Although meeting Blake brought a new perspective to Rocket's life and goals, this seasoned bounty hunter still couldn't resist the allure of money radiating from Star-Lord.
Patting the new gun he got from Blake, an impatient Rocket was about to head straight into the small shop.
But Blake grabbed him back in one swift motion.
"Let go of me! I'm warning you, if you pick me up from behind like that again, I'll blow your face off with a single shot!"
Rocket snarled angrily.
"Shut up. You tried before and failed, didn't you? Look ahead—see that green-skinned woman? I'm sure she's after the same target as you. And by the way, she's got quite the figure!"
Tony pointed at the woman who had just appeared in front of the shop.
"Gamora! Why is it her? The daughter of the Mad Titan Thanos—a notorious assassin!"
Rocket muttered warily as he instinctively reached for the safety of his gun.
"Thanos?"
Tony had already heard this name several times since arriving here.
"Seems like that bastard has plenty of secrets. So many people are interested in him. What's the plan?"
Tony looked at Blake.
"Take down two, one each," Blake replied simply.
---
Inside the shop, the timid owner had refused to trade with Star-Lord after Ronan specifically requested the Orb (which contained the Power Stone).
After wasting a ton of breath, Star-Lord reluctantly walked out of the shop, looking defeated.
"Hey!"
Gamora's voice made Star-Lord's eyes light up.
Turning around, he saw a stunning beauty leaning against the doorframe.
Her green skin perfectly matched his aesthetic preferences.
"Hey, you're—"
Before Star-Lord could finish his sentence and before Gamora could make her move, their conversation was rudely interrupted by Rocket.
"Hands up, you two! Yeah, I mean you—the green-skinned lady and the sleazy-looking guy. Get those damn hands in the air!"
Rocket stood about ten meters away, cocking his gun with a loud click as he spoke.
"Damn it, I don't even know this guy—"
"Sleazy? You talking about me, you talking raccoon?"
Star-Lord and Gamora both started speaking at the same time, but neither got far before Blake decided to cut the nonsense short.
With a flick of his wrist, he punched through two small portals, landing a solid blow to the backs of their heads.
The two dropped like sacks of potatoes.
"Joining forces with you was definitely the smart move. You're way more useful than Groot!"
Rocket ran over excitedly, stepping on Star-Lord's face and flipping his eyelids like he was inspecting merchandise. He couldn't resist throwing some verbal jabs at Blake.
"No need to go overboard. I've got plans for this guy. Leave him to me," Blake said, stopping Rocket, who was about to call off the mission and notify their employer.
"Partners are partners, but money is money! And we just met—I'm warning you… Oh, thank you, boss!"
Rocket's attempt at being intimidating immediately fizzled out when he saw the 80,000 credits pending transfer from Blake's wrist device.
"You're giving me double, sure, but technically this is a buy-one-get-one deal. You're not losing out, right? Still, what are you planning to do with this idiot? He's got a face that screams useless."
"The fact that so many people are after him means he—or something he's carrying—is worth far more than a few thousand credits. Now, you dumb raccoon, go back to the hotel!"
---
"What? Four billion!"
Rocket and the tightly bound Star-Lord shouted simultaneously.
"That's right," Gamora confirmed with a nod, her eyes fixed intently on Blake.
"I don't know who you're working for, or what your purpose is in capturing us, but I'm pretty sure the people behind you can't match this price. Ronan is scouring the universe for this thing, and even Thanos wants it. Only I can find a buyer willing to pay for it. Once the deal is done, I'll give you half!"
"I want 70%!"
Rocket impatiently interjected from the side.
Blake rolled his eyes. "Did you hear that, Rocket? Your employer only offered 40,000. And as for you... Quill, right? How much is your buyer offering? 100,000? A million? The fact is, you're both just bottom-tier small-time crooks without a proper channel to offload this."
"Shut up! I'm the legendary Star-Lord!"
"Shut up! I'm the legendary Rocket!"
Star-Lord and Rocket shouted in unison.
Then they glanced at each other, and, as if by instinct, spoke in sync again.
"Who's Star-Lord?"
"Who's Rocket?"
"You've never heard of Star-Lord? You ignorant fox!"
Star-Lord turned angrily to Blake.
Blake simply spread his hands in a shrug.
Tony chuckled and shook his head, while Gamora rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Alright, fine! You're all a bunch of clueless bumpkins. I can forgive your ignorance. But I went through a lot to get this Orb. We can sell it together and split the money—it's much better than fighting like this, isn't it?"
After finishing his speech, Star-Lord looked at Blake, joined by the gazes of Gamora and Rocket.
"Sure!" Blake replied cheerfully.
"We'll split it evenly, one share per person. But this thing stays with me for now."
As he spoke, Blake casually reached over and took the Orb from Star-Lord.
While Gamora and Star-Lord looked at him in shock and alarm, and Rocket in confusion, Blake crushed the metallic shell of the Orb with his bare hand.
"No!"
"No!"
Both Star-Lord and Gamora shouted in unison.
Blake calmly shook off the metal fragments, revealing the Power Stone inside. He grasped it with one hand.
In an instant, purple light flared from Blake's hand, surging outward and enveloping his entire body.
The overwhelming power capable of destroying planets in an instant roared to life, spreading like a tidal wave, before suddenly retracting as if it had been an illusion.
All the purple light retreated into Blake's hand and vanished.
And along with it, the Power Stone in his hand disappeared as well.
"Where… where did you put it? Who the hell are you???"
Compared to Star-Lord's alarm, Gamora's reaction was even more unhinged. Star-Lord only knew the Stone was incredibly powerful and dangerous, but Gamora, raised alongside Thanos, was well-versed in the legend of the Infinity Stones.
The Power Stone, in ancient times, was used by the Celestials as a weapon to destroy planets. No one could wield its power with their bare hands.
Even Thanos, for all his might, could only use a single Stone temporarily, and even then, he needed a specially crafted weapon to harness its power.
"Who am I?"
Blake smiled faintly, ignoring Gamora's question.
On the surface, he appeared calm and composed as he stored the Power Stone. However, within his body, an earth-shattering transformation was underway.
*******************************************
You can get access to early chapters on patr*on.
If you like my work and you want to support me then you can become my patron on patre*n.
My patr*on account is S_Pandey_0170
It turned out that within Blake's body, the Reality Stone had transformed into a base, with the Space Stone embedded on top, acting as an energy core.
It looked like a machine missing some parts.
When the third Infinity Stone entered his body, the forms of all three stones changed once again.
The Space Stone, which Blake had possessed the longest and had the deepest mastery of, quickly disassembled within his body. It eventually dissolved into a phantom-like shadow and directly fused into the area around Blake's heart.
It was as if Blake, an old-fashioned tractor, had suddenly been outfitted with the energy system of a spacecraft. He could even hear his heart producing loud, drum-like thuds.
With every beat, a surge of energy flowed vigorously to every part of his body.
Although this energy wasn't exaggerated to the point of world-ending destruction, it far exceeded what Blake's current body could withstand.
Just as Blake felt his body was about to be torn apart, the Reality Stone also rapidly dissolved, vanishing into his skin, blood vessels, and internal organs.
The newly acquired Power Stone, on the other hand, disappeared into his bones and muscles.
Among the six Infinity Stones, the Soul, Time, and Mind Stones leaned more toward intangible, ethereal properties, while the Space, Power, and Reality Stones leaned toward materialized abilities.
The three stones Blake had acquired first directly constructed a framework within his body, transforming it.
A flash of light enveloped him, and under the astonished gazes of onlookers, Blake disappeared.
In the next instant, he reappeared on an uninhabited planet near Xandar.
This planet was barren, with a density and gravity about twice that of Earth.
Blake appeared in a wilderness where the ground was covered with hard stones, denser than ordinary rocks on Earth.
After arriving, Blake paused for a moment to sense his newfound power. Then, without hesitation, he punched the ground below.
Boom!
The ground within a kilometer shook violently. With this casual punch, Blake created a massive crater, seven to eight meters deep and at least twenty meters in diameter.
This was the most significant and effortless increase in Blake's physical strength, and the Reality and Power Stones were still slowly enhancing his body. The effects of the stones had yet to reach their peak.
Blake casually moved his limbs to get a feel for his strength. With a thought, dense flames erupted beneath his feet, propelling him into the sky in an instant.
A streak of afterimage flashed, and within moments, Blake had flown back and forth across a range of several kilometers.
With the Space Stone as his energy core, Blake's energy was theoretically infinite.
However, due to the limits of his body's endurance, the amount of energy he could output at a time was still restricted.
After this comprehensive transformation, Blake's body's capacity to withstand energy had increased by several times.
With another thought, energy from the Space Stone surged outward. A massive energy shield, spanning a kilometer, appeared with Blake at its center.
Then, an enormous flame erupted from Blake, its searing heat climbing so high that it turned a deep purple. Judging from its color, it was likely nearing temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees.
Blake had originally assumed that obtaining the Power Stone would merely grant him a massive boost in strength, similar to the Reality Stone's gradual integration into his body. However, to his surprise, the three stones had directly formed a self-sustaining energy cycle within him.
His strength had increased more than tenfold.
Previously, Blake needed to open a wormhole to traverse space. But now—
With a single thought, Blake vanished from the planet.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared on Xandar.
"What exactly did you do?"
From the moment Blake absorbed the Power Stone into his body, left to test his abilities, and returned, only a little over ten seconds had passed.
So, the moment he reappeared, Gamora immediately asked the question that had been burning in her mind.
Blake first gave Tony a reassuring glance before turning to Gamora and answering,
"I just hid it temporarily. Don't worry, I'll bring it out when we reach the meeting point."
Gamora's expression clearly showed she didn't believe him, while Star-Lord belatedly chimed in,
"Hey, buddy, what kind of power is that? You can teleport? Did you just stash it somewhere else just now?"
Seeing Blake nod slightly, Star-Lord immediately began yelling again.
"You hid it? You're not planning to keep it for yourself, are you? That thing was something I went through hell to recover! I'm warning you, the fact that I'm even willing to share it with you is generous enough!"
Hearing this, Gamora couldn't help but roll her eyes dramatically.
Rocket, on the other hand, was practically jumping with excitement. "Does the buyer know where she is? If not, this guy is useless now. Should we just get rid of him and split fewer shares?"
Rocket's words earned simultaneous eye rolls from Gamora, Tony, Blake, and even Groot.
As expected, fools live in their own worlds, completely oblivious to the changes happening around them.
---
After absorbing the Power Stone, Blake's strength skyrocketed. Though he hadn't tested it directly, he felt confident he could now go toe-to-toe with Thanos without any stones.
Feeling emboldened by his massive power boost, Blake grew restless and considered seeking out the Soul Stone immediately to see if he could claim it next.
If he succeeded, he would only need two more stones—Mind and Time.
Both of those were on Earth. The Time Stone was in the Ancient One's possession, and Blake figured he'd get it eventually, so there was no rush.
As for the Mind Stone, it was currently in Hydra's hands. By this point in the timeline, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver should already exist.
Blake believed it wouldn't take long for the Mind Stone to come into his possession. If he could claim the Soul Stone now, it would mean that all six Infinity Stones would essentially be in his grasp.
But just as Blake entertained the thought, the system quickly extinguished it.
"The Soul Stone is unique. Its abilities offer no benefit to your current strength. Once you've gained sufficient mastery of the Mind Stone and your mental power has reached a certain level, only then will it be worthwhile to pursue the Soul Stone."
Blake was tempted to argue that he didn't need to use it right away and could simply claim it. But after considering that the Soul Stone's location was still relatively safe for now—and given the peculiar restrictions for acquiring it—he decided to temporarily abandon the idea.
Ignoring the conflicting thoughts of Gamora, Star-Lord, and the others, Blake untied them. Then, with a single thought, he opened a wormhole and led the group to a unique place in the universe.
*******************************************
You can get access to early chapters on patr*on.
If you like my work and you want to support me then you can become my patron on patre*n.
My patr*on account is S_Pandey_0170
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