Tony's Thoughts

"Mr. Harvey Anberlaka, where's Tony?"

Pepper saw Harvey coming up from the underground lab and asked.

"He should come up on his own in a while, or you can go down and find him."

"I've finished dinner, so I'll be leaving first."

Harvey smiled faintly at that and spoke.

"You're leaving?"

"That makes sense. It's already getting late."

"You and Tony seemed to have had a pleasant conversation. I hope you'll visit again sometime, Mr. Harvey Anberlaka."

Pepper was initially somewhat surprised, but after glancing at the clock on the wall, she saw that it was already past nine in the evening.

In about another hour, New York would become less peaceful, so it was normal for Harvey Anberaka to leave now.

"Mm, if there's a chance next time."

"Goodbye, Miss Pepper."

Harvey nodded slightly, said his farewell, and headed out.

After Harvey left, Pepper asked directly in the first-floor hall.

"Jarvis, is Tony all right?"

"Can I go down now?"

"Sir is fine. He is currently thinking about some matters."

"I would not recommend that you go down and disturb him."

"Once sir has thought things through, he will come up himself."

Jarvis offered his advice.

"All right."

Pepper had only been worried about Tony. Now that she had been advised against it, she suppressed the urge to go down and take a look.

Meanwhile, Tony Stark, who was in the underground lab, was also thinking nonstop.

With his intelligence, even if he began studying genetics now, it would not be difficult for him to develop a drug that enhanced his physical abilities. It would merely take some time.

The only reason he had never considered it before was that it would involve doing things too horrific to contemplate.

But after hearing Harvey Anberaka's words, his previously firm convictions had begun to waver.

"Jarvis, after listening to my conversation with him, what do you think?"

After hesitating for a moment, Tony Stark began seeking someone else's opinion.

"Sir, I do not fully understand what humans are, because I am only an AI."

"However, to summarize your discussion, there are roughly three points."

"The first point is that the Iron Man armor is extremely powerful, but no matter what, it has an unavoidable weakness that is difficult to change: you yourself, sir."

"The second point is that you possess both the ability and confidence to solve this weakness, but you cannot cross the boundaries of human morality, so you have never touched upon the field of genetics that could resolve it."

"The third point is what Mr. Harvey Anberaka was telling you."

"If you wish to make a change, have you already thought through whether it is necessary to go that far?"

"And if you do go that far, have you prepared yourself mentally?"

"Based on my observations, sir, you clearly have not fully considered these prerequisites."

"So I suggest that you first focus on finding a new element to replace palladium."

"If you cannot ensure that piloting the armor has no side effects, then there is no need for you to consider overcoming the Iron Man armor's fatal weakness at all."

"You may not be able to think of an answer immediately, but by then, you may already have made your choice."

After hearing Tony's question, Jarvis gave his response.

"Thanks, Jarvis."

Tony was stunned for a moment after hearing Jarvis's words, then suddenly felt his thoughts clear up. He thanked him.

Harvey Anberaka was a superpowered individual, while he was a super genius with an exceptional mind. But because the worlds they had encountered were different, their perspectives were completely different.

Only by ensuring that he could pilot the Iron Man armor could he continue to understand and come into contact with the world he had only just entered—a world completely outside the realm of ordinary people.

Only by deepening his understanding could he continue discussing his own beliefs and ideas with Harvey Anberaka.

Perhaps Harvey Anberaka felt that the Iron Man armor he had developed had already begun to touch upon Harvey Anberaka's world.

That was why the other man had talked to him about so much and broadened his horizons.

But because of that, a question arose in Tony Stark's mind: how old was Harvey Anberaka really?

Harvey Anberaka possessed an ability akin to rejuvenation, so the identity Tony had investigated might have merely been what Harvey Anberaka wanted others to see.

"Where's Harvey Anberaka?"

Thinking of this, Tony Stark looked around, realized Harvey Anberaka was nowhere to be seen, and immediately asked.

"Mr. Harvey Anberaka has already left."

"Before leaving, he specifically reminded you that he would not help treat your palladium poisoning every single time before leaving."

"So you need to quickly find a new element to replace palladium."

"Because you were thinking just now, you may not have heard him."

"Based on my impression, what Mr. Harvey Anberaka meant was that you either find a new element or give up piloting the Iron Man armor."

"If you get poisoned again next time and can't find a solution, you'll be dead."

Jarvis relayed what Harvey had said earlier.

"Before I knew I had become younger, I did consider asking Harvey Anberaka for help if I got palladium poisoning again."

"But after learning that I had become younger, I stopped thinking that way."

Tony Stark smiled faintly upon hearing Jarvis's report.

One was simply helping cure him; the other was curing him while also making him several years younger. The difference was enormous.

He was now six years younger, and his body was roughly equivalent to how it had been when he was thirty-two. However, he was still past thirty and already at middle age.

This time, his wrinkles had vanished and he looked younger, so others would merely assume that he took good care of himself or had undergone some kind of procedure.

But if he became several years younger and reverted to the appearance of someone in his twenties, then no matter how he explained it, others would think something was wrong with him.

Not to mention that this could expose Harvey Anberaka's superpower—Tony himself might even be taken away and treated like a lab rat.

Although he had the Iron Man armor, he was not invincible. If the military set its sights on him, he was not completely confident that he could keep himself safe.

Therefore, Tony Stark completely understood why Harvey Anberaka was unwilling to help him too many times.

Afterward, Tony Stark left the underground lab.

Faced with Pepper's many curious questions, Tony Stark explained some of them briefly and brushed the others off casually.

What Pepper was most curious about was how he had become younger. Regarding that, Tony Stark could only insist that he did not know either.

Pepper felt somewhat disappointed, because there was no woman who did not love beauty or wish to become younger.

But Tony Stark truly seemed not to know.

After thinking it over, Pepper could only conclude that Tony had met a friend he could really talk to, putting him in such a good mood that he temporarily looked younger.

Third update, 8,000 words in total. Please vote and keep reading.