"What the hell kind of name is that?"
Ethan's Million Angels Plan was still just an idea in his head, but before he could even begin implementing it, Logan had already scoffed at it.
When conducting experiments, Ethan usually locked the workshop door, making it impossible to open from the outside.
However, this time he was simply planning to study the "gift" Anubis had left behind, so the door wasn't locked. Logan happened to walk in just as Ethan mentioned the name he had come up with, and upon hearing it, couldn't help but mock it.
"You're not resting?"
"You know, the older you get, the less sleep you need."
Logan was indeed quite old, but the oldest person on the ship was clearly Loki. Even setting aside the fifteen-hundred-year-old god, there was also a six-hundred-year-old vampire. Logan, just over two hundred years old, could only play the old man in front of Ethan and Ada.
Now there were also two ancient Egyptians over three thousand years old. Though their actual ages weren't quite that long, so maybe they didn't count as truly over three thousand?
His thoughts drifted off again. Fortunately, Ethan's mind worked quickly now. After briefly wondering whether Captain America should be considered in his twenties or nineties, he pulled himself back and looked at Logan.
"So you're not sleeping and came to chat with me?"
"I figured you wouldn't be resting either, so I came to check on you."
Logan surveyed Ethan's workbench. There wasn't much on it, just a pile of tattered cloth—the bandage Ethan had just removed—and a plain-looking cross pendant with no patterns. He knew it was Ethan's Holy Light Cross.
"How are your injuries?"
Ethan had removed the bandage, which suggested he had started dealing with the injury on his hand.
"Didn't you say you were going to study Anubis's power? Did something go wrong?"
"Nothing went wrong. I just thought of a new use for it, so I transferred that energy into the cross."
Ethan's right arm was still broken, but after removing the lingering death energy, it had begun to slowly heal on its own.
If he wanted, he could use magic to accelerate the healing process and his arm would recover in no time. But he hadn't done so yet.
Logan glanced at the cross, then at Ethan's hand, and finally at Ethan's expression. Confirming that he wasn't just putting on a brave face, he dropped the subject.
"So, you'll recover quickly?" Logan casually pulled out a cigar, but after glancing at the surroundings, he didn't light it. He held it under his nose and took a whiff before putting it away again. "Does that mean you're getting ready to head to a new world?"
"No, I'll still take some time to rest, just like I said before."
According to the original plan, the worlds Ethan was going to visit included the X-Men world to deliver the package entrusted by old Professor Charles, the Mummy world to learn soul and necromancy magic, and the Caribbean world to study Blackbeard's black magic of bottling ships.
He had already visited the first two, so his next destination was clearly the Caribbean world.
After being injured by Anubis in the Mummy world, Ethan had said he needed a buffer period to study Anubis's death power before heading to the Caribbean.
At the time, Ethan hadn't expected to use up the death energy so quickly. What he thought would take time was resolved in an instant. Normally, he would have immediately started preparing to head to the next world.
However, this time, Ethan didn't plan to leave right away. He wanted to rest for a while and enjoy some leisure time at sea.
"Is something wrong? Is there a world you want to go to?"
Logan waved his hand. He really didn't have any particular world in mind at the moment.
Or rather, after completing Charles's request, Logan had no clear goal. For now, he was just following Ethan. When Ethan traveled to other worlds, he followed. When there was fighting to do, he gave his all. That had become his purpose.
The only personal objective he had now was raising Laura, the daughter who had unexpectedly appeared, into a better person than he was.
"No, I'm just glad you decided to rest for a while."
He had come over specifically because he wanted to persuade Ethan not to rush between worlds. Living a relatively peaceful life at sea after visiting a world, like he used to, was actually a good approach.
Not only did it help digest the gains from the last world, it also gave him time to rest and recover.
As for problems in this world?
Logan felt this world was just a vacation spot. He hadn't encountered any real trouble here. At most, the sea weather could be rough and annoying after being at sea too long.
Of course, a major reason for the long breaks between Ethan's earlier world travels was that he didn't have a good grasp of the space-time orb, and had to search for and collect space-time energy, which was consumed in large amounts each time.
Because of that, every time Ethan returned from a world, he took a significant break—sometimes as short as a month, sometimes as long as half a year.
"Actually, the last two worlds I went to were pretty much like vacations, so you don't need to worry."
Ethan understood what Logan was worried about. He was afraid Ethan was pushing himself too hard, always moving forward at full speed. Even though Ethan's body and mind were at a superhuman level now, staying in a high-strung state for too long could still lead to problems.
"Even if you haven't encountered any tough enemies, your eagerness to achieve results and solve all your problems at once will still put a burden on you."
Ethan understood this, but that was just his personality. The reason he hadn't solved those problems before was that he wasn't strong enough. Now that he was strong enough, he wanted to resolve everything at once, so he could do whatever he wanted afterward.
For example, if he felt unhappy one day, he could pick a world he found fun and not dangerous in his past life, take a vacation, and casually fix the plot points he disliked.
He had wanted to do this for a long time, especially after figuring out how the space-time orb worked. Teleportation was no longer random, and now it was somewhat controllable, making those ideas completely feasible.
It was just that he had made a lot of promises, and if he went off to enjoy himself before fulfilling them, Ethan wouldn't feel right.
"It's just that things have felt a little urgent lately. Once these few problems are taken care of, I won't need to keep rushing around."
Logan understood what Ethan was thinking and respected his sense of responsibility. He just hoped Ethan wouldn't be too hasty.
"Problems are never-ending. Just when you think you've solved everything, new ones will always pop up. So don't rush. Just move forward at a steady pace."
Ethan nodded. After all, Logan was worried about him, and what he said made sense.
Problems always popped up. At first, it was survival and food, then learning magic, then building his ship and equipment.
Once he gained the ability to protect himself, he made several promises to repay the people who helped him. Now that his strength was enough, he wanted to fulfill them, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be other things to deal with.
Odin had given him so many benefits, he would probably ask for help in a few years.
Before that, there was the Ancient One's problem. Although Ethan didn't yet have the strength to help her, he believed that next time he went to the Marvel Universe, she would give him some clues and let him know what kind of trouble she was facing.
Other issues, like Thanos targeting the Infinity Stones, and the Tesseract—symbolizing space—being in his hands, were minor. The solution was simple: fight Thanos. He didn't even have to win, just not lose.
Besides that, there was Themyscira. As long as the Mother Box remained there, he would eventually have to face Steppenwolf.
If this had happened before, Ethan might have panicked. But now, he was more curious whether his current strength was enough to fight Darkseid's vanguard general.
That uncle of the Dark Lord was quite powerful and not easy to deal with. But the movie version of Steppenwolf wasn't that strong, getting beaten by Superman like a child. Ethan figured his current strength should be enough to take him on.
"Speaking of which, I should make some time to visit Diana."
Lately, he'd been busy and focused on the joy of his rapid growth, so he'd been caught up in training and almost forgot about Diana.
"I think what you should be wondering now is whether you can survive one of Diana's full-powered strikes."
Logan thought about how the number of women on the Goddess of Dawn had rapidly increased after Diana left. In such a short time, several had joined. He wondered what Diana's reaction would be when she found out?
"That scene will definitely be something to see."
Ethan looked at Logan speechlessly. Couldn't this guy think something positive for once? Shaking his head, he pushed aside the thought. He didn't want to think about that particular headache.
"Besides Diana, I should also go see Arthur. Before, I didn't have the ability to choose which world I went to. Now that I do, it feels wrong not to go see him."
Thinking about it, Ethan helplessly realized that Logan's words were already proving true. Problems really were never-ending. In just this short conversation, several more had popped up.
(To be continued.)