MARVEL-THE MULTIVERSE TRADER

The soft glow of dawn seeped in through the half-closed blinds as Nova's eyes blinked open. The air was cool, the faint hum of his laptop's power core the only sound in the stillness. His gaze immediately flicked to the screen on his desk, where the countdown timer still ran.

[TIME REMAINING: 03:00:00]

A quiet breath left him. Three hours left on the analysis.

Good.

He stretched, feeling the satisfying crack of joints loosening after a night's rest. Without wasting a minute, Nova pulled on a light workout shirt and stepped outside for his usual morning run.

Nova's morning run took him through the quieter residential streets just as the city was starting to stir. The air was cool and crisp, carrying the faint scent of dew and fresh pavement.

As he rounded a gentle curve, his sharp eyes caught sight of a woman jogging ahead — tall, blonde, and strikingly athletic. Her long ponytail bounced with every stride, and the tight, navy-blue workout set she wore left little to the imagination.

Nova's gaze dropped, taking in the way her toned legs flexed and how her hips swayed with practiced ease. Her form was perfect, and there was no denying it — she had one hell of an ass. He kept his pace steady just a few steps behind her, unapologetically admiring the view.

The woman definitely noticed. He saw the quick, amused glance she threw over her shoulder and the faint smirk that tugged at her lips before she turned her gaze forward again.

After a couple more blocks, the blonde finally slowed to a stop by a small park clearing, her chest rising and falling with steady, even breaths. She raised her arms in a luxurious stretch, her workout top pulling tight across her chest and exposing a hint of toned, golden skin. Nova caught himself slowing too — purely coincidental, of course.

She glanced back, catching his gaze without missing a beat, smirking.

"Morning," she called over with a teasing lilt to her British accent. "You've been tailing me for a while there, handsome."

Nova chuckled, not bothering to deny it and shamelessly looked at her sexy ass, "Can you blame me?"

She laughed, the kind of soft, throaty laugh that curled around his thoughts. "Help me stretch this out?" she asked, hitching one long, sculpted leg onto the fence. "Bit tight this morning."

"Happy to assist," Nova smirked.

As she bent forward, Nova placed a steadying hand on her lower back. She leaned into the stretch, deliberately slow, and her toned ass pressed back, more than necessary, against Nova's running pants.

It wasn't accidental. Not with the way she subtly shifted her hips, brushing against him in a teasing, unhurried way.

She gave a little sideways glance, eyes glittering with mischief, and murmured under her breath, "Hmm… seems the morning wood's not just in the trees."

Nova huffed a laugh, unable to stop the grin and pressed the hard wood firmly against the toned ass. "Hey, biology happens."

"Mmhmm," she teased, wiggling her hips just enough to make her point before straightening with a satisfied sigh. "Nothing like a bit of motivation mid-run."

Switching legs, she repeated the stretch, this time leaning in so close her chest, definitely DD cup, brushed his arm, lingering there as if testing the waters. Her perfume was faint, fresh, but with a hint of something sweet beneath it. Every move she made seemed designed to toe the line between innocent and provocative.

"Name's Eloise," she offered after a beat, her voice a little lower, still amused.

"Nova," he replied, shaking her hand. Firm, warm — lingering a second longer than necessary.

A quick, easy conversation followed. Turns out she was recently divorced, no kids, and had just relocated from London. "Looking to get a bit lost in a new city for a while," she'd said — the way it left plenty open to interpretation.

Before they parted, she pulled her phone from the waistband of her leggings. "We should stretch together again sometime. It's good to have a partner who doesn't mind getting… close."

Nova chuckled, tapping his number into her phone. "Call me anytime."

Emma shot him a wink and a teasing glance downward before turning away.

Suddenly, she let out a soft yelp as she felt a quick little sting on her ass, whirling around to find Nova standing there, smirking with a hand out as if innocent.

She teasingly glared at him and shook her head, muttering under her breath, "Horny young adults."

Then, without missing a beat, she jogged off, her ponytail swishing behind her. Nova shook his head with a grin, setting off on the rest of his run — already mentally penciling in a morning lap through this neighborhood again tomorrow.

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Back home, Nova stepped through the front door and peeled off his sweat-soaked workout shirt. The run had been longer than usual, and not entirely because of the distance — Eloise's teasing, playful energy lingered in his mind, keeping his pulse a little higher than the jog alone warranted.

Without wasting a second, he made his way to the bathroom. Twisting the tap to its coldest setting, he stepped under the icy stream of water. A sharp breath hissed through his teeth as the cold bit into his overheated skin.

"Damn," he muttered, letting the freezing cascade cool him down. The chill wasn't just for his body — it was a necessary reset for the rest of him too, after that little encounter.

He ran a hand through his wet hair, lingering under the cold spray for a long moment, until the heat in his muscles — and elsewhere — finally settled.

Once done, Nova toweled off, threw on a fresh shirt, and headed to the kitchen to fix a quick, simple breakfast. Eggs, toast, and a glass of cold orange juice — fuel for the day ahead.

Glancing at the clock, Nova noted there was still a little under an hour before his analysis would be complete. Perfect.

Without hesitation, he picked up his laptop and made his way down to the basement.

Setting the laptop on the table, Nova sat down cross-legged and summoned his Four-Leaf Grimoire.

The grimoire floated before him, it glowed with red energy and the pages began to turn on their own.

They flipped in a blur until halting on the page he needed. As the faded ink symbols glowed faintly, a formation of intricate runic lines spread out beneath him, etched in soft green light on the basement floor.

Nova closed his eyes, exhaling slowly as his senses expanded.

He began absorbing the ambient energy from the surroundings. Ever since Soulless gave him passive energy absorption ability, he constantly drew in small amounts of energy — strengthening his body, tempering his soul, and gradually expanding his energy reserves.

Though the speed of absorption was nowhere near the absurd rate of a certain hero-next-door, it came with its own advantage — unlike that guy, Nova could absorb any type of energy. Fire, wind, life force, dimensional, cosmic energy etc. It all fed into him.

And this particular spell, one he had crafted back when he sat in the core of the World Tree, surrounded by pure, untamed law fragments in perfect clarity, was designed to drastically increase that absorption rate — pulling the stray energies around him into his body at a far more efficient pace.

The formation beneath him pulsed softly, his skin prickling as faint tendrils of energy were drawn into his body, refining themselves instantly. As it entered, the energy divided cleanly — 30% reinforcing his physical frame, 30% tempering his soul and mental faculties, and the remaining 40% expanding his internal reserves.

The steady pulse of power was soothing, familiar now, as his body and mind subtly strengthened.

Time slipped by unnoticed in the gentle hum of gathering energy.

Then, a soft electronic beep cut through the quiet.

Nova opened his eyes and turned his head toward the source of the sound, spotting the timer on his laptop screen.

[00:00:00]

A small, satisfied breath left him. Right on schedule.

Nova rose smoothly to his feet, the formation under him dimming and fading away as he reached out, his Four-Leaf Grimoire closing itself and floating neatly into his hand. He tucked it away with a thought, the basement settling back into stillness.

"Alright," Nova muttered to himself with a faint smirk. "Let's see what you've got for me."

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