Web of the Multiverse - 179 (Patreon)

Chapter 179: Nightmares Made Real, Unusual Psychic Power

Under everyone's surprised gazes, Peter quickly collected his thoughts, stepped into the training room, and closed the door behind him.

A soft click sounded as the lock slid into place.

The five young Mutants inside the training room each reacted differently.

Magik remained perched steadily on the windowsill, showing no intention of coming down.

Her long golden hair cascaded over one shoulder like a waterfall, and the look she gave Peter carried an unmistakable sense of distance.

But Peter knew that although Magik in this universe came across as extremely cold and rarely treated anyone warmly, it was really just a facade she used to protect her vulnerable heart.

Having grown up in an orphanage, she had learned from an early age that if she didn't want to be bullied, she had to act tough.

Even after growing up, Magik had retained that habit of self-protection, something deeply ingrained in her subconscious.

Another girl, the shortest and most slender of the group, was leaning over a table and watching Peter with an expression somewhere between curiosity and caution. She had a round face and large eyes.

This rather cute girl's superhero alias was Wolfsbane. She was from England, with the typical cool, pale complexion and a face sprinkled with freckles.

But Wolfsbane's cute appearance was deceiving. Her ability was quite unusual. She could transform into various wolf forms.

She could freely switch between a full giant wolf form and a Werewolf form that was half-human and half-wolf.

Once transformed, her strength, speed, sensory acuity, and regenerative ability all increased dramatically. She could even overpower most strength-based Mutants with ease.

Aside from those two, another girl was sitting alone in a corner with a book in her arms. She had brown skin, long black hair, and features that clearly reflected her Native American heritage.

The Native American girl's superhero alias was Moonstar, and her special ability was related to psychic power.

There was nothing in Moonstar's gaze but simple curiosity as she observed Peter.

Compared with the girls, the two male Mutants in the room were much less friendly.

Their superhero aliases were Cannonball and Sunspot.

Cannonball was a white man and the son of a miner. He looked to be around twenty-five.

He had short, slightly wavy brown hair and broad shoulders, giving him the build of a football player.

Cannonball's ability allowed him to release chemical thermal energy through his skin, propelling himself through the air like a rocket. While flying, he could also generate a dense energy field around himself to protect against attacks.

Sunspot, meanwhile, was Brazilian. He had brown skin, curly black hair, and a strong, athletic build.

His ability allowed him to absorb sunlight. Once he had accumulated enough solar energy, he could fly freely and unleash highly destructive blasts of flame.

The way the two male Mutants looked at Peter suggested they were itching to test him, as though they might stand up at any moment and challenge his authority.

In the few seconds since entering the room, Peter had already taken in everyone's reactions.

He wasn't surprised. He had only just arrived, and to them, he was nothing more than a complete stranger who had appeared out of nowhere.

Putting himself in their position, Peter knew he wouldn't immediately trust an outsider who suddenly showed up as an instructor either.

So he had no intention of launching straight into a long lecture about how they should fight.

Talking was useless if they weren't willing to listen.

Peter walked to the center of the training room, dragged over a folding chair, and turned it around so the backrest faced forward.

He straddled the chair, rested both hands on the backrest, then propped his chin on the backs of his hands.

Sitting like this helped reduce the distance between them.

Standing at the front of a room and endlessly lecturing people was far too old-fashioned.

Peter didn't think that kind of approach suited him.

Sure enough, when the five young Mutants saw him sit down so casually in front of them, surprise appeared on their faces, and much of the resistance in their eyes faded.

The natural sense of distance created by their respective positions had already diminished considerably.

"No need to be so tense. Let's just talk for a bit first."

Peter's tone was relaxed, like a student casually chatting with classmates.

"Since the Poisons arrived on Earth, have any of you left Krakoa?"

The five young Mutants looked at one another.

Magik was the first to shake her head, and the other four followed.

"Then since none of you have been outside, what do you think of your own abilities?"

That question immediately drew a reaction.

Sunspot was the first to straighten in his chair, a confident grin spreading across his face.

"Isn't it obvious? My power is the strongest. If those Poison bastards dare come to Krakoa, I guarantee none of them will walk away alive."

Cannonball gave a slight nod beside him, clearly agreeing.

It was obvious that the two young male Mutants had a rather inflated opinion of their own strength. They could even be called somewhat arrogant.

The other three female Mutants, however, didn't answer.

They didn't seem particularly interested in competing over who was stronger.

Peter merely smiled after hearing Sunspot's answer and offered no comment.

Then he stood, pushed the chair against the wall, and fired Silk from both hands in quick succession.

All the tables and chairs cluttering the training room were stuck to the walls.

The five Mutants immediately backed away in surprise, unable to figure out what Peter was doing.

At that moment, Peter crooked a finger at Sunspot.

"Since you're so confident, use your power on me. Let me see where that confidence comes from."

Sunspot froze.

He blinked, as though he suspected he'd misheard.

"What did you say?"

"I said, use your power on me. Don't hold back."

Peter stood where he was with his arms spread, speaking as casually as if he were asking whether Sunspot wanted to play a game of basketball.

Sunspot's expression slowly shifted from surprise to disbelief.

He stared at Peter for several seconds before finally saying, "Are you crazy? Once I release my power, I can't just take it back. Solar energy is insanely destructive. If I accidentally kill you, I'll end up in the Lake Bottom Prison."

When he mentioned the Lake Bottom Prison, Sunspot unconsciously lowered his voice.

It was the facility on Krakoa specifically used to imprison criminal Mutants.

No matter how powerful the Mutant locked inside might be, not a single one had ever managed to escape.

For a prison to frighten these young Mutants, who normally feared almost nothing, said plenty about what kind of place it was.

But Peter continued looking Sunspot in the eye, his tone unchanged.

"Doesn't matter. Everyone here can testify that I was the one who asked you to use your power."

"You won't be held responsible. Even if you kill me, no one will come after you for it."

Young people were still young people.

After Peter firmly challenged him twice in a row, Sunspot's temper finally flared.

He decided he wasn't going to hold back anymore.

He turned and glanced at the other four behind him.

"You all heard him. He's the one asking for this."

This time, the other four hesitated.

They had a feeling this could turn into something serious.

But before they could stop Sunspot, his anger had already gotten the better of him, and he instantly activated his power.

The deep brown skin across Sunspot's body immediately began to change.

Countless strands of pitch-black substance seeped from his pores like spreading ink.

Within seconds, his entire body had turned completely black.

Only his eyes remained visible, glowing with two dark red lights.

In that form, he looked somewhat like the classic black silhouette often seen in comics.

At the same time, a powerful pressure erupted from his body.

Scorching energy became waves of intense heat that rolled outward.

The air warped under the temperature.

In an instant, the training room became a giant furnace.

Then rings of dark red energy began spiraling together in front of Sunspot's chest.

Sunspot was true to his word. He was gathering power with everything he had, without the slightest intention of holding back.

Finally, once the energy had condensed to the size of a fist and could no longer be compressed, Sunspot aimed directly at Peter and unleashed his full-power attack.

At the same moment, Peter pushed backward with one foot.

A series of faint humming sounds suddenly rose through the surrounding air.

The tables and chairs stuck to the walls all came loose at once.

As if pulled by invisible strings, they flew toward Sunspot in the center of the room.

Sunspot was at the critical moment of releasing his energy and had no way to dodge.

As the tables and chairs slammed into him one after another, the energy gathered in front of his chest erupted completely.

A dark red beam, compressed to its limit, tore through the air, but its trajectory had already been thrown far off course.

It pierced the ceiling at an angle, punched through several floors of concrete, and finally disappeared into the distant sky.

Sunspot staggered out of his empowered state, gasping for breath.

The black color covering his body rapidly receded, and with a thud, he dropped to one knee, drenched in sweat.

"This was a trap from the very beginning, wasn't it?"

"You even calculated the angle I'd fire from at the end?"

He barely managed to raise his head and look at Peter.

"When did you start setting all this up?"

Peter didn't answer immediately. Instead, he began putting the scattered tables and chairs back in place.

Then he gestured toward the chairs, now arranged in a circle, signaling everyone to sit.

"Want to know? I can teach you."

This time, none of the five young Mutants showed the resistance they'd had earlier.

Without realizing it, they all sat down and began listening to Peter.

Peter's teaching style was completely different from that of any other Mutant instructor.

He first made sure the Mutants in front of him were genuinely interested. Only then did he begin teaching them step by step.

He worked all kinds of real combat experience into practical demonstrations.

Using what had just happened as an example, Peter taught them how to spot potential traps by paying close attention to small details.

He also taught them how to deliberately provoke an opponent with words, making the opponent angry enough to follow the course of action you had already prepared for them.

...

Before long, three hours had passed.

Peter ended the day's lesson on his own initiative.

"That's enough for today. If I teach you too much at once, you won't remember it anyway. We'll continue tomorrow."

He led the five of them out of the training room and followed the circular corridor of Frost Academy back toward the main entrance.

Megan the Pixie was already waiting there.

The moment she saw Peter, she tossed him a set of keys.

"Mr. Shaw has already arranged a place for you to stay. Follow me."

With Megan the Pixie leading the way, the group soon arrived at a detached villa just outside Frost Academy.

The villa had three floors and was neither too large nor too small. It was just enough for six people.

For the next period of time, they would all be living together there so Peter could complete their training as quickly as possible.

Young people adapted quickly.

The surroundings were also quite pleasant, and the five young Mutants cheered as they each claimed a room they liked.

That afternoon, Peter had all five young Mutants spar with him individually, allowing him to thoroughly understand each student's abilities.

Peter's first day as a Mutant instructor passed fairly smoothly.

After a full day of lessons and combat training, the five Mutants were utterly exhausted.

They all returned to their rooms early and went to sleep.

Around midnight, Peter suddenly opened his eyes.

His Spider-Sense was warning him.

Something unusual had appeared.

Peter cautiously pulled back the curtains and immediately saw that a dense fog had somehow settled outside.

Through the rolling mist, the vague silhouette of an enormous monster more than ten meters tall could be seen.

Peter stared at the massive creature shifting restlessly in the darkness, and his brow slowly furrowed.

He knew this dangerous-looking monster hadn't come from the outside world.

It had come from Moonstar's Mutant Power.

Moonstar was a very unusual Mutant. Her powers were composite in nature.

In other words, she possessed several different abilities, one of which allowed her to materialize whatever a target feared most in their nightmares.

At its core, this was also a form of psychic power.

However, Moonstar's psychic power was different from the pure psychic abilities possessed by Charles and the White Queen.

It was more like a strange form of psychic power contaminated by energy from another dimension.

Unfortunately, Moonstar currently had no way to properly control this unusual psychic power.

As a result, whatever space Moonstar occupied was constantly affected by it.

Anyone who entered that space, whether Mutant or human, could unconsciously cause the things they feared to materialize.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through Peter's mind.

Moonstar's ability seemed to have quite a few similarities with the abilities of the Poisons.

Could there be something here worth studying?