(~˘▾˘)~~(˘▾˘~)
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"Ms. Atkins, Ms. Atkins..."
Atkins refused the swarm of male schoolteachers who approached her for a date, her face shielded by sunglasses as she drove a beautiful red Mustang out of the school gate. Even so, the teachers who were just rejected persistently held two concert tickets, and tried to chase her car in desperation.
Completely ignoring them, the car drove onto the streets of the town, rustling her orange-red hair in the wind.
She drove with one hand on the steering wheel, a hint of contempt flashing in her eyes.
'I came back to the town, not to date a bunch of high school teachers who can't even afford single-story villas.'
In the entire town, only one man caught her attention — Lex Luthor, the billionaire heir.
Atkins's eyes burned with intensity as she drove in the direction of the Luthor Manor.
'I hope this Lex Luthor can bring me some surprises. I wonder what priceless treasures he has in his vault.
She was getting impatient; she pressed the gas pedal to speed up.
....
Luthor sat behind his desk, his face slightly grim as he pondered.
Marshal was promoted to the position of chief bodyguard against protocol, but before noon, something terrible happened to him. A disgruntled and jealous team member who resented Marshal's promotion exposed embarrassing photos of him.
Drinking and carousing in a bar, holding, and kissing a dirty toilet, and engaging in inappropriate behavior in the photos.
"The most face-conscious Marshal is immersed in the joy of becoming the captain, oblivious to the fact that he has become the laughingstock of others."
"Is it a coincidence or a price to pay?"
Luthor wasn't the considerate type of boss to his subordinates. He was only concerned whether this was an isolated incident or... did everyone who made wishes with the wishing stone suffer misfortune?
He supported his chin with crossed hands and his gaze turned dark.
Snap!
The study door was opened with force.
"Who are you?"
A scantily clad, hot woman in a pink mini-skirt walked in, seemingly assessing her new surroundings just like she was looking at her new home. She paid no attention to Luthor and commented with a touch of dissatisfaction.
"The decor is too old-fashioned. Although this is an old mansion, I didn't expect the study of someone rumored to be a playboy heir to be in this style."
"Who are you? Marshal, I pay you high salaries every month, not to let you casually allow random people in."
His monologue was interrupted, and Luthor's cold gaze turned toward the several bodyguards at the door, indicating that they should take action.
No matter how this woman who was dressed like a bar dancer deceived them into entering, they needed to remove her immediately.
"Boss, we advise you to treat Miss Atkins politely!"
Marshal and his team looked at Atkins with affection, as if hoping to melt her with their gazes. To them, she seemed like a goddess of love and beauty descending upon the mortal realm. Upon hearing Luthor's words, their displeasure was evident. How could Luthor be impolite to this goddess?
"It seems you don't like me?"
Atkins's hot body sat on the solid wood desk, lowering her alluring face, her eyes containing a playful smile as she surveyed Luthor, who was sitting on a chair.
"Miss, I'd like to remind you that being sexy and being loose is different." (T/N: Chad Luthor)
The bodyguards' reaction made him furrow his brows. He turned to the woman before him, a hint of disgust crossing his face as he coldly remarked.
"Is that so?"
Atkins chuckled nonchalantly.
"You've misunderstood me. I can make men die for me with just a gesture, and I don't need to use my attractiveness to sell myself."
She seductively smiled like a succubus, releasing a fragrant aroma from her mouth.
The scent was a bit overwhelming, like poor-quality cream, sickeningly sweet, and making people want to stay away.
Slightly dazed by the scent, Luthor shook his head, then gazed at the woman before him. Every inch of her appeared beautiful, like a perfect work of art crafted by God from head to toe. He felt his mouth go dry.
"I..."
His cold and unyielding heart wavered. He wanted to apologize for his earlier rudeness, but a subtle feeling that something was off caused him to furrow his brows.
"But... I'm willing to make an exception for you."
Atkins's eyes twinkled with a hint of laughter, calmly saying as she leaned down to kiss Luthor's lips.
Luthor initially felt inclined to pull away, but soon found himself enjoying the softness of her lips. Amidst the exchange of sweet saliva, he opened his eyes again, looking full of deep affection, as if the woman before him was his everything.
"Miss, may I know your name?"
His heart burned, and he didn't look like Lex Luthor at all. He gracefully held Atkins's hand and gave her a passionate kiss.
"I don't want to be with a woman whose name I don't even know when I'm dreaming of a future together."
"Of course."
Seeing that she had captured Luthor's attention with her ability, at least for a while, Atkins laughed lightly.
"But before that, to prove your sincerity, could you show me your most precious treasure?"
"Close the door, all of you go out."
Luthor ordered his bodyguards to leave but found that they didn't obey him, responding only to Atkins's command before finally leaving.
Closing the door, he carefully retrieved the wishing stone from a small safe in his desk.
"What is this?"
"A stone made entirely of a yellow gemstone?"
Atkins exclaimed in awe at the yellow gemstone bigger than her palm.
But why did the crystal seem a bit cloudy?
"No, it's just made of yellow crystal. But this is my most precious treasure, and it can grant any of your wishes."
Drawing the curtains, Luthor acted mysterious as he caressed the object in his hand, lowering his voice as if afraid someone might overhear and steal his treasure.
"???" Glancing at the yellow crystal stone covered in dust at its base, Atkins then looked at Luthor, her expression freezing.
"You... Are you kidding me?"
She thought he wanted to display a sense of humor.
"No, it's real."
Luthor confirmed, his expression incredibly serious.
…..
With Summer near, the weather has become quite hot. Martha sat in front of a fan, going over bills, feeling a bit exhausted due to the heat.
"Honey, would you like a bottle of cold soda?"
From the scorching farm outside, Jonathan, after a busy morning, still appeared refreshed and full of inexhaustible energy. He took off his gloves and came back inside from outside. Opening the fridge, he playfully glanced at his wife.
"I don't understand."
Wiping sweat from her neck, Martha looked puzzled and asked.
"Our cows outside are lying on the ground in the sun due to heat, yet you seem perfectly fine."
"Perhaps it's the influence of that certain factor?"
Jonathan chuckled as he handed his wife a bottle of icy soda. Martha reluctantly took it and pressed it against her forehead, planning to use the strange liquid metal left by her son for herself later in the afternoon.
She had some reservations about immortality. She wondered if she could bear watching her friends pass away one by one. But the fact that she wouldn't mind the heat in the summer and might possess boundless vitality was truly intriguing to her.
"Hey, we're back."
David opened the door and greeted his parents.
Martha looked at her two sons who also looked full of energy. She asked both of them about their day as usual before heading off to prepare lunch.
"David, Clark, how was school today?"
"Everything was fine except for a fire in biology class."
David took out a bottle of cold soda from the fridge and took a sip, cooling himself down.
"A fire? What happened?"
Upon hearing about a fire, the couple immediately shifted their attention from their current tasks and paid attention.
"You should ask Clark about that."
Initially, he didn't think that the small fire was linked to Clark. He only realized later that something felt wrong with it, and when he asked Clark, he found out that Clark was responsible.
Clark was gradually awakening one of his Kryptonian abilities - heat vision.
"What does that have to do with your brother?" they both asked, puzzled.
"That fire might have been caused by me."
Clark scratched his head, finding it hard to explain.
"My eyes got hot, and then a small flame burst out from where I was staring."
"Staring? Is there a reason for that?"
Sounding somewhat dangerous, the couple wanted to understand the reasons behind Clark's ability to manifest.
"The new teacher, Miss Atkins, is lucky that Clark didn't stare at her all the time and looked away," David joked, "Otherwise, his stare might have traumatized the students in the class. The school would have had to replace yet another biology teacher."
"A female biology teacher?" Martha asked.
"Cough cough, yes...yes."
Clark mumbled, covering his mouth, looking at his brother who had sold him out.
The couple exchanged glances, unsure of how to respond to this topic.
"Don't give me that look."
David pretended to be afraid and said teasingly.
"And don't forget, you're different from others. Your eyes can be deadly!"
Both his parents hurriedly stood in front of David, gesturing for Clark to control his emotions.
"Don't worry, Mom and Dad. Miss Atkins isn't around now."
David chuckled and thought his parents once again forgot about his abilities.
"It's different now. I've found a trick to control it."
Not long ago, he easily controlled his recently developed super hearing. Clark was quite confident about this, despite his anger.
However, for various reasons, he hadn't told anyone in his family about this.
"Oh?"
"Well, yes, your encouragement had something to do with it."
Seeing his brother raise an eyebrow, Clark deflated a bit, unable to deny his brother's contribution.
"As long as I don't resist the new abilities and don't view them as troublesome or weird things; when I put effort into controlling them, I find it much easier than I initially thought."
"Sounds like a good thing?"
Jonathan and Martha felt that their eldest son was somewhat different now as if a part of the burden had been lifted from his heart. It seemed worth celebrating.
"Let's have a nice big family meal for lunch." Mother Martha suggested with a smile.
Around the dining table, they enjoyed a hearty lunch.
Sweet roasted pumpkin, a combination of meat and vegetables with pine nut catfish, and large chunks of beef stewed with potatoes...
As the family ate, a news report suddenly came on the television, with a serious-looking host.
"The Metropolis Midday News brings you a report: The bank vault of the Smallville town was mysteriously robbed yesterday. No evidence of thieves breaking in or tunneling has been found at the scene. A large amount of precious jewelry and gold bars stored in the vault have disappeared. Now, let's see the interview with Officer Bob..."
The family paused their meal, intrigued by the bizarre news related to their town.
On the TV, the familiar Officer Bob led reporters and cameras to observe the scene, offering a puzzling analysis but not reaching any substantial conclusions.
There was only one unreliable hypothesis: based on the footprints found at the scene, the thieves gang that committed this astonishing heist seemed to have no entity. It was like They appeared in the vault by passing through walls, then vanished with the jewelry and gold bars, also traversing walls.
"Could it be superhumans?"
The family guessed one after another.
However, since this theft didn't involve any harm to people, they didn't dwell on it too much.
…..
After finishing the meal, Clark went outside to practice for a while, ranging from scarecrows and wooden fences to troughs for feeding cows.
Indeed, he easily mastered his heat vision, going as far as melting rocks and even controlling his new ability to heat a plastic trough continuously without melting it.
Seeing Clark using his abilities as naturally as humans breathe or fish swim, David raised an eyebrow, quite surprised.
"It seems like from now on, Mom won't need to bother heating the milk every morning."
Normally, Superman shouldn't have been able to master his abilities so easily during his growth process. Did something cause changes in him?
"Well, can't you do that too?"
Once he was sure that his abilities were under control and wouldn't accidentally harm anyone else, Clark smiled and retorted back.
He had seen David shoot energy rays from his eyes, evaporating the Lazarus Pit.
"Oh, by the way, where did you get all that strange knowledge from?"
Thinking of things like the Lazarus Pit and the Dionysian Factor, Clark looked curious.
"Haven't I already told you once?"
"From a magician's diary, that you happened to find in Gotham?"
Recalling the explanation his brother had given to their parents, Clark rubbed his chin in a puzzled expression.
"But are there really magicians in this world?"
"If there can be aliens in the world, why can't there be magicians?"
David retorted with a glance, leaving Clark momentarily speechless.
His reasoning for this was quite easily accepted by his parents, Jonathan and Martha, after all, the power to cure all ailments and bring the dead back to life sounded pretty magical.
.....
"Are you saying that this stone can really grant wishes?"
When crackling, hammering, and chiseling had resulted in not a mark being left on the stone, Atkins shook her hand, which was throbbing from the impact of punching it, her eyes filled with fervor. She looked at the stone as if it were the greatest treasure in the world, touching it as one would caress a lover's face.
She couldn't believe that such a miraculous object existed in the world, akin to the genie lamp from fairy tales.
"How do you make a wish, just rub it with your hand?"
Atkins asked eagerly.
"No, just hold it to make a wish. But I haven't figured out its limitations yet."
Luther, who had fallen deeply in love with Atkins after being hit by her ability, truthfully shared his discovery with her.
"And also..."
He wanted to say there might be side effects.
"You'll know when you try."
However, Atkins, who regarded Luther only as a slave and whose heart burned with anticipation, couldn't wait a second longer.
Thinking about having this item, there was nothing she couldn't obtain.
'Placing this stone in front of anyone would likely make it difficult for them to remain calm; even a president would go mad for it.'
"I want to become a true goddess, just like Aphrodite from Greek mythology!"
Atkins held the stone and immediately wished with it to transform into the goddess of love and beauty.
After making her wish, the air fell silent, as if nothing had happened—no dazzling holy light, no soft music played by little angels. The surrounding stones didn't even light up or tremble.
But the next moment, she felt like something was changing in her body.
…..
"Clark, I remember warning you to stay away from Lana."
The next day after school in the evening, at the entrance of the farm, after getting off the school bus.
Waving goodbye to Chloe and Pete, as David and Clark were about to head home, suddenly a cold voice mixed with anger resounded, and a figure appeared from the shadows under the streetlight, slowly stepping forward and blocking the path of the two.
"But it seems like you didn't listen to me at all!"
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(~˘▾˘)~Don't forget to send over your power stones and review the fic~(˘▾˘~)