If it weren't for having just mastered the Flight Technique, Finney would have been drowning in jealousy. Even now, a pang of bitterness rose in his heart—why was it that the thing he had worked so hard to achieve, Skye had received naturally?
Skye's Evil Ghost Armor was vastly different from his. Not only did it come with a pair of dragon-like wings, but the armor itself was styled in a sleek, feminine design, emphasizing protection for only key areas of her body.
Just from appearance alone, it was clear that her armor had much weaker defensive capabilities compared to his own.
Feeling the surge of power from the armor for the first time, Skye was clearly overjoyed. Her face was obscured by the half-mask, but Finney could tell how excited she was the moment she shot into the sky, wings spread wide.
Worried that flying might drain too much of her energy, Finney immediately used his Flight Technique to follow her.
In the sky, Skye soared at high speeds, her silver and white silhouette streaking through the air like a comet. As she zipped past Finney, she shouted with pure excitement, "Finney, this armor is amazing!!!"
Of course it is! Who would know better than me how strong Evil Ghost Armor is?
Finney rolled his eyes at her uncontainable excitement but couldn't help smiling at how happy she seemed.
As powerful as the Evil Ghost Armor was, it drained physical energy quickly. Skye, whose body was only barely able to handle the armor with the help of Golden Amplification Technique, lasted only a few minutes in the air before she was forced to descend, exhausted. The armor automatically disengaged.
Even though she could barely stand, Skye's face was still glowing with excitement, her joy overwhelming the fatigue. "Finney! How fast was I flying just now? Was it as fast as a plane?"
Finney, unable to hold back, shot down her hopes with a teasing remark: "You wish. You couldn't even catch a plane's exhaust fumes."
To be fair, once Evil Ghost Armor fully evolved, it could potentially rival a plane's speed. But unfortunately, Skye herself was still too weak. The speed she had just displayed was barely faster than a car, let alone a plane.
Despite Finney's teasing, Skye didn't seem discouraged at all. Her eyes sparkled with joy as she looked at him, and in a playful, pleading voice, she asked, "Finney, do you have another one of these armors?"
"Nope. There's only one, and it's mine. Not lending it, thanks!" Finney replied, cutting off her fantasy. He then added, "And even if I gave it to you, you couldn't handle it yet. If you really want to use it, start training your body. This armor drains a lot of stamina."
Having experienced it firsthand, Skye knew exactly what he meant. Her expression shifted into one of determination. "Starting tomorrow, I'm going to jog and work out every day."
Watching her excitement and resolve, Finney couldn't help but feel that this was a win-win situation. Not only had he given her a taste of power, but he had also encouraged her to take better care of her increasingly sedentary lifestyle.
Satisfied with how things turned out, Finney escorted the exhausted Skye home to rest before opening another portal and returning to his training.
Under the vast night sky of Mount Everest, Finney flew freely, his Evil Ghost Armor equipped, and using the Flight Technique to soar through the sky.
The Flight Technique was based on the manipulation of energy, so its speed wasn't fixed. Just like the growth of the Zin-Ji Fried Chicken Roll, every skill drawn from the system seemed to have the potential for development.
Thus, the speed of the Flight Technique depended on how well he could control his energy and how much his body could handle.
With the Evil Ghost Armor equipped, Finney's current limit wasn't fully clear, but for now, his control over the energy wasn't enough to reach high speeds.
In fact, he wasn't even close to breaking the sound barrier.
Feeling a bit down, Finney recalled how effortlessly Tony Stark's Mark III armor achieved supersonic speeds during its test flights.
But then again, he had just acquired the Flight Technique and hadn't had time to fully practice it yet. Given the feats achieved by powerful characters in Dragon Ball, the technique's potential for growth was immense.
Meanwhile, Skye took Finney's advice to heart. After experiencing the power of the armor, she really began working out, putting effort into her physical training, to Finney's surprise. He couldn't help but be impressed by her dedication, recalling that without his intervention, Skye's fate would have led her to become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent—this latent talent must still be within her.
Time passed quickly. Ever since Tony Stark's return and his announcement that Stark Industries would cease weapons manufacturing, media outlets across the world remained fixated on him. However, Tony himself had gone into seclusion.
Aside from Finney and Pepper Potts, no one else knew what Tony was up to.
"It's been nearly three months. The Mark II should be almost finished by now," Finney mused, watching yet another report about Tony Stark flash across the TV screen.
"Maybe I should pay him a visit."
The thought had barely crossed his mind before Finney felt a surge of excitement.
For months, he had been thinking about how to insert himself into the upcoming battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger, but nothing seemed to fit.
The biggest problem was timing—he had no idea when the battle would happen. If he waited for the news to report it, the fight might already be over by the time he arrived.
That's why Finney had been toying with the idea of controlling the battle's timing himself.
But there was another issue: the miniaturized arc reactor was essential for Iron Monger's creation, and Tony was the only one who could make it. How was Finney supposed to get Obadiah Stane his hands on one?
With invisibility, teleportation, and flight at his disposal, Finney decided it was time to pay Tony's home a visit to get a sense of where things stood. If he could get a clearer idea of when Iron Monger would emerge, it would make planning much easier.
Unable to rely on the Jack Sparrow Compass to find Tony's house, Finney asked Skye to help search for the address online. Once they found it, he used a map to locate the place and took a cab there.
Standing outside Tony's luxurious seaside mansion, Finney couldn't help but think that having more money wasn't such a bad thing after all. Now that he could open portals, distance wasn't an issue. Maybe buying a mansion like this for himself wasn't a bad idea.
As he daydreamed, he found a secluded spot to equip the Evil Ghost Armor, activating his invisibility.
He first tried entering through the front door, but that didn't work. Reluctantly, he opened a portal and teleported directly into the opulent mansion, stealthily heading toward the underground workshop.
However, in his long stay at Kamar-Taj, Finney had forgotten that science, though different from magic, had its own advantages. Just as he reached the entrance of the underground lab, he heard a voice.
"Sir, there was an anomaly detected in your living room just now. Here's the footage—we suspect there's an intruder in the house."
Finney's heart sank as he saw Tony, half-equipped in his armor, raise his hand towards the door, the repulsor aimed squarely in his direction.
At that moment, Finney realized how foolish he had been. Why had he underestimated artificial intelligence? And how had he forgotten about security cameras? Who even installs cameras in their own home!?
Finney's spirit plummeted. He had managed to botch his first meeting with Tony Stark—again.
Now the question was, should he run, or was it already too late?
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