2062 Little Spidey’s Debut, Training the New Generation
As Luke gradually entered the most enjoyable stage of being an alien boss, December 2015 rolled around.
His attention was finally pulled back by something that happened on Earth.
Sitting on the couch in his New York nest, Luke watched Selina zoom in on the virtual screen.
The image was of a thin and short figure.
He was wearing a red helmet that wasn’t complicated and was comparable to a high-quality cosplay prop, and a red and blue high-resilience suit.
Smacking his lips, Luke could only sigh. “This kid has a lot of pocket money.”
Selina rolled her eyes. “Your brother sponsored the raw materials.”
Luke was surprised. “Peter shared his secret with Joseph?”
Selina said, “How is that possible? However, your brother isn’t short of money. He’s been very interested in that special formula which Peter has been researching for the past few years. He even personally sponsored 50,000 dollars.”
Luke: “What?”
In fact, Gwen Stacy had joined Mindy’s self-defense club at Luke’s recommendation.
Gwen had inadvertently mentioned that Peter was working on a special material.
Joseph, who had gone over to play the role of a ‘criminal,’ heard that, and asked a few questions.
Gwen didn’t know the details of Peter’s research, so she simply gave him Peter’s Messenger ID.
After Joseph talked to Peter twice, they gradually started to get along.
In Joseph’s words, Peter at least had some idea when it came to R&D. He was an interesting kid.
As for most ordinary American students in their teens or twenties, Joseph’s conclusion was simple: They were either bad or stupid, or both.
After listening to Selina’s explanation, Luke zoomed in on Peter’s helmet and observed it carefully for a few seconds. He nodded. “Indeed, the make of the helmet is clearly linked to our last generation armor. It’s also a little like the learning helmet I gave Peter.”
Selina, who was lying on the side, pinched his thigh. “Who’s talking about workmanship?”
Protected by his Taffy ability, Luke was unperturbed by the sting on his thigh. “Let Mindy deal with it?”
As soon as he said that, he shook his head. “Forget it. Actually, there are no longer any high school students in Ursa Minor. Also, Peter is a chatterbox… Tsk, tsk. Will Mindy hit him?”
Selina snorted. “Peter doesn’t look like he wants to be a superhero now. He’s more like a super officer of the law.”
As she spoke, she swiped through several images. “This guy caught 21 thieves, 13 purse snatchers, eight molesters and three assailants with knives in the last ten days. He’s active mostly in Queens, and then Brooklyn.”
Pausing for a moment, Selina then pointed at the screen. “Even dressed like this, it was easy for our system to come up with a match. Using this to hide his identity as a superhero is too risky. It’s safer for him to stick to this neighborhood.”
Luke was amused. After all, a Peter Parker who wasn’t a friendly New York neighbor wasn’t a good Spiderman!
When Luke discovered that Tony Stark existed in this world at the very beginning, he couldn’t help but look forward to little Spidey. He even fantasized that they might become classmates if he ever came to live in New York.
In the end, reality proved to him that the universe didn’t revolve around transmigrators – not for him, at least.
The first time he saw Peter, who had been a little over three years old, Luke knew that he was destined to not be little Spidey’s friend, and could only be an uncle.
Who the hell knew that Spiderman would only be born in 2001!
However, that wasn’t a bad thing for Peter.
Because of Uncle Ben’s kind nature, he was still shot on the streets in that fateful incident.
However, Luke saved Uncle Ben’s life.
For Peter, even if he lost the chance to become Spiderman, he would rather that Uncle Ben live.
As for turning from a poor single-parent family into a middle class family that didn’t need to worry about money, that wasn’t too important.
Peter was optimistic and cheerful by nature, and could still be happy even in the middle of catching thieves and robbers.
Luke had no intention of interfering too much in Peter’s life. In any case, he was too busy to watch the kid grow day by day.
It didn’t matter if Peter became Spiderman or not.
Being a superhero wasn’t an enviable profession.
Most shut-ins who fantasized about becoming a superhero only wanted the superpowers, and not to uphold justice.
Luke’s experiences over the past decade flashed through his mind.
In the end, his gaze fell on Peter, who was sitting on a roof and eating a sandwich. “I’ll have Joseph give Peter a reminder. Just pretend that you didn’t see him.”
There actually wasn’t any harm in becoming a superhero a little later, Luke murmured inwardly.
The main force of the Justice League would gradually phase out in five to ten years.
Ursa Minor, as its successor, would have had at least 20 years of experience by then.
Only in the last two years had Luke started searching for new kids to train. With two groups before them, they would be able to carry on the torch after another decade.
Peter could wander around as New York’s friendly neighborhood Spiderman for a few years before deciding his future path.
For Luke, it wasn’t hard to groom backup teams in bulk.
There might not be any extraordinary talents among them, but… who said that the retired old fellows would no longer be able to fight?
The reason they retired would mostly have to do with their own endurance.
Being on the front line meant being prepared to deal with all sorts of extraordinary events at any time, which was very stressful.
From Phil’s hairline alone, which even Life 1 couldn’t protect, it was clear that this was a problem that couldn’t be solved with extraordinary items.
Taking action only when it was really necessary, however, wouldn’t be a problem for the retired members.
It was just like how fitness training was a completely different thing for an athlete and a rich person.
The first was about performance and results, while it was a hobby for the second.
With Life 1 and proper daily training, the combat ability of the main team members wouldn’t drop even if they were 80 years old.
Secondly, Luke himself was the Justice League’s real ‘insurance.’
Other people might be weary after protecting Earth for 20 to 30 years.
Luke, on the other hand, already had a plan to earn 200 to 300 years’ worth of experience and credit points. Otherwise, who knew when he would be able to accumulate the trillions of experience and credit points that was the ‘max cap.’
In any case, after his Strength broke the 140 threshold, Luke had made some progress with his research on Advanced Self-Healing.
Even so, after Osiris, the medical A.I., analyzed his physical data, the conclusion it reached was that — it was impossible to give an accurate estimate.
Based on previous calculations, Luke might currently have an infinite lifespan.
But according to the information Luke had gathered, existences that could attain infinite life weren’t as weak as he was.
In the end, Osiris produced a conservative estimate that Luke would be able to live at least two Asgardian lifetimes.