Don’t Scare Me

Noah wasn’t surprised that Tony was tempted.

As a top scientist, his desire to explore the unknown was practically comparable to a mage’s pursuit of unknown magic.

Noah even felt that scientists like Tony might be even more obsessed with unknown fields than mages were.

Of course, magical research could lead to all sorts of trouble. For example, what if Tony came up with something like an "Anti-Mage Armor" or an "Anti-Noah Finneal Armor"?

But there was one thing Noah didn’t need to worry about: magical defensive equipment had limits.

Even if Tony somehow created magical defensive gear with an absurdly high upper limit, there was one key question: could his energy supply withstand the consumption?

Noah remembered that Tony’s later armor had mechanisms that allowed for on-the-fly replacement, but if Noah kept a close eye on Tony’s supplies and simply waited him out while defending…

Noah felt that Tony might get tired of playing before long.

There was also the most crucial point: no matter how powerful Tony’s creations were, they couldn’t change the fact that Tony was an ordinary person.

His stamina, physical condition, and bodily functions were completely incapable of matching mages like Noah.

Noah and the others could go without sleep or food and wear him down. Could an ordinary person do that?

Of course, Noah had no intention of saying any of this aloud. It would be hilarious if Tony went off to research some kind of nutrient solution to compensate.

"Besides, I have a dragon’s body. If things really come down to it, I can just transform into a dragon. I may not be able to control a dragon’s power with perfect precision, but using it to its fullest extent won’t be a problem."

Noah’s dragon form was Tier 9! At that stage, he was already at the upper limit of what could be considered powerful. Beyond that, it might truly become power beyond the level of this kind of lifeform.

Of course, these were all just Noah’s assumptions. He had no desire to bring trouble to the magical world.

He had to consider what Tony might do in the future. After all, Tony was just too smart.

Still, Noah felt it probably wouldn’t come to that. He was merely preparing for the worst. If necessary, he could use certain spells ahead of time, or simply teach Tony magic!

"If I let you join us, would you still go around making all kinds of ridiculous things?"

While Noah was lost in wild thoughts, Tony had already driven them to his mansion.

Honestly, although Noah had seen Tony’s mansion once before, seeing it again still made the corner of his mouth twitch. Was this guy’s house seriously decorated this extravagantly?

"Wow, Noah, this guy’s house is even more luxurious than your Sanctum." Nagini took a good look around Tony’s mansion and couldn’t help sighing.

"Indeed. You could call it the power of money." Noah sighed. This was truly the kind of thing one could only envy.

"The power of money? You mean the ability to be incredibly rich?" Nagini glanced at Tony walking ahead of them. Though she couldn’t see his face, she could easily imagine the smug expression on it, and slowly nodded.

"That’s right, the power of money. Too bad I don’t have that kind of ability." Noah shook his head and quickly followed.

Before long, they entered Tony’s laboratory, and Noah deliberately took a careful look around this legendary place.

If he remembered correctly, only a few people had permission to enter this laboratory, and they were all Tony’s closest friends.

As for outsiders? They couldn’t even get into Tony’s residence.

Moreover, Noah was deeply interested in the laboratory where most of Iron Man’s equipment had been created. And, of course, there were those few silly-looking robotic arms that Tony threatened to "remove the motherboards" of every day.

"Alright, you two. This is my lab. So, can you tell me what you have in mind now, Noah?" Tony casually found a seat, picked up a bottle of dark green liquid, and began drinking it.

"Nothing in particular. There’s something I want to ask you. After I cure you, do you still plan to keep using this palladium-powered energy source?" Noah didn’t stand on ceremony either. Following Tony’s example, he found a place to sit with Nagini.

"I’d like to find a replacement element." Tony tossed the bottle aside. "But you know how hard that is. Very, very hard. At least so far, I’ve tried everything I can think of, and I still haven’t solved the problem."

"But there’s someone who can probably help you solve it." Noah gave a soft laugh.

"What? What do you mean? Who can help me?"

"Fury. You know him."

"That guy? He isn’t a—"

"Yes, the head of the spies. But there’s something you probably never considered: he has your father’s belongings. They’re a gift your father left for you, or rather, the final lesson he gave you."

Noah loved spoilers more than anything!

Seeing Tony’s eyes go wide, his dazed expression looking exactly like Fury’s, was especially amusing to Noah. The information Noah had dropped was practically a depth charge!

In Tony’s memories, there seemed to be absolutely nothing related to this.

He simply didn’t remember his father leaving anything behind for him, much less something described as "the final lesson he gave you."

What did that mean?

"This…" Tony took a deep breath. "Did that one-eyed guy tell you this?"

"That’s right, Fury." Noah nodded. "You probably don’t know that your father was one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D., do you? After your father and mother died, it was perfectly normal for S.H.I.E.L.D. to safeguard some things for you."

"Where did you get this information? Did that one-eyed guy tell you?"

"Of course not. You know Hank Pym, right?"

"That old man from Pym Technologies? Of course I know him. A pathetic guy who got kicked out by his own assistant and daughter. What about him?"

"You and your father were in the same field, but he seems to have had some misunderstanding with your father. When I went to ask him for help over a decade ago, I happened to learn a few things."

Noah spread his hands. He didn’t mind borrowing Hank Pym’s name at all.

In truth, Noah wasn’t wrong. The conflict between those two ran deep. Perhaps because of the precedent set by Anton Vanko, Pym had become deeply distrustful of Stark.

On top of that, his wife had fallen into the Quantum Realm, neither dead nor alive, with no sign of her anywhere.

In the end, Dr. Pym had furiously left S.H.I.E.L.D. and founded Pym Technologies, doing everything he could to find his wife.

Tony didn’t really understand any of that, but he didn’t care much either. After giving J.A.R.V.I.S. a few instructions, Hank Pym’s information appeared on Tony’s computer screen.

Even the most classified files only took J.A.R.V.I.S. a few extra minutes to process and calculate.

"So that’s how it is. No wonder that one-eyed guy came looking for me." Tony nodded, wearing an expression of sudden realization.

"Not really." Noah gave him a merciless look. "If you hadn’t created an Iron Man armor, and if Earth weren’t facing unknown dangers, I don’t think he would have thought much of you, a playboy."

"You know his plan? Oh, no, you must have guessed it. Back in ’95, it seems you went through an alien incident with him. No wonder."

"Alright, enough about that. Tell me what you’re thinking."

Noah didn’t continue chatting nonsense with Tony. Although he wasn’t worried about exposing himself, there was no point in continuing.

A little spoiler and a little explanation were enough. Noah was also curious about Tony’s choice, especially that new element.

Although Noah didn’t involve himself in modern science from the Muggle world, he was still somewhat curious about what kind of power a new element would possess.

The development of magical elements came in countless forms, and natural elements were naturally not limited to just a few types.

However, the natural elements that were easiest to control and possessed tremendous power were, of course, the more representative ones.

While no mage would specifically study such things, they would still be interested in anything new. If they really did start researching, one periodic table of elements would probably kill quite a few mages.

"What choice do I have?" Tony gave Noah a strange look. "If it’s something my father prepared for me, then naturally I’m going to take it back."

"Then that’s settled." Noah nodded. "When the time comes, remember to let me study it."

"No problem." Tony didn’t ask what Noah wanted to study. Instead, he continued, "So, can we begin dealing with my issue now?"

"We can, but we need to make some preparations first." Noah nodded and stood up.

Solving Tony’s problem wasn’t exactly easy, but it definitely wasn’t difficult either.

Extracting the harmful substances from Tony’s body wasn’t an uncommon spell, but the key issue was whether Tony could survive after Noah did it.

Human life was fragile, especially with Tony’s condition being so terrible. He was already frail enough to be at a critical threshold.

If Noah wasn’t careful, Tony might die without even knowing how—most likely from energy loss leading to life failure.

Thinking of that, Noah felt he should first set up something that could maintain an energy supply, or use certain magic.

That was right. Noah intended to try using the life-extraction magic created by that Chinese master mage.

Although it was Noah’s first time attempting this spell, so it was somewhat like treating Tony as a lab rat.

But to be safe, Noah had also prepared some other things, such as the magic core made by that American magical merchant.

With that core supplying power continuously, and with Noah making some adjustments and converting it into power that could save a life, even if Tony wanted to die, he probably wouldn’t be able to die that quickly.

"What do we need to prepare?" Tony asked curiously.

"Animals. Preferably something with a longer life force," Noah answered without hesitation.

"Hey, you aren’t planning to perform some kind of sacrificial magic, are you?"

"…That’s right. I’m planning to sacrifice some lives in exchange with demons, then have you sign a contract and become a demon’s servant. What do you think? Pretty exciting, right? It’s a chance at immortality!"

"…Don’t scare me."