"Fate brought you to me, my child. It was destiny."
In the pitch black, Ethan Young heard the old man murmur softly in English, his voice ancient yet elegant.
He struggled to open his heavy eyelids.
Through a blur, he saw a bald old man with a high nose and gentle blue eyes, a figure so familiar, so much like Professor X, Charles Xavier!
Professor X? Where was this place?
A wave of dizziness hit him, and unfamiliar scenes flashed rapidly through his mind.
He felt as though he had suddenly gained seventeen years of life.
This was the world of mutants; he was an orphaned Chinese American who had awakened his replication ability at the age of fifteen.
This meant that as long as he touched other mutants, he could temporarily gain their abilities. But this power brought disaster.
The U.S. military captured him, wanting to use his ability as the basis to restart the Sentinel program.
Just as the Sentinel program was nearing completion, the Professor discovered his existence and commanded the X-Men to bring him back to the academy.
He was temporarily safe now, but the U.S. military would undoubtedly conduct a thorough search to complete the Sentinels.
He couldn't return to that research institute, where lives were trampled wantonly, like hell!
"Host's Fate Awakening is 100%! The Superpower Furnace System is merging with the host!"
"Superpower Furnace System merge complete. The host can smelt all things and life to induce gene evolution for new abilities!"
"There is no limit to the number of abilities. For every ten successful smeltings, abilities of the same type can evolve simultaneously!"
In an instant, he felt as if he had entered space, where a colossal, nebula-like spiral gene chain turned into dust, scattering in the dark void.
Then the dust reassembled into a new gene chain, shimmering with starlight, containing energy so terrifying it made his soul tremble.
His body instantly completed its reorganization, and endless power surged through every cell.
However, his previous replication ability seemed to have been washed away the moment the Superpower Furnace awakened!
To casually wash away a mutant's ability, the Superpower Furnace was truly domineering!
Being able to smelt all things and having no upper limit on the number of abilities meant that his power had no upper limit.
If he kept smelting, wouldn't he one day become a cosmic-level deity?
Perhaps even transcend the timeline, reach a transcendent realm, surpass the Story of Loki, and master the multiverse.
Moreover, after the Superpower Furnace completed its awakening, a new memory appeared in his mind.
If various types of abilities reached Omega level, the Superpower Furnace would upgrade, increasing the efficiency of smelting.
Ability types were divided into five categories:
Physical, Elemental, Psionic, Spacetime, and Field Energy, which were the unique classification methods of the Superpower Furnace.
Knowing that he had awakened an ability with infinite possibilities, he felt a surge of excitement and wanted to try smelting immediately.
But Professor X was still beside him.
"Child, you're awake? How do you feel?"
"I'm fine. Who are you? Why am I here?"
Ethan feigned weakness, knowingly asking the Professor.
"I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Charles Xavier, you can call me Professor X. This is the Xavier Institute, which I founded."
"Here, you can meet friendly mutant brethren. We gather here for peace. I hope you like it here."
The Professor's voice was as gentle as a spring breeze, his tone always calm yet carrying a firm strength.
Ethan nodded, surveying his surroundings.
This room looked like a dormitory, with another bed opposite.
The wooden walls were dark, carrying the solemnity of history, but the room's facilities were modern.
This place was indeed suitable for a short rest.
"My name is Ethan Young. It seems a group of mutants with special abilities saved me. Are you related to them?"
The Professor smiled gently, picked up a cup, and then spoke.
"The mutants you mentioned are my companions, but let's not discuss unpleasant topics for now."
"Perhaps after a cup of coffee or tea, you'll be in the mood to tell your story, Ethan."
"I prefer tea, thank you, Professor."
After watching the Professor leave the room, Ethan propped himself up and looked around for items he could fuse.
Porcelain cups, porcelain plates, bamboo chopsticks, plastic medicine bottles…
There was a downside to modern times: everyday items were all composite materials. Who knew what kind of monstrosity would result from fusing these?
However, the headboard railing was made of steel. Fusing such a high-purity item would at least be safer.
He gripped the railing, muttered "smelt" in his mind, and the steel pipe in his hand rapidly twisted and disappeared, leaving only black impurities.
"Smelting iron element successful, generating new ability — Steel Body!"
After a notification sound, the skin on his body gradually transformed into a silvery shell.
He ran his hand over the steel shell, realizing he had lost his sense of touch; all he could feel was a chilling sensation.
A slight movement produced creaking sounds, and with a gentle squeeze, he bent the steel pipe.
The speed of smelting and the activation of the ability were both very fast, with no discomfort.
It was as if this ability was innate to him, but then he discovered a problem.
This form was difficult to control; he just became a steel man and couldn't even revert from this form.
It seemed the first smelting was only a low-level ability. He needed to smelt quickly until he could freely control the form.
He gripped the railing again, smelting the ability repeatedly.
The silver glow on his body gradually dimmed, but his strength continuously increased until the tenth smelting was complete.
"Elemental type ability smelted ten times, Steel Body upgraded!"
After this notification, the steel shell on his body rapidly receded, returning to his original appearance.
As long as he thought of changing a part of his body, the thought would instantly materialize, allowing him to freely switch forms.
Moreover, he could also change the color and texture of the steel, and its strength would change accordingly.
This was much stronger than Colossus; he had defenses capable of resisting most human weapons and could switch forms at will.
When he watched X-Men before, he wondered what the upper limit of Colossus's ability was, whether he could generate strong steel materials.
Or transform contacted matter into steel, creating steel weapons out of thin air.
Now, with the Superpower Furnace, he could experiment with his previous ideas.
It's just that the headboard railing had been melted by him. He couldn't just dismantle the bed to smelt again.
Just then, the sound of wheelchair wheels turning came, indicating the Professor was returning.
He switched to his human form and used a pillow to cover the traces of his recent smelting.
The Professor entered the room and placed a steaming cup of tea on his bedside table.
"Ethan, your complexion looks much better. I was worried you were frightened at the research institute."
"I am not a delicate person. Past hardships are nourishment for my progress. I will live well."
He answered casually, but the Professor's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Ethan, you are a strong person, stronger than most children at the academy."
"I believe you now have enough courage to talk about what happened at the research institute."
**End of Chapter One**