Ryan pointed at himself and raised an eyebrow. "Save the World? Are you talking about me?"
Odin and the Ancient One nodded affirmatively.
Ryan lowered his eyes, his mouth curling into an extremely wicked arc. "Sorry, I have zero interest in saving any World. But I'm quite happy to blow one up. Do you need me to carry that out?"
Feeling Ryan's genuine, overwhelming killing intent, the Ancient One and Odin glanced at each other again. Not only were they not displeased by his actions, they were even more satisfied with him.
Especially Odin, who burst into hearty laughter. "Hahaha, you're quite something, kid. You have the same spirit I had in my youth!"
"Back in the day, I was just like you. Afraid of no one, bowing to no one. With overwhelming killing intent, I'd kill Gods if they stood in my way, punch Zeus, and kick God!"
"So, take them. Whether you agree or not, you are qualified to possess these two cosmic treasures. You deserve them!"
With that, Odin tossed the Mind Stone and the casket of ancient winters from his hands to Ryan.
Seeing this, Ryan reached out both hands to catch the incoming Mind Stone and casket of ancient winters. The moment they touched his hands, he felt two completely different yet equally powerful forces.
First was the Mind Stone in his left hand. The moment he held it, Ryan felt his Spider-Sense undergo a strange chemical reaction with it, a mysterious sense of mutual attraction.
It was as if... he had found family with the same attribute?
Holding the Mind Stone, Ryan not only felt his mind becoming clearer, but even his already enhanced Spider-Sense grew stronger. With the boost from the Mind Stone, his Spider-Sense's emotional perception could now cover the entire city!
And it was the kind that even the Mirror Dimension couldn't isolate. He could clearly sense the intense emotions radiating from the citizens of all of New York outside the Mirror Dimension.
The fear from the Chitauri army's invasion, the sorrow over loved ones dying in the disaster, the surprise at the Asgardian Army appearing and defeating the Chitauri, and... uh, the joy of a large number of people taking advantage of the chaos for zero-dollar shopping... Ryan's face darkened. It seemed he really had to find time to clear the 'Thugs' out of New York!
However, this city-wide emotional perception was truly wondrous, as if he could observe everyone from a God-like perspective through their emotions... Phew—
After Ryan took a long breath and stepped out of that pseudo-omniscient pleasure, he looked down at the Mind Stone in his hand. He noticed the blue gem embedded at the top of the Mind Stone was now glowing yellow through the blue.
It was as if the Mind Stone could no longer contain the power of the Mind Stone within it.
Or like the Mind Stone wanted to break free from its constraints to get close to Ryan himself.
But holding an Infinity Stone with bare hands was no joke. So, Ryan ultimately suppressed the urge to smash the Mind Stone and let the Mind Stone out to get close.
As Ryan calmed down, the yellow light of the Mind Stone inside the gem at the top also slowly faded.
"The Mind Stone likes you very much. As an Infinity Stone of the Mental Plane with self-awareness second only to the Soul Stone, this is very rare..."
Just then, the Ancient One's elegant voice reached Ryan's ears.
Ryan looked up at her and said indifferently, "It doesn't like me; it likes the Spider-Sense, which belongs to the same mental-rule system."
The Ancient One smiled, neither confirming nor denying it.
Odin was more direct, laughing loudly. "Isn't that Spider-Sense of yours a part of you? It still likes you!"
Ryan shrugged, not denying it.
Next, Ryan looked at the casket of ancient winters held in his other hand.
The hand holding the casket of ancient winters had now passively turned icy blue.
It wasn't frozen into this color; the casket of ancient winters had simply activated the Frost Giant bloodline within him.
Just like in the movies, when Loki got the casket of ancient winters, he also passively reverted to his true Frost Giant form.
In the battle three months ago, having absorbed countless Frost Giants and even King of the Frost Giants Laufey, he naturally possessed the bloodline of the Frost Giant Clan.
Thinking about it, Ryan suddenly realized that besides his own human (Spider) genes, he had also absorbed Thor's Asgardian bloodline, Abomination's Hulk genes, Laufey's Frost Giant bloodline, and Ares's Olympian Gods bloodline.
Doesn't that mean... he always called others mongrels, but with so many bloodlines, he was the real mongrel now...
But Ryan immediately shook his head. No, these bloodlines were all absorbed by Riot, not by him personally.
So the real mongrel wasn't him, but the Riot parasite living on him!
Yes, that's right. He, Ryan Parker, was still a noble pure-blooded human!
Riot, who had no autonomy at all:...
As for the casket of ancient winters, there wasn't much to say. With the royal bloodline of the Frost Giants, Ryan could use the power of the casket of ancient winters as he pleased.
But with no enemies around, Ryan couldn't easily test how powerful the casket of ancient winters really was.
He couldn't exactly use it on the Ancient One and Odin, could he?
It would be a disaster if those two old-timers teamed up to beat him...
So Ryan just felt the casket of ancient winters for a moment before controlling the Symbiote on his hands to swallow both the Mind Stone and the casket of ancient winters.
The Symbiote is something you only truly appreciate once you use it; it's just too useful!
Not only can it boost your stats, but it also provides a highly defensive suit, absorbs various abilities for you to use, can mimic different styles of clothing, and can even act as a spatial pocket!
The only price is just needing to eat a few heads every now and then—a price that's hardly a price at all!
Tsk, this thing is the ultimate cheat that every Marvel transmigrator without a system like him should grab!
As Ryan marveled to himself, the Ancient One timely tossed the Tesseract and the eye of agamotto to him now that his hands were free.
Ryan caught them without hesitation but spoke to the Ancient One just as bluntly:
"Let me be clear: accepting your gifts doesn't mean I accept the responsibility you mentioned. Find some other idiot to do the stupid job of saving the World!"
The Ancient One showed no emotional change at Ryan's "take the money and run" behavior, only saying meaningfully:
"What we gave you isn't responsibility, just some extra help. As for whether you want to save the World, we won't force you. Because in this era of dwindling time, no one can remain uninvolved..."
Hearing this, Ryan's frown deepened. He stared at the Ancient One: "If you have something to say, say it clearly. Don't you know that riddlers die young?"