Shiller ascended the moss-covered steps, passed through the vine-entwined stone arch, and followed the sound of trickling spring water into a deep and quiet jungle. Leaving footprints on the lawn, he saw the World Tree Spring hidden within the valley. This was Urd's Spring, where Odin prayed to the World Tree for wisdom, and the final resting place for the soul of every member of the God Clan.
Under the guise of coming to Asgard to clear the battlefield, Shiller also represented S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avengers to visit the severely injured Thor. When he reached the spring, he saw Thor drying his hair.
"You seem to be recovering well," Shiller said. "How do you feel?"
"I've never been this close to death before. But after experiencing it, I think you're right. Her temper was too fiery, I could hardly breathe."
Shiller smiled, then said, "Sif is a bit worried about you. When I came here, she asked me to see how your recovery's going."
"I know she's a strong warrior, but leaving her alone to hold the fort now is truly my negligence," Thor said with a sigh. "Whether as a husband, as a king, or as a future father, I've really done too little."
"Don't be too discouraged; gaining experience is what matters," Shiller said, sitting on a large stone by the spring. "So how's your recovery going?"
"Not bad, but the World Tree refuses to let me go. I have no other way but to wait until the war is over."
"It's probably afraid you'll die out there," Shiller said with a soft sigh. "Darkseid has elevated to above the Multiverse level, and will soon become a disaster for the Multiverse. I'm just sorry you can't be part of this battle."
"So why is there this battle?" Thor rolled his eyes, as if to say, "Don't I know you?"
"Ahem..." Shiller cleared his throat awkwardly, "I reckon you should find a way to leave, the Multiverse needs your strength."
"What? Is Darkseid too strong, and you can't wait to find someone to balance it out?" Thor bluntly pointed out. "I don't actually care about your reasons, but if I could leave, would I not? My wife is pregnant, you know."
"Then you should think of a way," Shiller said. "Sometimes people need to be flexible, and so do the God Clan."
"Just say what you want."
"Haven't you noticed, isn't the World Tree more peaceful when it's almost dying? Now that it's well-fed, it dares to snatch people from Battleworld and keep you here, it's simply outrageous. Don't you want to teach it a lesson?"
Thor looked resigned and said, "The World Tree is the root of the Nine Major Kingdoms. You've damaged your house's load-bearing wall, finally fixed it, and now you tell me the wall is too sturdy and it was better ruined. Does that even make sense to you?"
"The issue is, the World Tree isn't a dead thing, otherwise, it wouldn't have kept you here. Since it has agency, it naturally needs some guidance to serve us better. Don't you think?"
"Just say what you want."
"How did you guys get loans from the World Tree back then?" Shiller curiously asked, "Odin gave one eye in exchange for wisdom, so what could I exchange with one eye?"
"You don't even need to give it one eye, even if you drop one eyelash, it would bolt," Thor rolled his eyes again.
"Come on, it's not like I can do anything to it," Shiller turned to Thor with excitement, "Seriously, you should borrow some more, anyway, without energy, it won't die right away, you can just feed it when it's starving."
"But what do I need so much energy for?"
"The more seasoned the Aesir, the stronger they become, right? The older you are, the more energy you draw from the World Tree. What if you draw more energy in your youthful state, wouldn't you directly have the strength you'd have in old age? Who could be your rival in the Multiverse then?"
Thor didn't speak, only continued drying his hair. Shiller continued, "I guess you also feel it yourself, that although the Power of Light has a high rank, it's still not strong enough, or doesn't have enough strength to unleash its proper power. You're just too young. If you were Odin's age, that sneak attack from the Martian Manhunter wouldn't have harmed you."
"It's going to give you that much energy eventually, why not extract it all at once? As long as you secure a high enough status in the Multiverse, are you still afraid of not having the resources to repay the World Tree's debt?"
"Let me think about it," Thor said.
Shiller knew he was tempted, so without pushing further, he stood up to leave, saying, "Once you've made up your mind, try to use a gentler method, don't gouge your eye out like your dad did, Sif and Loki would be frightened."
Thor nodded. Shiller turned and left. He knew Thor would make the right choice because essentially, he had no choice.
The power of the King of Brightness is probably at the peak of the Single Universe level, but still short of advancing to the Multiverse level. This gap is actually due to Thor being too young, with insufficient accumulated divine power, making the strength he can wield very limited.
Compared to humans, it's like a ten-year-old kid holding a cleaver. The cleaver is indeed sharp and can draw blood no matter who it hits, but the kid is too young and lacks strength, so the damage it can inflict is limited, and it's easy to subdue the kid. If it were a strong adult holding the cleaver, it'd be a different story.
In Asgardian terms, Thor and Loki have just reached adulthood recently, so they're still kids. Odin, who appears to be an elderly man, is actually in his prime, at a few thousand years old—the perfect age for adventure.
Originally, this power was sufficient. As a ruling force at the Singular Universe peak, no being on the Single Universe level could easily challenge him, not even a Demon God like Mephisto would provoke the God Clan lightly. But now, due to entanglements with another Great World, the situation has become more complex, and such strength is no longer enough for the king leading the God Clan.
However, time waits for no one. They can't wait thousands of years for Thor to come of age to face those opponents; by then, the opportunity would be long gone. Accelerated growth is the only option.
Anyway, whether given early or late, it is still given. Better to take it all at once, so the World Tree suffers less. After all, no one's heard of the World Tree having any objections.
After persuading Thor, Shiller transformed into a Fog Guest and returned to the battlefield, diligently cleaning up. As the entrance to the Antimatter Universe gradually closed, the number of bugs began to dwindle. The other two great empires showed signs of retreat, but their residual strength was obviously insufficient, and their scale paled compared to their earlier full-scale attacks. These two empires indeed suffered significantly.
They thought their overwhelming troop strategy was invincible, but they didn't expect there would be experts even stronger. These bugs didn't look mass-produced, yet there were so many. How could that be?
That's why they say, man-made can't compete with nature's craftsmanship. While the two empires have to manufacture, the Destroying Worms are endless by design. Even if these two empires camped here for another thousand years, they couldn't exterminate the bugs completely. It only highlights that nature always finds a way to balance itself.
The Supreme Wisdom and the Skrull Emperor were rather fatigued and realized wasting resources here was meaningless; they couldn't kill the God Clan and instead ended up helping kill so many bugs, leaving the others to collect the spoils. If they inadvertently supplemented the World Tree, helping the Aesir and the human race produce a few more Heavenly Fathers, they'd be the ones crying.
Thus, the two empires gradually withdrew their forces, marking another failed war that concluded dismally. It's apparent that the long-unshaken trinity of the three great empires within the cosmos is soon to collapse. Next comes the era of the Stars.
The robot forces of the two great empires indeed killed many. Everywhere you look lies the corpses of Destroying Worms. Shiller and the Gray Mist used the Antimatter Battery Containers provided by Reed to collect items, humming little tunes while they cleaned, not even sparing the wreckage of Asgardian ships they encountered and bringing it back to Nick, which was enough to build another fleet of Sky Carriers.
The people Asgard sent out to retrieve their ships didn't dare approach; although they knew this seemed to be a cleanup crew sent by the humans, that ominous mist seemed off, leaving no grass unturned or fragments behind, swallowing and playing eerie music—just watching it felt like spiritual pollution. Ships can be rebuilt, but if it were to reach the Fairy Palace, losing their home wasn't worth it.
The Asgardian warriors discussed and finally decided not to bother with it, moving to another area for retrieval only to find a bunch of sludge and cats with tentacles growing from their mouths, none of which seemed friendly. In the end, they retreated, unable to bring back a single ship.
Sif, overwhelmed by her duties as Acting Divine King, was tempted to erupt upon hearing none of the ships were returned. But remembering Nick Fury's "finders keepers attitude"—even if she approached him, he'd only say he was kindly helping clean the battlefield—she decided to let it go, considering it charitable work.
Not even half a day passed before Shiller tidily cleared the battlefield and returned to Earth. After unloading the mountain of resources, Nick was all smiles. The large warehouses he preemptively dug finally came in handy.
When delivering the thousands of filled Antimatter Batteries to Reed, Shiller didn't forget to ask, "What do you need these for?"
"It's because of Doom," Reed grumbled slightly, "He insists we study information flow technology. We discovered that the key to converting matter into information lies in antimatter. He threw the project at me and ran off to do something else."
"Can this technology really succeed?"
"I don't know. Still need to research it." Reed shook his head, "Previously, the antimatter energy we had was too little. The cannon I constructed had too small output power, unable to impact matter. I plan to build a larger one and try again."
"You're not testing it on Earth, are you?"
"Where else would I? But don't worry, they've already built the Earth Core Elevator in Germany, and my deep-lab quota is approved. Experiments there will be safer."
Regarding Reed's assurance of safety, Shiller didn't believe a word, but he was interested in his mention of the Antimatter Cannon, so he asked, "Can that cannon be used to target anything else?"
Reed raised an eyebrow and said, "What do you plan to target?"
But he continued, "Upgrading such a cannon isn't just about enlarging the caliber; every aspect needs improvement to withstand more antimatter energy, and that can't be built overnight."
"What if you had a reference?"
"Reference? Don't tell me you're asking me to refer to Stark's little toys. When it comes to these things, others have always referred to me, not the other way around."
"That might not be the case," Shiller said, "I also have a cannon, but I've never used it. I can take you to see it. If you find it helpful, you can bring it back for reference."
"You have one too? You made it?" Reed looked up and down at Shiller, full of disbelief.
"Never mind that, just see if it's big enough."