“Hey, Julian!
Wait up!” Julian had just stepped through the school gates right on the dot when someone called out to him.
He turned around to see a classmate—seventeen, bright and beautiful, with an unmistakable crush on him that practically radiated off her like a localized storm.
“Good morning, Gwen.
Is something up?” Julian paused to wait for her.
Gwen hurried forward, catching her breath before circling him with graceful agility.
“Julian, what happened to you?
How did you change so much in just two days?
I was watching you from a distance and didn’t even dare call out to you.
It wasn’t until I got close and saw your eyes when you turned around that I realized it was really you.” Gwen gestured at his height with an astonished tone, then pointed to her own eyes to prompt him.
Only then did Julian remember: he had spent extra time coaxing Peter into getting ready for school this morning, so he hadn’t put in his contact lenses.
His Sharingan was undeniably eye-catching, which was why he usually concealed it with contacts.
He patted his pockets, but in his new clothes, there was nothing.
Gwen was actually the only person who knew his secret.
Once, while reading in the library for hours, his eyes had gotten dry, so he had taken off his contacts.
Lost in his book, he forgot to put them back in, and Gwen had caught sight of them.
Since a gorgeous teenage girl wanted to share a little secret with him, Julian naturally didn’t mind.
It wasn’t a huge deal in the first place—he just didn’t want to stand out as an anomaly.
Seeing Julian search his empty pockets, Gwen pulled a fresh pair of contact lenses from her bag, thrust them into his hands, and produced a compact mirror, pointing toward a bench by a nearby flowerbed.
“Go put them in over there.
I’ll keep watch for you.
Hurry up—class is about to start, and we can’t be late!” Julian raised an eyebrow.
*Have you no idea how much leeway teachers give straight-A-plus students?* Still, he wasn’t about to reject Gwen’s kindness.
As he’d thought before, he was still in the phase of absorbing knowledge and didn’t want to be treated like an freak, which would save him a lot of unnecessary hassle.
By the time he put the lenses in, the warning bell had long since rung.
Julian led the flustered Gwen to class.
At five-foot-nine, Gwen wasn’t a slow walker, but compared to Julian’s long, easy strides, she had to scurry just to keep up.
The teacher at the podium glanced at Julian, then at Gwen, and simply waved a hand, signaling for them to take their seats.
Gwen stuck out her tongue in amusement.
*The power of a straight-A-plus student is truly terrifying.* Back row, by the window—the legendary seat of protagonists.
Julian pulled a textbook on electromechanics from his backpack.
Two days ago, the Martial Sage template had drained him completely, and he had no idea if he could control it in the future.
Once his knowledge base expanded, he couldn’t count on mealtime magically lining up every time he analyzed and applied a template.
Thus, Julian was hoping to brush up on electromechanics and chemical elements first, so that when he saw Iron Man, he could use Wenqu to replicate an arc reactor template to recharge himself on demand.
Only after spending half the class reading through the electromechanics book did Julian realize something crucial: Iron Man used his reactor to power armor.
Julian was flesh and blood—would an arc reactor even do anything for a human body?
Most likely not!
Julian tapped his thigh absently, mulling over how to solve the energy crisis for his Martial Sage form, completely tuning out the bell signaling the end of class.
When he snapped out of his reverie, he found Gwen turning around to look at him.
Sunlight streamed across her face, giving her fair skin a delicate rosy glow that was strikingly beautiful.
Julian slapped his thigh.
*Sunbathing?* But that was DC’s Superman thing.
To figure out what universe he was in, Julian had specifically checked the world map—no Metropolis, no Gotham City.
This meant he was in a pure Marvel Cinematic Universe, so there was no way he could use Wenqu to copy Superman’s genetic template.
Besides, Wenqu was finicky, working unpredictably.
He couldn’t even tell if it was a good or bad thing yet.
If it turned out to be a one-time deal, he’d have to find other solutions.
A single Divine Power genetic template probably wouldn’t be enough to hold down the fort long-term.
Yesterday, Julian had tested it and found that the Divine Power genetic template could still be called upon, and there was even room for optimization.
This meant his strength could still grow.
But if he relied solely on Divine Power, he’d probably only be a bit stronger than Captain America without his hammer.
That wouldn’t scale well into the late game; he’d probably end up sitting at the side table with Wong.
Speaking of Wong, Julian suddenly had a thought: Should he go to Kamar-Taj to become a disciple?
Or maybe seek out the Space Stone?
Right now, it should be in SHIELD’s possession as the Tesseract.
As one of the Six Infinity Stones, its energy would definitely be more than sufficient.
The problem was whether he could actually get his hands on it.
Given Nick Fury’s trust-no-one personality, joining SHIELD and getting access to the Tesseract would take years at best.
Relying on Divine Power alone, there was zero chance he could claim it for himself.
With that much time, he’d be better off making money to buy more food to stash at home.
As Julian lost himself in thought, Gwen’s face grew redder and redder.
By the time Julian realized he was staring dead at her, steam practically seemed to be rising from Gwen’s head.
Fortunately, it wasn’t the first time.
Julian offered an apologetic smile.
“I got lost in thought, sorry.
By the way, Gwen, didn’t you go back home for Thanksgiving?” Gwen wasn’t a New York City native.
From what she’d mentioned, her father owned a farm out in the New York suburbs, quite a distance away, so he had bought her a place near the school and asked her aunt—his sister, who worked in NYC—to look after her.
“No, my parents came into New York two days ago to spend Thanksgiving with me and my aunt.
I actually wanted to invite you out shopping yesterday, but since my parents were here, I had to stay with my mom and listen to her nag my dad.” Gwen knit her brow slightly, then pulled her chair a bit closer, asking about Julian’s physical transformation.
“You still haven’t told me—how did you suddenly grow so tall in just two days?
You didn’t join some secret cult, did you?
I heard people make deals with the devil, and once you gain something, you always lose something in return.” As she spoke, Gwen became noticeably anxious, scanning Julian up and down to see what he might have traded away.
Julian raised an eyebrow.
He had heard rumors circulating among students about a few supposedly effective secret coven meetings—claims that one could trade with Satan for power, wisdom, or bedroom prowess.
But he’d also heard the guy who got bedroom prowess paid for it by losing four inches.
Whether any of it was true, nobody knew.
Still, if it really were Satan, such twisted humor wasn’t out of the question.
Julian waved his hand, telling Gwen not to jump to conclusions.
“Have you ever heard of Chinese Kung Fu?” Gwen nodded like a little cat.
“That’s what this is!” Julian spoke with total conviction.
It wasn’t as if he could say it was a genetic mutation—he wasn’t a soybean.
Besides, given New York’s current level of tech development, the only truly successful genetic engineering project was Captain America.
As for the rest, it was hard to say.
Even Captain America had his sense of justice amplified by the genetic engineering.
Strictly speaking, it was still a flaw; it just leaned positive, making it look like a resounding success.
“Glad it’s not.
I heard from my aunt that the FBI is investigating those kinds of gatherings lately.
Supposedly it’s linked to some demonic contract document from Satan.
It’s really dangerous—several federal agents have already gone missing.
She told me to stay far away from that stuff.
Julian, you have to be super careful.
Don’t touch those things!” Gwen’s words piqued Julian’s interest, but Satan was probably a bit too high-level.
What if Wenqu copied something best left untouched?
Metaphysics in America wasn’t exactly easy to research on short notice.
And if the Martial Sage template gave him another massive hit of backlash…
Forget it.
Tech was the safer path to national power.
Julian promptly extinguished the thought.
“Don’t worry, mine comes from an authentic heritage.
Standard lineage, nothing to do with Satan!” After reassuring Gwen, the bell rang for the next class.
Gwen turned back around, while Julian resumed zoning out.
In truth, Julian’s mind was racing with ideas on how to make contact with Kamar-Taj.
Portals and Dormammu were pretty enticing, after all, and it was the only place to study legit magical knowledge.
Honestly, he’d be bitter if he didn’t get to hit up their magical library.
The optimization of his Divine Power genetic template had stalled, almost certainly because it required mystic knowledge—he had already devoured most of the tech-side books available to him.
The only question was what the Ancient One thought of him right now.
If she saw him as a timeline-disrupting pest, hopping right in front of her face might be suicide.
He pushed the thought down.
His current abilities were nowhere near strong enough to poke big shots like her.
At lunch, Gwen joined him in the cafeteria.
Julian’s current appetite was so massive he worried Uncle Ben might go broke trying to feed him.
Over the past two days, his physical stats and raw power were still visibly climbing, showing no sign of peaking, which made him eat a ridiculous amount.
He needed to make money.
However, since he had promised Uncle Ben, dirty work was off the table.
That meant earning cash would require a bit extra effort.
After school, Julian walked Gwen home—a mandatory course in romance, as everyone knew.
Their places weren’t far apart, just two blocks, taking barely any time.
As they walked toward Gwen’s place, they chatted about things teenage girls enjoyed—gossip, youth, and how to successfully navigate a high school romance without breaking up.
Before they knew it, they had arrived.
Julian clicked his tongue inwardly.
Seeing Gwen’s blushing face, he dropped some of the bolder topics and politely escorted her into the yard.
Watching Gwen step inside, Julian turned to leave.
He had only taken a few paces when he heard Gwen let out a sudden gasp of alarm, followed by total silence.
Julian whipped around, taking off his contact lenses with a quick swipe.
Staring at the house behind him, the three tomoe in his eyes began to slowly rotate.
Turning back, Julian strode swiftly toward the house.
He hadn’t walked far, so in just a few quick strides he reached the front door.
He twisted the handle—it was locked from the inside.
Without hesitation, Julian slammed into the door with a fierce shoulder strike, blowing through the lock in a single blow, then rapidly scanned the layout inside.
To his right, the kitchen was empty.
To his left, the downstairs guest room door stood open—no one there.
Looking up, he noticed the rug near the left staircase was shifted out of place.
*They’re upstairs!* Combining his Sharingan’s acuity with the passive perception of his Wen and Wu templates, Julian immediately knew someone was upstairs.
Through the narrow crack of a half-open door, he caught the sway of a shadow—definitely not a female figure.
An intruder.
Julian smirked.
Had this happened just two days ago, he would have been helpless.
Back then, he hadn’t fully absorbed the knowledge needed for his Divine Power template.
Setting aside whether he could have even heard Gwen’s faint gasp, the best he could have done was call 911.
Now?
*Just you wait, scumbag.*