POV of Stan
Han Daewin and Yoo Mira.
Both are martial arts experts with interesting abilities that I'm definitely going to use to improve myself.
"Too bad I can't take the Jade Emperor's body and eye... sigh."
After picking up Daewin, still unconscious, I insert nanomachines into his body to download his knowledge.
With Old Man McGucket by my side, it was easy to upgrade my mind-reading technology. Now, I can not only read thoughts but also modify them and read memories.
I've even developed my own version of the Memory Gun. However, I haven't touched the Blind Eye Society yet. Why? Because I don't feel like dealing with memory erasures in Gravity Falls... at least not right now.
"Incredible... All these martial arts, this understanding of the 4 fundamental forces of the universe..." A satisfied smile stretches across my face.
After dropping the unconscious man, I reach for the woman on the ground.
"Stop treating them so roughly!"
I turn towards the source of this voice.
Oh yeah... I had almost forgotten about this brat. With everything that's happened, it slipped my mind. But why are they looking like that?
"You're hurting them, can't you see they're injured?" Luz speaks up, positioning herself between Yoo Mira and me.
I let out a weary sigh before fixing my gaze on her.
"Listen, Luz, these two clearly don't need our help. They're literally walking monsters. So move aside so I can finish my job and send them back to their world."
Despite my words, Luz barely hesitates before strengthening her determination. While I'm simply considering teleporting her to Eda's room to avoid any additional problems, Mabel's voice rings in my ears.
"Uncle Stan, what are you doing here, and why are you treating people so roughly when they haven't done anything?" Mabel, visibly uncomfortable, finally asks the question weighing on everyone's mind.
I let out yet another sigh. "I'm going to have to waste precious seconds explaining the conceptual state of this place..."
I briefly explain the nature of the library and the reasons for my actions.
"You understand? These two aren't from our world. I'm just taking their knowledge before sending them back."
After my explanation, Luz and the others seem embarrassed and no longer interfere.
"Wait a minute, what are you kids doing here at this hour?" Terri frowns, turning towards Dipper and Mabel.
"It's... uh... I forgot to borrow a book! Yeah, that's it!" Dipper declares hastily, while Mabel nods frantically behind him.
[Let it go, Terri. These brats are cunning by nature, and punishing them won't change anything. However, forbidding them from accessing the library could be a solution.] Giffany intervenes through her drone.
"I'm not with them! I was forced to be here!" Amity quickly justifies herself.
I turn my gaze towards her. "Amity Blight. I have an excellent relationship with your father, Alador. A brilliant man, but... unfortunately, genius isn't necessarily hereditary."
I see shame cross the young girl's face, and I must admit it's quite satisfying. I now understand some professors from my past...
That'll teach them to waste my time when I still have other fictional geniuses to... borrow knowledge from.
As I open a new book after "borrowing" Yoo Mira's knowledge, a woman and a baby materialize before us.
Anyone can see the woman is exhausted from fatigue.
"I thought you were looking for brilliant minds, but here... a baby and an exhausted woman?"
Like Mabel, the others seem confused.
"Haha! Leylin Farlier isn't really a baby. He's much older than me." My words surprise them, and they begin to observe the child more closely, their brows gradually furrowing.
As I approach the baby, a wave of spiritual energy attempts to establish contact with me.
[What's happening? Who are you...?]
"Sorry, little warlock, but you're not qualified to know my identity."
I quickly grab the baby's head and begin attempting to break through his mental defenses.
Of course, I remained on my guard. I was dealing with a part of a level 6 being's soul, extremely close to level 7, the domain of true gods.
[AI Chip: Intruder detected!]
[AI Chip: Launching foreign body ejection procedure.]
My nanomachines are slowly expelled by Leylin's spiritual energy, controlled by his AI chip.
"You want to play like that, huh?"
My eyes begin to glow as I use Oracle magic to directly attack his spirit while sending my nanomachines to invade his brain.
[Stop!]
[Can't we find common ground?]
"Nah, you're way too clever for that. I don't want to end up like Beelzebub. Haha!"
After analyzing his AI chip and knowledge stolen from Beelzebub, I close the book, ignoring the dark looks the baby Leylin gives me.
In the end, I had to settle for only stealing Tony Stark's knowledge after Leylin Farlier's.
Why? The magical phenomenon called The Wailing Star doesn't last long, and I lost precious seconds because of these kids.
"I've obtained the necessary knowledge to complete your body, Giffany, and kids..." I paused, looking at them.
They all looked huddled and withdrawn. This gave me the impression of having become a bit too severe for their good. So I smiled to lighten the atmosphere before speaking again:
"I'm not going to punish you, but... next time, avoid interfering with my experiments."
They all nodded with an almost comical speed. Clearly, I hadn't completely hidden my anger about the time I'd wasted.
I would have really liked to steal Azmuth's and Dr. Doofenshmirtz's knowledge, but well... you can't have everything in life.
"Alright, go home."
I teleported everyone home before returning to the Mystery Shack to finish Giffany's body.
...
Why is the Arc Reactor so coveted in the Marvel franchise?
The answer is simple: infinite energy. An invention that defies the very laws of physics.
I tried to reproduce it myself, but... I quickly hit a wall. I needed Ford's help to advance my research, or the Tesseract itself, to reach a sufficient level of knowledge to design something similar to the Arc Reactor.
Unfortunately, I had neither, and there's no way I'm going to the Marvel universe.
So, I brought Marvel to me. I stole Tony Stark's knowledge, but only from the MCU. I would have preferred to take the comic book version, infinitely more brilliant, but that would have certainly attracted the attention of some particularly active entities in that universe.
"You see this, Arlecchino? This is the future!"
We were five observing a machine radiating a powerful blue light: Arlecchino, Terri, Giffany, Old Man McGucket, and myself. I had mobilized everyone to accelerate the production of this device.
"Affirmative, Master. This reinforces my idea that technology is superior," the AI declared, observing the reactor with a complex look.
"Mr. Stan... this invention could change everything," Terri exclaimed, her voice trembling and her eyes filled with adoration for this engineering marvel.
She was right. This object represented an answer to one of humanity's greatest challenges since the industrial era: the growing energy need.
Even the Amphibia creatures, at the peak of their civilization, had to face this problem. However, thanks to The Calamity Box, they had managed to create the illusion that they had overcome it.
"Yes, Terri, but... the world isn't ready to welcome such a revolution," I responded.
Although the Arc Reactor could theoretically transform the world and inaugurate a new era, I knew humanity wasn't mature enough in this reality to accept it. I preferred to keep this invention to myself for a few centuries, unless I take control of the shadow world mentioned by Arlecchino.
I wondered how Reagan and Rand would react if I showed them the Arc Reactor, proving to them who the true genius of humanity was. Just thinking about it made me happy.
"Dang horse droppings! With this thing, I'll never run out of electricity for my giant robot!" McGucket exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.
I thought I'd already told him we lacked space to build a giant robot. I really should have avoided showing him anime.
The initial idea was to inspire him, but instead, he became obsessed with giant robots, Power Rangers style. Fortunately, I had managed to prevent him from transforming the Mystery Shack into a giant robot, despite his insistence.
"Come, Giffany," I said to the AI drooling on the computer screen. "Let's install the reactor in your body."
I wondered what the power of this finished product would be. I had invested so much effort into it.