Steel Body

New York's onlookers had been treated to unprecedented entertainment in just a few short days.

A shocking explosion at a Stark workshop had brought a mysterious armored hero into the public eye.

Then, at the subsequent press conference, Tony Stark boldly declared that he was Iron Man.

After the initial shock, everyone found it perfectly reasonable. After all, once people had enough money, they always liked to indulge in something new and exciting.

Stark Industries' stock soared after Tony revealed his identity.

The losses from the destroyed workshop complex were recovered in a single day, and the stock even continued to hit its daily limit.

This made Ms. Pepper Potts see Tony in a new light:

"Just as expected of Tony. He always turned the tide at the critical moment..."

But none of this had been part of Tony Stark's plan.

He had only wanted to show off in front of everyone. He had worked so hard to develop such an awesome suit of armor; if he couldn't wear it whenever he wanted and use it whenever he pleased, how was that any different from having a beautiful woman at his side but being unable to touch her?

As for whether his recklessness would affect the company's business or stock price, he had not considered it at all.

But that was often how things went. Fortune and misfortune came hand in hand.

While Tony shut out the media relentlessly pursuing him and focused on developing a new suit of armor,

he came up with a brilliant idea—putting the armor into a suitcase.

"I'm a genius!"

While Tony buried himself in the development of new armor and Stark's stock kept climbing,

Su Ming soon received Tony's transfer—200 million dollars.

"We agreed on a one-percent discount, but he insisted on rounding it up. Having too much money really does feel nice... I want that."

Su Ming recalled his earlier battle with Iron Monger.

Deadpool-Level Recovery was indeed powerful, even absurdly so.

But it still had its shortcomings. No matter how quickly his body healed, he would still get injured.

"How can I avoid getting hurt?..."

With that question in mind, Su Ming browsed the System Shop—though he already had an answer.

When it came to avoiding injury, nothing beat Superman's ridiculously tough Steel Body!

Su Ming had actually been curious about why the system contained Superman's talents when he had clearly arrived in the Marvel world.

Superman and Marvel weren't even from the same universe, were they...

But when he saw several other familiar talents in the System Shop, Su Ming immediately understood.

[Devil Fruit → Random effect. 10 billion dollars]

[Killing Curse → Avada Kedavra. 5 billion dollars]

[Spirit World Fist → Spirit Wave Fist. 2 billion dollars]

"One Piece? Harry? Yu Yu Hakusho?..."

Once he recognized the origins of those talents, Su Ming had no more complaints...

"Fine, I was being naive..."

Although those famous talents made Su Ming drool, there was still the same problem—he didn't have enough money!

He should keep studying Steel Body instead...

[Superman → Steel Body. 10 million dollars]

"Why is it so cheap?"

No matter what, he should get it first!

"Exchange!"

[-10 million dollars, talent exchange successful. Account balance: 403,455,700 dollars]

Only after noticing that Steel Body could also be upgraded did Su Ming understand.

"Oh—so it's cheap because the level is too low."

Looking at Steel Body's upgrade screen:

[Steel Body Lv1 (Cold weapon resistance) → Steel Body Lv2 (Small-caliber weapon resistance). 80 million dollars]

[Steel Body Lv2 (Small-caliber weapon resistance) → Steel Body Lv3 (Large-caliber weapon resistance). 100 million dollars]

[Steel Body Lv3 (Large-caliber weapon resistance) → Steel Body Lv4 (Heavy weapon resistance). 500 million dollars]

[Steel Body Lv4 (Heavy weapon resistance) → Steel Body Lv5 (Strategic weapon resistance). 5 billion dollars]

He immediately chose to upgrade Steel Body:

"Upgrade!"

[-180 million dollars, talent exchange successful. Account balance: 223,455,700 dollars]

He waited for quite a while, yet felt absolutely nothing.

Su Ming picked up the fruit knife on the table and dragged it forcefully across his palm—

"Scrape—clang~!!"

The fruit knife snapped apart on impact.

He let out a long "Oh." It really had gotten harder!

Watching the fruit knife go from bent to broken, Su Ming truly experienced what it meant to be impervious to blades and bullets.

Su Ming could feel that his skin was still soft, but some invisible force was preventing the fruit knife from cutting into it.

So this was Steel Body?

A glint of interest flashed through his eyes—time for another test.

After making a few simple preparations, he opened the window, stood on the balcony, looked down at the ground more than ten stories below, and stepped straight over the ledge.

He jumped off the building.

Feeling the wind whistle past his ears, Su Ming had to admit that, as his first experience with jumping off a building, it made him a little nervous. Instinctively, he wanted to throw out some flying knives to cushion the fall, but in order to better test Steel Body's effects, he forcibly suppressed the urge to protect himself and let gravity slam him viciously into the ground.

"Boom!"

He landed steadily. Aside from feeling the impact, Su Ming, standing in the large crater, did not even feel the slightest numbness in his feet. It was as if he had merely stepped down a stair.

"This works~!"

Pulling both feet out of the dirt, Su Ming walked to a corner behind the building, took out the handgun he had borrowed from Alisha, and emptied a magazine straight into his own chest...

"Bang! Bang!..."

"Clang! Clang clang..."

In his enhanced vision, the bullets flew from the flaming barrel. The instant they hit his body, they flattened into tiny iron discs before shattering and scattering away.

Other than several holes in his T-shirt, his body was completely unharmed.

Looking at the balcony of his room upstairs, Su Ming wanted to fly up there!

Now that he had Steel Body, it would be ridiculous if he still couldn't fly...

"Here goes!"

With a powerful push from his legs, Su Ming shot into the sky.

"Yahoo~~"

As Su Ming continued rising, he experienced the feeling of flight again. Just as he wondered how he was supposed to change direction,

his upward momentum gradually weakened until it stopped—then he began to fall...

After landing back where he started, Su Ming stared gloomily at the sky. He actually couldn't fly!

Just now, he had merely jumped a little higher using his physical strength.

"No wonder I couldn't turn! Damn it!"

He returned to his room somewhat dejectedly and casually tossed the T-shirt, now reduced to rags, aside.

Still unwilling to give up, Su Ming continued researching the System Shop until he saw:

[Superman → Energy Vision. 800 million dollars]

[Superman → X-Ray Vision. 500 million dollars]

[Superman → Biological Force Field. 20 billion dollars]

So the Steel Body he had exchanged for was merely the cheapest starting ability among Superman's many powers.

Looking at Biological Force Field at the bottom of the long list of Superman talents, Su Ming suddenly understood.

That price was way too outrageous...

Forget it. He only had a little over 200 million left. Everything looked great, but he couldn't afford any of it. He should get something within reach instead...

Since he already had Steel Body, his physical strength had to keep up as well. A low-budget, land-bound version of Superman would not be bad either.

Looking at Physique Enhancement's upgrade screen:

[Physique Enhancement Lv2 → Physique Enhancement Lv3, permanently increases physical fitness by 200 points. 20 million dollars]

[Physique Enhancement Lv3 → Physique Enhancement Lv4, permanently increases physical fitness by 2,000 points. 200 million dollars]

Su Ming began burning money:

"Upgrade!"

[-220 million dollars, talent upgrade successful. Account balance: 3,455,700 dollars]

He opened his status panel:

[Name: Su Ming]

[Age: 28]

[Physical fitness: 2235]

[Current account: 3,455,700 dollars]

[Existing talents: Deadpool-Level Recovery, Dynamic Vision Lv.2, Jeet Kune Do Mastery, Physique Enhancement Lv4, Formless Mask, Danger Sense Lv1, Precision Throwing Lv2, Sketch Mastery, Steel Body Lv3]

Why didn't Physique Enhancement have a Lv5?

Su Ming's confusion was soon replaced by trouble.

Because the increase in strength was too great, even the slightest movements could damage the facilities around him:

When he wanted a drink of water—he crushed the cup;

When he wanted to open a door—he crushed the handle;

Even an ordinary motion of sitting down flattened the sofa into a pancake...

Thinking about how much he had already spent compensating the hotel for damages over the past few days, Su Ming forced a bitter smile.

"This is bad... I think I overdid it..."