— — — — — —

Rika's plan was good—like, really fucking good. But life doesn't care how perfect your plans are—it has its own.

That night, Rika just hadn't expected that right before Veyron showed up, Shizuka Marikawa would randomly drop by after dinner for some girl talk.

And when they were done chatting… she was too lazy to go back to her own room and just snuggled in beside Rika for the night.

But that just made everything easier...

---

The next morning- Rika's Room

After a long night, Veyron—clearly in a great mood—rewarded Shizuka with a tier four Gene lock and even gave her the Op-Op Fruit.

After spending some time satisfying himself in this world, Veyron returned to Eientei and asked Eirin Yagokoro to whip up a fresh batch of potions. Then he headed straight to the Treeborn world and had the world will, Larentia, call the girls—people like Olga, Celestine, and others who were already pretty close to him.

Veyron had already unlocked the basic Gene Locks for them during a previous visit. But like most people from other worlds, even with his full walkthrough on unlocking Gene locks, top-tier individuals like Olga—those blessed with world fate—had only reached the third tier so far.

This time, though, he was leveling the playing field for everyone.

"Even though you said this back when you first brought the whole 'Gene Lock' concept to our world, I still have to say it again…"

Larentia looked out at the group sparring nearby—Dark Elf Olga wielding her dark magic, High Elf Celestine casting white spells, Human Knight Claudia swinging her sword, and Halfling Luuluu wielding a battle axe nearly twice her size.

They were facing off in pairs: magic versus might. Each of them now stood at the very peak of their respective combat paths in this world.

Sitting beside Veyron, Larentia couldn't help but mutter, "This power... it's more miraculous than miracles themselves."

The strength these four now possessed was insane.

"Still not going to consider my suggestion?" Larentia asked, serious this time.

"Not yet," Veyron replied with a slight shake of his head.

She was referring to something she'd brought up the last time he came by—a proposal to take their cooperation to the next level. She wanted the Treeborn World to officially recognize Veyron as its monarch.

Actually, even without the formal title, this place already functioned like his personal backyard. But the title wasn't just for show.

If he accepted it, Veyron's status would be raised even further—he'd essentially become a world-tier entity within the Void, the dimension that carries countless worlds. His "presence" would be equal to that of an entire world….

"Wouldn't it be better to make it official as early as possible?" Larentia asked, puzzled.

From what she'd inherited from her mother (the World Tree), ascending to world-lord status was all benefit, no downside.

Veyron gave her a sideways glance, golden light flickering in his eyes. "Who knows? Just a gut feeling—but I think waiting a little longer might work out better for me."

"…Fine," Larentia said, dropping the topic.

Normally, world-lord status isn't something a world just hands over, even with the world will's approval. You also need subconscious recognition from the world's primary inhabitants—the 'protagonists,' so to speak.

But Veyron's position in the Treeborn World was… unique.

To the seven million Pure Ones who came from the Kuroinu World, Veyron was the savior who brought hope and rebirth after seven years under the evil god's shadow.

And to the new life born from the World Tree—beings who literally came into existence through its branches—Veyron was their origin, the one who granted them existence.

With both of those identities, claiming the world-lord title was basically just a matter of when—not if.

...

With business out of the way...

Larentia gave Veyron a sultry look, licking her lips as her long legs subtly brushed together.

Veyron caught her drift. He gave Kaguya—no, not that Kaguya from Eiente, and definitely not Shinomiya Kaguya from World-∞, but the Kaguya who was the head priestess of the shrine maidens in the Treeborn World.

Sooo he gave that Kaguya a light pat on the butt, signaling her to rush and close the temple for Larentia.

...

『Group Notification: Member "Ghost-Spider" has sent a standard red packet』

Still in the treeborn World...

In between some "glorious battles" at Larentia's temple—where Veyron was using his ever-handy time-stopping pocket watch to challenge anyone and everyone—he casually glanced at the group chat and saw the notification.

He tapped it on instinct.

Suddenly, a container holding a silvery-gray metal appeared in his hand.

『Ordinary Human』: Vibranium?

Sensing the metal inside, Veyron opened the task log—just in time to see that one of Gwen's long-term missions had recently updated.

He flipped back to the group chat.

『Ordinary Human』: You raided Wakanda? For Vibranium?!

Aside from what he remembered from the movies back before he transmigrated, this wasn't his first run-in with vibranium.

During his mission "Hydra Vs. The Web" in Sokovia—when he kicked Hydra out, turned the place into a new base for the Web, and conveniently tested if he could cheese some long-term mission progress for other members.

Before that, Gwen had mentioned she found a chunk of vibranium stashed in a Red Room safe house once owned by Madam B. Using that as a base and working off Selina's prototype, she'd built eight Gantz-style combat suits upgraded with vibranium plating.

After successfully taking over Sokovia and stabilizing the region, Gwen immediately directed the Web to begin digging for all available intel related to vibranium.

Once they filtered out the bait and misinformation planted by shady organizations, they confirmed three key facts:

{That famous shield used by the American captain during WWII? Most likely had some vibranium mixed in during production.}

{In the black market, vibranium had always been synonymous with "ridiculously expensive" and "impossible to get." Even a small chunk could sell for hundreds of millions—way pricier than gold.}

{After tracing various vibranium smuggling routes, the Web discovered that several of them seemed to converge near a tiny African nation called "Wakanda." That strongly hinted at a connection between the country and the vibranium supply chain.}

...

『Ghost Spider』: Hold up.

『Ghost Spider』: Let me just say—attacking a sovereign nation recognized by the international community? Not only would that put the Web in the global spotlight, but the idea of "invading a country over a maybe-rare-resource" goes completely against my moral code.

『Ghost Spider』:  I'm a superhero after all

『Ghost Spider』: I only went to an underground auction after hearing whispers that an anonymous seller might be putting a vibranium item up for bid.

『Ghost Spider』: I brought Natasha along—thought if it was legit, we could secure it and make a few more enhanced suits for the team. But mid-auction, some guy in full vibranium armor crashed the place and straight-up stole the auction piece.

『Ghost Spider』: We chased him down… and found out he was Wakanda's guardian and national hero—Black Panther.

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