[System maintenance complete.]
In the darkness, a smile bloomed on Corin's face.
"Damn, the system maintenance is finally done! I've been waiting forever."
Eager to study the system, Corin couldn't care less about the fight between Little Spider and Electro at the power plant.
It was just a blackout, not like it had any huge impact.
Just because he joined one interstellar showdown didn't mean he had to sign up for the superhero volunteer squad.
If there was no profit in it, Corin never had much motivation.
Besides, he knew Little Spider had a way to deal with Electro.
At a time like this, what could be more attractive to Corin than going on a crazy spending spree in the system?
He waved for Alyssa to go back and rest, but she was still standing there, staring at him with growing surprise.
Corin realized what was wrong. With the power out, the room was pitch black. Alyssa couldn't see his gestures at all.
He was just about to speak when he heard Alyssa cry out beside him, "Oh! Boss! You're glowing!"
"Huh?"
Corin was thrown off by that.
His vision could ignore normal darkness, so he hadn't noticed the change in his body right away.
Instinctively looking down at himself, Corin was confused too.
A faint light was coming from his hands, flickering on and off.
If it weren't for the blackout, it would've been hard to notice.
"What's going on?"
Corin quickly went to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.
The skin exposed to the air was giving off waves of soft light, like the breathing light on a mechanical keyboard.
Yet Corin didn't feel anything unusual at all.
"Maybe it has something to do with the system that just finished maintenance."
He realized his body hadn't changed much lately, but now that the system maintenance had just ended and he was glowing, the two were probably connected.
Thinking that, Corin sent the curious Alyssa away and returned to his room to study it alone.
———
The spider venom Harry injected made him wish he were dead. The pain was carved into his bones, almost knocking him unconscious.
At the same time, his body was mutating.
His strong will to survive drove him to crawl toward the bio-suit nearby.
The moment he put it on, the system immediately detected the toxic components and began detoxifying him at once.
No one would have guessed that such a violent biological mutation would be stabilized by the bio-mech armor developed by Osborn.
Clearly, this suit wasn't even that impressive in combat power.
Harry Osborn not only survived, but through the mutation, he awakened an evil personality.
His eyes glowed green, filled with ambition and aggression. Another Green Goblin had been born.
———
Peter Parker had been incredibly sweet with Gwen lately.
When he found out his father had chosen self-sacrifice for the sake of responsibility, Peter could understand him.
But that didn't mean Peter would give up his own chance at happiness.
His earlier talk with Corin had cleared away the gloom in his heart.
("Live in the moment.")
That was what Mr. Corin had taught him.
He had already lost a happy childhood. He wouldn't let the burden of being Spider-Man take his love away too.
So he made a choice completely opposite to his father's. He decided to reclaim Peter Parker's own life.
Even if it meant giving up being Spider-Man for Gwen, he was willing.
He confessed to Gwen in a big, flashy way.
On the bridge, he used webbing to weave a giant "I love you."
He fully enjoyed the sweet time the two of them spent together.
"I'm going with you. Wherever you go, I go. I'm sticking with you for the rest of my life."
Holding Gwen in his arms, Peter felt like he owned the whole world.
At that moment, the lights across the entire city started flickering violently, followed by a massive explosion at the power station.
In an instant, all of New York fell into darkness.
Peter realized the change in the city looked exactly like what had happened in Times Square before.
He figured it had to be Max causing trouble again.
But every time he got close to Max, the web shooters on his wrists would short out.
At that moment, top student Gwen used kindergarten-level physics knowledge to insulate the shooters, instantly solving the problem.
When Gwen wanted to go help too, Peter shot a lump of webbing that stuck her hand to the car.
'One second you're calling me your genius little baby, the next you dump me here?'
Staring at her hand glued to the car, Gwen was furious and shouted, "Peter!"
Then she quickly covered her mouth.
Peter, in his Spider-Man suit, was already swinging farther and farther away.
As Corin opened the system interface, a pop-up window appeared in the holographic display, looking like an instruction notice.
[New energy indicator added. Will prompt when insufficient]
[Maintenance compensation: Charging Physique]
'Energy indicator?'
'Charging Physique?'
'What does that even mean?'
The system's prompts were always so stingy with words. Corin couldn't figure out what function had actually been added.
He opened the status panel:
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
— Name: Corin
— Age: 29
— Physical Strength: 22255
— Energy: 18%
— Current Account: 505.1 billion USD
— Talents: Deadpool-level Regeneration, Dynamic Vision Lv.2, Jeet Kune Do Mastery, Demigod Body, Faceless Mask, Danger Sense Lv.2, Precision Throw Lv.2, Sketch Mastery, Steel Body Lv.5, Magnetism Control Lv.5, Heat Vision Lv.3, Sling Ring Portal Lv.1, Freeze Breath Lv.4, Charging Physique
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Corin noticed there was now an energy percentage displayed on the panel, and among the talents below, there was an extra one called Charging Physique.
He tapped for details:
[Energy consumption must be replenished in time, or abilities will be restricted.]
"Charging Physique I kind of get."
The first thing Corin thought of was charging like a battery, but with the power out, that wasn't happening for now.
Energy consumption made sense too. During the fight against the aliens, he had used Heat Vision and other talents over and over, burning through a huge amount of energy.
When he was in space, he had felt a deep hunger and emptiness coming from his very soul.
No wonder he had felt so hungry after coming back. It must have been from low energy.
And speaking of charging, he also knew that once Steel Body reached max level, it could actively absorb solar radiation.
The problem was, he had the money, but where was he supposed to get vibranium?
Logically, eating should increase energy too. But he had already wiped out five roast ducks and countless pancakes to go with them. Why was his energy still so low?
'And this "insufficient energy" prompt, is it this blinking glow?'
'A human lightbulb?'
'Why does it feel kind of funny?'
'That's it?'
All the huge expectations Corin had for the system maintenance instantly collapsed.
As if wanting to test how efficient eating was at converting energy, or maybe just eating his frustration away, Corin grabbed the family bucket next to the roast duck and started stuffing himself again without mercy.
———
Peter swung on his webs, quickly locking onto the streak of lightning flying at high speed through the darkness.
Max had now fully adapted to his powers. He could even move freely through the city's power grid.
Peter originally planned to repeat the same trick, snapping water pipes and blasting him with water to short him out.
But Max was prepared this time and released precise bursts of electricity to counterattack.
The powerful current formed a force field in midair, blocking the rushing water stream completely.
Peter's "fight him in the rain" strategy was officially done.
The battle quickly reached a boiling point. Although Peter's modified web shooters could now withstand high-voltage currents thanks to Gwen, he still took a beating.
Physical attacks seemed to be working less and less on Max now.
Max turned into lightning, zipping through the power plant's equipment at extreme speed. The whole area flashed with violent arcs of electricity.
Peter wasn't slow either. With a flick of his webs, he kept dodging and flipping around.
But it was useless. Not a single bolt missed. Every one hit.
As his body slowly went numb, wrapped in crackling electricity, Peter still had the mood to ask, "What kind of move is this?"
"Flying Thunder God Technique! Tell me, are you scared or not?"
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