at the tall and busy 'dwarves' and suddenly felt like his whole worldview was about to collapse. He couldn't help but grab Thor.
He wasn't the only one. Everyone was looking at Thor with strange expressions.
You said this was the dwarf kingdom? It looks more like the giant kingdom. Aren't we the dwarves here?
Apart from Ethan, who already knew the truth, no one expected the so-called dwarves to look like this. It completely shattered their expectations. Watching these towering 'dwarves' walk by created an odd sense of pressure.
"The dwarves are very warm and friendly. You don't need to worry."
Thor completely missed the point. He casually reassured everyone and then asked around for Eitri's location.
As the king of the dwarves, Eitri wasn't difficult to find. Not only was he the ruler of Nidavellir, but also its most skilled craftsman. He could confidently claim there was nothing in this world he couldn't forge.
When Ethan and the others found him, Eitri was in the largest forge on Nidavellir, overseeing the crafting of various items. Thor's arrival didn't make him leave his station. He welcomed him right there.
"What brings you here? Do you need something?"
Nidavellir was protected by Asgard. In return, the dwarf kingdom provided Asgard with all its weapons and equipment.
As the heir to Asgard's throne, Thor showing up here instead of staying home told Eitri everything he needed to know.
Thor got straight to the point. Neither the Asgardians nor the dwarves liked beating around the bush—directness was better.
"Trust me, Thor. I will personally forge your new weapon. It will definitely be a powerful one."
Asgard had already 'deposited' a weapon with him, just waiting for the right time to be forged.
It seemed that time had come.
(To be continued.)