Chapter 211: The Activity Begins — The Marvel World
The remaining days passed quickly. For Ryū this amounted to staying up late playing games and spending the small amounts of sign-in Points on brief Arena sessions.
When the activity timer finally hit zero, the time was 8:24 in the morning.
In Konoha, it was not the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. In the Iron Man series world, it was.
Ryū finished his morning chores, locked every door and window in the house, and entered the Chat Group.
RawrSoFierce: @All Members — the activity opened a minute ago. I'm going through each of you now to unlock crossover permissions. Once yours is open, just think the intention and you'll cross over directly.
RawrSoFierce: Stark — did you find somewhere with enough space?
I'm Rolling In It: Relax! I've set up one of my New York estates as the temporary base. Even Whitebeard-ojii-sama at six-plus metres wouldn't have any issues fitting in there.
I'm Rolling In It: I believe that particular property ran me about one or two hundred million.
Crazy Diamond: And there goes Stark-san casually flexing again.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara — once you inherit your grandfather's estate, Josuke, it won't rival Stark's but it'll come close!
Crazy Diamond: I want my family to keep living. Let them live until they're tired of it themselves. Inheriting would be a few thousand years from now, maybe.
Terrible Tornado: Josuke's ambitions are unexpectedly long-range.
Crazy Diamond: What's the point of existing without a dream?
Kaguya-sama: Worshipping the wealthy. Weakest player trembles.
Crazy Diamond: Pfft — Kaguya is the actual heavyweight here. The Shinomiya financial group operates in the trillions — that's a genuine world-tier conglomerate.
Kaguya-sama: It's not all mine… my family has a portion of it and primary decision-making authority, that's all.
My True Form Is Cola: True paupers here, please stop reminding the broke homebody she's broke.
Street-Corner Illustrator: Please stop reminding the broke manga artist she's broke.
WolfKingOfQingQingGrasslands: Please stop reminding the broke wolf he's broke.
"…"
The group was chaotic as always, and the crossover happened anyway. Nobody had specified that being in transit prevented chatting.
The one person who couldn't casually scroll was Ryū — he was going through each member's crossover permissions one by one, which was more tedious than it should have been.
Why isn't there a batch-select option? One at a time for sixteen people. This is a lot of work for the start of what's supposed to be a holiday.
He'd also been meaning to submit a feedback report to the Chat Group system. Last time the reward had been something in the range of a hundred to five hundred Points — he genuinely couldn't remember the exact number, it had been months ago and he'd not considered it worth retaining. The Points would be welcome regardless of the amount.
He finished with Sakura — the last name on the list — and exhaled.
RawrSoFierce: @All Members — all crossover permissions are now open. If you haven't crossed yet, do it now~
RawrSoFierce: I'm probably the last one here at this point, right?
Crazy Diamond: [Image] [Image] — Already at the estate Stark-san prepared! Though calling this a "villa" seems understated. This is a full estate.
Crazy Diamond: In New York of all places. Even the world's richest person might struggle to pull this off — this isn't just money, is it?
I'm Rolling In It: You'd be surprised what money can do when applied correctly.
I'm Rolling In It: There were certain… arrangements involved. The usual kind. Without those, nobody would have sold.
Kaguya-sama: Stark-san's network in America is something else. This is what a genuine operator looks like.
I'm Rolling In It: It's been about three months in the Chat Group now, give or take. My perspective has shifted considerably. Still the righteous superhero and all that, but various preparations are underway.
I'm Rolling In It: At this point, those certain individuals don't dare give me trouble.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara — real strength is built on capability. Stark now has enough power to represent a genuine threat to them, so they've gone quiet.
My True Form Is Cola: So this is what the world of the powerful looks like. Terrifying.
Kaguya-sama: At your current strength level, Umaru, Japan can't really do much to you anyway. You're not a walking nuclear device yet, but reducing a small county town to rubble is already within reach eventually.
"…"
Ryū sent the thought, and the world rotated.
Less than a second.
The bedroom dissolved into an enormous hall. The emptiness of his house resolved into a crowd of recognisable faces — Whitebeard, Yukari, Kizaru, Kaguya, all of them and more. And standing among them as host: Tony Stark.
The Dimensional Chat Group, assembled again. Sixteen members including Ryū.
The hall was large enough that sixteen people produced no crowding whatsoever. The surplus space was considerable — this was Tony Stark's "villa" purchased for one to two hundred million dollars. Looking at it now, that figure seemed like an internal price. In New York, at this scale, the actual market value would be something else entirely.
Certain arrangements, indeed.
He'd been there for approximately three seconds when something round and hard bumped into his foot.
He looked down. A spherical rock, somewhat basketball-sized, emitting a slightly childlike voice.
"Admin! I'm seeing the living Admin again! I'm the Wandering Earth! The most adorable member of the group!"
"I knew it was you without being told."
The only member who looked like a sphere this round was the Wandering Earth. Ryū bent down and picked it up.
Heavy. Still very heavy.
Better than the last time — the Children's Day event, he'd picked up the Wandering Earth and nearly thrown his back out, the weight entirely outside what a human body should have been lifting. This time his lumbar region remained operational. Somewhat. The heaviness was still real.
This was after the Chat Group had already scaled the planet down to its minimum possible size. Without that intervention, Ryū would have been flattened.
"Hello, Admin!"
"Hello, Admin!"
"Hello, Admin!"
The greetings came from multiple directions. Ryū returned them one by one, slightly at a loss for words.
This feels like a manager walking in and having all the employees shout "good morning, boss."
He'd grown numb to being called "Admin" — they could shout it as much as they wanted. He'd accepted the title.
He checked the wall clock — some expensive brand, the kind where the clock face was mostly empty space — and muttered: "Marvel world is in the middle of the night right now? That's why it's dark outside."
Tony Stark's voice rose above the general noise.
"Everyone — Chat Group veterans and new members alike — ahem! Sorry, almost slipped into the 'Uncle Tony' habit. Tonight I'm the host for this gathering. Don't worry about money. Just eat, enjoy, have a good time!"
"The food on the tables was just finished by the chefs. Top cuisine from multiple countries, all of it in large quantities. This is our first time meeting in person — opening the group activity with a feast seems like the right call, doesn't it?"
Whitebeard, who had been reduced to approximately two-plus metres by the Chat Group's scaling — still enormous — rumbled approvingly: "Gurararara — plenty of food, as expected! This old man hasn't eaten in a full day and night in preparation."
Kaguya, standing nearby, gave him a tired look. "Whitebeard-ojii-sama, that's a bit extreme. Though I also skipped dinner and lunch…"
"…"
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you