CHAPTER 356: CHAPTER 356: AETHER PARTICLES (BONUS)

Bonus for 200 PS, next bonus at 400 PS.

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Daisy couldn’t be of much help, so Thor could only turn to Ethan helplessly and ask if he had any methods.

"I do have spells for finding people. Does anyone have something like Jane’s hair?"

This kind of tracking spell couldn’t be cast directly. It required a medium to assist in the casting. As for instantly knowing someone’s location with just a thought—he wasn’t capable of that yet.

"Uh..."

Both Ethan and Thor turned their eyes to Daisy. Only someone who had spent a lot of time with Jane could have something like that. Although Thor and Jane were close emotionally, they had been apart for too long for him to have anything on hand.

"Can’t everyday items work?"

Seeing them still looking at her, Daisy said helplessly, "Alright, I’ll go check the car. Maybe she sheds hair or something. If we’re lucky, we might find a few strands."

As she spoke, she walked toward her car, reaching out to touch Ethan’s arm and chest as she passed.

"Haven’t seen you in a while. You’ve gotten taller and stronger. Been working out?"

"Something like that."

That was just Daisy’s personality. Aside from finding her a bit ridiculous, Ethan didn’t know how to respond. After casually deflecting her comment, he silently watched as Daisy rummaged through the car.

"Oh! Found it!"

Seeing Daisy excitedly hold up a strand of hair, Ethan directly used Mage Hand to retrieve it, then cast a simple tracking spell.

The strand of hair ignited, transforming into a small ball of blue and white light. The light shifted into the form of a small bird, which flapped its wings and flew forward... only to begin circling Daisy repeatedly.

"..."

"Cool! What an interesting trick."

Thor was about to ask what was going on, but upon seeing Ethan’s face darken, he wisely chose to remain silent.

"Why is it flying around me?"

"Because the hair you found was yours."

Daisy finally understood that the blue and white bird was the spell used to track Jane. She stuck out her tongue in apology and got back into the car to search again.

Soon, she found another strand. Fortunately, this time it wasn’t hers. The reforming tracking bird took flight, leading the way as Ethan and Thor followed.

"That was really cool. Can you teach me?"

Ethan glanced at Daisy. As Jane Foster’s intern, her education level wasn’t low. She might even become Dr. Daisy Lewis someday, so her intelligence was certainly above average.

However, Ethan wasn’t interested in teaching her—she was far too unreliable.

In movies, a quirky side character like this might add humor and lighten the tone.

But in reality, teaching a student like her would drive someone mad.

"If you’re interested, you can go to Kathmandu and look for a place called Kamar-Taj."

At least he pointed her in the right direction. If she was truly interested, she could go find Kamar-Taj. If she found it, the Ancient One and the others wouldn’t refuse to take her in as an apprentice.

If she didn’t go or couldn’t find it, then it simply wasn’t meant to be.

"What kind of place is that?"

"A place where you can learn magic."

In truth, Daisy was just asking out of curiosity. She was interested in many things but didn’t always follow through. Even if Ethan had agreed to teach her, she would likely forget about it moments later.

Thor didn’t step in to remind her either. His focus was entirely on the bird up ahead.

When the blue and white bird flew into an abandoned warehouse, it circled in place and stopped.

But the warehouse was empty. Standing at the entrance, they could see nearly every corner of the place—yet there was no sign of Jane Foster.

"Where is she?"

Thor was about to rush in, but Ethan immediately reached out and grabbed the increasingly agitated God of Thunder. He was very thankful that his current body had been strengthened multiple times. If he had still been a regular human, Thor would’ve dragged him along like a ragdoll, shattering the mysterious, powerful image he had just established.

"Wait. There’s a spatial overlap here..."

Before he finished speaking, the blue and white bird circling in place suddenly vanished. Then, before anyone could react, Jane Foster appeared mid-air and slowly floated down to the ground.

"Jane!"

Finally seeing his girlfriend again, Thor breathed a sigh of relief and immediately rushed over to check her condition.

This time, Ethan didn’t stop him. As soon as Jane appeared, the spatial overlap in the area disappeared, and the tracking spell was disrupted by the space-time turbulence.

In any case, Jane had been found, so the spell being broken didn’t matter.

It was just a shame. He had wanted to determine the coordinates of the other side of the space. He had some interest in the device that sealed the Aether for thousands of years.

Now, it seemed he wouldn’t have another chance to find that thing. Almost no one knew where that device was. Jane Foster had simply stumbled into some unknown good fortune and had been transported to the Aether through a spatial overlap—or perhaps some mysterious force had orchestrated all of this?

Infinity Stones were appearing one after another. Even the Aether, which was nearly impossible to find, had surfaced through this strange accident involving Jane. It felt as if some unseen force was playing a grand game.

In his past life, he could dismiss it as "plot convenience," but now, living in this world and seeing things unfold the same way still gave Ethan a chill.

"No point in overthinking it. It’s useless anyway."

He suspected he had read too many novels in his previous life. Now that his thinking had become more active, he often found himself entertaining unnecessary thoughts. Rather than worry about such abstract things, he should focus on forging his own path forward.

Jane, who had been unconscious, had now awakened. When she found herself lying in Thor’s arms, she thought she was dreaming and began to speak nonsense, making Ethan—who stood nearby—feel awkward.

Even more awkward was that Thor completely ignored Ethan’s presence and continued holding Jane in a "Prince Charming wakes Sleeping Beauty" posture, spouting cheesy lines.

"Ahem!"

Ethan couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to remind the two that he was still standing there.

Sure enough, after he coughed, Jane finally realized she wasn’t dreaming. She turned her head and saw her assistant and the man she’d met before—the one who claimed to be a mage from another world—standing and watching her.

Although this self-proclaimed mage had grown taller and more handsome, she still found him annoying.

Straightening her clothes and standing up, Jane regained her usual calm and asked what had happened.

"What’s going on? Why did I suddenly appear here?"

"Jane, you disappeared earlier, so I asked Ethan to help me find you."

"Disappeared?"

Jane had no idea what had happened. She only remembered being sucked in by some force, then arriving in a strange place and seeing a strange object. Then she opened her eyes and was here with these people.

To her, all of this felt like it happened in an instant. Maybe what she saw had just been a dream while she was unconscious. Not only had Thor come to find her, but he’d also brought a mage from another world?

"Jane, you’ve been gone for more than four hours."

Hearing Daisy’s words, Jane finally realized the situation wasn’t as simple as she thought.

"That’s not the most important part."

As Thor and Daisy finished explaining everything to Jane, Ethan, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up.

"What?"

Thor, still relieved from finding Jane, turned and saw Ethan’s serious expression. He immediately sensed that something wasn’t right.

"Is something wrong?"

"There’s a very powerful energy fluctuation inside Jane."

Ethan already knew it was the Aether. He also knew that the Aether’s true form was the Reality Stone—one of the Infinity Stones—but there was no need to say that now.

"Is it dangerous?"

Thor immediately examined Jane’s body, searching for abnormalities. He didn’t see anything wrong, but he didn’t doubt Ethan’s words. If Ethan said something was off, then there definitely was.

"If it’s not removed soon, it will pose a serious threat to her life."

The Reality Stone, in its Aether state, was relatively easier to control. But it still wasn’t something an ordinary human could withstand. Even if Jane didn’t use the Aether, just the protective reactions triggered by her surroundings placed immense strain on her body.

Every energy surge from the Aether would consume a portion of her already limited life force.

Jane Foster kept inspecting herself but couldn’t find anything wrong. She didn’t trust Ethan the way Thor did. She suspected he was trying to scare her.

"I don’t feel anything off..."

"Don’t move."

Ethan wasn’t going to waste time trying to convince her. Since she didn’t believe him, he would just show her the truth. And with the Tesseract in his possession, extracting Aether energy was much simpler for him than for anyone else.

As the blue light in Ethan’s hand swept lightly over Jane’s arm, a dark red energy immediately appeared on what had seemed like an ordinary arm, reflecting against the energy in Ethan’s palm.

"Wow, cool!"

Only Daisy would exclaim like that. Thor, seeing this scene, had already turned pale. He could clearly sense the power of that energy—it was absolutely not something Jane could withstand.

(To be continued.)

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