Eve of Reinforcement

When a person's life is threatened, they usually unleash extraordinary potential. For example, a mother who lifted a car by herself to save her son trapped underneath it.

Although there were many traitors like Kaecilius and Baron Mordo under his command, the Ancient One had a way of teaching people—though generally, they couldn't reach her level.

When Doctor Strange, Stephen Strange, was studying at Kamar-Taj, his inherent cognitive limitations prevented him from mastering the spell of spatial portals. The Ancient One directly threw him to the peak of a snow-capped mountain, letting the extreme cold and lack of oxygen torment him, forcing him to break through his limitations just to survive.

Under the pressure of his potential, Doctor Strange shattered his mental barriers. Not only did he successfully return to Kamar-Taj, but he also made rapid progress in magic, eventually earning the qualification to inherit the position of Sorcerer Supreme.

And the tactical beating Wei Xiuming just took served the same purpose.

Fighting without reservation and experiencing near-death was crucial for his growth. Before, he only knew the martial arts summarized by the supercomputer, but they weren't mature. With the power of Magnetic Field Rotation, he encountered almost no opponents who could last more than one round in his few encounters, which didn't help him train at all.

Although he couldn't defeat himself from half an hour ago, Wei Xiuming dared to guarantee that if he fought his past self now, the current him could kill the past him at the cost of recoverable minor injuries.

"Thank you, Sorcerer Supreme," Wei Xiuming bowed.

"Kamar-Taj's doors are always open to you, and all its books and knowledge will be available to you," the Ancient One replied with a mage's salute. Then, opening a spatial portal, she transported herself to a distant location.

Wei Xiuming, left behind, was stunned. You said Kamar-Taj welcomes me, so you should leave me an address.

When he looked back, he found a white piece of paper on his desk in his dorm room, with an address written on it—the Sanctum Sanctorum located in a corner of New York.

After a night passed, Wei Xiuming was already waiting early in a room within an office building in an industrial park. He had long since replaced sleep with cultivation. After summarizing the experience from his battle with the Ancient One, not only had his experience greatly increased, but the power of Magnetic Field Rotation had also strengthened considerably. As for how much stronger, without a suitable measuring tool, Wei Xiuming dared not say for sure.

Beside him, Norman Osborn, who had integrated locust genes, could still maintain his energetic demeanor every day despite sleeping only one hour, as he was no longer human at the genetic level.

The reason why the two absolute top executives of the Osborn Group were waiting here was that today was the day the military would hand over personnel. The candidates for the first batch of Knight System wearers had been determined. They needed to undergo physical enhancement and a series of subsequent training within this industrial park to reach a level where they could skillfully operate the $620 million Knight System without sustaining damage.

The number of candidates for the Knight System was still unknown. After all, even the revolutionary B-2 bomber had a unit price that scared the American military away from purchasing too many. Especially since the pilots required an additional human enhancement process, the costs for this part, as well as subsequent maintenance and repair, made the American military unsure how much funding to allocate.

After receiving a phone call, Norman Osborn's expression suddenly turned grim: "Dr. Kent, the candidates for the Knight System wearers sent by the military... there are only five of them, and one of them is Lieutenant Sonon from before."

Five people was far below his expectations. Although the research and development costs of the Knight System were unknown, the over ten billion dollars in R&D expenditure on the company's accounts was real. He had hoped to offset this deficit with a large military order and even make a profit, but with only five people, that plan was out.

Wei Xiuming waved his hand, his gas mask still on to maintain an air of mystery. "This unexpected turn isn't a big deal. If the Knight System doesn't make much money, we can launch another product. Those large corporations and American government agencies are already troubled by the Xenomorph problem. If the Knight System isn't enough to solve the problem, we'll sell them our method for exposing the Xenomorphs' disguises."

Currently, the common method for identifying Xenomorphs relies on specific large medical equipment. Not to mention the cost of such equipment, or whether every household could afford it. Just operating it required professionals, and the equipment needed to be installed in a specific isolation zone. Moreover, concerns about whether the cumulative long-term micro-damage to the human body during use could lead to cancer, and other issues, all limited the Xenomorph identification efforts.

If the Osborn Group timely launched an inspection device and sold it to large corporations and government agencies, it would be harmless to the human body and convenient to use, and it would undoubtedly sell well. As for the high price preventing ordinary people from enjoying its benefits, well, America is a country of "freedom and democracy." They have the freedom to be mimicked and replaced by Xenomorphs. And ordinary citizens, once mimicked, wouldn't cause much of a stir, unlike the impact on government officials and financial magnates.

Compared to Dr. Erskine, a purely scientific researcher, Wei Xiuming was closer to a businessman. He would first launch a basic product and then gradually release subsequent upgraded versions. Setting aside that for now, he was more adept at managing customer psychology.

A thin, withered person was placed into a coffin-like instrument, injected with prepared enhancement agents, and supplemented with radiation energy. The enhancement was thus completed. From a skinny beanpole, he transformed into a muscular man eight feet tall, with a physique so good that even female officers couldn't resist reaching out to touch his chest muscles.

The only dramatic turn during this process was the screams of agony from the enhanced individual experiencing intense physical changes, making the soft-hearted lead experimenter want to pause the experiment. However, the enhanced individual, with astonishing willpower, gritted his teeth and persevered, ultimately achieving metamorphosis... This was too much like Hollywood.

It was like a pathological test for infectious diseases, where medical staff took a sample from the tonsils with a cotton swab and sent it for testing. The entire process took less than two seconds, and the tested person just needed to go home and wait for the results.

Among the tested individuals, there would be oddballs who believed that such a convenient and quick testing method wasn't worth their 180 yuan. They would then maliciously generalize their experience to the entire population, completely disregarding equipment wear and tear, personnel labor, and a series of other necessary expenses.

It was like the overbearing parent at a relative's house whose child fancied your Gilgamesh figurine and a limited edition Bandai Amazons belt. They generously threw down two hundred yuan, expecting their son to take both items, and this two hundred yuan also included compensation for their son damaging your half-assembled Assault Freedom Gundam model.

In their perception, these were just some plastic figurines and a plastic belt, how much could they be worth? Two hundred yuan was even considered a lot.

They completely disregarded that a "mere plastic figurine" involved copyright, design, mold opening, raw materials, packaging, warehousing, shipping, and necessary profits, among other aspects.