Chapter 37. Mjolnir

"Lissandra, how far is the town from here?" Noah asked as he flew through the sky at Mach 4 speed.

After returning, he had made some improvements to the suit's acceleration system, increasing its speed even further.

"The destination is in the state of New Mexico, approximately 3,103 kilometers away. At your current speed, it will take about 36 minutes," Lissandra reminded him.

"36 minutes? That feels long," Noah thought. Even though covering over 3,000 kilometers in that time was already an incredible speed, he decided to find a way to arrive even faster.

Suddenly, he stopped, hovering in mid-air, and looked up at the sky. Space! If he could break out of the atmosphere, reach space, and accelerate there, where there's almost no resistance, he could achieve incredible speeds—perhaps even close to the speed of light. But first, he needed to find out if he could survive in space.

"Lissandra, can I survive in space?" Noah asked.

"Yes, Noah. I've already equipped the suit with a space survival function, so you can move freely in outer space," Lissandra replied.

"Great, that puts me at ease."

With that, Noah adjusted his course and shot upward toward the heavens.

Passing through the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere, Noah ascended rapidly. Lissandra transformed parts of the suit on his legs into rocket boosters to add additional thrust. As he climbed higher, air resistance decreased, and his speed increased.

After a few minutes, Noah stopped accelerating and looked around.

Before his eyes lay a magnificent blue sphere—Earth. Noah had fully entered space, free from Earth's gravitational pull. The extremely low temperatures and various forms of radiation posed no threat to him, thanks to his suit's protection.

"I can't believe I'm in space. This is amazing," Noah thought, admiring the view of Earth. He asked Lissandra to take a picture to capture the moment.

A portion of the nanomachines from his belt detached and formed a camera. The camera positioned itself and took a photo of Noah posing with Earth in the background.

"Well, time to head to the site of Thor's hammer," Noah said, recalling the nanomachines. After all, now that he had been to space once, he could always do it again—no need to linger here.

"Lissandra, you're in control now," Noah said, handing the flight plan over to Lissandra to avoid wasting time searching for the destination.

"Understood, Noah."

The armor on his legs once again transformed into rocket boosters, and they began accelerating through space. With no resistance, Noah reached an incredible speed, and the surroundings became a blur. Luckily, his suit, made from vibranium, could withstand the impact forces of these extreme speeds.

"We're here, Noah."

After a while, Lissandra began decelerating, and Noah, refocusing, looked back at Earth. The display on his helmet showed the marked location of Thor's hammer. He admired the cosmic scenery one last time and began his descent into the atmosphere.

A few minutes later, he saw a giant crater on the ground—the impact site of Thor's hammer. Around it, S.H.I.E.L.D. had set up a temporary camp, and a man with a bow—Hawkeye—stood on one of the watchtowers. He seemed to have noticed Noah.

"Lissandra, connect to Coulson's channel," Noah requested, seeing Hawkeye preparing to engage. He decided to contact Coulson to avoid any trouble.

"Connection to Coulson's channel established."

"Coulson, it's me, Noah, up in the sky."

"Noah?"

Upon hearing this, Coulson immediately stopped Hawkeye and the other guards before heading toward them.

"Coulson, what's going on?" asked Hawkeye, puzzled as to why Coulson had stopped him. After all, there was an unknown individual in a dangerous high-tech suit in front of them.

"Barton, remember I told you about our little prophet in the Director's office?" Coulson replied.

Hawkeye looked at Noah, who was descending from the sky, and said, "Are you sure that's not a mini Iron Man?"

Noah gently landed next to Coulson and Hawkeye, his helmet retracting to reveal his face.

"Good afternoon, Coulson," Noah greeted, leaving the helmet open but still wearing the suit.

"Good afternoon, Noah. The Director said you were coming, but I didn't expect you this soon. This is Hawkeye, Barton," Coulson smiled and introduced Noah to Barton. Although Coulson assumed Noah already knew Barton since, when discussing S.H.I.E.L.D. spies with Nick, Noah had mentioned Barton, Natasha, and himself.

"Hello, Barton. I'm Noah," Noah extended his hand, the armor shifting to reveal his palm.

"Hello, Noah," Barton shook his hand.

"Noah, why did you come here?" Coulson asked after they exchanged handshakes.

"Because of that," Noah pointed at the hammer below, inviting both to follow him down. Along the way, Coulson asked Noah about his armor, to which Noah gave the same response he had given to Nick.

The three of them approached the hammer, surrounded by S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists examining it. Many paused to stare at Noah, who was in his high-tech suit, amazed by his presence.

"Do you know what this is?" Coulson asked, watching Noah as he inspected the hammer.

Without answering, Noah tried to lift the hammer by the handle but to no avail. Before Odin had thrown it to Earth, he had placed an enchantment on it: only those who are worthy could lift the hammer and wield the power of Thor. And Noah was not one of them.

Not surprised by his failure, Noah decided to try something else. He focused the power of the World Rune within him, channeling it into his hand. The rune's energy began to radiate from his palm, enveloping the hammer. The hammer, which had been immovable until now, began to tremble slightly. This wasn't like an attempt to lift it—the hammer seemed to be reacting to Noah's power, almost as if resisting.

"Sir! The energy levels are spiking and have reached their peak!" one of the researchers in the lab shouted in panic over the communication line as they monitored the data.

At the same time, energy currents swirling around the hammer and Noah created a storm within the crater. Hawkeye and Coulson, standing nearby, began retreating, shielding their faces from the debris kicked up by the rising winds.

In distant Asgard, the Norse god Odin, who was deep in the Odinsleep, suddenly furrowed his brow, even with his eyes closed. He could sense the powerful energy interacting with his son's hammer, Mjolnir. However, being in the Odinsleep, he couldn't actively oppose this force and could only use the power within the hammer to resist.

"This power... Odin's?" Noah, gripping the hammer, felt a divine force pushing back against the intrusion of the rune's power. This force was undoubtedly the divine might of Odin, which he had imbued into the hammer when placing the enchantment.

At that moment, the power of the World Rune and Odin were in direct conflict. Noah realized that if he wanted to overcome the divine force, it would take considerable time, given his current mastery of the runes. Thinking this over, he withdrew the rune's energy, and the situation returned to calm.

"What exactly did you just do, Noah?" Coulson asked as he approached Noah, clearly shocked by what had just occurred. The temporary base had been partially destroyed by the storm, and many staff members were scrambling to gather scattered documents. Seeing the mess, Noah felt a bit awkward.

"I just conducted a small experiment," Noah clenched his fist and made a finger-heart gesture commonly used by men in Korea.

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