"I'm home!"
Just as he returned to the entryway and took off his shoes, a series of meowing sounds rang out from inside. A fiery red kitten darted out and leapt straight into Raize's arms.
Raize smoothly caught Scarlet. The little fire cat kept rubbing her fluffy face against his palm.
Feeling that soft, fuzzy texture, Raize narrowed his eyes slightly, a look of enjoyment appearing on his face. He loved this kind of fluffy sensation. Scarlet's fur felt absolutely amazing.
"Chirp, chirp..."
At that moment, a group of Manjuu heard their master's voice and excitedly ran out of the house.
However, their outfits made Raize's mouth twitch slightly. Some of the Manjuu were wearing tiny aprons, some had safety helmets on their heads, others wore chef hats, and there were even Manjuu dressed in cute maid outfits.
They didn't look unpleasant—actually, they were pretty cute—but seeing their attire, Raize immediately knew that while he'd been gone, the three girls at home had definitely made liberal use of the Manjuu.
"You're finally back..."
Sei walked out of the house. Her slender legs were wrapped in creamy white stockings, and beside her stood two Manjuu dressed as a nun and a priest, their faces full of reverence as if they were on a pilgrimage.
Great. Two more Manjuu had become Sei's followers.
She looked Raize up and down. He had grown stronger, and the light within him seemed to have changed somewhat.
Eu came out as well, holding a small Manjuu in her arms and wearing cute bunny slippers. With her usual blank expression, she calmly took out her notebook.
(Welcome home (*￣︶￣).)
(Hurry up and cook. We're starving!)
"Haruna's cooking skills aren't bad. Was it really that bad while I was gone?"
Walking up to the two girls, Raize took out two plates, each holding a rainbow pudding.
Sei and Eu's eyes lit up as they took the puddings.
"That magical girl cooks decently, but she doesn't seem very good at handling your special ingredients."
"Give me time and I'll conquer any ingredients!"
Holding Scarlet and teasing her, with the Manjuu following behind, Raize walked into the living room. He immediately saw Haruna come out looking a bit disheveled, wearing an apron and holding a spatula, which she handed straight to him.
Raize set Scarlet down. The little fire cat meowed and ran over to Sei. He took the spatula and apron from Haruna.
"Thanks for your hard work these past few days, Haruna. Is the mana attraction device finished?"
He tied the apron around his waist and casually asked about the progress of the device Haruna had been working on.
Normally, when he was around, Haruna would be holed up in her room at this time. The fact that she was out suggested real progress.
"It's finished. As long as the necromancer and I test it together, it'll be ready," Haruna said confidently, folding her arms and lifting her chin.
Anything related to her mana was something she took seriously. Now all that was left was to have Eu release a small amount of mana to test safety and effectiveness before actual use.
Of course, she wasn't going to use Eu herself as a test subject. She was well aware of how dangerous Eu's bottomless mana reserves were and wouldn't be that careless.
"Did you gain anything in that gap?"
Sei stood behind Raize, two Manjuu at her side, quietly watching him cook.
Before he went to the dimensional gap, Raize had informed her. She had wanted to go with him—after all, going alone was far too dangerous.
But knowing he had several reliable teammates with him, she had let him go.
She herself had been to that place a few times. It was full of strange and dangerous things. Some of the materials she had once used to craft sacred gears had even come from there.
"I ran into plenty of dangerous stuff, but I did get something out of it. There's something I want you to study later."
Raize thought of the BETA and Gatanothor he had encountered. If he had gone alone, it really would've been extremely dangerous. He then remembered the broken giant stone statue in his storage space. That was what he planned to give to Sei.
Sei blinked and nodded.
"Sounds like you really did get something good."
"It's a bit too big. I'll show it to you in the pocket dimension later."
Seeing her interest, Raize held back from taking it out right away. The statue was simply too large.
Whether Sei could restore an Ultraman from a broken giant statue was still an open question.
After dinner, the three girls ate happily. The Manjuu gathered at the side, eating and drinking together. Scarlet loved playing with them and even joined them during meals.
As long as she didn't play with fire, the kind-hearted Manjuu were happy to get close to the little fire cat.
Once dinner was over, Haruna dragged Eu back to her room, likely to continue testing the machine. After cleaning up the dishes, Raize and Sei went together into the pocket dimension inside his room.
He took out the giant stone statue from his storage space and set it down. Upon seeing the broken statue, Sei narrowed her eyes slightly. She didn't treat it as an ordinary stone—she could tell at a glance that it was the remains of some lifeform after death.
Raize then told her about his adventure in the gap and explained what Ultraman was.
Intrigued, Sei asked Raize to release the light he had obtained from the statue.
"Giant civilization… beings of light…"
Sei's eyes gleamed as she stared at the light in Raize's palm, which was clearly different from before. This light had the power to influence Raize's physical evolution.
Listening to Raize describe how those giants from another universe had once been human, how their sun disappeared and their planet was plunged into darkness, Sei listened intently.
To ensure their species' survival, scientists had researched new light sources and eventually created an artificial sun.
Under that light, everyone evolved into superhumans, transforming into giants—the beings known as Ultraman.
Sei was deeply fascinated by these powerful lifeforms of light. After extracting some of the light energy from Raize, she immediately began researching the broken statue.
Raize didn't disturb her further. If Sei could uncover something meaningful, the payoff would be enormous.
Leaving her to work in peace, Raize exited the pocket dimension and began his gaming session for the night.
Among the games he had unlocked earlier—Minecraft, King of Fighters '96, and Nekopara—he had already cleared them. The remaining ones were Ultimate Spider-Man, Street Fighter IV, Bleach vs Naruto 3.3, and Iron Man.
Raize decided to start with Iron Man. Although the Iron Man suits in the game wouldn't offer much of a boost to his current combat power, the arc reactor that powered them was a truly valuable piece of technology.
That reactor technology could be applied directly to his port area's command base.
This Iron Man game was based on Marvel's original works. Raize had played it as a child in his previous life after watching Iron Man. It was only about 2 GB in size and completely free.
The game followed the plot of Iron Man 1, with additional stages added on top. In total, it had thirteen levels.
The controls were simple, with no real difficulty. Raize still remembered everything clearly.
Spending some time tonight would be enough to clear it. He hoped to obtain what he wanted.
---
Time passed little by little. Fully immersed in the game, Raize didn't notice anything else. By the time he realized it, it was already three in the morning.
With focused play, the over-2-GB game quickly approached its end.
All that remained was to defeat Obadiah Stane in his massive Iron Man suit, and the final level would be cleared.
The final stage closely followed the movie's plot. After fighting Obadiah, Pepper would be asked to set the lab equipment to maximum output, using the reactor's explosion to attack Obadiah above, securing victory.
Now, just like in the story, the final enemy fell before Raize.
After the ending cutscene played, the game that once existed only in Raize's memories came to a close.
[Ding. Congratulations, player. Game cleared!]
Having held the same posture for a long time, Raize stretched lazily once the game ended. Hearing the voice in his head, he turned to look at the mirror on the wall behind him.
It connected to the pocket dimension, where Sei was still researching the broken giant statue. He had no idea how things were progressing.
As long as the Iron Man rewards included what he wanted, that was enough. The suits themselves were nice, but they didn't fit the path he was walking.
To be honest, Raize didn't have particularly high expectations for the rewards. The items available from this game were limited.
But the reward notification that followed made his eyes widen instantly.
[Game clear rewards: "Mind Stone," "Tony Stark Knowledge Template," "Iron Man Armor Mark III," "Helicarrier." Extract?]
There were four rewards. Raize ignored the last three entirely, his eyes locked firmly on the first name.
The Mind Stone.
His heart was instantly filled with overwhelming excitement as he hurriedly extracted the rewards.
After receiving Tony Stark's knowledge template, Raize immediately took out the special Infinity Stone from his storage space.
Resting quietly in his palm was a gem emitting a soft white glow, shimmering with flowing light and radiating an extraordinary presence.
Staring at it carefully, Raize could feel the vast energy contained within that small gem through mere contact. He narrowed his eyes slightly.
An Infinity Stone.
He never expected that playing Iron Man would reward him with an Infinity Stone—and it was one he recognized, even though it never appeared in the movies.
Anyone familiar with Marvel comics or animation knew of the Infinity Stones. In movies and comics alike, the six most famous stones represented Time, Space, Mind, Power, Reality, and Soul.
Each possessed unparalleled power. When gathered together, a single snap could turn half the life in the universe to ash.
However, beyond those six, there were hidden Infinity Stones—such as the Ego Stone.
The Mind Stone in Raize's hand was one of these hidden stones, the eighth Infinity Stone. In Marvel's Ultimate Universe, it had originally been embedded in Tony Stark's brain.
Also known as the Knowledge Stone, it granted Iron Man extraordinary intelligence, allowing him to unlock endless black technologies and push technological advancement without limit.
Iron Man's technology surpassed Earth's by fifty years.
The most representative creation was his Iron Man armor—from Mark I all the way to Mark 55 and beyond—and later even the quantum time machine that turned the tide in the films.
[Mind Stone]
Quality: EX
Type: Treasure
Effect: The Mind Stone contains the knowledge of the universe. It grants the host abilities such as photographic memory, super cognition, and extraordinary wisdom, enabling limitless exploration and advancement in the realms of knowledge and technology…
Reading the Mind Stone's description, Raize felt immense joy. This Infinity Stone was no weaker than the others—each stone simply excelled in its own domain.
Containing the knowledge of the universe might sound abstract, but anyone familiar with Philip from Kamen Rider W would understand. Philip's special ability allowed him to access the Earth Library.
The Earth Library contained all information and knowledge on Earth.
The Mind Stone was similar—but its scope extended to the entire universe.
This gemstone allows Raize to continuously unlock black technologies and break through various technological limitations.
Iron Man can indeed be said to have achieved godlike feats with a mortal body. In the comics, he is always able to create armor or equipment specifically designed to counter his enemies.
Anti-Hulk, Anti–Captain America, Anti-Thor, Anti-Phoenix, and so on.
Although Raize never planned to grow stronger through a technology-based path himself, would his ship girls not need it in the future?
Now that he had obtained the Mind Stone, he was already making plans to remodel his future ship girls into super battleships.
"A game I didn't have much expectation for, yet the rewards are this generous…" Raize smiled as he looked at the Infinity Stone in his palm. This surprise was truly huge.
Although the Mind Stone could not immediately increase his combat strength, from a long-term perspective, this Infinity Stone was undoubtedly an invaluable treasure.
In the future, he could also become a technological tycoon.