Young Professor Charles

After a brief rest on the island and replenishing enough supplies, Yinsen and the others set sail again. Considering the actions that might come next, Yinsen piloted the Goddess of Dawn toward the Southern Sea Route.

Whenever the guild launched an attack on Beckford, Yinsen, being nearby, could join in at any time.

If his plan went smoothly, this might be the last time the Goddess of Dawn sailed as his vessel. Once he completed all the "preparations," he would head to the Marvel Universe to retrieve his magic-modified Prinz Eugen.

However, Yinsen would not sell the Goddess of Dawn. Previously, he had had no way to store it, but after another trip to the Caribbean World, he would be able to shrink it down and place it in a specially made glass container as a keepsake.

Thinking back, Yinsen realized that not much of his equipment had met a good end. Most had been scrapped before they ever reached "retirement." He sincerely hoped the Goddess of Dawn would not suffer the same fate.

After leaving Central Island, Yinsen did not maintain a fixed course. He generally headed south while constantly using the Space-Time Pointer to search for Space-Time Energy. If someone looked down from high above at the entire sea and connected Yinsen’s sailing route with a line, they would think the captain had gone mad.

Still, Yinsen continued drawing closer to the Southern Sea Route. He did not plan to venture deep into its latter half, instead circling around near the earlier section and continuously gathering enough Space-Time Energy.

As he used Space-Time Energy more and more, and continued studying it himself, he had a feeling that he might break through his current limitations at any moment. The restriction that only allowed him to remain in a target world for one year seemed likely to be broken by him soon.

But he was not in a hurry to do that yet. After collecting energy along the way and finally reaching the entrance to the route—the bend—Yinsen guided the Goddess of Dawn in a wide arc and turned into the route from the "outside path."

Hardly any adventurers traveled this route under normal circumstances. Only a few might sail near these waters because of Floating Islands.

Yinsen had tested it with the pointer. There were no Floating Islands nearby during this period, making the area absolutely secluded—perfect for quietly doing their own thing.

"Are you really not going?"

Laura was silent for a while before finally shaking her head firmly. Even though Yinsen had explained that they were only going to take a look and could perhaps meet some new companions along the way.

Though that had prompted Laura to ask, "So what if we become friends? Can we bring them onto the ship too?"

Yinsen had only replied, "If you can convince them, there’s no reason you can’t."

But Laura ultimately decided not to take part in this crossing.

Yinsen did not force her. Before setting out, he asked everyone one last time. Once he confirmed no one had changed their mind, Yinsen took Logan and Ada to their destination.

An X-Men world.

During the crossing, he continuously poured his will into the pointer in his hand. As his powerful will flooded in, the orb-shaped pointer, which had always emitted a blue glow, began to change. Traces of golden-red light appeared amid the blue, and then, as the golden light surged, Yinsen and the others opened their eyes once more and found themselves in another world.

"Uh… where are we?"

Ada looked around. The pedestrians’ clothing and the cars on the road served as fairly accurate references, and as a spy, she reacted quickly to such details.

"Looks like America in the fifties or sixties."

Most of the cars on the street were muscle cars from that era. This was practically the golden age of American muscle cars, and many famous later models had been born between the fifties and seventies.

"I suddenly realized it was a mistake for me to come along."

Logan was studying the surroundings. He was not a mage like Yinsen, who could recall every detail from his memories given enough time, nor was he an elite spy like Ada, trained in such matters.

Though he possessed special abilities, he behaved much like an ordinary person most of the time. He was careless in daily life, and his memories gradually faded with the passage of time.

If Yinsen had brought him to around the year 2000, perhaps he could have recalled enough. But this era seemed a little too far back. His memories were vague, and more importantly, he could not determine exactly what period this was.

As he wondered what he had been doing during this period, he only casually glanced over when he heard Ada’s words. It was not until he saw Ada’s distinctly Asian features that he realized what she meant.

"At this time, your appearance will indeed lead to some unpleasant situations."

North America shouted all kinds of slogans loudly enough to shake the heavens, but most were merely slogans. Even if many things were not openly discussed, they had not disappeared.

In the era they were currently in, many of those things had not merely remained—they were even displayed openly and without concealment.

Yinsen curled his lips. Of course he knew what Ada meant. He had only one response: "If some blind idiot provokes you, kill him."

He had no intention of indulging such people’s bad habits, nor did he care what trouble it might cause—after all, no one’s fist was bigger than his. It was already good enough that he did not go looking for trouble himself. Expecting him to swallow his pride was pure fantasy.

"Remember where this is?"

"I don’t remember where we are, but I did see two familiar faces."

Following Logan’s pointing finger, they saw two men walk out of a bar. Yinsen laughed as soon as he saw them. He already knew the general Timeline he had arrived in.

After all, that guy still had hair and could still walk. The Timeline he had arrived in was quite early.

Logan then provided an even more useful piece of information.

"I think I remember where this is. If I’m not mistaken, the two of them should have just met me. This seems to be our first meeting." Logan’s lips curled upward. "Though that meeting wasn’t very friendly."

"They’re getting in the car. Let’s catch up."

They were not far away, so before the two men could even start the car, they discovered the back door opening. Then three people climbed in.

Especially that man they had obviously just met—when he sat down, the entire car sank, making them wonder whether it could still move.

Two men and one woman, all three of them tall. Fortunately, cars from this era had spacious interiors, so they could barely squeeze in. Besides, for Yinsen, this seemed like a bit of a bonus?

"Hello, Charles, Erik."

The two people in the front seats were the young Professor X, Charles Xavier, and Magneto, Erik Lehnsherr. Both were staring at the three uninvited guests in astonishment. They only recognized the mutant who had greeted them as someone they had just met, but something about him seemed different?

As for the other man and woman, they did not know them at all. Erik even deliberately glanced at Charles, seemingly asking whether this newly acquainted companion knew the other two.

Charles naturally did not know them. Given the situation, he worried that these two strangers might be enemies, so he quietly used his Mental Power, intending to probe their thoughts and determine the situation.

But the moment his Mental Power extended outward, it was blocked by something. Not only could he not touch the thoughts of any of the three, he could not even get close to them.

He could feel that someone had intercepted his Mental Power, and the other party did not hide his identity. The young man was waving at him.

"Charles, you need to break that habit. No one likes having the privacy of their heart probed."

"My apologies. I merely wanted to make sure you weren’t enemies."

"We aren’t enemies." Logan emphasized the words with an extremely serious expression. "Charles, we need to talk, but first we’d better find somewhere suitable… and spacious."

Charles nodded, started the car, and drove toward where they were currently staying.

The two of them were currently "cooperating" with the CIA, and the place they lived was also a CIA base. If these people meant them harm, having countless agents there would make it easier to deal with them.

So neither Charles nor Erik refused to take them along. However, Charles secretly used a Mental Link to tell Erik that the three people in the back probably would not be easy to deal with.

"Don’t worry. We truly aren’t your enemies. In fact, we can even be considered friends."

Charles was still far too inexperienced at this point. The Mental Link he believed to be utterly Non-verbal had long since been infiltrated by Yinsen, who had heard their entire conversation. Charles himself had not even noticed.

Whenever Mental Power was projected outward, this sort of thing could happen. Protection over one’s own Mental Power could not be as airtight as when it remained within the body. This was why mages did not particularly like exposing their Mental Power directly, even though using it made the same spell easier to cast and consumed less energy. They would rather expend magic power instead.

If it had been the future Professor Charles, who had studied Mental Power for countless years, Yinsen naturally could not have done this without a sound. But now…

"Friends?" Erik turned to look at Yinsen. "I don’t think I know you."

"I wasn’t talking about you, Erik." Yinsen truly did not know Magneto, regardless of the version. The only X-Men world he had entered was Logan. The mutants there had practically all died out, so even if he wanted to meet some, he could not find many.

"So you and I are friends? Sorry, but I can’t remember when I met you."

Yinsen did not explain, only saying, "I’ll explain once we get there, but could you drive a little faster for now?"

"I’d like to drive faster too, but I don’t know whether something’s wrong with the car. It’s become especially heavy."