Over the next few days, Peter's after-school routine changed.
Normally, he would head straight to the lab in the Stark Tower to continue his research, but because the relocation plan had entered its final stage, it was finally his turn to pack up.
So for now, Peter couldn't continue any of his projects—upgrading his suit, developing second-generation nano webbing, all of it had to be put on hold.
Even so, he didn't allow himself to sit idle.
Aside from his usual street-level patrols, he went to the New York Sanctum every day to learn the astral projection spell from Strange.
Yes—Strange eventually agreed to teach him, even though Peter wasn't becoming a sorcerer.
Would this be considered rebelling against the ancient rules?
But after some time studying, Peter started to doubt everything.
The Ancient One, Strange, and even Wong—who frequently appeared in the Sanctum—all agreed his magical aptitude was unusually high.
Yet for some reason, the doors of magic simply refused to open for him.
He hadn't even managed to learn the basic spell "The Rings of Raggadorr."
According to Strange, Peter simply could not feel the presence of extradimensional energy at all!
Had they all been wrong?
Did Peter actually have zero talent for sorcery?
But Strange told Peter that, in fact, his current state was very similar to Strange's own early struggles.
When Strange first arrived in Kamar-Taj, he also couldn't grasp anything.
The Ancient One had told him his understanding of the physical and material world was too deeply rooted, which blocked his ability to explore the mystic arts.
Now, Peter had likely run into the same wall.
In many ways, Peter's grasp of physical reality was far deeper and more rigid than Strange's ever was.
After all, he was a prodigy who, after stepping into the Mirror Dimension, immediately detected mathematical patterns within it—calculating angular velocities, spatial distances, and trajectories purely by sight, solving equations in his head.
Theoretically, that meant the barrier blocking him was even greater than what Strange had once faced.
Peter was frustrated, of course—but there was nothing he could do.
Soon, though, he pulled himself back together.
Because he realized: if he could analyze and counter attacks in the Mirror Dimension using math, then magic wasn't completely irrational or detached from the real world.
It had to follow some form of underlying logic.
If he could uncover these rules, perhaps he could understand magic through science—and eventually cast spells.
Besides, the glowing web inside his mind—the one that allowed his astral form to cross into other Spider-Men across the multiverse—was itself a kind of extradimensional mystical energy.
And he had one more special method available to him:
whenever he used the glowing web to travel.
During those moments, he naturally entered a state extremely similar to astral projection.
Maybe he could use that opportunity to examine the differences between his version of astral projection and the sorcerers' spell-based Astral Projection.
If he could identify the key difference, he might be able to uncover the reason he couldn't learn magic—
Or even forge his own unique path of sorcery.
Thinking this, Peter lay on his bed, glanced at the glowing web in his mind, and slowly sank into it—
This was a new world.
But despite being a different universe, it had the same Peter Parker, the same Uncle Ben who died because of Peter's mistake, the same Spider-Man who understood the meaning of "responsibility."
Though some things were different.
In this world, Peter gained his powers during a public exhibition by Farley Stillwell.
Dr. Farley Stillwell had invented a groundbreaking device called the Gene Re-Sequencer, capable of strengthening and healing living DNA.
During the exhibition, when Dr. Stillwell activated the device, a spider happened to crawl into the emitted energy wave—and it bit Peter.
On the way home, Peter realized he had gained superhuman strength, speed, agility, and the ability to cling to walls.
But unlike many other versions, Peter's first reaction to obtaining powers was:
He wanted to become famous.
He designed a Spider-Man costume, went on television, introduced himself to the world, and was later invited to a wrestling match to further boost his fame.
And with that, the gears of fate began turning.
After that, Spider-Man fought Lizard, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Scorpion, Kraven the Hunter, Green Goblin, Rhino, and Chameleon.Like the bully Spider-Man of Earth-96283, he was also bonded with a symbiote suit.
But in this world, the symbiote had a name:
Venom.
During the time he wore the Venom suit, Spider-Man did many impulsive, aggressive things—he even began to act unlike himself.
Realizing the symbiote was too dangerous to keep, he decided he had to remove it.
In a church bell tower, he finally separated from the Venom symbiote.
But the symbiote then bonded with Eddie Brock, who bore a deep grudge against him—thus creating Venom.
After a long struggle, Spider-Man eventually managed to separate Brock from the symbiote and launched the symbiote into space aboard a rocket.
But recently, he suddenly noticed something wrong with his body.
He was losing his powers.
Even worse, he read terrible news in the newspaper:
Doctor Octopus!
Mysterio!
Electro!
Scorpion!
Chameleon!
Rhino!
These six supervillains—each of whom he had previously arrested for different reasons—had all escaped from prison at the same time!
He didn't know whether this was the prison's negligence or something else entirely.
But he knew this much:for something like this to happen while his powers were failing—
was very, very bad.
He spent the entire night searching the city but found no clues.
As dawn approached, he realized Aunt May would worry if he didn't return.
Helplessly, he abandoned his search and prepared to go home.
But at that moment, his spider-powers vanished again.
After much difficulty and awkward maneuvering, he finally managed to sneak back home.He explained to Aunt May that he'd stayed up all night for "certain reasons," and under her worried gaze, he fell into a deep sleep.
Even in sleep, he was restless.
First, the Venom symbiote he had discarded came creeping back, trying to bond with him again while he slept.
Then the six escaped supervillains appeared, threatening even Aunt May.
Sensing his anxiety about the future, a glowing web quietly extended and connected to him—
(End of chapter)