My second day in this new universe saw me doing callisthenics following the knowledge I received from a little something called the Hercules Method.
See, the info dump that knocked me out the first time was the boons given to me by the Beyonders.
I'm not sure how they decided on what to give me, or even why, but I stopped trying to understand those pricks.
Long story short, I've got 3 sets of knowledge about some super sciences and training methods.
First is, as I've said, the Hercules Method. A training regime that is designed to bring the Body, Mind and Spirit in sync and then bring them to their pinnacle in the pursuit of one goal. It follows an extreme philosophy of Mind over Matter. Not to the point of a certain Manhunter, but still.
The next is how to create various Metals of the DC. Some of the important and overpowered substances that appeared a lot in the DCU; Promethium, 8th Metal, Nth Metal, etc. No Element X, I don't know if it's a good thing or not, because the requirement to create even the 8th Metal is so ridiculous that it's making me lose hope of reaching them any time soon.
The last one is what I think was the reason for my being knocked out cold the first time. Or maybe it was just the Cosmic Pricks being imprecise in some ways. It's mostly the quantity that is impressive. At least compared to the metals. It's the entire Tech tree of the Gundam universe. From the Gundams themselves, the GN Particles and Drives, AIs like Veda, the way to create their versions of evolved humans, every scrap of knowledge from that world is mine now. And that's not terrifying at all, no sire.
I could do a lot of things just with one of these. The third one can revolutionize the world with new 100% Green Energy, giant mechs as new weapons of war, and space vessels. Advanced sciences from a century in the future at least.
It's kind of a blessing that I got dropped here and not in a place full of easily accessible technology and parts, because I would've delved into tinkering the second I could with how many ideas I have.
So yeah three boons, of which two are useless for now
Which is why I'm doing callisthenics. It serves as a way to both get stronger and to calm my mind and plan for my future.
I have a primary goal, an endgame, and that is preventing Enigma from existing, which, to be honest, should already have worked because I'm breathing now, or it will go horribly wrong, and the guy is just playing with me from now on.
Honestly, knowing Nathaniel Essex's personality it could go either way.
My other goals are less dangerous but more complicated and delicate. The first is evident, make it so mutants at least have a defined society of their own. I'm a mutant now so this concerns me directly.
I'm not going to try to force the coexistence or the domination route. What the X-Men did with Krakoa, Arakko and Mars was something much more appealing to me, but it was built with the knowledge and certainty that it would fail. And it had Mr. Sinister so of course it went to shit.
The second is something that most people in my situation would do, try to better the world at large. The tech and knowledge from Gundam will be invaluable here.
The Solar Energy tech alone will help enormously with any future energy problem, and that's just the tip.
And that's all I came up with for now. Of course, there are various side objectives for every goal, but those need more information, because I can't trust my knowledge 100%. Marvel's timeline is screwy at the best of times, and that's without taking into account the retcons and cosmic entities messing with Time so that they get more stories.
Wait...am I susceptible to that now?
Honestly, it's been a day and I've already given myself more existential crises than I've had all my previous life. This world sucks.
"I see that you're already awake, Gabriel. How are you feeling this morning? " A familiar voice pulls me from my musing.
Turning around, I see Ororo approaching the spot in the garden where I was training. Clad in almost the same attire as yesterday, except for the added fabric to hide her upper body, but only just.
Never mind what I said before, this world is alright.
"I'm doing fine, excellent actually compared to before," I responded, smiling at her. " And you, how are you doing? I hope I haven't been too much trouble," I asked.
She smiled gently and shook her head. " You bring me no trouble, no need to fret." She then looked at me, as if analyzing me," You seem to already be active, training ?"
" Yeah, I needed to take my mind off my whole...situation and training my body seemed like the healthy thing to do." I shrugged, "And I need to build up strength to defend myself and use my power. Yesterday strained my body a lot." And that sucked, because I woke up today sore all over after my body crashed yesterday.
"Very, we shall add physical training and sparring when I start teaching you control over your abilities." That threw me out of the loop.
"You'll teach me ?" I asked a bit surprised.
"Of course, as you are now, you are a danger to yourself and others around you. You've gotten lucky till now, and you can't rely on that every time, it's going to run out sooner or later." She said sternly.
"Then I'll gratefully accept your teachings, Ororo," I responded, bowing my head slightly. And why not? This was one of the strongest mutants in existence. Her control over her power is almost perfect, and I'm not dumb enough to reject the offer, especially with how volatile my powers are. I wrecked things twice yesterday by accident. What's next– sneezing wrong and levelling a whole village?
I can't have that. I'm not going to fall into that sort of cliché tragedy trope to give myself some sort of trauma to learn the price of power or something as dumb. I know what my power represents, and I know the responsibility that I have.
"No need to be so formal, my friend," Ororo said and brought me back to the present. " It really doesn't suit you," She said with a slight curve to her lip.
I snorted at that. Can't really say anything to that.
" So when do we start ?" I said, a little eager.
" Not now. We shall break our fast, then you shall be assigned your duties for the coming days. Then, in the afternoon, we will begin your lessons. " She said as she shook her head.
This lessened my excitement somewhat but I didn't object. I was still a stranger here, and I'll make sure to follow the rules as best I can.
****
Helping repair what I've broken during the day only cemented my desire for control over my powers. To make sure collateral damage like this doesn't happen by accident.
This reminds me of the various fights and the destruction they bring to cities and such in this world. It's one of the many reasons for the distrust of heroes here, unlike in the DC universe.
Honestly, Marvel Heroes seems to just have terrible PR all around, and their saving the day at the cost of people's belongings only worsens it.
I mean, look at Spider-Man, arguably the most heroic guy in this world, the one guy who won't compromise his morals, and he still gets shat on by people because of either the media or the damage his Rogues cause because of him, even indirectly.
Don't even get me started on the X-Men, or sometimes the Avengers when they are on the bad side of the government, which is almost always the case, what with them being basically a PMC that can't be controlled in any way.
Anyway, the houses are mostly made out of wood, mud, grass and stuff of this variety. It's not exactly rocket science, and while it takes time, it is mostly a monotonous process. I'm not really any type of superhuman yet, so I can't really say I impressed them with my skills or something, but I was nothing if not stubborn when I set my mind to do something.
Ororo (unfortunatly) did not stay with us, as she had other duties to attend to in other surrounding villages.
While working with the women to repair the houses, I submerged myself slightly in my new sense. Not to outwardly use my powers or anything, but just to get used to it.
This facet of my power is always active, I've found out. It just gets reduced to white noise most of the time. I want to train this first, to give myself a little detection range, to try and not get ambushed by the absolute number of bullshit super-spies and assassins in this world. Or just some asshole that inexplicably sneaks up on you for no other reason than some plot convenience.
This world is going to turn me into a paranoid guy on the level of Batman, I swear.
***
At noon I was sent to help the men with the farm. There wasn't much to do, because they did most of their work in the morning, but still, no one would say no to another pair of hands in the field.
Hours later, soaked in sweat, grim and stuff I don't want to think about, I made my way to a nearby river to take a bath.
As I touched the water, I was surprised by the fact that I wasn't really cold. Thinking about it now, I haven't had any trouble with heat or cold since I woke up.
Does my power come with temperature regulation or something? Feeling inward to my reserve of energy, I "saw" it just the same as before, with a bit more energy in it. Looking deeper, I "saw" a small trickle seep into my body to keep me well heated.
Huh, neat.
There was still time before my lessons started so I took my time, just existing for a bit. The sound of nature was soothing and I felt completely at ease here and now.
I was even able to forget my situation for a bit before reality reinserted itself, and my energy sense picked up a pack of animals, probably predators, from my heat sense and speed, approaching my position.
Yeah, no. Not ready for that at all.
I quickly wore my loincloth, because that's apparently what they have for guests in my situation, and got the fuck out of here. I caught a glimpse of them, and there were a couple of hungry-looking jackals.
I returned to the temple/ garden where Ororo lives and found her meditating.
She raised an eyebrow when she saw me enter, all dishevelled and wet. " Our lessons are still not scheduled for at least some time, there was no need to hurry yourself like so, Gabriel." She curved her lips and continued, and sent me a meaningful glance," Or is it that you hurried yourself for me ?"
I blushed a bit at that. I guess I was obvious before. Curse you teenage hormones. " Yes-I mean no, there were some Jackals that were sniffing around and I decided to cut my bath short. No need to change your schedule on my account, I'll just find a way to distract myself for a bit." I said as I started turning. Her voice interrupted me.
"No it is maybe a good thing, dry yourself and come meditate with me. It will do you some good to listen to nature." She said. I turned to look at her questioningly and finally looked at her outfit for the first time, or rather the lack of it. This stumped me again.
"Do I, huh, need to be similarly clothed?" I asked, uncharacteristically formal for no reason at all.
" Yes, it shall double as, say a training against distractions." She said, smiling mischievously, knowing full well what she's doing to me.
Seriously what type of alternate universe did I end up in?