Marvel: Sign-In System – Starting with the Glint-Glint Fruit

The ruined, empty starry sky had lost a vast stretch of its colorful mist.

Only a faint light shining from the distance brought the slightest brightness to this region of space.

The oppressive, heavy atmosphere had yet to fade. The starry sky remained blurred and distorted, and no living being beneath it had any hope of survival.

The Ancient One raised her head and watched as a golden beam tore across the starry sky, finally landing before her.

"Dormammu retreated just like that?"

A lingering, violent fighting spirit radiated from Matthew's body, something inevitably left behind after such a prolonged battle.

He was like a wild beast ready to pounce at any moment, filled with danger.

"Dormammu is irritable and quick-tempered, but he is not stupid."

The Ancient One gently shook her head. After carefully sensing their surroundings, she casually waved her hand. Space rippled around them, and the two returned to the classical hall of Kamar-Taj.

At the same time, with Matthew's arrival, every sorcerer in Kamar-Taj sensed the terrifying presence coming from the hall.

They immediately became alert and raised their heads toward it.

Fortunately, Matthew's Observation Haki detected their wariness. He quickly realized what was happening and immediately restrained the aura surrounding him.

His turbulent emotions gradually settled, and he returned to his usual ordinary appearance.

Excellent control, the Ancient One noted internally with a nod.

In any field, control was often the most fundamental and important ability, one that had to be mastered.

Matthew placed great importance on this aspect and had personally taught it to the warriors of the three Space Marine Chapters under his command.

"How does it feel?"

"The gap is fairly large, but not as large as I imagined." Matthew accepted the cup of tea the Ancient One handed him and took a sip.

In essence, Matthew could no longer be considered weak at the sub-Skyfather level.

In particular, as his mastery of magic and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit continued to deepen, the speed of his progress became even more obvious.

He already possessed the power to destroy a planet's surface.

What he lacked was an explosive finishing move capable of instantly destroying an entire planet.

Dormammu, on the other hand, could release planet-destroying energy at any time. This was a difference in absolute scale.

The problem was that Matthew possessed many different abilities.

More importantly, the Fist Universe contained limitless kinetic energy, which meant that he did not lack energy output.

The only limitation was his rate of power conversion.

If he could increase its upper limit, Matthew would reach the Skyfather level.

Of course, this was merely a clever shortcut.

He had originally believed that the gap between himself and a Skyfather was insurmountable, to the point that he would be killed instantly. However, after his battle with Dormammu, Matthew could finally gauge his own standing.

He stood at the very peak beneath the Skyfather level.

He could easily crush ordinary sub-Skyfather beings, contend with weaker Skyfathers for a period of time, and even fight Dormammu after the latter crossed dimensions.

This had already far exceeded Matthew's own expectations.

After all, how long had he been training since starting from nothing?

Such a rate of progress was already enough to satisfy him.

Moreover, he was still improving continuously, and the pace of his growth had not slowed.

Figures such as Thor, Thanos, and high-ranking demons like Lilith in Hell had seen their progress slow considerably after reaching the sub-Skyfather level.

For their strength to undergo another qualitative change, they generally had no choice but to accumulate power over time.

They exchanged time for growth, an extremely slow process.

The only alternative was to suddenly comprehend some form of wisdom, a truth of the universe, causing their level of existence to undergo a transformation.

Thor was a standard example of this universe's growth pattern.

During the early stages of his life, because of the extraordinary divine bloodline of his family, he continuously grew stronger throughout the golden period between birth and physical maturity, until that progress eventually slowed.

Afterward, he would remain at the same level for hundreds or even thousands of years.

During that period, Thor had yet to reach the sub-Skyfather level.

It was only after the internal turmoil in Asgard caused by the Dark Elves that everything changed. Frigga died. Odin later passed away. Hela was released from her seal, and Surtur ultimately brought about Ragnarök, destroying all of Asgard.

Thor led the few hundred surviving civilians away aboard a spaceship, only to encounter Thanos.

Thanos slaughtered half of them and spared the rest. Heimdall and Loki were both killed, dealing Thor yet another devastating blow.

In the final battle, Thanos successfully snapped his fingers, wiping out half the life in the universe. The Infinity Stones were destroyed, taking away all hope, and Thor fell into despair.

In truth, everything he experienced during this period served as a form of accumulation.

Each hardship tempered his mind, continuing until he finally pulled himself together.

Over the course of his life, Thor underwent several transformations, rising from someone who had yet to reach the sub-Skyfather level into one who eventually stood at its threshold.

The first came after Odin banished him to Earth and sealed away his divine power because of his arrogance.

During his time on Earth, Thor completed his first transformation. His divine power returned, and his strength made a tremendous leap, effectively reaching the sub-Skyfather level.

Unfortunately, he later faced Odin's death, Hela's release from her seal, and the destruction of Mjolnir.

Only then did he come to understand that he was not the "God of Hammers"—a realization that marked another transformation.

After Thanos slaughtered half of Asgard's civilians and killed Heimdall and Loki, Thor, driven by hatred, forged Stormbreaker, undergoing yet another transformation.

By then, Thor had essentially reached the Skyfather level. With the additional power of Stormbreaker, he was able to withstand the energy released by Thanos's fully jeweled Infinity Gauntlet during the final battle. The Stormbreaker he threw nearly took Thanos's head off.

That alone showed just how powerful Thor had become during this period.

However, after Thanos successfully snapped his fingers and escaped, Thor sank into despair for several years and became the Fat God, causing his strength to decline once more.

From the Dark Elves to the final battle, the entire span of time was less than twenty years.

In less than twenty years, Thor rose from below the sub-Skyfather level to the ranks of the Skyfathers, becoming one of the most powerful among them.

This was how the growth of certain races and life-forms worked in this universe.

Before that, Thor had remained below the sub-Skyfather level for more than a thousand years.

By comparison, Matthew's growth had always followed a rapidly rising slope. Every high-intensity battle caused his level of existence to surge.

Matthew's path of growth was different from Thor's.

It was smoother and more consistent.

Although Matthew was satisfied with this, he did not become complacent. He had not even reached the first goal he had set for himself, so he had no right to be complacent.

Unaware of Matthew's internal thoughts, the Ancient One patiently pointed out his shortcomings during the fight with Dormammu, and Matthew accepted her guidance humbly.

After an entire night had passed, Matthew bade farewell to the Ancient One and returned to his Long Island estate in New York. What followed was a period of quietly digesting everything he had gained from the battle.

Unexpectedly, the next three months passed in complete peace.

The entire world settled into a strange equilibrium. Even wars became rare, with only minor disputes breaking out between a handful of countries.

Terra, meanwhile, underwent earth-shattering changes.

The first developments took place in the capital, Novigrad, and the three secondary cities of Wieliczka, Zagora, and Morava. Terra poured enormous amounts of manpower and resources into their construction, with no shortage of equipment or professional guidance.

The cities expanded rapidly.

Houses and other buildings rose one after another.

Roads were widened, and factories were established one after another.

Almost everyone was able to find a job, and the wages were not low.

With proper planning, handicrafts, agriculture, and every other sector began emerging like bamboo shoots after the rain.

In addition, because of the mutant immigration law, large numbers of mutants with clean backgrounds immigrated from all over the world during those three months.

Terra accepted five million mutants, and that number continued to rise.

Terra's original population had been only around two million. For any country, absorbing so many people would have been an enormous burden.

Yet Terra accommodated them all without any major problems.

For one thing, a considerable portion of those five million people were children under the age of sixteen. Under the immigration laws drafted by Reacher and the others, children, the elderly, and women were given absolute priority.

The children were divided by age and assigned to newly built schools.

These ranged from kindergartens and elementary schools to middle schools and high schools, while universities accounted for the smallest share.

Because everything had been planned in advance, teachers for every level of education had already been recruited.

Additional teachers were hired from around the world. With generous salaries and rigorous background checks, Terra assembled a teaching workforce large enough to educate every student.

The adults, meanwhile, were assigned to different communities.

There was no racial segregation.

After arriving in Terra, the first thing these mutants underwent was a week of testing, serum injections, and observation.

After all, some mutants had defective abilities or were unable to control their powers because of emotional instability, making them prone to causing destruction.

This was where the stabilizing serum developed through mutant research came into use.

Thanks to the mutant warriors previously recruited by the three Warbands, Terra already possessed ample and mature experience in dealing with such cases.

However, the serum was diluted. Its main purposes were stabilization and mild enhancement.

There was also a small group of mutants whose mutations affected their appearance, such as toad-like faces, canine heads, or deformed limbs.

They could choose to undergo experimental surgery to remove their mutant genes.

During the recovery period afterward, they would receive additional serum injections to stabilize their condition and slightly strengthen their bodies.

The entire process was very short.

This was the advantage of possessing a mature system of genetic technology. From the moment Terra was founded, every strategic step had been planned in advance.

Only after proper preparation could later stages proceed. Acting on sudden impulses and handling one problem while ignoring another was absolutely forbidden.

A larger population meant greater national potential.

However, Terra was still effectively isolated from the outside world. It had not yet opened itself to foreign trade or external investment, causing its domestic market to remain relatively conservative.

But Terra had no shortage of money.

For that, it still had to thank its two greatest benefactors, Alexander Pierce and Dreykov, along with the third, Baron Strucker.

The inheritances left behind by those three were simply too vast.

Aside from cash, their greatest assets were the industries they had established across the world in various sectors, including shares in major global corporations.

The profits Terra earned from those holdings alone each year were almost unimaginable.

Even if someone noticed something unusual and investigated the movement of those funds, they would ultimately find that the money was flowing into Terra.

There were also large-scale purchases of all kinds of supplies through freight and maritime shipping.

However, most other countries simply pretended not to notice.

They collected whatever taxes were due. As long as Terra did not state things openly, they were still willing to take the money they could earn.

Were Terra to make its position explicit, every country, including the United States, would likely start funneling profits toward it.

It would all be done to curry favor.

Aside from Terra's unusual strength, there was another reason: they were afraid of demons as well.

No one knew when some wave of demons or other extraterrestrial life-forms might threaten Earth. When that happened, they might have no choice but to ask Terra for help.

Even if relations could not be friendly, they at least could not afford to offend it.

What if Terra held a grudge and deliberately left an opening? Would that not doom their country?

No one would do something that foolish.

However, because of Terra's unique geographical position, it still faced a few minor problems.

Water resources, for example.

The former Sokovia had been a small, mountainous, landlocked Eastern European nation allied with the former Soviet Union. It had suffered from years of war, corruption, and economic collapse.

Years of bombing had severely damaged its infrastructure, and many regions did not even have access to clean drinking water.

The United Nations had previously provided long-term humanitarian aid, but it had been far from enough. Civilians generally lacked water, food, and medical care.

With Terra's establishment, food, supplies, and healthcare were no longer problems.

Its medical system, in particular, was far ahead of the rest of the world.

But the shortage of water remained a serious issue.

Fortunately, Terra had more than enough resources at its disposal.

There were many possible solutions.

For the initial stage, Reacher and the others planned to establish permanent magical portals linked to water intake anchors along the main channel of the Danube, large freshwater lakes, and mountain snowmelt regions, allowing a continuous and directed flow of fresh water.

This would solve the population's immediate water needs.

The next step was to rebuild the mountain waterworks and pipeline network.

They would collect snowmelt and streams from the mountains, construct terraced reservoirs, dams, and diversion tunnels, and channel water from higher elevations toward the four major cities, including the densely populated capital of Novigrad.

The municipal water supply network damaged during the war would be completely renovated and rebuilt. Main pipelines and branch networks would be laid by district, bringing tap water to the entire city.

Wastewater treatment plants would be built at the same time to enable water recycling.

Later, Terra would construct artificial water-storage systems and long-distance pipelines spanning the entire country.

The final step would be the construction of large-scale seawater desalination plants, capable of supplying water not only for daily use, but also for agriculture and industry.

Only the desalination technology still required further research and development. Every other project had already entered the initial construction phase during the past three months.

All of these factories and infrastructure projects, large and small, required enormous funding and a vast workforce.

That was why Terra never lacked jobs.

The large number of people entering the country could all find suitable work, earn an income, and support themselves.

The main reason was that Terra was fundamentally different from an ordinary newly established nation.

It was more like a reconstruction than development from nothing.

Terra had no shortage of money or access to resources. It was like playing a city-building game such as Cities: Skylines with maximum starting funds and all the necessary equipment already available. As long as everything was planned and arranged in advance, a major metropolis could be built.

...

Inside the municipal hall of the capital government.

A group of officials in charge of development and construction spent every moment compiling the information submitted from below.

After a series of overall assessments, they used a full 3D terrain model to discuss future plans.

Police stations, fire stations, hospitals, schools, commercial streets, overpasses, highways, and other facilities were all planned and built under their supervision.

As for Reacher, Natasha, and the other core leaders, they did not concern themselves with such matters.

Development could simply be left to these professionals.

It was worth mentioning that Zemo was one of the officials involved in development and construction.

He often traveled to other cities to conduct personal inspections and make detailed observations.

Zemo's enthusiasm had been fully awakened.

Unlike before, Zemo now smiled every day. He enjoyed watching Terra change day by day and hearing the laughter of people in the streets.

He also enjoyed seeing the neon lights illuminate the cities at night.

Terra was now full of vitality. Ordinary citizens worked hard every day. Some wives stayed home to care for the children and cook, while others went out to work.

After work and school, families would eat dinner together, stroll through the streets, and visit supermarkets and shops to buy snacks, drinks, fruit, daily necessities, and other goods.

People of every background could be seen here—white people, Eastern Europeans, Asians, and many other ethnic groups.

Thanks to the serum, everyone had become healthier, more energetic, and sharper-minded.

As they lived alongside one another, they gradually learned each other's languages.

Of course, simultaneous translation devices were available whenever necessary.

Communication was not a weakness.

The integration of a nation's different cultures would not show clear results in a short period of time. However, as time passed, Terra would eventually develop a cultural identity of its own.

That day, Zemo led several officials to inspect a newly constructed energy project on the outskirts of Novigrad.

Across the vast stretch of land, buildings rose one after another. The complex was built from silver-gray alloy, with sharp, defined edges and layered, interlocking structures that gave it a distinctly modern industrial appearance.

The outer buildings were entirely fitted with specialized glass. Inside the facility, workers wearing protective suits and caps moved back and forth as they carried out inspections.

The entire facility operated autonomously under the control of artificial intelligence.

Eight towering energy conversion towers stood around the center. Their surfaces were lined with dense cooling fins, while faint light flowed through the energy patterns across their exteriors.

At the very core of the complex, three superconducting magnetic confinement rings spiraled around one another. Pale blue plasma arcs drifted slowly through the spaces between them.

At the center stood a massive spherical Arc Reactor eighty meters in diameter. Seven layers of adaptive armor firmly sealed the fusion core within.

Deep blue energy pulsed steadily at the center of the sphere like a condensed artificial star. Not the slightest trace of radiation escaped from its pure energy.

Twelve thick superconducting conduits extended outward in a radial pattern. They channeled the surging energy into the conversion towers, then carried it through the underground power grid to every part of Terra.

Factories, homes, and water infrastructure all depended on it to operate.

Inside the main control room, holographic screens continuously refreshed every set of parameters. The staff could monitor the entire facility using intelligent equipment alone.

The project also possessed two layers of protection.

A plasma energy shield surrounded the reactor, while a spatial barrier created by the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj lay hidden across the surface of the structure.

Together, they could withstand external attacks and isolate the facility from dimensional disturbances.

The magnificent sight left Zemo and the other officials visibly impressed.

"This is a large-scale Arc Reactor. It uses a new element to achieve controllable fusion at room temperature, with zero pollution and zero radiation. Its rated output is enough to meet the entire country's energy demands, while energy loss remains below one-thousandth. The whole system is regulated by artificial intelligence, operates with great stability, and can continue running almost indefinitely."

"Unlimited energy will be the ultimate destination of the future. With these reactors, Terra will never lack energy again."

Ivan Vanko, once a destitute genius scientist, had now shed his former unruly arrogance. With a simple crew cut and dressed in work clothes, he led Zemo and the other officials through the facility while explaining everything with pride.

"I remember this project was originally proposed by Minister Ivan, correct?"

The more Zemo saw, the more excited he became. He opened a bottle of mineral water, took a drink, and smiled at Ivan.

Ivan was Terra's Minister of Energy, responsible for overseeing the nation's energy development.

"That's right. The Arc Reactor is currently the best way to meet Terra's energy needs, but it is not perfect. Synthesizing the new element at its core is extremely difficult, and the magnetic confinement system has almost no margin for error. If it ever loses control, the consequences would be unimaginable."

Ivan nodded, then spoke with some helplessness.

He was a proud man. His father had once given him the blueprints for Arc Reactor technology, leading Ivan to believe it was a revolutionary technology far ahead of its time.

However, after officially joining Terra, receiving the serum, and studying more advanced scientific knowledge, he discovered that the technology had flaws.

It could be said that Terra had devoted a considerable portion of its resources and strength to constructing this facility.

Even setting the technical issues aside, the entire system had extremely demanding requirements for materials, precision equipment, and specialized maintenance technology. Ordinary companies and countries could not build or repair it at all, and its margin for error was extremely low.

The facility could only be built now because Ivan had contributed the technology.

The newly formed energy research team then spent a great deal of time fully understanding and improving it before construction could begin.

Fortunately, where technology fell short, a little magic could be added.

The introduction of magical runes eliminated the drawbacks to the greatest possible extent, removing the risks from the entire controllable fusion system.

For now, this technology remained one of the highest achievements in the world.

Tony Stark also possessed this technology, but he had never applied it to the energy market.

The main reason was that it was simply too advanced.

Once introduced to the market, it could easily create conflict with the world's major energy corporations.

That would be extremely disadvantageous to Tony Stark's business empire.

Terra, however, had no such concerns.

What were they supposed to do? Ivan had successfully built the technology. Would Tony Stark really dare come to Terra and accuse them of illegally using proprietary Stark family technology?

Would those energy giants dare come here and bare their teeth?

They would be wiped out in minutes.

Nothing was more important than Terra's development.

Anything useful could be brought in and used. What was copyright awareness supposed to mean?

Terra was leading the direction of civilization and protecting all humanity.

What was wrong with contributing a little technology?

"Minister Ivan seems to have some other ideas as well?" Zemo was highly perceptive and noticed that Ivan appeared to have something else in mind.

Ivan grinned and did not try to hide it.

"That's right. I have my eye on a laboratory in the United States. A doctor there submitted a proposal for controllable nuclear fusion technology."

"It is also a form of clean energy. If that technology can be perfected and developed, I believe it will have immeasurable value for our future. It could be used not only for civilian purposes, but also for weapons and warfare."

Judging from his imposing build, Ivan had never been the peaceful type. His thoughts often shifted quickly from civilian technology to weapons, equipment, and war.

"Oh?"

Zemo and the other officials immediately became interested.

Seeing their reaction, Ivan explained, "The theory was proposed by an American scientist, Dr. Otto Octavius."

"The Arc Reactor uses steady-state cold fusion, while his technology is based on high-temperature tritium fusion. Compared with the current Arc Reactor, that technology is extremely unstable and highly radioactive. At present, it still exists only as an experimental theory."

"I have already submitted a request to approach the doctor. I hope to obtain the principles and blueprints for the technology from him."

"What is the technology called?"

"An artificial sun."

...

In an apartment building on 13th Street, Queens Boulevard, New York.

A middle-aged man in a brown coat stood dejectedly outside his apartment door. Soon, however, he rubbed his face with both hands, took out his key, inserted it into the lock, and opened the door.

After changing into slippers in the entryway and walking into the living room, he saw a middle-aged blonde woman approaching with a tray of freshly prepared lunch.

Seeing that her husband had returned, Rosie set the tray on the dining table, walked over to greet him, kissed him on the cheek, and asked with concern,

"How did it go, dear?"

"Not well. Norman has always had confidence in the project, but the shareholders on the board have doubts. They think the risks are too great."

Her husband shook his head and took off his coat. He casually set the briefcase in his hand on a nearby chair.

His wife gently took the coat and hung it on the rack, then returned and guided him to a chair.

"Believe in yourself, all right? You are one of the world's leading experts in nuclear energy and plasma physics. I know that one day, someone will recognize your work."

"Ha, that's right. I'm Otto Octavius."

Encouraged by his wife, Otto finally cast aside the gloom in his heart.

The couple sat at the dining table, enjoying lunch while discussing their next steps.

However, just as they finished eating, while Rosie went to wash the dishes and Otto sat reading the newspaper, a sudden knock sounded at the door.

"Who is it?"

Otto raised his head in surprise. He put down the newspaper, walked to the door, and opened it.

His pupils contracted, and his gaze shifted slightly upward.

Good lord, he thought, that's a brown bear of a man.

The visitor appeared to be around one meter ninety, perhaps even close to two meters tall. He was exceptionally broad and muscular, and even the suit jacket he wore could not conceal the bulging muscles beneath it.

He was not white.

Instead, he appeared to be of Eastern European descent.

That much was easy to tell from his facial features and complexion.

Still, no matter how Otto looked at it, a man with that kind of build wearing a suit looked strange.

"And you are?"

Faced with such an imposing figure, Otto, as a scientist, admitted to himself that he was a little nervous. Even so, he remained calm on the surface.

"May I come in and sit down? I would like to speak with you about a paper you published half a month ago." The visitor grinned.

Hearing this, Otto looked at him with some surprise. After thinking for a moment and deciding that the man did not seem hostile, he stepped aside.

Once the visitor entered, Otto closed the door and followed him inside.

When they reached the living room, the man did not beat around the bush. He spoke directly.

"Dr. Otto, my name is Ivan Vanko. I am from Terra and serve as its Minister of Energy. I have come to invite you to Terra."

"We are prepared to fully fund your research."

His opening words struck like a thunderclap.

Otto's eyes widened at Ivan's words, and he could not help blurting out, "Terra? The Terra I'm thinking of?"

"What happened, dear?"

Hearing the commotion, his wife Rosie hurried out of the kitchen. The sight of Ivan's imposing build startled her, and she immediately became wary.

She thought Ivan might have done something to her husband.

Fortunately, Otto quickly calmed down.

"It's fine, Rosie. I was just surprised."

Only after Otto reassured her did Rosie lower her guard slightly.

Otto gestured for Ivan to sit on the sofa. He personally poured Ivan a glass of water and handed it to him.

Then Otto sat down in the armchair beside him, while Rosie stood at his side.

"You're not joking, are you, Mr. Ivan?" Otto took a deep breath and spoke solemnly, his mind secretly wondering if today was April Fools' Day.

Ivan understood Otto's concerns. Smiling, he took a phone from inside his coat and placed it on the glass table in front of them.

Under Otto and his wife's watchful gazes, the phone automatically projected a holographic display—a series of documents and data filled the screen.

They were Otto's research papers.

"Doctor, I am not joking. You are one of the world's foremost nuclear physicists, and you have devoted your entire life to achieving unlimited energy."

"Your project caused a sensation, but no one is willing to fund it, correct?"

"Half an hour ago, the Oscorp Group rejected your request again."

Ivan's words were unpleasant to hear, but they were true.

Otto stared at the holographic display before him, then exchanged a glance with Rosie.

This level of technology had not yet reached mature practical use anywhere in the world.

Mainstream research was still at the theoretical stage. It was possible that someone had already achieved it, but to compress the technology into something as small as a phone and use it this way showed that even if Ivan was not truly from Terra, the resources backing him were still considerable.

"Yes. I proposed this theory three years ago, but no one has been willing to fund it." Otto admitted truthfully, nodding after a moment's thought.

"Because the risk is simply too high," Ivan said, pointing out the flaws. " According to the project report you submitted, no one can bear that level of danger. With humanity's current material technology, tritium fusion carries serious hidden risks, including intense radiation and poor containment. If it loses control, the energy released could blow all of New York into the sky."

"The gravity it produces could also devour any form of matter."

"In every project assessment, the risk level was rated at the highest category. Believe me. Even ten years from now, no one will be willing to fund you."

Otto's expression turned somewhat grim.

No one liked hearing that a technology built from all the knowledge they had spent a lifetime accumulating was so deeply flawed.

He wanted to argue, but Ivan raised a hand and cut him off.

"Besides that, there is another reason. Someone will never allow your technology to come into existence."

At those words, Otto's body jolted, and Rosie looked equally shocked.

"Why? Once this technology is realized, it could solve humanity's energy crisis. It would be a revolution." Otto finally could not hold back, and anger entered his voice.

There was confusion in it as well.

As a scientist, he had never paid attention to such matters, or perhaps he had simply never considered the deeper factors involved.

This time, Ivan intended to teach this naive scientist a harsh lesson.

"Do you know what the world's main sources of energy are today?" Ivan asked, continuing without waiting for Otto to answer.

"It's coal, natural gas, and most importantly, oil. "

"We are living in the age of oil."

"This concerns the interests of the United States and many global energy giants. Dr. Otto, once your artificial sun becomes a reality, have you ever thought about what will happen?"

Ivan coldly laid out the brutal truth.

"Destruction. The artificial sun would destroy the monopoly they built around oil. The birth of unlimited clean energy would bring the age of oil, natural gas, and coal to an end. The wealth they seized through monopoly would be wiped away."

"How do you guess they would react?"

Otto and Rosie gasped. Neither of them was foolish. Ivan had exposed the darkness beneath the surface of the world.

It was true that the artificial sun represented a beautiful vision of the future.

The theory and technology Otto had proposed also had a very high chance of success.

High enough that, with sufficient funding and materials, the artificial sun had a real possibility of being completed.

For an experimental project of this scale, even a twenty-percent chance of success would be significant. Even if the chance were only one percent, there would normally still be people willing to invest at any cost.

Then why had Otto's paper caused such a sensation, yet no one had approached him?

Because those companies were not stupid. They all understood what would happen if they recruited Otto and funded the project.

They would be targeted, openly and secretly, by energy giants across the world, and perhaps even by the United States government itself.

What had American hegemony always rested upon? Economic hegemony, military hegemony, and technological hegemony. Most important of all was oil hegemony.

At its core, economic hegemony was monetary hegemony.

The main reason American currency circulated throughout the world and became a hard currency was oil and gold. Of course, military and technological power also reinforced each other as part of the same system.

At present, the world's primary hard commodity was oil. Even gold could not compare.

With oil tied to the dollar, Otto had now introduced an artificial sun capable of providing unlimited clean energy.

Once that technology was realized and put into practical use, the most direct result would be a threat to the monetary hegemony the United States had spent countless years building.

Even if it did not overturn that system outright, merely shaking its foundations would cause worldwide upheaval.

The value of oil, coal, and natural gas would inevitably fall.

In the short term, such instability might not strike at the foundations of the oil industry. But what about over time?

The resulting losses, and the price required to restore balance, would be immeasurable.

So Otto's vision was beautiful, but reality was brutally harsh.

As for the claim in those corporate assessments that the risks were simply too high, that was complete nonsense.

With the power those corporations possessed, could they really not find a barren area suitable for testing?

At worst, they could find an isolated island in the ocean. Even if something went wrong, the danger would not reach the mainland.

In essence, it was only an excuse.

Seeing the grim expressions on Otto and Rosie's faces, Ivan laughed inwardly.

In truth, he had not known any of this either.

Although joining Terra had broadened Ivan's horizons, there were still many things he had never encountered and therefore did not understand.

The hidden implications behind the artificial sun were one example.

After he submitted his request, someone had specifically analyzed the matter and given him these conclusions.

The purpose was to use them to recruit Otto.

There was some degree of intimidation involved, but the situation was indeed as he had described.

"So... it's impossible for anyone to ever fund me?"

After taking some time to process the information, Otto finally spoke. His voice had become slightly hoarse.

Seeing him like this, Rosie felt equally distressed. She sat on the armrest and took Otto's hand, seemingly hoping to give her husband some warmth that way.

"For now, yes." Ivan nodded, then abruptly changed the subject. "Do you know about the Arc Reactor?"

"Yeah. It was a theoretical technology proposed by Howard Stark of Stark Industries during World War II, and Tony Stark later made it a reality. Stark Industries has a large Arc Reactor, and I've even visited it."

As soon as Otto finished answering, he realized something. He looked at Ivan in shock.

"Could it be...?"

"That's right. That guy possesses mature cold-fusion technology, but he has never made it public. Instead, he uses it purely to supply power to his own company."

"For the same reason."

"Unless his company was on the verge of bankruptcy and had lost its advantage in the weapons industry, his best option would be to enter the energy sector. Even then, he would only release a small portion of the technology."

Ivan's words left Otto completely silent.

If even a wealthy man like Tony Stark did not dare enter the energy industry carelessly, then a mere physicist like Otto had even less chance.

Otto was now almost certain that Ivan was right. His artificial sun project might never have a chance to see the light of day.

Rosie, who had been watching her husband closely, saw his spirits sink. She understood just how much the artificial sun meant to him.

She looked up at Ivan and spoke first.

"Mr. Ivan, you said you are Terra's Minister of Energy. If we went to Terra, would the project receive funding?"

Otto's eyes shifted, and he looked over as well.

"Of course."

Ivan nodded. He reached out and tapped the phone on the glass table, causing the holographic display to rotate instantly.

The image of the energy facility appeared.

It immediately caught Otto and Rosie's attention. The moment they saw Terra's energy project, both of them recognized what they were looking at.

"An Arc Reactor?" Otto cried out in disbelief.

"Yes, Dr. Otto. Terra currently has no shortage of energy because the Arc Reactor has already been put into practical use."

"Then why do you still need the artificial sun?" Otto asked, baffled. He couldn't understand why Terra, already possessing Arc Reactor technology, had come looking for him.

His first thought was that Terra must have some kind of private arrangement with Tony Stark.

But that only led to another question: if Terra already had the technology and was using it, why seek him out?

Did they simply have a habit of collecting technologies?

"Doctor, you have misunderstood. Unlimited energy is not necessarily limited to civilian use. It can also be applied in many other fields."

Ivan grinned, placing extra emphasis on his next words.

"Do not forget that Earth is not alone. The threats humanity faces do not come only from within Earth, but from beyond it as well."

"The Terra Empire hopes to lead human civilization toward a more distant future, not remain trapped in place."

"The same applies to technology."

"Perhaps Terra does not need the artificial sun as a source of unlimited clean energy, but humanity needs more groundbreaking technologies. It needs scientists, one after another, to create new technologies with their knowledge."

"They should leave behind a legacy of knowledge for those who come after them, and monuments worthy of being remembered by future generations."

...

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