After chatting a while longer with Ye Li, Sif left in good spirits.
On the other side.
Alita, who had failed to lift the hammer, was casually teased by the forthright Thor.
Thus.
She insisted on having a spar with the God of Thunder…
The result.
Naturally, she lost.
However.
Wielding a vibranium blade wreathed in ion flame, Alita sparred fiercely with Thor for quite some time, even gaining the upper hand now and then.
This drew genuine cheers from those around, which made her feel much better.
Alita came over to Ye Li, sat down, and said, "Dad, I was this close to winning, such a pity."
"I could tell."
Ye Li raised a tuft of flame in his palm. "I'll give you a boost—try again and you should be able to fight him to a draw."
"What's this?" Alita asked curiously, looking at his palm.
"A portion of the Eternal Flame."
As he spoke, Ye Li flicked the small flame and sent it into Alita's body—
Hu~!
The flame slipped in at once.
The strange thing was.
The Eternal Flame, which contained tremendous power, did not cause the slightest harm to her body.
…..
A mere Asgardian Janitor God could enchant two Earth firearms into [Heaven-Destroyer] and [Earth-Annihilator].
With Ye Li's current skill, using a portion of the Eternal Flame to enchant Alita's mechanical body was naturally no problem.
…..
After finishing the enchantment, Ye Li asked Alita, "How does it feel? Try and see if you can control it."
"I'll give it a try…"
Alita tried clenching her hand—
A plasma flame fused with the Eternal Flame immediately wrapped her little fist, showing a green hue.
"There it is! It's just that the color is kind of ugly…"
"..."
Ye Li scratched his face. How did it end up green…
Tech and magic, with a bit of green… he couldn't help but think of a certain [Doctor Doom], a rather accomplished Earth villain…
…..
"Well… looks don't matter; strength is what counts."
Feeling Matilda's little hooked tip clamp tighter and her secret motions grow faster and faster...
Ye Li was almost at his limit as well, so he hurriedly shooed Alita off. "Go quickly and try out your new ability again."
…..
"Li~ sorry, I got too engrossed talking with Jane and neglected you."
After finishing their academic chat, Susan came over tipsily to toast Ye Li. "I'll punish myself with a drink first~!"
'Your academic discussions get you this drunk…?'
Ye Li secretly griped in his heart, but still smiled on the surface. "It's a good thing you hit it off so well."
"As long as you don't mind~"
Susan smiled charmingly; after drinking, she looped her hand around Ye Li's arm and clinked glasses with him again.
From the glass at her rosy lips, a pale red drop of wine traced down past her swan-like neck to the hollow at her collarbone, then slipped under her collar, disappearing into her ample curves~
Ye Li stared a bit wide-eyed…
Matilda, seeing this, wiggled her sticky little toes in displeasure, clearly unhappy with his "loving the new and neglecting the old"…
…..
The banquet gradually drew to a close.
Alita also returned happily, clearly having regained face.
According to her account, she fought Thor to a draw—though who knows if Thor was going all-out.
…..
As for Susan.
Although Ye Li was very tempted by her,
Asgard's wine packs too much punch; she couldn't hold her liquor yet kept drinking, getting so drunk she was about to collapse.
With no choice—and since standing around doing nothing was boring—Ye Li had Alita take her back to the Ghost Spider.
He then carried Matilda on his back and invited Jane to go for a lake outing.
…..
By a sparsely visited lakeside.
Splash~
Matilda sat on a big rock by the shore, her delicate little feet happily splashing in the clear lake water, sending up sprays and ring after ring of white ripples~
"Eh?"
Jane was filming everywhere with a camcorder; seeing a few whitish smears clinging to her cousin's jade-like feet, she couldn't help asking.
"Matilda, did you splash yogurt on your feet? Seems Asgard's yogurt is a bit different…"
Matilda lifted her still-not-quite-clean little feet and rubbed them with her hand, giving Ye Li an innocent side glance while answering her cousin.
…..
"Yeah, it's kind of the same... just a bit too thick... I won't eat it next time..."
Ye Li didn't react to his second little sister's look at all. Instead, he straightened his fishing rod a bit and lectured her. "Matilda, you're kicking around in the water like that and scaring all my fish away. I wanted to see what I could catch in an Asgardian lake."
"Bleh~"
Matilda stuck out her tongue and made a little face at her brother. "I'm helping you, you know—pre-baiting the spot and adding extra seasoning, drawing all the fish over for you~!"
Black lines popped over Ye Li's face…
It would've been better if the little girl hadn't said that…
Having heard it, if he really pulled up a fish later, he figured he wouldn't be able to look it in the eye…
Fish lured over by yogurt... could you still call that proper fish...
'I wonder if there are mermaids in Asgard's lakes… ahem… better not let my thoughts run wild…'
The more Ye Li thought, the more outrageous it got; he hurried to put a stop to his drifting thoughts.
Sure enough, the greater the power, the freer the thoughts.
He somewhat understood why the superhumans in The Boys he'd watched in his previous life were so indulgent…
'Speaking of which, Vought's Compound V seems to be perfected… once I'm back on Earth, I can go take a look…' what a pity.