Mystique, too, found herself drawn to the Mutants Nation Li Ge described.
A country of their own for mutants!
She had never imagined that mutants could establish their own country.
She had simply followed Magneto, constantly fighting humanity's persecution of mutants.
Repeating the same things over and over.
The Mutants Nation Li Ge spoke of, one that humans would not dare attack at will, was a world she had never even dreamed of.
But she was strong-willed, after all, and soon shook off the fantasy.
Just as she was about to say something else, the professor's voice came from behind her.
"Raven, welcome back."
As it turned out, the professor had been keeping an eye on the situation around Li Ge all along.
When Mystique first approached Li Ge, he had not noticed anything wrong.
But when she approached Li Ge again, the professor had already noticed the extra Shadowcat.
There was no need to think it over carefully. An identical Shadowcat was enough to tell him who had come.
Mystique, whom he had always treated as a younger sister.
The professor absolutely could not accept Li Ge joining the Brotherhood of Mutants. How much harm would that allow Magneto to inflict on humanity?
Moreover, it would expose Li Ge to many people, putting him in danger.
Calling the X-Men together, the professor brought them straight to Li Ge.
"Professor, are you talking to me?"
"I'm Kitty, not Raven!"
Mystique clearly had no intention of admitting her identity and was still trying to bluff her way through.
"Hmph! If you're Kitty, then who am I?"
Another Shadowcat stepped out from behind the professor and the others, glaring fiercely at Mystique.
"All right! Charles, you caught me!"
Seeing that she had been completely exposed, Mystique stopped hiding.
A blue ripple passed over her skin, and she finally returned to her original appearance: blue skin, bright red hair, yellow eyes, and tiny scales covering her entire body.
Watching Mystique's transformation up close, Li Ge could not help marveling at her ability.
After all, Mystique was now covered only in her natural skin, with no sign at all of the clothes she had worn as Shadowcat.
Another thing worth mentioning was that Mystique had a truly fine figure. Combined with her unusual appearance, it gave her a peculiar allure.
With her ability to change her appearance at will on top of that, she truly was the woman men dreamed of.
Activating Information Scanning and Recording at full power, Li Ge copied Mystique's ability.
Good. This will greatly reduce the cost of designing transformation abilities in the future.
Mystique had wanted to see Li Ge look surprised, only for him to gaze at her calmly.
And she would never have imagined that Li Ge had casually copied her ability.
"Did you figure it out a long time ago?"
Mystique could not help asking Li Ge.
"Of course. A good designer has to gather as much information as possible and observe the details."
"How could I possibly lack an ability in that area?"
Mystique immediately felt like a clown. She had actually been fooled by a student like Li Ge.
"All right, Raven. You wanted to take Li Ge to the Brotherhood of Mutants, didn't you? That's not happening!"
"Where's Erik? Did you call him here?"
The professor did not let Mystique continue. He stated her purpose outright and even guessed that she had notified Magneto.
All one could say was that the professor knew them far too well.
Just then, a voice came from the sky.
"Charles, look at you. You're still so naive."
Wearing his signature helmet and a striking cape, Magneto slowly descended from where he hovered in the sky.
Li Ge had not expected it either. Mystique had only just notified him, yet Magneto had already come straight here.
It seemed he had rushed over at top speed without stopping for a moment.
Should I thank him for thinking so highly of me?
"Erik, this is not a place you should be!"
Ignoring Magneto's teasing, the professor gave him a stern warning.
"You're Li Ge?"
"Come with me, child!"
"Your power is unparalleled. It shouldn't be wasted in this place. I can give you a better stage."
"Mutants need you. We all need you. You will become the savior of mutants!"
Paying no heed to the professor's words, Magneto looked straight into Li Ge's eyes with his imposing gaze.
With impassioned words full of a leader's charisma, he invited Li Ge to join them.
"Sir, I think you'll need their agreement first."
Li Ge was not some genuinely foolish, hot-blooded young man. How could a few words of praise from Magneto go to his head?
Besides, he had no need to join either side.
"Erik, you're not taking Li Ge away. Where he goes is for him to decide!"
Cyclops, who had been pushing the professor's wheelchair, stepped out from behind him, wearing a pair of sunglasses as a disguise.
Phoenix was not here. She was probably still educating Dark Phoenix.
Wolverine had not come either. After all, Magneto might show up, and he did not want Magneto playing with him like a toy.
The professor had brought only three X-Men: Cyclops, Storm, and Beast.
They were not worried about being unable to handle Magneto. Cyclops was the source of their confidence.
Over the past few days, they had gained a thorough understanding of just how powerful the ability Li Ge had designed for him was.
"Who gave you the right to speak here?"
Magneto waved a hand, and pieces of metal buried underground burst through the surface, shooting straight toward Cyclops.
What puzzled Magneto was that Cyclops neither dodged nor fired his optic blasts. He simply stood there quietly.
He did not actually want to kill Cyclops, only teach him a lesson.
Just as he was considering whether to divert the attack slightly, a change occurred around Cyclops.
He raised one hand, and a dark red, square energy shield suddenly appeared in it, protecting his entire body behind it.
The metal began glowing red the moment it touched the shield, then immediately burned and turned into a pool of molten liquid.
"Hm?"
Startled, Magneto immediately realized this was Li Ge's work, and then wanted to test the ability's strength.
He intensified his control over the magnetic field, pulling more metal out of the earth and gathering it into a long metal dragon.
He jabbed a finger toward Cyclops, and the metal dragon surged forward with ferocious force.
At the sight, Cyclops instead dismissed his shield. He, too, wanted to test just how powerful he had become.
He connected with the Demon True Form that had successfully condensed within the nurturing space in his mind. Under the control of his will, a figure seemingly made of lava gradually took shape around him.
A humanoid upper-body skeleton made of dark red energy, about three meters tall with curved horns atop its head, protected him securely at its center.
As Cyclops raised his hand, the skeleton followed his movement and crushed the metal dragon in its grasp, as easily as crumbling a cracker.
The remaining metal fragments struck the skeleton and instantly melted into molten iron, without harming a single hair on Cyclops's head.