New York, United States.
Outskirts of the city — Hero League Headquarters.
As pale-blue light bloomed inside the spatial transfer chamber, six figures materialized in the room.
Two were absent.
Tony Stark had decisively chosen to fly back. After experiencing spatial transit once, he had zero interest in enduring that nausea again. Until his physical condition improved, spatial jumps were permanently off his list.
As for Tornado of Terror, boredom had driven her to roam the planet freely in search of entertainment.
With her power, she was essentially a roaming super–nuclear weapon.
After the meteor incident, anyone with a functioning brain would stay far away from that calamity in human form.
"Ugh—!" ×2
This time, the number of victims doubled.
Thor Odinson, stripped of his divine power, and Jane Foster were both kneeling on the floor, vomiting without restraint.
"Remember to have someone clean this up later."
"I swear," Thor groaned, staggering to his feet, "next time I'd rather fly across the planet than ever use spatial transfer again."
Meanwhile, the purple-haired spirit stood nearby, cautiously scanning her surroundings, tense and alert, as if something dangerous might leap out at any moment.
It took Jane nearly five minutes to recover.
"T-This is… spatial transfer technology?!"
As a scientist, her curiosity ignited instantly.
This kind of spatial transition was far beyond anything modern science could explain—and that alone made it irresistible to her.
Thor and the spirit, on the other hand, were perfectly calm.
One regularly used the Rainbow Bridge.
The other literally commanded space itself.
"Hey… can I try it again?" Jane asked eagerly.
"Not a chance," Aiden Cross replied flatly. "That's an internal member function. It costs energy points."
This trip had been covered by League resources.
Future use would require payment.
"Come on, let me try just once more!"
"Another word and I'll throw you out."
"…Fine."
Jane puffed out her cheeks in frustration but didn't dare push further.
She had no doubt the black-haired, red-eyed man would actually do it.
Nearby, Child Emperor seemed to have reached some kind of agreement with Thor. He waved casually and headed back toward his laboratory.
With no one else to cling to, Jane walked alongside Thor in silence.
"That kid… what did he say to you?" she whispered.
"He said that once my divine power returns, he wants to draw a tube of my blood."
"And you agreed?!"
"Of course not! I'm Thor—why would I let someone take my blood?"
"Be honest."
"…Alright. He said he'd build equipment to enhance my combat power. So I agreed."
Thor spoke quietly.
He didn't know whether his divine power would ever return.
If it didn't, then physical training alone wouldn't be enough.
Technology could become another path.
"Human," the purple-haired spirit spoke up, "didn't you promise to let me eat that soybean-flour bread?"
"We'll deal with that later. First, we solve the problem of you being forcibly returned to the Threshold."
Aiden walked beside her and flicked a Hero League member bracelet into her hand.
As a spirit, if she couldn't fully stabilize her power, she would inevitably be dragged back to a place known as the Threshold, falling into forced dormancy until her next descent.
Among the eleven spirits currently active on Earth, only a handful had fully mastered their power—allowing them to remain indefinitely and live among humans.
"Put it on. After that, you can eat whenever you want—no sudden sleep, no forced return."
Under Aiden's gentle deception, the purple-haired spirit put on the bracelet without suspicion.
She officially joined the Hero League.
Given her ability to fight dragon-class disasters alone, she was immediately promoted to A-Class, Third Seat.
She didn't understand what that meant.
Right now, only two things truly interested her:
Soybean-flour bread.
And the first human who had never tried to kill her—Aiden Cross.
"We're here."
The group stopped before a door labeled:
Hero Training Chamber
From the outside, it looked like a cramped fifty-square-meter room—far too small for combat training.
"This… is the training chamber?"
"Relax. It's bigger on the inside."
The Hero League's training chamber employed spatial folding technology.
Externally, it was only fifty square meters.
Internally, it spanned an area the size of New York City.
It could instantly simulate any environment:
swamps, forests, volcanoes, space, glaciers, altered-gravity zones…
Creak—
As the door opened, an endless forest stretched into view.
Someone was already inside, and they had chosen a forest terrain.
At this time of day, there were only a few possible candidates.
"Cool," Thor whistled.
"This is also spatial folding technology?!" Jane exclaimed, eyes shining.
"Let's go," Aiden said calmly.
"Chances are, the 'instructor' is still tormenting their students."
"..."
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