After watching for a moment, Thanos flew straight to the top of the pyramid-like structure. He stretched out his right hand and reached for the Mind Stone.
In the next instant, a powerful mental force invaded his mind.
Yet nothing seemed to happen. It was as if the intrusion had no effect at all.
After obtaining the Mind Stone, he left Ice Crystal Star.
In the years that followed, he relied on his overwhelming power to destroy planet after planet and conquer star system after star system. Eventually, he found Earth and led his forces to annihilate one power after another—the Avengers, the Illuminati, Wakanda, and Kamar-Taj.
In the end, he collected all six Infinity Stones and became the supreme being of the Marvel Universe.
But as the years passed, he began to age, and his strength slowly faded.
Even the six gems were powerless to stop it.
Just as Thanos waited for death in despair, he felt a strange tremor—one that grew stronger and stronger.
The next second, he broke free from the influence of the Mind Stone and returned to reality.
He was still inside the cave.
Because of the trembling ground, stones occasionally fell from the ceiling. He had been awakened by one striking his body.
Looking ahead, he realized that his palm was still three centimeters away from the Mind Stone.
He instantly understood what had happened.
Everything just now had been nothing more than an illusion created by the Mind Stone.
"Ding! Your mental strength has increased by 50 points after being tempered."
Hearing the system's notification, Thanos smiled faintly and reached out again to grasp the Mind Stone.
The Mind Stone seemed unwilling to be taken and released a surge of powerful mental energy.
But this time, Thanos was prepared. He protected his consciousness with his own power and was not pulled into another illusion.
Below him, the Ice Clan members who were still immersed in the Mind Stone's illusion suddenly clutched their heads and screamed in pain.
"Ah—!"
"It hurts!"
"My head—my body!"
Once Thanos took the Mind Stone, the Ice Clan were forcibly pulled out of the illusion.
However, many of them had been influenced for far too long. Upon returning to reality, they immediately sensed something was wrong with their bodies.
Those who hadn't eaten for long periods were already little more than skin and bones. It was no surprise that they felt unbearable pain.
Some even died on the spot.
A few Ice Clan members who had only just entered the illusion quickly noticed Thanos in the sky. When they saw that the Mind Stone was gone, they roared in fury.
"The sacred relic has been stolen!"
"Give back the sacred relic!"
"Damn invaders—die!"
For thousands of years, the Mind Stone had been the Ice Clan's sacred object—their only source of spiritual pleasure, or rather, their spiritual opium.
Their greatest aspiration in life was to enter the holy land and touch the sacred relic.
Within the illusion created by the relic, they could experience joy and happiness beyond imagination. They could even reunite with deceased relatives.
That was why, when the world faced destruction, their first instinct was to seek refuge in the sacred relic.
But the Mind Stone was never a true holy object—it was a demonic artifact.
While they indulged in its illusions, it continuously absorbed their mental energy. The process was addictive, even lethal.
When they saw the relic taken away, their addiction overwhelmed their fear, driving them into a frenzied attack.
Even death could not make them let go of their sacred relic.
At that moment, massive rocks began falling from the cave ceiling, crushing Ice Clan members one after another.
Thanos glanced at the Ice Clan warriors leaping up to attack him, shook his head, and flew out of the cave.
These ants were not worth his time.
Outside, he discovered that the earthquakes across Ice Crystal Star were growing more violent.
As more stones collapsed, the cave entrance was soon completely sealed, trapping the Ice Clan inside forever.
"Rumble—"
It was as if Ice Crystal Star itself sensed its impending death. Dark clouds filled the sky, and bolts of lightning crashed down.
Yet when the lightning struck Thanos, he felt nothing at all.
At his level, the wrath of the heavens meant nothing.
Ignoring the lightning, he looked down at the Mind Stone in his hand, no larger than a finger.
If Captain Marvel's appearance had confirmed the beginning of the Marvel storyline, then the Mind Stone allowed him to precisely identify the time period.
He would probably be meeting that unlucky fellow—Loki—soon.
Shaking his head, Thanos flew out of Ice Crystal Star's atmosphere and into outer space.
From there, he could witness the planet's march toward destruction.
On the snow-white surface, black cracks spread rapidly. Soon after, red dots appeared one by one.
Volcanic eruptions.
This was a planet with over ninety percent of its surface covered in ice. Volcanic activity here was extremely rare.
That meant drastic changes had occurred deep within the planet's crust.
Closing his eyes, Thanos sensed the destructive energy he had unleashed expanding to a diameter of eight kilometers, now only a little over a thousand kilometers from the planet's core.
In ten more minutes, it would reach the core.
Once a planet's core is destroyed, the planet becomes dead.
Without a magnetic field, solar storms would strip away the atmosphere, and all remaining life would be wiped out by cosmic radiation.
Of course, there was also a possibility that the destructive energy would only consume part of the core, triggering massive earthquakes and volcanic disasters instead.
But despite considering all these outcomes, Thanos still underestimated the power of his own attack.
The moment the destructive force made contact with the planet's core, it unleashed its full might.
The annihilation of core material caused a catastrophic imbalance.
The resulting explosion made Ice Crystal Star expand outward—then shatter completely.
Seeing this, Thanos ordered his fleet to retreat even farther.
They withdrew to a distance of several million kilometers.
Several hours later, Ice Crystal Star emitted a blinding light.
"Rumble—"
There was no sound in the vacuum of space.
Yet as everyone watched the planet self-destruct, the roar of the explosion echoed instinctively in their minds.
The sight was utterly breathtaking.
At that moment, the system's voice rang out once more.
"Ding! The host has destroyed a planet and obtained the achievement Star Destroyer. Reward granted: unique skill—Star Absorption Technique."
Hearing this, Thanos was momentarily stunned.
He remembered receiving the title of Ruler and ruler-related skills when he first conquered a planet.
But this Star Absorption Technique… what was that? Some kind of martial arts crossover?
After studying the system panel for a while, Thanos finally understood.
This technique had nothing to do with the martial arts versions bearing the same name.
It was a skill that allowed him to absorb energy directly from a planet's core and use it to strengthen himself.
Naturally, any planet subjected to this process was doomed.
It seemed that next time, there was no need to destroy a planet so violently.
Absorbing it directly would be far more efficient.
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