William was cooped up in his apartment study, going through his client list.
The rich aroma of freshly ground coffee beans wafted through the air.
Just as he was enjoying the quiet, a sharp buzzing sound pierced his skull without warning.
William's pupils suddenly constricted.
"WARNING! Tony Stark has triggered the 'Genesis Protocol' emergency claim clause!"
In his vision,
a line of crimson data streamed, flashing wildly.
"CLAIM ITEM: Core Energy Module (Arc Reactor) has been forcibly removed."
"Client's vital signs are rapidly declining!"
The coffee cup slipped from his fingers,
spreading a dark brown stain on the expensive carpet.
The facade of tranquility was instantly shattered.
"Connecting to Client 008 emergency channel..."
"'Genesis Protocol' claim process activated."
"Detecting critical client vital signs, initiating highest priority."
At the same time,
on the Malibu coastline, the sea breeze was gentle, yet it couldn't disperse the heavy despair lingering within the Stark Villa.
In the luxurious living room,
Tony Stark was half-reclining on the sofa.
His face was ashen.
His lips were cracked, and his forehead hair was soaked with cold sweat, clinging to his skin.
The eyes that once sparkled with genius and arrogance were now dim, like two stars about to burn out.
His spare Arc Reactor was in the workshop downstairs.
But his weakened body couldn't support him getting down there.
Tony's breathing grew increasingly rapid.
The pain in his chest was unbearable.
Just at this desperate moment,
the distant roar of a helicopter's propellers grew louder, coming from outside the living room's floor-to-ceiling windows.
Tony didn't even have the strength to turn his head.
Obadiah's minions?
They took the Reactor and still wouldn't let him go?
A streamlined, completely black intelligent drone silently flew in through the window.
It hovered in front of the collapsed Tony Stark.
It gave no warning.
Only a soft blue beam of light shot out from its bottom.
Within the beam, an object emitting a pure blue glow slowly descended.
A brand new Arc Reactor.
It quietly floated before Tony, emitting a pure and stable blue aura.
Time seemed to freeze.
Tony's eyes snapped open, his breathing hitched.
His dim pupils were completely ignited by that blue light.
From the ashes of despair, a wild, incredible Fire erupted.
"This... this is..."
He tremblingly reached out, his fingertips touching the cold casing of the Reactor.
The real sensation.
The surging energy fluctuations, all told him this was not a hallucination.
This is impossible!
This completely defied the laws of physics!
Tony almost roared, using all his strength to sit up from the sofa.
His movements were swift and precise.
The new Reactor was precisely embedded into the device in Tony's chest.
Hum—
With a soft hum, a pure blue light instantly permeated his entire body.
Visibly,
his pale complexion rapidly regained its color.
His weak breathing became steady and strong.
He stood up, feeling a surging power from his chest, even more powerful than before.
He was like a deity returned from the abyss of death, regaining control of his own destiny.
He glanced at the quietly hovering drone, Tony knew whose masterpiece it was.
But now was not the time to dwell on it.
He turned and strode towards the red and gold suit of armor in the underground workshop.
Mechanical arms swiftly donned the armor piece by piece for him.
The clanking of metal was powerful and rhythmic.
Like a battle song of revenge.
Boom!
Accompanied by a violent sonic boom, a red and gold meteor shot straight into the sky.
After completing its mission, the drone also quietly disappeared.
Thousands of miles away in Manhattan.
William heard the system's cold prompt.
"Claim process completed, claim points -100."
"Calculating excess claim rewards..."
"Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Palm Arc Pulse (Miniaturized)."
Using his own palm as a blueprint,
countless light blue energy lines were generated, interwoven, and converged into a core between his metacarpals and muscles.
The feeling.
It was like an invisible Doctor was using the most cutting-edge technology to transform his body.
"Palm Arc Pulse?"
William subconsciously spread his right hand.
This hand, which had just been holding a pen, now felt a strange, tingling sensation.
As if a tiny thunder beast was dormant beneath his skin.
This was no longer an auxiliary ability like Mechanical Induction.
This was a weapon.
Tony Stark's signature attack method.
Now, it was transplanted onto his hand by the system in a miniaturized form.
No?
Iron Man's abilities can also be obtained?
Is it that outrageous?
William thought about it; he already had a system.
Everything outrageous didn't seem so outrageous anymore.
It's just that these claim points were consumed a bit too quickly... The successful man stood up and paced the room.
Trying to calm the mixed feelings of ecstasy and unease.
He was an insurance salesman.
His weapons should be contract clauses and a silver tongue.
But now, the system had given him a loaded gun.
His gaze swept across the study, finally landing on a dusty cardboard box in the corner.
He walked over and pulled out the thickest book, a five or six hundred-page "New York Business Yellow Pages."
He stood the Yellow Pages on the desk, behind which was a solid load-bearing wall.
Taking a deep breath, William slowly raised his right hand, his palm aimed at the thick Yellow Pages.
Hum... A very faint hum, audible only to himself, sounded in his palm.
In the air, free-floating particles seemed to be attracted and compressed.
The temperature of his palm was rapidly rising, and the air in front of it even showed a slight distortion.
An unprecedented sense of control surged into his heart.
No beam of light as expected.
An Impact, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, mixed with faint blue electrical arcs, suddenly erupted from his palm!
Bang!
A dull thud.
The heavy Yellow Pages were struck head-on, exploding from the middle!
Countless paper fragments fluttered like snowflakes.
The Impact continued unabated, slamming hard into the wall behind.
William stared blankly at his palm, then at the somewhat blackened wall.
This was just the result of him subconsciously controlling the output.
If this blow had landed on a person... The system was completing the necessary "insurance" for him to survive in this World, based on the characteristics of his clients.
From passive defense to active attack.
Perhaps it was because of the major client, Tony Stark.
Familiar with his new ability, William picked up his tablet.
The system thoughtfully streamed things not seen on TV.
On a highway in the suburbs of Los Angeles.
Two metal constructs were fighting wildly.
One was the red and gold, sleek and agile Iron Man.
The other was the larger, crude, and ferocious iron monger.
Explosions, Fire, flying cars... like the set of a Hollywood disaster movie.
William sat on the sofa, watching quietly.
He knew better than anyone in the World why that red and gold figure could fly into the sky again.
That brand new Arc Reactor, provided by his system, was continuously supplying surging power in Tony Stark's chest.
"Stark Industries' headquarters is in Los Angeles, California."
"The one in Manhattan, New York, is Stark Tower."