Seated in the spaceship's cockpit, Captain Marvel confirmed the return trajectory to Earth with Sunday.
Then, alone in her chair, she found herself lost in thought, replaying everything that had happened since she met William.
From being trapped in his setup at the desert base, to realizing his teleportation abilities on Mars and starting to take his strength seriously—
Then came the Mummy Princess and Set, and finally, today's banishment and destruction of Set.
The more Carol thought about it, the more convinced she became that she had walked straight into an elaborate scheme.
The most damning evidence was William's Sentinel Armor, which had absorbed her energy, turning a pale gold in the process.
At that moment, Carol had felt an energy fluctuation from the armor—a familiar wave that made it clear the armor was absorbing her power.
And now, with William conveniently "falling asleep" right after the battle, she knew he was avoiding her questions.
Meanwhile, inside the rest chamber, William lay face-down on the bed, but his mind was buzzing with excitement as he analyzed the Sentinel Armor's newly acquired abilities.
When designing the armor, William intentionally avoided installing an AI assistant, fearing that the armor's hyper-adaptive nature might allow it to develop self-awareness.
Instead, all control relied solely on his bodily movements, verbal commands, and mental signals.
Rather than directly interfacing with his conscious thoughts, the armor transmitted feedback through his mental perception, ensuring that it remained under his control.
Because of this, back when he had been sitting on the spaceship's cargo bay floor, merely clenching his fist had allowed him to clearly sense his newfound strength.
Yet, despite feeling a surge of power, he had forced himself to act weak, nearly slipping up in front of Carol.
To buy time and figure out his next move, he had chosen to feign exhaustion and "fall asleep".
Now that Carol had left him alone, he could finally test the armor's capabilities before deciding how much to reveal to her.
While maintaining a good relationship with Captain Marvel was beneficial—since she was powerful and easy to persuade when given a just cause—
if necessary, William was prepared for a confrontation, or even a heavy price to pay if things turned sour.
With that in mind, he focused on the armor.
To his surprise, he sensed that the armor was gradually absorbing the residual energy in the spaceship and even the Space Stone energy leaking from his own body.
Within minutes, the armor reached full capacity, prompting it to send a signal to William:
- Option 1: Stop absorbing energy.
- Option 2: Increase total energy storage by integrating more compatible materials.
Stopping energy absorption was simple enough. But integrating more materials?
Did that mean the armor could assimilate raw Sentinel material?
Realizing the implications, William was both thrilled and slightly terrified.
He immediately retrieved a spare Sentinel material block from his storage space.
These blocks were originally meant for self-repair, ensuring the armor's long-term combat endurance.
As soon as he placed the material in his palm, his armor instinctively injected its energy into it.
Within moments, the material disintegrated into nanoscopic particles and merged seamlessly into the armor.
Then, the armor relayed a new message to him:
- He could split off a portion of the enhanced material and store it separately for future use.
Without hesitation, William extracted a sample of the supercharged material and teleported it back to his X-17 base.
"Sunday," he ordered, "run a full test on this material."
"Understood, SIR."
As soon as the teleportation closed, William suddenly felt a strange connection to the material at X-17.
After pondering for a moment, he realized it was likely due to the Space Stone energy.
Since the armor had absorbed both Carol's power and the Space Stone's energy, it had likely gained some spatial properties—allowing him to sense materials linked to the armor across vast distances.
This raised a critical question:
If he secretly placed Sentinel material anywhere in the universe,
would he be able to teleport there at will, bypassing all physical barriers?
To test this theory, William instructed,
"Sunday, send a drone—with no communication capabilities—to carry the Sentinel material outside the base,
and fly it around an area I've never personally visited."
Moments later, with his eyes closed, William could feel the material moving through space.
Unfortunately, when he tried to command it to transform, nothing happened.
After thinking it over, he concluded that without an AI like Sunday, the armor lacked independent control.
However, this was actually a good thing—it meant he didn't have to worry about Sentinel materials developing self-awareness and going rogue.
As for its flight capabilities, he merely tested a short hover inside the rest chamber, mindful that Carol was nearby.
Then, lying back down, William calmed himself.
Since he was pretending to be asleep, he might as well get some actual rest.
Four Hours Later
After waking up groggily, William stumbled into the washroom and turned on the shower.
At his mental command, the Sentinel Armor retracted into his storage space.
Once he finished showering, a single thought summoned the armor back—this time, it morphed into a hoodie, sweatpants, and sneakers.
As he ate breakfast, William thought about how to explain things to Carol.
Holding a cup of instant coffee, he entered the cockpit—
Only to find Carol staring at him, her expression dark.
"...What's wrong?"
Feigning confusion, William quickly discarded any false hopes.
He knew the truth—to superheroes, their powers were sacred.
No hero could easily accept that someone had replicated their abilities.
Before Carol could speak, William cut her off,
"Carol, I... there's something I need to tell you first."
"What?" she asked, her expression unreadable. "Is this about Set?"
"No." William shook his head, realizing she was probing him.
Then, after a brief hesitation, he sighed, "Forget it. It's better if I just show you."
As soon as he finished speaking—
His hoodie and sweatpants morphed into a pale gold version of his Sentinel Armor.
He waved his hand, summoning a flame into midair.
Then, he reached into the fire—and as expected, the armor began absorbing the flames.
Within seconds, the pale gold gauntlet emitted a red glow, spreading up his arm before fully integrating into the armor.
Carol stared at William.
Her voice was calm, but her gaze was intense.
"...What exactly are you trying to tell me?"
[A special discount will be available from December 30th until Three Kings' Day.]
[Use 37B44 to get 33% off all levels until January 6th]
[Unlock +20 Advanced Chapters on Patre on. com /Mutter]
[For every 50 Power Stones, 1 Bonus Chapter will be released]
[Thank you for reading!]