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*****
After listening to the explanation, Pietro finally understood that the small sphere was an incredibly valuable artifact. Even so, he remained deeply vexed by Fini's earlier prank—though he only dared to nurse his anger in silent resentment.
"Get ready. We're doing another round today!"
Fini paid no attention to Pietro's lingering sulk. He was determined to keep pushing the twins through their paces, hoping they would master their gifts as quickly as possible.
"Awesome!"
Pietro's excitement instantly surged back. Even though he knew deep down that he probably couldn't beat Fini, he fell into the exact same mindset Fini had when challenging the Ancient One.
An intrusive, optimistic thought kept whispering in his mind: What if? What if I somehow pull it off?
For this round, Fini still opted to use a standard Mirror Dimension. After all, there was absolutely no reason to unleash the Wicked Eye against the two of them.
During their second clash, the siblings' performance was noticeably better than before. They had even formed a rudimentary baseline of teamwork, indicating they had spent the past few days carefully strategizing on how to handle Fini.
Unfortunately, when faced with an overwhelming disparity in raw power, their tactical adjustments only allowed them to endure a little longer. The duel still concluded with their utter defeat.
Nevertheless, Fini was genuinely surprised that they could make such massive strides in such a short window of time. If they maintained this trajectory, it wouldn't be long before they could finally leave the confines of the laboratory.
"You both did great today!"
Fini began by offering a word of praise to the two of them as they sat gasping for air on the floor. He then meticulously pointed out the tactical blunders they had committed during the heat of battle.
Pietro and Wanda listened with absolute concentration. Having just personally experienced the staggering depth of Fini's strength, they took his critique to heart.
Since the twins were still fresh to their powers, their mistakes were numerous. By the time Fini finished breaking everything down, another half hour had slipped away.
"Alright, that's roughly everything. Think over what I said, and I'll head out for now!"
Ensuring he hadn't left anything out, a thoroughly parched Fini prepared to take his leave.
The siblings were still deeply immersed in processing the critiques, so Fini's words didn't immediately register. It was only when Fini stood up and walked toward the exit that Wanda snapped out of her thoughts and asked:
"Are you leaving?"
"Yeah. I'll drop by again in a few days. If you haven't made any progress by then, you'll have to face the consequences!"
Fini turned back with a nod, bid them a final farewell, and stepped out of the ward.
He originally intended to conjure a Sling Ring portal to head straight home, but recalling Helen Cho's flustered departure and Wanda's earlier remarks, he hesitated. Ultimately, he decided it would be best to say goodbye to her as well.
Arriving at Helen Cho's office, Fini rapped lightly on the door. A somewhat panicked cry of "Just a moment!" echoed from within, and it took a brief pause before the door finally swung open.
"Ah!"
Seeing Fini standing in the corridor, Helen, who had just managed to compose herself, instantly fell back into a state of mild fluster. She darted her eyes away and asked in a soft, timid voice, "Is something wrong?"
Staring at her demeanor, Fini realized that aside from being exceptionally beautiful, this brilliant geneticist was actually rather adorable. He chuckled softly and said, "I'm about to take off. Just wanted to let you know before I left."
"Oh!"
Hearing that Fini was leaving, a sudden, inexplicable wave of disappointment washed over Helen's heart.
Catching the shift in her expression, Fini couldn't help but add, "But I'll be back in a few days!"
"When exactly?" Helen blurted out, her head snapping up with an expectant gaze.
The moment the question left her mouth, she realized her reaction had been far too intense. Her face flushed a brilliant crimson, and she quickly cast her gaze downward, not daring to look at him again.
"Uh, probably in about five days," Fini replied after a brief calculation. After all, the twins needed time to absorb the lessons from their battles; pushing them too hard would only yield diminishing returns.
"Oh," Helen murmured softly, her head still bowed in deep embarrassment. She remained too shy to look up, and an abrupt silence settled over the room.
---
Sensing the atmosphere growing increasingly awkward, Fini suddenly felt a little self-conscious himself. He cleared his throat and broke the silence: "Well, I'll be on my way then. Also, don't push yourself too hard with work. Remember to get plenty of rest!"
"Mmh," Helen replied in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. Had it not been for Fini's enhanced hearing, he would have missed it entirely.
After bidding farewell to the thoroughly flustered Helen, Fini exited the facility, opened a portal back to his New York residence, and suddenly found himself with absolutely nothing to do.
Although the spaceship Tony was constructing was only a small-scale vessel, it was their first time building one from scratch. Even after all the individual components were manufactured, there were still countless phases of calibration, safety checks, and system diagnostics to run. It would likely be quite a while before they could actually launch.
As for his experience points, his rigorous testing at Kamar-Taj a few days prior had revealed a grim reality: the experience requirement for his tenth system draw was astronomically higher than he had anticipated.
If he relied solely on his current daily routine of skill practice to accumulate experience, it would take him roughly seven entire years to trigger the tenth draw. This staggering timeline made him lose all immediate motivation to find out what the next reward even was.
After weighing his options for a long time, he decided to shift his focus away from frantically grinding experience points. Instead, he would dedicate his time to maxing out his current pool of nine skills.
In truth, this was simply another method of gaining experience. Advancing a skill level provided an influx of points that was barely inferior to defeating a formidable adversary.
However, mastery was not an overnight achievement, leaving him momentarily stranded with no immediate task to occupy his time.
"In recent days, several prominent astronomers have predicted that an upcoming..."
Just then, a broadcast on the television caught Fini's attention. The Convergence of the Realms was fast approaching. Although the spatial disturbances weren't severe yet, minor anomalies were already manifesting across the globe, and a few sharp minds on Earth had begun noticing the patterns.
"I almost forgot. It seems that fellow Thor practically begged me for some help before!"
Fini suddenly recalled an incident from his time on Asgard. While sharing drinks with Thor, the Thunder God had ended up thoroughly in his cups. Amid a barrage of tears and dramatic laments about his love life, Fini recalled himself boastfully beating his chest, promising to help Thor sort out his relationship dilemmas.
"This works out perfectly to lay some groundwork for the Reality Stone..."
While Fini had absolutely no intention of acting as Thor's relationship counselor, he decided it was time to meet the girlfriend in question—Jane Foster. After all, she was the absolute linchpin to securing the Reality Stone.
The following day fixed Fini's destination at the university where Jane was currently based. During his stay in Asgard, Thor had frequently requested Heimdall to check in on Jane, so Fini had naturally gleaned her location.
By the time he arrived, Jane happened to be in the middle of conducting a public lecture. Fini chose not to rush things, blending seamlessly into the lecture hall among the students to observe.
However, his striking appearance made it incredibly difficult to stay low-profile. Not only did he draw a constant stream of sideways glances from the female students, but even Jane noticed immediately that he was a new face in her class.
Yet, having weathered her own share of extraordinary cosmic events and keeping her heart entirely anchored on Thor, Jane paid little heed to Fini's presence. After a brief note of curiosity, she simply continued her lecture.
Since astrophysics wasn't his field of expertise, Fini found the highly technical lecture rather mind-boggling. Compounded by the constant barrage of small notes being passed to him by surrounding students, he quickly began to regret choosing this specific approach.
With considerable effort, he managed to endure until the final bell ring. The moment class was dismissed, Fini moved decisively, intercepting Jane just as she packed her materials—effectively cutting ahead of a swarm of female students who were gearing up to strike up a conversation with him.
"Hello, Dr. Foster. I'm a friend of Thor's."
To bypass any unnecessary pleasantries or confusion, Fini directly dropped Thor's name. The revelation caught Jane completely off guard.
"Thor!? Which Thor!?"
Fini blinked, entirely taken aback by her phrasing. He asked instinctively, "Do you happen to know other Thors?"
Hearing this, Jane's posture instantly stiffened with nervous anticipation. She locked her eyes onto Fini and pressed, "This Thor you're talking about... does he carry a hammer?"
"..."
Fini stared at Jane, completely lost for words.
(End of Chapter)