Chapter 54: Closed-door 'Cultivation' and a Lost Prince

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"Intelligence will help you build a company; wisdom will help you build an empire."

- Matshona Dhliwayo

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<(Atem POV)> 

"This is amazing. I think Earth just became my second favorite planet now." I declared after some time while Zenith began to land on my newly acquired planet slowly. 

As soon as my giant city touched the surface of Ego, the planet itself began to merge with the city, absorbing the city into itself like it was its long-lost brother or something. 

I could feel that the planet was subservient to my will. It was like a giant spaceship to which I had the remote control. And now that it was merging with the city of Zenith, that control only became more and more prominent as the planet inherited some of the traits of the city.

Truthfully, it was quite an interesting feeling, because I could not only feel the planet evolving but also feel myself getting stronger as I absorbed the energies emanating from the planet. The ego of... Ego had already been destroyed as the sunstone had taken over the planet's brain but that didn't mean the planet was already dead. No, it was still alive and even had some amount of consciousness left in it. In fact, one can even say that it was semi-sentient... like a loyal dog, only less responsive.

"Well, this is no doubt the most beautiful place I have ever seen, and believe me, I have seen a lot of places including Asgard and Alfhein to name a few, but what I want to know is that, is this planet even habitable? I don't see any trees around here, or any animals. The only thing that this planet has which points towards the fact that this might be able to support life is the presence of an atmosphere." Karnilla curiously mentioned as she surveyed the surroundings with a spell.

She was right. There was not even a single animal or plant around us, well, at least not any that appeared normal. Soil still existed but it was completely covered with crystals. There was not a single living being on the entire planet besides the ones in the city. But that didn't mean life couldn't exist on the planet at all.

No. Life always found a way and life here wasn't any different. Even though there currently wasn't a single animal or plant on the planet, it still possessed the genetic code of the thousands of types of plants that Ego had come across or collected for his biosphere during his intergalactic travels. I knew from my connection to the planet that I could grow them on the planet whenever I wanted. A simple command of my will is enough to populate the entire planet with dense and lush forests.

The crystals that now make up the planet's surface would not only support plants and farming but would even gladly give way to the soil underneath if needed. 

"You don't have to worry about that. This planet has everything it needs to maintain life. Just focus on making sure that new residents of the planet are properly settled and happy in their new lives while the planet adjusts itself to become completely self-sustainable to support all its new citizens." I answered as a giant tree rose a few kilometers away from where we were standing seemingly verifying my words. "Oh and start breeding new spikes with the genetic changes I mentioned as well. We will be combining them with para-sentinel technology to create the best cyborg soldiers in the universe. I want the first batch of soldiers to be ready by the time I get back." 

"Are you going somewhere?" A female voice suddenly asked as Brunhilde slowly approached us with a stoic countenance on her face. 

For the last few days, the Valkyrie had been spending almost all of her time either drinking and celebrating the fall of the Grandmaster or moping around like some sad depressed little girl due to the absence of any real purpose in her life.

It seems that her involvement with us during the planetary race had reminded her of her time in Asgard serving in Odin's army and she had both begun missing the adventures of her old life while also reminiscing about her old comrades and her bad life choices. So, I had been trying my best to cheer her up while subtly trying to recruit her. I think I have even progressed quite a bit on that front since she has warmed up to me a lot more than before. 

"Yes, I am. I had previously reached a bottleneck in my power, but now I think I am very close to an evolution of sorts. That is why I need some time alone. You can even say that I am going on a closed-door... cultivation." I joked with a big grin but unfortunately, both Karnilla and Brunhilde failed to understand the reference as they just awkwardly stared at me with raised brows, hoping for me to explain further.

"Forget it. Just take care of the keys of the kingdom and make sure not to drive it to the ground while I am gone. I hope that I will be back real soon but still, if I am not, then take Zoya's help to develop this planet faster. She will be online in just two more weeks anyway." I instructed to which Karnilla obediently nodded while Brunhilde just looked at me with a complicated gaze. 

"You know you remind me of my old boss... However, you are much more bearable than that old fuck. He was a major dick half of his waking moments while he was not being a power-hungry warmonger... But still, despite being a world-class manipulative stubborn asshole, he was a good ruler, something that you are as well." Brunhilde smiled in appreciation as she made her way to me and gave me an awkward slap of encouragement on my biceps.

Okay, telling her that I am actually the son of her previous boss just became a whole lot more complicated now... Well, future problems to the future me.

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<(Omniscient POV) > 

"Go to hell suckers HAHAHHAHA. None of you can even hope to match my awesomeness. So, just come to Mama and DIE." A girl in a white and pink costume that looked an awful lot like Deadpool's shot the last few terrorists lying on the floor who still looked alive due to them twitching while also shooting a few extra rounds just to make sure that everyone in this room was one hundred percent dead.

"Hey, you guys reading this book, are you all wondering about who I am? Well, can you guess? Yes, that's right. I am the sexiest girl in Atem's harem, the one he loves the most, the one and only Incredible Amazing Mighty DORA, THE EXPLO... I mean GWENPOOL... I don't own the copyrights to any of those names by the way. They belong to their respective creators." The girl talked to no one in particular as she laughed like crazy while staring at the empty air in front of her. "What are you talking about author-San? I am talking to those degenerate readers of yours, not empty air. Right, Jeffrey?"

"But Jeffrey don't hear anything." The huge muscular shark lightly groaned as it looked at its owner in a confused manner.

"Huh, you think I am lying? Do you think your mommy could ever lie? My own son doesn't believe his mother anymore. *Sniff Sniff* So sad. I am going to complain to your father when he returns. Also, forget about the roasted human meat I promised you. Roast your own meat from now on. I won't be doing it for you anymore. *Huff*" Gwen pouted in annoyance as she began to search the entire terrorist base while leaving Jeffrey wide-mouthed at his 'mother's' shameless antics.

She wasn't just here to pass the time. She needed something here, something really important that the terrorists had. The others had sent her here to these backward and terrorist-infested regions of Africa to specifically fetch that. 

And no, it was not adamantium or Vibranium but something much rarer. She was here for the heart-shaped herb. The herb was only available within the borders of Wakanda and was directly responsible for giving the chosen ones of the nation Super soldier capabilities. It was in a way, a naturally occurring Super soldier serum that had miraculous properties. Miss Sinister always desired it for her research. But she had never thought that she would be able to get her hands on one. So, when she got the news of a certain terrorist group successfully being able to steal one such herb from Wakanda, she had of course requested Gwenpool to bring it to her. 

Miss Sinister herself was quite busy since her new medicine was just entering the production phase. That's why she had to take Gwen's help. She even had to promise her a couple of favors for her to agree to it so quickly. But unfortunately, Gwen hadn't found even a single heart-shaped herb in the base. She had found the dead bodies of giant gorillas as well as bags of different kinds of animal blood and organs but not a single trace of the herb which was extremely suspicious. 

"Are these guys some sort of vampires or something? But I thought big sis Shiklah had almost taken over the entire vampire and monster world. She would have known if there was such a monster terrorist group like this here and would have at least given us a heads-up. Also, none of those guys seemed like a vampire to me. They were too weak to be anything but regular humans... Oh god, all this thinking is making my head hurt. I should just take everything home and let the smart guys figure stuff out. Yep." Gwen nodded to herself as she happily began to pack everything valuable, she found in different bags.

"Mommy, Jeffrey found another hooman. He is coming towards us." The overgrown shark declared calmly as it pointed at the stairs in front of them through where they had entered before.

As soon as the shark had spoken, a man appeared slowly descending the stairs with a distinct happiness in his gait. He was a dark-skinned man who looked quite young and athletic as he walked with a smile on his face. However, the most noticeable thing about the man was the existence of dozens of small cuts all over his upper body and arms.

"... Who are you two? What did you do to my men?" The man asked with fury present in his stern voice as soon as he noticed their presence inside the bunker with all the other terrorists lying around dead.

"... Killmonger? Whacha a bad apple like ya doing here?" Gwenpool exclaimed in wonder as she eyed the man up and down. "Well, ya know what? Don't answer that. I'll just take ya back home. I am sure that they can figure some way out to exchange ya for some weed, I mean herbs... Wow, sometimes I even surprise myself by how much of a genius I am." 

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