DOTM: Chapter 514/516

Chapter 514: Troublesome Tony
"Your shouting wasn't inspiring at all, it even made me laugh."

No one present spared Ethan's dignity. Logan's comment was already quite tactful, while Rocket Raccoon and Star-Lord were laughing like idiots, even though they had no idea what the joke was.

He retracted his spread arms, not feeling embarrassed at all. Anyway, shouting made him feel comfortable all over, and that was enough.

"Alright, things are settled. We can now think about what to do next."

There was no doubt that Star-Lord, Yondu, and the others would return to the Marvel world.

At least Star-Lord had no intention of staying, and Rocket Raccoon and the others were also more accustomed to life in that world's galaxy. They had no immediate thoughts of adventuring elsewhere.

Through their interactions during this time, a good relationship had been established. If Ethan needed help in the future, Star-Lord and his crew would be happy to assist.

Even if it was considered a commissioned job, they would not demand currency from the Marvel world. Ethan had many things that could be used as payment.

Just like this commission.

During this time, Ethan had gained a detailed understanding of everyone's situation and had already created specialized enhancement potions. Groot's life form was too unique, making it impossible to create enhancement potions for him.

If Groot was willing to change his life form, Ethan could find a way to first turn him into a "human" and then specifically create an enhancement potion for him.

However, Groot refused the suggestion. He preferred his current form and wasn't very interested in enhancing himself with potions, preferring to grow naturally.

Since he did not insist, Ethan had nothing more to say. Only Rocket Raccoon's situation was slightly more complicated.

Others like Gamora, Yondu, and even Star-Lord were simple. If they had hidden potential, that potential would be activated. If they didn't have potential, it would be increased.

Only Rocket Raccoon and Nebula's situations were slightly more complex.

Among them, Rocket Raccoon was even more troublesome.

This resulted in Ethan not having time to create Nebula's potion after finally completing Rocket Raccoon's enhancement potion.

Fortunately, Nebula had already decided to stay with Ethan for a while, so she wasn't in a hurry to undergo enhancement.

Her calculation was very clever. She was willing to spend more time waiting so she could ask Ethan to adjust and meticulously create a more powerful potion based on her own condition.

Nebula didn't expect to become stronger than Thanos all at once, but by gaining more powerful strength, her chances of killing Thanos in the future would ultimately increase.

She could also see what effect the potion Ethan made had on Rocket Raccoon. After all, her situation was similar to Rocket Raccoon's. Both had undergone various scientific modifications, making their physical conditions quite complex, and she had even more mechanical structures on her body compared to him.

After Rocket Raccoon used the enhancement potion, Nebula really couldn't see any changes in the guy. She even suspected that Ethan's potion had failed.

Actually, Ethan's potions had always been like this. They wouldn't produce immediate noticeable effects upon use but would gradually take effect as time passed.

The advantage of this was that it gave the user enough time to slowly adapt to their strength. At the same time, diligent training could accelerate the potion's effects and also prevent the user from becoming overly reliant on this method of becoming stronger, thus avoiding laziness and complacency.

Furthermore, Rocket Raccoon had no dissatisfaction with his current appearance. He was already used to it, or rather, he was originally a raccoon and had no desire to change his appearance, so naturally, no changes were visible.

As for the enhancement potion's effect on appearance optimization... does having more beautiful fur count?

In addition, the lifespans of everyone who used the enhancement potion were significantly increased. In the past, Star-Lord worried that his lifespan as an "Earthling" was too short and he would grow old before he could explore the entire galaxy.

Now he no longer had to worry about this issue. After using the enhancement potion, his lifespan would definitely exceed that of most races in the galaxy. Even civilizations that had mastered advanced genetic modification techniques might not live longer than Star-Lord.

Moreover, the greatest effect of the potion Star-Lord used was activating the part of his bloodline that came from Ego. Now, while retaining his human appearance, he had initially awakened some extraordinary abilities.

The most obvious change was that he could gradually sense the various energies contained within the universe. The universe in Star-Lord's "eyes" had completely changed, revealing a new world.

Of course, sensing them didn't mean he could immediately gather and manipulate these energies. He needed to achieve these abilities through persistent training.

But even so, he gained power far beyond ordinary people. As long as he could persist in training, his lifespan would also become longer and longer. After all, Ego was a super long-lived species, and a long life gave him more time to practice these abilities, ultimately entering a virtuous cycle.

Because his talent was there, after initially teaching him various theoretical knowledge, Ethan didn't need to worry about the rest.

The only thing that gave Ethan a headache was that Star-Lord actually had a similar hobby to Sherry, asking Ethan to help him make a "lightsaber" and somehow getting a robe from somewhere, posing around whenever he had nothing else to do.

"You said I can control the energy in the universe, isn't that just like a Jedi?"

"Something like that!"

The Force controlled by Jedi, although there are several different interpretations (equivalent to different sects), can ultimately be understood as the energy contained within the universe.

Jedi can achieve various incredible things by sensing and using the Force. Strictly speaking, it is very similar to the direction Star-Lord is currently training in.

When Star-Lord trained for a while and discovered he could "move" screws out of thin air, he immediately adopted the lightsaber as his official melee weapon.

Well, anyway, the Marvel universe already had Paladins, Saint Seiyas, and Arcane Mages, so adding one more Jedi wasn't a big deal.

Because of Ethan's presence, the occupants of the two fighters could travel between them freely, which indirectly increased everyone's living space.

However, such cramped living couldn't last forever. After the payment was settled, everyone had completed the use of the enhancement potions and, after a period of training, initially shown results. They had Star-Lord find a planet to land on.

This planet was not too far from Purple Star. It was a barren planet with nothing but sand and rocks, and it had low gravity and a thin atmosphere, making it a planet where life was basically impossible to be born.

After landing, Ethan first helped Yondu put his fighter into a specialized glass container, as agreed upon earlier.

Then he took everyone to the Marvel universe.

Although exploring the planet took some time, due to the flow of time and the specific time node Ethan had targeted, for Tony, Ethan and his crew had only been gone for about a week. He hadn't expected Ethan to return so quickly.

"Things didn't go smoothly?"

Returning so quickly, he thought something had gone wrong. But Star-Lord and the group of aliens seemed quite happy.

"It went very smoothly. It's just that things are done, and everyone needs a suitable place to relax. After thinking about it, this place seemed the most suitable."

The main reason was that he had to bring Star-Lord and the others back anyway, and he had "his own property" here, so he brought everyone along.

"As long as everything went well."

Hearing that there were no accidents, Tony began asking about the specific details of Ethan and their exploration work this time. He also casually asked how the training ground world had been set up.

While Ethan and Tony were recounting what had happened during this time, Logan and the others gradually went off to do things that would allow them to relax.

Star-Lord and the others, who had originally intended to leave immediately, also decided to stay here for a few days. After all, they needed rest after continuous travel and exploration.

As for Betty and Modred, who were visiting for the first time, they stayed behind briefly to greet Tony.

When he heard that this little girl in front of him was Arthur's "son," the legendary Modred, his expression also turned a bit strange.

"Isn't it a son?"

"There was a bit of a mistake."

Ethan shrugged, not thinking it was a big deal. It was just a female version of Modred, what was so surprising about that? In countless universes, there were even female versions of King Arthur.

After greeting each other, Modred followed Selene to choose her room. Anyway, the manor was large enough. Let alone a few extra people, it could accommodate twice the team's size.

"Alright, the multiverse holds infinite possibilities."

Since learning magic, Tony had gradually become accustomed to all sorts of strange things. However, compared to these matters, he suddenly made a request that left Ethan speechless.

"Excuse me, who did you just say you want to see?"

Ethan rubbed his ears, suspecting he had misheard something. Had the potion he made finally revealed side effects?

"I want to meet Bruce Wayne. Is there anything surprising about that?" Tony Stark looked at Ethan's exaggerated reaction, feeling quite speechless. "That shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"

"It's indeed not difficult..." Ethan confirmed he hadn't misheard. He was very curious why Tony suddenly wanted to see that person. "What do you want to see him for? You two don't have any history, do you?"

"In the Transformers world, I downloaded some things from the internet."

Tony didn't hide anything. Besides, there was no need to be secretive in front of Ethan.

"I'm very curious about this superhero who has no special abilities and relies entirely on intelligence and various technological devices."

He said he was curious, but the blatant defiance on his face couldn't be hidden from anyone. Any normal person could see that this guy wanted to stir up trouble.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 515: The Direction of Advancement

Although Tony didn't hide his expression, he absolutely refused to admit it verbally.

However, he believed Ethan wouldn't refuse, and in fact, Ethan wouldn't.

Iron Man vs. Batman? It wasn't like that hadn't happened before, and besides, it was just a meeting, not necessarily a real fight.

"Just wanting to meet Bruce Wayne, you'll probably have to wait a while."

The point wasn't that there were countless Bruce Waynes in countless universes, nor that the Bruce Wayne in Diana's world hadn't been born yet.

Rather, it was about which Batman world to go to. At the same time, Ethan needed to finish handling his own affairs before doing this.

The spaceship issue was resolved, and taking Tony to another world to visit and meet Batman could also be considered a way to relax.

"You need to go to another world first to get the spaceship."

"Right!"

"What kind of world is it?"

"You know Alien, right?"

The Marvel universe also had the classic Alien film series. The young Spider-Man, Peter Parker, often used moves from old movies to deal with enemies, with Ant-Man and Ebony Maw being victims.

As Tony gradually became exposed to the concept of the multiverse and had traveled to other universes with Ethan, with his intelligence, he naturally understood this point: many movies were actually real existing worlds, and Ethan had the ability to enter these worlds.

This also vaguely explained why Ethan always knew so many things. He probably watched a lot of movies.

As for whether Ethan watched countless movies first and then gained the ability to travel between planes, using this knowledge to gain benefits in countless universal planes, or whether he first gained the ability to travel the universe and then continuously collected movies and other materials for self-study during his travels, he wasn't prepared to delve into it.

What he cared more about was that Ethan actually mentioned Alien...

"You're going to that world? That spaceship doesn't seem great, does it? It's better to ask Star-Lord to get you a Ravager ship."

The backdrop of the Alien world was an Earth civilization that had already entered the interstellar age, and it did indeed have spaceships capable of interstellar travel.

However, this film was an old one, and the spaceship that seemed cool and futuristic back then had many things worth criticizing when viewed now. At least Tony couldn't accept the outdated display equipment and control panel.

"I'm going to a slightly earlier time this time."

"Earlier?"

Tony immediately understood that Ethan must have seen prequels or similar works of Alien in some world, and the spaceship in the prequel looked more like a product of a future interstellar age.

"When are you planning to leave?"

"Soon."

Ethan planned to explain things to everyone and then depart.

Their stay in the Marvel Cinematic Universe wouldn't be like staying in the "main universe" (Ethan could only consider the universe he lived in as the main universe now), where no matter how long he was away, for them it would only be an instant.

He also had to consider the timeline differences caused by his back-and-forth travel. To avoid his memories becoming chaotic and wasting time sorting out these useless things, Ethan simply synchronized the time flow of this world with his own.

That is, whether he returned to the main universe or went to Prometheus's location, however much time he experienced, the same amount of time would pass here.

"What? You want to come watch the fun?"

"A little curious, but if you're leaving immediately, I'm afraid I can't go with you."

Tony, after all, wasn't someone without ties. He had a mountain of things to do. Even though he had handed over the position of company president to Pepper Potts, he still had many things he needed to do. The most brilliant inventor in the entire Stark Industries was himself, especially during this period when he had created piles upon piles of new technologies, things that no one but Tony could handle.

If he didn't spend some time arranging the work at hand in advance, Tony couldn't go anywhere. Considering he also wanted to meet Bruce Wayne later, it wouldn't be good to first go out and play with Ethan for a while, only to leave again a few days after returning.

"Once I've finished dealing with most of these tasks at hand and Stark Industries has stockpiled enough new technology products, I'll be much more relaxed."

Tony had too many new technologies on hand. He was currently in the process of organizing them. Once he finished organizing these technologies, Stark Industries couldn't release all of them at once. They would definitely showcase them one by one.

At this point, Tony would become much more relaxed. By the time Stark Industries had showcased everything he had tinkered with, it would probably have been at least ten years later.

Such a long time was enough for him to tinker with more new things without affecting his ability to do other things.

"I just need to wait here for you to bring the spaceship back."

After chatting with Ethan for a while longer, Tony went back to continue his work.

Speaking of which, Ethan didn't see Howard and Maria this time he returned. He asked Tony and learned that Howard and Maria's "recovery" was going very well. They had gone out a few days ago, planning to see this somewhat unfamiliar world with their own eyes, and were expected to return in two or three months.

Ethan nodded, indicating he understood. Although they looked very young on the outside, they had adult souls inside and certainly wouldn't cause any trouble.

Moreover, with the Stark family's wealth, they would definitely have bodyguards accompanying them, which was enough to handle most situations. For minority situations, Tony had also specially made gadgets for them that could protect them from harm for a certain period and buy him time to come to their rescue.

With so many safety measures, what was there to worry about?

After seeing Tony off, Ethan didn't go to see anyone else but returned to his room, first taking a good shower and changing clothes, then sitting on the sofa to relax for a while, taking the opportunity to ponder his future path.

Getting the spaceship was already decided.

And then?

Hand the spaceship over to Tony, let him help with some modifications, and then pilot the reinforced Prometheus aimlessly through the vast universe?

Sounds a bit boring? There has to be a goal, right?

In the past, in the training ground, he just kept moving forward, charging through stormy seas, wanting to see what the next place looked like, what was there.

He also somewhat had the idea of finding the legendary endless land, that others hadn't done it but he had, which would show how special he was.

Such thoughts, to some extent, became the driving force that kept him moving forward.

"What are you thinking about?"

While Ethan was resting (or spacing out?), Logan and Ada came over one after another. Looking at Ethan, who was sprawled out on the sofa, they were very curious about what was wrong with their captain today, who was occasionally a bit eccentric but usually seemed very energetic.

"Thinking about how the future path should go?"

"You actually get a headache over this?"

Logan poured himself a glass of whiskey without being asked, then casually poured lemonade for Ada and Ethan respectively.

Having spent so much time together, even if not intentionally learning, they would know some of their companions' preferences.

For example, Ethan usually didn't drink alcohol as a beverage. Even with his current physical condition, many high-proof alcohols had no effect on him, but he still preferred to drink beverages.

Ada preferred "healthier" food and drinks, such as plain water or lemonade, and rarely even drank juice.

Taking the lemonade from Logan, Ethan said, "Why wouldn't I get a headache over this? You should know our current situation very well."

The entire team could be said to be developing steadily, but this referred to individual strength. As for the team's goal, there really wasn't one.

Modred, for example, had personal goals like learning knowledge, gaining experience, and improving strength, but this had little to do with the team around Ethan.

Previously, everyone had a direction, sailing forward diligently.

Now that they had a new spaceship, where should they go? Just wander aimlessly in the universe?

"Actually, I think aimless sailing is quite nice."

Logan liked this kind of life, but he knew not everyone would have the same idea as him. Without a big goal to "unite" everyone, perhaps the bored members would use their energy for internal conflicts.

Thinking of this situation, Logan understood why Ethan was getting a headache.

"Actually... I don't think you need to worry too much about this."

Ada, who hadn't spoken, suddenly offered a completely different view.

"The people on the ship now aren't the type of personalities who really care about this kind of thing."

Thinking carefully about the personalities of the crew members, Ethan realized that the companions he had found did have some similar characteristics. These people, to put it nicely, were content with their lot, and to put it bluntly, lacked ambition. It seemed no one liked to stir up trouble.

The one most likely to cause trouble, Imhotep, his greatest wish was just to live happily with Anck-su-namun forever. Now that this wish had been fulfilled, he only hoped to serve Ethan and gain the opportunity to become a god (at least a divine servant).

"Was I overthinking?"

"Not exactly, but it's a good thing if there's a goal in front of everyone to strive for together, even if that goal... isn't so grand."

It was essentially about finding something to attract everyone's attention, and a more ordinary goal was much easier to find.

For example, travel around the universe and see more, figure out what happened to the Empire and how it is now. If possible, help Betty find her relatives along the way.

"Let's talk about these things after you get back the spaceship you've decided on. Are you going to get the spaceship now?"

"Do you want to come along?"

"Of course, I agreed to join your team precisely to see all sorts of strange worlds!" This was also Ada's purpose for joining. This kind of novel and interesting adventurous life was what she wanted.

So far, she hadn't grown tired of this life, and she felt that she probably wouldn't for a long time.

"I'll ask who else is interested, and then we'll set off."

(To be continued.)

Chapter 516: Prometheus

In the end, no one wanted to go with Ethan. The recent space travel had left everyone feeling a bit nauseous and fed up. Hearing that they were going back on a spaceship again, to wander around a desolate planet, most people chose to refuse.

Apart from Ada and Logan, only Maria Hill was joining this trip.

As the ship commander for Ethan's team, Maria Hill placed great importance on the spaceship she would be responsible for in the future and wanted to get to know this new ship as soon as possible.

Besides Maria Hill joining, Annette, upon learning which world Ethan was going to, hoped he could bring back some samples, as the creature known as the Xenomorph greatly interested her.

"I can't guarantee that. You should know how dangerous that thing is."

The Xenomorph indeed had many fascinating aspects. Its ability to optimize and improve itself based on the genes of its host, constantly perfecting itself, was very appealing.

If it were the old Ethan, he definitely wouldn't be able to refuse such a temptation, even risking a lot to collect some Xenomorph samples.

But for the current him, this optimization ability was no longer so appealing.

The Marvel universe itself possessed genetic modification technology. These technologies were not necessarily inferior to the Xenomorph's inherent ability, and they were mature technologies with absolutely no side effects.

Not to mention the various enhancement serums Ethan possessed, so the Xenomorph's genes were dispensable to the current Ethan.

Even the point about a powerful body no longer attracted Ethan. He hadn't even had a chance to use the Titan bloodline he obtained from the Cabin in the Woods last time.

After defeating Ego, his magical level increased, causing him to undergo this internal and external enhancement. For the time being, it wasn't suitable to use any enhancement serums to avoid unknown conflicts. He had to wait until the magical enhancement of his body was complete before using the new Titan serum.

"In short, our main goal this time is the Prometheus ship. Everything else is irrelevant."

As for the crew of the Prometheus, they were basically seeking death from beginning to end. Besides the captain and two co-pilots who could be considered to have died heroically, everyone else died due to their own stupidity. These guys dying might even raise the average IQ of Earthlings. Thinking that all these guys were top figures in their respective fields, Ethan suddenly felt that Earth in this universe had no future whatsoever.

"This is the place?"

Ethan looked at the surrounding environment, comparing it with the memories in his mind. He was certain that he and his companions had indeed arrived on the Prometheus.

Fortunately, Ethan and the others were not transported to the very beginning of the movie's timeline.

If they had been transported to that time period, Ethan would face an awkward situation. Elizabeth Shaw had just discovered the clues about the "Engineers." Only after that did she take these materials and secure full funding from the Weyland Corporation, spending almost all the funds to build the advanced spaceship Prometheus.

That was construction from scratch. Even at the fastest speed, it would take at least over a year.

Ethan definitely wouldn't be happy to waste a year in this world. If that situation really occurred, he could only choose to abandon this place and find a spaceship in another world.

Thankfully, they weren't transported to the beginning of the movie but arrived at the starting point of the plot, which was just before the Prometheus was about to reach its destination.

At this time, the Prometheus had been traveling for over two years. The passengers on board were all in hibernation, and the only active being on the ship was the synthetic android David.

From the plot, it could be gathered that the passengers on the Prometheus didn't all know each other initially. Perhaps only Captain Janek and the supervisor Meredith Vickers knew how many passengers were on board and their specific details.

Additionally, the synthetic android David should also know this information, or rather, he was the one who knew the most.

Ethan originally planned to find a way to control David and Meredith Vickers. As long as he controlled these two beings, he could obtain a relatively formal identity, then just coast along in this scientific expedition team, and after this bunch of people courted death, he would leave with the spaceship.

However, after carefully recalling all the details and considering the practical situation, he found that this method wouldn't work. Compared to that, it was more reliable to just show off his strength and seize it by force.

"Isn't doing this a bit bad?"

The people present weren't exactly do-gooders, but they weren't completely unprincipled bandits either. They really couldn't bring themselves to do something like stealing a spaceship.

Considering that once they took the ship, this group of people would be left to die on this strange planet, very far from Earth, which was no different from them killing everyone directly and then taking the ship.

Killing and plundering?

Thinking this way, Ethan found that he also couldn't quite bring himself to do it.

"It's really hard to be a good person."

He had previously only thought that this group of people would die anyway, and he just needed to wait to take over a ship that had lost its crew.

Now these people weren't dead yet, and he thought that if he wanted to keep this ship, then Captain Janek, his two co-pilots, and the supervisor Meredith Vickers probably wouldn't die. Ethan certainly wouldn't allow or need them to fly the Prometheus into the Engineer's ship.

"Then let's solve the problem in the way I'm most used to."

"How do we do that?"

"Make a deal with them."

The content of the deal was the lives of this group of people: they would hand over the ship, Ethan would guarantee their lives, and Ethan would find a way to send them back to Earth.

The targets were the few people who had a chance to survive.

As for the remaining people, Ethan was quite eager to observe up close just how bizarre these guys could be.

"Who are you people?"

Ethan and the others were in the control room of the Prometheus, which was located at the front of the ship.

Because the ship was on autopilot, only a few instruments in the cockpit emitted faint light, and most of the equipment was in standby mode.

Ethan figured that even David wouldn't come here for no reason, which was why he and Logan stood here discussing what to do next.

Unexpectedly, David suddenly appeared and discovered these strangers, Ethan and the others. The data of all passengers on the ship was in his records, and there was no information about Ethan and his group, meaning these few were complete intruders.

The Prometheus was purely a research vessel. There were no weapons equipped on board, and the ship also lacked sufficient defense systems and weapons inside.

It could even be said that when this ship was built, combat needs were not considered. Although some weapons were carried on board, David would not carry those weapons with him.

Even though he had realized these were intruders, David had no way to eliminate the enemies.

Actually, his first thought was to retreat. Even if the control room was occupied, it didn't matter. As long as he retrieved weapons, he believed he could retake the cockpit using the unique capabilities of a synthetic android.

The problem was that he couldn't move himself. The moment David appeared, Ethan reached out and released his magic. The blue magical light illuminated the dark space, transforming into blue energy chains that firmly "entwined" David in place, rendering him completely immobile.

"Isn't this Erik?"

The actor playing the synthetic android David happened to be the same person who played the younger version of Magneto, so both Logan and Ada were surprised by David's appearance, but that was all.

Having traveled to so many worlds with Ethan, they had more or less figured some things out. They knew very well that the person in front of them was not Erik. It was just the first time they had encountered someone with an identical appearance, so they couldn't help but pay a little more attention.

"My name is David, not Erik."

Even though he was controlled, there was no panicked expression on David's face. No matter how much his appearance resembled a human, he was ultimately just a robot.

It was just that his intelligent core had a relatively high degree of evolution. At a certain level, he could already be considered a true intelligent life form.

What was even more terrifying was that, for reasons unknown to Weyland, no restrictions were set in David's core program, allowing David, after gradually "evolving" or "awakening," to unscrupulously do everything he wanted, thus triggering the subsequent series of events.

Thinking of this, Ethan suddenly had the idea of destroying this guy directly.

However, he still restrained his impulse. Besides the fact that he still needed David now, another point was that he didn't want to "punish" the other party for things he hadn't done yet. Moreover, with his interference, it was no longer possible for this David to do those things as in the original plot.

If he still went down that path, Ethan wouldn't mind dealing with him along the way.

After realizing he had regained his freedom, David did not make any reckless or hasty moves. He knew he was still under the other party's control. At this moment, he was more interested in knowing who the other party was and what their purpose was in coming to the Prometheus.

"Looks like we'll have to use Plan B!"

"What? We have a Plan B?"

Logan, Ada, and Hill all looked at Ethan with a "Are you kidding me?" expression. When they were discussing just now, they didn't hear anything about a "Plan B!"

Ethan ignored his companions' gazes, gently floated up, and then drifted forward to stand before David at a height of about twenty centimeters off the ground.

"David, take me to see the person in charge of your ship. I have some things I want to discuss with him."

Ethan specifically emphasized "him," but the David in front of him seemed not to understand Ethan's meaning, or perhaps he deliberately pretended not to understand, and instead reminded Ethan.

"The person in charge of the Prometheus is Miss Meredith Vickers."

Ethan glanced at David and didn't dwell on the issue.

"Take me to see her. Talking to her is the same anyway."

(To be continued.)