The reason Harvey was researching spatial expansion was, naturally, due to Yukio's prophecy six months ago.
The collapse of an alien dimension was no joke.
If an accident occurred and he were trapped inside a collapsing dimension...
Harvey didn't even dare to dwell on the potential consequences.
Therefore, he had to ensure he could escape safely from any unexpected situation.
But after six months of effort, his progress had finally stalled.
He realized his understanding of dimensional space was still far too shallow.
Though both were Skyfather-level, when compared to the God-King Odin...
He was far behind in terms of magical knowledge, bloodline constitution, close-quarters combat, and weaponry.
Harvey stared at the yew wand that had accompanied him for seven years, a flash of reluctance in his eyes, though it soon turned back into resolve.
This wand truly was starting to fail to keep up with his current strength, yet he really didn't want to rashly replace the wand he had used for so many years.
It wasn't exactly that he had feelings for it; it was primarily a matter of habit, and he worried a new one wouldn't feel right in his hand.
"Besides, at this stage, a wand suitable for me simply doesn't exist in the Harry Potter world."
"It seems I'll have to find the materials and craft a new wand myself."
Actually, the Elder Wand was quite excellent, but Harvey didn't want to seize Professor Dumbledore's wand by force.
So he would have to slowly find a way to gather the precious materials for wand-making.
Crafting a wand could be simple or difficult, depending entirely on the affinity.
A wand made haphazardly would have low affinity and be useless to Harvey.
To get a wand with high affinity, he would have to test hundreds or thousands of material combinations.
That was likely to be a massive undertaking.
Harvey pondered, thinking to himself: "For the wood, I can choose between Elder, Ebony, or Uru metal."
"The choices for the core are even more numerous: Phoenix tail feathers, Dragon heartstring, Unicorn hair, Centaur hair, Thestral tail hair, and so on—I can try them all."
Falling into a bout of decision paralysis, Harvey spent half an hour thinking.
"Perhaps I could also try the hair of a Cerberus, the hair of a Light Elf leader, Chimera hair, scales from Cul the Serpent, or even Flerken fur."
The Marvel world had a vast variety of monsters; just a brief recollection brought dozens of potential core materials to mind.
Moreover, monsters from the Nine Realms had been appearing frequently in London recently, and Harvey had already collected many of these materials.
"To get the scales of Cul the Serpent, I'll likely need the Serpent Crown to summon him. I'll try that after I finish studying the Convergence."
Since obtaining the Serpent Crown six months ago, Harvey had researched it extensively, remaining wary of this artifact that granted multiple superpowers.
His research revealed the crown was linked to the God of Fear, and its owner would often suffer mysterious psychic intrusions.
That was why Viper hadn't dared to keep it on her person; she was likely afraid of her mind being controlled by the crown.
Fortunately, Harvey's Occlumency could protect him, or he wouldn't have dared study such a divine artifact.
"I'll deal with the Serpent Crown later. For now, I'll wait for the Nine Realms to align and look for a chance to seize the Reality Stone."
Outside, the sky was growing dark. Harvey, inside the abandoned factory, suddenly heard the voices of two women.
"Darcy, is that intern assistant Ian a relative of yours?"
"No, he's my boyfriend."
"My God, have you learned to use your job to hook men now?"
"Whoa, whoa, that's a heavy accusation. Jane, I'm jealous you have a Thunder God for a boyfriend, but don't stop me from finding true love."
"True love? So how are his... abilities?"
"Hmm? Not bad. He can't compare to your boyfriend—I couldn't sleep all night last time because you guys were so loud next door—but he can last for an hour..."
"No wonder. So you like the young wolf type..."
Harvey was speechless at the raw, bold conversation between these two women.
These must be Thor's girlfriend, Jane Foster, the astrophysicist, and her friend, Darcy Lewis.
Harvey didn't want to be exposed yet, so he used the Disillusionment Charm to hide behind a concrete pillar.
As the voices drew closer...
Two capable women wearing white shirts and black suit pants appeared, staring at the readings displayed on a portable device that looked like a toaster.
They were heading toward the factory's stairwell.
"Jane, were you just on a blind date with that idiot in the suit?"
"No! I was just..."
"No need to explain, I get it. Long-distance relationships are lonely; a woman has physical needs after all..."
"Enough. According to the phase meter, this stairwell has spatial fluctuations similar to the Bifrost. We need to investigate."
"Scientific investigation takes time. I'm more concerned about your love life. Want to borrow Ian for a bit?"
"No thanks!"
"So picky? An hour isn't enough for you?"
"It's not a question of time."
"Is Ian not strong enough? You like muscle men?"
Jane stopped helplessly on the landing between the third and fourth floors. "Can we please stop talking about this?"
Darcy held up her hands in a mocking gesture of surrender. "OK, I'm done."
Jane shook her head. Just as she turned toward the fourth floor, the phase meter began to beep rapidly.
"Hey, the space-time disturbance here is very obvious. Looks like the problem is right here. Get Ian to bring the equipment in; I want to see exactly what's going on!"
"This is the fourth-floor stairwell! You're making him haul all those precision instruments by himself?"
"Then you go help him!"
"Ugh... fine."
Regretting having to help carry so much gear, Darcy headed back down to the lower floor.
Jane, meanwhile, carefully scanned every corner of the stairwell with her naked eye, eventually spotting a semi-transparent cloud of unidentified gas in the air.
She tentatively threw a pen from her pocket at the gas.
She watched as the pen flew into the gas and vanished instantly!
"Oh my God! This isn't gas; it's a spatial rift like a wormhole!"
Hiding nearby, Harvey looked at the screaming, excited Jane as if she were a mother monkey who had just found food.
These spatial rifts were all over this abandoned factory; was there really a need to be this excited?
After her initial excitement, Jane calmed down.
She didn't dare reach out to touch the rift; even the craziest scientist has to maintain some caution.
Life only happens once, after all. Jane took the phase meter and continued up the stairs, intending to tour the whole factory.
She wanted to see if there were more rifts like it.
Seeing this, Harvey understood that today wasn't the day the Aether would emerge.
Jane would likely be researching here for a few more days.
Therefore, Harvey decided to come back and check tomorrow.