After Lorien sent out the flowers, the two girls admired them for a long while.
Lorien glanced at the ti.
5:53 p.m.
"Enough looking. We need to go, or Gwen will co out and not see us, and she’ll be furious."
"Oh, right~!"
Wanda finally reacted to his words. But she didn’t want to take the rose outside. What if it got damaged?
Lorien noticed her concern and said,
"Relax. I added a buff to this rose. It’ll never wither. It’ll always look just like this."
"That’s still not good enough."
Wanda clearly cherished the rose deeply.
"Wait a second. I’ll put it away first."
She quickly took off her shoes, ran back, pulled out a vase she had prepared long ago, placed the rose inside, and then stored it in Little Universe before coming back, reassured.
Seeing this, Hela put hers away too. Neither of them brought their roses out.
"Alright, fine."
Looking at how cautious they were, Lorien shook his head helplessly and snapped his fingers.
Snap!
The next mont, the three of them vanished and reappeared near Gwen’s exam venue.
5:58 p.m.
Lorien checked the ti and made a guess.
"6:01. Gwen should co out right on ti."
"Huh?" Hela tilted her head in confusion. "Why?"
Hmph~
Lorien smiled. "Because I taught her."
Wanda couldn’t hold back a laugh and chuckled silently against his shoulder.
It was true. For Gwen, the exam was just a formality. She had already designed the Spider-Gwen suit back in High School! And now they were saying a school exam would be difficult for her?
So if the exam ended at six, it made perfect sense she’d be out by 6:01.
Ti ticked by quickly.
6:00 p.m.—no Gwen.
6:00:40 p.m.—
Wanda looked into the distance and spotted soone in a white coat with a pink jacket underneath, carrying a small teal backpack.
"Gwen’s out!"
They recognized her instantly.
Then at exactly 6:01—
"Lorien~!"
As soon as she erged, Gwen leapt into Lorien’s arms without hesitation!
People nearby stared in surprise, both at Gwen and at the striking trio she had just run to.
Lorien thought that was it. But Gwen cupped his face in her hands, leaned in, and planted a heavy kiss.
"Mua~!"
Bold.
Very bold.
Yet the people around them weren’t too shocked. They’d long gotten used to things like this.
Parents already knew high schoolers dated. If their kids went through all of high school without liking anyone, that was what actually worried them.
Is my kid closeted?
Is he gay?
Is she a lesbian?
So dating wasn’t the concern. What worried parents was whether their kid’s partner was trouble.
Would he get you into drugs?
Would he drag you into gangs and bad habits?
Would he involve you in sothing dangerous?
Of course, that wasn’t always the case. Strict parents still kept close watch.
Take Gwen, for example. If her boyfriend weren’t Lorien, her father definitely wouldn’t have approved.
...
"Oh my god... Gwen?"
At that mont, a familiar voice rang out. Gwen froze, then turned her head—her mother was standing nearby.
And she herself was hanging on Lorien’s waist.
"Uh..."
Gwen quickly jumped down, lips pressed tight, completely flustered.
"Um..."
Seeing her short-circuit, Lorien turned to the elegant woman in front of him. He smiled and nodded politely.
"Hello, Mrs. Stacy. I’m Lorien Su. Gwen has ntioned before."
"Oh! You’re Lorien?!"
Mrs. Stacy was montarily stunned. She looked him over—perfect figure, extraordinary presence, strikingly handso features, and a smile that lted the heart.
Whether judging from a mother-in-law’s perspective or as if grading her first crush, he scored a perfect 100.
No, a thousand percent.
"Gwen talks about you often. George said he t you and was very pleased. Now I see he was right, and I agree."
It was Lorien’s first ti eting Gwen’s mother. But when he saw the sparkle in her eyes, he knew he wouldn’t need to say much.
If he asked her to tie her hair up, she might actually do it.
Ahem, just kidding.
"Mom, didn’t you say you didn’t have ti to co?"
After Lorien and Mrs. Stacy exchanged a few words, Gwen finally snapped out of it and tried to push back.
"I wanted to give you a surprise. Surprise~!" Mrs. Stacy smiled, then looked at Lorien again.
"But now, you’ve given a surprise."
Gwen’s face turned crimson. Still, she grabbed Lorien’s hand firmly.
"Then you guessed right. Once my results co out, I’ll bring Lorien ho for dinner!"
"Of course!"
Mrs. Stacy nodded without hesitation.
"When? What do you want to eat? I’ll prepare it in advance."
Gwen: ...
Her mother looked even more excited than she was.
Gwen had braced herself for trouble—but instead, the opposite happened!
Her head spun a little. She thought hard.
"Let’s wait until the results co out. I want to give George a surprise."
"No problem."
Gwen’s mother agreed imdiately. She glanced at Gwen holding Lorien’s hand, then smiled, waved, and said,
"Alright, I won’t bother you two. I’ll head back first."
She turned to leave, but after just two steps, she looked back.
"Gwen, you’re already an adult. You don’t have to co ho tonight. I’ll explain things to George."
"Mom!"
Her mother winked playfully, then finally walked away for real.
Lorien couldn’t help but chuckle. That wink... it looked awfully familiar.
Thinking about it, wasn’t it just like how Gwen had winked earlier? Almost identical.
After Mrs. Stacy disappeared from view, Wanda watched the direction she had gone and murmured,
"How interesting."
Because both Wanda and Hela had perception-blocking effects on them, Gwen’s mother hadn’t noticed them at all, assuming they were just random bystanders.
From Wanda’s tone, Lorien could tell she was sighing about how life with a good mother must be more fulfilling.
But Wanda’s parents... had died in the chaos of war.
So Lorien reached out, rubbed her head, and said,
"It’s alright. I can be both your husband and your father, Wanda."
Wanda blinked in surprise, then broke into laughter and gave him a light slap.
"You just ruined the mood."
"What’s the point of keeping such a depressing mood anyway?"
The heavy atmosphere dispersed. Lorien turned back to Gwen with a mysterious smile.
"Want to give you a surprise?"
Gwen’s eyes lit up instantly, and she nodded vigorously.
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Lorien extended his hand, palm down, back of his hand facing up. Gwen saw the gesture and guessed imdiately.
"You’re making focus, right!?"
Lorien flipped his hand open. Nothing there.
"Huh?"
Gwen lowered her head for a closer look—still nothing.
Then, in the next instant, Lorien snapped his fingers.
Snap!
Between his index finger and thumb, a rose appeared, its stem engraved with golden lettering.
Gwen’s eyes widened. She clapped her hands over her mouth in delight.
"Wow~~~!"
Lorien twirled the rose slightly.
"Don’t want it?"
"Yes, I do!"
She answered quickly, then carefully took the rose from him, holding it as though it might shatter. She studied the words on the stem, then lifted it to her nose.
"It slls wonderful—it’s Lorien’s love scent!"
"There’s even a fragrance like that?" Lorien chuckled.
He then told her about the plan to visit Cybertron later.
"Good! Let’s go!" Gwen agreed without hesitation.
"But..."
She glanced at the rose in her hand, hesitating.
"I’d like to take it ho first. I’m afraid it’ll get damaged."
Gwen was no different from Wanda and Hela. None of them wanted to risk ruining their roses.
Wanda smiled and stepped forward.
"I’ve already prepared for that. Put it in."
She waved her hand, and a scarlet portal opened in the air. On the other side was a transparent vase, clearly within the Little Universe.
"Perfect!"
Gwen’s eyes sparkled as she carefully placed her rose inside. Wanda then closed the portal.
With that settled, Lorien raised his hand.
"Let’s go see how Cybertron is doing."
"Let’s go~!"
Snap!
With a snap of his fingers, the four of them vanished from the public world. The people around acted as though they hadn’t noticed a thing. Only those familiar with Lorien would have realized.
Of course, he didn’t always use this thod. But today there had been too many people at Gwen’s exam venue, and with Wanda being the Scarlet Witch—a recognizable face—it wasn’t wise to expose themselves.
...
The next mont, the four appeared in the solar system—on Mars. Or rather, what was now Cybertron.
The mont Lorien arrived, he noticed that Knowhere had been mined into, one corner carved out as if soone had taken a bite from an apple.
Yet considering the Transforrs’ constant, large-scale mining, the fact that only a single corner was missing showed how much was still inside the Celestial’s head.
At the sa ti, Cybertron itself had changed drastically.
It used to be steel terrain blocks mixed with greenery.
Now it was steel forests alongside vast green forests.
The steel cities were either towering skyward or sprawling across massive areas. The green ecosystems were either as tall as the World Tree or densely lush.
"What a huge change!"
Gwen exclaid in awe, pointing to small black dots moving across the surface and fighter jets soaring through the sky.
"There are so many more robots and Transforr descendants now. When we ca the second ti, there weren’t nearly this many."
Lorien looked down and nodded in agreent.
From their position in the planet’s sub-orbital height, even with just a casual glance, they could see hundreds of Transforr descendants and countless robots.
But the Elders were nowhere in sight.
Lorien checked the locator and saw that most of them were underground. Cybertron’s core lifeline was there—construction, resource transport, everything was being carried out below the surface.
"Then let’s go see the underground."
With a snap of his fingers, Lorien brought the four of them below.
What they saw was enormous—glowing with radiant energy.
"The Core Forge!?"
Hela’s eyes widened in surprise as she blurted out its na.
Gwen turned to her curiously.
"You know it?"
"Of course!" Hela pointed straight at the Core Forge.
"The dwarves have one too, but theirs is heated by multiple planets working together. That’s why their Core Forge can create divine artifacts! A lot of Asgard’s weapons and equipnt were forged by them."
With Hela’s explanation, Wanda and Gwen imdiately understood.
Cybertron’s Core Forge wouldn’t be inferior either—just that it lacked the ability to forge divine weapons.
But when Gwen looked further around, she noticed sothing else.
The surface resembled a city. But the underground—this was a planetary-scale production machine.
Countless warships and starships were being built on automated assembly lines. Out of the thousand Elders, at least seven hundred were below, researching technology and developing systems.
"How spectacular~!"
Wanda marveled at the sheer scale.
Aboveground, one could still see the blending of nature and machinery. But underground, it was pure steel.
The Elders had hollowed out Mars completely, classifying and stacking every ore they mined.
So might ask—wouldn’t the planet collapse?
Not at all. The Transforrs had installed gravitational and anti-gravity control devices to hold Mars’s outer shell in place. From the outside, it looked the sa as ever—though you couldn’t dig too deeply anymore.
Holding Lorien’s hand, Wanda looked around, sighing softly.
"This place keeps advancing. They’re not going to end up conquering the universe for you, are they?"
"Why overthink it?" Lorien smiled carelessly.
"When I first brought Gwen here, it was just for fun. I asked her if she wanted to feel what it was like to be a creator. You build a civilization, but don’t ddle in its affairs—only guide it. The better they develop, the more accomplished you feel, and the happier you are. Isn’t that right, Gwen?"
Gwen nodded vigorously.
"Yes! Watching them grow is so fascinating. When we first created them, the Elders only knew how to dig rocks. They were like primitive people, trading minerals for minerals. Of course, it’s still a bit like that now, but seeing them beco more and more advanced makes so happy!"
She bead as she spoke.
That was the joy of being a creator—enlighten them, guide them, and let them develop on their own. Then you could even accept their offerings.
That was the joy of being a god.
I am the God of the Transforrs.
...
Suddenly, Hela fixed her eyes on one direction. She pointed near the Core Forge.
"What are they doing over there? Why are hundreds of Elders gathered together?"
Lorien followed her gaze. She was right.
Gwen tilted her head in curiosity.
"What are they doing?"
"Let’s go see."
Lorien took a step forward.
...
All at once, a surge of violet light erupted, flooding all of Cybertron’s underground with radiance.
Boom!
A deafening roar shook the entire planet. Then, just as suddenly, the violet light vanished.
Hela lowered her shielding hand to look. The Elders had activated a light shield, and they were completely unhard.
But Lorien froze.
Since when did the Transforrs have light shield technology?
And that violet light—what was it? How could it carry such destructive power?
He imdiately snapped his fingers.
Snap!
The four of them appeared above the source of the light.
The Elders spotted Lorien at once and bowed with the utmost respect.
"Creator!"
The Collector was there too. He quickly set down his instrunt, bent at the waist, and greeted,
"Mr. Creator!"
But Lorien’s eyes locked on the source of the light.
Damn it.
The Power Stone!?
Why is it here!?
Where did you even get it?
Wait—did you go looting again!?
Reviews
All reviews (0)