Hint

As they chatted, the group sat down together.

Everyone present was from the Nine Realms, so there was no need for formality. They drank the fine wine Thor had brought from Asgard and began chatting casually.

"How is your research into Aether coming along?"

After taking a sip of wine, Thor asked casually.

"Though I would have liked to say we’ve made major progress."

"At present, however, we’re researching propulsion engines. We haven’t reached the stage of researching Aether yet."

Tony said with a smile.

"If you researched Aether, wouldn’t you be able to develop advanced engines faster?"

"After all, Aether possesses the ability to achieve things that violate scientific principles and physics."

Thor asked strangely.

"I discussed this matter with Tony before."

"Aether possesses the power to make wishes come true and create something from nothing."

"But what Tony pursues is technology that can be manufactured by people as long as the materials are available."

"Only then can the technology of Earth get onto the right track."

"Besides, Aether cannot possibly be entrusted to someone else for safekeeping and then used to develop technology."

"And you should know who Aether’s true owner is now."

Banner explained.

Aether was, in a sense, a shortcut that allowed one to take advantage of loopholes. There were many things in life where one could take shortcuts, but science could not casually take them.

After all, this concerned the technology of human civilization as a whole. If everything were made entirely through Aether, it could not be considered progress.

Moreover, although the Reality Stone was temporarily kept by him and Tony.

In truth, the Reality Stone belonged to Lord Kassadin. Lord Kassadin had merely been willing to lend it to them for research for the time being.

"So Kassadin was well aware of it too."

Thor understood Banner’s meaning and spoke with some emotion.

"More than merely aware. Aether is also one of the Infinity Stones."

"Kassadin understands it extremely well. He simply never intended to take it."

"However, God King Odin delivered it to him as a gesture of goodwill, so he accepted it."

Tony said, glancing at Thor.

"Aether is also one of the Infinity Stones?"

After hearing Tony’s words, Thor exchanged a glance with Loki. Seeing that Loki did not know either, Thor spoke.

"Tony Stark, what exactly are the Infinity Stones?"

Loki was also deeply concerned. The main cause of the Battle of Xandar seemed to have been an Infinity Stone known as the Power Stone.

But honestly, neither he nor Thor knew what the Power Stone among the Infinity Stones actually was.

"It seems your Father has hidden quite a lot from you."

"Still, since the Nine Realms possess so many Infinity Stones, it is about time you were told."

"Otherwise, if the Nine Realms attract some troublesome enemies, you might not even know why they have come looking for trouble."

"There are six Infinity Stones in total…"

Seeing that Thor and Loki knew nothing, Tony considered it for a moment before beginning his explanation.

With Tony’s explanation and Banner adding a few points from the side.

Thor and Loki came to understand what the Infinity Stones were.

The true nature of the Tesseract, the Mind Scepter, and Aether was not that they merely possessed a few relatively special abilities, as they had believed.

These treasures were existences even more important than divine artifacts.

This also allowed the two of them to understand Thanos’s plan.

Thanos had seemingly only set his sights on the Tesseract’s spatial power, but in reality, his objective had been to gather all six Infinity Stones.

Furthermore, Thanos had previously feared God King Odin and had not dared to openly attack Earth.

However, Loki was Asgard’s second prince. Even if Loki caused chaos on Earth and successfully took away the Tesseract—the Space Stone.

God King Odin would believe that the Space Stone had not fallen into an outsider’s hands and would not pursue the matter too seriously. Every part of Thanos’s plan had been filled with hidden calculations.

"…"

After listening to Tony and fully understanding, Loki fell silent.

He had once longed to become stronger and accomplish great things, to gain Father and Mother’s approval and become the king of Asgard. He had never imagined that he had fallen into Thanos’s trap.

"Don’t dwell on it too much. You may have been used, but in the end, Thanos instead delivered the Mind Stone into our hands."

Seeing Loki lower his head in unending silence, Thor smiled and comforted him.

"That’s right. Though you acted foolishly and nearly caused a catastrophe, it doesn’t count for much since the catastrophe never happened."

"But honestly, the Nine Realms possessing so many Infinity Stones is not good news."

"Because to Thanos, the Mind Stone can also be considered temporarily stored in the Nine Realms."

"Once he gets the chance, he will be able to collect several of them at once."

Tony had no intention of blaming Loki. Instead, he subtly hinted at the matter to Thor.

He and Banner could not directly say that Odin’s time was nearing its end, and that the Infinity Stones in the Nine Realms would no longer have a sufficiently powerful guardian then.

Thus, they hoped to hint to the two of them, so that Thor and Loki, the future kings of Asgard, would consider hiding the Infinity Stones.

"It’s fine. Even if Loki or I become the king of Asgard."

"At most, Father and Mother will simply stop governing Asgard and retire behind the scenes."

"If an enemy truly appears that we cannot handle, we will ask Father to take action."

Thor showed no concern whatsoever upon hearing Tony’s words and replied with a smile.

Although Thor wanted to prove his own abilities, he also knew that there were some powerful enemies whom he and Loki could not currently defeat.

So when it was time to ask Father for help, he would ask. He would not stubbornly force himself to endure it.

Tony rubbed his hair helplessly after hearing Thor’s words.

"I understand what you mean. But even if we wanted to hide either the Space Stone or the Mind Stone."

"The ownership of those two Stones does not belong to us yet."

"So at most, we have the right to use them, not the right to dispose of them."

Loki’s eyes flickered as he spoke after hearing Tony’s words.

Kassadin seemed to know that Father’s time was nearing its end, and he had told Tony Stark about it.

That was why Tony Stark now wanted the two of them to hide the Infinity Stones.

Tony could not make it too explicit after hearing Loki’s words. Considering his side’s combat strength by then, it was not impossible for them to deal with Thanos even if he held two support-type Infinity Stones.

"Is that so? Then there truly is nothing that can be done."

"If Thanos really dares to attack the Nine Realms, then we will deal with whatever comes our way."

Thus, Tony did not continue steering the topic toward hiding the Stones.