The moment Noah Vale's status ticked upward again, the Interdimensional Chatroom lit up.
From Level 8 to Level 9.
No warning. No buildup. Just another leap.
"…He broke his own record again," Kana Kimishima murmured, staring at the update.
Across countless worlds, the other members ran the numbers in their heads.
Six days.
That was all it had taken.
Each level was supposed to be harder than the last. Slower. More demanding.
And yet, somehow—
He was accelerating.
For everyone else, progress was a climb.
For Noah, it looked more like gravity had reversed.
Even among prodigies, he stood apart. The kind of anomaly that made effort feel… optional.
Somewhere in the back of their minds, a question lingered:
How long until he hits the next level?
A week? A few days?
Or something even more absurd?
Back on Earth, Noah wasn't celebrating.
He was staring at his own numbers with something closer to concern.
Three punches.
That was all it had taken.
And the increase was… noticeable.
"Yeah," he muttered. "That's getting out of hand."
Power wasn't the problem.
Control was.
His growth had become one-directional. There was no dial to turn it down—only up.
At some point, if things kept going like this, even a careless motion could turn catastrophic.
A breath too strong.
A step too heavy.
A flick of his fingers—
And something important might stop existing.
He exhaled slowly.
"Maybe I should take a break from punching things."
Behind him, the room looked like the aftermath of a very different kind of battle.
Rogue, Camila, Gwen, and Susan were scattered across the furniture and floor, too exhausted to move with any dignity left intact.
Noah glanced at them, then casually tidied up the room before turning his attention back to the ongoing tournament.
The next few days passed without incident.
No nuclear fireworks. No alien invasions. No unexpected chaos.
Just competition.
Each division pushed its limits, showcasing abilities refined to extremes. Winners emerged one by one across all categories.
For the losers—
Things ended less gracefully.
Those eliminated were immediately redirected to auxiliary roles, some of which involved standing very still while someone else tested their aim.
By the end of the third day, the tournament had wrapped up.
Aside from the superhuman division, the other 999 winners didn't receive a personal appearance from Noah.
But elsewhere—
Something far more important had just been completed.
Reed Richards stood in his lab, eyes bright with the kind of excitement only a breakthrough could bring.
He held out a device.
A sleek wristband.
Noah turned it over in his hand, examining it.
Gwen, standing nearby, looked ready to snatch it out of his grip.
The past few days without protection had been… unpleasant for her. The strain of existing in the wrong universe wasn't something she wanted to repeat.
"This is it?" Noah asked. "Your multiverse device?"
Reed nodded eagerly. "Reverse-engineered from what we observed. With enough time—and resources—we can mass-produce these."
His voice picked up speed as he spoke.
"This solves everything. Resource limits, expansion barriers—humanity won't be confined to a single universe anymore."
Noah didn't react much to that.
He'd get there eventually.
Just not yet.
"Let's keep the grand speeches for later," he said. "How does it work?"
Reed adjusted his glasses.
"Activate it, and it sends you to a nearby universe at random. Once you arrive, it logs the coordinates so you can return safely."
He hesitated.
"There are… risks."
"Of course there are."
"Different universes follow different rules," Reed continued. "Some are stable. Some aren't. In several tests, subjects arrived directly in open space."
He paused.
"One ended up on a trajectory toward a black hole."
Noah's expression flickered for just a moment.
…That better not be mine.
Reed gestured toward a nearby console. Several recorded universes were displayed—most marked as unsafe.
"We're refining it," he said quickly. "And we've solved the compatibility issue. As long as the device stays on, it prevents rejection from foreign universes."
Noah nodded.
Then tossed the wristband.
Gwen caught it instantly, clutching it like it might disappear if she blinked.
"There's more," Reed added, pointing to a machine behind him. "We can also detect incoming travelers. If someone enters our universe, we can locate them immediately."
Noah glanced at the display.
One signal blinked green.
Then—
It turned red.
"What does red mean?" Noah asked.
Reed didn't answer right away.
"…It means we're not the only ones traveling."
His tone shifted.
"Someone just entered our universe."
The room snapped into motion.
Reed rushed to the controls, pulling up coordinates.
A minute later, the location locked in.
India.
He leaned back slightly, rubbing his temple.
"Why is it always Earth?" he muttered.
Noah didn't look surprised.
He glanced at Gwen.
She avoided eye contact.
That was enough confirmation.
"Send a team," Noah said calmly. "Contain them. Don't let them leave."
Reed nodded. "Understood."
Then, after a brief pause, he glanced at Noah again.
"You're not going yourself?"
Noah fastened a second wristband onto his arm.
"Not this time."
He smiled faintly.
"I'm going sightseeing."
Reed frowned. "It's safer to use mapped coordinates."
"Where's the fun in that?"
Noah activated the device.
Space twisted.
Reality bent.
And without another word—
He stepped through.
...
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