POV: Baldur.
Genosha Spaceship.
2010.
It's been almost two months since I've been confined within this spaceship heading towards a planet which I have little information on. I'll reach my destination in a few hours, giving me two days to explore the planet, searching for threats or anything worth taking with me.
I've been completely isolated from Genosha's affairs, focusing on my training. The only contact with anyone else has been the messages and conversations I've had with Amora, who is also on a quest. She hasn't told me anything about her location or if she's encountering any difficulties. I wasn't happy about it, but I respect her, and I have enough confidence in her to know that if she needs help, she won't hesitate due to her pride. Besides, I can monitor her heart rate, which will alert me if something happens.
Traveling alone and without any contact with the world was boring. I had no choice but to focus all my time on training to control that dark energy. I must say, this type of energy was the most aggressive I've ever encountered. All-Black is a symbiote, so it possesses some intelligence. This energy was separated from the weapon, but it still retains some similarities to it, making its use difficult.
My experience in dealing with hostile energies, as I did in Balthakk, proved useful. After fifteen consecutive days of training, I managed to take control of the energy, which proved to be quite versatile in its use. It can enhance all my physical attributes and provide solid defense by moving autonomously toward an attack. However, using it like this would be a waste.
The amount of energy I have is finite, and there's no way for me to recreate or absorb more of it without coming into contact with All-Black, which is lost in space. According to my calculations, if I use all the dark energy to enhance my physical attributes, I'll only achieve a twenty percent increase in all my attributes, something I can easily achieve using my rune, making it a great waste. It would burn even faster if I used it for defense. The stronger the blow I have to defend against, the more it will be consumed.
So, I tried something that finally worked. I fed the dark energy with my own. When the dark energy devoured mine, it began to reproduce on its own, finally eliminating my problem with its finite quantity. This also made me realize how foolish I had been. The strength of this energy lay not in the increase in strength or defense it could provide me, but in its ability to consume energy and infect enemies. If I could infuse this energy into my blows, I could make it enter my enemies' bodies and consume them in the same way Gorr did to me. I could also make it consume the energies that were fired at me instead of simply trying to defend with it.
With a clear direction in mind, it only took a little focus to achieve what was proposed. I can now imbue these effects into my blows by blending them with my powers. Unfortunately, I still can't use a large amount of dark energy, as the more it consumes, the stronger its will becomes. When its will becomes stronger, it fights and tries to break free from my control. But with time, I'm sure I'll be able to use it more freely.
So after weeks confined to this ship, I can finally see my destination ahead. As the satellite photos from Genosha showed, this planet is completely covered in green from the trees. They are so gigantic that their leafy canopies cover the entire planet, obstructing any view of it.
"Set the ship to stealth mode while I take a look, Alice, and if I don't return in four days, you can enter the planet."
"Yes, sir."
The treetops don't allow for any view of the planet, so it's not wise to bring my only means of transportation into them. The deadline given to me will only occur in four days, giving me enough time to investigate this world, so I'll fly alone, leaving my ship safe in space.
"Open the door."
I move to the back of the ship, carrying only Sigel as baggage. When the rear door of the ship opens, facing the planet, I don't hesitate and leap from the ship, starting to fly towards it at a constant speed.
Entering the planet's atmosphere, I soon pierce through the layer of green leaves, and what lies on the other side takes my breath away. I don't know how to describe this world, except with the word "green." The trees on this world are larger than any buildings humans have ever constructed on Earth; their trunks are wide enough to be compared to small cities. All I see is an endless ocean of gigantic trees.
The most surprising aspect is the planet's soil. The roots of the trees protrude from the ground, leaving the entire surface uneven and unpredictable. There's not a single meter of flat ground in sight. I cut one of these roots to understand how this planet can sustain these trees. The soil revealed below the roots reminds me of a swamp; from the soil, I can tell it's several times more fertile than Earth's soil.
After two days of calmly exploring the planet, I still haven't seen any living beings other than the trees. But I discovered how this planet can create this atmosphere. The planet's interior is rich like nothing I've ever seen in water. This water is infested with unknown nutrients that cause the flora to grow so alarmingly. The trees somehow managed to penetrate the subsoil and feed, leaving the planet as it is now. I've collected some samples to take back to Genosha; if we can recreate this type of atmosphere, the world's food problem could be solved, and unlike the way Genosha does it using vibranium, we can spread this to the world.
On the third day, I finally encountered the first living being on this planet, or it would be more accurate to say it found me. While exploring the planet on foot, the roots beneath me stirred, revealing two enormous jaws trying to devour me. When I moved away, I could better see my enemy; it resembled Earth's crocodiles, only more than twenty meters wide, with green skin and vegetation covering its entire body, as if it were born from the trees. I was surprised by its camouflage power; it's not easy to catch me off guard.
It has skin harder than steel and possesses insane resistance and healing power. Its blood was green, and its flesh gray, which I lamented. I thought I could eat meat today instead of the bland cereal bars from my supplies. This life form seems to be using the energy of nature around it to regenerate, making it very difficult to kill. The easiest solution was to use my flames, which obviously were its weakness.
The more I advanced, the more native creatures I encountered. Most of them were carnivorous plants the size of buildings, camouflaging themselves, waiting for any prey to enter their hunting grounds. After getting rid of so many creatures, I was starting to get fed up, so I enveloped myself in flames, which acted as a repellent, driving all the creatures away from me.
On the fourth day, I finally encountered quasi-intelligent life. Near one of the giant trees, I found a humanoid being almost four meters tall, with green skin covered in small leafy scales. Its arms were as long as its legs, almost touching the ground, and its face resembled that of humans, only without a nose or mouth, only two white eyes, and to complete it, it had wooden antlers like deer on top of its head.
I followed it until it entered under one of the tree roots, becoming invisible and entering with it. I found several beings like it living similarly to Neanderthals. This race has only just begun its evolution, and it will take many years before they become the pinnacle of their evolution; they haven't even discovered fire yet, perhaps their biology doesn't even need it, who knows.
I watched this people with infinite possibilities, the Marvel universe is gigantic and has thousands of intelligent races, few of which are still evolving as slowly as this one, but I was happy to observe them.
It's been hours since I've been observing them. They seem to have some control over the flora, thus being able to cultivate their own food. It was nearing the end of the fourth day, transitioning into the fifth day, counting in Earth hours. This planet has longer days than Earth, in fact, since I arrived here, I haven't even seen a single nightfall.
(Perhaps my future self sent me to this planet to collect a sample of its waters, or to assist these new beings in evolving. I don't know. I just thought I would understand the reason when I saw it.)
"TRUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMTRUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM"
As if the universe heard my words, I feel the world trembling incessantly. It was different from an earthquake; it was as if the entire world was trembling in fear. My new friends remained kneeling on the ground, embracing each other, trembling with fear as well. Perhaps this was the first tremor they had ever felt in their lives.
Emerging from beneath the tree roots, I try to find the reason for the endless tremor. After searching for a few minutes, I sense that the cause of all this agitation is in space. Due to the layers of foliage covering the entire sky, I don't have a wide view to locate the reason. So, I ascend into space, leaving the planet. It wasn't hard to find the reason.
In the emptiness of space, thousands of kilometers away from the planet, there was a being larger than the planet itself. Its body was covered in red armor with bands of red color adorning it. Better to say, it was the armor.
The being was emitting cosmic energy that was causing the entire world to tremble. Now I know the reason why my future self sent me to this world. Because it was about to be destroyed by a Celestial.
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