Chapter 104 (1/2)

Luthor furrowed his brow. It wasn’t rare for someone to enter his office to give him a security briefing. Usually, it involved the empire or the coalition making an advance in technology. Most of the times, he just had to acknowledge the information being presented, and it was rare for him to have to make a decision despite being the president of the federation. However, the information being presented to him this time involved the federation, and he had to make a decision about it, an extremely unusual occurrence. He leaned forward and pressed play on the tablet presented to him.

“Think you were born in the wrong era? Responsibilities bumming you out? Take a trip to the Moon Lotus World, a recently discovered planet with inhabitants who’re still living like it’s the 500s! Most of the substances that make you feel good—but have been ultimately branded as illegal in the three big civilizations—are totally legal there!”

Luthor raised his head. “An advertisement for the Moon Lotus World?” He glanced around, staring at the intelligence officers. “They are developing a bit fast, but what kind of decision do you want me to make? I’ve already personally invited them to the federation; I won’t revoke their membership.”

“The advertisement isn’t the important part,” an intelligence officer said. “That was just the last snippet of a fifteen-minute-long commercial. What’s important comes next.” The officer tapped on the tablet, continuing the video.

“And we’re back!” the host of Metal Warbots said. “I hope you’ve done everything you’ve needed to do to not leave your seats for the foreseeable future! Facing off against two hundred ninety-nine opponents in a battle royale, we have this year’s darkest horse, from the recently discovered Moon Lotus World, Elder Vremya and his robot, Battlesuit!”

“That’s not right,” Mr. Metal said, snatching the mic away from his host. “How can a robot be given such a simple name. Battlesuit? There’s certainly nothing wrong with Elder Vremya’s biotechnological engineering skill, but when it comes to naming, even a child could beat him! In fact, we found an eight-year-old child in the audience while the commercial played!” The camera panned over to the host’s booth where Mr. Metal and the host were sitting. Behind them, there was a child. Mr. Metal turned around and placed the mic in front of the kid’s face. “What do you think, young man? Is Battlesuit a good name?”

“No!” the kid said and shook his head. “It’s a dumb name! That robot beat Metal Croc and Winged Deity! It should be called Metal Buttkicker!”

Mr. Metal snickered. “Did you hear that, folks? What do you think of the name Metal Buttkicker?”

Cheers erupted from the audience, causing Azalea’s expression to darken. She was the one that had named the robot. It was a requirement on the entry form, and she hadn’t put any thought into it at all. Grandpa Vremya didn’t care about names either, and she knew he named things practically. The flying whale golem he had created was dubbed the flying whale golem, and the silver-chicken robes that were turned into golems were dubbed the silver-chicken-robe golems. Following that line of thought, the battlesuit golem should’ve been named Battlesuit Golem, but Azalea had figured that was a little too long. It wasn’t her fault the name of the golem was looked down upon by an eight-year-old child. Besides, it was still a better name than Metal Buttkicker!

“Hey, uh, just wondering,” a man sitting beside Azalea said. He pointed at her chest. “Do you actually go to that gym, or was the t-shirt just assigned to you?”

Azalea glanced down at her chest. A bright logo was pasted on the front of her t-shirt, and it was clearly advertising a certain gym. “It was given to me to waive the entrance fee,” Azalea said. Her eyes lit up. “However, if you want muscles like mine, there’s a product in the Moon Lotus World that can increase your strength just by eating it.”

The man’s eyes widened. “Oh, damn,” he said. “I heard the Moon Lotus World was a very liberal planet with practically no restrictions on drugs, but I didn’t know they produced steroids as well. I think I’ll check it out, thanks.”

Luthor paused the video and raised his head. “Is it about the Moon Lotus World or not?”

“No, that’s just Mr. Metal being creepy and broadcasting the audience’s conversations,” the intelligence officer said. “You know what, let’s just skip to the important part.” He tapped on the tablet twice, skipping ahead in the video and starting it.

“What an incredible display!”

“Err, too far ahead,” the intelligence officer said and tapped on the screen again.