Chapter 148

The power of the Beyonder is extremely vast.

He is the manifestation of an entire native universe, conceptually equivalent to the sum of the abstract entities—of course, not at a multiverse level but at a single universe level, which is a form of projection.

Therefore, the peak power of the Beyonder far surpasses that of any individual at a single universe level, reaching unparalleled heights.

However, he has not reached the level of a multiverse.

Throughout, his power has been confined only within his universe.

And because he lacks physical form, merely a manifestation, even as his power continuously diminishes, his control over the several derivative universes he created weakens substantially. Once departing from his native universe, he diminishes like a deflating balloon.

With the continual decline of the native universe, this situation only exacerbates.

In fact, even without Mark's appearance, in about four to five years, the final remnants of this Creative universe would completely vanish.

And now, the Beyonder has handed it over to Mark prematurely.

Before the demise of this universe, Mark, within this universe, becomes an omnipotent existence whose strength reaches the peak of a single universe level!

But the moment he leaves this world, his power will significantly decrease, steadily reducing to his original level.

At first glance, this deal seems like a loss.

After all, in just a few years, this world will cease to exist completely, and the power cannot be taken elsewhere. So, what's the use?

Oh no, according to the agreement between Mark and the Beyonder, they are to undergo a "Secret War" trial here.

That would require a considerable amount of energy, perhaps accelerating the consumption of this world as well.

From this perspective, it seems utterly unprofitable.

But, in reality, it's not like that.

Firstly, even though this time is incredibly brief, it can open a door to the peak for Mark.

It's akin to climbing a mountain.

The first way is to start climbing from the foot of the mountain, blindly making your way up. The second is to take a helicopter directly to the mountaintop.

Climbing blindly, you're uncertain what lies ahead—there might be cliffs or dense thorns that force you to detour. Without a clear direction, you might never find the true path up the mountain.

But the second method is different.

At the summit, you can see the whole picture, identifying where the terrain is gentle, where to turn, and where there's no danger.

You can even estimate how high the mountain is and where you're positioned!

With a clear plan, isn't climbing much easier?

That's not all.

Mark has not gained nothing practical from this.

After all, this is authority over a universe.

Following the patterns of other universes, he divided this authority piece by piece, ultimately obtaining six artifacts.

They are: Space Stone, Power Stone, Time Stone, Reality Stone, Mind Stone, and Soul Stone.

These six are the famous Infinity Stones, each wielding authority over their respective attributes within this universe.

The Space Stone can freely move oneself or any object to any space, or perform operations like separation, cutting, distortion, or recombination on any space, all while containing immense energy.

The Tesseract in the Avengers is the Space Stone.

Similarly, the Power Stone contains immense energy, which can enhance other stones or grant the user incredibly strong physical attack and defense capabilities.

It appeared in the Guardians of the Galaxy and was hidden within a sphere.

The Time Stone was hidden within Doctor Strange's Eye of Agamotto, allowing the user to traverse any point in time. When used as a weapon, it can manipulate time, trapping enemies in an infinite time loop.

This was a significant tool for Doctor Strange, but unfortunately, the stone was lost later on.

The Reality Stone primarily functions to alter reality, turning fantasies into reality. For instance, in the Avengers movie, Thanos turned Star-Lord's weapon into a bubble gun, displaying a rather twisted sense of humor.

However, the Reality Stone tests the abilities of the user.

In the Avengers movie, Thanos used the Reality Stone to turn Star-Lord and his companions into sliced dice, but shortly after leaving, they reverted to their original forms.

Theoretically, such an outcome shouldn't occur.

Either Thanos chose not to harm them, or he didn't know how to use it, turning them temporarily into a "false reality."

The Mind Stone can influence the thoughts of others or enhance the user's mental and psychic abilities.

After its creation, Mark drilled a small hole into it and placed it in his head, continuously stimulating it with his mental power, thus exercising his psychic abilities.

Although in this world, his psychic abilities were amplified to infinity, making it hard to perceive the effects, in reality, the Mind Stone constantly strengthened him.

Once he leaves this world, he will truly sense its actual impact.

Lastly, the Soul Stone, among the six Infinity Stones, is the most mysterious.

It's considered mysterious because it wasn't extensively used in most MCU works.

However, it is actually the earliest appearing Infinity Stone!

Its primary abilities include extracting and manipulating souls, commanding spirits, and emitting shockwaves to attack souls, among others.

But its most significant function is as a gateway to a pocket universe.

It can imprison the target soul in this soul world while providing the user access to the imprisoned memories and skills.

For a single universe, these stones are almost the most powerful treasures.

In the Avengers, Thanos, after collecting all six Infinity Stones, eliminated half of life in the entire universe with a snap!

But for this, Thanos paid a massive price. After two snaps, it nearly cost him his life (the first was wiping out half of life, and the second was destroying the Infinity Stones).

However, Mark can now use them at will.

However, the Infinity Stones also have their limitations.

They cannot affect the multiverse.

The Infinity Stones represent the authority of their native universe. Once outside their native universe, they quickly lose their effects, becoming as ordinary as stones, until returning to their original universe to regain their powers.

The destruction of a universe like this universe is an irreversible act.

Although theoretically, they could be used to restore the universe to a point with life, it would merely be an illusion, and this universe would still cease to exist completely in a few years.

From this perspective, the Infinity Stones are also useless.

However, everything has two sides.

As a manifestation of a specific authority, the Infinity Stones, despite having the aforementioned fatal flaws, have been transformed into entities more like energy storage devices. Hence, theoretically speaking, they can be taken out of this universe!

It was this very idea that led Mark to create them and inject energy into them during their creation.

The energy contained within a single Infinity Stone is enough to allow him to exhibit the peak power of a single-universe level in other universes.

Based on his perception of the remaining energy in this universe, as long as it doesn't affect his agreement with the Beyonder, he can create about three sets of such Infinity Stones, which means three of each kind.

It must be manufactured as a set to maintain the universe's balance.

If the balance is lost, this already fragmented universe might prematurely cease to exist.

With these eighteen disposable versions of the Infinity Stones, he essentially has a life-saving trump card. Even if faced with individual members of the inheritor family, he no longer needs to worry about being unable to defeat them.

From a performance standpoint, apart from the family leader who possesses multiversal-level abilities, the others in the inheritor family are mostly around the single-universe level.

Moreover, radiation can significantly weaken their abilities.

Properly handled, they can be defeated.

Speaking of the inheritor family...

Mark narrowed his eyes.

In this universe now under his control, his abilities were infinitely magnified.

Since a while ago, his web of destiny had been constantly trembling.

However, this current fluctuation differed from the sense of crisis he felt when meeting the Beyonder previously.

This time, the fluctuation felt more like a... plea for help?

It seemed like spider signals emanating from countless other universes, crying out, despairing, seeking aid from someone unknown.

There was a similar situation with Madame Web before; presumably, she sensed these things through the Beyonder's abilities at that time.

Now, as the Beyonder's transferred authority to Mark, these things naturally shifted to Mark!

"What's wrong?" Gwen perceptively noticed Mark's change in mood, lifting her head to look at him.

Mark lowered his head, managing a forced smile, not hiding anything: "I sensed the cries of those hunted Spider-Men before their deaths."

Gwen's grip tightened slightly.

"Do you want to go save them?"

Mark closed his eyes.

For a while, then slowly opened them, leaning down to gently kiss Gwen's smooth forehead: "Yes, my spider abilities come from the Web Weaver. His purpose is to use this prophetic ability to enable me to prevent the inheritor family's massacre as much as possible, halt the tragedy spreading across numerous universes. I've evaded enough, but now, I have the power to contend with them, so I can't avoid this any longer!"

As he spoke, his gaze gradually grew resolute: "This is my responsibility, my mission, and my... enlightenment!"

Gwen leaned in, kissing his lips passionately. After a deep kiss, Gwen cupped Mark's face with tenderness, their bodies close, eyes locked.

"Take me with you; I can help you."

Looking at the girl in front of him, who seemed to be entirely devoted to him, Mark fell silent for a moment and slowly shook his head: "No, this time I can't take you, Gwen."

°°°

A/N: The start of the Inheritors arc begins here.

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