The moment this thought surfaced, Gwen felt her worldview suffer an unprecedentedly violent shock.
But she didn't have time to think much right now, because her father outside the door was still worrying about her:
"Are you hurt? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?"
George really wanted to rush in immediately to check on his daughter's condition.
But since his daughter was all grown up, out of respect for her privacy, he restrained himself.
"I—I'm fine! I'll be okay in a bit." Gwen struggled to get down from the ceiling while trying her best to calmly deal with her father outside.
"Alright then, call me if you need anything."
Listening to her father's receding footsteps, Gwen finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Carefully trying to regain control of her body, after several attempts, she finally managed to retract the countless tiny barbs covering her limbs back into her body.
However, this also caused her to fall onto the floor with a thud... despite falling solidly from a height, she didn't feel the slightest bit of pain.
Clumsily climbing up from the ground, Gwen looked at her hands, feeling the seemingly inexhaustible new power within her body; the expression on her face was complex to the extreme.
Shock, bewilderment, fear, and a hint of... uncontrollable excitement.
It seemed her life had turned onto a completely unknown path tonight... At the same time Gwen was pitting her wits against her father, in another old house in Queens.
Peter was locking himself in his bedroom, engaged in a grueling internal struggle.
"One... two... three..."
He was lying on the ground, gritting his teeth, struggling to perform butterfly-wing push-ups.
His two thin arms were shaking like they were fitted with high-frequency motors; if not for the horse talisman, he was worried he'd fan himself into a cold... "...fourteen... fif... teen..."
After managing only a dozen or so extremely non-standard push-ups, Peter was completely drained, collapsing onto the floor in a spread-eagle position, gasping for breath.
Looking at his thin chest with ribs clearly visible, Peter's heart was filled with despair.
Weak!
Too weak!
This body was simply appallingly weak!
Although the horse talisman could instantly heal injuries and dispel the soreness after exercise, keeping his body free from lactic acid and ailments.
But it couldn't create energy out of thin air, nor could it directly increase his physical limits.
He was like a Soulslike protagonist with infinite health regeneration but a pitifully small stamina bar.
Though he wouldn't die easily, he'd run out of stamina and gasp for air after just a few steps or swings... While he could certainly transform from a weak high schooler into a muscular hunk at a speed far exceeding normal people if he persisted.
But God knows how long this process would take?
A month? Three months? Or half a year?
He couldn't wait that long!
As Gwen became Ghost-Spider, the "gears" of this World had already begun to turn slowly.
Those supervillains lurking in the shadows with various dangerous abilities would soon appear one after another, like sharks smelling blood.
Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Electro... Just thinking of these names made Peter's scalp tingle.
With his current weak constitution, a slight mishap or being grazed by the aftershocks of a battle would cause him to die on the spot.
Even the noble Horse, facing a pile of mush, could only shrug helplessly like a little bear... Relying solely on exercise to become stronger was simply too slow!
He had to find a way to gain great power in a short time!
Only then could he maximize the effectiveness of his system and create a snowballing virtuous cycle.
With that thought, his genius mind—which could even make "Iron Man" Tony Stank take notice—began to spin rapidly.
Before long, a flash of inspiration appeared in his mind!
Peter sat up from the floor with effort, a frightening light flashing in his eyes.
He thought of the lizard serum he took in the original sacrificial script, and the one his predecessor helped Dr. Connors complete in the normal Spider-Verse!
Once injected with that stuff, he would instantly gain violent power comparable to Spider-Man, super defense, and an almost perverse regenerative ability!
Of course, the price was equally massive.
He would lose his sanity, his genes would collapse, and he would completely turn into a cold-blooded monster that only knew how to kill and destroy!
Under normal circumstances, Peter would absolutely, absolutely, absolutely never touch such an extremely dangerous potion!
But now... sorry, the noble Horse expels all external forces from the body!
The power of the horse talisman can expel and repair all "abnormal influences" detrimental to the holder!
Whether it was genetic collapse or bestial dominance, it was just a piece of cake for the horse talisman!
As long as he activated the horse talisman's power while injecting the serum... the horse talisman would automatically eliminate all negative factors in the serum that were harmful to him, leaving only the purest and most essential strengthening effects!
In this way, the lethal lizard serum could transform into a super soldier serum just like Captain America's!
No!
It would be a Pro Max version even stronger than the super soldier serum!
Thinking of this, Peter's heart began to pound uncontrollably.
This was undoubtedly the optimal solution he could currently access to gain power quickly!
"To obtain the lizard serum, I must help Dr. Connors overcome the Decay Rate Algorithm, just like in the normal Marvel Universe movies!"
"And the key to completing the Decay Rate Algorithm is left in my parents' heirloom briefcase!"
With that thought, Peter immediately opened his bedroom door, first running downstairs somewhat weakly to devour the leftovers of dinner like a whirlwind.
Then, after greeting Uncle Ben, he went to the old attic filled with the smell of decay and mold.
After a thorough search in the attic, Peter finally dug out that old briefcase.
The briefcase was densely packed with countless mathematical formulas and biology papers that would make an ordinary person's head spin.
If it were the Peter from before the transmigration, even if he got this pile of stuff, he could only treat it as some not-so-soft toilet paper.
But now, with the genius mind left by his predecessor, the effect was completely different.
Returning to his room with the briefcase, Peter began to read late into the night.
Flipping through his parents' legacy, which seemed like a heavenly book, when he turned to a certain page, a system notification suddenly appeared before his eyes:
[Detected a deep blue item that can be sacrificed: original manuscript of the decay rate algorithm]
[Item Description: Peter's most cherished heirloom from his parents. It is also the key that helped Curt Connors develop the lizard serum and led Norman Osborn and Harry Osborn to become the Green Goblin. It holds significant commemorative and plot-driving importance.]
[Sacrifice to obtain points: 3000. Do you wish to sacrifice?]
Holy crap... that's a sweet deal?!
If it were the original Peter, no matter how valuable this manuscript was, he would never choose to sacrifice it.
But today's Peter was clearly different!
He had no feelings for the so-called parents he had never met, so naturally, he didn't care about the so-called commemorative significance of this manuscript.
Therefore, Peter made his choice without hesitation.
He casually transcribed the contents of the manuscript, and after repeatedly confirming there were no errors or omissions, he directly chose to sacrifice it...