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Loki: The God of Magic

Reader mode
Williams1996 said:
Maybe Vibranium i highly doubt it though its no where near valuable enough to swap for uru unless its a literal mountain of it and adamantium is a man made metal im sure the dwarves could already make something similar or better.
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I thought Adamantium was from space like vibranium? Or am I miss-remembering?
 
Williams1996 said:
Wonder what it is that is so valuable he could trade it for uru
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Larger quantities of Vibranium, information, and perhaps some of his magical expertise.

Williams1996 said:
Maybe Vibranium i highly doubt it though its no where near valuable enough to swap for uru unless its a literal mountain of it and adamantium is a man made metal im sure the dwarves could already make something similar or better.
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Uru might be worth more, but not that much more. I'd put it at a 3 to 1 ratio. Maybe so much as 7 to 1, depending on your interpretation.

But considering recent events, I'm starting to veer more towards something the Dark Elves left behind.

readsalot said:
I thought Adamantium was from space like vibranium? Or am I miss-remembering?
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In most interpretations it is. But there are a couple where it's either an alloy of Vibranium and some other metals, or just a general alloy with an unknown formula.

Most come back to it being an alloy based on a metal from outer space however, and a large portion of those has it appearing suspiciously close to where they found the vibranium originally.

So I've always seen it as being an alloy based on vibranium. More durable, but not able to store/transmit energy the way vibranium can.

Most today view adamantium as inferior. But most of the earlier comics clearly show it to be superior. Until much later when speeches were made by the IP holders, talking about adamantium as inferior to vibranium - Although simultaneously stating things about it, that at the time, were not at all true. This was back in the early days of Marvel Studios (not to be mistaken with the marvel brand, that has existed since the middle of WW2. Or rather somewhat before that, but the first marvel cinema is from that time).

A lot of old fans view Adamantium as superior. A lost formula of pure genius, using vibranium as a base to create a much stronger metal. But the modern take have them at about equal (with a majority arguing that vibranium has far more use cases, and can do more), with each being better in different ways. With the MCU in mind, that's also my take on it (although I don't argue vibranium to be superior, just having different uses). Not for the comics though.
 
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readsalot said:
I thought Adamantium was from space like vibranium? Or am I miss-remembering?
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Ahtu said:
In most interpretations it is. But there are a couple where it's either an alloy of Vibranium and some other metals, or just a general alloy with an unknown formula.
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I double checked the wiki in case i was wrong but yeah it does say its a man made substance in the movies and comics though there has been so many in some it might have been space metal and i just cant remember.
 
Williams1996 said:
I double checked the wiki in case i was wrong but yeah it does say its a man made substance in the movies and comics though there has been so many in some it might have been space metal and i just cant remember.
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I will stat with cautioning you about trusting wiki's or AI's so blindly. But then also note that yes, it's generally considered an alloy/"man-made." But the vast majority of sources, including the marvel movies, has the main ingredient coming from space, somewhere in the southern parts of Africa (exact location varies with the version).

You can see this in a lot of the Wolverine/X-men movies. With Stryker being there with his team to dig it out/stealing it from those who dug it out (depending on which one you're looking at).

I'm not sure if all of the movies even hint that it might be an alloy... At least a couple of them do as I recall. But I think the first one just has the part where they get something from a meteor in Africa, with only the vaguest hint that it may have been an alloy based on it. No statements involved.

See, if you ask an AI this:
Adamantium based on space ingredients?

"Adamantium is a fictional metal alloy from Marvel Comics, known for its indestructibility, but it does not have a basis in real space ingredients or materials. Its creation involves a secret mixture of chemical resins, and it is not derived from any known elements in space."


But if you ask it like this (Adamantium based on space ingredients, dig in africa, Stryker), you get this reply:

"Adamantium is a fictional metal created in the Marvel universe, developed by William Stryker and his team during the Weapon X program. It is said to have been created using an unknown element found in a meteorite discovered in Africa, and is famously bonded to Wolverine's skeleton, making him nearly indestructible."

Considering all of the takes, hints, versions, and overall picture - The general consensus have become: "Vibranium based alloy, potentially stronger, but less versatile in its application." Which I consider to be a fair summary. Yes, in some versions that is not true - And in most it has not been confirmed. But in MOST versions it holds up as an explanation. And so that's what I tell ppl who ask.
 
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Ahtu said:
Larger quantities of Vibranium, information, and perhaps some of his magical expertise.
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The problem is that Vibranium isn't impossibly rare like Uru is. Uru is only found in the Nine Realms and only ever worked with by the Dwarves. While Vibranium, is still rare, but only as rare as some other higher atomic number elements. There are other planets where it is mined, with entire species having built their technology off of it. Hell, there are entire planets that having such massive amounts of it that entire civilizations haven't depleted them even after long periods of endless mining, like the planet Torfa which even after having been mined by an interstellar empire for centuries still has tons of the stuff left. Vibranium is rare, but a technologically advanced civilization like the Dwarves of Nidavellir should be able to get their own supply.

Most likely what he would trade would be some Dark Elf Tech, that stuff is insanely advanced, and effectively impossible to get your hands on.
 
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Williams1996 said:
I only use the wikis because i really cant be bothered going through a ton of omnibus to find it never resally used AI to find shit out could be useful i guess though.
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AI's are heavily biased unfortunately. Intentionally programmed that way. Politics made it unfortunately clear that it is bound to skew topics, reframe topics, and hide certain information - In favor of certain political opinions. Which makes it clear it is likely biased in a lot of other questions too, either by proxy, or just a lack of foresight in how such directives might play out.

Beyond that they work as aggregates of information, with a biased prioritization based on the creators own views on what qualifies as "an authority" on any given subject. Sometimes that is good, sometimes that works really bad when a topic is mired in a ignorant assumptions, or the places given priority have an agenda.

Long story short, AI can be useful, or it can mislead you wildly. I've found it to be highly inaccurate, even when it comes to things like games, or just information about entertainment media like books. Tried to work with it to find things I knew existed in Naruto, to get it to direct me to the right chapter. It gave me about 30-40 false claims (where I pointed out it was wrong, and reframed my question multiple times to give it clues and references to work with). And I would have been better off just slowly looking through it myself. I did eventually find it, but I pretty much just had to figure it out myself (it was the part where Kurenai talks to her father during the Kyuubi attack).

Unless you already know what you're looking for, and what should be there? Most of the time, I've found that it will mislead you. Like when I tried to get it to quantify how many ppl Naruto killed with the Rasengan. And it started bringing up ppl that I knew for sure he never hit with it, and I realized it was likely using fanfics as references. Even when I told it to just look at canon, and pointed out which ones were false - It still gave me more fanfic takes.

All in all I don't recommend AI. They're even more unreliable than the Wiki's.
 
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Avalon Du Lac said:
The problem is that Vibranium isn't impossibly rare like Uru is. Uru is only found int he Nine Realms and only ever worked with by the Dwarves. While Vibranium, is still rare, but only as rare as some other higher atomic number elements. There are other planets where it is mined, with entire species having built their technology off of it. Hell, there are entire planets that having such massive amounts of it that entire civilizations haven't depleted them even after long periods of endless mining, like the planet Torfa which even after having been mined by an interstellar empire for centuries still has tons of the stuff left. Vibranium is rare, but a technologically advanced civilization like the Dwarves of Nidavellir should be able to get their own supply.

Most likely what he would trade would be some Dark Elf Tech, that stuff is insanely advanced, and effectively impossible to get your hands on.
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Forgot some of those more recent additions from marvel movies I never really watched the whole thing after seeing the trailers, and later reviews... ("Captain Marvel" was the point where Disney really started to go downhill with the franchise).

Uru is rarer, but it is still used at a fairly large scale. Tony goes and makes a suit out of it as I recall.

I seem to recall Vibranium being more rare, though still more common than Uru in the old stories. There are different takes on exactly HOW rare though. Some claim that Nidavellir produces the substanace, others that it merely reforges what comes from "the first moon." And other one's still claim that "it can only be found on the earliest celestial bodies, from the dawn of the univese." Which would mean that it is far less rare than we might presume, based on other sources. Though hardly common still. It'd be less rare than Beskar in Star Wars.
 
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Way I understand it is that Adamantium is indeed virtually indestructible while Vibranium isn't actually as durable but it cheats. Something about the threshold where it starts absorbing energy being lower than the threshold where it would start taking damage.
 
Vadelent said:
Way I understand it is that Adamantium is indeed virtually indestructible while Vibranium isn't actually as durable but it cheats. Something about the threshold where it starts absorbing energy being lower than the threshold where it would start taking damage.
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Idd, the take is that it absorbs vibrations, absorbing the force that hits it, and either stores, or disperses it into the air around it (depending on iteration, and how it is worked). It's why it has such versatile uses. The exact details of how it all works varies greatly from version to version. But the name "vibranium" didn't come from nothing.
 
Chapter 12 - To Boldly Go New
Hello there,

If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.

Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.

—
​

Svartalfheim

The room was wide and had six capsules inside. One was opened rather recently from the way the dust was disturbed.

The brothers shared a glance before approaching the other capsules. The rest of them seemed nonworking and had black sludge inside.

"Devices to keep the cursed soldiers in stasis. It appears only one of them was in working condition," he said.

"Pity, we could have fought them," Thor complained.

He rolled his eyes, "Yes, how unfortunate."

Loki approached the console that the capsules were connected to. The Allspeak did not translate written language, but he had come prepared. His seidr flowed into the console. The words glitched at first and switched to the closest Asgardian equivalents.

"Let's see," he muttered, searching to see what they were doing here. Sifting through the data with an incomplete translation was challenging, but he eventually found what the Dark Elves were doing.

"What does it say?" Thor asked.

"The Dokkalfar were indeed researching a way to keep the cursed soldiers alive for longer. It appears they were rather effective on the battlefield against Asgard's army," he summarized the logs on the console.

"Not effective enough."

"No, they were not."

The rest of the palace did not have anything else to offer. It was abandoned for thousands of years, after all. He was after Kurse Stones the most but had to leave with an empty hand. Still, the weapons would be worth much.

At his brother's insistence, they kept exploring. The ship was not in working condition, nor would it ever be, but once he managed to get the console working, the blueprints were available.

He took them as well.

Asgard had no need for ships due to Bifrost. However, anything could happen in the future. He could also trade them for something interesting as well.

There were no treasures of gold, gems, and other riches. The Dark Elves were a society that had no need for any of it.

If nothing else, his brother at least enjoyed himself smashing the city up.


—
​

Asgard

"Where were you two?" Their mother asked, eyes narrowed. She had entered Thor's room minutes after they had returned.

"Just lazing around, Mother. Did something happen?" Loki asked. It was for the best he handled it. Thor's abilities in lying were non existent.

She didn't like that answer at all. "I couldn't find you two anywhere. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three didn't know where you were either."

"Didn't they have an appointment in the simulation room for some self-reflection?" he muttered. Not like they kept those four abreast of everything in their lives.

"Lunch is about to be served; you two better not be missing again," she warned, giving up on discovering whatever her sons were doing as long as they were safe.

"That was close," Thor muttered.

"A mother's instincts are terrifying," he said, shaking his head. "It is a good thing she can't place tracking spells on us anymore."

"Tracking spells?" his brother asked, taken aback.

"Yes, how do you think she always found you when we were children?"

Thor's eyebrows shot up, "I thought she asked Heimdall."

"He is the gatekeeper, not our personal watcher." She could ask Heimdall where her children were, but a responsible mother would never leave her children out of her sight.

"You didn't tell me about this," his brother said with a low tone.

"And invite Mother's wrath?" He'd prefer Ragnarok over that.

Thor's appetite had returned after the little excursion. He enjoyed himself to the full, spreading infectious joy across.

Once his hunger was sated, Loki informed his mother about his plan to visit Nidavellir.

"Nidavellir?" she asked. Her sons had visited the realm of the dwarves before. And this time, he was letting her know.

"Yes, I had some ideas. I want to see if I can get the dwarves to give me a sample of Uru," he said.

"Uru?" his mother exclaimed. "The dwarves are unlikely to part with it unless you make a compelling offer. Which I know you can."

"Thank you, Mother."


—
​

Nidavellir

As great as Asgard was, Nidavellir was a different beast. A multi-ring structure built around a neutron star, the dwarves living on it created some of the greatest and most horrific weapons to grace the face of the galaxy. Gungnir, Mjolnir, and Hofund were three of the best known ones in the Nine Realms.

"Loki, welcome," Eitri greeted him at the Bifrost site, shaking his hand rather enthusiastically. Short, with long hair and a beard, his angular face was extremely similar to that of Asgardians and Midgardians.

"Eitri, a pleasure to see you again." He shook the hand back just as enthusiastically. When he had first arrived in the realm of the dwarves, he was gaping like a fish out of water. His parents had not told either of the siblings about the true nature of Nidavellir. To see that they were rings built around a neutron star was truly a wonderful experience.

"Have you returned to accept my offer of working in our forges?" Eitri asked.

When his fame in seidrcraft had spread across the Nine Realms, the inhabitants of Nidavellir had heard of him as well. Eitri was interested enough to take him on a private tour of the realm. They had discussed ideas, and once he mentioned one of his ideas—a device that could create anything through pure energy by building the necessary atoms almost instantly—Eitri had offered him a place in Nidavellir as a craftsman.

"Hah, unfortunately not. I came to see if I could convince the dwarves to give me a sample of Uru," he said.

"That is…not possible." Eitri stroked his beard. "Even if you are a prince of Asgard, we cannot hand you Uru just like that."

He actually liked both princes for different reasons. If Loki were to accept his offer, he could work with Uru all he wanted.

"I am not here as a prince, but as an individual looking to make a trade," he explained. Uru was a vital strategic resource. One that they would never give away without the Allfather's express permission, even to his son.

"Trade? For Uru? It has never been done before," the dwarf replied, his eyes sharpening.

"But…" Loki started, letting Eitri continue.

"But if you could make an excellent offer, I can be persuaded to."

"Working Dokkalfar weapons in perfect condition. Specifically, black hole grenades and particle rifles."

"Asgard had those?" His eyes shone. The Dokkalfar were all but forgotten, and as one of the ancient enemies of Asgard, their weapons were advanced enough to fight Asgard. d.

"No, we did not," Loki replied. He pulled out a particle rifle from the pocket dimension. Handing it to the wide-eyed dwarf, he waited.

Eitri rolled his shoulder, and he followed behind. The master blacksmith took him to a room where the dwarves tested weapons. He raised the rifle and fired. A crimson bolt struck the metal post, followed by several more. Each one left holes through the metal as the dark matter particles tore the metal apart at a molecular level.

Eitri smiled. "As destructive as they are said to be." The dwarf put the rifle down, and Loki handed him a grenade next. Eitri primed the grenade, quickly rolling it in front of the post. It exploded, creating a miniature black hole that broke down the post to subatomic particles. Crimson tendrils that were the spaghettified atoms began to converge in one point while the post quickly dissolved, leaving nothing behind.

"They are nothing like Mjolnir or Gungnir, but definitely weapons of great advancement," he praised. Enemy of Asgard or not, the Dokkalfar craftsmanship was impressive.

"So?"

"I will give you an ingot equal to the Uru in Mjolnir. I want two hundred rifles and half as many grenades," he offered. They could disseminate the technology behind those weapons and use it to advance the knowledge of Nidavellir.

Using dark matter could create a new branch of weaponry.

"Here, or do you have a storage?" Loki asked. No need for the dwarves to move the weapons later.

"This way," he said. Loki followed the dwarf again. The storage building was full of scrap metal, pristine weapons left to gather dust, and tools. He pulled the rifles and the grenades out of the pocket dimension out at the back in an empty section.

"Two hundred rifles and half as many grenades. Consider the rest as a token of my appreciation," he said, gesturing to the swords, shields, and bladed gauntlets. He couldn't be bothered to separate them from the racks.

"How generous," Eitri chuckled. He knew the boy was too lazy to sort them out.

"Doesn't Asgard have laws or bans in place against trading Dokkalfar weapons? As far as I know, Bor forbade anyone from setting foot on Svartalfheim without his permission, and it still stands," Eitri said.

Not that anyone wished to visit Svartalfheim, Bor's decision made sense to prevent anyone from trying to uncover the secrets that lay buried on the planet.

"The ban does stand. Asgard didn't find many working examples of Dokkalfar technology, and those that they did were long turned to scrap. As such, there was no need to ban the trade of it. Not like I am giving them to sworn enemies of Asgard either," he replied. Technically, it was a loophole. One that his father would be very dissatisfied with.

Which is why all Heimdall saw was him and Eitri discussing ideas on the device he had mentioned years ago.

"True," the dwarf admitted. He wouldn't tell anything to Allfather unless he was forced to.

"Wait here," Eitri said, disappearing between the buildings.

Uru was kept secure at all times to prevent any piece from going missing. He would have to wait for it to be retrieved.

"I don't know what you intend to do with it. You can't melt it without the heat of a star, but the results will certainly be interesting," Eitri praised, handing him several ingots.

Loki thanked the dwarf and left after exchanging words of farewell.


—
​

Asgard

A star was, in its most simple description, a burning ball of gas. A neutron star was the gravitationally collapsed core of a massive supergiant star. As the second smallest and densest stellar objects in the universe, they were only surpassed by black holes.

If he could produce plasma hot enough, he could melt the metal.

But it was not what interested him for now.

Why did Uru have seidr of its own? Why didn't any of the other known metals share the same properties? Did seidr have something to do with Uru's immense durability? Could the ease of channeling seidr through Uru be replicated on other metals?

His workspace in the Hall of Science, the official one he used for appearances or when he needed the resources, would be busy for the foreseeable future.

The density and the innate seidr made the scans difficult. Instead of doing hundreds of scans to piece what he learned together, he prepared to do a high-intensity scan that would take time.

The background process in the Realms of Valour continued to decipher the secrets of seidr for him, but this was something he wanted to work on himself.

Replicating the seidr channeling properties of Uru would allow him to create materials that could be a cheaper alternative to the metal. Uru would still be extremely valuable due to its durability. However, arming every single Einherjar with weapons that could channel the innate seidr in their bodies would enhance their effectiveness tenfold.

That is if it was even possible in the first place.

Runes could allow any Asgardian to channel seidr without training, but it was a crude method, not to mention time-consuming. He couldn't just sit down to create runic arrays for thousands of soldiers.

If a single rune was damaged, the entire array could explode. At worst, it would mean soldiers could die. Weapons and tools that shared the same ability without the dangers of the runic arrays would be worth the effort.


—
​

The Nine Realms and the realms outside of it that were under Asgard's protection had nothing else of importance to explore.

Which meant it was time for him to explore other worlds.

With each use, the range of his portals and the ease of creating them increased. In a couple of centuries, he could travel to anywhere within the galaxy without the Bifrost. A couple more centuries, and intergalactic travel would be available to him.

That was without furthering his understanding of seidr.

His target was a planet that seemed to possess many amenities. With the number of different spaceships visiting the planet, it was obviously a vacation spot. It would be the first truly alien planet he would ever visit.

He stumbled out of the portal. The distance was the longest he had traveled so far. Bright neon lights assaulted his eyes. Dozens of smells were intermixed.

And it was loud.

Aliens of all shapes and sizes were enjoying themselves.

He was about to walk towards the buildings to see what they offered when an alien of blue color—awfully similar to a jotnar but lacking the size and the lines indicating ancestry—bumped into him.

"Watch where you are going, fool," the blue alien, one that he recognized from somewhere, glowered at him.

He and his subordinates wore full-body armor with segmented plating in dark colors. All three walked as if the sun was rising for them and were looking down on him.

"I was not going anywhere. You would know if you used your eyes," Loki retorted. He ignored the blue alien in favor of deciding on an establishment to visit.

The blue alien wasn't going to let Loki's words go and snorted. "This one has a mouth on him."

He turned to the blue alien, suddenly remembering where he had seen them before. "I remember now. You are a Kree, aren't you? My father did say you were all arrogant savages."

The relations between Asgard and the Kree Empire were nonexistent. His father had described the Kree as savage and deceitful. They had experimented on Midgardians, and his father had responded by slaughtering every single Kree on Midgard and threatening them with war should they ever return.

That was fun.

"And who is your father, boy?" the alien demanded.

Revealing his father's name would be satisfying and equally troublesome.

Gravity lost its hold on him, and it was he who looked down on the Kree now.

"Boy? I am over two hundred years old. As for my father, the likes of you don't have to know his name. Now get lost," Loki said. He flicked his hand, as if shooing the blue aliens away, and an unseen force caused them to fly away. They blurred out of sight so quickly even their screams were not heard.

Loki just floated away. He didn't know the laws of this world, and killing the Kree might cause trouble. If they were arrogant enough to return, he would test just how resistant the Kree were to plasma.

---

Notes: I am taking some liberties when it comes to the relations between Asgard and the Kree Empire.



—
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In the next chapter:

"I don't remember inviting you," a voice muttered right behind him. His portals were getting more precise with each use, and he had landed in front of the Collector.

He was a curious individual. Wild white hair, a bored complexion, dressed in a brown garment with red and white chaotic lines, and the pelt of a creature he did not recognize as a sort of cape. Two golden chains with colored beads completed the look.

But that was just the surface.



Curious about the next chapter? Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
 
Damn, thought he met Nebula for a second. Thought that he could maybe start her redemption early, haha. Then I remembered she's probably not born yet, haha. And that preview... The Collector, perhaps? Looking forward to more.
 
Samael61 said:
Loki just floated away
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Heh 😏
Loki showing off his superiority y looking down on them fools 😆
Also Uru get, makes sense that the Dwarves would trade Urdu for the Dark Elves weapons as they have not been seen for thousands of years.
Thought the trade would be for another precious metal but this works out as Loki has a ton of their weapons 👍
 
Chapter 13 - Incomplete Answers New
Hello there,

If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.

Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.

—
​

Contraxia

He quickly came to realize that the planet was visited mostly by Ravagers, an interstellar criminal syndicate dealing in thievery, trafficking, and piracy. From what he gathered, there were nearly a hundred clans, all led by a captain.

The planet itself was full of alcohol, addictive substances, and lovebots. The interaction he had with the owner of a brothel filled with robots was amusing.

"Don't think I ever saw you around before," a female, at least he assumed it was a female, said to him outside the place.

She was bald, pasty-skinned, and ugly and had spikes in lines across her head.

"My first time on this planet," he responded. He wasn't naive and knew what the place was at first sight.

"Why don't you come inside and taste what we have to offer?" she asked.

Loki tried to hold his laughter but failed miserably. "Lovebots? Are you telling me people actually pay to lay with one of these?"

He didn't care; it was just too funny to not laugh at.

"Yes. Why, don't you have houses of pleasure where you are from?" she asked, perturbed by his reaction. Almost everyone that visited Contraxia also visited Iron Lotus. This male looked to be rather well-off, unlike her usual clientele.

"No, everyone from my world is capable of getting a real person to lie with. We have no need for brothels, much less ones with robots," he explained. In Asgard, the private life of an individual was not scrutinized. As long as they were not wed, the people did not care who slept with whom.

However, things did change when adultery was involved.

"What about you?" He was here alone, and young ones always were raring to go.

"Do you have any idea how many females I have to dodge just to be able to work in peace? Let me tell you, it isn't easy," he said. Beyond being a prince, he was the greatest seidr practitioner after his father. Ladies, mostly from Asgard, Vanaheim, and Alfheim, were all too willing to pursue him.

He hadn't found anyone interesting enough yet. A pretty face or a political genius wasn't what he sought, but a practitioner of seidr like himself. Which narrowed the courting pool quite a bit.

"Suit yourself."

The Ravagers were intelligent enough to not cross the person flying without any machine aid. Which, in his opinion, made them a tiny bit better than the Kree when it came to survival instincts.

He entered a bar, inspecting the inside. Besides the flow of drinks, a persistent cloud of smoke hung up in the air. He created a barrier around himself for clean air. A holographic bulletin board hung at the left side of the room. Loki decided to inspect it first.

The language was foreign to him, but there was a way to mend his lack of knowledge. One of the drunk Ravagers stumbled over. He steadied the alien, using the opportunity to read his mind for the language. He was done in seconds.

He gently pushed the alien away, towards who he assumed were his clans. He didn't look at anything other than the language. There was no need to look too deeply inside the mind of a pirate.

Now, the language made sense to him. The board was a place for employers to offer jobs, ranging from protection of an establishment to one that included stealing something called the Anulax Batteries. He didn't know how much one of these units was worth, but the price disparity was too great. These batteries must be worth quite a lot.

There were actually several offers for the batteries, each close in reward range with the option to negotiate.

This required further investigation.


—
​

Sovereign

Loki whistled.

Sovereign, homeworld to a species that shared the same name, had truly impressive megastructures on either side.

The surface was gold-toned, just like the golden skins of the race itself. They were advanced too, as a patrol craft was quick to land near his position, examining the area. The golden-skinned soldiers just walked by him.

There were two of them, dressed in military uniforms, holding guns, and looking rather artificial. Either this race was naturally blessed with perfect complexion, looks, and health, or there was more to this.

His form of invisibility hid him from more than just sight. He had actually phase-shifted. He could observe his surroundings without worrying over detection.

When the soldiers detected nothing in the area, they returned to the craft, which he snuck inside to take the ride.

The craft was fast thankfully, because the soldiers were silent the entire way. Perhaps they were not born with a sense of humor or the ability for small talk.

He phased through the craft during landing. Flying to the top of the spire, he got a good look at the surroundings. The top of the spire had an entrance and a wide, crescent platform. People came and went, all sharing the characteristics of the soldiers he had seen.

All too perfect.

Even Asgardians had faults when it came to their appearance, though they were rare.

Now, to find one of these batteries. If their value was so great, the Sovereigns must be keeping them under heavy security. Phasing through the floors of the spire, he witnessed many interesting sights, eventually stopping in one.

"Pods?" he thought, approaching one of them.

A tall, roughly cocoon-shaped pod the color of the gold that was all too prevalent on this planet. It was smooth, as if grown rather than assembled.

He took a look inside and backed off quickly. There was a fetus inside it, which explained everything. These Sovereigns weren't born; they were created in these pods. Individuals that were genetically engineered to be perfect.

Loki huffed and left the room.

The spire was not where they kept the batteries, and he was left considering where the Sovereigns would hide these extremely valuable batteries.

The answer was they did not keep it in a vault. Not far from the spire, the Anulax Batteries were stacked in a pyramid, attended by individuals in garish robes with automated defenses around. Yet, they were out in the open.

Either the Sovereigns believed stealing a battery this deep inside their territory was impossible, or they were just arrogant.

He was leaning toward both.

Theft was not something he would lower himself to, and now that he knew where the batteries were, he could just visit whenever he wanted to examine them.

Small, golden cylinders, he wondered how they produced so much energy to be worth tens of millions of units.

The initial scan showed that they had created exotic particles, which meant something he had never encountered before. The particles inside created nanoscopic tears in the reality to a specific, higher dimension and drew the energy.

It explained how they were able to produce such a disproportionate amount of energy for their size.

Replicating the particles was so simple, he wanted to reveal himself and laugh at their faces.


—
​

Creating an exact replica of the containment unit, he filled the inside with the replicated particles. The energy output was the same, only it was green.

Now, he just had to find a buyer.

The Kree Empire was out, as he found them distasteful. The Nova Corps was a possible entity, but they were too idealistic and might not buy it. The Ravagers were pirates, the last kind of people he would trade with.

One name caught his interest.

The Collector.

The minds he glanced at all said the same thing. This collector wanted rare specimens for his collection and paid well for them.

An entity that wanted the battery for the purpose of displaying it was far safer than the rest.


—
​

Knowhere

Loki took a deep breath. Traveling three times in quick succession had drained his seidr. Reaching this place was difficult because he had to find someone who had visited. Nowhere, he read through their mind and then detected it with his vision.

Finding the Collector's lair to be the severed head of an enormous creature was quite a shock.

"I don't remember inviting you," a voice muttered right behind him. His portals were getting more precise with each use, and he had landed in front of the Collector.

He was a curious individual. Wild white hair, a bored complexion, dressed in a brown garment with red and white chaotic lines, and the pelt of a creature he did not recognize as a sort of cape. Two golden chains with colored beads completed the look.

But that was just the surface.

This being was ancient. He could not see the start of it but was sure that Asgard's history would be but a blip to the Collector.

"My method of travel makes it hard to let people know. I heard you were seeking Annulax Batteries," he explained, dusting himself.

"I am," the Collector replied. Loki floated the first battery he created to the Collector. The entity took it without the slightest change in his demeanor.

"This is green, not gold," he drawled.

"Yet it will work exactly the same. The difference in color is just cosmetic," Loki assured. He could create as many as necessary, and the Collector was free to test the first one as he wished.

"We shall have to test that," he said. Putting the battery over a scanner, he waited for the results.

"Curious," his eyes slightly widened, almost imperceptibly. "It is indistinguishable from the originals. Where did you acquire this?" he asked with a voice that was firmer than before.

He had the Collector's interest.

"I am here to ask questions, not answer them. I wager someone as knowledgeable as you could offer me what I want to know in return for batteries equivalent in value," he offered, presenting three more batteries.

"We have a deal then…." The Collector waited for a name.

"Loki."

"Loki, ask away."

His first question regarded the Infinity Stones. His father, decades after the mess with the TVA, had explained what the fake gauntlet in the vault was.

He had defeated a being who sought the Infinity Stones, gems that were the most devastating tools alone yet made the user omnipotent together. The name of this entity, nor the true nature of the stones, was not among the questions he had answered.

The Collector was all too delighted to speak, and as he did, Loki became more and more interested.

Six singularities existed before the creation. When the universe came into being, the remnants of the singularities consolidated into gems. Each gem could control one aspect.

Mind, Space, Reality, Power, Soul, and Time stones.

"I have heard of a being that tried to gather the stones but was defeated," he said offhandedly.

"Thanos, the Mad Titan. He believes that wiping out half the life across the universe at random will lead to a better future or something. I don't tend to listen to the ramblings of insane individuals such as him," the Collector answered, waving his hand dismissively.

"And the one who defeated him?"

"Odin Allfather, the King of Asgard. He defeated the Titan, but Thanos managed to scurry away in the battle. Afterwards, Odin hid the Power, Space, and Soul stones across the universe. The rest were never found, but I suspect he might know where they are."

It appeared his father was famous beyond the Nine Realms.

"However, a reliable source told me the location of the Mind Stone." The Collector left the sentence unfinished.

Loki handed over another battery.

"Thanos managed to recover the Mind Stone in great secret. It is the only one he possesses currently."

His next question regarded the giant head they were in, which cost him another battery.

Celestials, the oldest race in the universe that even predated the six singularities, were also responsible for the Big Bang and the creation of the universe.

That was terrifying to him.

And exciting.

They created planets, stars, and lifeforms, which explained why most species looked so similar, to birth more Celestials. Each planet was seeded with a nascent Celestial. They required large sapient populations on the planet they were seeded into, feeding on their life force.

When the time came, the planet was destroyed as a consequence of the Emergence.

It could mean that the Nine Realms, except for Asgard and Nidavellir, could have nascent Celestials ready to destroy the planets in the future.

He had to research this.

The head they were in told him that the Celestials could be killed. The nascent ones were basically defenseless. If he could find where exactly they were seeded in the planet, he would have a test subject.

Once he became strong enough, of course.

"Have you ever heard of an organization named the TVA?" he asked, creating illusions of the TVA troopers that he had encountered centuries ago.

"I did not, which is rare, almost impossible in fact," the Collector replied, hesitating.

"What can you tell me about them?" he asked, but Loki shook his head.

"I only encountered them once and could never figure out where they came from."

"Curious. I shall be on the lookout."

"What else can I offer you?"

"The Dark Elves of Svartalfheim. Do you know anything about them?" he asked.

"Odin's father went to war with them, and they were rendered extinct. Beyond that, nothing except the working examples of their technology in my collection."

"Anything about stealth ships?" It was a long shot, he knew, but better to get it out of the way.

"No."

"What about Niflheim and Helheim?" he asked. Traveling to Niflheim was on his to-do list. It would be even better if he possessed knowledge of the world.

His vision could not penetrate the atmosphere, and Asgard's library was empty. On purpose, he wagered.

The Collector tilted his head. "I actually appreciate capable individuals such as you, so let me give you some advice in return. Don't pry too much into that planet. As old as I am, Odin is too terrifying to risk an altercation with."

"Noted," he said.

The Collector could have simply said no, or that they were worlds bereft of life, but he chose to warn Loki instead. It meant his father was definitely hiding something.

A secret that even this entity would not dare reveal.

"This has been very informative. If I have any other questions, I will be sure to return, with ample payment for your knowledge," Loki said. This short excursion was something he would definitely repeat in the future.

"By all means, Loki of Asgard, you are free to visit whenever you want," he replied with glinting eyes.

Loki let out a hearty laugh. "How did you figure it out?"

"I wasn't really paying attention, but your language, the Allspeak, is there if you know how to look. I don't know your place in Asgard, but again, do not dig too deep into Odin's past while he lives. You are too valuable as a customer."

He nodded and left Knowhere, with the intention to return at a later date.



—
​

In the next chapter:

Which had made him realize he did not have many friends. There was Eitri, but he was more like a colleague that he collaborated with.

Perhaps he could try to be more social. If only there were people who took interest in seidr as much as he had.



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