Passo Technology

New York, Passo Company Headquarters Building.

To the residents of New York, this building seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere in the last two years, much like the company itself. Two years ago, no one had ever heard the name "Passo Technology," yet today it had grown into a behemoth spanning civilian tech, high-end weaponry, and energy sectors. After Stark Industries, once hailed as America's top arms manufacturer, announced its withdrawal two years ago, Passo Technology—having secured military contracts with cutting-edge weapons—was now subtly positioning itself as the next industry leader.

Top floor, Chairman's Office.

Sparks burst from thin air, slowly cutting a circle just wide enough for one person to pass through. The company's young founder, Michael Passo, ducked as he stepped back into his office through the magical portal. The moment he emerged, a pretty girl in professional attire approached, having already prepared a full set of custom-tailored suit for him.

Elizabeth Betty, Michael's personal secretary. She had a cascade of silky, light-golden hair, a well-proportioned figure, and long legs. If she dressed in something trendier, she could easily pass for a beauty stepping off a fashion magazine cover.

She seemed completely unfazed by her boss stepping out of a magic circle. With a natural expression, she walked up and began helping him into his suit and tying his tie. "The meeting is about to start," she said.

"Any other arrangements this week besides this meeting?" Michael asked.

"A few inconsequential meetings, but I can handle those unless you want to personally attend," Elizabeth said, adjusting his tie before pulling out a small white comb to tidy his hair.

"No need, you decide for me," Michael replied.

Elizabeth gave his hair a quick touch-up, put away the comb, and added, "Also, this weekend, the Mayor has invited you to a charity gala. The time is—" She checked her notes. "—Saturday at seven in the evening."

"Make a note and remind me then."

"Of course, sir."

A few minutes later, Elizabeth pushed open the double black doors to the conference hall, and Michael strode in. The heads of various departments had been waiting for some time.

In truth, he didn't involve himself much in the company's day-to-day operations. He only reluctantly made time for major decisions or new product launches, leaving most matters entirely to Elizabeth. He had personally chosen her when the company was founded, and he had absolute trust in her competence and loyalty.

Today, the boss was making a rare appearance mainly because the meeting's agenda included allocating the next year's financial budget. Elizabeth didn't have the authority to decide on that; he had to be there to give the final nod.

The meeting was long and tedious, but it didn't really concern him much. The basic flow involved department heads giving lengthy reports on their progress over the past year and arguing for more resources in the next.

The meeting dragged on for five or six hours, yet the executives showed no signs of fatigue; if anything, they seemed to grow more energized. Their topics clearly failed to capture their young boss's interest. Michael had already pulled out his personal tablet, entered a password, and unlocked a folder labeled "Armor." A detailed set of armor blueprints and precise parameters immediately appeared on the screen.

This wasn't his first suit. As of his battle with Loki, this was already the fifth-generation armor, but this one was still a prototype in the testing phase, with many areas needing improvement.

Michael Passo was a transmigrator, but even before crossing over, he wasn't exactly an ordinary person. He had been a genius in mechanical engineering and electronic information, and the process of dimensional travel seemed to have amplified his expertise. In short, after crossing over, he found his thinking had broadened several times over, his mind was unprecedentedly clear, and his ability to learn new knowledge—essentially Marvel's native black tech—was so fast it even surprised himself.

The dimensional crossing didn't grant him any system or growth-type superpowers, but if he had to call it anything, this awakened talent was his golden finger as a transmigrator.

Since arriving in this universe five years ago, Michael had been closely monitoring news and intelligence from all over the world. From frequent mentions of Osborn Technologies, Stark Industries, and other names in the news, it wasn't hard to confirm this was the Marvel Universe, though it didn't seem to align perfectly with the MCU's world-building. While the overall timeline seemed to follow the MCU, many details were different.

Currently, he was around the time just before the Battle of New York (though with his interference, that battle might not happen at all). That meant the pinnacle of individual armor technology in this world—Iron Man's suits—should only be up to the seventh generation.

If he used Iron Man's tech as a benchmark, Michael had to admit his energy drive might still be a step behind. Iron Man's core energy source was the arc reactor, and Michael obviously didn't know how that thing was designed. His suit ran on battery power from his own design, and while the battery performance was excellent, it couldn't compare to an arc reactor.

Of course, he could try to get his hands on the arc reactor's blueprints. The miniature version in Stark's chest might be hard to obtain, but the blueprints for the large-scale Ark Reactor at Stark Industries weren't impossible to acquire. He remembered that in the movie, Stark had miniaturized that thing to fit in his chest to keep shrapnel from his heart while also powering his suit.

Michael figured that if Stark could replicate a mini version of that large Ark Reactor in a rundown cave with limited equipment, he might be able to do it too. But he disdained the idea—plagiarizing someone else's research was something Michael would never do, no matter the purpose. Even if someone handed him the blueprints, he wouldn't look at them.

Still, he was confident that his current self-developed armor was comprehensively superior to Iron Man's tech at this stage—because it combined both technology and magic.

Back in Kamar-Taj, Michael had already started looking for ways to merge the two disciplines of technology and magic. Every time he learned a new spell, he would create a separate project on his personal computer, build models, and record various data related to the spell for study and understanding.

The reason he learned spells so quickly wasn't just his talent but also his habit of thinking critically, while others only mechanically repeated practice. Even the Ancient One acknowledged that his approach might work, though she couldn't guide him since she had no knowledge of technology.

After years of research, Michael had now decoded the sigils of many common spells into programmable arrays stored in his suit's onboard computer. This allowed him to instantly call up any array recorded in his computer during battle, casting the corresponding spell simply by reciting the incantation. This eliminated the need for hand signs and spell construction, making it faster and more convenient than traditional casting, without the risk of being interrupted mid-cast.

The fusion of modern weapons and magic was the original design philosophy of this armor and the basic direction for its future upgrades.

Michael was generally satisfied with the prototype's performance in its first real combat test against Loki, but there was still room for improvement.

Back in the meeting, the department heads were now practically red-faced and shouting at each other, and it seemed like it wouldn't end anytime soon. Michael simply started modifying the design on his touchscreen tablet.

During the battle, while his armor had suppressed Loki in close combat, he still felt it was a bit too cumbersome. He spent considerable time reducing the armor's weight and volume, adjusting some components to balance defense and agility. However, this meant reducing the power output of the drive system, which slightly lowered the suit's punching and kicking strength. The gauntlet's maximum output was estimated at 10 to 15 tons, while the leg drive system could provide up to 15 to 20 tons.

But that wasn't a major issue. Hand-to-hand combat wasn't the suit's primary attack method; mobility was far more important.

Notably, while the armor's shell wasn't particularly thick, it used a multi-layered composite structure he had developed himself. Titanium alloy, alloy steel, fiberglass panels, and other materials were layered together. The varying hardness of these layers could redirect the force of impacts, and combined with the unique shock-absorbing design of the internal skeleton, the suit boasted top-tier defense.

Next came the weapon selection. Aside from magic, the suit's primary ranged attack was still the palm-mounted pulse beam cannon—though it looked similar to Iron Man's repulsor beams, the principles were different.

He hadn't forgotten the flight system either. But he wasn't used to placing the main thrusters on his hands and feet like Iron Man, as he felt it made balance harder to maintain. Instead, he mounted the main thrusters on the armor's back, like a metal backpack hugging his spine. Its eight nozzles could propel in almost any direction, making the suit more agile for dodging and maneuvering, ensuring high mobility.

After finishing the modifications, he saved the blueprints and synced the data to his private encrypted server. He closed the tablet screen and refocused on the meeting, which seemed to finally be winding down.

It was worth noting that the current year was 2012, right around the time of the "Avengers 1" movie events in the Marvel timeline. In other words, if the world's events continued to follow the movie plot, there were still six years until the "Infinity War" when a certain Purple Sweet Potato would visit Earth.

The Ancient One had warned him more than once not to use his knowledge of the future to interfere with the course of history, no matter how bad it seemed.

But Michael had no intention of listening.

Destiny was something people held in their own hands. Nothing was set in stone.

He would change history and create a brand-new future.

(New book, please click, recommend, and bookmark. Also asking the big shots with reading lists for a spot on their lists~)