Chapter 125

[Third Person's PoV] 

After making his presence known and taking down a few troublesome people, Peter returned to the hideout. Upon entering, he saw Felicia taking down a couple of drones with her sharp bone claws extending from her fingers.

"Narly claws, Cat," Peter said as he entered the training room.

"It's no lightning or ice," Felicia grumbled.

MJ was seen practicing her web-shooting, aiming for some drones as well, while Harry was doing gymnastics around the place. Gwen was off to the side, taking notes like a doctor.

"Is someone unhappy with their ability?" Peter teased.

"Hell yeah, I'm unhappy! Listen to this: I'm like a disabled spider-person thing. I can't shoot natural webs or turn invisible, but I can see in the dark, have a stronger healing factor, and these claws hurt," she said, withdrawing her claws and then extending them again.

"Sounds like a fair trade-off," Peter shrugged.

"Fair trade-off my butt! I want to throw ice, breathe fire, shoot lightning from my hands," Felicia whined.

"I would kill for some bone claws. Are you kidding me?" Peter scoffed.

Felicia looked at Peter with a straight face. "Look me dead in the eyes and tell me honestly that you would give up your lightning for bone claws."

Peter scratched his chin before turning towards MJ. "So what did you gain?" he asked, ignoring Felicia.

Felicia clicked her tongue. "Coward."

MJ just stared at Peter. 'I can do this,' she thought.

Peter's eyes widened as he heard her voice inside his head. "Holy mother of God, you're a telepath!?"

"Nope," Gwen answered. "Already tested that with Harry. She can communicate with spiders. Since we are part spider, we can hear it, but since Harry isn't, he can't. It shows she only can communicate with spiders."

"I see, so that's why you reacted weirdly to daddy long legs," Peter nodded.

MJ sighed. "It's not as cool as the others."

"Are you kidding? You can practically command an army of spiders to do whatever you desire."

"I'll ask the same question as Felicia: would you give up your lightning—"

"So Harry, my guy! What can you do?" Peter said, shifting the conversation. He began to sweat as he felt MJ burning a hole at the side of his head.

Gwen repeated what they found out about Harry's power. "And not to mention he gained an instinct for parkour due to his gorilla genes."

Peter nodded in understanding. He opened his mouth to say something when they all jumped, startled by Aria's shouting.

"AND IT'S COMPLETE!!! DADDY! DADDY! COME AND TRY IT OUT ALREADY!"

"Jesus, Aria, you almost gave me a heart attack," Peter said, holding his chest.

They found Aria's hologram jumping and cheering with excitement.

"So it's finally done, huh?" Peter said with a smile. "That's great."

MJ and Felicia looked confused while Gwen and Harry had small smiles on their faces.

"What's done?" MJ asked.

"My greatest invention yet," Peter smirked.

"Before anything, Gwen, Harry, and I need to change into our unstable molecule fiber suits. So, brb," he said, walking off with Harry and Gwen following him.

"Come, follow me," Peter said when he returned, wearing a snug suit.

As they followed him, MJ leaned towards Gwen. "Do you know what he's talking about?"

Gwen nodded. "Yes, but I won't say," she smirked.

They soon arrived in Peter's workshop. Peter walked towards a wall and double-tapped it.

"You have a secret place in your own workshop?" Felicia said with an amused and bewildered expression as it slid open, revealing another room.

"Yeah, you can never have too many secret doors, I always say."

Inside, they found large capsules that looked like tanning beds. Toward the back wall was a large monitor with Aria's face.

"Why are there six?" Peter asked in confusion.

"I just doubled the original number since I thought more was better. You never know what may occur, and I'm glad I did," Aria said, looking at MJ and Felicia.

"So your greatest invention is a tanning bed?" Felicia asked with a raised brow.

Peter scoffed. "No, my greatest invention is obviously Aria. This is actually my second greatest invention."

"Awww, daddy," Aria said, giggling happily.

"It's virtual reality."

"Virtual reality!?" MJ and Felicia exclaimed, looking at Peter in shock.

Peter nodded. "Yes, that's a VR capsule that transfers our consciousness to a virtual world Aria created. In that virtual reality, time works differently. Five hours in the VR world is only five minutes in the outside world. Apart from that, it can transfer information directly to our brain, but we have to do it slowly. Too much information too quickly can kill the brain, making us brain dead."

He continued, "And apart from that, the inside of the capsule has muscle stimulators. It sends electric shocks through our muscles according to the activities we're doing inside. So, if we're practicing martial arts, it helps develop muscle memory. We can still get tired from practicing in there, but with our healing factors, we tire less quickly than a normal person."

"The muscle stimulators are new," Gwen noted.

"I thought of it recently," Peter said proudly. "Well then, what are you guys waiting for? An invitation? Let's get in." Peter walked towards one of the capsules and got inside.

They all exchanged nervous glances before getting into the capsules themselves. The doors closed automatically, and they heard a lock click before feeling something wet around their toes.

Looking down, they saw a green liquid rising. "Peter! What is this liquid?" Felicia asked nervously.

"Oh, those are just nutrients to keep our bodies healthy. Don't worry," Peter reassured. "Ready, Aria?"

"Yes, Daddy!" Aria replied happily.

"LINK ON!!" they both shouted with giant smirks.

They felt their consciousness leave their bodies, and when they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a vast white space.

They suddenly heard the pitter-patter of little feet behind them. Turning around, they saw a little girl, about five years old, with light lavender hair and four spider legs on her back, running towards them with a giant smile on her face. She jumped into the air and into Peter's arms. "DADDY!"

"ARIA!" Peter yelled excitedly, spinning her around in circles.

"Hehehehehe!!" Aria giggled, her arms spread out.

Felicia turned to everyone and mouthed, 'What the fuck?'

Everyone tried their hardest not to laugh.

Peter brought Aria close, and she snuggled into his chest. Carrying her in his arms, Peter turned to the others. "Everyone, meet my daughter, Aria Parker!" he said proudly.

Aria covered her mouth and giggled. She jumped out of Peter's arms and did a little princess bow, pretending to hold the hem of a dress. "Hello, Aria Parker, officially at your service," she said proudly.

"Awww~" Gwen cooed, picking her up.

"Salutations, Mommy!" Aria said, raising a hand.

"Wow, that feels... abnormal," Gwen said with a small smile.

Aria then turned to Harry, offering a fist bump. "Sup, Uncle Harry."

"Pfttt, Uncle Harry," Harry chuckled, returning the fist bump. "Sup to you as well, Aria."

"Mother Mary Jane," Aria nodded towards MJ.

MJ pinched her little cheeks. "Call me MJ."

"Mother?" Harry asked in confusion. He understood why Gwen was called Mommy, but he thought Aria would call MJ aunt or something.

Everyone turned towards him as Felicia chuckled. "Oh my God, Harry doesn't know. I can't believe I knew before Harry! Ha!"

"Know what?" Harry asked, still confused.

MJ grew bashful while Peter awkwardly scratched his cheek. "I seem to have accidentally built a harem."

"Stop calling it a harem," MJ and Gwen said plainly.

"Out of everything I've learned today, that is the most shocking," Harry said, a bit speechless. "So, the three of you... Wow!"

"You lucky mother—" Harry started, but stopped as MJ and Gwen gave him straight faces. He cleared his throat. "I mean, congrats," he said awkwardly.

Aria jumped from Gwen's arms to Peter's shoulders, happily kicking her little feet.

"So, shall we begin your actual training? Warning: you can actually feel pain in here. Aria, what percentage are the pain receptors at?" Peter asked with an evil grin.

"Hehehe," Aria giggled sinisterly before a percentage appeared out of nowhere. "100 percent!" she declared with the same evil grin.

"Aria, start off with the basic information about martial arts," Peter said.

Aria nodded, and Harry, Felicia, and MJ held their heads in pain as information flooded their minds.

"Why does this hurt so much?" Felicia groaned, rubbing her temples.

"Aria, create opponents for them of the same strength and abilities," Peter instructed, and three faceless puppets appeared, each in a fighting stance.

"So do we just start—ugh!" Harry's question was cut short as a puppet's fist blurred and punched him in the face.

Harry took on a boxer's stance, following the information he'd received. Peter continued to give instructions to Aria. "Create more puppets, and give some of them weapons. When it seems like they've learned and can perform the implanted moves correctly, give them the next stage of information."

As more puppets appeared, they all rushed towards everyone, leaving Peter and Gwen alone. Peter shouted, "Oh, by the way! If you die here, you die in real life, so good luck!" He gave them a large smile and a thumbs up.

"What!!" they all shouted, dodging and blocking their opponents' attacks.

Gwen whispered to Peter, "Are you being serious?"

Peter leaned in and scoffed, "No, I just don't want them to get accustomed to dying, dulling their sense of reality."

Gwen nodded in understanding, looking at her hands as frost started to accumulate. "You managed to bring the sensation of using our powers into the virtual world?"

Aria smiled at Gwen. "It's because of the biosensors you created. I was able to replicate everything in your bodies perfectly."

Gwen looked impressed. "I never thought it would be used for something like this."

Peter asked Gwen about her plans. She responded, "Well, I did say I wanted to know what it's like to be a doctor, so I'll probably use my time to try that out. What about you?"

"I always wanted to learn swordsmanship," Peter said proudly.

Gwen rolled her eyes in amusement. Peter scratched his cheek. "But apart from that, I'll be using this extra time to come up with the formulas to create an artificial sun."

"You're still on that?" Gwen asked, thinking Peter had been joking.

Peter nodded. "It's possible. I need to calculate gravity, the effect on the electromagnetic field, power output, radiation release, stability, and thermal energy output."

"Wait, you're serious?" Gwen asked, surprised.

Peter nodded. "I can't keep using my bio-electricity as a power source. I couldn't get started before due to our hero work. Now, with all this extra time, I can finally get started."

"Unbelievable," Gwen muttered. She softly put her hands under his chin and kissed his cheek. "Well, if anyone can create an artificial sun, I know you can."

Peter playfully covered his eyes and started swaying side to side. "Gosh, Gwen honey, you're making me blush."

Gwen giggled and walked away. "Aria, can you isolate the space around me?"

"I'll take you to another server so you can study and practice in peace," Aria said.

"That would be lovely," Gwen nodded.

"Aria, whiteboard," Peter said.

A white screen appeared before Peter. "It will grow as you write," Aria explained.

Peter nodded and started writing with his fingers, ignoring the painful screams behind him. "We need to calculate the density and mass of the sun and also its rotation," he muttered as his fingers moved. "We need to calculate the effect of the speed of rotation on gravity and the sun's gravitational pull. It can't be too slow, or it won't offer the required energy and will die out, but it also can't be too fast, or it will turn into a black hole, which would be catastrophic. I need to calculate it to the very decimal; the slightest miscalculation could end up as a catastrophe."

Peter continued muttering to himself, completely absorbed in his work. "Magnetic fields... right, we need a stable containment field. Something like a tokamak or a stellarator, but on a much larger scale. We'll have to generate powerful magnetic fields to contain the plasma, and they need to be precisely controlled. Any instability could lead to a breach."

He paused, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Electromagnetic field equations... Maxwell's equations will help model the field dynamics. But we also need to factor in the plasma behavior, the Hall effect, and the effects of turbulence."

His fingers flew across the whiteboard, writing down integral and differential equations. "Energy conversion... we need efficient heat exchangers to convert the thermal energy into electricity. Thermoelectric materials? Maybe, but we also need to look into advanced materials that can withstand extreme temperatures."

Peter's eyes gleamed with excitement as he scribbled more notes. "Radiation shielding... the artificial sun will emit intense radiation. We need materials that can effectively block or absorb this radiation to protect anything in its vicinity. Maybe a combination of lead, boron, and some advanced composites."

He took a deep breath, reviewing his calculations. "Fuel supply... continuous fusion requires a steady supply of hydrogen isotopes, deuterium, and tritium. We need a system to extract, process, and supply these isotopes efficiently. Electrolysis of water for deuterium... maybe lithium breeding blankets for tritium."

Peter's muttering grew more intense. "Cooling systems... high-efficiency cooling to dissipate the heat generated. Liquid metal cooling might work, but we also need redundancy to prevent overheating."

He paused again, staring at the intricate web of equations and diagrams. "Automation and control... we can make another A.I but one not as advanced as Aria to monitor and adjust the parameters in real-time. Something that can handle massive data streams and make split-second decisions."

Peter's hand moved faster, almost a blur. "Safety protocols... emergency shutdown procedures in case of a malfunction. We can't risk a runaway reaction or a containment breach. Redundant systems, fail-safes, and backup power supplies are essential."

He stepped back, looking at the vast whiteboard covered in his meticulous notes. "This... this is just the beginning. There are so many variables, so many unknowns. But it's possible. I can do this."