At first, Clark had planned to leave after realizing how intense the heat was. But before he could, he noticed something odd.
He believed that in terms of personal strength, he was stronger than Thor. So there was no reason Thor should be able to endure the heat for several minutes while he couldn't.
That's when Clark realized—something wasn't right.
Although he felt incredibly hot, his body had not sustained any damage. And this wasn't the kind of situation where he got injured and healed quickly. It was that he wasn't injured at all.
"Hot is hot. I can take it!"
Now that he knew the energy wasn't harming him, Clark decided to endure it. At that moment, he felt his strength increase by at least ten percent. The rate at which his power was growing was staggering.
Clark didn't know how long he could last inside the rainbow ring, but he wouldn't leave until his body reached full saturation.
Meanwhile, back on Earth—New Mexico:
Coulson was watching the dismantling of the perimeter base and said to Hawkeye, standing nearby:
"I'll leave this place to you. I'm taking the Frost Giant corpses back to New York."
After the battle the day before, S.H.I.E.L.D. had immediately collected all of the Frost Giant bodies. After all, these were the second group of aliens the agency had ever encountered, and they held immense research value.
Particularly fascinating was their ability to manipulate ice—something modern science had never conceived of. The most advanced biotech at the time was the Super Soldier Serum, which enhanced human strength and resilience, but it didn't grant control over elemental forces.
Moreover, each Frost Giant had slightly different biology. Some high-ranking military officials were even considering whether the giants' ability to control ice could be reverse-engineered—maybe to create a device that allowed normal people to wield similar powers.
But Fury didn't want the military to get their hands on these bodies. His guiding belief was that humanity should strive for peace. If the military got them, who knows what they'd develop?
So at Fury's request, Coulson would lead the transport… and along the way, due to unforeseen circumstances, the Frost Giant corpses would be "accidentally destroyed."
"Understood, sir."
Elsewhere, in Malibu, California:
Tony Stark had spent the night researching—and seemed to have found a breakthrough.
"Highlight the globe." He stared at the projection. "Hmm. Remove the walkways—take all of them out."
As he spoke, Tony waved a hand, and his brilliant AI assistant, JARVIS, removed all the walkways from the projection.
"Sir, what are you trying to achieve?"
"I'm trying to discover a new element," Tony replied, rubbing his chin as he studied the model. After the walkways were gone, the "Key to the Future" city model looked a bit different.
"Remove all the landscape features—trees, shrubs, lawns. Get rid of the parking lots and exits, too. Everything."
"Right away, sir." JARVIS complied.
With those elements stripped away, what remained looked like a schematic of atomic structure.
"Construct protons and neutrons, centered on Earth."
As Tony finished speaking, JARVIS began assembling a 3D model—what emerged was a virtual representation of a new element.
"You've been dead for 20 years and you're still trying to teach me, huh? Haha…"
Looking at the new element map, Tony—who always claimed to be smarter than his father—let out a bitter chuckle.
"Sir, this new element you've discovered should be able to replace the palladium you're currently using."
JARVIS ran some simulations and concluded that this new element could, indeed, replace the toxic palladium core. It was clean, efficient, and non-lethal. Unfortunately, it appeared to be impossible to synthesize.
"Unfortunately, it cannot be synthesized."
But Tony just grinned. "Then prep the lab—we're about to get sweaty."
Back in Asgard:
About twenty minutes later, Clark felt he might have reached his limit. Some of the energy he absorbed had stopped converting and was now starting to leak out of his body.
More and more energy began to radiate outward, and Clark's entire body was soon shrouded in a glowing golden aura.
Once he could no longer absorb any more power, Clark left the rainbow ring. Without the steady stream of energy, the golden light surrounding him began to fade.
But Clark knew that this golden glow hadn't disappeared completely. He could feel it—an invisible energy flowing around him. When he reached out to touch it, he felt nothing, as if it were just an illusion.
But he was sure it wasn't. Because whenever he approached the rainbow ring, the glow would reappear. And he could feel it actively absorbing solar energy from the environment—and transferring that energy directly to him.
It was like carrying around a portable charger.
Before, he'd only had his own body to absorb solar power. But now, he had an external source that helped collect energy passively. It felt like playing a game on double XP mode—except this bonus was invisible and intangible most of the time.
Moreover, Clark noticed that this external energy field boosted his solar absorption rate by more than double. He even felt like he could detonate the energy suit at will.
"Should I test it?"
Clark glanced at the rainbow ring behind him, then made a decision. Since the "charger" was still nearby, he figured now was the best time to experiment. What if this energy suit disappeared after being depleted? It wasn't realistic to expect Thor to fly him back to Nidavellir every time.
And if Clark didn't test it now, he'd never know what it could actually do.
So Clark flew toward Thor and the others—not to fight them, of course, but to ask them not to follow him. He didn't want anyone getting hurt if something went wrong.
As soon as he took off, Clark surprised even himself. Without even trying, he had already exceeded his previous top speed. In under five seconds, he had traveled hundreds of kilometers and landed right in front of Thor and Eitri.
"Clark, how are you feeling?"
Seeing how fast Clark had flown, Thor was stunned. But considering what he'd just witnessed, and Clark's current speed, it was clear Clark had gone to the rainbow ring to absorb the power of the star.
Thor might have been tricked by Loki before, but it wasn't because he was stupid—just too trusting of his brother. After watching Clark's performance, Thor had naturally figured it out.
He was mainly curious how Clark had even known about the star-forging ring in Nidavellir. But he didn't dwell on it. After all, Thor had fought across the Nine Realms over 1,500 times—he'd seen far weirder things. So Clark's stunt? Just mildly impressive.
"Feels pretty good. Amazing, actually."
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