"Hey, Li Yue, what just happened? Why did the hammer suddenly fall to the ground?" Tony was the first to shake off his daze and ask Li Yue.
"Uh, I don't know what happened either. I suddenly can't lift it anymore," Li Yue made up an excuse and brushed it off.
"Well, how do you feel? Didn't you say that anyone who can lift the hammer would have the power of Thor?" Tony pressed, still curious/
"I don't really feel anything, but I'll try using the power."
The soothing feeling he felt when absorbing the energy of the lightning made him forget to check the actual changes in his body.
Li Yue closed his eyes and carefully probed his own spiritual being. The total energy in the spiritual sky had massively increased and a third star had become prominent, but there weren't any real changes otherwise.
Li Yue channeled his energy to flow through his arm into his palm, recalling the scene in Thor: Ragnarok when Thor used the divine power of the Thunder God without using the hammer.
Everyone around him watched with expectant eyes. Suddenly, an electric arc appeared in Li Yue's palm, but unfortunately, it was too weak to do anything. It wouldn't even hurt a fly.
"All that dramatic scenes, just for this?" Tony complained.
It was like if someone had hyped out a climactic moment in a movie, but the final scene was just the main character farting.
"I just got the power. I obviously wouldn't master it yet."
Li Yue was rather embarrassed. He had imagined himself as a god of thunder, surrounded by a divine storm of lightning. Unfortunately, his expectation was a far cry from the reality.
...
It wasn't all for naught for Li Yue, though. The power he absorbed through the lightning had caused some changes in his body.
Mjolnir was not just a weapon. It had belonged to Odin when he was younger, and then he passed it to the Goddess of Death, Hela. Now, it belonged to Thor, the God of Thunder.
It was a weapon that could help Asgardian gods gradually channel and control their divine power—to put it simply, it was a tutorial artifact. It wasn't really of much use for a god that had mastered their divine power.
That was why Odin, Hela, and Thor eventually switched to other weapons.
But Mjolnir was currently bound to Thor's divine power, due to Odin's spell. It could allow even mortals to wield the power of the Thunder God.
Had Odin not forcibly interrupted the process, Li Yue would've taken over Thor's position in the pantheon. His evolution ability would adapt his body to accept the baptism of divine power, turning him into the vessel for the power of thunder.
Li Yue no longer had the divine power within him, and he couldn't produce more. He could only channel the spiritual energy within him to emulate the divine power, and due to the unfinished evolution, he could only imitate a fraction of the divine power that had entered his body.
...
Thor, who had been stripped of his godhood, was currently running toward Li Yue. As expected, however, he couldn't cross the dozens of kilometers distance on foot, especially as a mere mortal.
Fortunately, Jane caught up with the exhausted Thor in her car and drove him to his destination.
Jane and the others had returned to bring their experimental equipment before they chased after Thor, but to their surprise, their equipment and research data had been taken away by a group claiming to be from "SHIELD."
Jane went to confront them, but the old doctor stopped her. He had heard about SHIELD; one of his gamma researcher friends had disappeared after getting involved with them. He still didn't know whether that researcher was still alive.
Coulson was with Li Yue, so he didn't lead the operation to confiscate Jane's equipment. The agents of SHIELD didn't even compensate Jane for the equipment they took.
Upset with the old doctor, Jane decided to drive away and catch up with Thor, helping the Thunder God in the quest for Mjolnir.
...
Time passed by quickly. The sun set in the blink of an eye, and the world was covered by the darkness of night.
"So the hammer would just stay there? Nobody can take it away."
Tony was a little miffed. His Mark 7 and F-HK2 armor had arrived a few hours ago, but the hammer still wouldn't budge
even with those two armor suits. Tony's narcissistic ego was pretty badly hurt.
"We just need to wait. An uninvited guest will come here tonight."
Li Yue smiled mysteriously.
"Uninvited guest? Are they coming for this hammer? I'll increase the guards." Coulson was a little surprised, but he reacted professionally.
"No need, Coulson. This uninvited guest is the owner of this hammer. Well, former owner. He was stripped of his right."
"The Thunder God who was exiled to Earth? What does he look like?" Tony asked, curious.
Tony was very interested in seeing this Thunder God with his own eyes, as with everyone else in the group.
"Let's wait and see. He should be here soon."
...
An hour later.
"He's here," Li Yue suddenly said when he heard thunder coming from outside.
Sure enough, a man forcefully broke through the perimeter and went straight for the hammer, knocking the agents on his way to the ground.
The clear sky suddenly began to rain, with bursts of lightning and thunder flashing in the cloud. The SHIELD staff suddenly noticed a strong electromagnetic wave coming from Mjolnir: a wave that was getting stronger by the second.
Li Yue, Tony, and the others watched through the surveillance tent as a strong and burly agent was defeated in just a few moves.
"That's the God of Thunder? He just looked like a regular meathead."
Tony obviously wouldn't speak about his jealousy over the displayed person's musculature.
"Do you want me to stop him?" Captain America suddenly asked as Thor took down the agents one after another. His hands were itching for a fight.
"No need, Captain. Coulson, get your agent to pull back. Let him through," Li Yue said to Coulson, smiling as he ignored Tony.
"Don't stop him, let him through!" Coulson ordered.
Thor finally reached the open space where Mjolnir was located and rushed in front of it.
"Mjolnir, I'm here!"
With a confident smile on his face, Thor grabbed the handle of the hammer with his right hand and pulled it.
Unfortunately for him, the hammer awkwardly refused to budge. His smile froze. Even with both hands and all his strength, he couldn't pull the hammer up.
He finally realized what his father Odin had done. Odin had taken the divine power of the God of Thunder from him, turning him mortal.
Thor fell on his butt, listless, allowing SHIELD agents to surround him and take him away without any resistance.
...
Back on Asgard, Loki had just learned about his true origin as the descendant of the Frost Giant, seeding his doubt towards Odin's silence!
He finally understood why Odin had always favored Thor even from their young ages. No matter how outstanding Loki's achievement was, Odin had never even considered him an heir to Asgard's throne.
Loki had no way of knowing a vital part of Odin's schemes. Odin had wanted Thor to become the king of Asgard, yes, but he had also wanted Loki to ascend as the king of the Frost Giants, fostering an era of peace between the people of Asgard and Jotunheim.
That was why Odin told them that they were both born as kings. Unfortunately, Odin's sudden fall into Odinsleep prevented him to explain his intentions.