Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, half a month has passed.
Over the past half month, Peter and Gwen have been "dating" almost every night on the rooftop of Gwen's house.
The results of these "dates" have been quite astonishing.
Gwen is like a dry sponge, frantically absorbing the fighting techniques and practical experience Peter feeds her.
She was already a genius with learning abilities no less than Peter's.
Furthermore, through day after day of sparring with Peter, she gradually mastered the ability to freely control her Spider-Sense even against those close to her.
This has accelerated her progress significantly.
Now, she can already trade blows for dozens of rounds without falling behind against Peter, who stays within a circle and fights using only his hands.
Peter estimates that Gwen's current combat level is roughly equivalent to his own when he first redeemed Kyougoku Makoto's Karate insights.
If compared to combat power in the original works... she could probably defeat Garfield and Holland, falling only slightly short of the pure stat-monster Bully Maguire.
In her current state, dealing with one or two supervillains working together is no longer a problem!
Of course, Gwen isn't the only one making progress.
With the amplification from the cold jade bed and the kunlun thimble ring, Peter's efficiency in absorbing "Qi" is also steadily increasing.
As more and more Qi is absorbed into his body,
Peter has also begun to experiment with the preliminary combination of Qi and Chakra.
After a series of tests, Peter concluded that "Qi" is a higher form of Natural Energy.
Although obtaining "Qi" is more difficult than Natural Energy, its advantages are correspondingly obvious.
It can be stored and is very gentle.
Qi absorbed into the body won't go out of control due to an imbalance in proportions during the synthesis of Senjutsu Chakra, like Natural Energy does, which would turn the user into a stone statue or a monster.
Even if Chakra and Qi aren't fused in a one-to-one ratio,
Qi can still provide an amplification effect to Chakra.
The most intuitive manifestation of this amplification is:
After injecting Qi into a Rasengan, the Rasengan can be thrown from the hand!
And the more Qi is fused, the further the throwing range.
If Peter had enough Qi, he might be able to manipulate the Rasengan like a flying sword,
allowing the Rasengan to cross mountains and ridges like a missile to deliver a precision strike on an enemy a thousand miles away!
Furthermore, Peter estimates that if he accumulates for about another month, he can probably try using Qi instead of Natural Energy to activate his own Sage Mode.
At that time, his peak combat power will be able to rise to another level... While Peter was training Gwen and improving his mastery of "Qi,"
the various "story characters" from the original work weren't idle either.
Under Peter's instructions, Harry has now almost finished snapping up the Stark stock sold off by retail investors.
He only needs to wait for Tony's press conference to arrive, and he and Peter will become super-rich in one fell swoop.
At the same time Harry secured the last portion of Stark Industries stock on the market,
Tony, who had already been pushed out of the company's board of directors by the shareholders, also returned from Afghanistan.
In the private lab on the top floor of Stark Tower, Tony hummed an unknown tune smugly as he let the robotic arms remove the suit from his body.
He had put on a spectacular debut performance in Afghanistan today, destroying a large batch of Stark Industries weapons in one go.
The looks of reverence from the Afghan people when they saw him made Tony incredibly excited, feeling as if he had found a new direction in life:
"Jarvis, repair the damaged areas of the suit. Also, how is the progress on the gifts I asked you to prepare for Ethan and that Punisher guy?"
Following Tony's inquiry, the AI butler Jarvis immediately opened two 3D projections.
On them were two design blueprints for Iron Man Suits.
The overall color scheme of the former was an interwoven "black, red, and green," the colors symbolizing Dr. Ethan's homeland, Afghanistan.
After being saved by Peter, Dr. Ethan did not choose to come to America with Tony to live a good life.
Instead, he chose to stay in Afghanistan to help local refugees rebuild their homes, attempting to use his brilliant mind to soothe the pain of his war-torn homeland.
In the past, Tony certainly wouldn't have understood such "idiotic" behavior.
But now, he only felt a sense of solemn respect.
Therefore, he aided Dr. Ethan with a large sum of money and specially prepared this suit for him, hoping it could help him and his fellow countrymen avoid the fallout of war!
The latter was primarily black and gold; currently, it only had a simple appearance setting, without more detailed equipment or configuration parameters.
Obviously, this was the suit Tony prepared to repay Peter.
However, because he hadn't yet figured out how to make that excessively young mage feel surprised, this set of armor was still in the conceptual blueprint stage.
"Produce Ethan's suit overnight first! The situation over there isn't very peaceful; I want to send the suit over sooner."
Tony gave the order while pouring himself a glass of whiskey.
"Sir, your heart rate is a bit high. I suggest you reduce your alcohol intake," Jarvis's voice rang out at the right moment.
"Give it a rest, Jarvis," Tony curled his lip. "This is excitement, not alcoholism. You know I never do stupid things that hurt myself."
Just then, a steady sound of footsteps came from behind Tony.
"Tony, aren't you going to pour a glass for your uncle too?"
The newcomer was none other than Obadiah Stane. A kind smile hung on his face, but his eyes were cold.
Noticing Obadiah's secret intrusion, Tony's expression shifted. He moved inconspicuously toward the mark iii, but spoke with an arrogant air:
"Unless you're willing to accept my proposal, there's nothing to talk about."
"You're still the same..."
Obadiah shook his head gently, then pulled a small remote control from his pocket:
"Just like your dead old man, you refuse to do things the easy way!"
The moment he noticed Obadiah was about to drop the facade, Tony immediately lunged toward the mark iii with all his might.
But just as his hand was about to touch the robotic arm... *Vrrr—*
A burst of sound waves invisible to the naked eye instantly spread out.
Tony felt his mind suddenly go blank, followed by an instantaneous stiffening of his entire body's muscles. Even moving a finger became incredibly difficult.
The mark iii was clearly within reach, yet he couldn't touch it no matter what.
"What... the hell is this?"
"It's just a sonic weapon that can temporarily paralyze the nerves." As Obadiah spoke, he slowly leaned down, admiring the arc reactor on Tony's chest as if it were a work of art.
And then... without any hesitation, he ripped it from Tony's chest, laughing triumphantly at the pale-faced Tony:
"Go to hell, Tony, just like your dead old man!"