Chapter 50:
The 'Twilight Forest' mod was one of Mark's favorites. It added a whole new world to the game, full of adventures for players to explore.
One of the coolest things about this world was the Thorns, a unique plant that surrounded the Final Castle. These Thorns had a special ability: no matter how players tried to destroy or collect them, they would instantly grow back and multiply. They were indestructible and multiplied with every attempt to destroy them.
But there was a way to destroy them in the game. Players had to defeat the Cloud Giant, use a pickaxe to dig through the obsidian in the Troll Cave, and get an item called the Lamp of Cinders. Only when the Thorns were burned by the Lamp of Cinders would they lose their regenerative properties and turn to ash.
Back when Mark was a server owner, he used to place Twilight Thorns near other players' houses, challenging them to find the Lamp of Cinders and explore the entire Twilight Forest map. He had fond memories of those mischievous and fun times.
Although the Twilight Thorns weren't that useful to Mark right now, he was still happy to get them, knowing they couldn't be collected in survival mode. The idea of Thorns with similar properties existing in the real world fascinated him.
Mark happily stored the Twilight Thorns in his backpack and told Steve to open another Lucky Block. But his luck seemed to have run out after getting the Void Ring and the Extremely Primordial Pearl, because the next four items were pretty ordinary.
He got Shears, the Bio-Ball from Thermal Expansion, the Collation Folder from Mystcraft, and something called 'Blood and Flesh' of unknown origin.
Mark knew what Shears were for; they could be used to break leaves and were guaranteed to get saplings. The Bio-Ball was like a Master Ball from Pokémon, able to capture creatures but disappearing after releasing them.
He didn't know much about the 'Collation Folder', as he hadn't played much of the Mystcraft mod, but he knew it wasn't very useful.
As for the 'Blood and Flesh', Mark was completely stumped. It looked like weird, crimson zombie flesh. He even tasted it experimentally but couldn't figure out what it was. He had no idea if it was food or something else.
This puzzled Mark. He realized that he might have never encountered the mod this item came from, because he would have recognized it if he had played it before.
"Forget it, I won't worry about it," Mark muttered, shaking his head. He had Steve put away the four items.
Out of all the items, the Void Ring was the most exciting. He hadn't expected to get such a rare item in just seven tries. He was incredibly lucky.
As for the other items...
They weren't as important as the Void Ring.
Honestly, if Mark didn't have a mod stuck at 80% completion, he would have used the Linking Book to go back to the Minecraft world for some mining. He didn't want to spend any more time in this unfamiliar realm.
But even without going back to the Minecraft world...
Mark couldn't wait to test out the Void Ring.
As mentioned before, the Void Ring could be activated by putting it inside the Alchemy Bag. Anything inside the Alchemy Bag would be broken down and converted into various valuable materials.
When Mark had entered the Marvel world, he had filled the Alchemy Bag with all sorts of things, including enchantment tables, potions, Nether Stars, Ender Pearls, and valuable resources like enchanted golden apples, gold blocks, and lapis lazuli blocks.
Mark had Steve open his backpack and use experience points to increase its capacity, making more space for the Alchemy Bag.
Then, Mark activated the Void Ring inside the bag.
The gem on the Void Ring glowed brightly.
Mark eagerly watched the resources inside the Alchemy Bag, expecting them to be transformed into valuable materials.
But to his surprise...
He waited and waited, but the Void Ring didn't convert any of the resources.
"Hmm?"
Mark realized something was wrong. "What's going on?"
He tried again with another batch of items. But no matter what he put into the Alchemy Bag, whether it was trash like rotten flesh or dirt, the Void Ring didn't convert anything.
At first, Mark thought he might be using the ring incorrectly.
But then he had Steve throw a stone on the ground as a test, and the stone was immediately sucked into the Alchemy Bag by the Void Ring's gravity.
The gravitational function of the Void Ring was working perfectly.
Only the conversion ability seemed to be broken.
"No way..." Mark couldn't believe it. The ring had held so much promise, the ability to turn trash into treasure and create valuable materials. Finding out that only the gravity function worked was a huge letdown.
Feeling disappointed, Mark tried to come to terms with the situation.
As he was contemplating his life choices, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Annoyed, he didn't bother opening it. With a wave of his hand, the door swung open on its own.
Thor walked in with a hearty laugh.
"Haha, Mark, I have good news."
Thor's face was beaming, his happiness infectious. "The Asgardian craftsmen have repaired the Bifrost, and the bridge is working again!"
Lost in his own world, Mark continued staring blankly at the wall.
"What's wrong?" Thor's expression changed when he noticed Mark's state. "Tell me, my friend."
"I'm in a terrible mood and need some time alone."
Mark rubbed his forehead. "Do you know which race in the Nine Realms is causing trouble? I can help you take them down for free, turn them all into mincemeat for dumplings."
Thor burst out laughing. "Come on, friend, you wouldn't really do that."
"You underestimate me..."
"Alright, let's not dwell on unhappy things."
Thor pulled Mark to his feet, and they walked towards the exit. "In Asgard, feasts and fine wine can cure any worries. Come, let's have a drink!"
At first, Mark hesitated, but he couldn't resist Thor's enthusiasm.
They arrived at the banquet hall, where Asgardian warriors greeted them warmly. Traditional Asgardian music played as they drank copious amounts of wine.
But as a digitized being, a player, Mark wasn't affected by alcohol.
Even after drinking several barrels of Asgardian wine, Thor got drunk, slurring his words as he tried to comfort Mark, patting him on the shoulder with a dazed expression. "Don't worry, my friend, everything will be alright..."
"Thanks, I do feel a bit better now."
Mark chuckled and nodded, admitting that Thor's words had cheered him up a little.
Thinking about the situation, Mark realized that the Void Ring couldn't decompose and convert items because he didn't have the basic structure of the Equivalent Exchange mod.
The items in Steve's backpack didn't have any EMC value, so the Void Ring couldn't affect them.
But Mark had a new idea.
Since the ring didn't work in Steve's hands, he would materialize it himself. Who knew? It might have some unexpected effects.
"Alright, let's give this a try..."
Thor, happy to see Mark in a better mood, smiled warmly. But then something caught his attention, and he raised his arm in greeting. "Hey, Heimdall!"
Mark turned to see Heimdall approaching, which was unusual, as he was the guardian of the Bifrost and usually didn't drink. Maybe the repairs had given him a rare break.
But what surprised Mark even more was that Heimdall walked right past the party and came straight towards him.
"Mark, I saw something in the distant realm of Midgard." Heimdall's expression turned serious as he spoke directly to Mark. "Tony Stark is your friend, isn't he
?"
"Yeah." Mark was confused. "What happened?"
"He's dying."