Mario was in an excellent mood after receiving Odin's generous gift. Even Thor, standing beside him, seemed more refined than usual.
"So, any luck with that planet search?"
Thor had been lost in thought, wondering why his father would allow a human to reside in Asgard. Mario's question pulled him back to the present.
"Habitable uninhabited planets are... incredibly rare." He shook his head. "Most that could support life are already claimed by one species or another."
Several planet names immediately popped into Mario's mind. Titan, Thanos' homeworld. Vormir, where the Soul Stone was hidden. And Thanos' Garden, the quiet paradise where the Mad Titan would eventually retire.
Among them, the Garden was the best choice. But he didn't even know the planet's name. Finding it would be like searching for a needle in the vastness of space.
"Can you help me find a planet called Vormir? It's got mountains and water from what I've heard, sounds like a decent place to settle."
Thor nodded. "With a name to work from, it'll be much easier. I'll ask Heimdall to locate it."
Mario returned to the abandoned spaceship site, surveying the large cleared space.
I don't want to stay on Earth forever, he thought. The planet's not big enough, and humans are too busy fighting each other.
If the politicians ever discovered he'd obtained alien spacecraft, there would be no peace. Even the ship components he'd been teleporting back through portals were hidden deep underground in a remote African forest, far from prying eyes and nosy governments.
Otherwise he'd spend every day playing cat and mouse with the U.S. military instead of building anything.
He sat down beside the smeltery and began the process of refining all his collected ores into metal blocks, organizing them neatly into nearby chests.
Every trip to the Twilight Forest or the Nether yielded massive amounts of raw minerals. Smelting it all took a lot of time, even with the doubled output from the seared smeltery.
"Time to make some Nihilite," he muttered to himself. "I wonder if it'll have the same properties here as it does in the game."
Nihilite was hands-down the most broken metal in TAIGA. The Soul Eater trait allowed permanent damage increases based on the maximum HP of killed creatures. While the early-stage damage was pathetically low, with enough grinding it could become the strongest weapon imaginable.
When he'd un-digitized Vibranium and Uru metal, they'd automatically gained their real-world properties. But since Nihilite didn't exist in the Marvel universe, he wasn't sure if it would inherit its game mechanics.
"Imperomite has some interesting traits too..."
Mario flipped through his TAIGA manual and grinned when he read the description. Attacking an entity with Imperomite had a small chance to delete the enemy's AI, thanks to the Hollow trait, essentially turning them into a drooling vegetable.
"Maybe I should test Imperomite first. Let's give it a shot."
He gathered the materials and threw them into the smeltery. The alloys in TAIGA were powerful, but crafting them was ridiculously convoluted, layers upon layers of sub-components.
After some time, he finally smelted a batch of Imperomite. He grabbed a gold casting mold and forged what any Italian knew was the perfect weapon, a frying pan. Okay, joking aside, ever since playing PUBG, he'd wanted to wield a frying pan as a weapon
He swung it. The balance was excellent, and the weight felt right in his hands.
"Need to find a monster to test this on. Then maybe a vampire."
Since manpower was limited, not only had the combat suits joined the workforce, but he had also made Blade leave behind a few vampires to handle tasks the suits couldn't manage. These remaining bloodsuckers were surprisingly obedient and worked enthusiastically, though they burned through resources rather quickly.
Fortunately, the Association had relocated operations to Los Angeles, so the labor supply remained steady.
Carrying his frying pan, he used obsidian to build a Nether portal right on the empty ground beside him. Once it activated, he stepped through without hesitation.
"Huff... huff..."
The moment he emerged, he heard the crackling sound of blazes. Several fireballs immediately came flying toward him. He reacted quickly, pulling out his combat shield and raising it defensively.
BANG!
A fireball hit him in the back. His body instantly burst into flames, but they burned out quickly thanks to his fire resistance.
Having just stepped through the portal, he hadn't located the monsters' positions yet. This exposed one of the shield's weaknesses, it could only block damage from the front. Attacks from behind still connected unless he cornered himself against a wall.
He whipped out his boomerang and swiftly eliminated several blazes. With his fully enhanced attributes, their attacks barely tickled him, and a single hit was enough to wipe them out.
After clearing the ranged attackers, he finally surveyed his surroundings. This time he was extremely lucky, the portal had opened directly inside a Nether fortress.
In the distance, he saw zombified piglins wandering about and wither skeletons holding stone swords.
He let out a sigh. "Vanilla mobs are just too weak. There's no challenge at all."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a long-dormant notification sound echoed in his head.
[MUTANT MOBS AND ATOMICSTRYKER'S INFERNAL MOBS LOADING...]
[LOAD COMPLETE]
Mario froze mid-step. He actually raised his hand as if to slap himself.
"My big fucking mouth!"
Having the Mutant and Infernal Mobs mods active simultaneously meant monster difficulty would skyrocket. Before he could even process what was happening, a purple boss health bar suddenly appeared in his vision. Beneath it were several modifier tags:
Webber
Gravity
Ninja
Darkness
An irresistible force yanked his body forward. A wither skeleton covered in purple particle effects sprinted toward him on its stick-thin legs, moving far faster than any vanilla mob should.
His vision went completely black. The monster's Darkness attribute had inflicted him with five seconds of blindness.
"Shit!"
He quickly raised his combat shield and started throwing boomerangs wildly. Even blinded, he could still see the monster's health bar floating in the darkness.
The wither skeleton's body flared red and stiffened when struck. Its health bar dropped by a segment.
But due to the Gravity attribute, his body was pulled another three meters closer after hitting it. Just as he tried to step back, sticky webs formed beneath his feet, completely immobilizing him.
"If even a minor elite is this broken, how the hell am I supposed to fight a mutant elite?"
The wither skeleton seized the opportunity and rushed forward, slashing at the combat shield with its stone sword. Half of its own health dropped instantly from the shield's Thorns effect.
He didn't panic. Gripping his Imperomite frying pan, he started hammering the monster with rapid blows, ignoring attack cooldowns entirely. He was just trying to proc the special trait.
Come on, come on...
Luck was on his side. After a flurry of more than ten lightning-fast hits, and the skeleton nearly killing itself with reflected damage, the wither skeleton suddenly froze mid-swing.
The blindness effect wore off. Mario blinked away the afterimages and stared at his opponent.
The wither skeleton stood completely motionless, its sword raised above its head in mid-attack.
He circled around the creature cautiously. "Looks like... not only was its attack AI deleted, but even its movement AI is gone. Is Imperomite really that powerful?"
The wither skeleton had completely transformed into a statue, well, a statue with a health bar still floating above its skull.
He walked up and grabbed the creature. Since the system didn't register this as an attack, the skeleton didn't react at all.
"If I could bring back a Twilight Forest boss... I should open a monster exhibition hall and collect every creature from Minecraft!"
He patted the wither skeleton's shoulder. It didn't move or bend.
He turned around, stepped through the portal, and dragged the wither skeleton back to Asgard.
Even though it was daytime, wither skeletons were immune to fire damage. They wouldn't burn in sunlight, let alone lava.
"Mario..."
Ivan's voice made Mario turn. Since Ivan had been to the Twilight Forest, he recognized the creature immediately.
"Why'd you bring a monster back?"
Mario glanced at Ivan. The scientist wore a clean white lab coat now instead of the filthy, grease-stained thing he'd been sporting earlier. Even his hair, which he'd never bothered maintaining, was now tied back neatly. He looked at least ten years younger.
"I ran a little test in the Nether. Since you're here, help me find one of those slacker vampires later. I want to give him a proper educational experience."
Ivan's expression froze for a moment, then he spoke bluntly, "If you're itching for a fight, just say so. I'll grab someone."
He paused. "I actually came to tell you that one of the spaceships has been fully repaired and is ready for use."
Mario immediately perked up. In just over two months, even with Ivan and Tony's combined expertise, repairing such advanced alien technology was no small achievement.
"Hold on a sec."
He tossed the wither skeleton aside, fenced it off with glass blocks to prevent accidents, then thought for a moment and placed a sign: "DO NOT TOUCH"
"Take me to see it."
Excited, he slung his arm around Ivan's shoulders and walked toward where Kaecilius was working. The sorcerer had become the company's de facto magic director, handling personnel and materials while also researching magical armor applications.
Kaecilius sat in a separate lab, testing over a dozen metal plates with various spells. Glowing runes occasionally appeared in the air and fused into the metal, engraving complex magical patterns onto the hard surfaces.
"Kaecilius, open a portal. I need to head back for a bit."
Mario walked up curiously and glanced at the metal plates. "How's the research going? Picked which material to use yet?"
Only a small portion of the materials on the table had been provided by him. Most came from Tony and Ivan, who were equally curious about what combining magic and technology would yield. Hearing Mario's voice, Kaecilius stopped his work. He looked far more energetic than two months ago and showed Mario respect now, similar to the deference he'd once shown the Ancient One.
"After extensive testing, the Number 3 metal plate Ivan provided has excellent magical affinity. It can be combined with Uru metal to create armor. As for Valyrium steel, it has extremely strong anti-magic properties, making it perfect for forging weapons against evil entities from other dimensions."
Mario nodded approvingly and patted Kaecilius on the shoulder. "Once the spaceship project's on track, the armor I promised you can be made. In the meantime, start crafting some weapons or a staff that suits your style. Work hard. Once your strength grows, you'll definitely achieve what you're dreaming of."
Kaecilius nodded, raised his hand, and opened a portal to Earth. Mario walked through with Ivan.
Watching them disappear into the swirling gateway, he showed a smile. He closed the portal, sat back down, tossed the used Uru metal plate into the scrap bin, and pulled out a fresh specimen from the material box beside him.
The box was filled with neatly arranged metal plates, each labeled with different numbers and compositions.
---
Back on Earth, they emerged in an underground facility Mario had excavated in a remote area of Africa. Going underground was a last resort, mainly because he didn't have an invisibility shield like Wakanda.
His manpower was still too limited for comprehensive research. He had to advance step by step.
Looking at the small spaceship painted in gold and red, he sighed.
No need to guess. That's obviously Tony's handiwork.
The ship was about the same size as Star-Lord's Milano. The rear half had wings on both sides to improve flight stability in atmospheres.
All around, human-sized metal robots were busy inspecting and maintaining the vessel. These were machines Ivan and Tony had developed to replace manual labor, controlled by simple weak AI with no self-learning capabilities.
That was something Mario had specifically requested. The last thing he needed was to accidentally create an Age of Ultron scenario. Except this time it wouldn't be swarms of robots in the sky, it'd be fleets of cosmic warships.
Tony noticed Mario's arrival, gliding over on a floating metal platform and landing on the ground. He wore the same work uniform as Ivan and a pair of light-colored glasses.
"Mario! What do you think? The Tony-1 is fully operational."
Tony looked genuinely excited. After all, this was a spaceship.
"Yeah, looks good," Mario said, unable to hide his amusement. "But what's with the name Tony-1? That's terrible."
Tony chuckled. "You handed over the naming rights. Ivan lost a bet with me, so the name ended up being mine!"
Mario could only shake his head helplessly. To him, a ship of this level was essentially a consumable. For all he knew, they might run into a group of Ravagers in space and get blown apart in seconds. The name didn't really matter.
He just found it funny how Ivan and Tony, instead of becoming enemies, had somehow ended up as competitive rivals.
"Alright then. I'm taking the ship out for a test flight."