So, what should I do next?
Kagura fell into deep thought.
At this moment, she had two pressing issues to address.
First, the Aether was now sealed within her body, what effects would this have on her?
The Infinite Concept Skill System provided no warnings, and the holographic UI in her vision operated as usual.
However, with an Infinity Stone now embedded in her core energy source, it was impossible for there to be no consequences at all.
Unlike the other equipment she had personally crafted, her automaton body was something she couldn't fully analyze or study.
If the holographic UI didn't provide an update, she had no way of knowing what was happening inside her own body.
Come to think of it, this automaton body was quite inconvenient…
Fortunately, the Infinite Concept Skill System was user-friendly whenever there was an issue, it usually reported it.
Just as Kagura focused her consciousness on the question of the Aether's seal, new text appeared in her holographic UI for the first time.
[Seal: The act of storing an Infinity Stone within the core energy source]
[A sealed Infinity Stone cannot exert its abilities and will not affect the automaton body]
[The energy generated by the Infinity Stone will be converted into power needed for the seal]
[Energy conversion requires redundancy]
[Do not let core energy drop below 20% during the seal period]
That was the entirety of the explanation.
Concise, clear, and easy to understand—truly a "motherly" system.
In short, to ensure that the Aether remained properly sealed within her automaton body, she needed to maintain her core energy above 20%.
Otherwise, the seal might break.
Until she dealt with Malekith, the Dark Elf King, and gained control over the Reality Stone, she would have to closely monitor her core energy during battles, she couldn't afford to be reckless.
Having resolved the mystery of her body, Kagura looked up and surveyed her surroundings.
She was in an ancient, unknown space.
There were no entrances, no exits, just an abyss of endless darkness stretching in all directions.
The only light sources were the distant stars.
From her vague memories of the MCU, she recalled that this was the place where the ancient Asgardian king had sealed the Aether, a space meant to erase all traces of its existence.
Naturally, it wouldn't have an easy way out.
In other words, she was trapped in what was essentially a tomb.
Well, that's inconvenient…
Since earlier, communications with Cortana had been cut off.
This meant that due to the "Convergence" phenomenon, the spatial distortion had shifted again, severing the brief connection between this place and Earth.
Hmm…
'Why do I suddenly feel like I've been locked in here?'
A creeping sense of unease welled up inside her.
Was she… stuck here until Thanos eventually found her?
Oh, hell no!
That would be the absolute worst-case scenario!
No matter how strong she got, there was no way she could take on the Purple Grape Titan right now!
Even if she didn't starve to death, she'd die of boredom first!
Ugh…
'I should've brought a game console!'
…Wait, is that really the most important thing right now?
The silver-haired girl sighed in distress.
But if she had ended up here due to the "Convergence," then all she needed to do was move around.
Given the spatial instability caused by the event, she might be able to cross over to another location.
If only she could return to Earth…
With that hope in mind, Kagura began to explore her surroundings.
She was inside an unimaginably massive black ancient structure.
Judging by its scale, it was larger than any ancient temple on Earth.
Without any nearby light sources, the entire area was shrouded in darkness.
Thanks to the dim starlight and her "White Moon" combat suit's night vision mode, she could faintly see the colossal stone pillars stretching in an orderly fashion toward an unknown distance.
The holographic UI provided little information—just some generic alerts like "unknown material," "unknown structure," "inorganic." It seemed that after the Aether had been taken, this place had truly become an "empty ruin."
Such an enormous, grand structure… Was it really built solely to seal the Aether? That seemed excessive.
Or was this level of extravagance necessary—an elaborate "luxury tomb" designed by the ancient Asgardians?
Kagura couldn't decipher the history of millions of years past, nor could she speculate on the war between the ancient Asgardians and the Dark Elves.
Perhaps this place was Asgard's tribute to that bloody war.
A nameless monument, remembering the countless warriors lost from both Asgard and the Dark Elves.
Millions of years ago, Malekith, the Dark Elf King, had attempted to return the universe to darkness using the Aether, an ancient weapon.
That was a time before even the stars were born—a world belonging to the Dark Elves.
Kagura didn't know why Malekith was so obsessed with plunging the universe into darkness.
Was it because the Dark Elves had been relentlessly driven to the brink of extinction?
Or was it simply a matter of unchecked ambition and the belief that the entire universe should belong to the Dark Elves?
Regardless, after a prolonged and brutal war, the Dark Elves had been nearly wiped out.
Only a handful had escaped, and the powerful Aether had been taken by the Asgardian King, sealed away here lost to history and time.
Until now.
Until Kagura's unexpected arrival awakened the Aether.
'…Wow, when you put it that way, I sound like a massive troublemaker.'
The silver-haired girl let out a bitter laugh.
'So, I basically just undid the ancient Asgardians' efforts, bringing the Aether back into the light of the universe, huh?'
'Yeah, no way I'm taking the blame for this!'
'Not my fault I ended up here! Hmph!'
She activated the scanning function on her combat suit, hoping to extract some useful information from the ruins maybe a way to transfer control of the Aether or an instruction manual for the Reality Stone…
…Yeah, no. Probably not.
No one in their right mind would seal away a powerful weapon and then conveniently leave the user manual next to it.
The Asgardians weren't Germans, after all…
"Ugh…"
She plopped onto the ground, sighing in boredom.
"I'm doomed! The adorable automaton girl is stuck here with no way out! Help! QAQ! Somebody save me—"
Before she could finish her sentence, the space beneath her suddenly shifted.
Without warning, she plunged downward.
"AAAAAH—!"
'Splat!'
"Oww…"
She rubbed her sore backside, shook her head, and looked around.
Endless grasslands and dense forests stretched in all directions.
In the distance, several tent-like structures resembling Mongolian yurts stood tall.
Did I… make it back to Earth?
No…
She looked up.
Between the distant mountains, colossal circular star-gates towered as high as the peaks themselves. Above, two enormous pale blue moons hung in the sky.
…What the hell.
This is some unreasonable-ass teleportation!
———————————————————————
—Meanwhile, in the Depths of Space—
Amidst floating debris and asteroids, a massive ship lay dormant like a slumbering crucifix.
But as the Aether awakened, the ship's red lights flickered to life.
The Dark Elves had returned.