"Huh?"
Mordred opened her mouth, blinked twice, then closed it again as if nothing had happened, calmly sitting back down.
Ethan watched her reaction and immediately understood that she definitely knew where he was planning to send her.
The Artemis was now connected to more and more worlds. With Luna serving as the AI butler and multiple upgrades made to the personal terminals, everyone had a personal device capable of connecting to multiple universal networks.
Aside from offering various auxiliary functions, the main use of these terminals was "entertainment." So it wasn't strange at all that Mordred knew about Westeros. What surprised Ethan was that she swallowed her words, probably out of fear he'd change his mind and send her to some unfamiliar place.
Unfortunately, Mordred's acting skills were terrible. Her overly serious expression gave her away completely. Galahad, standing nearby, could only smile bitterly and silently. He really wanted to remind the future king he served that such reactions were counterproductive and wouldn't fool anyone.
"Don't worry. I won't suddenly change my mind."
There were many worlds where Mordred could try her hand at conquering, but finding one that was still in the Western cold weapon era, included fantasy elements, and didn't have excessively high-end combat power wasn't easy.
What made it trickier was that it couldn't be too weak either. Otherwise, it wouldn't serve as effective training. After much thought, Ethan felt Westeros was the most suitable. Dragons and White Walkers could pose some trouble, and she could also personally experience the dangers hidden in political schemes and assassinations. Still, those wouldn't be life-threatening to Mordred, who had strong combat power.
He was just curious whether Mordred would establish her own faction or help one of the existing ones from the original plot rise to the top.
"Given Mordred's personality, she'll probably want to build her own faction, right?"
Although he was curious, Ethan didn't ask directly. Instead, he moved on from Mordred's topic.
Her matter was already settled. There was no need to dwell on it. All that remained was to send her over, and Ethan didn't intend to have her complete this long-term trial in just a few days. He would give her enough time.
After all, he hadn't decided what to teach her next after this trial. He couldn't just have her come back and do nothing afterward.
Mordred would need time to digest what she gained from the experience, and Ethan also needed time to think about how to continue guiding her.
"Anything else we need to discuss?"
Originally, Ethan had wanted to bring up returning to the Resident Evil world, but since Annette had already raised the topic earlier, it was fine to let her return first to check things out. That world no longer had much appeal for him, but that didn't mean there weren't worthwhile things in it.
For example, the parasite from Spain. While it was no longer useful to him personally, that didn't mean it lacked research value. Even though the parasite would eventually turn the host into a puppet, in the early stages, it enhanced various attributes significantly.
Leon, in the original storyline, endured attacks from various advanced bio-weapons and still survived intact. That alone proved the effectiveness of the enhancements. It was worth studying and potentially integrating into his own basic enhancement potions.
When he mentioned this to Annette, she immediately understood what he meant. If possible, bring back samples of various unusual viruses. That was even more important than building a good relationship with Leon.
"In that case, I might need O'Connell's help."
She needed a combat operative. Although Annette wasn't weak, she was still an amateur when it came to infiltration and close combat. Her attribute improvements were mainly for self-preservation. It didn't mean she had become an elite agent like Ada.
"Leave it to me. I don't have much going on lately anyway."
O'Connell never refused these kinds of missions. Doing them made him feel useful to the team.
In truth, his value in the team was significant. For something like this, Ethan going personally would be overkill, and Hill wasn't truly part of the team. O'Connell was a good fit.
"Alright. This is a long-term task, so no need to rush... especially since the channels between the two sides are open now, allowing you to go back and forth freely."
With the teleportation device in place, everything became more convenient. Team members no longer needed Ethan to intervene in inter-world travel. More importantly, it added a lot of "fun" to the previously monotonous space journey, preventing boredom.
Like this time, aside from Sherry returning home with her mother, Laura, who had a good relationship with Sherry, would also go with them.
With that, Annette wasn't lacking in manpower anymore. Ethan believed she could handle the tasks well.
"Also, don't forget to build a spaceship in the Starship Troopers world. I'll need it later."
He had already explained the situation with the Transformers world once, so no one asked why he needed a spaceship. It was obviously meant to deal with the people in that world.
Although Annette was returning to the Resident Evil world, Selene could oversee operations in the Starship Troopers world, so nothing would be affected.
However, whether building or purchasing, a spaceship would take time. Ethan would have to wait before he could return to the Transformers world.
"Right, I need a potion."
Logan, who had been sitting quietly, finally spoke up when he saw Ethan wrapping up the main discussion.
"For Atlanna?"
"Yeah."
Although Atlanteans possessed physical strength far beyond that of ordinary humans and had near-Superman levels of combat power underwater, their lifespan wasn't significantly longer than humans.
Atlanna, as the Queen of Atlantis, was no longer young, and signs of aging were already beginning to show. Since Logan had already developed a relationship with her, he naturally wouldn't stand by and watch the woman he loved grow old.
"Actually, you can decide these kinds of things on your own."
The Artemis had several storage rooms, one of which was stocked with various basic potions for everyone to take as needed.
These included healing potions, status-clearing potions, basic enhancement potions, and even pure Fountain of Life water, all neatly categorized and stored in large quantities. All crew members had full access to them.
"I just felt I should report it to you."
Though Atlanna was his beloved and he was sure Ethan wouldn't say no, Logan understood that the captain's authority was built on the little things. With more members joining, he felt it was his duty to help maintain Ethan's prestige.
"Alright..."
Ethan scratched his chin. He understood Logan's good intentions and didn't say anything like "there's no need." After all, with the team expanding, such small formalities were necessary.
"Are basic potions enough?"
"For now, yeah."
Basic potions were divided into several types: physical attribute enhancement, mental power enhancement, and appearance optimization. The one Logan wanted was the appearance optimization potion. This would return Atlanna's appearance and all her physical attributes to their peak condition.
For a woman, especially one who was already very beautiful, this was an irresistible gift. Logan would likely receive a very enthusiastic thank-you in return.
Shaking off that mental image, Ethan looked at the others after handling Logan's request.
That glance was asking: did anyone else have anything to bring up? Since everyone was present, it was best to handle things now. If it could be resolved immediately, great. If not, they could at least start discussing a solution.
Looking around, Ethan saw the others looking at each other. It seemed no one had anything else to bring up.
Tony, who was sitting nearby, suddenly felt a bit envious.
"Looks like life here is pretty good. No one has anything to complain about."
"Compared to before, the conditions now are much better. Everyone can do what they want. If someone's still unhappy with this kind of life, I really don't know what kind of life would satisfy them."
They had long lifespans, strong and healthy bodies, attractive appearances, no worries about food or clothing, and anything they wanted could be easily obtained. The team wasn't short on money, and luxuries were everyday items they could buy at any time. Even things that couldn't be bought were accessible through other means.
It might have been a little dull in the beginning, but now that Ethan had built a teleportation device, everyone could freely travel to different universes for leisure and entertainment. If the connected universes couldn't satisfy them, they could ask Ethan to send them to a specific world.
If they didn't want to go out, they could do whatever they wanted on the ship. Whether it was conducting research or training, Ethan could provide all necessary materials and tools.
Even if they just wanted to stay in and relax, the Artemis was now linked to several universal networks, and there were chefs on board who could prepare any cuisine imaginable.
What was there to be dissatisfied with? The Artemis was paradise.
After listening to all that, Tony felt that if he didn't still have some unresolved matters in his own world, he would've packed up and moved aboard the Artemis already.
Even if not now, he knew he would join the team eventually. By then, Ethan's home probably wouldn't still be this "small spaceship."
(To be continued.)