Asgard — the Temple of Light.
Inside the grand hall steeped in rugged Norse style, a tall, elegant figure sat upon the divine throne.
Unlike the rough-hewn surroundings, this figure radiated noble grace — the timeless aura of an immortal being, as if he'd stepped straight out of some ancient epic.
Dignified. Elegant. Surrounded by a faint divine glow.
He looked every bit a god.
No — he was a god.
One of the Twelve Main Gods of Asgard — the God of Light, Balder.
At that moment, Balder slowly opened his eyes.
But instead of divine indifference, there was a flicker of self-mockery in their depths.
"Should I be happy about this… or just laugh bitterly?"
He had transmigrated.
Or, to be more precise — awakened memories of a past life.
During a fierce battle with Thor, a blow to the head had triggered something deep within him — the awakening of ancient wisdom, or perhaps memories from another lifetime.
After fully absorbing both sets of memories, he had become who he was now — a new, complete version of the God of Light, Balder.
In his previous life, he had just been an ordinary man on the blue planet called Earth. But he'd known a thing or two about Norse mythology.
Balder — the God of Light, one of the Twelve Main Gods of Asgard!
Unlike Apollo, the Greek God of Light, Balder's power and status ranked far higher among his pantheon. In Asgard, he was stably top five, maybe even top three, second only to Odin and Thor.
And unlike the battle-hungry Thor, Balder was famed for his perfect balance of wisdom and strength — a god so complete that even the throne of Asgard's King wasn't out of reach.
Being reborn as such an exalted being should've been a reason for joy... right?
That's what he thought at first — until he finished merging all his memories and realized there was a huge problem.
This world's Thor wasn't called Sol. He was Thor.
There was a Supreme Sorcerer named Ancient One, whose power rivaled Odin's.
And there existed a Dimensional Demon named Dormammu.
Wait a second...
This wasn't the world of Norse mythology.
This was the Marvel Universe!
Being reborn as a Norse god sounded great — until you realized you were in Marvel.
Let's review:
Thor — beaten up by mortals on the regular.
Loki — professional backstabber and drama queen.
The Warriors Three — basically just strong dudes with weapons.
In Marvel, the Asgardian "gods" were a bunch of glorified aliens with long lifespans — not true deities. Forget "destroying stars" or "ending worlds" — a full-powered Thor could barely blow up a street.
Gods? Yeah, right. More like overpowered extraterrestrials with good PR.
The real divine beings in Marvel were the Celestials, the Abstract Entities, and the Five Cosmic Gods.
Balder rubbed his temples, sighing.
"As if Marvel's Asgardians weren't embarrassing enough, now I'm one of them…"
In his past life, he'd been a Marvel fan, so he knew plenty. Out of curiosity, he had even searched why Marvel's version of Norse mythology seemed incomplete.
And sure enough — there was barely any record of gods like Tyr, the God of War, or Hodr, the God of Darkness.
But Balder? He had found a single reference.
Just one line.
"Balder was killed instantly by Scarlet Witch."
That's it. One line.
Then he was scrapped — literally a discarded draft character.
Marvel had countless parallel universes, so who knew which one he was in. But one thing was certain — if even a cancelled god like him existed here, things were weird.
The details didn't matter as much as the implication.
Marvel's Balder was weak — and worse, he might one day face Scarlet Witch.
Just thinking about it made his scalp tingle.
"This is so damn annoying…"
Taking a deep breath, Balder focused inward, sensing the divine power coursing through him.
Truth be told, he wasn't that weak. His power surged like an ocean tide — but it was nowhere near the mythic might of a true god who could shatter mountains or cleanse continents.
"According to Marvel's power scaling, only by breaking through the so-called Sub-Skyfather tier can one be considered a real powerhouse.
And once you reach Skyfather level… that's when your strength truly rivals — or even surpasses — mythological gods."
The Sub-Skyfather-tier Fire Giant Surtur had single-handedly destroyed Asgard and triggered Ragnarok.
The Ice Giant Laufey, armed with the Casket of Ancient Winters, could freeze an entire planet.
In other words, Marvel's power ceiling was actually extremely high — it was just that the Asgardian gods in this universe were… underperforming.
And Odin, for all his flaws, was no joke. He defeated Surtur, stole the Casket from Laufey, and at full power could probably blow up a star.
"So basically, until I reach the Sub-Skyfather level, I'm still cannon fodder.
Only then can I face Scarlet Witch without being erased by a single line of dialogue."
As for whether Scarlet Witch was beautiful or not — he had no time for that kind of thought.
At Sub-Skyfather, she's the boss.
At Skyfather, he could maybe think about flirting.
At beyond Skyfather, when he reached the Single-Universe level…?
Scarlet Witch would just be another spicy girl he could snap his fingers at.
Balder knew his limits clearly.
"This world doesn't really have a system for consistent power growth — it's always either 'mutation for the poor' or 'technology for the rich.'"
Luckily, as one of the Asgardian gods, he did have a natural growth path.
In Marvel lore, Asgardians' divine power increases naturally as they age, until about five thousand years old — at which point their bodies can't handle the energy anymore, and they die.
Technically speaking, if one could overcome the physical limits, Asgardians could live forever.
Balder, however, wasn't too concerned about immortality.
What interested him more was this:
"So if I just live long enough — say, four or five thousand years — with my divine rank and bloodline, I could probably reach the Sub-Skyfather level easily.
Maybe even Skyfather level, if I'm lucky."
But that was way too slow!
He and Thor were about the same age — a little over a thousand. Waiting another few thousand years? He'd be dust before then!
Worse still, Marvel offered no clear shortcut to power.
Mutations and technology were useless for a god like him.
Asgardian runes and techniques were just tools, not true methods of evolution.
As Balder frowned, deep in thought about his future…
A strange sensation flickered through him.
"Hm? What's this?"