[ Detected a gadget of extraordinary characteristic ]
[ Item: Pistol Powered by the Residual Energy of the Gem of Space ]
[ Extraordinary Characteristic: Energy projection ]
[ Grade: Basic ]
Maverick stood frozen, momentarily shocked by this unexpected turn of events. For the first time since awakening the system, it had reacted to something that wasn't magical.
His fingers tightened around the pistol as he read the prompt again and again, while his mind raced to make sense of it.
Pistol powered by the residual energy of the…
Wait a minute.
He subconsciously took in a deep breath when the words finally clicked into place.
Gem of space…
This was the Infinity Stone… or something connected to it.
Which meant…
Something stirred within him—an itch, a need to know for sure. His hands even trembled ever so slightly with barely contained excitement.
So without any hesitation, he reached into the ring's storage space and pulled out more weapons with the same distinct similarity, the ones with a glowing core embedded in its design.
He reached for a rifle, letting his fingers brush against its dark alloy casing before examining its structure inside and out with both his eyes and magic.
The weapon was expertly crafted, almost futuristic in design. However, its inner workings showed no traces of alchemy or magic, yet a similar system prompt appeared for it as well.
He reached for another weapon, then another, running his fingers over each one's surface, watching for the system's response. By now, he already had a good idea of what was happening.
Next, he reached for a few weapons that lacked the bluish core, pulling them from the pile just to be sure. But there was nothing. No reaction from the system.
Finally, he set everything down and sank back into his conjured chair, trying to make sense of it all.
One thing was clear—the system wasn't reacting to the weapons. It was picking up on the residual energy of the Space Stone, somehow stored in those crystal-like cores.
But... how?
How did the Space Stone's energy end up in some random weapons hidden away in Morvain's collection?
He exhaled slowly and reached for the small pistol again. Turning it side to side in his grip, he inspected every inch of its surface, searching for anything that might give him a clue.
Then he saw it.
A marking. No—a date.
Etched faintly into the side of the weapon, barely visible against the dark metal:
1943.
His eyes widened slightly.
World War II.
And just like that, a memory from his past life also surfaced in his mind. Captain America: The First Avenger.
It all lined up. These had to be Red Skull's weapons.
In the movie, Schmidt had used the Tesseract, harnessing its energy to power Hydra's arsenal. However, it seems in this reality it may be a bit different as he did not remember them developing this many or such a wide variety of wepons.
But that did not matter now. He had already accepted that while much of this reality matched his memories, some parts did not, and a few were completely different. There was no point dwelling on it.
Instead, he turned his attention to the weapons and what they were capable of. From what he remembered, a direct hit from their energy pulse could vaporize a regular human. He needed to confirm if that was true here as well.
His grip on the pistol tightened as he made up his mind.
In an instant, he vanished from the room and reappeared in a vast, empty desert, where the only signs of life were a few scattered cacti. They were not made of flesh and blood, but they would do as test targets for now.
"These antiques should still work, considering they were inside Morvain's storage ring," he muttered to himself while taking aim at one of the cacti.
He switched off the safety, placed his finger on the trigger, and then—
A sharp, high-pitched whine filled the air as the pistol powered up. The moment it reached full power, a bright blue energy pulse shot from the barrel and struck the target.
...
...
There was no explosion, no smoke, and no scattered remains. The cactus was simply gone. Only dust remained in the air where it had stood.
He fired again at another cactus, and the result was the same. The plant vanished instantly, leaving behind only a faint cloud of dust.
He took a few more shots at different targets to confirm the results. Each time, the energy pulse struck, and the target disappeared without a trace.
The effects were exactly as he remembered from the movie, and with that settled, he teleported back to the base.
---
Lowering himself back into the chair, he first took a moment to reflect on everything he had discovered today.
First of all, these weapons were overpowered AF, and he could put them to good use whenever he needed to clear out some garbage. But that was not what excited him the most.
What truly thrilled him was the realization that the system was not just reacting to magical artifacts or alchemical creations. It responds to anything, anything extraordinary.
This opened up endless possibilities. If he went to Kamar-Taj, could he replicate the properties of a Sling Ring? If he made his way to Wakanda, would the system react to Vibranium technology? And what about S.H.I.E.L.D.? If he could get his hands on their classified 0-8-4 objects, or even the Tesseract itself…
The more he thought about it, the more his blood raced. There were so many opportunities. So many possibilities.
But when his eyes moved to the system panel, it was like a bucket of cold water had been poured all over his excitement. Because, under the "Extraordinary Characteristics" section, the number of times he could replicate an extraordinary characteristic was showing blank. Zero.
The stingy system only gave him one point per year, and he had already used up all of it. There was still a week left until the year ended, when he would receive an extra point. Just one chance to replicate any extraordinary characteristic.
Thinking about all of this, his racing heart finally settled, and allowed his thoughts to clear.
He took a moment to gather his thoughts, then brought up the system panel again and reviewed the prompts more carefully from some of the weapons once more.
The system's grading of the Hydra weapons caught his attention.
He tilted his head, slightly puzzled.
These weapons had enough power to vaporize a human in an instant, yet the system did not seem to find them particularly impressive.
He thought about it for a while, trying to figure out why the system rated the characteristic so low, but no answer came to him.
In the end, he made up his mind. If the system considered it Basic Grade, then it was not worth wasting a precious point on it—even if it was pretty damn cool.
With that out of the way, he turned his attention back to Morvain's storage ring. There was still work to do.
He spent the rest of the night going through its contents, sorting through everything the dead wizard had hoarded. Anything valuable, rare, or even slightly useful got moved to his own expanded dimension. Anything useless or redundant was tossed aside without a second thought.
Once he was done, he held up the now-empty ring. It had served its purpose. Without hesitation, he crushed it in his grip, burned the fragments with Fiendfyre, and let the ashes scatter on to the ground.
---
After wrapping everything up, he teleported back to America and went about his days as if nothing had happened, spending time with his fiancée and taking her on sightseeing around the country.
A couple of days passed like this, but there were still no reports about Tarhan in the newspapers. He was certain that the old wizard's estate—or whatever was left of it—should have been discovered by now. However, it did not surprise him that it had not been reported to the public.
He figured some powerful people were keeping the news under wraps while they tried to confirm what had happened—and more importantly, to see how they could take advantage of it.
After all, Tarhan was no ordinary wizard. He was powerful, influential, and had accumulated a vast wealth of knowledge and resources. Whoever discovered his death first stood to gain the most from it. Whether it was seizing his assets, claiming his research, or eliminating any loose ends, there was plenty to fight over.
Unfortunately for them, they would not find anything substantial. Maverick had already gone through the old wizard's memories and knew that Tarhan's most valuable treasures were hidden in places no one else knew about. So there was nothing for anyone to dig up.
As for the rest... he couldn't care less.
---
Two days later, he returned to England, briefly putting his time with Isabella on hold. Today, he had an appointment with Lord Greengrass, one he had personally arranged, and they had agreed to host him at their estate.
This meeting was an important step in his plans. He needed to get his people into British magical politics, and the Greengrass family—an old, seemingly neutral house—was the perfect place to start.
It was happening sooner than he had anticipated, but as with all of his plans, circumstances had changed. Fortunately, in this case, it worked out for the better.
—————————
Author's Note:
So, life just handed me an unexpected side quest (family edition), hence, I'll be a little MIA for the next... at most five days while I deal with it.
Thanks for being the best readers a writer could ask for. See you soon.
Just a quick update — up to Chapter 150 is already available on P AT r30n!
PAT r30n [.] com / RyanFic