บท 3: Chapter Three(3)

These two materials could literally turn James into a god, as with those powers, he could do as he pleased without any trouble.

However, due to the existence of someone called the Living Tribunal, James rejected those options.

He believed that if he used them, The Man might appear and possibly erase him from existence, or something along those lines, since they weren't part of this universe.

So, James searched for an alternative. Either he would use a plant, a metal, or any resource he could find in the Marvel Universe.

The result was two distinct and very powerful materials. One of them was called the Primagen, a powerful agent of evolution used by the Progenitors in the creation of the Kree.

The Kree, in turn, created the Terragen in their quest to recreate the Primagen crystal. According to the information James had received from the dimension, the Primagen was a piece of creation solidified.

Well, this was an exaggeration, but the Progenitors were known for creating life across planets, while the Celestials simply did as they liked.

It was commonly believed that the Celestials seeded planets with life, but unfortunately, that wasn't true. They only sought to create perfect life and, in the process, always ended up making versions of the Eternals and Deviants of every race.

Essentially, the Progenitors created the product, and the Celestials came to add the finishing touches.

James believed that by using the Primagen crystal, he would at least gain physical prowess on par with the Kree, meaning he would be no different from a super soldier at the very least.

The second option was a crystal that grew in Svartalfheim, the home of the Dark Elves, called the Dreamstone.

The Dreamstone was a naturally occurring artifact in the realm, capable of manifesting the desires of its users—essentially a mini-reality stone.

James hadn't even known of its existence. He had only found it because he was thinking of rare materials in the Marvel universe, and it appeared among the hundreds of materials that came up.

The Dreamstone could manifest into one's wishes. Apparently, it was rare in Svartalfheim, which explained why Malekith hadn't used it to conquer the entire universe.

None of this mattered to James, as he had these two rare materials in absolute abundance.

The Primagen crystal, which honestly shouldn't be considered a crystal since it grew on a tree and needed to be peeled first, was also rare, as only the Progenitors could create them.

The Progenitors themselves were extreme introverts, refusing to interfere with life unless directly involved or they found something of interest.

James picked up the alien fruit sitting by his bedside, peeled it, and revealed the crystal inside. The crystal felt strange in his hand—both soft and strong at the same time.

The information he had said he needed to eat it, the most direct method of usage, so James did just that. He threw the whole crystal into his mouth and bit down.

Surprisingly, the crystal cracked as he chewed. James didn't dwell on it—after all, celestial objects weren't normal. He swallowed, replaced his gag, and lay down, preparing for any life-changing moments that might occur.

"Hmmm!" James screamed, ready for the pain, but even after several minutes, he felt nothing.

"That's embarrassing," he thought, removing the gag but keeping it close, just in case.

As James waited, he felt certain things changing within him. He didn't feel any pain—in fact, he couldn't feel much of anything at the moment—but he could detect changes.

He knew this was the Primagen crystal at work, but he was confused as to why there was no pain.

After all, comic logic dictated that consuming anything supernatural for personal gain always involved pain.

Hours passed before the strange changes stopped, but by then, James had already moved on to the next task and barely noticed.

He was too busy trying to decide what to make the Dreamstone turn into. He considered making it manifest a symbiote but knew he'd have to make the symbiote immune to its usual weaknesses.

Another option was turning the Dreamstone into a cosmic cube, which would allow him to warp reality—but then, he would have to deal with it eventually becoming sentient.

"I'm leaning toward the cosmic cube, but I can't be carrying something like that around. Oh, it's done," James said as he noticed the transformation within him had stopped.

James didn't know exactly what had changed, but he did know that it had a profound effect. First, he felt much more focused.

It made sense to attribute this to the Primagen's effects because, in both of his lives, James had never felt this clear-headed.

For the first time, he knew what he wanted to do and how to achieve it. He wanted power. Previously, he had struggled to come up with ways to grow stronger with the "limited" resources he had, but now, his mind was overflowing with ideas. The cosmic cube was just one of them.

Earlier, he had thought of materializing some sort of symbiote, like Iron Man's Model 50 Endo-Sym Armor. Now, he realized that the Dreamstone could literally become anything he wanted.

He considered a suit that would grant him omnipotent powers, but he couldn't be vague—the Dreamstone, like him, didn't know what that meant.

Instead, he settled on something he was familiar with: the cosmic cube. In his past life, James had been obsessed with overpowered characters and items, and the cosmic cube was something he had read about countless times.

"Wait, I could just create a ring, like the Cosmic Ring," James thought.

Cosmic cubes were extremely powerful artifacts that harnessed the power of the Beyonders, collected and stored using a matrix of force fields.

It was believed that cosmic cubes were illusory in nature, meaning that what they created could be undone by an equally powerful item or being.

Some cubes operated on a multiversal scale, and the cosmic ring was made from a fragment of a cube, limiting its power.

But that didn't concern James. His newly enhanced body came with an equally enhanced brain, and his mind had already designed a suitable matrix to contain the Beyonder's power.

James knew that cosmic rings were powerful but had their limits. He wasn't in a rush—he already had sufficient protection.

He also didn't feel the need for an overpowered weapon like the cosmic ring just yet.

"What the hell was I even thinking? I can do whatever I want," James thought, suddenly recalling something important.

The Living Tribunal watches over the entire Marvel multiverse and is responsible for maintaining balance within it.

James had forgotten, or perhaps ignored, a crucial detail: the Living Tribunal maintained a balance of mystical forces across the multiverse.

He didn't care about how powers were used or where they came from; his only concern was maintaining balance. If you became a threat to your universe, that was your problem.

But if you posed a threat to the multiverse, then he intervened. James wasn't sure how he'd forgotten this, but he knew it was thanks to the Primagen crystal that he had remembered.

"I should probably test the limits of my newly evolved body," James thought, as he dropped the Dreamstone into a container and closed it.

James didn't know exactly what had changed, but he knew that he was much smarter and could now recall even the most obscure details from both of his lives.

He had no idea what else had changed, but he knew he had a baseline to compare his new abilities to: the Kree. The Kree were stronger, faster, more agile, and more intelligent than humans.

Of course, it would be better to compare his abilities to the Inhumans, but the Inhumans were created with Terragen crystals or mists.

When compared to the Primagen, it was like comparing diamonds to mud—they were leagues apart.

After all, the Primagen could be considered the source material, while the Terragen was a cheap imitation.

James carefully placed the box containing the Dreamstone under his bed. He was no longer in a hurry to gain power.

With his new clarity, many options were now open to him, and he knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. But first, he wanted to master the abilities he now possessed before moving on to acquire more.

James stood in the middle of the room and took a deep breath to calm himself. In doing so, he could finally feel the power within him.

Initially, he had been too busy to notice the power coursing through his veins, but now it was clear.

At that moment, James realized that movies and comics weren't lying when they depicted smart characters saying things like, "I suddenly knew exactly how much power my body could produce, how much force each muscle could generate and withstand."

James felt the same way. He didn't know exactly how much stronger he had become, but he knew it was far beyond what a normal nine-year-old should be capable of.

He could see better, think faster, and felt stronger, faster, and more agile than before. The Primagen had clearly evolved his body beyond his expectations.

Checking in the mirror, he still looked the same—he hadn't lost any baby fat, nor had his appearance or height changed.

It was as if the Primagen crystal had completely internalized all the changes.

To test his strength, James attempted to lift his bed, or at least one side of it. The bed was extremely heavy, and with the bed frame included, it should have weighed at least 70 kg.

James placed his small hands at the edge of the bed and tried to lift it. While he couldn't lift it entirely, he did manage to raise it a few inches off the ground.