Ethan's act was very successful, extremely successful, perhaps even a bit too successful.

Secretary of Defense John Keller immediately shifted his focus away from the Transformers, making Ethan his top priority, and eagerly invited him to visit the nearby base. He wanted to take Ethan to a more important location, but that was not possible to arrange for now.

First, he had to stabilize this person, then quickly report the situation to the President.

This was a matter far beyond the authority of a single Secretary of Defense. Ethan's appearance not only signified the arrival of aliens but, because of his magical abilities, could also trigger a series of religious issues. How to handle such a situation required careful discussion.

Ethan did not refuse the invitation. He also wanted further contact with the officials of this world, preferably to reach some cooperation agreements.

As for the Transformer issue, that had now become something that could be solved as a side task.

The Autobots transformed back into cars. This time, even hot-tempered warriors like Ironhide and Jazz, if they had any dissatisfaction, dared not show it in front of Ethan.

Compared to ordinary people, who were merely astonished by the miraculous sights, the Autobots felt far more.

That area had been filled with active energy, and the quality of that energy was extremely high.

This meant extremely strong power. At that time, all the Autobots had been enveloped in it, their lives completely in Ethan's hands, with no way to resist.

Ratchet had mentioned before that the energy within Ethan was astonishingly strong. At the time, the Autobots did not take it too seriously, thinking Ethan might be like them, possessing an energy core within his body, equivalent to a human's vital organs, the core of his kind of lifeform.

But even Optimus Prime, who had the strongest core energy among the Autobots, could not use it as he pleased. It was said that only a very few Transformers could develop special abilities to directly wield their own energy, but that existed only in legend, something most Autobots treated as a story.

They had never expected to one day see a cosmic lifeform who could freely use its own energy, and more terrifyingly, this Ethan, who looked no different from an Earthling, could use energy of astonishing intensity.

At this moment, the Autobots finally understood why Ethan had shown so little concern about Megatron earlier. If they had this ability, they would not take Megatron seriously either.

"Were you using abilities you learned from the Reality Stone just now?"

Ethan, sitting quietly in the car, was not as still as he seemed. Tony was using magic to "private chat" with him, perfectly avoiding all surveillance devices. The Autobots could detect energy fluctuations, but right now, they dared not casually intercept or analyze them, fearing they might anger Ethan.

"Sort of, and sort of not."

Ethan explained that the abilities he had just displayed did include some elements learned from the Reality Stone, but it was more a perfect application of his long-accumulated knowledge.

"Let there be light" had used his unique Holy Light.

Making it rain was simply applying his mastered water attribute, perfectly converting magical energy into raindrops and letting them fall from the sky.

Only the subsequent growth of grass and trees involved some knowledge learned from the Reality Stone, combined with the Druidic nature magic he had obtained from Azeroth.

"What about those vegetables and fruits?"

"Arcane mages are very good at using magic to create various foods. I just slightly modified those abilities and combined them with Druidic nature magic."

No matter how much those fruits and vegetables looked like real ones, they were essentially just condensed magical energy. Based on his understanding of "real objects," Ethan combined magic power according to the basic structure of each fruit.

In some sense, they were indeed those fruits, but they could not exist for long and required Ethan to maintain them with magic power. Once the magic stopped, they would revert to pure magic power.

Of course, with some Arcane magic techniques, they could last a little longer and would not immediately vanish when the magic output ended.

"Does that mean eating these foods is the same as not eating them?"

This was what Tony was most curious about. Since those foods were composed of magic power, once eaten, and without Ethan maintaining them, their composition would revert to pure magic power that ordinary people could not absorb. Even if the appearance remained, could humans truly absorb this food and convert it into usable energy?

"No, there's still a difference."

Beginner Arcane mages could only create food that filled the stomach. It could not be absorbed, meaning it could not be converted into energy for the body. Being full was simply being full, with no other effect. Even if a mage ate such food, they could not recycle the magic used.

Some might ask, what was the point of that?

In fact, this spell was developed to avoid physical discomfort from hunger during continuous battles. As long as you ate something, even without nutrition, your body would feel more comfortable, allowing you to keep fighting in good condition.

As understanding of Arcane magic deepened, skilled mages could create real food, identical in structure to the genuine article, which the body could absorb and convert.

At that stage, the value of the spell greatly increased, allowing mages to travel long distances without carrying supplies and without worrying about starvation.

In other words, they could replenish physical strength or other energy deficiencies by consuming magic power.

Normally, mages would not continue researching food creation once they reached this level.

Ethan was different. He was pushing further, aiming to use his magic to "create" real objects that would not disappear or revert to magic power once he stopped maintaining them.

After explaining this to Tony, Tony understood that the fruits and vegetables Ethan had created fell into the category of being edible and filling, but not absorbable.

After all, it was a large-scale spell. If Ethan specifically "created a fruit tree," the fruits on it might truly fill the stomach and replenish energy.

In any case, each person had eaten only one, and Ethan had not given them the chance to eat more. It was normal for them not to feel full, and there was no risk of anyone noticing something strange.

The convoy soon arrived at a military base. Soldiers who had received the news immediately cleared out a large warehouse for the Autobots to drive into directly.

Whether for the upcoming discussions or as a resting place for the Autobots, the warehouse was a good choice.

Comfortable living quarters were also set up inside the warehouse for Ethan and his group.

As for Secretary of Defense John Keller, he immediately left for Washington D.C. to personally report the situation to the President.

This was fine. The Decepticons still did not know Megatron's location and could only wander like headless flies, so Ethan and the others had time to spare.

Optimus Prime also did not urge the humans to speed up negotiations. He had realized that as long as Ethan had an interest in the Allspark, he would eventually retrieve the treasure vital to the Transformers.

The Secretary of Defense left quickly with a group of assistants, advisors, and several generals. Sector 7 agent Simmons did not go with them but stayed behind to "host" these friends from outer space.

Simmons had not wanted the job, but the Secretary of Defense's words gave him no room to argue: Your Sector 7 is the department most familiar with them, so I can only entrust this to you.

Simmons had no choice but to accept with a bitter face. So, after the large group left the warehouse, besides the Autobots and the soldiers on guard acting as "waiters," only Simmons remained.

"You don't doubt my identity now, do you?"

Simmons found Ethan's smile particularly irritating, but he could not do anything about it, so he helplessly changed the subject.

"Maybe you are indeed an alien… but those few over there shouldn't be, right?"

The Secretary of Defense and the generals had not paid much attention to minor figures like Sam and Mikaela, focusing entirely on Optimus Prime and Ethan.

Simmons was different. His training as an agent meant he would not overlook any suspicious person.

Ethan's identity was confirmed, but what about the others? These people looked like Earthlings, and the time from meeting them to arriving here had been enough to collect more data.

Except for the one named Tony, whose identity appeared out of thin air like Ethan's, the other two were definitely native Earthlings with complete records.

Simmons looked at Mikaela and Sam, wondering how these two ordinary young people had gotten involved with multiple aliens.

Sam was somewhat special, as his grandfather had been among the earliest explorers to discover Megatron and the Allspark (though he had not called it that).

As for Mikaela? She was the daughter of a car thief, with a criminal record. Aside from her looks, there was nothing remarkable about her.

"Is it just because she's pretty?"

He shifted his gaze to the middle-aged man at the end, recalling his identity information.

"Tony Stark? Couldn't you put a little more effort into choosing a fake name? Do you think you're Iron Man?"

(To be continued.)

***

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