Tony's Physics Lesson

"How the hell did you do that? We all saw the screen's power cable get unplugged."

Facing Tony's confusion, Harry felt rather smug.

"Osborn Group is an energy giant. It's perfectly normal for electricity to understand what I say."

"Really? That sounds like something a con artist would say. Besides, I didn't use those ten seconds of yours for nothing. After the meeting ended, I even gave you some publicity."

"Not bad."

It really wasn't bad. Tony was currently the most talked-about man in America—possibly even the entire world.

Just then, Senator Stern came out as well.

"Mr. Osborn, it seems New York State has run into some trouble recently."

Stern proactively held out his hand to Harry, though his expression was unpleasant, carrying the unmistakable air of a forced smile.

"Thank you for your concern, Senator. It's already been resolved. Just some interference from foreign forces."

Harry had meant nothing else by it. He was merely advertising, and as for that filthy line afterward, Tony had played it.

But Senator Stern apparently knew he could not outargue Tony, so he could only turn to Harry instead.

"Resolved? Foreign forces? Which foreign forces? The fucking moon? We'll see about that."

Harry shrugged.

We'll see about that? See what, Hammer Industries getting smashed to pieces?

Still, Harry remembered that this senator was Hydra. He narrowed his eyes as he watched Stern's retreating back.

There was one thing the news had not reported about Kingpin's plane crash.

Kingpin had been shot to death.

"So it really was foreign forces?" After Stern left, Tony asked curiously as well.

New York had suffered a Terrorist Attack, suddenly entered a state of emergency, and then arrested people from Rand Corporation and a huge number of financial firms in Midtown. This was major news.

Over the past few weeks, the two most watched events in America had been Iron Man and New York's state of emergency, with the National Guard sealing off Midtown.

"Yeah, foreign forces. Forget that for now. Can you still hold on?" Harry glanced at Tony's chest.

Tony looked around without saying anything.

"What is it? Don't forget, I have this technology too. Palladium poisoning, right?"

Tony let out a long breath and nodded.

"What, does your company have some cutting-edge medical technology that can solve heavy metal poisoning?"

"What else could there be? Hemodialysis. What other solution were you expecting?"

At the mention of hemodialysis, Tony shook his head.

"I'm Iron Man. If I get hospitalized, the paparazzi will make it front-page news the next day."

"Then replace palladium with a New Element."

Hearing that proposal, Tony smiled helplessly. "I've tried. None of the other elements work."

"Then create a New Element."

"How? This isn't something that just pops into existence because you think about it."

Harry pulled a USB Drive from his pocket.

"I went through some old documents. Your father seemed to have done extensive research on the Arc Reactor."

"In his old research papers, I believe he once implied the existence of an element—one that could be used in the Arc Reactor."

What Harry said left Tony somewhat confused.

"These are several projected models, but I haven't figured out how to design the accelerator experiment yet. Maybe you'd be interested?"

Tony looked at the USB Drive, filled with suspicion.

When Tony had returned to the country, Harry had visited Stark's CEO office once. He had secretly photographed Howard's model boards, then successfully obtained the model for that element using the method from the movie.

The models in the USB Drive were all things Harry had cobbled together based on the correct answer, with minor alterations to make up the numbers. Naturally, he had put the actual correct answer in there as well.

He only had the model now. As for exactly how Tony would design the experiment and create this New Element, Harry did not know. He only knew it would be made through a device similar to a Particle Accelerator.

So he needed Tony to give him a lesson on the subject.

"So you want me to join your experiment?" Tony smiled. "I don't work for other people."

"Then that's your loss. But if you're willing, perhaps you could explain how to artificially create a New Element. I don't think you'd refuse a shareholder's request, would you?"

After hearing that, Tony circled Harry and looked him over from head to toe.

"So you're a young man eager to learn? Strange. I thought young people your age were all arrogant and full of themselves."

"That's you, okay? Please don't force your own ideas onto other people! I'm still studying at Empire University, remember?" Though Harry had barely ever gone to school.

In the end, Tony agreed to Harry's request and spent some time giving him a lesson.

"So, if you want to create this element..." Tony's Holographic Projection was incredibly cool, shifting constantly beneath his hands.

"You'll need a Particle Accelerator like this."

The newly generated projection displayed the device's radius, power requirements, efficiency, and beam intensity.

"Did I explain that clearly, Genius Child?"

Harry nodded, feeling the Joy of Harvest.

Tony truly explained it well, and this equipment made the lesson so vivid and easy to understand.

"Jarvis, can this element be used in a Reactor?" Tony asked after finishing.

"No, sir. In fact, this element's structure has several theoretical flaws. It is highly unlikely to exist in reality."

Tony shrugged at Harry.

"Looks like your projection isn't very feasible."

Harry fell silent for a moment. Tony was very smart. Especially after Harry himself had become an inventor, he often envied a mind like Tony's. The system had even once given him the option of increasing his intelligence.

"Tony, if you had to choose, would you want Captain America's physique, a brilliant mind, or a mysterious Sixth Sense?"

Harry's question piqued Tony's interest. Or rather, Harry's performance throughout the day had pleased him—giving him the feeling of being a senior mentor.

"Hmm... maybe a powerful physique, or a mysterious Sixth Sense." Tony thought for a moment, then added, "The Sixth Sense, actually. I just thought about it, and Pepper probably wouldn't like the look of Mr. Universe."

Tony's answer left Harry stunned.

"But you're... America's universally acknowledged smartest person. You wouldn't choose a brilliant mind?"

This world had not yet discovered those freaks from Marvel, such as Mister Fantastic Reed or Doctor Doom. Tony truly represented the upper limit of intelligence.

"Yeah, I already have a brilliant mind. Of course I'd pick one of the other two." Tony winked.

Harry was speechless—so after all that, it was just a variation of "I really do own a cow."

"What? Did Santa Claus come to your house and make you choose?"

"It was just a hypothetical."

"How should I put this... in my view, intelligence—or high IQ—isn't something you're simply born with. Of course, there's no denying that some geniuses exist, like me." Tony grinned and pointed at himself, looking incredibly punchable.

"But genuine wisdom and creativity need to be 'trained.' Even me—if I'd been born in the wilderness, with no one to teach me how to survive, it would be hard to say whether I'd even learn to make fire by rubbing sticks together before I died."

"This sudden massive jump in IQ sounds pretty unreliable. What, don't tell me you're actually daydreaming about something like that?"

Tony pushed a glass of dark, murky drink toward him.

"Of course, your brain isn't bad either. I'm not saying you're an idiot—just that you're definitely not as smart as me. Also, how exactly did you make a powerless screen light up? Could that technology be used here? Think about it?" Tony tapped the Reactor in his chest.

Though his expression was incredibly punchable, Tony sounded very sincere.

Constantly learning—that was rather like Harry before the awakening system.

Besides, the choices offered by the system seemed more like characteristics extracted from each of those four Serums. Although the Green Goblin Enhancer could make people smarter, it truly was not rare in the Marvel world, and its effects were not outrageously powerful.

But the Sixth Sense—it was clearly connected to Spider-Sense. That thing was seriously overpowered, and choosing the Sixth Sense had allowed him to walk a different path sooner—the Psychic Path.

Thinking of this, Harry suddenly saw the light. He stopped agonizing over gains and losses, downed the Chlorophyll in one go, and left Tony staring at him in bewilderment.

"Whew. This technology isn't for sale for now. It's exclusive technology."

"Lastly, thank you for the lesson, Professor Stark. By the way, are you planning to sell this equipment? I'd like to get a set too." Harry curiously poked at the air.

"If you only mean the Holographic Projection, then I can give that to you. I was planning to put it on the market anyway. But the Data Processing is exclusive technology." Tony had inadvertently admitted that the artificial intelligence he had given Harry was a stripped-down version, lacking Jarvis's Data Processing capabilities.

That was still not bad. Harry had gotten himself a set of cool Holographic Projection technology, so he had not lost out.

"Then let's call it a day. I still have some matters to handle." Harry stood, preparing to leave.

"So you really are a diligent CEO?" Tony poured himself a glass of Chlorophyll.

"You know, that sounds like you're saying you're an incompetent CEO who only thinks about picking up girls and driving sports cars every day—though now it might be more accurate to say flying around in an Iron Man suit."

"Of course I'm competent!" Tony awkwardly rubbed his head. "It's just that at your age, you don't seem like the type who would work diligently."

"I told you, Mr. Stark, don't judge others based on your own experiences."

But in truth, Harry might not have been qualified to criticize Tony.

He even wanted to hand off the CEO position, just like Tony.

After obtaining what he wanted, Harry said goodbye to Tony and returned to New York.

As for whether Tony would try those models a few more times on his own, that was no longer something Harry could control. In any case, Tony would eventually create the thing after Nick reminded him.

Harry still had Norman's Retrovirus to deal with.

As for Tony, after Harry left, he looked at the USB Drive Harry had left behind a few more times, but ultimately did not pick it up.