Unlike Kara, who suddenly flew up, Lana was unable to lift Mjolnir. Frustrated, she attempted to use her telekinetic powers to control the hammer.
"Buzz!" The telekinesis was activated, but Mjolnir remained immovable, feeling heavier than a mountain to Lana. Her powers couldn't budge it even slightly.
"Is there such a big gap between your strength and my telekinesis?" After her failed attempt, Lana looked disheartened towards Kara. Despite her efforts, the gap between them seemed to have widened rather than closed.
"It's not about strength; I didn't really use much force..." Kara, seeing Lana's dispirited form, tried to console her. "It must be something odd about the hammer. I didn't expect to change outfits suddenly..."
"Correct, it's not about strength. Only those recognized by Mjolnir can lift it and gain the power of Thor," Clark chimed in softly. This time, he didn't specify what the conditions for Mjolnir's approval were, as even he was confused about them now. Even Odin, who was watching from afar, began to doubt his own spell, especially since Lana couldn't lift Mjolnir.
"Thor's power? I'll try it too!" Pietro was the first to dash over, and Johnny Storm prepared to follow, but Pietro's speed was unmatched, leaving Johnny behind. The onlookers then watched Pietro stumble and fall embarrassingly after grabbing Mjolnir.
"...?" Everyone paused, then laughed at Pietro's clumsy attempt. Lana felt a bit better seeing her brother's plight, and even Robert suspected Pietro might have pretended to fail just to cheer Lana up.
"Is it really that hard? Let me try?" Johnny stepped forward after Barry Allen beat him to it. Barry grabbed Mjolnir, and for a moment, everything seemed to freeze, but then Barry shot forward, his brief glow fading as Mjolnir remained on the ground, indicating his attempt had failed too.
"Hmm?" Clark, Robert, and Kara furrowed their brows, the stronger trio able to discern that in that frozen moment, Barry was struck by a flash of electricity, yet he couldn't lift Mjolnir.
This outcome puzzled them since it suggested a third state beyond lifting and not lifting Mjolnir. "Is it that hard? Can only Kara succeed?" While the trio pondered, Johnny hesitated but then approached defiantly, wondering if his success would prove him superior to Pietro and Barry.
"Shh!" Johnny's hands burst into flames. Even though he heard from Clark that strength wasn't the key, he concentrated his explosive powers in his hands. Unfortunately, despite the fiery display, he couldn't move Mjolnir, which seemed to conflict with his powers.
"Boom!" Suddenly, Mjolnir was jolted—not by Johnny's direct touch but because the surrounding ground exploded, blasting Mjolnir into the air.
"Does that count as me moving it?" Johnny asked somewhat awkwardly.
"What do you think?" The explosion hadn't affected the others, thanks to their abilities, but anyone weaker might have been blown away just like Mjolnir.
"I'll give it a try..." Susan Storm spoke gently, honestly not expecting to lift Mjolnir. Like others, she thought Mjolnir's approval must relate to strength, which she lacked compared to Kara.
Unsurprisingly, when Susan grasped Mjolnir, it remained still. She didn't bother trying with her powers, knowing from the others' experiences that it made no difference if you couldn't lift it initially.
"It's just you left..." Susan said, smiling at Peter Parker.
"You all couldn't do it; I probably won't either," Peter admitted, scratching his head, sharing Susan's sentiment that Mjolnir likely required great strength, which he felt he lacked compared to Kara and Robert.
"Buzz!" To everyone's surprise, the moment Peter touched Mjolnir, he lifted it effortlessly, and a burst of Thor's power erupted from him, transforming his appearance.
"Why? Why could only Peter do it?" Johnny looked incredulously at "Thor Spider-Man."
"I... I don't know..." Peter was just as bewildered, murmuring to himself, "It seems to recognize me, but I don't know why..."
"I knew it wasn't just Kara who could lift Mjolnir!" Robert said with a smile. "But it seems Mjolnir's standards are still quite high; out of ten of us, only four could lift it, fewer than I expected..."
Initially, Robert thought many superheroes would meet Mjolnir's criteria. If Peter hadn't succeeded, it would have been quite the blow to Robert's
assumptions.
"That's already a lot, but it seems there might be more who can lift Mjolnir than I initially thought," Clark said with a wry smile, feeling Odin must be distressed.
Mjolnir was a family heirloom of Odin's, and now suddenly many claimed it without further qualifying its wielders...
Clark thought Odin had miscalculated. If there were a selection event for Mjolnir's wielders, many more on Earth might lift it, turning Mjolnir from a personal item of Asgard into a communal weapon of many Thors.
"What do we do with this hammer? Peter seems quite powerful with it..." Pietro asked, looking at Peter and then at Robert and Clark, knowing from them that Mjolnir had an owner but wishing his teammate could keep it.
"Yes, Mjolnir has an owner. Before it recognizes its owner, we can keep it here..." Clark set the tone before Robert could respond.
Temporarily using Mjolnir was fine, but keeping it permanently was not ideal. Moreover, Odin could change or even revoke the spell granting Mjolnir's power.
"The owner hasn't been recognized by Mjolnir? What kind of owner is that?" Johnny muttered, clearly preferring that his teammate Peter keep using Mjolnir.
Despite Peter's acceptance by Mjolnir, he wasn't one to covet it. Only those who couldn't lift Mjolnir might desire to possess it; those who could, wouldn't think such thoughts—Thor might be the exception since he had considered it his own for centuries.
Back in Asgard's palace, Odin sighed in relief. If Peter and the others had wanted to claim Mjolnir, Odin wouldn't have been able to do much, especially with the unpredictable Kryptonian, Clark, around. The cost of victory was too high for Odin to accept...
Hearing Robert wanted to study Mjolnir, Odin had no intention to interfere. Mjolnir's power was of Asgardian origin, and non-Asgardians could at best borrow this power, not fully understand or replicate it on their own.
"Zzz!" Unaware of Odin's confidence, Robert concentrated, generating electric arcs from his hands. This power evolved from the Wan Guo Jing Tian Palm, yet compared to Mjolnir's weather-affecting power, it was still weaker.
However, Robert had experience researching magical powers. Asgardian power was strong, but not beyond Robert's research capabilities. Mjolnir's ultimate power likely didn't reach the levels of a Saint, who commanded powers from the Yama Father level of fire demons.
Thor might surpass a Saint in potential, but that didn't mean the power contained in Mjolnir exceeded a Saint's level.
Thus, evolving the power within Mjolnir wasn't too difficult for Robert, who had already developed his own thunder power. It was mostly a matter of time before his simulated thunder power approached the level contained within Mjolnir.
"???" Odin was baffled, unable to grasp how a mortal could advance their power to such a degree. From the moment he threw Mjolnir to Earth, Odin's mindset had been anything but calm, realizing Earth was entirely different from what he knew...
Regardless, Odin knew he couldn't let Thor continue pointless space falling exercises. With a thought, Thor, who had been trapped in the Bifrost and hadn't landed on Earth, suddenly appeared mid-air and crashed to the ground, unconscious.
Due to this premature fall, Thor seemed to have missed a destined encounter...
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