After a year, Ethan returned to the Artemis.
This time was different from the previous few times. The time flow on both sides had completely synchronized, meaning a year had also passed on the Artemis.
He hadn't contacted the Artemis at all during the entire year, and he was very curious about what had happened on the ship during that time.
For example... had Logan thought about going to the DC Universe to see Atlanna during that year?
Because of the time flow, a year here meant much more time had passed in the DC Universe. He wondered what it would be like when Atlanna and Logan reunited after such a long separation.
Thinking about this, Ethan also felt a headache coming on.
Although he had said goodbye to Diana, she must be angry after not seeing him for so long. While Diana wasn't the type to complain, she would definitely find other ways to vent, perhaps by beating him up under the guise of sparring.
As for Starship Troopers and the Marvel Universe, a year had also passed due to the synchronization. He wondered what the situation was like there now.
Based on the time calculation, the Ancient One should have already taken Stephen Strange as a disciple and was diligently training him to become the next Sorcerer Supreme.
Kaecilius and his group were probably about to make their move, and the Dormammu invasion storyline was also about to unfold.
After this storyline ended, coupled with the fact that the remaining plot had already been thoroughly disrupted by him, the only thing worth paying attention to in the Marvel Universe was Thanos, who was preparing his universe population balance plan.
And in the Starship Troopers world, after a year of development, had the situation between humans and bugs changed at all?
As Ethan pondered these questions, he entered the coordinates of the Harry Potter world into the teleportation device. With Ethan's continuous upgrades to the device, the teleportation room was getting closer and closer to his envisioned design.
A large teleportation platform for convenient collective teleportation or transporting large items.
Several single-person teleportation devices that also supported multiple people teleporting together. This design was for situations where everyone wanted to go to the same world but needed to land in different areas.
Each teleportation device had a separate interface, and the holographic projection interface was very user-friendly. The language of the interface could be switched freely, and the interface was simple and direct, so even someone with a low IQ could figure out how to operate it after tinkering with it a bit.
Currently, this teleportation device was only missing the final function from Ethan's envisioned device: random teleportation.
Like Ethan's teleportation magic circle, which randomly threw him into a certain world when he didn't have an urgent need, this seemingly 'least technical' function was actually the one with the most problems and the hardest to solve.
Right now, Ethan could at most input the coordinates of worlds he had been to, but worlds like the DC Universe were specifically marked as 'not yet open'.
To truly achieve random teleportation, he still needed to continue working hard.
While adjusting and upgrading the teleportation device, Luna had been reporting to Ethan about what had happened on the Artemis during the past year.
Generally, nothing major happened. The Artemis was still sailing through space and didn't encounter any space pirates or similar characters. Occasionally encountering some cosmic storms was considered the biggest trouble.
During this time, Nebula, Logan, and Hill would often take turns guarding the ship, while those resting would either go to other worlds to relax and unwind or simply stay on the ship.
"Any visitors?"
"Mr. Tony Stark came once but left after learning you were in another world."
"Tony?"
Ethan immediately realized that Tony must have completed his own teleportation device and came specifically to show off, but didn't expect Ethan to be away.
"What about the others?"
"Mr. Shirou Emiya came to visit every day this year. Sometimes he came alone, and sometimes he came with Miss Artoria or Miss Sakura Matou."
Having learned about the situation on the ship, which was generally uneventful, Ethan began to inquire about the other worlds.
The connection with the Starship Troopers world was the closest. Besides the time synchronization, Annette had also established a supercomputer there to provide a suitable carrier for one of Luna's sub-programs. Because of the close connection between the two sides, the Artemis could now monitor the situation in that world at any time and place.
Cherry Industries' Broadsword rifle had completed its final design, and its power reached the level Ethan had hoped for.
The Iron Monger had been recognized by the Federation and was officially in military service, while the power armor was still in the discussion stage.
Due to the continuous appearance of excellent weapons, the human army had achieved victory after victory against the bugs, as if the goal of eliminating the bugs and unifying the galaxy was within reach.
However, Ethan knew that humans were currently only facing the bugs' fodder. This species called Arachnid had many powerful types that had not yet appeared on the battlefield against humans.
In other words, the Arachnid bugs were not only astonishing in number, but also had high-level combatants within their ranks. When those bugs appeared on the battlefield, the current military strength of humans would cause the battlefield situation to change drastically.
As for why there hadn't been any changes for so long, it was because the galaxy was too large. No matter how many bugs there were, they couldn't notice the situation on a single battlefield in such a short time, and even if they did notice, it would take some time to react. Even though the bugs had very low requirements for living conditions and could conduct interstellar flight by finding any desolate small asteroid, flying still took time, and deploying elite bugs to the battlefield took time.
However, there were some changes on the human side, and this change stemmed precisely from Ethan allowing Imhotep to start training combat personnel.
Imhotep's Temple developed in this world successfully trained the first batch of combat personnel with special abilities for the Federation. This group of elite soldiers, officially named Templar Knights by the Federation, demonstrated combat power far exceeding that of ordinary soldiers in their first practical combat.
More importantly, the priests trained by the Temple also showed extremely high value on the battlefield. They could use miraculous power to heal wounded soldiers, and most soldiers could even immediately stand up and continue fighting. Leaving aside the increase in combat effectiveness for now, the soldiers' morale alone was greatly boosted.
With the presence of this group of priests, the human soldiers, whose morale had exploded, even chased the bugs and slaughtered them.
Because of the great value shown by the Temple, the Federation officially recognized the Temple and promoted this emerging religious group within human territory. The previous suppression from various traditional religious groups was all kicked aside. After all, the Federation in this world implemented secularism.
With the promotion and support of the Federation, the Temple developed very smoothly. In just over half a year, the number of followers had increased by who knows how many times.
Although the growth rate of followers began to decrease rapidly, these current followers had already provided the Temple with a massive amount of faith power, and it had been converted into Holy Light power that could be used by the followers, namely the Templar Knights and priests.
Incidentally, Ethan's small Kingdom of Heaven was also growing vigorously. It wouldn't be long before the cross serving as the carrier would instead become a burden to the Kingdom of Heaven's continued evolution.
This problem wasn't urgent to solve at the moment. After Ethan finished adjusting the teleportation device, he finally walked out of the teleportation room.
He had been busy for a while and planned to rest before dealing with the remaining matters.
"Scáthach?"
Looking at Scáthach, who still had a hint of youthfulness about her, Ethan looked at her with some confusion.
"I thought you would have directly removed the remaining effects of the potion?"
"What are you talking about? The effects of the potion on me disappeared a long time ago."
Ethan looked at Scáthach, who still had a ponytail and a hint of youthfulness. After thinking for a moment, he swallowed the words that were about to come out. He had been busy for several days straight and wanted to get some good rest. He didn't want to spend the rest of the day trying to avoid a red magic spear that might appear at any time or place.
"Did you need something?"
"I want to go to Diana's world for a visit. If I want to go there, I can only ask you to take me, right?"
A stable connection channel to the DC Universe hadn't been established yet, so Ethan had to take her there. However, after the adjustments, it was possible to summon and return through the teleportation device in reverse.
"I'm also going over in a few days. Wait a few more days."
Scáthach nodded. She wasn't in a hurry for these few days. As she walked forward with Ethan, she asked him in confusion why he hadn't brought Hermione back.
Ethan felt like there were black lines all over his forehead. "Does that mean I have to bring back every young girl I meet?"
"Seeing how much you cared about that little girl, I just felt like you wouldn't let her go."
"Why does that sound so weird?"
It sounded like he was some great demon king preparing to abduct a princess from some country. Was that really his image?
As for Hermione, Ethan didn't deny having a good impression of her. In his previous life, she was a female character who had influenced almost a generation. Many people had practically watched Hermione grow up or had grown up alongside her, and had secretly revered her as a goddess.
Although Ethan hadn't revered her as the goddess in his heart in his previous life (even though the goddesses in his heart in his previous life could form a reinforced company), he didn't deny having a special feeling for her.
Of course, having feelings didn't mean he had to obtain her and hold her tightly. He preferred things to develop naturally.
"Talking so poetically, aren't you just being a coward? Are you afraid of Diana getting angry?"
"You're so blunt, you'll easily lose friends."
(To be continued.)