41-Jericho Swain

When I arrived next to Carol, the main ship had already been destroyed. Instead of approaching her, I took care of the remaining fighter jets.

It took us half an hour to eliminate all the Kree. The reason it took so long was that after the main ship's destruction, the surviving Kree hid cowardly.

After dealing with these, I promptly made my way to the spacecraft. I had pushed myself hard today, and my head was pounding.

About ten minutes later, Carol entered the spacecraft and joined me. When she noticed my left arm missing, a shocked expression appeared on her face.

"Who did this?" she asked anxiously, approaching me and inspecting my left shoulder.

Raising my right hand, I showed her the Power Stone. Carol cautiously took the stone from my hand and examined it.

"What do you plan to do with this stone? It seems someone is after it," Carol said.

Upon hearing her question, I drifted into thoughts. The Power Stone was very powerful and would significantly enhance my abilities if I used it. The real issue here was not knowing how to use the Power Stone.

*Why not do what Ronan did?*

Touching my chest with my hand, I drew my sword. Since I wasn't in the form of a fire giant, my sword didn't glow and wasn't sharp. Carol was surprised again when she saw this scene.

"It seems you have many secrets," Carol said.

"Everyone has secrets," I replied with a smile, taking the Power Stone from her hand and unsheathing it.

The Power Stone emitted a purple glow, illuminating the spacecraft. Holding the stone, small purple cracks appeared in my palm.

"I think you shouldn't hold it like that," Carol said, looking at my hand.

I nodded and looked at my sword, ready to place the power stone in it, but then I realized something. If I wanted to place the power stone in my sword, I needed both of my hands.

"Could you please hold the sword steady?" I asked, looking at Carol.

Carol was initially surprised by the question, but when she looked at my left arm, she said, "Yes, I can hold it," and grabbed my sword by the hilt, pulling it towards herself.

"It's quite hot. Where did you find this sword?" she asked while holding the hilt.

"Secrets," I said with a smile and brought the power stone closer to the hilt of the sword.

As I brought the power stone close enough to the hilt, a groove formed in the sword's hilt, enough to accommodate the stone, and it pulled the power stone towards itself.

I let go of the power stone, and it swiftly moved towards the sword's hilt, fitting into the groove. As soon as this happened, the sword emitted a wave of purple energy.

The magma cracks on the sword quickly turned purple, and it exerted a tremendous pressure around. Carol watched in astonishment at the change in the sword she was holding.

"Let's try it!" Carol said excitedly, and before I could respond, she exited the spaceship with the sword.

With a smile on my face, I watched her back and stood up to follow her. Carol was waiting in front of the spaceship. When she saw me coming, she smiled and swiftly swung the sword, hitting the rock in front of her.

I smiled at the sight. This sword was now no different from a piece of metal; the only person who could use it was me. When the sword hit the rock, it shattered it and continued to the ground.

Something surprising happened when the sword hit the ground. A wave of purple energy spread around from the point of impact, destroying everything in its path. This energy wave traveled about fifty meters and, when it finally stopped, there was no plant or living thing left within that range.

While Carol looked around in astonishment, she whispered, "Very powerful."

"And very dangerous," I said, raising my right hand and opening my palm. The sword flew from Carol's hand into my grasp.

Carol didn't seem surprised when she saw me do this; after all, she had witnessed me using telekinesis many times before.

Although Carol might have thought I was using telekinesis, what I was doing wasn't actually that. The sword belonged to me, and wherever the sword was, I could feel it. Just like Thor summoning Mjolnir back, I could easily call my sword back no matter where it was.

The advantage of this was that I didn't fear losing my sword in battles. Even if my sword fell or ended up in the enemy's hands, I could easily summon it back.

As I held the sword in my hand, I felt a surge of immense power coursing through me. This power surge was so great that it seemed to threaten my internal organs.

By infusing flames into the sword, I caused it to glow and burn. What was surprising was that the flames on the sword burned purple instead of the usual orange.

"The power stone is said to represent infinite power. I didn't believe it at first, but now I do," Carol said.

"The sword is incredibly powerful even when I wield it; the destruction it will cause when you use it will be immense. You must be careful when using the sword, Derek," Carol added.

"I'll definitely be careful," I said, keeping my eyes on the sword in my hand.

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Carol was right; using this sword in my fire giant form would result in massive destruction. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, I shouldn't use this sword.

Seeing me staring at the sword with a serious expression, Carol furrowed her brows and became a bit concerned.

"We'll be staying on this planet for two weeks, securing its safety. You can rest or assist me if you want," Carol said.

This planet had suffered significant damage and needed protection from looters or evil empires. In fact, I didn't really need to help with this task; Carol could handle it easily on her own.

"I pushed myself quite hard today, and I think I should rest," I said, sheathing my sword back into its scabbard on my chest.

Upon hearing my words, Carol nodded understandingly and said, "You saved many lives today. Thank you."

Carol's body glowed after she said that and quickly moved away. I watched her departure and, when she was out of sight, turned around and walked towards the spaceship's door.

Sitting on a rock by the spaceship's door, I checked the system notifications.

[Hidden Quest "Hero" completed. You earned a "random template" as a reward.]

[You completed a quest and earned the "elixir of infinity."]

As the system notifications ended, information about the elixir came to my mind. This elixir, known as the elixir of infinity, had the power to heal any kind of wound.

I felt an incredible happiness as I absorbed this information. The reason for this happiness wasn't finding an elixir that would heal my severed arm. My father was severely injured, lying in infinite darkness in a hospital. The elixir in my hand could heal him and make him better than before.

In reality, I could find easier ways to heal my father. For instance, I could go to Tony Stark and ask for his help, or I could seek assistance from SHIELD. However, they couldn't fully heal my father.

If I asked SHIELD for help, they wouldn't assist me without a reason. I could easily make a deal with Tony Stark, but, as I mentioned, none of these options would completely restore my father.

SHIELD or Tony Stark could at most wake my father up, but they couldn't bring him back to his old self.

Setting aside this thought, I decided to use the other reward. When I used the reward, there was no animation; only text appeared, showing the name of the template I won.

[Template Earned: Jericho Swain]

"Jericho Swain? Who is this?"

I had never heard this name in my past or current life. I had no information about the advantages or disadvantages of this template, and it intrigued me.

Curious about the changes in my body and the abilities I gained, I waited, but nothing happened.

"Why is nothing happening?"

Just as I said that, a crow swiftly pierced through the air, stabbing my chest and directly attacking my heart.

"AAGGHHH! What the hell is this?" I exclaimed, coughing up blood.

*Who is attacking me?*

I didn't know who the attacker was, but I could feel the crow that entered my chest devouring my heart. The only reason I wasn't dying right now was my godlike physiology and resilience.

In incredible pain, changes occurred in my body. The first change was the rapid fading of my skin color. My dark skin paled, taking on a light, almost white hue.

After my skin paled, hair started growing on my previously bald head. Snow-white hair extended to my waist.

While all this was happening, crows gathered around me. The striking feature of the black crows was their eyes. Each crow had six red eyes.

Even though I couldn't see them, hundreds of crows had gathered around me. After my hair had fully grown, I felt an incredible pain in my left eye. My left eye turned red like the eyes of the crows, and within the depths of the red, a black circle appeared.

After the change in my left eye ended, I saw many images; different views from hundreds of different angles. My head throbbed, and I had to close my left eye.

~Derek Stacy~ a voice said. This voice was raspy and echoed as if it came from deep within.

Upon hearing the voice, I looked around in astonishment, but no matter where I looked, I couldn't find the source of the sound. All I could see around me were the crows.

"Who are you?" I asked in a frantic manner. I was coughing up blood and in pain as I spoke.

~I am Raum, the demon of secrets. The system told me to choose you.~ Raum said.

When I heard Raum's voice, information flooded into my mind. This information was about my new abilities and how to use them. It took me ten minutes to absorb the information.

When I opened my eyes, a crow was perched on my shoulder.

"Raum?"

~Yes?~

As far as I understood, Raum's consciousness was spread among all the crows, and Raum could control any crow himself. I forced myself to stand up and looked around; hundreds of crows had gathered, staring at me as if awaiting orders.

Upon seeing the crows, I slowly opened my left eye. When I opened my left eye, I saw hundreds of images again. All these images were the perspectives of the crows; thanks to my left eye, I could see everything my crows saw.

After keeping my left eye open for a few seconds, my head began to ache. I closed my left eye and bought a black eye patch from the system store.

~With your current power, you cannot share the visions of all the crows.~ Raum said.

"What do you suggest I do?" I asked.

~Reduce the number of crows.~ Raum said without hesitation.

Upon hearing this, I thought about how I could achieve that. I could give orders to these crows as I pleased and control them, but I didn't know how to reduce their numbers. After a few seconds of contemplation, I decided to try something.

*Gather!*

As I gave this command, thinking, all the crows that had landed took off from their positions and swiftly flew towards me. Seeing this scene, I felt a bit worried, thinking that the crows would pierce through me, but when the crows made contact with my body, they were absorbed by my body, transforming into a cloak.

After all the crows were absorbed by my body, a cloak formed on my back. This black cloak had a flowing design, reaching down to my feet and adorned with symmetrical cuts and metal details. On the top of the cloak, crow motifs and black bird details, becoming Raum's signature, were prominently displayed.

The neck part of the cloak was high, reaching up to my ears. On the back, there were two holes, and to cover these holes, there were iron pieces resembling crow wings.

I wasn't wearing the cloak, so it concealed my severed left arm effectively. With this cloak on my back, I could see my surroundings and felt a sense of security.

~You learn fast. Now try releasing ten crows.~ Raum said.

Surprisingly, the crow under Raum's control hadn't obeyed my command and was still on my shoulder.

Seeing this, I couldn't help but feel uneasy. Despite being given to me by the system, Raum being a demon still bothered me.

~Don't worry, I live within you. So if you die, I die too.~ Raum said.

These words only increased my unease. Raum seemed to read my thoughts.

~Don't you remember the crow that entered your chest, Derek?~ Raum asked, chuckling.

With Raum's chuckle, I felt a shiver through my body.

"So, that was you!," I said understandingly.

Raum nodded in approval. However, I didn't want to dwell too much on a past issue. Setting aside these thoughts, I tried releasing the crows from my cloak.

"Come out!" I commanded.

With this command, ten crows emerged from my cloak and flew under my control in the sky. With a thought, I directed them towards the city center.

~See? Quite easy.~ Raum said.

~Now, open the eye patch.~ Raum added.

I slowly brought my hand to my eye patch and opened it. I took a deep breath and opened my left eye. When I opened my eye, I encountered ten different views. All these images were from different angles, and I could tell they were in the air.

As I kept my eye open, I noticed that my head didn't ache. As far as I understood, as my template strengthened, this eye of mine would also become more powerful.

I controlled the crows and swiftly directed them to the city center. In the city center, I could observe Carol helping the people around.

When I wanted to go to the city center, about fifty crows emerged from my cloak and started circling around me. A second later, I found myself on the roof of a building in the city center. The ten crows I had sent earlier were flying around me.

"So, I can teleport to the places my crows reach!"

I said this with great joy. The teleportation and the ability to see everything the crows could see were powerful abilities, and my abilities didn't end there. I took off the eye patch from the system store and put it on my left eye. Even though the sensation of ten crows on me felt a bit strange, I would need some time to get used to it.

~There is a certain distance, it will increase as you get stronger.~ Raum said.

Carol sensed me, turned around, and looked directly at me. At first, she furrowed her brows, but then the expression on her face turned from surprise to curiosity.

She swiftly flew to my side and stopped. After examining me for a few seconds, she said, "I don't want to intrude on your privacy, Derek, but this is too much. I'm questioning if you're even human." Her expression wasn't cautious or uneasy; it seemed like she was genuinely concerned about me as a friend.

Seeing Carol's concerned expression, I decided that at least as my friend, she had the right to know the truth.

"As your friend, I'll tell you the truth, Carol."