Don’t Compete with Him for Nothing

"Was that… a dream just now?"

Tony was drenched in cold sweat, his breathing unusually ragged.

Everything that had just happened felt so real, yet also like a dream. He could not tell what was real and what was not. Even now, he suspected that he might already be dead.

"Damn it!"

"What’s wrong, darling?"

Tony got up, intending to move around and check his body, but he quickly cried out in alarm.

To his shock, he found that he was completely naked, standing there in all his glory and looking utterly ridiculous. His shout also woke the woman sleeping in the bed.

After briefly soothing the woman who had spent the night with him, Tony put on his pants and walked over to the computer desk.

Without realizing it, Tony glanced back at where he had been sleeping. To be honest, he still could not forget the grotesque-faced version of himself from earlier.

Shaking his head, Tony turned on the computer. However, he frowned when he discovered that there was nothing unusual about it.

Tony clearly remembered turning on the computer just now and using it to complete a piece of software.

After searching for quite a while, Tony still found nothing, which left him irritated.

But he quickly perked up and immediately pulled up the surveillance footage around the mansion. Unfortunately, Tony still found nothing, leaving him deeply disappointed.

"Did I have a dream?" Tony rubbed his head. He still had not fully woken up.

But soon, Tony seemed to remember something. Even now, his mind still "stored" that young man’s appearance and the information the young man had given him.

Tony immediately opened a search engine and began trying to look the person up.

What left Tony dumbfounded was that no matter what he did, he could not accurately describe that young man!

He even tried to recount what had happened tonight, but the result terrified him—he could not say a single damn word!

"What is going on?"

Tony stared blankly at the computer screen, feeling a chill spread through his body. Could that bizarre situation from earlier have been real?

After thinking it over carefully, Tony, unwilling to accept it, began typing on the keyboard again. He remembered that young man asking him to create a social networking app.

His fingers flew across the keyboard, the clacking loud enough to make the woman unhappy.

But Tony could not be bothered with the cover girl at all. He immersed himself in the task, and in less than four minutes, Tony completed the software again!

"So… it was real?"

Tony propped his chin up with one hand and folded the other across his chest, seriously thinking it through.

He had recreated the software, and even he felt that his actions had been extremely practiced. Much of it had come from the memories in his mind.

That could only mean that all of this was real.

Did this damned world really have Heaven and Hell?

And why did that damned—Tony violently shook his head. Fine, why had that "kind Grim Reaper" used such a cheap method to let him keep living?

"Does he really think I’m that cheap? Who does he think he’s looking down on?"

Tony cursed furiously in his heart, but he quickly thought of something else.

His father and mother seemed to be in Heaven?

Damn it, why was his father, Howard, that obnoxious bastard, in Heaven?

And why did that Grim Reaper think so highly of him?

Stopped wars? Created peace? To hell with that!

He inherited Howard’s company, so did that make him a war profiteer?

What kind of bullshit logic was that?

Tony shook his head hard. This made him extremely unhappy. What angered him most was that the guy would not even let him change anything and had forced him to watch it all happen.

Tony knew that he probably really could not change it.

It was not that he did not want to. It was that he had tried several times to describe that guy’s appearance, but he could not do it. He could not say it, and he could not write it down.

Naturally, his plan to shut down the weapons division was probably impossible as well.

"So that means he’ll come looking for me sooner or later?"

Tony gave a bitter laugh. He had never expected to receive this kind of treatment.

Shaking his head, Tony’s eyes suddenly gleamed. If you want to come find me, then come. Do you think I, Tony Stark, am afraid of you?

I may not be able to deal with you now, but come back in three years… Fine, I still may not be able to deal with you, but I won’t let you have an easy time either!

That was just the kind of person Tony was—he refused to admit defeat. Otherwise, he would never have become one of his generation’s brightest talents. Even now, Tony had begun thinking about how to deal with someone like Noah.

"But before that, I should make the Artificial Intelligence AI System. Whether that guy needs it or I need it myself. Damn it, why does a Grim Reaper need an Artificial Intelligence AI System and social networking software? Are you planning to drag all the Grim Reapers into a group chat?"

Noah had no idea that Tony was planning to deal with him. Tony had even roughly guessed why Noah had asked him to make the social networking software.

The only difference was that if he replaced Grim Reapers with magicians, everything would be perfectly accurate.

After getting the software Tony had made, Noah left with Coulson, and they each went home.

After returning to the London Sanctum, Noah first got a good night’s sleep. When he woke up the next day, he impatiently took what Tony had made and went to see Charles.

"My goodness, who made this? It’s a genius-level design!"

"Uh… the idea was mine. Tony Stark made it."

"Oh? Mr. Stark? You actually know him?"

"Not really. I used some special means and had him make it."

Whenever Noah thought of Tony’s terrified and uneasy expression, he wanted to laugh. Still, he did not explain things too clearly.

After all, what he had done was not exactly honorable. Charles had probably figured that out too, so he nodded and said nothing more.

After more than a week of testing by Charles, once he confirmed that there was no tracking system installed in it, he discussed with Noah how to release it.

Actually, Charles thought they could split the software apart entirely, since it had far too many functions.

But Noah refused. In Noah’s view, Tony had already compressed the thing down to a few dozen MB. Why make things so troublesome?

Charles did not mind, but the only issue was that operating this thing required quite a lot of manpower, along with some fairly specialized people.

"That’s why I wanted Tony to make an Artificial Intelligence AI System, but that guy said he didn’t have one. I could only wait a few years before going back to him. Looks like that really was a mistake."

Noah’s goal in asking Tony to create an Artificial Intelligence AI System had actually been to reduce the staffing requirements for running the software.

What Noah had not expected was that Tony had not created J.A.R.V.I.S. yet, which left Noah rather helpless.

"If you’re not in a hurry, I’ll find a way to make an intelligent system specifically responsible for managing this software." Just as Noah was feeling most frustrated, Charles suddenly smiled and spoke.

"You? You can make something like that?"

Noah was somewhat surprised. Although he knew that Charles and the other Mutants seemed to have developed quite well technologically, could Charles really be trusted to make an intelligent system?

"How would we know without trying? I attended Harvard University, Oxford, and Columbia University, after all. Although I majored in biological genetics, that doesn’t mean I’m bad at software design. People should always learn a little more, shouldn’t they?"

Charles was not discouraged by Noah’s doubts. Instead, he replied cheerfully.

"Fine, then I’ll leave this to you. Though it feels like you already have quite a lot on your plate."

Noah was genuinely moved by Charles’s idea. There was never anything wrong with learning more, but Noah was also worried that Charles would not be able to handle it all.

Charles still had to follow Noah in researching all sorts of matters related to dragons. If he also spent time working on an Artificial Intelligence AI System, Noah worried that he would not have enough energy.

Charles was old, after all. Although becoming a magician had gradually restored his youth, Noah could not immediately start treating him like a middle-aged man.

"Don’t worry. I have plenty of energy." Charles smiled. "Even if you asked me to invent this social networking software, with your idea, I definitely wouldn’t be much slower than Mr. Stark."

"Really?" Noah’s expression turned strange. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. How long did Mr. Stark spend designing and creating this software?"

"Less than five minutes."

"…"

"To be precise, four minutes and thirty seconds."

"…"

After seeing off Charles, who looked somewhat dispirited, Noah helplessly shook his head.

Why did he have to compete with Tony Stark in that?

Maybe he could beat Tony in endurance, but competing with him in creation and design? Wasn’t that just asking for trouble?

Charles went back to design a simple Artificial Intelligence AI System, while Noah did not remain idle either. With three years left before the curtain rose, Noah officially began his "personal magician" training plan.

Honestly, finding magicians before any obvious signs emerged was truly difficult.

But after receiving permission from The Ancient One, Noah no longer needed to check whether someone possessed "magic power." Noah only looked at whether they had the perseverance to study magic and good character.

Noah was lucky. Perhaps because Ms. Heifen had taught them from a young age, the children at her orphanage all had character that put Noah at ease.

There was also another point: these children liked and admired Noah very much.

In their eyes, Noah was their older brother, and every year, Noah would visit them.

The orphanage staff told them that Noah had already become an incredibly wealthy boss and that the orphanage had developed this far because of Noah.

That was why the little ones were especially obedient. Noah had not expected it, but it made him particularly happy.

What could be more reassuring than finding a group of people who admired you and listened to you?

So Noah had no trouble teaching them. Every one of them was eager to learn, especially after finding out that what they were studying was magic.

This continued for less than two months before his phone rang again. And the one looking for him was still Fury.