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After Arthur finished his long-winded speech, T'Challa was still stunned speechless, when suddenly, a voice rang in Arthur's ears: [Disassembler Upgrade Complete!]
"This time… it's even faster than I expected!"
Arthur's eyes lit up. He genuinely hadn't expected to hear that voice again so suddenly.
The Disassembler had upgraded.
Thinking back, it felt like centuries had passed. He had grown so used to life without the Disassembler that he'd almost forgotten it even existed. After all, so much had happened in the meantime, and the Disassembler had remained in deep sleep.
Now, right at this crucial moment, it had suddenly completed its upgrade. That gave Arthur a renewed sense of confidence for the journey ahead. Even though the Disassembler wasn't exactly helpful in direct combat, its presence gave him a strange sort of courage.
With a thought, Arthur summoned its interface.
After this upgrade, it looked far more impressive, sleeker, more refined. All the worn, battered textures from before were gone. The entire casing now gleamed with a polished metallic shine, like it had just rolled off the assembly line.
And sure enough, the name had changed to: Intermediate, Tier 3.
That was a huge milestone, a true turning point.
Arthur didn't yet know what new abilities this upgrade had unlocked. But he did know one thing: before this, he had been struggling to find the kind of rare item that could push the Disassembler beyond the Intermediate-Advanced boundary. If this upgrade hadn't worked out, that might've been the end of the road for the device.
Just thinking about that made Arthur's head start to ache.
T'Challa was watching him with growing confusion.
A moment ago, Arthur had looked excited, but now he seemed like he was in utter agony. What had changed so fast?
T'Challa was still puzzling it over when Arthur suddenly looked over at him.
It was just a normal look… yet for some reason, it gave T'Challa the chills. There was something disturbing, almost predatory, in Arthur's gaze.
"Uh… is something wrong?" T'Challa asked uncertainly.
Arthur's eyes were locked onto T'Challa's gear.
When T'Challa arrived, he'd been wearing his Black Panther combat suit. Right now, the helmet was off and resting in his hand, and Arthur had the wildest urge to take a bite out of it.
Of course, doing something like that was out of the question. There'd be no explaining it later.
His little sister would ask, "Where's your suit?"
And he'd have to say, "Arthur made it disappear…"
Which is totally unacceptable.
So Arthur took a deep breath and asked: "Can I ask you something?"
"…Of course. But I get the feeling you already know the answer to your own question." T'Challa spread his hands.
"I'm not omniscient," Arthur rolled his eyes. "If I were, I could just snap my fingers and fix everything. We wouldn't need to struggle so much."
"Huh. That actually makes a weird kind of sense." T'Challa nodded. "Alright, go ahead."
"The title of Black Panther has been passed down through generations. But combat suits must've evolved over time, right? So… what happens to the old ones? Where are they stored?" Arthur asked.
"Why are you asking that?" T'Challa narrowed his eyes.
"Just curious…"
"Yeah, I'm not buying that." T'Challa gave Arthur a look. "You don't seem like the type to ask something like that out of pure curiosity."
"What do you mean 'my type'? What's wrong with my type?" Arthur looked offended. "Aren't I mysterious enough already?"
"…" T'Challa didn't even know how to respond.
"Sigh…" Arthur let out a long breath.
'Well, even if I don't get an answer, it's fine,' He thought. 'And even if I do, what would I do with it? Steal a suit? That'd be insane, and way too easy to trace. It's not like I can go raid Wakanda or anything.'
And so, their awkward little exchange ended without resolution…
The rest of the trip was mostly silent. But to Arthur's surprise, the journey ended up being much longer than he'd expected.
Two full weeks later, they finally crossed through a wormhole, and arrived above a planet.
After checking the coordinates on the star map, Arthur confirmed they were in the right place. He immediately switched the ship to landing mode, and in less than three hours, they'd found a lavish, palace-like structure.
The spaceship pulled up right in front of the main entrance, drawing the attention of those inside.
However, even after Arthur and T'Challa disembarked, no one came out to greet them. Maybe the place was just too big, and the people inside had gotten lost trying to reach the front door.
"This place is beautiful," T'Challa said, unable to hold back his admiration. "Everything you said, is it true? About that…"
Arthur quickly made a shushing gesture, then smiled and said, "Don't say it, see it. Stay calm, and remain alert at all times."
T'Challa nodded.
Just then, the massive front doors swung open, and a hulking figure appeared before them.
The man strode out, expressionless, face stern and cold as he advanced slowly. T'Challa immediately tensed up.
The man was shirtless, his skin covered in mysterious patterns. His cold, emotionless gaze and imposing frame gave off nothing but danger.
T'Challa took a deep breath. Now he understood exactly what Arthur had meant by "stay alert at all times."
This… definitely wasn't Earth.
Out here, you could run into all kinds of aliens, some friendly, some far less so.
The massive figure quickly closed the distance between them. He examined T'Challa's face first, then turned his gaze to Arthur, his expression growing more and more serious. His lips twitched as if he was about to bare his teeth…
T'Challa instinctively prepared to strike.
But Arthur grabbed his wrist. "Relax, he's a friend!"
T'Challa froze in surprise. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the giant asked:
"Who are you? I don't make friends with ugly people."
Arthur paused for a moment, then pulled out his gun.
"Hey!" A cheerful voice rang out.
A second later, Star-Lord appeared, and immediately took in the scene: Arthur with a gun and a cold expression, T'Challa looking completely confused, and the giant man baring his teeth menacingly.
Totally baffled, Star-Lord asked, "What the hell is going on?"
Before anyone could respond, the giant burst into laughter, howling and doubling over.
Everyone else looked at him in total confusion.
It was Star-Lord who finally broke the silence: "Drax, what are you laughing at?"
"I scared him! Didn't you see it? That ugly guy was almost about to cry!" He pointed at Arthur.
Star-Lord's face darkened. "No… I think you just pissed him off. And you're definitely about to regret it."
"I'm not, " Drax didn't get to finish the sentence. The next moment, the world spun around, and when he came to, he was flat on his back on the ground.