"Next world, huh…"
He had a few considerations for Mordred's next test.
One option was to send her to a world currently at war, but this time it wouldn't be an ancient setting, nor would it jump directly to the interstellar era.
"You've played Red Alert, right?"
"Are you trying to get me familiar with modern warfare?"
In a world where advanced weapons and equipment were widespread, Mordred's current power wouldn't be able to achieve overly exaggerated results. If she wanted to conquer that kind of world, the time and effort required would undoubtedly be much greater.
Ethan considered sending her to that world because Arthur was currently climbing the tech tree in his own world, and he also possessed quite a bit of black technology. He hadn't brought it out before because the overall foundation was too weak, and he needed a long time for basic infrastructure.
By the time Mordred returned, that world might have already entered modern society.
"That's roughly the idea. If you're no longer interested in conquest-style games, I have another option for you."
Ethan always advocated for a step-by-step teaching method, but that didn't mean rigidly following a fixed process. He would adjust based on the actual situation to help Mordred learn better and more proactively, avoiding the mistake of cramming too much knowledge all at once without considering whether she could absorb it.
"Tell me about the other options."
Mordred really wasn't very interested in a world like Red Alert anymore. She wanted to go to a more advanced world now.
"If possible, I'd like to go to a world that has already stably entered the interstellar era."
"Is that so?"
After thinking about the worlds in his memory that had an interstellar background, there were indeed suitable options. For example, the world that served as the prototype for the personal terminals used by Ethan's team was a standard interstellar setting.
After he briefly described that world, Mordred thought for a moment and nodded.
"If you go there, I won't set any goals for you. If you want to go to that kind of world, you've probably already made your own plans."
"Of course!"
Mordred's appearance hadn't changed much. She still looked like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, but she had grown up.
Being king on the continent of Westeros for several years had taught her how to prepare for the future. This time, her goal in entering a world with an interstellar background was to better govern her own kingdom.
After she inherited Arthur's throne, her father would most likely have already unified the entire Earth.
By then, the country Mordred would inherit would definitely not be a completely stable one.
When a nation expands rapidly in a short period of time, internal issues are bound to pile up. The troubles Mordred would face would be far greater than those Arthur had to deal with, and more importantly, those troubles would come from within, making them even harder to resolve.
Some might ask, couldn't Arthur see these problems? Why didn't he resolve them in advance?
It wasn't that they couldn't be solved, but that it was extremely difficult. Many of these internal problems were closely tied to Arthur himself. If he intervened personally, it could trigger even greater conflict. If not handled properly, the empire he had just built might collapse overnight.
So these issues had to be left for Mordred to handle. Given her personality, she definitely wouldn't take a slow approach. It was highly likely she would choose to take drastic measures to cut out the rotten parts directly.
To do that required a prerequisite: powerful military strength. Mordred wanted to go to an interstellar world simply to acquire advanced technological knowledge and, more importantly, to recruit talented individuals with advanced knowledge and bring them back to her world to serve as her core team.
"Are we leaving now?"
"Let's wait a bit. I need to rest first…"
"Someone so eager to be king, is it really okay to be this lazy?"
"I'm not king yet, am I?"
"…"
Ethan looked at Mordred sprawled out lazily and felt something was off. This child's personality seemed to have gone off track. Wasn't she originally an energetic and mischievous troublemaker? Who did she learn this from?
"Could it be that I influenced her?"
After thinking for a long while, he concluded that he had never acted like that.
He was always busy finding things to do. He was the busiest person on the entire ship. If not for traveling to other worlds and using the inconsistent time flow to gain extra time, he might have had to squeeze out even his sleep to finish everything.
Utterly confused, he left Mordred there to rest while he began pondering what else still needed handling.
As a result, after running around the Starship Troopers world, the Marvel Universe, and the DC Universe, he found there was nothing much left to do.
As for the Resident Evil world? Annette was still busy there. According to Sherry, who had returned, Annette was preparing to establish a company in the Resident Evil world, similar to what had been done in the Starship Troopers world, and was developing a new base.
However, the investment in the Resident Evil world would definitely not be as large as in the Starship Troopers world. Especially since the era of building a new generation of warships had already begun, the Starship Troopers side was Ethan's main focus.
For this reason, even Tony Stark was frequently going there.
He had to do so because building large-scale space warships was not suitable in the Marvel Universe. There were too many unavoidable problems.
Earth in the Marvel Universe did not have the capacity to build large-scale space warships.
No matter how much black technology Tony had, building such a massive warship was not an easy task. Not to mention the need for space construction, just acquiring the raw materials alone would be enough to push Stark Industries into the spotlight.
Earth's resources weren't infinite, especially the rare elements needed to manufacture warship armor. These materials were heavily regulated. No matter how wealthy or well-connected Tony was, he couldn't acquire such vast quantities all at once.
Things like Iron Man suits or the Iron Legion could be overlooked, but what did it mean to build a massive space warship? Did the Stark family no longer want to remain as businessmen and were now aiming to unify the planet?
But in the Starship Troopers world, it was a different story. Cherry Military Industry had become a key partner of the Federation, supplying all kinds of military equipment to the Federal Army. They were already developing and researching new types of space warships. Building warships was their core business, so there was no suspicion.
When Tony came here, he didn't need to worry about raw materials or construction sites. Cherry Military Industry had already acquired a medium-sized manufacturing plant.
The factory was already built. The equipment could be upgraded, the workers were experienced, and Cherry Military Industry could also attract more skilled engineers with its growing reputation. These people had extensive experience in building large warships. In this kind of situation, as long as Tony provided the design, these people could finish building the new ship in the shortest time.
Compared to starting everything from scratch on Earth—building factories, creating equipment, training workers—it was an enormous difference.
A 500-meter class Morningstar ship might take only a year to complete in the Starship Troopers world, but it would take ten years in the Marvel world.
Tony couldn't ignore such a huge gap, so he had no choice but to go back and forth frequently.
That didn't mean he gave up on building a space base in his own world. He had already started making preparations, but choosing the location of the base was a huge headache.
The environment in the Marvel Universe was just too complex. No matter how hidden a place might be, someone always seemed to be occupying it, which left him frustrated.
"Where do you think I should build the space base?"
"Where did you originally plan to build it?"
Simply building a space station definitely wouldn't meet Tony's needs. If Ethan guessed correctly, this guy was probably planning to build a fully equipped base, including living facilities and a complete set of factories, to support his research and space construction.
"Mars. I know you're going to say it's too cliché, but Mars really is the most suitable."
Among the planets in the solar system, Mars was considered the most similar to Earth and relatively close. It wasn't surprising Tony wanted to build his base there.
As for Venus, though it was also nearby, it was too close to the sun, with a harsh environment and lower priority.
"Then just go with Venus…"
"Venus? That's an option too…" Tony suddenly realized that although Venus had a harsh environment, it wasn't a problem for him. That thought widened his perspective. "What do you think about Mercury?"
Compared to Venus, Tony thought Mercury might be even better. Although Venus was harsh, many scientists still kept an eye on it due to its proximity.
In contrast, Mercury's special position made it very difficult to observe, which in turn made it easier for Tony to hide his base.
On top of that, Mercury had rich mineral resources. One of the major reasons he wanted to build a space base was so he could freely exploit space resources.
As for the materials needed to build the base... Tony believed the Starship Troopers world could solve that issue.
"I can't get that many supplies over there."
After all, building a base required far too many materials.
"Actually, you could just build two Macross-class ships and use them directly as bases."
"That's a great idea. Just build an industrial ship!"
(To be continued.)