Chapter 165: Tony, Who Is Not Short of Money

"If you really can't figure out how to invent a stronger alloy,"

"You might as well start by researching vibranium. There's some of it right here on the Blue Planet."

"With Jarvis's capabilities, tracking down a seller should be feasible. Then you can just go buy some," Harvey said, noticing Tony lost in thought.

"Vibranium?"

Tony searched his memory at the mention of vibranium, but found it yielding no real impressions.

"Yeah, just look it up and you'll see."

"I'm hanging up now, figure it out yourself," Harvey said with a nod, and abruptly cut the communication.

"Jarvis, help me search for everything related to vibranium."

As soon as Harvey hung up, Tony issued a direct command to his AI.

"Right away, sir."

Receiving the instruction, Jarvis immediately began scouring every available database for any mention of the word vibranium.

In barely ten minutes, Jarvis had exhausted every channel within his access.

"Sir, the amount of information available on vibranium is extremely limited."

"I've only found one piece of intelligence of unverified authenticity, alongside one unexpected tidbit."

"Your father, Mr. Howard, once crafted a vibranium shield for a Mr. Steve Rogers."

Jarvis projected the gathered intelligence into the air.

"Well, what do you know? All this time, the great and mighty Captain Righteous was just walking around holding things gifted by others?"

Hearing this unexpected piece of news, Tony clicked his tongue in wonder.

Even if he failed to acquire any vibranium right away, just hearing this was enough to keep Tony amused for a while.

The next time Steve tried to act high and mighty in front of him, he could throw this right back in the Captain's face. And yet Steve still had the nerve to lecture others about relying on external advantages.

"As for whether there's vibranium for sale on the black market, I cannot confirm it because that lead is rather dated."

"I can pinpoint the location for you, sir, perhaps you might want to investigate personally."

Jarvis sounded quietly amused as he clarified the status of the vibranium leads.

"I'll know as soon as I go take a look."

Nodding at the suggestion, Tony instantly decided to set off.

Had he not known of the existence of Uru metal—a material unimaginably hard—he might have focused on conquering nanotechnology to enhance the overall performance of his Iron Man suits instead, provided no other metals could serve as substitutes.

After all, his current suits were constructed entirely from titanium alloys, offering decent mobility, but leaving much to be desired in terms of defense and hardness.

Previously, he had considered that adequate; high speed was almost enough.

However, after his battle with the Destroyer, Tony realized that if he wanted to go toe-to-toe with truly formidable enemies, he had to develop much more powerful armor.

Even if he couldn't successfully synthesize a new alloy using vibranium, fabricating a few sets of vibranium armor to keep in reserve certainly wouldn't hurt.

***

Meanwhile, Harvey was leisurely enjoying his meal.

If he wanted to prevent things from descending into complete chaos, it was best for him not to meddle too much.

As for the issue of Ultron, however, it hardly mattered at all.

If Tony managed to acquire a large quantity of vibranium and felt so inclined, Ultron would undoubtedly be created.

And if Tony had no intention of building Ultron, then regardless of whether Harvey interfered or not, Ultron would never see the light of day.

Without Ultron, Vision wouldn't come into existence either.

And whether Vision existed or not was completely inconsequential to Harvey.

As for Wanda—that unhinged woman—Harvey had never entertained any real thoughts of dragging her into the Void.

Wanda's power and potential were undoubtedly unquestionable, but it was precisely because of her overwhelming power that her emotional state was so prone to violent episodes.

Furthermore, once an episode struck, she acted with utter disregard for the consequences. Bringing someone like that into the Void meant she might, at any moment, cast aside all restrictions without a second thought just to grow stronger and achieve her own goals.

Harvey gazed out over New York, trying to catch a glimpse of Dr. Bruce Banner, the Hulk.

Yet, whether because it was still too early—merely July of 2011—S.H.I.E.L.D. had not yet managed to track Dr. Banner down.

Harvey wasn't in any rush, though; after all, a good show was about to begin.

After finishing his lunch, Harvey drove out to seek out some lovely and gorgeous maidens in need of assistance.

On the Blue Planet, as long as S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't annoying him, life couldn't possibly get any freer.

***

Over on Tony's end, he had tracked down a decrepit ship and paid an exorbitant sum to buy a massive pile of vibranium from a black man.

He didn't care whether he could actually use that much vibranium; to him, anything that could be solved with money had never been a problem.

Once the large shipment of vibranium was transported back to his laboratory, Tony immediately initiated a series of tests.

He tested the vibranium's resistance to freezing, its melting point, and what sort of methods were actually required to damage it.

Following various rounds of experimentation, Tony knew for certain that he was going to build a suit of vibranium armor.

Compared to lightweight titanium alloy, vibranium was undeniably heavy, but it also offered vastly superior defensive durability.

This also meant its mass and density would be extremely high, inherently carrying the weakness of reduced mobility.

Although this flaw couldn't be completely overcome, the most advanced thrusters Tony had recently developed were fully capable of bearing the weight of a vibranium suit.

Granted, its speed would be at least several times lower than his current titanium Iron Man suits, nor would it be able to rapidly reassemble itself when shattered.

It couldn't be loaded with massive amounts of heavy weaponry either, leaning much closer to melee combat; outfitting it with thrusters was already pushing the absolute limit.

Moreover, even with the assistance of thrusters, wielding the suit flexibly required the user to possess immense physical strength of their own.

Otherwise, wearing such heavy armor might render movement practically impossible.

Despite its numerous drawbacks compared to titanium armor, Tony viewed this creation as a heavy-duty weapon of mass destruction.

When he encountered formidable, hard-to-handle enemies whose mobility wasn't exceptionally high,

he could deploy the vibranium suit and enjoy the visceral thrill of fist-to-fist combat with his foe.

Of course, trying to use the vibranium suit against someone like Reynold, a superhuman with supersonic abilities, would only turn Tony into a target waiting to take a beating with no way to retaliate.

Consequently, Tony dove straight into crafting the vibranium armor, temporarily shoving Uru metal to the back of his mind.

Not that he had any other choice; his technology simply wasn't advanced enough to smelt Uru metal.

He would finish the vibranium armor first, and afterwards, he could conduct further research to see if he could engineer a metal that retained the lightness of titanium while possessing half the hardness of vibranium.

Why only half? Because Tony knew it was utterly impossible—at least for now—to perfectly combine the feather-light nature of titanium with the absolute hardness of vibranium.

Tony had no idea how powerful that future adversary truly was, but he intended to be thoroughly prepared for anything.

Furthermore, after fighting the Destroyer, although the charged Void beam he unleashed had failed to pierce the Destroyer's armor,

it had nevertheless revealed to Tony the immense, latent power contained within the Void energy.

Thus, Tony's evolutionary path was divided: one track focused on reinforcing his physical body, while the other focused on enhancing his mastery over Void energy, advancing both sides in balanced tandem.

Though his physical constitution was already far from ordinary, it was still nowhere near fast enough to rival Reynold, nor strong enough to match Kyle.

Therefore, his physical body still required further enhancement.

He had witnessed firsthand Harvey's ability to traverse the cosmos relying solely on his physical body; at the very least, his own physique needed to reach that level.

He would eventually venture out into the cosmos, and he certainly didn't want to get stranded by some sudden emergency and freeze to death in deep space.