"..."
Richard's lips twitched slightly, and a cross-shaped vein bulged on his forehead.
"Mr. Tony Stark!" he said through gritted teeth, "I'm not into men either!"
"OK?!"
"But what you just did..." Tony asked, still somewhat doubtful.
"Just now..." Richard opened his mouth, his face instantly turning dark.
He wanted to slap himself right then and there!
Why are you being so ambiguous with yourself?!
This not only failed to amuse anyone, but also led to misunderstandings about his sexual fetish!
Richard had no choice but to explain, "I was referring to the previous Lord of Hell, Mephisto!"
"He took all the male succubi in the Hell Dimension into his harem and even built a Hell Paradise of birdsong and fragrant flowers, specifically as a place for him and those male succubi to indulge in pleasure."
"Wow, that's really something!" Tony exclaimed after hearing this, while subtly withdrawing his left hand that was covering his backside.
He smiled with satisfaction and said, " Richard, I knew I was right, you don't have that kind of fetish!"
Richard's eye twitched, and he thought to himself, "You damn Tony Stark! If I hadn't seen the movement of your left hand, I might have almost believed you!"
Now... heh heh, you'll be begging me for a treat soon enough!
He took a deep breath and said, "We can talk about this later. Right now, there's something I need you to decide."
Upon hearing this, Tony immediately dropped his playful demeanor and asked seriously, "What is it?"
Richard pointed to the sleeping souls of Mr. and Mrs. Howard in Tony's right palm and said, "I previously asked Mr. Howard and Madam Maria if they wanted to be resurrected and return to live on Earth."
"But in the end, they left the decision to you, Tony."
"Resurrect! We must resurrect him!" Tony shouted without hesitation.
Richard asked again, "Are you sure? Once they're resurrected, you might have to say goodbye to your current leisurely life!"
"Those are my biological parents!" Tony shouted again with certainty, "Resurrect!"
"Then so be it," Richard said with a smile and a nod.
He didn't want to go through all that trouble, but after learning a little about Tony's life over the past few decades, old Mr. Howard seemed to have some concerns, so he asked Richard to arrange this.
In hindsight, Howard Sr. was overthinking it.
Richard raised his hand and summoned the two sleeping souls that Tony held into his palm.
Immediately afterwards, two streams of Chaotic Mana were injected into the two souls respectively.
'Buzz~'
The sleeping souls of Howard and Maria trembled and slowly rose to the surface.
A dazzling light instantly bloomed on these two souls!
Tony instinctively reached out and covered his eyes.
Once the radiance dissipated, he immediately lowered his hand and looked over.
Two figures slowly descended from mid-air...
"..." Tony's eyes opened slightly. He stared blankly at the two familiar figures that were somewhat blurry in his memory, and his eyes instantly reddened.
His lips trembled, and for a moment he was unable to speak.
After being resurrected, Howard and Maria retained the same appearance and clothing as when they were alive.
This was something Maria had specifically asked her to do; she wanted her son to see the version of herself he knew best.
After Howard and Maria landed, they slowly opened their eyes.
They first looked down at themselves, then turned to look around.
Howard's gaze lingered on Tony for a moment, but was immediately drawn to the various advanced devices in the laboratory.
Maria's gaze, however, ignored everything else and fixed directly on Tony.
Although Tony was already a weathered middle-aged man in his fifties, and because he had been secluded in the laboratory tinkering with his Runic Armor, his work clothes were dirty, covered in metal shavings and oil, and his face was unshaven and he looked very haggard...
But Maria recognized him immediately.
She opened her arms, smiling through tears in her eyes, and said, "Oh, my Little Tony..."
At that moment, Tony Stark could no longer hold back. He rushed to Maria in two steps and opened his arms to embrace her small body.
" Maria... Mom..."
"I... miss you so much... I miss you so much..."
Maria felt the hot tears dripping down her neck, and tears also slid down her cheeks.
She gently patted Tony's broad back, calling Tony name over and over again.
" Little Tony... my Little Tony..."
"That's wonderful, my Little Tony has grown up..."
"Very nice..."
Howard watched this scene with a hint of jealousy, and slowly lowered his outstretched arms.
Seeing this, Richard chuckled softly and left quietly.
Next up is a special time for the Stark family to reunite.
Richard left the New Stark Headquarters Building and went straight back to Kamar-Taj.
He 'found' Kaecilius's location and transmitted his voice directly from a distance.
"Come see me!"
Kaecilius, who was teaching his apprentices, immediately changed his expression.
He dismissed the ' Richard's Fireball 2.0' spell he was demonstrating and said to the two female and one male Sorcerer Apprentice in front of him, "I have to leave now. You can review on your own from now on..."
As he spoke, Kaecilius looked at the short-haired female apprentice in the middle of the three.
" Lena, you're in charge of keeping an eye on the two of them."
The short-haired female apprentice immediately clasped her hands together and bowed respectfully. "Yes, Instructor Kaecilius."
Kaecilius nodded, disregarding the Kamar-Taj Regulations on penalties for the misuse of Portal Magic, and directly opened a Portal, leaving the classroom.
The short-haired female apprentice stepped forward, turned to look at the other two apprentices, and smiled slightly.
"You have half an hour to familiarize yourselves with the Fireball taught by Instructor Kaecilius."
"Half an hour later, the three of us will conduct a live-fire exercise."
Two shallow dimples appeared on her cheeks, which added a touch of sweetness to her appearance.
But to the other two Sorcerer Apprentice, that sweet smile was as terrifying as a demon.
The fair-skinned, long-haired female Sorcerer Apprentice took a step back and weakly shook her head in refusal.
" Lena, Instructor Kaecilius only told you to supervise us, he never said anything about conducting actual combat drills!"
Another rather handsome male apprentice stepped directly in front of the long-haired female apprentice, puffed out his chest, and said, " Lena, don't think that just because your aunt was a former member of Instructor Kaecilius's team, you can bully us at will."
The long-haired female apprentice gently tugged at the male apprentice's sleeve and said timidly, " Fred, please stop! If Lena complains to her aunt, the Sorceress Emilia, afterwards, we'll definitely be punished~~"
The male apprentice turned to comfort her, "Don't be afraid, Vivian. Not only does Lena have a certified Sorcerer aunt, but my aunt is also a certified Sorcerer!"
As he spoke, he turned his head and said with a disdainful look, "I'm not like some people who bully their classmates just because they have some connections."
At this moment, Lena's smile became even sweeter.
"Very well, I hereby announce that the half-hour familiarization period is canceled..."
"The live-fire exercise has officially begun."
As she spoke, her hands moved rapidly, forming hand seals, and countless Rhombic Space Fragment quickly constructed a Mirror Dimension.
Immediately afterwards, Lena stretched out her hands, and two orange-red fireballs suddenly condensed in her palms.
Both the long-haired female apprentice Vivian and the male apprentice Fred showed expressions of horror.
"No!"
They shouted in unison, but the next second, two large, orange-red fireballs were smeared on their faces.
'boom!'
Two fireballs exploded simultaneously!