Thea certainly wouldn't say she couldn't show her face and was worried about her reputation, so she'd taken a fancy to his thick skin. She cleared her throat.
"I need to do a lot of preparatory work—strengthening myself, coordinating allies, preparing the battlefield. I need you to be a teacher for a while, teaching this knowledge to students."
Constantine was both amused and exasperated. He'd worked countless jobs—carrying sacks at docks, serving plates at bars, and due to his going both ways, he'd visited some peculiar establishments. But a teacher? That was a first.
Pointing at his own nose, "Me? What am I teaching?"
Thea said nothing, just gestured at the light sphere. The meaning was clear: teach this.
"You gave me this to learn so I could teach? I knew there was no free lunch. Teach whom?"
This knowledge wasn't difficult for Constantine. His position in the magical world was like Batman who'd learned one hundred twenty-seven martial arts. He had experience with all magical schools worldwide, just limited by total magical power in how strongly he could use them.
This bard inheritance was summarized by Thea in accessible terms, just slightly harder than a dummy's guide. Constantine had no problem learning it.
Western magic, Eastern mysticism, divination, astrology, blood sacrifice, witchcraft—having learned dozens of magical schools, one more made no difference.
Thea wore an inscrutable smile, a look of "you'll thank me." "Your students are all elite. Papa Midnite will notify you shortly."
She teleported away directly. Constantine could fight his way through Heaven and Hell—he could find his own way back.
"That strange smile? Could these students be people I know?" Constantine wasn't in a hurry to return. He leisurely finished his cigarette, then sank his mind back into the mental light sphere, carefully experiencing Thea's insights into magic. That was the truly valuable content.
Thea only mentioned to Moira in passing that the magical age was coming. If she made a big announcement to those high-level officials, their paranoia would make them disbelieve.
Thea didn't plan to use official channels for this. She started quietly releasing information through the underworld she'd controlled for two years.
"I heard newborns on the New Continent have extraordinary powers."
"Where's the New Continent?"
"Noob, you don't even know about the New Continent? Leave the group!"
Various rumors began circulating in secret. The underworld churned with interrogations, betrayals and counter-betrayals. More and more information started spreading among certain circles.
Human psychology was strange. If you announced it officially, they'd be 120% skeptical. But through rumors, true or false, they'd believe information they'd struggled to obtain.
Initially, people approached the "New Continent" with skepticism—how is that possible, are you kidding me? Columbus had been dead five hundred years—what new continent?
But as several soldiers tricked into doing infrastructure work under the "holographic simulation game" excuse began sharing their stories on social media, more people realized the world seemed to be changing in ways they didn't understand.
While ordinary people remained confused, several powerful families rushed pregnant relatives approaching their due dates to the New Continent. The Queen family, now part of this class, was naturally included.
Fourteen newborns—one created a small magical vortex at birth due to magical influence. Thea explained it was because they'd spent too little time on the New Continent. If they stayed from conception through delivery, the baby's chances of having magical talent would double.
This sparked tremendous enthusiasm among the major families. Extraordinary power! They didn't understand magic—they just knew a new force had come into the world.
As for suppressing ordinary people's reproduction, making New Continent children exclusive to their circle—they could only think about it.
Times had changed. Ordinary people weren't fools. These families had been out of the public eye for too long. Such agreements between ruling families would be worthless.
Plus with internal contradictions and conflicts of interest, you might honor the agreement and raise children behind closed doors while your mortal enemy secretly opened reproduction to the masses. In ten or twenty years, they'd crush you with numbers.
No one was stupid. You couldn't block it—you could only co-opt.
Thea had already sorted through the connections. As long as she was around, the Queen family's foundation was unshakable. The rest—as long as they didn't cause trouble, they could fight freely. One less if one died.
Though she considered these people dead weight, they'd controlled global lifelines for years. The energy they collectively unleashed sent a powerful signal to the vague middle class.
To curry favor with Thea, they also contributed their artistic resources. Though unspoken, the implication was clear: you could use these people for biochemical experiments if you wanted. They're all yours.
This left Felicity, returning from vacation, completely baffled to find her living room filled with stars wearing ingratiating smiles. When did I become the Queen of Hollywood? How did I not know?
She frantically called her friend Thea. After hanging up, former hacker Felicity still felt absurdly confused.
Her new boyfriend, the lovable goofball Ray Palmer, was also sneaking glances at several "stars" he'd only seen in adult films. "Virtuous in art and morals"—truly accurate. Dressed, he almost didn't recognize them. What was this? Acting skill!
Faced with the two goofballs looking at them like rare animals, the crowd didn't dare act out. Instead, they wore respectful smiles. They'd rushed back from all corners because they'd received sternly worded notices: you must come, unless you want to die.
A few who stubbornly refused were forcefully suppressed. Seeing what happened to those who stuck their necks out, everyone came to Felicity's with the expression of people heading to execution.
Actually, professions like sculpture and painting related to the arts, but they were too slow to be effective. By the time they carved a statue, the battle would be over. Thea's bards mainly targeted singers and actors.
Felicity understood the assignment well and ran the selection process at full capacity. Those selected didn't know their future; those not selected weren't particularly relieved either. Everyone was completely in the dark. From start to finish, no one explained anything. They came confused and left confused—even if sold, they wouldn't know where they were going.
Despite this bizarre situation, few escaped midway. These people had fought their way through fame and fortune—they were all shrewd. Just for this selection, all major companies received notices to halt the global entertainment industry. Such tremendous power wouldn't target just a few artists. They had that much self-awareness.
Several sharp ones were speculating about the puppet master's true intentions.
Mental tests, magical power tests, aptitude tests—after various chaotic examinations, Felicity handed the remaining five hundred people to Papa Midnite, who'd come to take over.
Papa Midnite teleported this group to the New Continent and gave his old friend Constantine a look that said "you lucky dog."
Initially seeing five hundred-plus people, Constantine was truly shocked. He didn't know he'd be teaching so many. Magical instruction was traditionally small-scale—one teacher with three students was already a lot. Five hundred dumped on him at once could kill him from exhaustion!
When he saw clearly who these unmasked stars were and recalled Papa Midnite's mysterious smile, his expression turned peculiar. The corners of his mouth curved upward. This teaching job would probably "exhaust" him to death! But he liked it!