The crowds of New York felt an unprecedented level of satisfaction in just a few days.
The earthshaking explosion in the Stark workshop made a mysterious hero in battle armor appear in the public eye.
And at the press conference that followed, Tony Stark loudly declared that he was Iron Man.
This made everyone feel surprised then quickly think it made perfect sense. After all, when someone has more money than they know what to do with, they always like to play with something fresh and exciting.
Because Tony revealed his identity publicly, Stark Industries' stock skyrocketed.
The losses from the destroyed workshop area were earned back in just one single day, and the stock was still hitting limit-ups.
This made Ms. Pepper Potts look at Tony in a new light, "As expected of Tony, he always turns the tide at the crucial moment."
But this was not what Tony Stark expected.
His real intention was to show off in front of everyone. He worked his butt off to create such an awesome suit, so if he couldn't wear it whenever he wanted and use it however he liked, what was the difference between that and having a beautiful woman you couldn't touch?
As for whether the company's business or stock would be affected because of his willfulness, he hadn't thought about that at all.
But things always go that way, blessings and disasters come together.
Just when Tony shut out all the media crazily chasing him and focused entirely on creating a new suit. He came up with a brilliant idea: put the suit into a suitcase.
"I really am a genius!"
Not talking about Tony burying himself in R&D for a new suit or Stark stock soaring nonstop.
Corin very quickly received Tony's transfer: 200 million dollars.
"We agreed on a 1 percent discount, and he insisted on giving me a round number. That feeling of having too much money, I want that."
Corin recalled his battle with Iron Monger.
Deadpool-level regeneration was indeed strong, even reaching a freakish level.
But it still had weaknesses. After all, no matter how fast the body recovered, you still got hurt.
"How can I not get hurt at all?"
With that question, Corin flipped through the system shop page. He already had the answer.
If you talk about not getting hurt, it had to be Superman's rock-hard iron body.
Corin was actually really curious why he clearly came to the Marvel world, yet the system still had Superman's abilities.
Superman and Marvel weren't even from the same franchise.
But when he saw several other familiar abilities in the system shop, Corin instantly understood.
[Devil Fruit → Random effect. 10 billion dollars]
[Killing Curse → Avada Kedavra. 50 billion dollars]
[Spirit Realm Fist → Spirit Shockwave Punch. 8 billion dollars]
"One Piece? Harry Potter? Yu Yu Hakusho?"
After recognizing where these abilities came from, Corin suddenly had no objections.
"Alright, I was too naive."
Although those famous abilities made Corin drool, there was still the same problem: not enough money.
So he continued looking at Iron Body…
[Superman → Iron Body. 10 million dollars]
"Why is this so cheap?"
Either way, buy it first.
"Redeem!"
[-10 million dollars, talent redeemed successfully. Account balance: 403,455,700 dollars]
He suddenly noticed that Iron Body could also be upgraded, and only then did Corin understand.
"Oh, so it's cheap because the level is too low."
Looking at the Iron Body upgrade page:
[Iron Body Lv1 (Melee weapon resistance) → Iron Body Lv2 (Small caliber weapon resistance). 80 million dollars]
[Iron Body Lv2 (Small caliber weapon resistance) → Iron Body Lv3 (Large caliber weapon resistance). 100 million dollars]
[Iron Body Lv3 (Large caliber weapon resistance) → Iron Body Lv4 (Heavy weapon resistance). 500 million dollars]
[Iron Body Lv4 (Heavy weapon resistance) → Iron Body Lv5 (Strategic weapon resistance). 5 billion dollars]
He chose to upgrade Iron Body directly, "Upgrade!"
[-180 million dollars, talent upgrade successful. Account balance: 223,455,700 dollars]
After waiting for a long while, he didn't feel anything at all.
Corin picked up a fruit knife from the table and forcefully sliced across his palm.
Zzz! Clank!
The fruit knife snapped instantly.
Letting out a long "oh," he really did get harder.
Watching the knife edge curl then snap, Corin directly felt what true invulnerability meant.
He could feel that his skin was still very soft, but there was an invisible force preventing the blade from cutting.
'So this is Iron Body?'
A bit of interest flashed in his eyes, 'Let's try again.'
After a little prep, he opened the window, stood on the balcony, looked at the height of more than ten floors above the ground, and stepped off the ledge.
He jumped.
Feeling the wind rushing past his ears, to be honest, since it was his first time experiencing free falling, Corin felt a bit nervous. His instinct wanted to throw out a flying knife to slow himself down, but to properly test Iron Body's effect, Corin forced himself to suppress that protective instinct and let gravity slam him straight into the ground.
BOOM!
Landing steadily, Corin inside the crater felt nothing except the vibration. He didn't even feel a trace of numbness in his feet, as if he had only stepped down a stair.
"Not bad!"
Pulling both feet out of the dirt, Corin walked to a corner behind the building, took out the pistol he borrowed from Alyssa, and fired a whole burst at his chest.
Bang! Bang!
Clang! Clang! Clank!
Through his enhanced vision, he saw the bullets shoot from the flaming barrel, then turn into little iron discs the moment they touched his body and immediately shatter apart.
Except for a few new holes in his T-shirt, his body was unharmed.
Looking up at the balcony of his room, Corin wanted to fly up.
He already had Iron Body. It didn't make sense if he still couldn't fly.
"Let's go!"
He bent his legs and jumped hard, shooting toward the sky.
"Yahoo~"
As he kept rising, Corin felt the sensation of flying again. Just as he wondered how to change direction.
The upward momentum slowly decreased until it stopped, then he began falling.
Landing where he started, Corin stared up at the sky feeling depressed. He really couldn't fly.
Just now, he had only jumped a bit higher using strength.
"No wonder I couldn't turn! Damn!"
———
A little annoyed, he returned to the room and tossed the ruined T-shirt aside.
Still unwilling to give up, Corin kept browsing the system shop until he saw:
[Superman → Energy Eyes. 800 million dollars]
[Superman → X-ray Eyes. 500 million dollars]
[Sup...]
[Superman → Bio-Field. 2 trillion dollars]
So the Iron Body he bought was actually the lowest starting ability among Superman's many powers.
Looking at that Bio-Field at the bottom, Corin suddenly understood.
"This price is insane."
Forget it, he only had a little over 200 million left. Everything looked good, just not something he could afford. Better get something he could actually buy.
Since he already had Iron Body, he needed the strength to match it. Getting a land-based low tier version of Superman didn't sound bad.
Looking at the Physical Enhancement upgrade page:
[Physical Enhancement Lv2 → Lv3, permanently increases 200 stamina. 20 million dollars]
[Physical Enhancement Lv3 → Lv4, permanently increases 2000 stamina. 200 million dollars]
Corin started burning cash, "Upgrade!"
[-220 million dollars, talent upgrade successful. Account balance: 3,455,700]
He opened his stats panel:
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Name: Corin]
[Age: 28]
[Stamina: 2235]
[Current account: 3,455,700 dollars]
[Owned talents: Deadpool-level Regeneration, Dynamic Vision Lv2, Jeet Kune Do Mastery, Physical Enhancement Lv4, Faceless Mask, Precision Throwing Lv2, Sketching Mastery, Iron Body Lv3]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
'Why isn't Physical Enhancement at Lv5?'
Confused, Corin quickly ran into trouble.
Because the power boost was too big, even small movements caused damage to things around him.
Wanted a drink of water, he crushed the cup.
Wanted to open a door, he crushed the handle.
Even an ordinary motion of sitting down would flatten the sofa into a floor plan.
Thinking about how he had spent so much these past few days compensating the hotel, Corin showed a bitter smile.
"This is bad… looks like I went too far."
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.