章節 196: Chapter 196: Magic Question
[Third Person's PoV]
2 days later…
It was May 16th, a Thursday afternoon, slowly shifting toward night. Inside the lab, a group of young heroes sat on the cold floor in a loose circle. Peter, Gwen, Harry, Felicia, and the others lounged around, waiting, the air thick with anticipation.
"So, do we just wait for the Ancient One to appear or…?" Harry asked, breaking the silence. His brow furrowed, and he glanced around the room, clearly confused and growing restless.
"I mean, what other choice do we have?" Felicia mumbled lazily, sprawled out on the ground like a cat soaking in the last bits of sunlight.
"We could go back to training in the VR world," Gwen suggested, leaning forward. "I've been practicing a lot, but honestly, the most I've managed to learn so far is this…"
With a soft breath, Gwen pressed her hands together. Her eyes focused as a shimmering, icy-blue light began to glow between her palms. Slowly, she separated them, and in the space between, a delicate ball of chi started to form, swirling and pulsing. The glowing orb shifted, morphing into a crystalline snowflake. With a graceful motion, she spun the snowflake between her fingers before extending her hands outward. A thin, ice-blue bolt shot forth, hitting the lab's floor. The spots it touched crystallized instantly, frost spreading in an intricate pattern across the tiles. As Gwen closed her hand into a fist, the frozen constructs shattered into a spray of shimmering shards.
Harry's mouth hung open for a moment, then he snapped, "That's all you've managed to learn? Are you serious? That's insane!" His face reddened slightly with frustration. "Do you have any idea how much I'd pay to be able to do something like that? I've been trying to unlock my chi, but it's like there's a wall I can't get past. I can feel it—just barely—but something's blocking me."
The group chuckled softly at Harry's outburst. His dramatic display only made him blush deeper, causing him to let out a half-hearted laugh. "Ha, ha, ha! Yeah, laugh at my pain, why don't you?"
"I mean, I get it," Gwen said, a faint smile playing on her lips. "I am grateful for what I've learned so far, but... it feels like I could be doing more."
"Like what?" MJ asked, raising an eyebrow as she leaned casually on Felicia, who lay contentedly beneath her.
"Shape-shifting."
The room fell into a stunned silence. Even Peter, who had seen Gwen do incredible things, looked at her with wide eyes. "Excuse me?"
Gwen bit her lip before explaining. "Think about it. Chi is our life force, right? If we can control our life force, we should be able to manipulate the shape it takes. If we can do that, it might be possible to reshape our physical bodies to match. Like, what if Felix can turn into a tiger because he's controlling his chi to take that form, forcing his body to follow suit?"
For a moment, the others stared at her in disbelief, their gazes intense. Gwen's cheeks flushed under the scrutiny. "Stop looking at me like that," she mumbled, tugging at the hem of her shirt. "It was just a thought."
Peter scratched his chin thoughtfully, breaking the silence. "Actually, that's... not a bad idea."
"It's not," Lizzy chimed in, resting her head lazily on Harry's lap. "But it could go horribly wrong. Imagine trying to shift your shape and getting stuck halfway."
"Fair point," Peter nodded, already picturing the dangers in his mind.
Felix, who had been quietly listening, turned toward Peter. "If Gwen can do that after just two days of practice, what could you do?"
Peter's lips curled into a smirk. "Glad you asked."
With a deep breath, Peter pressed his hands together, his eyes fluttering closed. An aura of electricity crackled around him, faint at first but quickly intensifying. The others watched in awe as Peter slowly levitated off the floor, his body rising several inches before settling into a meditative pose. His hands rested on his knees as he floated mid-air.
"Ommm… Ommm…" Peter intoned, exaggerating his meditation chants with a playful grin.
Harry's jaw dropped. "You can FLY?!" he practically shouted, his voice laced with both astonishment and jealousy.
Peter floated back down softly, his feet touching the ground once again. "Yeah, but it's only for a short time. If I fly for too long or push my power too far, I'll exhaust myself, and that's a huge vulnerability in combat."
Harry dramatically slapped the floor in frustration, his face twisted with envy. "I want to fly too!"
"You will… in time~," a mysterious voice echoed through the lab, sending a chill down their spines. The group froze, eyes darting around the room, startled.
Harry, now blushing with embarrassment, stammered, "That's… uh… not how I usually act, I swear…"
The air between them seemed to crack like glass, shimmering and warping. From the shifting space stepped the Ancient One, her entrance smooth and graceful, like she had simply walked through a mirror. A soft chuckle escaped her lips as she placed a hand near her mouth. "I believe you," she teased, her voice warm with amusement.
"Yeah, but I don't believe that you believe me," Harry muttered, his face turning even redder.
"Is everyone ready to go?" the Ancient One asked, her eyes scanning the group with a calm, knowing gaze.
They quickly scrambled to their feet, grabbing the books the Ancient One had lent them and slinging their bags over their shoulders. Some gave her a thumbs up; others nodded eagerly in response.
"Very well…" The Ancient One waved her hand, and a swirling portal appeared before them, its edges glowing faintly.
One by one, they stepped through the portal, which closed behind them with a soft hum. In a blink, they found themselves back in the Ancient One's meditative chamber. As soon as they arrived, their bags opened on their own, the books flying out and disappearing toward the library.
"Before we begin, does anyone have any questions?" the Ancient One asked, folding her hands in front of her.
Every hand shot into the air, a chorus of eager students ready to flood her with questions. The Ancient One smiled wearily. "Yes, I should have expected that…"
She turned first to Peter. "Mr. Parker, what would you like to ask?"
Peter grinned. "Could I learn more about runes? I feel like they could help me a lot."
The Ancient One nodded. "There should be some Asgardian rune books in the library. You may find them useful."
Peter pumped his fist in triumph. "Yes!"
"Ms. Stacy?" The Ancient One turned to Gwen.
"Is ice magic the only type of magic I'll be able to perform?"
"No," the Ancient One replied with a gentle smile. "But it will always be your strongest element."
"Thank God," Gwen muttered under her breath.
"Mr. Osborn?" she addressed Harry next.
Harry sat up straighter, his expression serious. "Why can't I unlock my chi?"
"Because of your insecurities," the Ancient One said without missing a beat.
Harry winced. "Ouch…"
"Ms. Watson?"
"I've studied the materials you gave me religiously," MJ began, her voice tinged with frustration, "but I'm still unable to unlock my chi or perform any of the Chi Psionics mentioned in the book. Why is that?"
"You are unaware of your third eye," the Ancient One explained. "Without that awareness, you cannot unlock it."
MJ pressed her hand to her forehead, looking utterly confused.
"Ms. Allen?" The Ancient One continued down the line.
"Can I use the microwave energy I control from the stars to strengthen Eldritch magic?" Lizzy asked, her tone curious. "In the book you gave us, it mentioned Eldritch magic originates from the stars themselves."
The Ancient One raised a brow, clearly impressed. "Very good question. Out of everyone here, you may very well become the strongest Eldritch magic user."
Lizzy blinked in shock. "Wait, what?"
The Ancient One turned to the next in line. "Mr. Parker Jr."
Felix chuckled. "Weird name, but okay. Do you know why my magic was sealed?"
"Because it has the power to alter reality to your whims."
Felix's eyes widened. "Wha–"
Finally, the Ancient One looked at Felicia. "Ms. Hardy?"
"Why was it so easy for me to unlock my magic?"
"What?" Everyone turned to Felicia in confusion.
Felicia grinned, holding up two fingers in a peace sign while sticking out her tongue. But when she looked at Peter, his spidey-sense flared, and he jumped back in surprise, staring at her.
Felicia clicked her tongue at his reaction and turned to Harry. Her hand shimmered silver, causing Harry to slip and land on his butt.
"What the hell?" Harry muttered as he got back up, everyone now staring at Felicia in shock.
The Ancient One smiled knowingly. "You've always had latent power, Ms. Hardy, tied to your quantum state. It was there even before the spider bite. You were already a human mutate, which made it easier for you to tap into magic. Your body was primed for something far beyond the ordinary, which is why unlocking your magic felt so natural."
Felicia winked. "Lucky me."
Then she paused. "Wait… is that why I was always so unlucky?" she asked, tilting her head in confusion. "I've been testing with Aria, and she mentioned I had magic to manipulate probability—mostly bad luck. So, is that why things always went wrong?"
The Ancient One looked at her thoughtfully. "Unknowingly, you were causing bad luck for yourself because you couldn't control your abilities."
"Motherf—" Felicia stopped herself, glancing at Felix. She bit her lip, stormed out, and moments later they heard her shout, "MOTHERFUCKER!"
She walked back into the room with a satisfied expression, as if she had gotten something off her chest.
"You've been unlucky?" Lizzy asked, confused.
Felicia started listing on her fingers. "Lost my dad young, constantly had to move, never had friends who stuck around—always thought I was after their boyfriends—was almost raped, watched a good friend nearly die twice… and now that I think about it, twice is really weird. I didn't even get any cool spider powers from the bite, still bitter about that. Oh, and I found out my 'missing' dad was murdered. Almost died to some deranged time villain."
She looked at her raised fingers, then added another. 'And worst of all, fell in love with a guy who has a harem. Seriously, that's the worst luck of my life.'
Everyone just stared, shocked. Felicia looked at her fingers in disbelief. "I'm so unlucky!" she cried, collapsing dramatically to the floor.
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A/N: I feel like I will have to explain this so that it would make sense, here in this universe Felicia's father was the one with the ability to cause bad luck, which was passed on to Felicia, their ability initially is on a quantum level that let's them slightly manipulate probability fields, however after the Spider bit Felicia it evolved her mutate, moving past the quantum level and into Magic, which I believe is the next step, she just wasn't aware, none of them were as they believe that her mutate was simply caused by the spider bite, I hope that makes sense… I feel like I'm fucking myself up with this.
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