The enemy seemed to possess an ability that allowed them to track him directly across universes.
Realizing this, the Extraordinary Doctor Strange made a decisive move—he took his own life.
By extinguishing his own life force, he severed the tracking connection.
In the end, the enemy seemed to abandon the pursuit.
Or perhaps they were still searching for him, but with the sheer number of parallel universes, finding a single trace was no easy task.
In any case, even now, nearly three years had passed in the timeline of the Extraordinary Universe, and no pursuers had appeared.
Yet, after cutting himself off, Doctor Strange discovered that he had not truly perished.
Due to the immense strength of his soul, he was reborn within the Soul Stone shortly after his death—though now in a purely spiritual form.
His current existence resembled that of a weapon spirit often depicted in Eastern cultivation novels.
Having merged with the Soul Stone, his mastery of soul and magic had actually surpassed what it was when he was alive!
However, the very nature of the Infinity Stones, being artifacts bound to a single universe, restricted him. He no longer possessed the ability to project his soul into the void or travel between worlds.
The Soul Stone had become both his shield and his prison.
One could say that with gain comes loss.
But Doctor Strange took no solace in this trade-off.
During his battle with that man, he had used his formidable soul powers to glimpse fragments of his opponent's memories!
That man's name was Nathaniel Richards, seemingly from a parallel universe in a distant future.
The spaceship Doctor Strange had seen—that was his time machine!
Using it, he had traveled across countless centuries, reigning as a conqueror over numerous timelines!
Among the glimpses Doctor Strange had caught, there was an ancient Egyptian era where he was known as Rama-Tut.
There were also fragments from near-modern times, from chaotic and dark ages.
In one such fragment, Doctor Strange even saw "himself"—clearly another version of Doctor Strange from that universe, engaged in battle against Nathaniel Richards for reasons unknown.
Unfortunately, the enemy seemed to have some means of protecting his own soul.
Even with Doctor Strange's profound expertise in soul magic, he could only extract a few scattered details and not much concrete information.
All he could piece together were these fragmented clues.
"Richards?" Peter asked in confusion. "Are you certain that's the surname?"
In his original world, before crossing over, the name "Richards" might not have held much significance.
But in the Marvel Universe, it was a name that demanded attention.
Because there was one individual, whose name carried immense weight across many universes—
Reed Richards, "Mister Fantastic"!
Leader of the Fantastic Four and a brilliant scientist.
During a space mission, he and his three companions were exposed to cosmic radiation, altering their genetic structures and transforming them into superheroes.
However, more than his elastic ability—reminiscent of Luffy's rubber powers in One Piece—his intellect was what truly set him apart.
In Peter's original world, many jokingly referred to him as "Mystic Reed."
This was because of his genius-level intelligence, making him a master of nearly every scientific field.
Time travel, space travel, biochemistry, robotics, computing, communications, synthetic materials (like the nano suit for the Superior Spider-Man), mutation research (such as studying the Venom symbiote), transportation, holographic projections—the list went on and on.
It seemed like there was nothing he couldn't do.
Many of his inventions were incredibly advanced, some even capable of rivaling the power of gods, earning him the title of the smartest person on Earth.
And this guy named Nathaniel Richards—not only did he carry the Richards surname, but he also possessed things like a time machine and an interstellar fleet.
It was hard not to suspect some kind of connection between the two.
"You think he's related to Mister Fantastic?" asked the Extraordinary Doctor Strange.
Clearly, having explored numerous parallel universes, the Extraordinary Doctor Strange was aware of Mister Fantastic's existence.
Peter nodded.
Doctor Strange continued, "Mister Fantastic's father was indeed named Nathaniel Richards!"
"Huh?" Peter was a bit surprised. "So he's Mister Fantastic's dad?"
"Uh…" Doctor Strange was momentarily speechless, slightly exasperated. "Not exactly. It's probably just the same name. In fact, I suspect this Nathaniel is actually one of Mister Fantastic's descendants, named after an ancestor."
Realization dawned on Peter.
In Western culture, there is indeed a tradition of naming children after respected figures. The exact meaning behind it was something Peter, being from the East, couldn't fully grasp.
Doctor Strange looked at Peter, speaking with a serious tone, "The opposing force is vast, and they may even possess the ability to monitor the multiverse. So, while I support your efforts to alter certain people's fates, you must be careful not to draw their attention. At the very least, until you have the power to confront them, you must be cautious—extremely cautious."
"I understand," Peter replied solemnly.
He finally understood why Doctor Strange was telling him all this.
Setting aside what he'd done in the 616 movie universe, since arriving in the Extraordinary Universe, Peter had already made significant changes to it.
He had reformed Dr. Connors, convincing him to abandon his desire to continue turning into the Lizard, which indirectly saved the life of Gwen Stacy's father in this universe.
He'd given Garfield-Spider's blood directly to Norman Osborn. Whether or not it would ultimately cure Osborn's genetic disease remained to be seen, but at least it wouldn't lead to the direct conflict between the Osborn family and Spider-Man as it had in the original storyline.
Without that direct clash, Extraordinary Gwen likely wouldn't suffer the same tragic fate as in the original plot.
And that's just comparing it to known storylines.
There was also the case of Dr. Octavius.
With Peter's current involvement, it was clear that Dr. Octavius could no longer become Doctor Octopus. Perhaps he'd originally turned into Doc Ock due to various reasons, but now he had ample funding and access to diverse knowledge Peter brought from different parallel universes.
With a full stomach and plenty of resources, why rebel?
That'd be downright foolish.
All these actions had caused major deviations in this universe.
If that guy—who might be a descendant of Mister Fantastic—really had the ability to monitor the multiverse and travel through timelines, it meant he had essentially "read the script."
Making such drastic changes to the "plot" could very well attract his attention!
Considering even the Supreme Sorcerer, the Extraordinary Doctor Strange, couldn't defeat such an entity, Peter doubted he stood any chance against him right now.
(End of Chapter)
Want to read the chapters in Advance? Join my Patreon
https://patreon.com/Glimmer09