"So, where exactly did you dump me?"
Amano Ren glanced around in a daze. The place was unfamiliar, a little like those overseas architectural styles.
He lowered his head and looked at his right palm. Between the lines there yawned a dark, fathomless black hole.
It seemed to be constantly rotating, now widening, now narrowing, dazzling to the eyes.
Just looking at it sent a chill crawling up his spine.
Amano Ren was from the Dragon Kingdom, twenty-t wo years under the red flag.
He had just graduated from college and was about to grab a bucket and head to the factory when a black hole suddenly popped out and sucked him in.
In there, he seemed to witness the birth and death of the universe.
The instant of endless cosmic explosions was so breathtakingly beautiful.
Then the blast surged toward him, and just as Ren thought he was finished, he arrived in this unknown world.
As he asked his question, a message drifted into his mind.
The black hole was the Primordial Forge, newly born beyond the true Fourth Wall.
A concept furnace that could smelt all beings and also create everything.
It could devour anything, extract the concepts or traits within, then return them to Amano Ren as abilities or objects.
The Primordial Forge surpassed all, even time and space.
It smelted nothing, yet created everything.
In theory, it transcended concept itself.
Of course, the Primordial Forge had only just been born. It needed to acquire enough data to complete its initial accumulation.
And Amano Ren had become its host.
"If that is the case, why did you send me here?"
Ren was speechless. You could have said so earlier. Why swallow me the moment we met?
Sitting at home, and a black hole drops from the sky like some abyssal monster.
[That world was too boring.]
It answered coolly.
"Boring? And this universe is fun?"
Ren was skeptical. He looked up again, then his pupils tightened.
"Holy crap. Stark Tower? You dropped me into Marvel?"
Stark Tower rose above New York, its distinctive shape and emblem impossible to forget at a glance.
Ren panicked. This was a world where gods walked the streets.
If there is a safe place, why not stay there? Why come here to deliver takeout?
[I know you are anxious, but do not be. Now that we are one, as soon as we complete the most primitive accumulation, we will transcend everything.]
Ren's expression shifted. "Will I still be me?"
[You will always be you. Your soul and flesh have been remade. You and I will be full of infinite possibilities.]
It sounded nice, but who knew if it was lying.
Ren muttered in his heart, wondering whether this thing had self-awareness. It seemed smart.
[You are me, and I am you. I cannot lie to myself.]
Short and to the point. Ren eased a little.
If that was true, was he talking to himself?
He shook his head. Useless to dwell on it now.
First time in Marvel, he was completely off the books.
What mattered most was making money. In a world of capital, money was everything.
But before that, he needed power.
Money was the foundation, yet power was the root.
"According to the Primordial Forge, I need to feed it things so it can grow?"
"So I am basically raising a pet?"
Ren shook his head, looked around, and patted his pockets.
One Huawi smartphone, a crumpled wad of paper, and that was it.
In the modern world, you can forget other things, but not your phone.
Without it, you can hardly move.
Given Marvel's peculiar tech tree, Ren did not expect a 2025 Huawi phone to be very advanced here. He casually tossed it into the black hole in his right palm.
Almost instantly, the Primordial Forge absorbed the phone, then spat out a few shafts of light that flowed through his palm and into his body.
The points of light strengthened his physique in a rush.
They spread through every part of him, with most pouring into his brain.
A faint message surfaced in his mind.
[Super Brain: absolute memory, powerful retrieval, super processing, parallel computation, and more.]
[Super Vision: clearly see an object the size of a basketball hundreds of meters away.]
[Super Perception: sense signals and movements undetectable to ordinary humans, including wireless fluctuations, heartbeats, breathing, and the size of objects.]
[Energy Control: precise control of energy and calculated distribution of consumption across regions.]
[Lightning Control: store and release electricity.]
[Network Manipulation: access the digital world at any time and easily exert a certain degree of control.]
[Super Agility: heightened flexibility, perform formerly impossible extreme motions, and command the body with greater finesse.]
[Electromagnetic Control: generate a magnetic field of certain strength and manipulate it.]
[Vibration: you can vibrate.]
[Body of Light: you can shine.]
[...]
Ren carefully felt the earthshaking changes in his body.
His heart surged.
All his awe condensed into two words. "So badass."
A mere phone had granted him so many practical abilities, turning him into a real Phone-Man in an instant.
What about other things?
In that moment, possibilities bloomed.
Infrared thermal imagers, X-ray inspection devices.
And of course various extraordinary insects and animals.
Plus all kinds of marvels in this universe, such as 084s or the Asgardian vault.
And the mysterious Infinity Stones.
Even superpowered beings and the Celestials themselves were targets he could devour.
Wind and moon, rise and flow. Start up.