TL/N: If someone is willing to buy the annual Patreon membership, I am willing to give them a 40% discount, as I am in need of a little money. (Only for a limited time)
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The ruins housing Earth's teleportation array weren't very far from the ruins occupied by Karlei's Tribe—just over 200 kilometers apart.
For high-altitude patrol aircraft, that kind of distance was nothing.
So it didn't take long after Josh's legion appeared for a nearby Krem Federation patrol unit to detect the massive army. They immediately sent a high-level alert to headquarters.
Even though they hadn't been attacked, it was still a huge army—not a kindergarten bus!
Anyone with a brain would know that an army of this size wasn't out for a casual stroll.
In fact, Josh's army had spotted the patrol unit almost immediately and reported it to him—but he didn't care at all. To him, the three nations on this planet weren't worth worrying about.
"Leave everything here to you two. I want results, not the process," Josh said aboard the fleet's flagship, giving orders to Ophelia, who had been summoned to act as the army's commander, and to Naga Narathas as deputy commander.
Though they were currently in a desert, that didn't mean the planet lacked oceans. That made Narathas' presence important.
Just like on Earth, intelligence Josh had gathered suggested that while the planet's technology was decent, its ocean resources were still largely undeveloped.
So it was very possible that Krym Crystals might be found in large quantities in the oceans, just like vibranium.
That would be a task for Narathas and the sea tribe to explore.
Once the legion secured its foothold on the planet, the sea forces led by Narathas would be sent into the planet's oceans.
"Yes, Master!" the two women responded respectfully.
After giving his orders, Josh opened a portal and returned to the Tribe.
"Father, does this mean…?" Mike asked as soon as he saw him.
"That's right. These ruins—no, this planet—are extremely valuable. I've already sent your Aunt Ophelia with an army to occupy this world. The fleet will arrive soon. That means… our little vacation is coming to an early end," Josh said honestly.
Mike looked a bit disappointed. He hadn't even had much fun yet, and the trip was already over.
"Father, can I stay and join the fight?" Ben asked after a moment of hesitation.
"…Alright, but you have to follow Ophelia's orders," Josh said, frowning slightly but eventually agreeing.
"Father, I want to—" Mike spoke up too.
"You're going back to Sulawesi to learn how to manage things," Josh said, rolling his eyes.
"Father, that's not fair!" Mike protested.
"Fair? Fine. Beat Ben in a fight, and I'll let you stay," Josh said with a grin.
"…Heh, I was just kidding!" Mike froze, glanced at his eager little brother, and quickly laughed it off.
No way was he going to fight that kid. Even if he won, it'd be pointless—and if he lost, he'd never live it down as the older brother.
Even though there were several years between them, the age gap didn't mean much—they weren't normal kids. In their near-obsessive training, Mike had already struggled to keep up with his younger brother during a sparring match half a year ago. At this point, he wasn't even sure if he could still win.
More importantly, if the kid got it in his head to keep chasing him for sparring matches every day, that would be a real nightmare.
Better to just head back to Sulawesi to study management. At least there, he could relax in the sun with some pretty girls during his free time.
"Sir, I want to stay and fight too!" Another voice joined in—it was Yondu.
Josh didn't refuse.
Soon after, Mike was sent back to Earth, along with the three siblings.
Josh, on the other hand, remained behind to oversee the war.
This planet was even larger than Earth, but due to various factors, its population and the combined strength of its three nations weren't impressive. Under Ophelia's command, it took only half a month for the legion to seize control of most of the land, with minimal losses.
During the campaign, the mechanical legion discovered five more teleportation arrays.
Unfortunately, two were completely destroyed—beyond their current ability to repair. The remaining three had lost their crystal energy sources, just like the one in the Tribe.
Worse still, after taking control of nearly all of the planet's Krym Crystal mines, they found a large amount of Krym Crystals—but most were only suitable for weapons. They could power military equipment and vehicles, but were far too weak to fuel a teleportation array.
It made sense—Josh still didn't know exactly where this planet was in the universe. That meant it was likely very far from the Milky Way—maybe even outside the local galaxy cluster.
To teleport across such distances would require an astronomical amount of energy.
The highest-quality crystal they found only managed to keep a portal open for two minutes before its energy completely ran out and the gate collapsed.
However, after studying the murals and carvings in the ruins where these portals were found, the story of the planet's ancient past began to emerge.
The gods K'ythri and Sharra created this world and its many races, and watched over them with care.
The interstellar teleportation arrays had been built with the help of these two gods. They served as gateways for the planet's races to expand outward. One of the nations founded by a queen who reached Earth tens of thousands of years ago—and later mated with the barbarian king Conan—was likely among them.
But over time, the races on the planet began to fight. A devastating world war broke out, involving every species.
This war didn't just destroy countless civilizations—it also caused the two gods to lose faith in their creations.
In their fury, the gods abandoned the planet and the species they had made.
Because of the war, resources were depleted. The surviving races, weakened and broken, started using the portals to flee the world. Only those without access to portals—or the remaining offshoots—stayed behind.
As time passed, all traces of the old civilization faded. And so the current era was left with nothing but broken relics and scattered legends.
"It looks like the ancient people of this planet already mined nearly all the high-grade crystals that could power the teleporters. Without those crystals, even the civilizations that managed to survive eventually lost contact with the main branches that left… and slowly declined."
Josh sighed, glancing at the crystal he'd found in the original ruins—a now-dim Krym Crystal, possibly the last one on the planet capable of powering an interstellar portal.
"This isn't exactly good news."
"Yeah, without crystals of this grade, those interstellar teleportation arrays are basically just decorations. We can't even maintain proper control over this planet without them! But if Steve Rogers really did leave this planet, like you said, then there must be at least one more high-grade crystal somewhere," Howard the Duck nodded.
"Hard to say. What if he used a lower-grade portal? Those don't last more than a few minutes, but that's more than enough to send one person through," Josh replied, shaking his head slightly.
"Fair point," Howard shrugged helplessly.
"Now we can only hope Narathas brings us good news." Since no high-grade crystals had been found in any land-based Krem mines, Josh had pinned all his hopes on the ocean.
If they still couldn't find the right kind of crystal, he might have to temporarily give up on this planet, leaving part of his legion behind to maintain control while he left—without knowing when he'd return.
"Maybe we can try to find some other, better energy source to replace the crystals," Howard suggested.
"No good. The research teams already tried. It's not just about raw power—you need energy with spatial properties to activate the teleporters. And that kind of energy is really hard to find... Hmm? Wait!" Josh suddenly froze.
"What is it?" Howard asked, seeing Josh's reaction.
"I just remembered—Earth actually does have a perfect energy source with spatial properties. It's just... it's been so long, I almost forgot about it!" Josh rubbed his forehead with a wry smile.
"What is it?" Howard asked curiously.
"The Tesseract, also called the Space Stone. It's what sent Steve Rogers to this planet in the first place... And compared to Krym Crystals, that thing has endless energy!" Josh said with a bright grin.
"Whoa, sounds like a real treasure," Howard raised an eyebrow and finished his tea in one gulp. Once a heavy drinker, he had grown fond of tea after spending time with Josh and Xu Wenwu.
Even without Peggy Carter's influence—one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s original founders in the main timeline—the organization's headquarters was still built in the old military base in New Jersey, where Captain America once trained.
The base had tight security, but to Josh, it meant nothing.
He arrived in the evening, just in time to see Howard Stark leaving work, picked up by his butler, Jarvis.
"Sorry, Howard," Josh muttered, raising an eyebrow as the car drove off. Then he turned invisible and stepped into the underground elevator.
A few minutes later, holding the Power Stone, Josh followed the resonance between the Infinity Stones to a deep vault in the base where the Tesseract was stored.
With one squeeze, the vault door crumpled like paper.
"Beautiful girl… Sorry for forgetting you for so long," Josh said with a smile, looking at the glowing, flawless Tesseract.
"I don't know why, but I feel a bit uneasy today..." Howard muttered, rubbing his temple as he sat in the backseat of the car.
"Sir, I believe you're just exhausted. You've been working nonstop on the reactor for a full week without rest," Jarvis said, glancing at him through the rearview mirror.
"We don't have much choice—that might be our only hope of catching up to Austria," Howard sighed.
Ever since Josh kept pushing the world's technology forward—especially Austria's—no one felt the pressure more than Howard.
Because of his reputation as a genius, nearly all of America's expectations were placed on him.
And on top of that, he was also in charge of a huge part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations.
To free up more time for research, he had slowly started letting go of his power within S.H.I.E.L.D. over the past few years—even though it might not have been the smartest move.
But even with that, he was still exhausted every single day.
"Honestly, what I need more than rest… is to relax," Howard suddenly perked up just as Jarvis was about to keep persuading him.
…Yeah, Howard was still the same old Howard—he really couldn't live without women.
"…If that's truly the case, sir, I did notice a new high-end club that just opened on the way here," Jarvis sighed before offering the idea.
"Great idea—let's go there!" Howard clapped his hands, clearly excited.
Jarvis sighed again and changed direction, heading toward the club.
When they arrived, Howard was quickly surrounded by beautiful women.
His fame was simply too great—countless women wanted to spend the night with him.
Howard didn't hold back at all. He picked the four he liked best.
Just when he was having the time of his life, his portable phone rang. Because Earth's tech development had already gone completely off track, cell phones hadn't become popular yet, but bulky portable phones had appeared more than twenty years early.
They were expensive, but for someone like Howard, it was nothing.
Right now, though, he was "busy" and had no interest in answering. But the phone kept ringing, and eventually he motioned for one of the girls to pick it up.
"Mr. Howard, you must return to the base immediately—the Tesseract has been stolen!"
The woman gently pressed the receiver to his ear, and the voice of a frantic base security officer came through.
The Tesseract was stolen?
Howard, who had been deeply "focused on his game," suddenly froze.
He didn't even bother cleaning up—he just threw on his clothes and dashed out the door.
And the moment he left, all four women inside turned their eyes toward something he forgot in his rush—the "trump cards" he left behind.
Even though Howard had a long history of "card games," he had always been careful to clean up afterward. After all, fun was fun, but leaving his trump cards behind was never part of the deal.
That's why, all these years, he never had a child.
But this time, because things were so urgent, he'd completely forgotten.
And those four women in the room? They understood exactly what those trump cards could mean.
There weren't many—but split between four women, each had a chance to grab one.
Whether or not those cards would actually play out… that would depend on their luck.
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