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*****
Afterwards, while Daisy, her assistant, and that pack of wild kids were having the time of their lives playing at a boundary point with Svartalfheim, Jane took the instrument in her hand and began to inspect her surroundings.
Fini followed closely behind her. Feeling the various spatial teleportation points around them, his heart grew anxious despite himself. If the Reality Stone were to enter Jane's body, he wouldn't have any reliable way to get it out.
Jane had no idea that someone had been following her in stealth for a while now. Based on the data, which was highly similar to what she had gathered from the Bifrost back then, she thought Thor had come to Earth. Thus, she was searching the area with a mixture of anticipation and nervousness.
Unfortunately, Thor hadn't come. However, if her luck held out, she might just stumble upon a teleportation point leading to Asgard right here.
Soon, Fini followed Jane into a corridor, and his expression immediately turned grave.
In his perception, there were several teleportation points scattered around Jane. If she kept wandering around aimlessly, she might just trigger the very first interstellar journey of her life.
Just as Fini was cautiously keeping pace right beside Jane, a sudden suction force pulled from the far end of the corridor ahead of them.
To Fini's shock, this suction force wasn't just pulling Jane--it was pulling him too. Moreover, with his perception doubly enhanced by both 'Incursio' and his 'Breathing Technique', he sensed that this suction force seemed to contain an undercurrent of raw power.
"The Reality Stone!"
The thought flashed through Fini's mind instantly, and his heart leapt with excitement.
At this moment, he also realized something. Jane obtaining the Aether in the original plot hadn't been a mere coincidence; the Reality Stone itself clearly harbored a desire to break free from its confinement.
Jane had simply chanced upon the right time and place. Perhaps even without her, one of those rowdy kids might have ended up as the host for the Aether's escape.
Having figured out the underlying reason, Fini didn't dare to be careless. The Aether's suction was incredibly strong. Although he could resist it, it was an irresistible force to an ordinary human woman like Jane.
Because time was of the essence, Fini didn't have the chance to help Jane, and he worried that resisting the Aether's pull might cause the teleportation point to shift.
Therefore, he simply dashed in front of Jane at top speed to block her path. This way, even if the Aether lay right on the other side, he would be the first to make contact with it.
The corridor was only a few meters long. Under the influence of the suction, the two of them were quickly pulled to its very end.
Just when it looked like they were about to smash into the wall, they passed straight through it like Harry Potter passing through Platform Nine and Three-Quarters in the movies, arriving in an entirely different space.
The scene shifted instantly. Before Fini could even get a proper look at his surroundings, he felt the ground vanish beneath his feet. He hastily cast the Sky Dance Technique to stabilize his posture.
Looking down, he realized that after being sucked through, he had been pulled straight over a cliff. Fortunately, he knew how to fly; anyone else might have fallen to their death.
Jane was much luckier. She was only sucked onto the edge of the cliff, still three or four steps away from falling over.
"Hypnosis!"
Fini gave the panicked Jane no time to calm down or take in her surroundings. He immediately used 'Golden Marbles' to knock her unconscious.
After carefully placing her on the ground to the side, he turned his eyes toward the sealed boulder ahead, which now revealed a slight crevice with a faint, ominous red glow. His heart brimmed with excitement and anticipation.
Fini then scanned the area. Giant stones stood everywhere in the dim, gloomy space, with no signs of any living creatures.
Beneath the seal, the faint imprint of Asgard's distinctive Bifrost could still be seen, indicating that the boulder and the Reality Stone had been directly teleported here by the Bifrost.
Once he was certain there were no dangers nearby, Fini nervously and slowly approached the seal.
There was a palm-sized crack in the boulder. Peering through the crevice, Fini could clearly see a churning, rolling, blood-red liquid inside.
Seeing this scene, Fini finally breathed a long sigh of relief. Following Jane in stealth for so long had not been a waste of effort after all.
Looking at the Aether within the boulder, Fini didn't plan to use his own body to contain it right away like Jane did in the original plot. Instead, he drew the White Dragon's Breath from his storage space, slipped it inside, and said softly in a coaxing tone:
"Want to try changing your environment?"
The White Dragon's Breath was a top-tier weapon forged by the Dwarves. Given its material, using it as a temporary container for the Reality Stone would absolutely pose no issue.
The liquid Aether churned within the crevice of the boulder. Faced with the White Dragon's Breath that Fini had extended inside, it remained completely unmoved, seemingly without a shred of interest.
Fini frowned. This was the scenario he least wanted to see, because he really didn't want to use his own body to host the Reality Stone.
Although his physical constitution was far superior to Jane's, the Aether was still one of the Infinity Stones, and the energy contained within it was terrifyingly immense.
Even the Dark Elves who created it couldn't use it indefinitely. From this alone, it was evident that letting the Aether enter one's body definitely came with a price.
Most importantly, letting it in was easy, but how to get it back out was a serious problem. At the very least, Fini currently had no confidence in extracting the Aether from his body.
"Get out here right now, or I'll have Asgard reinforce the seal so you can never leave!"
Since the soft approach didn't work, Fini tried a hardline one. He knew the Infinity Stones possessed a certain degree of consciousness. Although only the Soul Stone had communicated with him so far, he believed the other stones should be able to understand his meaning.
Faced with Fini's threat, the Aether remained unmoved, continuing to churn back and forth within the crevice.
Seeing this, Fini could only glare at the Aether. Gnashng his teeth, he said crossly, "Fine, you win. I'll let you into my body!"
As the Infinity Stone he wanted to obtain the most, Fini decided to grant it some special treatment.
Although he wasn't sure how to remove it from his body for the time being, Fini believed he would eventually find a way. Of course, the worst-case scenario would just be getting Malekith to lend a hand.
The top priority right now was to get the Aether out first. He couldn't be sure about the current state of the seal, or whether the boulder would suddenly snap shut. If it closed up, he would have to destroy the seal to get the Reality Stone again.
If that happened, it would be hard to explain it away to Asgard as an accident.
After saying his piece, Fini put away the White Dragon's Breath, deactivated Incursio, and extended his palm into the edge of the crevice.
Instantly, like a cat catching the scent of fish, the Aether gleefully slipped along Fini's fingertips and burrowed entirely into his body.
The next second, as if sensing the disappearance of the Aether, the seal reacted. The boulder snapped shut in an instant. Fortunately, Fini hadn't extended his hand too far inside, so he pulled it back swiftly before the boulder fell.
But before Fini could breathe a sigh of relief over the fate of his hand, he immediately felt the impact of the Aether entering his body.
The crimson Aether roamed inside him. This wasn't Fini's first time making contact with an Infinity Stone, but it was the most unique and direct one.
A massive surge of energy flowed slowly through the Aether into his body, giving Fini an unprecedented sensation.
However, his expression quickly shifted, because he discovered an incredibly grave problem.
If this continued, he was going to die!
Uh~
(End of Chapter)