Half price!
Catching that keyword, Peter's heart exploded with pure joy.
Without even a shred of hesitation, he immediately shouted in his mind:
"Purchase Random Talisman, Choose One of Three!"
[Purchase successful!]
[Talisman extraction in progress...]
The moment the system prompt ended, the panel before Peter's eyes shifted and transformed.
Three ancient, octagonal stone phantoms slowly materialized.
They floated quietly in mid-air, like three mysterious doorways leading to the unknown.
Peter felt like his heart was being squeezed by an invisible hand, every beat heavy as a drum.
Controlling his thoughts, he tremblingly "unveiled" the phantom of the first talisman.
On the front of the talisman, an emerald green spirit snake totem glowed faintly.
[Snake Talisman: The holder can turn themselves invisible along with surrounding people and objects.]
Ugh.
The corner of Peter's eye twitched violently.
Classic terrible start.
Invisibility.
In the Marvel Universe where heavy hitters were everywhere, this ability was a toy among toys. Supervillains like Chameleon or Mysterio could easily pull off way better invisibility.
Among the twelve talismans, this thing was pure NPC-tier.
After taking a deep breath, Peter suppressed the frustration building in his chest and continued using his thoughts to unveil the second talisman.
This time... the front of the talisman showed two symmetrical, opposing white tiger patterns.
[Tiger Talisman: The magic of the balanced Tiger can harmonize all powers within the user's body, but when the talisman splits, it also divides the user into good and evil sides.]
Oh, come ON!
Peter's vision went dark—he genuinely wanted to find a rope and hang himself right now.
If the Snake Talisman was for NPCs, then the Tiger Talisman was even more worthless!
The Tiger Talisman's whole function was balancing the powers of other talismans. Without other talismans, a single Tiger Talisman had basically zero practical value.
Damn it, did he seriously pull the two most useless talismans possible?
Were his five thousand points and first-order discount gonna go down the drain just like that?
No way... he didn't want that!
Peter paused before unveiling the third talisman. His gaze drifted uncontrollably around the swaying bus, trying to find something to distract himself and calm his nerves that were on the verge of snapping.
After looking around, his eyes finally landed on Gwen beside him.
Gwen was currently leaning quietly against his shoulder, her beautiful brows—which had been furrowed in pain—relaxing slightly.
It seemed like as long as she stayed by his side, the girl could draw some sense of peaceful comfort.
Looking at Gwen's pale, sweat-covered face, Peter's irritable mood miraculously settled down a bit.
He thought about Gwen's fate as Spider-Woman. After getting Spider-Man's powers, the girl beside him wouldn't be happy.
Losing her love, losing her father, carrying the crushing weight of "with great power comes great responsibility," only able to lick her wounds alone in the dark... her future would be filled with pain and sacrifice.
As a transmigrator, Peter absolutely refused to let the girl beside him walk that brutal path of destiny again.
He might not become the happiest Spider-Man, but he'd at least make Gwen the happiest Spider-Woman!
Come on! He didn't believe someone could have terrible luck over and over again!
Time to leave the unlucky club and join the winners—starting today!
Taking a deep breath, Peter "unveiled" the phantom of the third talisman without any hesitation.
This time, he didn't close his eyes.
Instead, he stared fixedly at that void until a faint purple brilliance bloomed from within.
In the light, an exceptionally majestic horse head totem slowly emerged!
[Horse Talisman: The noble horse expels all external forces from the body! Owning the Horse Talisman can expel all abnormal influences caused by external forces within the holder's body, and can even repair any damaged items!]
It's actually the Horse Talisman!
Peter stared at the Horse Talisman before him, an incredibly complicated emotion surging through his chest.
Wild joy and regret intertwined, giving him an expression caught somewhere between laughing and crying.
The joy was that the healing ability of the Horse Talisman was undoubtedly top-tier among all the talismans!
Even if it wasn't the absolute best, it was at least god-tier!
Heals everything, expels all diseases, repairs everything!
In the danger-filled Marvel Universe, having the Horse Talisman was equivalent to having a Guardian Angel with infinite uptime!
As long as he still had a breath left, the Horse Talisman could drag him back from death's door!
The regret, however, was that... this ability couldn't immediately boost his combat power.
Compared to the Dragon Talisman's combustion, the Rabbit Talisman's godspeed, or the Ox Talisman's strength, the Horse Talisman was more like a top-tier support ability.
For Peter, who was desperately craving power right now to escape his "death flag script," this felt somewhat counterproductive.
"Forget it, a support god is still a god..."
"Spending only five thousand points to pull one of the top abilities among the twelve talismans is already insane luck!"
Though he felt conflicted, Peter made his decision instantly.
The Snake Talisman's ceiling was way too low; the Tiger Talisman was the weakest of the weak.
The Horse Talisman was the best choice right now!
And... Peter's gaze instinctively fell to his side.
As the genetic restructuring progressed, Gwen's cheeks showed an unhealthy flush, her breathing was rapid and labored, and tiny beads of sweat broke out across her forehead.
She was enduring massive pain!
Plus, this whole process was full of uncertainty.
In the animated Spider-Man series, Peter had once turned into a spider monster due to genetic mutation.
Right now, nobody could guarantee Gwen would definitely make it through this dangerous period safely.
But now, with the Horse Talisman, that worry could be easily solved.
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the 'Horse Talisman'!]
The moment the system prompt sounded, Peter could clearly feel his intimate connection with the Horse Talisman.
This connection was even stronger than Shendu's had been!
The current Peter had absolute control over the Horse Talisman.
The power of the Horse Talisman merged directly into his body—it didn't even need to exist in stone form.
After roughly sensing the Horse Talisman's power, Peter looked down at Gwen, who kept shivering from pain, and without hesitation reached out and pressed his hand against her forehead.
"Don't be afraid, Gwen."
Peter leaned close to Gwen's ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"I've got you."
In the next second, gentle magic with a hazy white glow emerged from Peter's palm and was slowly channeled into Gwen's body.
As the Horse Talisman took effect, the pained expression on Gwen's face slowly faded, and she drifted into a deep sleep leaning against Peter's shoulder...
The bus slowly stopped at the entrance to Peter's house.
Peter hesitated for a moment and decided to take Gwen home first so she could get some proper rest.
He originally wanted to pull off a romantic princess carry, but he totally underestimated how pathetically weak his current body was.
Even though Gwen barely weighed a hundred pounds, he was already gasping for breath after carrying her less than thirty feet.
Out of desperation, he could only switch to giving Gwen a piggyback ride.
The girl's soft body pressed against his back, but Peter's mind didn't have any romantic thoughts—only increasingly intense frustration and resentment.
Damn it, he seriously couldn't stand this weakling body for even one more second!
Show Some Supports By Giving Powerstones
Next BONUS CHAPTER at 200 powerstones