"A disciple?"
Tony solemnly re-examined the little girl in front of him, dressed in unfashionable clothes, seemingly from some backward world.
He had studied magic with Ethan and knew how high the talent requirements were for the knowledge Ethan possessed, and he was also very proud of his ability to learn those things. Ordinary people were simply not qualified to become Ethan's students.
Although Sherry had been learning magic knowledge from Ethan on and off, she wasn't actually Ethan's disciple because her talent wasn't high enough. Many things Ethan knew, Sherry couldn't learn at all, of course, if Sherry truly wanted to become Ethan's student, it wouldn't be impossible for Ethan. He could make up for it with massive resources.
This was because Sherry had known Ethan since she was very young and had lived on his ship for a considerable amount of time. Ethan had practically watched her grow up, and with this emotional foundation, investing various resources in Sherry was nothing.
Leah's situation was completely different. Ethan was directly taking her as his disciple, which proved that this little girl's talent was absolutely exceptional.
"In the blink of an eye, you're already taking disciples. You're getting old too."
Tony was very curious about how high Leah's talent was, but he didn't want to ask such a question directly, as it would make him seem jealous of someone else's talent, which was ridiculous. Would he, Tony Stark, envy someone else's talent? He himself was a typical example of explosive talent. Others were always the ones envying him.
"I'm still very young, okay? Compared to a lifespan of tens of thousands of years or even eternity, my few decades are still just infancy."
Pepper rolled her eyes helplessly. Because Ethan always looked like he was in his twenties, she almost forgot that he wasn't much younger than them. But a baby in his dozens... She suddenly thought that she had also received enhancements, and her lifespan had been considerably extended. Calculating by her current lifespan, she, who was already starting to enter old age from middle age, had suddenly turned back into her teenage years?
Just thinking about it made her happy.
Especially since her youthful appearance would last for a long time, she would no longer have to worry about aging.
"Let's eat. These dishes are getting cold."
"Actually, some dishes are already cold. Should I ask the chef to make them again?"
"No need."
Ethan gently raised his hand and lightly pointed at the slightly cold dishes. After a flash of magical light, the dishes became hot again. Although there was still a slight difference from when they were just out of the pot, at least they wouldn't be eating cold food.
"Oh, this spell is so convenient. Why didn't you teach it to me before?"
"Because I couldn't use this kind of spell so easily before."
These kinds of spell-like tricks were things without specific theories, like "I wish these cold dishes would become hot and steaming, and they became hot and steaming."
All such spells were classified by Merlin as tricks, but their casting difficulty was nothing like tricks. For Ethan, they were even more troublesome than many large-scale attack spells because he could only cast them mechanically and couldn't fully understand how they worked.
It wasn't until his mental energy universe was completely stable and formed, and he gained a deeper understanding of many inexplicable spells, that he could cast these tricks as he pleased.
"Understood, it means I can't learn it yet. That sounds really annoying."
Tony casually speared a piece of roasted meat and chewed it.
"I remember I asked for this steak to be medium-rare. Now it's almost well-done."
"I like it well-done."
Ethan wouldn't tell him that he had only just fully mastered this spell, so in terms of details, things like medium-rare would be directly heated to well-done. To perfectly differentiate and heat them would probably take a while longer.
"Then I'll leave these to you."
Although he said that, Tony placed the plate of steak in front of Leah. He had already noticed that the little girl had been looking at the steak but hadn't touched it.
Seems like a somewhat introverted little girl?
It must be said that cute children are welcomed everywhere. Not only did Tony take care of her during the meal, but Pepper had already taken on the task of taking Leah out to buy clothes after dinner.
"Uh, I brought clothes."
"Those clothes aren't suitable for our world. If you wear those outside, a lot of people will stare at you."
Pepper's emotional intelligence was much higher than Tony's. She would never say something like, "Those clothes are old and unfashionable, just throw them away." She would only say that dressing habits are different in many places, and if she wanted to avoid excessive attention, she needed to learn how to blend in with the local environment.
She even used Ethan as an example, saying that he often travels between multiple worlds and frequently changes his attire according to the environment of the current world. Even though he was wearing clothes similar to hers now, he usually wore local clothing here.
Leah nodded. Pepper's words made a lot of sense, and she had no reason to refuse.
However, she didn't have any money.
"Your teacher is very rich."
Leah turned to look at Ethan. It must be said that after Ethan gave Leah the identity of a student, her anxiety about the unfamiliar environment lessened considerably.
They had no relation, yet she had to follow Ethan to a strange place. How would she get along with Ethan? What would her future life be like? She didn't know any of it. No matter how sensible she was, she was still a child and couldn't adjust her mindset as well as an adult.
But with this identity, Leah at least had a direction. Follow her teacher and learn things.
This would be the main theme of her future life.
"Not just clothes, buy everything she needs. Oh, it's best to buy a few slightly larger sets in advance, since she's growing very quickly at this age."
"You don't need to tell me that."
The meal finished quickly. Although Tony had prepared a large table of food, for three people who were no longer considered normal, finishing it was no pressure at all.
Poor Leah saw them continuously eating. Although she was already very full, she still sat by their side accompanying them. Finally, Ethan took the initiative to pull Tony aside to discuss the Prometheus, and only then did Leah let out a sigh of relief. She had never eaten so full in her life, feeling a strange mix of pain and happiness.
"Is the Prometheus refitted?"
"Yes, the exterior basically hasn't changed, but the internal facilities have been largely redone."
Besides the reactor and engines, Tony also optimized the control system and made some adjustments to the internal structure. In addition to making the living quarters more comfortable, they also re-adjusted the life support systems, considering that Ethan and his team would no longer be in hibernation during voyages.
"Putting food aside for now, although water is easy to collect in space, it still needs to be actively collected and processed in various ways."
The Prometheus was fitted with a water resource processing unit. While traveling, it could release small automatic capture devices to collect solid water back to the ship and then process it into potable clean water.
In addition to technological processing, Tony also specially constructed several purification circles within it to ensure that no unknown viruses or similar things escaped detection, using magic to directly disassemble and reassemble the water resources, only reassembling the parts known to be absolutely harmless to the human body into clean water. This way, while making it potable, it could maximize the retention of nutrients in the water.
After all, drinking too much so-called purified water would also lead to nutrient deficiencies, which is a problem that most current water purification devices cannot solve.
There were no ordinary people left in Ethan's team, but considering the possibility of new members or temporary passengers, the modifications were still designed according to the needs of ordinary people.
Besides ensuring the water supply, some bottled water would also be injected with nutrients so that even during long voyages, there would be no symptoms of nutrient deficiency.
Tony and Hank Pym, two top scientists, plus Scott Lang, the Ant-Man who was bored after eating his fill and came to help, and Hank's wife, the former Wasp Janet, these few people had considered almost every conceivable issue.
The current Prometheus was a better spaceship than the original version, equipped with all the requirements for long-term voyages. After being fitted with energy shields and replaced with a nanotech armor hull, the Prometheus had also transformed from a purely exploratory research vessel into a small warship.
"Let me tell you, you'd better pick up the ship quickly, otherwise I can't guarantee that guy Scott won't steal the spaceship one day and take it for a spin in the universe."
Since the Prometheus was refitted, this spaceship, which could be called Earth's first deep space vessel, had Hank Pym and his family's eyes gleaming green every day, staring at the ship intently. This forced Tony to have Happy guard it long-term.
Actually, if Tony hadn't already taken a trip to space, he probably would have already taken the ship out himself.
"In that case, I'll go pick up the spaceship now."
"That's for the best."
"I'll leave after I change clothes."
At this time, Pepper said goodbye and took Leah out shopping. Ethan had already changed into more casual clothes and pants, then made a gesture toward Tony. He didn't know where the factory that refitted the ship was, so he needed Tony to provide the teleportation coordinates this time.
Although Tony was a mage who practiced arcane energy, he could still use Kamar-Taj's teleportation spells. The two stepped through the circular portal and arrived directly at the secret factory located north of New York. This was also the Avengers' base.
(To be continued.)