"The new generation of Guardians of the Globe members—I've basically locked them in. Let's congratulate Jovian, Atom Eve, Dupli-Kate, Monster Girl, Shrinking Rae, and Black Samson…"
Robot Jack faced the crowd and announced the new Guardians of the Globe roster.
"As for today…"
"Everyone, go get treated first. We'll hold the official meeting after you've recovered!"
Robot looked at the heroes forcing themselves to stay upright through their injuries, waiting for him to finish announcing the lineup, and spoke softly.
"Oh my God…"
"This is the worst injury I've taken in my entire life!"
The moment Robot finished speaking, the heroes immediately started complaining. One after another, they lay sprawled on medics' stretchers, wailing.
"Zero heroic image."
Jovian crossed his arms over his chest, looked at those so-called superheroes, and shook his head—deliberately putting on a look like he was deeply disappointed.
"Jovian, cut them a little slack! They don't have a body of steel like you do!"
Eve tapped his chest—hard as iron—and said.
"That's not an excuse. We need to overcome everything. The enemy won't give us time to grow!"
"Plenty of them have great abilities, but they're missing the iron will our predecessors had. Darkwing was a normal human—no powers at all—and yet he still stood on the front lines without hesitation, every single time."
Jovian looked like he wanted to forge steel out of mud, acting like a captain furious and pained by the new generation's lack of backbone.
Then again, Darkwing's willpower really had been terrifying. He was someone who'd tried to fight Jovian's steel body with sheer iron will… even if the end result was Jovian punching him so hard his body exploded…
"Jovian… sure, Earth can't count on that bunch for now, but thankfully, we still have you…"
Eve looked at the tall, powerfully built Jovian beside her and spoke softly.
"Yeah. You still have me…"
After hearing Eve, Jovian smiled—like the first ray of sunrise that melts winter and turns the whole world warm again.
Moments later…
They went to a house in the woods, conveniently isolated, to spend some time together.
Unfortunately, the camera stopped recording…
Apparently they ate some fruit—juicy melon and peach for Jovian, banana for Eve, oddly juicy too, according to her.
After that, the two moved on to high-intensity exercise and a game called "Tree Holes"… was that really the name? Probably—considering they were surrounded by trees.
Eve pushed through what seemed like an asthma attack and some cramps, and the pair capped it off with a few cigarettes—a strange combination…
The game was so fun they ran a few more rounds, working up a serious sweat. By the end, Eve was so sore she slipped into a deep sleep.
These are all assumptions—after all, the camera didn't record this part.
After that Jovian returned home with a empty look. (TN: I assume I don't need to explain the camera reference)
He'd basically handled the Guardians' situation. The remaining problems weren't things he wanted to deal with right now. Whether it was the possible arrival of Battle Beast on Earth, or Grand Regent Thragg out in the endless stars plotting to conquer the universe, Jovian had no intention of fighting them yet.
Right now, he only needed to do one thing: get stronger—strong enough to crush both Battle Beast and Grand Regent Thragg.
"Kitty, I'll let you live a few more days…"
"When I get back, I'll turn you into a fur coat."
Jovian rubbed his chin. Sooner or later, he was going to make a fur coat out of that white lion.
"Spacetime Gate—connect me to The Boys world!"
Jovian thought silently, activating the Spacetime Gate inside his mind.
Spacetime Gate linking…
Spacetime Gate link complete. Connected to The Boys world.
Note: After the host enters another world, time in the main world will completely freeze.
"Good…"
"Then—enter The Boys world!"
Jovian gave a light nod and decided to cross over.
"VMMM!!!"
"Whoosh!"
In an instant, Jovian's figure vanished from where he stood…
The Boys world.
Two people—a white man and a white woman—were making out on the roadside. The next second, with a thunderous boom, a blue blur tore through the woman's body at extreme speed…
In a blink, the woman turned into a spray of fragments…
The man stared at the blood raining down, mouth hanging open. He couldn't understand how the girlfriend he'd been kissing a second ago had turned into this. He twisted around to look forward—and saw a Black man in a tight blue suit staring back at him in sheer panic.
"I can't stop, I can't stop, I can't stop…"
The man in the blue suit kept babbling that he couldn't stop. Then, before the white man could say anything, he turned and sprinted away at high speed—yeah, he fled the scene.
"Robin?!"
The white man stared at the disappearing figure in the blue suit, then slowly lowered his head—only to see that both his hands were still holding his sweet girlfriend's hands, dripping with ketchup.
"Robin! Robin! Robin!!"
The white man nearly collapsed as he screamed, his eyes full of despair and agony…
"WTF…"
Right as the man was breaking down, a tall figure in a white bodysuit with a huge F on the chest appeared on a street not far from the incident.
"My head's buzzing. This Spacetime Gate is fucking trash—needs an upgrade…"
Jovian pressed a hand to his head. His first world-jump had been a terrible experience.
World mission triggered: Become the real hero in the hearts of all people across the world.
Estimated reward: This world will become the host's second main world. The host may freely enter and leave at will, without consuming energy.
The host may freely dispatch others into this world, without consuming energy.
This world's time flow will be fully bound to the main world. Time ratio between the two worlds is 1:1.
All unique substances and items from this world may be taken out freely, and anything taken out will automatically adapt to match the physical rules of other worlds.
In simple terms: as long as Jovian completes the world mission, Jovian becomes this world's Freeborn[1]. The benefits are that Jovian can come and go freely, and he can also take this world's unique Compound V out with him—use it on people from other worlds—and, most importantly, Compound V will fully adapt to the rules of other universes. Meaning: once Jovian goes to other universes, he can keep improving Compound V using other worlds' rules. That's huge. Even though Jovian doesn't know a damn thing about chemistry, there are plenty of people across the multiverse who can improve Compound V—like Tony Stark, or some totally ordinary white-haired old guy named Rick. When the time comes, he'll definitely get the perfect version of Compound V.
"So I just have to finish the mission to get all those benefits?!"
"So if I become everyone's hero, I become the owner of the world?"
Jovian frowned as he read the mission.
"Yes…"
The system—an artificial dumbass Jovian built himself—gave the prompt.
"But I refuse! I, Freeborn Jovian, love nothing more than telling any system that hands me a mission to go fuck itself!"
Jovian rejected the mission on the spot.
"What kind of bullshit mission is this?!"
Jovian stared at the task and genuinely wondered if this system was really his own creation. Rewards were fine—but missions? He never did missions other people set for him. Even if it was a system he built with his own hands, it still didn't get to assign him shit.
"Mission change…"
In his mind, Jovian modified the system.
Highest authority applied…
Changing mission…
Mission change complete!
World mission triggered: Become the Freeborn of everyone in The Boys world!
Other than changing it from "become the real hero in everyone's hearts" to "become the real Freeborn in everyone's hearts," all rewards remain exactly the same.
A fake Freeborn does the system's missions and works for it.
A real Freeborn doesn't just own the system—he becomes everyone's Freeborn, too!
I can do whatever the fuck I want. Nobody gets to order me around…
So now the question is: how does he become the Freeborn in everyone's hearts?
"That's easy!"
"First, become a member of The Seven, then kill everyone who dares resist me."
"Then have the PR team hype me up like crazy. Done!"
Jovian already had a complete plan in his head: join The Seven first, then pin Homelander down and crush him.
It's like how one world doesn't need two people flying around in the sky, and one skyscraper can't have two people firing off Getsuga Tensho (Bleach) at the same time!
"Right now, The Seven should have six members: Homelander, Queen Maeve, A-Train, Black Noir, The Deep, and Translucent…"
"According to the plot, Starlight will replace whoever leaves."
Jovian raised an eyebrow, thinking about who to target first.
[1] Better?