Chapter 36: The Sun

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: The Sun

The atmosphere was a little awkward.

Even after Daniel explained himself, everyone was still looking at him strangely.

As the person involved, T’Challa was panicking. The way Daniel looked at him with such intensity made him want to put on the Black Panther suit immediately.

Daniel could clearly sense the odd looks everyone was giving him, and he was speechless.

What was wrong with wanting to be friends with a rich guy? What were they all thinking?

Didn’t they see the golden glow around the king and T’Challa?

That was the color of money.

"I have a girlfriend," T’Challa finally said after a long silence.

"Oh." Daniel forced out a single word.

This really wasn’t easy to explain. Was he supposed to admit that he was interested in the T’Challa’s wealth?

That would completely ruin his image. He was Superman now. A powerhouse and virtuous hero and he needed to act accordingly.

"It’s not what you’re thinking...

Also, I’m going to test the suit. Don’t wait for me for dinner."

Daniel threw out those sentences and flew away.

He deliberately smashed a hole through the roof on his way out, venting his dissatisfaction.

Everyone looked up at the gaping hole overhead, utterly speechless.

Pavel was completely stunned. Had Daniel... just flown?

...

Daniel paused in the sky at an altitude of about a hundred meters, thinking about where to go.

After a moment, he made his decision. He would leave Earth and fly towards the Sun.

He had never been beyond space around Earth before.

Now that his suit was sturdy enough, he didn’t have to worry about damaging it. This was the perfect chance to test his abilities.

As soon as he decided, he accelerated straight upward.

His speed instantly broke the sound barrier and kept climbing.

Mach 1, Mach 2, Mach 10, Mach 100....

It kept on increasing.

Leaving a cloud of sonic booms behind him, Daniel tore through the atmosphere in moments.

The instant he emerged into space, his body felt lighter. Sunlight that had not been filtered by the atmosphere washed over him, and the effect was obvious.

The difference was like using a regular charger versus a fast charger.

Actually, it was far greater than that.

Simply put, this solar battery called Daniel was charging much faster now.

Space was completely dark, but he could see perfectly clearly.

He glanced back at Earth.

It was beautiful.

Blue oceans, white clouds, and continents painted in shades of yellow and green filled his vision. The sight was breathtaking.

His super vision activated automatically, and he accidentally caught sight of Carol changing clothes. She was taking off her vibranium military uniform and changing into casual clothes.

Daniel immediately snapped his gaze away.

’No peeking. No peeking.’

’This story is absolutely not going down that route.’

Adjusting his position, Daniel aimed himself at the Sun and flew.

Faster and Faster.

His speed kept increasing until he finally reached one tenth the speed of light.

His entire body became a streak of golden light shooting straight toward the Sun.

Meteoroids in his path shattered into fragments the moment he hit them.

The closer he got to the Sun, the more excited the cells in his body became.

He felt like a black hole, devouring every ray of light around him and wasting nothing.

"Woohoo!"

Daniel laughed in excitement. This was the first time he had flown at full power, and it felt as if every part of his body had come alive.

Go! Go! Go!

He passed Venus, skimmed by Mercury, and after nearly sixty minutes of uninterrupted flight, he finally arrived at the Sun.

Instead of feeling tired after such a long journey, he felt more energized than ever.

Every cell in his body greedily absorbed sunlight. If someone had looked through a telescope at his location, they would only have seen a tiny black dot.

Unlike on Earth, all the surrounding light was being swallowed by Daniel.

The Sun’s surface was over 5,000 degrees Celsius, yet around Daniel it felt almost like room temperature.

"Beautiful," Daniel murmured, completely captivated.

Since he felt no strain at all, he decided to move even closer.

Ten miles.

Five miles.

One mile.

Half a mile...

Until he was practically touching the Sun itself.

This was a realm no living thing had ever set foot in before. Today, someone had arrived.

Daniel had reached the corona.

A thin layer of fully ionized gas surrounded him.

He reached out and touched it. It felt warm.

’Too bad the Sun is basically a giant ball of gas,’ he thought.

’No liquid. Otherwise, I could claim the achievement of taking a bath on the Sun.’

’Maybe this counts as a sauna?’

At that moment, Daniel was completely certain of one thing, a nuclear bomb could not hurt him.

Fusion reactions were happening inside the Sun every moment, and he felt absolutely nothing.

The streams of charged particles crashing around him had no effect.

Even though he wasn’t standing directly inside a fusion reaction, he could tell that the energy released by such reactions would at most blast him away. It wouldn’t break his defenses.

Right now, Daniel felt as if he had been connected to the highest power charger possible. His strength was increasing constantly.

The sensation was indescribably comfortable, like returning to his mother’s embrace. He was starting to feel sleepy.

"Ahhh..." Daniel yawned. In the vacuum of space, no sound escaped. Only the movement of his mouth was visible.

Stretching lazily, he decided to take a nap right there.

He had already told Carol that he wouldn’t be returning to Wakanda tonight. He was spending the night on the Sun.

Then a random thought crossed his mind.

Did the Sun even have day and night?

His eyes slowly closed, and his breathing became calm and steady.

The universe was silent. Only the Sun continued its endless fusion of hydrogen into helium.

If there had been air here, Daniel probably would have been deafened by the noise.

...

In a vacuum, time lost its meaning.

Daniel had no idea how long he slept. If a stream of ions hadn’t zapped him awake, he might have continued sleeping indefinitely.

He stretched, and every bone and muscle in his body seemed to cheer.

His heart beat powerfully. He felt incredible.

Better than ever before, as if his entire body had been charged.

He glanced back at the Sun and prepared to leave.

Still, he felt a little regretful, as he wanted to see the core.

Even though this visit had greatly increased his power, he wasn’t sure he could withstand the violent chaos inside the Sun.

’No,’ he thought. ’I’ve come all this way. How can I not take a look?’

’Just one look. The moment it becomes too much, I’ll leave.’

Daniel flew deeper in the Sun.

He passed through the corona, then he entered the photosphere.

The temperature here approached ten million degrees Celsius, and for the first time, Daniel felt genuine pressure.

’As expected,’ he thought. ’Right now, I can’t withstand the pressure inside the Sun.’

’If I force my way deeper, I’ll get hurt.’

He looked toward the core one more time. The intense light appeared in his eyes as a roiling sphere of fire, and he could see waves churning inside the star.

"I’m leaving," Daniel said softly.

"First visit, and I wasn’t prepared. Once I’ve come here a few more times, I’ll take a look inside you."

With that, he turned away and flew off without hesitation.

He had already spent quite a bit of time here, and he still wanted to visit other worlds in the solar system.

After all, if you leave Earth for the first time, how can you not pay a visit to the neighbors?