"Harry, do you have time? I was thinking we could have dinner together tonight..."
"Sorry, I had some things to take care of tonight."
Although it was only his first day at school, Harry had clearly already become the center of attention. More than twenty blonde, blue-eyed women had asked him out in a single day.
Back when he had first transmigrated, he had been quite interested in such things and had looked forward to them. But now, his mind was on other matters.
"Harry, over here. Doctor Otto has been waiting for you."
His father, Norman Osborn, had been waiting at the entrance for quite some time. After the Energy Monopoly mission had been issued, Harry had thought it over carefully. Simply expanding a Hydropower grid across all of America, let alone the entire world, was impossible.
So he had thought of the famous Doctor Octopus—according to the setting, he was a genius on the same level as Iron Man Tony Stark. In the movies, he had even nearly created genuine Controllable Nuclear Fusion.
"Doctor Otto, this is my son, Harry Osborn. Harry, this is Doctor Otto."
The two shook hands amicably.
"I heard you were very interested in Controllable Nuclear Fusion. As it happens, I've recently begun researching related subjects myself." Doctor Otto took the initiative to explain his findings.
Ever since awakening the system, Harry had felt noticeably smarter. By Marvel Universe standards, he was probably around a four or five. He might not have been capable of developing Nuclear Fusion on his own, but with the answer right in front of him, he could still understand quite a bit.
"Strengthen the atomic resonance frequency, enhance the fusion effect to achieve energy output... It seems your calculations are complete..."
"That's right! All I needed now was an experiment. Even if you hadn't come to me, I would have approached the Osborn Group sooner or later."
Harry smiled. He was determined to acquire this technology, but before that, he needed to help Doctor Otto identify a few potential hazards.
"Doctor Otto, based on your materials, I believe your experimental design appears to have some shortcomings in terms of safety."
"Oh?" Otto froze.
"How did you plan to deal with the powerful magnetic field and gravitational effects produced by this 'little sun' once the fusion reaction succeeded?"
"That? I had considered it as well."
Doctor Otto stood up and walked over to something covered by a gray cloth, then abruptly pulled it away.
As expected, it was Doctor Octopus's arms, though they still appeared unfinished.
"These are my assistants: Mechanical Arms equipped with advanced artificial intelligence. I will control them directly with my brain to suppress the magnetic fields produced by fusion, as well as phenomena similar to solar flares."
"Direct neural control? And how is that safe? If they truly possess such high intelligence, how will you ensure that they don't influence you?"
"I had considered that issue as well. To that end, I developed a suppression Microchip. Right Here."
Otto took out a glittering little object, and Harry smiled.
"So you intended to rely on this? No offense, Doctor Otto, but I hoped you would take this experiment more seriously. This external Microchip is neither resistant to high temperatures nor strong magnetic fields. If anything went wrong during the experiment, it would be gone."
"And once the Mechanical Arms lost control... In fact, even if the Mechanical Arms performed as intended, the gravity and powerful magnetic field generated by the fusion plasma would still have a severe impact on the surroundings. I consider your safety measures inadequate." Harry continued with his assessment, holding the materials in one hand while calculating on the blackboard with the other.
"But..." Doctor Otto wanted to say something, but Harry interrupted him.
"Still, I'm glad. At the very least, you acknowledged the risk of being controlled by those mechanical arms."
The laboratory fell silent. Seeing that the atmosphere was turning awkward, Norman spoke up to ease the tension. "It seems our opinions aren't entirely aligned during this first meeting. How about we go back and think it over?"
Doctor Otto wanted to say something after hearing that, but he knew that, upon careful consideration, the safety of the suppression Microchip was indeed questionable.
"No... Father, I raised so many objections not to deny Doctor Otto's ideas." Harry put down the materials in his hand and walked up to Doctor Otto.
"I believe your idea has an extremely high chance of success. I raised so many questions entirely from the perspective of a partner, because I hoped you would place greater importance on safety."
"A... partner?" Otto's expression was somewhat surprised. "But the problems you just mentioned..."
"Those are merely minor details. I think you may be a little too eager for quick success. Since you are confident that you can create genuine Controllable Nuclear Fusion, then I believe you should be able to solve these problems as well."
Harry cleared his throat and extended his hand to Otto.
"On behalf of the Osborn Group, I would like to propose a partnership. In fact, the company has a stockpile of Tritium Element stored away. It was originally intended for this very purpose."
Doctor Otto excitedly clasped Harry's hand with both of his.
"Thank you for your generosity. Your company certainly will not regret this decision!"
"Then shall we call it a day?" Norman smiled as well when he saw the two reach an agreement.
"There's one more thing," Harry said. "Actually, I previously started a private project concerning Neural Implants and Mechanical Prosthetic research."
In truth, this was not his own research, but technology generated by the system.
"Could it be applied to my Mechanical Arms?" Otto asked tentatively.
"No, no, no... What I mean is, your Mechanical Arms gave me inspiration. I believe this technology has great potential for further development. I plan to establish a separate project, and the problems with the Mechanical Arms will be addressed within that project."
"But... my own project already keeps me busy enough. If you want me to take charge of another project..."
"No... Of course I wouldn't have you oversee two projects. I plan to have Doctor Connors take charge."
At the mention of that name, both Otto and Norman froze for a moment.
Conners had once been a military doctor. After losing an arm on the battlefield, he retired and came to Empire University as a molecular biology professor. He had devoted himself to studying reptilian genes and was obsessed with their regenerative abilities. He was also Otto's friend and a recipient of Osborn Group funding.
He was none other than the famous Lizard Doctor from the original story.
"But... Conners is obsessed with the regenerative abilities of those reptiles. If he could accept a Prosthetic Limb, he would have given up that research long ago," Otto said.
"Yeah, I hope he gives up that research too. If you hadn't insisted that the funding over there couldn't be cut off, son, I probably would have abandoned that project long ago." Norman shrugged.
"That's because the Prosthetic Limb technology currently on the market is too poor. Anyway, I'll convince him." Harry already had a plan in mind. In the original story, the related experiment had only succeeded on Spider-Man; everyone else had suffered serious defects to varying degrees.
Previously, Harry had been afraid that Conners might suddenly turn into the Lizard Doctor one day because of insufficient funding, so he had kept supporting Conners with money. Now that there was another option, that experiment had to be stopped.
Even with money, he couldn't burn it like this.
Before you continue