Everyone chatted in the psychic space for quite a while. J'onn, reunited with his wife and daughter, was grinning ear to ear. Thea checked the time and pulled the two living ones out.
After becoming a New God, her power had grown too strong. Her mere presence for a few moments threatened the space's stability. Combined with J'onn and his niece's considerable strength, which also burdened the realm heavily, the three returned outside.
Settling these centuries-dead "people" was manageable, but M'gann M'orzz, very much alive, presented complications.
Martian reproduction was peculiar. Despite the genocide occurring centuries ago, her actual age was barely forty—still a child by Martian standards.
The Martian Manhunter went into full dad mode, lecturing the young Martian girl who wanted to explore the cosmos. She should settle down on Earth first, then consider cosmic adventures.
Thea told him to handle the kid while she went back to loot H'ronmeer's corpse. Actually, she was eyeing his whip—though sized for a hundred-meter giant, it was too large for her. She planned to have Diana reforge it later.
Additionally, H'ronmeer's special technique—the Living Flames—she carefully packaged away. This unique fire required careful study back home.
She spent the next three days surveying all of Mars' mineral deposits and establishing basic communication with the planetary will.
Mars was already a desert wasteland—there were no environmental concerns. After simply negotiating Earth's resource extraction rights, she returned to Metropolis.
Through several channels, she met with the actual leaders of various nations. Anyone with basic intelligence could see resources were a critical issue. Thea not only provided partial Mars survey results but included a simple design for personal combat mechs.
Want to get stronger? Come on—resource extraction is your only path forward. And interstellar mining was unavoidable.
The nations were semi-reluctantly pulled onto her bandwagon, beginning preliminary preparations. Launch centers across multiple countries started intensive arrangements, with aerospace talent being drafted by governments left and right.
Thea didn't leave them to figure things out alone. She provided several upgraded versions of existing technology for reference: rockets, airships, spacecraft, plus massive satellites similar to the Justice League's Watchtower space station.
The major powers unanimously chose the aircraft carrier-to-space carrier conversion plan. Thea had drawn inspiration from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier from the neighboring Marvel universe. Her enhanced version could not only fly but conduct short-range space travel.
Of course, "short-range" for her meant something vastly different for humans—this was genuinely revolutionary tech.
Numerous human scientists began working tirelessly to integrate alien technology with human science. Thea couldn't help much there. She did have expertise, but modern society's disciplines were too specialized, divisions too refined. At best she could offer broad guidelines. Many details she only half understood—actual implementation required human research.
Otherwise, if the space carrier fell out of the sky mid-flight, that would be tragic.
After mingling with scientists for barely a month, she had to leave the laboratory. Diana had returned.
"You've gotten more beautiful!" The warrior goddess's first words upon meeting.
This delighted Thea immensely. Her current stats were peculiar—Strength and Agility were weakest, Intelligence and Perception merely decent, but Charisma, which she'd never particularly focused on, was highest. Maybe that was wealth's inherent perk.
In different people's eyes, she presented different beauty. Regardless of gender or species—even silicon-based lifeforms found her extraordinarily attractive, despite having completely incompatible aesthetics.
"Did you find your Source?" Thea examined Diana carefully. Her aura felt different from before, but also unlike Thea's own transformation. It didn't look like Source fusion.
"Source?" Diana asked.
Thea realized—worried about influencing Diana's choice, she'd never mentioned these things. With those concerns gone, she recounted her entire ascension process, including Highfather and that whole crowd.
"I see. Mine probably isn't fusion. If I had to name it, I'd call it cultivation." The warrior goddess considered carefully.
Diana's concepts were vague. Thea had to question her for answers, and together they gradually pieced together the basic framework.
Unlike Thea directly harvesting a mature Source, Diana had obtained a wild Source too immature, requiring patient cultivation—or perhaps symbiosis.
Unlike the original timeline where she'd obtained the failed Ares' war godhood, Diana was now walking the New God path. Her Source was named Guardian.
The name obviously indicated combat capability, fundamentally different from Thea's.
But that was future business. The gap between newborn and mature Sources was vast. For the first time in a century, Thea comprehensively outmatched Diana. She couldn't have been happier.
Using the excuse that clothing impeded Source-to-Source communication, the Goddess of Wealth gleefully dragged the proto-Guardian Goddess into bed.
Golden hair and black hair intertwined, two equally smooth and flawless pairs of legs entangled. The night ended with the Goddess of Wealth's complete victory!
After two weeks of intimacy, they finally remembered actual business.
Diana needed to gradually comprehend Guardian's meaning. Thea's suggestion: start simple—like guarding love, guarding family—then progressively expand to entire peoples, worlds, etc.
"You still need me to guard you?" The warrior goddess, recently defeated in sparring, was rather grumpy.
Seeing this rare expression, Thea felt light as air for days. But she didn't slack off. Temporary advantage didn't mean permanent superiority. Diana was grinding away in pursuit—she had to maintain her edge.
Still, she'd prepared a surprise for Diana. They traveled to the Eastern Mediterranean. Paradise Island had been returned to its original position by Thea, who'd quasi-legitimately siphoned power from New Genesis's magical network. The network now served far more than just the Sorcery Corps—the entire New God race benefited. She'd extracted a tiny fraction from millions of spellcasters' daily accumulated magical energy to rebuild Paradise Island's barriers.
Watching her thousand-year home return to the mortal world, Diana was both excited and moved, further clarifying her mission. She wanted to stay here awhile and seriously contemplate her future.
Thea handed her H'ronmeer's whip for modification. Paradise Island had all necessary forging equipment. Reforging one whip, Diana hammered away, converting the hundred-meter length into three meters. The internal flame storage function remained, though Thea couldn't use the psychic-derived Living Flames. She substituted magic instead. Referencing the Living Flames' properties, she created pure, unadulterated magical fire she named Silverflame.
Thea stayed with her for two weeks before Diana kicked her out. On the deserted island with just the two of them, they'd been "exchanging notes" constantly, leaving Diana dizzy and exhausted. Though psychologically and physiologically extremely pleasurable—they even had divine-level communion beyond words—this was genuinely delightful from every angle. But continuing like this meant neither would accomplish anything in a thousand years.
Both needed to keep advancing. Thea's divine position required deeper exploration, Diana's Source needed slow growth. They had no time to waste.