The Secret of the AllSpark

Obadiah Stane's sincerity arrived quickly. Luo Xia had only just returned to his apartment when someone was already waiting at the door with two suitcases.

Luo Xia didn't need to open them to know what was inside.

These two cases were identical to the one he had received from Tony; they contained the fuel for the Arc Reactor—Palladium.

There were two cases, double the amount Tony had given him.

The implication was clear: whatever Tony could provide, Obadiah Stane could provide twice as much. This was the extent of Obadiah Stane's sincerity.

Palladium was the key material for Luo Xia to manufacture the Energy Activation Device. These two cases contained enough Palladium for him to create two more.

Luo Xia accepted the cases with a wide smile, then told the delivery person to take a message back to Obadiah Stane: "I have received your sincerity, but I need more Palladium. Those of us in R&D have an exceptionally high consumption rate for materials."

Luo Xia intended to squeeze every last bit of value out of Obadiah Stane. Besides, once the man was hauled off to prison, these things would just be going to waste anyway.

Back in his basement, before Luo Xia could even begin converting the Palladium into Energy Activation Devices, he discovered a very serious problem.

"Damn it! Was I robbed?!" Luo Xia cursed at the pried-open window.

The basement wasn't entirely underground; half of the wall sat above ground level. There was a sealed glass window there meant to let in light.

But now, the window was shattered, and the frame was even warped, leaving a gap just large enough for an adult to crawl through.

Luo Xia's dilapidated basement didn't contain anything of value, except... the Energy Activation Device he had previously crafted.

Perhaps it was a quirk of the AllSpark technology, but the Energy Activation Device, made from ten pieces of Palladium, looked like an incredibly pure sapphire, with no metallic components visible at all.

A fist-sized sapphire—even if a thief thought it was fake, they might still swipe it just to try their luck. After all, "thieves never leave empty-handed" wasn't just a saying for the pros.

Luo Xia tossed his watch and commanded, "Violet, find this bold thief for me!"

Violet transformed in mid-air into a palm-sized robot and landed steadily with a backflip. Even as an intelligence analyst, Violet possessed quite impressive agility.

However, despite the graceful landing, once she stood up, the girl said to Luo Xia, "Apologies, Commander, but there are no security cameras installed here, and I have no record of what transpired."

Luo Xia: "..."

This was a bit awkward. Luo Xia suddenly remembered that Violet was a hacking specialist, not a forensic investigator.

"Fine, I'll handle this myself." Luo Xia didn't dwell on it; he first spent his AllSpark energy to convert all the Palladium into two Energy Activation Devices.

[Energy Activation Device owned: AllSpark energy cap increased by 2000, energy recovery speed increased by 4 points/second.]

[AllSpark Energy (Stage 1): 14/4000, energy recovery speed 4/second.]

It seemed the stolen Energy Activation Device was still functioning normally. Luo Xia wasn't sure if there was a distance limit on the device, but he had to find it—it was too important to lose.

As his AllSpark energy cap broke through to 4000, new equipment technology was unlocked.

[Tactical Goggles: Consumes 800 AllSpark energy, modified from military binoculars. Features Data Vision; when paired with Sensor Gloves, it enables target locking and auto-aiming. Target locking consumes 1 AllSpark energy per second.]

"It's actually a matching set!" Luo Xia was surprised; he hadn't expected the Tactical Goggles to work in tandem with the Sensor Gloves.

He looked back at the Sensor Gloves' data, and sure enough, a new line of information had appeared.

[Sensor Gloves: Consumes 600 AllSpark energy, modified from magnetic metal. Provides high-temperature insulation and bulletproof capabilities. The gloves feature a retractable blade, provide a boost to arm strength, and when paired with Tactical Goggles, grant target locking and auto-aiming effects.]

That last sentence had just been added, meaning information only appeared once Luo Xia unlocked the interconnected technologies.

If that was the case, perhaps the Pulse Pistol also had related matching tech, just that Luo Xia hadn't unlocked it yet.

But the problem remained: Luo Xia didn't have any military binoculars on hand.

"Violet, does the AllSpark's Minor Remodeling Technique strictly require specific items for activation? Can I just find any pair of glasses?" Luo Xia asked.

"Commander, the AllSpark is the source of our life, but it is not omnipotent. According to my database, AllSpark energy acts more like an enhancement effect—it strengthens the original functions of a machine. That is also why I specialize in information intrusion and intelligence analysis," Violet explained.

"So if I activate a wrench, will I get a maintenance specialist?" Luo Xia mused wildly.

"Commander, please do not act recklessly; that is impossible. To be activated into a robot or AllSpark-powered equipment, an object must possess an energy circuit structure to be effective," Violet continued.

"Energy circuit? What is that?" The term was new to him.

"My sincerest apologies, Commander. That is a secret of the AllSpark; my current clearance level cannot access that information. However, I still suggest that you activate a comrade specializing in technical R&D as soon as possible. They would be able to help you utilize the AllSpark's energy more effectively."

"A technical R&D specialist? Based on what you just said, I should be looking for a supercomputer like the ones used in laboratories, right?"

Luo Xia pondered this. It didn't seem easy to come by. Supercomputers dedicated to simulation and R&D weren't as portable as home PCs; the processing units alone could fill several warehouses. Considering it took nearly a thousand AllSpark energy points just to activate Violet, Luo Xia estimated his current energy wouldn't be enough to activate such a massive machine.

Moreover, such computers were worth hundreds of millions and were strictly guarded; finding one wouldn't be easy. After searching through the AllSpark's information for a while, Luo Xia couldn't find any more useful data.

It seemed the entity that granted him the AllSpark didn't want his life to be too easy.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

A sharp, urgent car horn blared, loud enough to give an elderly person a heart attack. As luck would have it, an elderly woman lived in Luo Xia's apartment building; Mrs. Cardenas pushed open her window upstairs and began cursing in heavily accented English.

The old lady was in good health, her voice booming with such vigor it nearly drowned out the sound of the horn.

Violet curiously tried to climb out the window to see what was happening, but Luo Xia said to her, "No need to look. I just had that guy Luo Fei bring me some military binoculars. What a headache."