Damian nodded silently as he observed Frank's performance. He wasn't particularly impressive in any aspect, but he had the willpower to overcome adversity. He didn't crumble even after receiving two shots that could easily bring down an elephant.
"Tell me, who is that boy? He looks quite young," Damian asked the scientist.
"He's a native of Madripoor. We don't have much information since you hadn't taken control of Madripoor at that time," the scientist replied.
"We know he was always a loner and joined the army at the age of 16. Ophelia let him in. The boy could barely read, and fighting was the only thing he knew. His psychological profile shows some improvements."
"Hm, keep an eye on him," Damian said. The boy seemed stable, but one never knows what might happen in the future.
All the soldiers regrouped, wearing somewhat unnatural expressions due to missing the opportunity to use the armor.
Damian took a step forward and began to speak.
"We've witnessed some truly interesting fights. Everyone has showcased their abilities in one way or another. But don't be saddened by losing this opportunity. In the future, you'll also have the chance to have your armor. So, strive not to lose," Damian "consoled" those who lost.
"The ten individuals who obtained the opportunity to have the armor must not relax either. You must acquire the raw materials to create armor for your comrades. This is their responsibility as winners," Damian said seriously.
"The armor will be assembled based on your measurements. You'll have two months to train before embarking on an expedition to obtain materials and gain experience in a real fight with the armor."
"That's all. You may go and rest," Damian dismissed them.
"You truly look like a general, sir," the scientist praised Damian.
Damian merely looked at the scientist silently.
"Send probes across the land to search for the necessary materials to create more armor," Damian said.
He paused for a moment before speaking again.
"Leave the sea aside," Damian said, thinking of his daughter's desire to explore it.
"Yes, sir. Although I'm not sure if such material exists, one of the remarkable aspects of our armor is its fluidity. We use a specially synthesized semi-sensitive gel made from the cerebrospinal fluid of a Celestial. The reserves we had were obtained from Knowhere, the severed head of a Celestial," the scientist said.
"I don't think such materials exist on Earth."
"Without this gel, the armor would be clumsier and weaker. It is one of the main components," the scientist explained.
"Hm, scan anyway. Earth can sometimes surprise you," Damian nodded.
"I'll return. Inform me if anything happens," Damian said before disappearing.
Damian returned home while thinking about Knowhere. He supposed they would go to obtain the materials. Perhaps he could take his family for a ride.
Damian entered the living room where Alice, Emma, and Ivy were watching television, leaning against Sassy who was sleeping on her side.
Sophia was sitting on the couch, reading a book, occasionally glancing at the girls.
Upon seeing him, the three girls waved to greet him before returning their attention to the cartoon.
Damian, who was about to open his arms for a hug, couldn't help but freeze upon realizing his daughters only greeted him with a wave.
Sophia let out a small laugh at the sight before returning to her book.
Damian approached his daughters and lay down next to Alice.
"Darling, what are you watching?" Damian asked, despite knowing the answer.
"The Fairly OddParents," Alice replied, smiling at him before shifting her gaze back to the TV.
Damian was familiar with The Fairly OddParents; he remembered watching it during his childhood. He had been surprised when he found out it also existed in this world.
Seeing his daughters so engrossed in the show, he couldn't help but murmur in complaint.
"What's so great about it? I can do much better," Damian grumbled, dissatisfied with his daughters' lack of attention toward him.
Although Damian was complaining to himself, Alice still heard him.
"Daddy, can you make things appear out of nowhere?" Alice asked, looking at him. Her question also caught Emma and Ivy's attention as they also turned to look at him.
"Of course," Damian said, conjuring a cake in his hands. He had all sorts of things in his storage.
"How about a car?" Ivy asked.
Damian made a car appear, floating above their heads.
"A pink dinosaur," Emma said, her eyes sparkling.
Damian's hand, about to perform a visual effect, couldn't help but freeze.
Stolen novel; please report.
"Uh? Do you hear that? I think your mother is calling me. We can continue another time," Damian said, pretending to hear something before hastily disappearing. He definitely couldn't shatter his perfect image in front of his daughters.
Sophia burst into laughter at seeing him escape like that. It was the first time she saw Damian retreat defeated; surely only his daughters and wives could do that to him.
The three girls looked at him innocently before returning to watching television. They would surely ask their father for more things later.
Damian, who had escaped from the living room, had a somber look as he tried to figure out how to do magic like The Fairly OddParents.
He had some ideas but needed time; he figured he could just postpone his daughters' requests while he conducted his research.
Since there's no better time than the present, Damian teleported to Kamar-Taj.
Damian appeared in front of Jen, who was reading a book while having tea.
"Now, what do you want?" Jen asked without taking her eyes off the book.
"I want to read your entire library," Damian said seriously.
"Oh? Interested in magic now? I can teach you if you call me 'master'," Jen said, looking up from her book and mocking him.
"What a pervert," Damian said, shaking his head in disappointment.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Jen asked, annoyed, almost throwing the book at him.
"It's clear that you want to be my master to take advantage of my body," Damian said, looking at her as if she were a pervert.
"I've lived for hundreds of years; I've definitely seen more handsome men than you," Jen said, irritated.
"It's debatable, but I respect your poor taste," Damian said, nodding understandingly.
"Just go to the library," Jen said, dismissing him.
"Sure, remember to come for dinner whenever you want," Damian said as he left the room.
Damian walked to the library; he had never actually entered it, but Jen had given him a tour years ago.
Upon entering the building, he was stopped by an old man around 60 years old who looked at him expressionlessly.
"I came to look at books; Je-the Ancient One agreed," Damian said before continuing to walk and starting to browse through the books.
The old librarian hesitated when he saw Damian pass by; he didn't dare to stop him again for fear of causing a conflict. He continued watching Damian before returning to his post. In the end, knowledge in Kamar-Taj was not forbidden.
A month quickly passed as Damian read the entire library of Kamar-Taj.
He spent over 8 hours a day reading, making sure to spend enough time with his family. However, he had been avoiding his daughters as they insisted on him doing magic like The Fairly OddParents.
Upon hearing the laughter of his wives, he suspected that they had found out and had encouraged his daughters to tease him.
He would show them.
Damian's use of magical power had always been rather crude, and he had only gained finer control over his magic through enchantments.
Nevertheless, in terms of energy control, he was fairly average.
But after conducting research, Damian believed he had found a new way to perform magic by combining the magic of Kamar-Taj, the enchantments of Asgard, and drawing inspiration from his past life.
Damian teleported to space before looking at his phone, which had been ringing for a while.
Once again, he was told to go to the laboratory as they had found something. However, Damian told them to wait. His reputation in front of his daughters was more important.
Damian drew inspiration from many stories of his previous life in an attempt to create this new magic system.
The first step was to locate the place where magic was stored. In the case of vampires, it was in their hearts.
Damian sensed the immense amount of magic contained in his heart before using his magic to create a circle of runes.
He was trying to create his own magical circle based on imagination.
The idea was to turn the magic circle into a kind of catalyst. The user would send their magical power and imagine the desired outcome. The power of the spell would depend on the amount of magic they sent.
In essence, magic is taking a thought and making it real.
In simple terms, it was just a magical circle that allowed you to use any spell you wanted as long as you provided magic to it.
Being quite confident in engraving enchantments, Damian began carving them into nothingness.
With confidence, Damian finished carving it with a smile before suddenly bursting into a mist of blood.
In an instant, his body reformed, and he wore an astonished expression.
For several minutes, Damian stared into nothingness. He had never experienced anything like that before, existing without being able to feel anything.
After several minutes, Damian managed to regain his composure and began to ponder what went wrong.
In the end, he couldn't come up with anything, so gritting his teeth and cursing, he started engraving the enchantment again. The only way to know what went wrong was to fail once more.
Damian quickly finished the enchantment before speeding up his reaction time to see what would happen. That's when he realized his mistake. It was like writing in the air, which wasn't possible. He needed a surface to place the enchantment.
He naively thought it would simply condense once the enchantment was completed.
This time, Damian was prepared. He reinforced his body with magic, preventing it from exploding. It felt like sneezing while pinching his nose.
Damian pondered for a moment, then sent some of his magic to his hand and tried to make it rotate, taking on a semi-solid form.
His magic began to spin, almost taking the shape of a small disk before collapsing.
"I suppose I don't have enough control," murmured Damian in frustration.
Damian sighed before appearing in the underground laboratory. He had postponed his affairs for too long, and he still needed some practice to better control his magical power.
"My lord, you've finally arrived. A week ago, we found something truly incredible," the scientist said excitedly upon seeing him.
"Tell me," Damian said, looking at the screen and raising an eyebrow at the highlighted area in Antarctica.
"As you instructed, I sent drones to scan the entire planet to obtain materials, and while we found most of the materials, the most important one is still missing. We'll have to go to Kwohere to get it," said the scientist, shaking his head.
"While scanning the planet, one of the drones reached Antarctica and discovered a completely new ecosystem. It's a place filled with resources, and we should quickly seize control of it," said the excited scientist.
"We didn't dare to enter because we don't know if there's any civilization dominating that place. We're waiting for your instructions, my lord," said the scientist, looking at him.
"You did well," Damian replied, thinking about the Savage Lands.
Damian only knew about it from the comics, but it shouldn't exist in this universe.
"How does it look from the satellites?" Damian asked.
Regarding that, the scientist replied, "From what we can see, it appears as if there's nothing there, just snow-capped mountains. That's why I didn't dare to explore further. There's a high likelihood of intelligent life."
"I'll go check it out. Just wait for my response," Damian said before teleporting high above Antarctica.
At first glance, Damian saw the same view as the satellites, but when he focused, he could see a tropical place with highly developed fauna, including various prehistoric creatures like dinosaurs.
In the center, there was a large city. Damian observed dark-skinned humanoid beings wearing a kind of blue armor. They seemed to possess advanced technology, at least superior to the average world outside.
There were also humanoid beings with animal-like appearances, appearing as hybrids of all the animals in the wildlands.
Damian couldn't help but wonder if this was a natural or artificial occurrence. If it was natural, it was somewhat eerie.
Damian wasn't in a hurry to descend; he simply continued observing them while waiting for an opportunity to gather information.
Ideally, he wanted to interrogate the dark-skinned beings with armor, but they didn't seem to come out often.
After waiting for an hour, a human-dinosaur hybrid separated from the group, and Damian appeared in ethereal form, using his abilities to take control of it.