Passo Technology

New York, Passo Company Headquarters Building.

To New York residents, this skyscraper seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere within the past two years, much like the company itself. Two years ago, no one in the world had ever heard the name "Passo Technology." Yet today, it had grown into a giant spanning civilian technology, advanced weaponry, energy, and numerous other fields. After Stark Industries, America's leading arms manufacturer, announced its withdrawal two years ago, Passo Technology had secured military contracts one after another with cutting-edge weapons far ahead of their time. It was even beginning to show signs of taking over as the next industry leader.

Top floor, chairman's office.

Sparks burst from thin air, slowly carving out a circle just large enough for one person to pass through. The company's young founder, Michael Passo, ducked out of the magical portal and returned to his office. The moment he emerged, a beautiful young woman in professional attire stepped forward, already holding a complete custom-made suit for him.

Elizabeth Betty, Michael's personal secretary. She had silky, shimmering pale-gold hair, a well-proportioned figure, and long slender legs. With a more fashionable outfit, she would have looked like a beauty who had stepped straight off the cover of a fashion magazine.

She seemed entirely unsurprised by her boss walking out of a magic circle. Calmly stepping forward, she began helping him into his suit and tying his tie. "The meeting is ready to begin."

"Do I have any other appointments this week besides this meeting?" Michael asked.

"There are a few unimportant talks, but I can attend those for you unless you want to handle them personally." Elizabeth straightened his tie, then took out a small white comb she carried with her and began combing his hair.

"No need. You decide for me," Michael said.

Elizabeth quickly tidied his hair, put away the comb, and added, "Also, the mayor has invited you to a charity gala this weekend. It will be held at..." She checked the details. "Seven o'clock Saturday evening."

"Make a note of it and remind me when the time comes."

"Yes, sir."

A few minutes later, Elizabeth pushed open the double black doors of the conference room. Michael strode inside, where the heads of every department had already been waiting for quite some time.

In truth, he did not handle much of the company's day-to-day business. Unless it involved a major decision or the launch of a new product, he only reluctantly made time to deal with it. He had entrusted most matters entirely to Elizabeth. He had personally selected this secretary when the company was first founded, and he had absolute trust in both Elizabeth's competence and loyalty.

The main reason this boss had made a rare appearance today was that the meeting concerned the allocation of next year's financial budget. Elizabeth did not have the authority to decide such matters on his behalf; he had to be there in person to give his approval.

The meeting was long and boring, though it had little to do with him as the boss. The basic process consisted of listening to each department head talk at length about their department's progress over the past year, then asking for a larger allocation of resources next year.

The meeting dragged on for five or six hours, yet the executives showed no sign of fatigue. On the contrary, they seemed to be growing increasingly excited. Their topics clearly held no interest for their young boss. By now, Michael had taken out his private tablet, entered the password, and unlocked a folder labeled "Armor." A detailed set of armor blueprints and precise specifications immediately appeared on the screen in his hands.

This was not his first suit of armor. The one he had used against Loki was already his fifth-generation armor. However, this particular suit was still only a prototype in the testing stage, and many aspects still needed improvement and reinforcement.

Michael Passo was a transmigrator, though he could not exactly be called an ordinary person even before crossing over. He had originally been a genius in mechanical engineering and electronic information, and somehow, the process of crossing dimensions seemed to have amplified his expertise even further. Put simply, after arriving here, he found that his thinking had broadened several times over. His thoughts had never been clearer, and his speed at learning new knowledge—really, Marvel's local black technology—was so fast that even he found it astonishing.

Crossing dimensions had not given him any cheat like a system or a growth-type superpower. But if he had to name one, the awakening of this talent was probably his advantage as a transmigrator.

From the moment he first arrived in this universe five years ago, Michael had begun gathering information from all over the world. Terms such as Osborn Technologies and Stark Industries appeared frequently in news reports, making it easy to determine that this was the Marvel Universe. Yet it did not seem to be entirely the MCU's setting either. Although the overall timeline appeared to follow the MCU, many details were different.

The current point in time was probably just before the Battle of New York. Of course, because of his interference, there was a high chance that battle would no longer happen. That meant the Iron Man armor, which currently represented the pinnacle of individual combat armor technology in this world, should only have reached its seventh generation.

Using Iron Man's technology as a benchmark, Michael had to admit that his own technology might still be inferior in terms of energy output. Iron Man's core energy source was the Arc Reactor, and Michael obviously had no idea how that thing was designed. His armor relied on electrical energy from batteries he had designed himself. Although their performance was excellent, they clearly could not compare to an Arc Reactor.

Of course, it was not as though he could not find a way to obtain Arc Reactor blueprints. The design plans for the miniature reactor in Stark's chest might be difficult to acquire, but it was not impossible to get the blueprints for the enormous Ark Reactor at Stark Industries. In the movie, Stark had shrunk that device down to a size that could fit into his chest, using it to keep the shrapnel lodged there from reaching his heart while also powering his armor.

Michael believed that if Stark had been capable of replicating a miniature version of that massive Ark Reactor in a rundown cave with primitive equipment, then he might not be incapable of doing the same. He simply disdained doing so—plagiarizing someone else's research was something Michael would never do, no matter the reason. Even if someone placed the blueprints right in front of him, he would not bother to glance at them.

Even so, he remained confident that the overall capabilities of his independently developed armor surpassed Iron Man's current technology across the board—because it combined technology and magic.

Back when he was at Kamar-Taj, Michael had already begun searching for a way to merge the two different disciplines of technology and magic. Every time he learned a new spell, he created a separate project on his private computer, built a model, and recorded all sorts of relevant data from multiple angles for study and understanding.

The reason he learned spells so quickly was not merely because of his exceptional talent. It was also because he was skilled at thinking, while everyone else was accustomed only to mechanically repeating their practice. Even the Ancient One admitted that his attempts might be viable. Unfortunately, she had no knowledge of technology and could offer no guidance.

After years of research, Michael had now analyzed the spell seals of countless common spells into Magic Circles that could be stored through programming, then digitized all that information and entered it into the armor's onboard computer. This allowed him to call upon any Magic Circle recorded in his onboard computer during combat. He only needed to silently recite the corresponding incantation to cast the appropriate spell swiftly and conveniently. He could even skip the steps of hand signs and spell construction, making it faster and more convenient than traditional spellcasting, without the awkward risk of having his hand signs and incantation interrupted by an enemy.

The fusion of modern weapons and magic was the armor's original design concept, as well as the fundamental direction of its future upgrades.

Michael was generally satisfied with the prototype armor's first real combat test against Loki, though there was still room for improvement.

By now, the executives from every department were practically red-faced and shouting at one another. It looked as though they would not be finishing anytime soon. Michael simply began revising the design on his touchscreen tablet.

Although his armor had suppressed Loki in close combat during this battle, he still felt it was somewhat too cumbersome in motion. He spent considerable time reducing the armor's weight and bulk, cutting back certain components to strike a balance between defense and agility. However, this also meant reducing the output of the armor's power system. Its basic punching and kicking strength would be slightly lowered, with the Gauntlet's maximum output estimated at ten to fifteen tons, while the leg power system could provide a maximum output of fifteen to twenty tons.

Still, that was not a major issue. Hand-to-hand combat was never the armor's primary means of attack. Compared to that, mobility was much more important.

It was worth mentioning that while the armor's shell was not particularly thick or heavy, it used a multilayer composite structure independently developed by Michael. Titanium alloy, alloy steel, fiberglass panels, and various other materials were layered together. The composite structure's differing hardness could redirect incoming impact force, and coupled with the unique shock-absorption design of its internal frame, the suit possessed first-rate defensive power.

Next came weapon selection. Aside from magic, the armor's primary long-range attack method remained the Pulse Beam Cannon in its palms. Although it looked very similar to Iron Man's Repulsor Energy Cannon, the underlying principles were actually different.

Naturally, he had not forgotten the flight power system. However, he was not accustomed to placing the main Thrusters for flight in the hands and feet like Iron Man did. He felt that made it difficult to maintain balance. He installed the main Thrusters on the armor's back, like a metal backpack pressed tightly against it. Its eight exhaust ports could provide thrust in nearly any direction, making small evasive maneuvers and shifts more agile while ensuring the suit's high mobility.

Once he finished the modifications, he saved the blueprints and synchronized the data to his private encrypted server. He turned off the tablet screen and returned his attention to the meeting. This long, dull conference finally seemed to be approaching its end.

It was worth mentioning that the current year was 2012, around the point in Marvel's timeline when the events of the movie Avengers Alliance took place. In other words, if events in this world continued following the movie's plot, then there were still six years until the Infinity War erupted and a certain Purple Sweet Potato came to 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 terrible history's development might seem.

But Michael had no intention of listening to her.

Fate was something held in human hands. Nothing was predetermined.

He would change history and create an entirely new future.

(New book—please click, recommend, and bookmark it. And a recommendation for any book lists would be greatly appreciated~)