On his eighteenth birthday, as Lyon turned over in bed, the motion caused the bed frame to collapse.
Everything in the house became fragile to him, breaking with a touch or a slight brush.
It was as if overnight, he had crossed into a world made of hydrogen, where every brick and tile was as thin as paper.
Hearing the commotion, Tony, amidst the chaos, kept exclaiming "Oh my God," and abandoned the idea of holding an 18th birthday party on Sunday with models, and promptly started giving Lyon a full-body examination.
Thirty tons of strength, one hundred meters per second speed, and a body impervious to blades!
Overnight, the world turned upside down!
Moreover, the changes didn't stop there.
Lyon could feel himself continuing to grow stronger under the sunlight.
Tony's research confirmed that Lyon's cells became continuously active when exposed to sunlight, showing exponential improvement.
"This is literally Superman of those children's comics!" Tony exclaimed in astonishment, "I wouldn't be surprised if you developed heat vision by tomorrow."
Lyon was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly understood his transformation and nodded. "Tony, you're right. I really am Superman now!"
A profound sense of clarity emerged in his mind, revealing new information.
——Upon reaching the age of eighteen, the abilities granted by another world unlocked, the Kryptonian bloodline awakened, and the power to traverse time and space emerged!
There's no need to elaborate on the Kryptonian bloodline, the hallmark of the DC Universe, which grows stronger under sunlight.
Unfortunately, he only had an ordinary Kryptonian bloodline without the Codex.
Relying solely on sunlight, he probably wouldn't reach the levels of Silver Age Superman or Golden Superman.
The time and space traversal ability, as the name suggests, allows him to traverse other dimensions as long as he has enough stored energy.
Whether it allows him to travel only within the Marvel Universe or to jump out of Marvel and reach broader universes remains to be tested.
But regardless of that.
His golden finger had finally arrived!
Lyon's joy was overflowing, and he hugged Tony in excitement.
As a result, Tony immediately broke two ribs and his shoulder blade in honor, spending that day in the operating room.
At night, Lyon stayed by Tony's hospital bed, both regretting his carelessness and wondering how this golden finger had arrived precisely on his eighteenth birthday.
Eighteen years wasted!
If he had awakened his bloodline and absorbed sunlight from a young age, he might already be able to do whatever he wanted.
Maybe at one year old, when the Howard couple was assassinated by Bucky, he could have seized the opportunity to counterattack!?
Could it be that this golden finger also has some sort of anti-addiction rule for minors?
But he had already lived over thirty years in his previous life; how could he be considered a minor?
Lyon was baffled.
Three months later, after discussing with Tony, Lyon deferred his university admission for three years.
He boarded a manned spacecraft personally built by Tony and flew into deep space.
The spacecraft remained in orbit between Earth and the Sun.
There was no day or night here, every single moment was bathed in sunlight.
Half a year passed in a flash.
For one hundred and eighty days Lyon strapped himself to a titanium alloy plate, facing the sun's rays directly.
He could feel the raging power coursing through his body like a river, constantly surging with immense waves.
Even his breath carried a great force, like thunderous wind and lightning!
"The original plan was to absorb sunlight for two and a half years. By then, it would be just before the Chitauri invasion, and I would have enough strength to protect myself."
He clenched his fists. "But now it seems, even just half a year should do!"
Lyon was cautious.
Years of living under the shadow of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) had left him with severe anxiety about inadequate firepower.
He would have preferred to go out with a hired squad, each armed with machine guns and rocket launchers.
After awakening his Kryptonian bloodline, he had the qualification to pursue power.
He even wished he could dive straight into the sun and hibernate for ten or eighteen years before reemerging.
Now, while he wasn't exactly an ascetic seeker, he certainly had the mindset of someone pursuing strength with relentless determination.
Get stronger! Keep getting stronger! Become stronger than everyone!
Years of unease had filled Lyon's heart with a thirst for power.
"No, it's not enough, it's far from enough!" Lyon immediately dismissed the budding sense of complacency in his heart.
He clenched his fists tightly, his marble-like muscles bulging. "I've only absorbed half a year's worth of sunlight, and I'm already feeling smug. I'm such a fool!"
"The strength of a Kryptonian isn't enough. I only have an ordinary Kryptonian bloodline; there's a limit to how much I can gain just from sunlight!"
"To become stronger, I must go beyond just being a Kryptonian… I mean, besides absorbing sunlight, I need to find more sources of power!"
"Magic, technology, martial arts, anything—I need to try every method on Earth to become stronger!"
After half a year of sun exposure, Lyon had awakened all the abilities of a Superman with a body of steel.
Heat vision, freeze breath, X-ray vision… including a super brain!
With a super-brain, his speed of learning knowledge and skills would be unparalleled.
Reading a book or learning a skill would be as fast as copying electronic data with a disk.
From now on, the only thing that could limit him would be the speed of knowledge input, not the speed of understanding and mastery.
Lyon could now proudly say: The speed at which language transmits knowledge in bits and bytes is as slow as a snail crawling on the ground!
"But before that…" Lyon tilted his head, his gaze cast towards Earth.
His ears twitched, and his vision followed the direction of Tony's voice, piercing through layer upon layer of obstruction.
The spaceship's walls, Earth's atmosphere, the dust on the surface...
Except for lead, nothing in the world could block his sight.
In less than a second, he saw Tony, currently asleep in a cave in the Afghan desert.
"Obadiah, Bucky, and Hydra… it's time to put an end to these matters."
Eighteen years of timid existence, suddenly awakening his bloodline, and now, with the dust settled and light shining brightly, he realized he was his true self!
With great power comes great confidence.
Even though deep down, he felt this strength was still far from enough.
But Lyon also knew he now had the qualifications to do some "small things" on Earth.
"Tony, I'm coming to save you," Lyon said softly.
He casually grabbed a pair of floating pants and put them on, then floated forward, gently pushing his right hand forward.
In the vacuum, everything was silent.
There was no sound.
The spaceship's hatch, which couldn't be damaged even by tens of thousands of tons of force,
Instantly, like a thin black cloth, gently floated away, drifting further into space.
Lyon floated out of the cabin.
He stood between the Earth and the Sun.
Golden sunlight bathed half of his body.
On the other side was the blue Earth.
He gazed up at the Sun and then down at the Earth, feeling as if he were a god of this world, capable of holding up the sky with a mere gesture.
But Lyon knew this was an illusion.
He still had a long way to go.
Suppressing the rising excitement in his heart, Lyon bent forward, his form paused briefly, and then he instantly broke through the void, shooting straight towards the Earth.
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