A week was enough for Kain's assets to multiply hundreds of times in the financial market. Once he had the necessary funds, he placed an order with the Osborne Group.
The order totaled 80 million US dollars. Though the equipment he wanted was highly complex, this made him a high-end customer in Osborne's eyes. Some items, however, couldn't be sold due to company policy, so a supervisor came to personally apologize.
Osborne's business did have its advantages.
In this world, the Osborne Group was a corporate giant, but it still had a few strong competitors. Unlike Stark Industries—which faced only weak opposition like Hammer Weapons—Osborne's rivals were powerful and comparable to it across multiple sectors.
Overall, the world's technological development was progressing at a normal pace. Occasionally, some advanced ideas surfaced, but many couldn't yet be realized.
Genetic engineering hadn't reached the level of mass production seen in Universe-616. Kain guessed that Kamar taj likely existed in this world—after all, the power of the Vishanti rarely existed in just one universe.
What he wasn't sure about was whether this universe had the Time Stone.
The six Infinity Stones should still exist, scattered throughout the universe. Kain guessed that either Thanos didn't exist in this timeline, or something had happened to him. Otherwise, with the Earth's current level of technology, Thanos would see it all as beneath him.
"First create something powerful, then collect the Infinity Stones. Since Sithorne was able to record it, that means it's feasible. I just won't use black magic—I'll use the Stones instead."
As for building influence or an empire, Kain didn't intend to waste too much time on that. After preparing a few tools for self-defense, he immediately created the Red Queen and planned to launch a mechanical revolution in this world.
A backward tech civilization didn't need slow growth—it needed a hard reset. A strong dose of advancement.
But before that, Kain had to organize the villa and set up his gear. While the basement was complete, he still had to move all the equipment in by himself.
Ding-dong!
The doorbell rang. Gwen pressed it and glanced around, surprised. She hadn't expected Kain's family to be rich. What she didn't understand was why someone like Jim and his gang bullied Kain at school if he came from this kind of wealth.
"Hello, who are you here for?"
The butler opened the door and asked upon seeing Gwen.
Gwen quickly replied, "Hi, I'm Gwen Stacy, a third-year student at Midtown High. I'm Kain's classmate. He hasn't been to class in over a week, so I came to check on him."
"Mr. Kain hasn't lived here for over a week. He moved out," the butler replied, slightly surprised, but still polite. "When Mr. Pent returns, I'll inform him you stopped by. Is there anything else, Miss Stacy?"
Gwen asked, "Can you tell me where he moved to?"
"I'm afraid that information is private."
"Please, sir," Gwen pressed gently, "Kain's probably just been too busy and forgot. If he doesn't sign this and hand it in to the school today, he could lose his chance to go to college..."
She cleverly lied and pulled a document envelope from her school bag—it was actually her own lab inspection data, but it made the situation look urgent and official.
But what Gwen said was a bit of an exaggeration. Butler wasn't going to personally deliver the document, let alone forge Kain's signature and return it to her.
"Well, here's Mr. Kain's address, Miss Stacy. I'll be sure to inform Mr. Pent about your visit," the butler said with a sigh. He then took out a note, scribbled Kain's new address on it, and handed it to her.
Gwen frowned slightly after reading it. It was farther than she had expected. But if she wanted answers about her physical changes, she'd have to go—no matter the distance.
"Thank you for your help. Goodbye."
After politely thanking him, Gwen left, confirmed the route, and immediately rushed to Kain's new address.
Her body had begun changing the night she was bitten by the spider. She went to the hospital immediately, but the test results showed no signs of poisoning. However, she'd slept uncomfortably that night and woke up feeling different.
Her strength had increased drastically—she lifted a heavy mattress as if it were a paperback book. She could sense things happening behind her and even discovered she could crawl up walls like a spider.
Two days ago, she'd come home late and encountered some local punks. With just three punches and two kicks, she had knocked all of them down effortlessly.
Gwen was both thrilled and terrified. She wasn't sure if these changes were good or bad. But one thing was certain: they were connected to that black-and-white spider.
And Kain had taken that spider with him.
He was the only one acting strangely that day.
She had to get an explanation from him.
Meanwhile, Kain had been using black magic to move all the equipment into the basement. Once everything was in place, he began assembling a real artificial intelligence—the Red Queen.
The basic AI he had used earlier was merely an auxiliary program. It couldn't do much. But a true artificial intelligence, especially on a planet with relatively primitive tech, could destroy human civilization.
Programming AI wasn't hard for Kain—just time-consuming. He already had the full blueprint for the Red Queen in his mind. It would only take about a month to finish.
But black magic—that was trickier.
He had only used it once, and already his fingertips showed signs of blackening. This body wasn't like Wanda's, who was born with chaos magic. For ordinary people, using black magic came at too steep a cost.
"I'll have to create a soul substitute," Kain mused, "to absorb the backlash of black magic. Even if Chthon takes a soul in the end, he'll just be taking another 'Kain Pent'."
He thought about the soul fragment he had imprisoned in his own consciousness. That might be his only real path to supernatural power. Mech-building and AI were simply advancements in technology—but black magic was another realm entirely.
Ding-dong!
Just as Kain was preparing to work on the soul split, the doorbell suddenly rang.
He checked the surveillance monitor.
It was Gwen Stacy.
"How did she find me here? Did my family give her the address?" Kain wondered.
Though puzzled, he went to open the door.
Judging by Gwen's determined expression, if he didn't open it now, she might have kept knocking for an hour.
After Kain came down to the first floor and opened the door, Gwen immediately stepped in and asked,
"Kain, you haven't been to school for over a week!"
"I just took a day off."
"The school didn't approve it. They've already punished you."
Kain waved dismissively, completely unconcerned.
"That's not important. Gwen, what did you come here for?"
"It's... it's a small thing."
Gwen had rushed over so quickly that she hadn't even come up with a proper excuse. Now, with Kain looking at her expectantly, she was still scrambling to figure out what to say.
Suddenly, Kain threw a punch straight at Gwen's face. It wasn't particularly fast, but the timing and angle were precise—aimed right at a vital point.
But even caught off-guard, Gwen reacted instinctively. She grabbed his wrist, spun around, and twisted his arm behind his back. In the same fluid motion, she leapt up and locked her long legs around Kain's neck, squeezing tightly.
Kain immediately felt a wave of suffocation.
Gwen's strength was incredible—her grip felt like a pair of steel clamps.
"Okay, okay, I give up! You're gonna kill me!"
Kain gasped for air, slapping Gwen's thigh in a panic. She finally came to her senses and released him—just in time. Otherwise, he would've been forced to use dark magic.
Gwen, a little embarrassed, quickly said,
"Why the hell did you punch me? That was pure reflex!"
"Cough... cough... because you were taking forever to say anything," Kain replied, rubbing his throat.
"If I didn't do something, who knows how long you'd have stood there thinking?"
After a few more deep breaths and some chest-patting, he recovered.
Gwen stared at him, eyes wide.
"You... you knew something happened to me, didn't you?"
"I had a good idea," Kain admitted.
"I've been monitoring Osborne Group's genetic experiments for a while now. I know a little about those super-spider cases."
To avoid too many questions, Kain chose to lie—partially. He never intended to hide his hacking abilities from Gwen anyway. And in a world where superpowers were rare, having a Spider-Woman nearby made for an excellent test subject.
Hearing this, Gwen felt a wave of relief—then frustration.
"Then what am I supposed to do now? I'm not a normal person anymore. What happens to my life now?"
"Not normal? You're still Gwen, aren't you?" Kain said casually.
"So what if you can fight a little? That doesn't matter in this world. Unless you're planning to join the military, being stronger won't do much. You gonna carry sandbags or something?"
Right now, Kain was more focused on creating a soul substitute—once that was done, he could wield black magic freely.
"Dreamwalking worked," he thought.
"And that involved universe fusion... but I'd better not rush this. Just because Chthon said something doesn't make it true. Trusting him blindly would be dangerous."
Kain had successfully used dreamwalking and was now curious about what else was recorded in the Darkhold. One of the wildest claims was about using black magic to merge two universes—turning the Dark Dimension into a sort of 'power amplifier' to facilitate the process.
It sounded noble—something about 'saving the universe'—but Kain suspected the truth was far darker: Chthon likely devoured one universe using black magic, then replaced it with another.
As for the soul tentacles Kain had split during dreamwalking, he had no plans to retrieve them anytime soon. Beyond Spider-Woman's world, he'd also heard the echoes of countless other universes. But repeatedly dividing his soul was taking a serious toll on him—so for now, he had to stop.
Just as he stepped out of the magic circle, Kain spotted Betty returning from outside. She had been busy lately, though things at Umbrella had largely been taken care of.
…
patreon.com/Vks_sh