Benjamin.
An American soldier injected with the Super Soldier Serum during World War II, who woke up seventy years after being frozen only to find the world completely changed.
Taking up a shield and donning a mask, he fought single-handedly against Seven Cows, an evil organization hidden deep within the government.
Interspersed throughout were heartwarming moments of his daily life with his niece and nephew, alongside plenty of heart-pounding superhero fight scenes.
What a great pitch.
Passionate, righteous, family-friendly, politically correct, and layered with just a touch of mild satire aimed at the military-industrial complex.
Ariel turned to a fresh page, drafting the layout sketches for Chapter 2.
With a super-brain and super-speed, he was basically a walking manga printer at this point.
Of course, in a way, he was also a money-printing machine.
After all, every farmer in Smallville was fretting this year, and the Kents were no exception; even with three human harvesting machines in their household, they were no match for natural disasters.
Though Jonathan never said it aloud, Ariel could tell the old farmer hadn’t been in the best mood lately.
After dinner, he spent longer and longer sitting on the porch staring into space, falling into deeper and longer silences.
Ariel had certainly considered other ways to make money.
For instance, using super-speed to sprint to Las Vegas casinos and break Blackjack, using super-vision to peer through the scratch-off coating on lottery tickets, or using his super-brain for high-frequency quantitative trading on the stock market.
Yet he rejected every single one of those plans.
To a simple farming couple, the stock market, lotteries, and casinos would make them even more uneasy than hearing he went to rob a bank.
So, until his super-flight could reach outer space and bring back a golden mountain, Ariel chose to fall back on traditional craft.
Drawing manga was actually a great option—manga artists enjoyed a clean, legal, and traceable source of income.
In the future, it could even build a solid public image for his identity as Ariel Kent, much like how Clark would eventually become a reporter for the Daily Planet, using his pen and voice to protect everything he cherished.
Besides, serializing this story might even help draw out Uncle Ben, who had drawn the heat away from Joanna for eight years.
That’s right—Ariel had actually been brewing this plan for a long time, but he had never put it into action.
After all, the work looked almost like a love letter written to a man who had vanished from this world eight years ago; if the sharp-nosed Vought International caught wind of it, they would undoubtedly trace the lead to investigate his background.
But today was different.
Progression: 40%.
He now possessed heat vision and the ability to fly.
Even if the worst-case scenario came to pass, he had the power to carry his entire family away from Smallville.
In other words, he finally had the capital for trial and error.
RING—!
The dismissal bell rang.
Ariel tucked the sketch paper into his textbook and stretched.
Beside him, Clark gathered his books with an expression that looked like he was marching off to his execution.
Passing Ariel, the big, blue-eyed boy intentionally bumped him with his hip.
“You’re dead, Ariel Kent,” Clark said through gritted teeth.
“Just wait till I get back.”
“Off you go, Clark.”
“Study biology hard—it’ll come in handy when you get a girlfriend later.” Ariel waved at him, his tone as sincere as a loving father’s.
Clark ground his teeth, following Desiree out of the classroom as her figure disappeared down the hallway.
Watching the two turn the corner, Ariel leaned back into his chair, pulling out his sketch paper to keep working.
But he had barely put pen to paper twice when a shadow fell across the edge of his desk.
“Ariel.”
The girl’s voice carried a hint of hesitation.
Ariel glanced up.
Lana Lang stood before him, her long auburn hair tied back in a ponytail with a band.
She wore a pale blue sweater paired with jeans, her generous chest sealed off once more, a fact that undoubtedly left Ariel feeling a slight sense of regret.
“About last night…” the girl said guardedly.
“I thought about it all night, and I think we should…”
Before she could finish her sentence, however, Ariel’s ears twitched.
“Sorry, Captain,” he stuffed the sketch paper into his drawer.
“Let’s talk another time.”
“Wait—”
The boy had already brushed past her like a gust of wind, vanishing out the classroom door.
The girl’s hand hovered in midair before slowly dropping back down.
She let out a sigh, her eyes drifting unconsciously toward Ariel’s desk.
“My Uncle…”
Lana blinked, subconsciously reading the exposed corner of the sketch paper.
Biology office.
Clark sat properly and stiffly.
Desiree sat opposite him.
“You only got a C-minus on your last pop quiz, Clark.
You got every question in the pheromone chapter wrong.” She pushed the test paper into the center of the desk.
“Uh…”
Clark scratched his short curls, feeling a bit sheepish.
“Because I was helping my dad fix the barn roof that week and didn’t get time to review the textbook…”
In truth, it was a little competition between him and Ariel—a wager where they cheated by agreeing not to use their super-brains, relying purely on their own natural intelligence.
And so…
“I don’t need excuses.
I just want to make sure you can keep up with the pace.
The final exam accounts for forty percent of your overall grade.”
Desiree stood up, walked around the desk to Clark’s side, and placed a printed review outline in front of him.
A faint, sweet scent filled the air once more.
Clark’s eye twitched, his temples began to throb faintly, and his eyes felt uncomfortably hot, as if on fire.
“Clark?” Desiree leaned down, resting one hand on the desk.
“Are you listening?”
“Yes…
listening,” Clark said blankly.
“Actually, I wanted to ask you one more thing—about your brother,” Desiree asked in a low voice.
“Ariel?”
“Mm, he seems quite popular at school?”
“Ariel is just that kind of person,” Clark said, feeling a sudden wave of boredom as the heat in his eyes cooled down.
“He can chat up anyone.”
“Does he have any…
especially close friends?
Or someone he cares about particularly?”
“Not sure, teacher.
If there’s nothing else, I’d like to leave first—I promised a friend I’d help out after school.” Clark stood up, folded the test paper, and stuffed it into his pocket.
The corner of Desiree’s mouth stiffened slightly.
In her experience, no normal sixteen-year-old boy would ever offer to leave after being alone with her…
Yet Clark Kent was ready to walk out the moment he finished speaking…
What was the trigger?
Was it her mention of Ariel Kent?!
“Wait, Clark, I…”
BANG!
The door was pushed open from the outside.
“Ms.
Desiree, I’d like to discuss something with you.”
“A-Ariel?”
Clark blinked, seeing Ariel standing casually at the door, holding a can of orange juice bought from the vending machine.
“…Mr.
“Alright, teacher.”
Shooting a glance at Ariel that implied I’ll buy you dinner later for coming to his rescue, Clark waved his hand and vanished out the doorway.
The door lock clicked shut.
“Did Mr.
Kent come to ask for tutoring?” Desiree sat in her office chair, watching Ariel walk in.
“Ms.
Atkins is dressed very appropriately today,” Ariel set the orange juice can on the desk.
“Did you come all this way just to compliment me?”
“I just wanted to say: stay away from Clark.”
“I’m…
I’m sorry…” she mumbled.
“I just wanted so badly to understand you.”
What is this woman babbling about?
Ariel raised an eyebrow, suddenly grabbing Desiree’s wrist.
“How much pheromone can you secrete at one time right now?”
“About…
three to four times my normal state.
Because you came too close, my body couldn’t help…
passively secreting it…”
What does that have to do with me?
Your stuff even differentiates between active and passive?
Ariel was a bit baffled, but he spoke with a serious expression regardless.
“Ms.
Atkins, I need you to do something for me.”
“…W-What is it?”
“I want you to help me train…
ahem…
give me extra tutoring.”
Around the corner of the hallway.
Chloe Sullivan was contemplating how to haul a bucket into The Torch office.
“Hey, Chloe.”
“Oh, hey, Ariel.”
“…?”
Why was Ariel here?
Watching the boy walk farther away in high spirits, Chloe felt a bit dazed.
Did that guy run into something good?
BANG—!
Behind her, the door to the biology office suddenly burst open.
Yet the way the biology teacher, Desiree Atkins, walked out made Chloe reach instinctively for the camera in her pocket.
The female teacher looked unnaturally disheveled, a thin layer of moisture glistening in her brown eyes.
Her legs even seemed weak as she walked.
CLICK.
Chloe stuffed the camera back into her pocket, feeling her brain go into slight overload for a moment.
Ariel…
and Ms.
Desiree, every guy in school’s dream girl…
Chloe covered her mouth.
No, it couldn’t be…
Did Joanna know about this?!