I Didn’t Understand

More than five months quietly passed after the Destroyer’s last attack, bringing the time to 2012.

Tony spent over three months conducting countless tests before finally completing the first Vibranium armor.

Tony also sprayed the Vibranium armor with red and gold paint, but compared to the Iron Man armor—

The Vibranium armor was taller overall, standing two and a half meters high. Its greatest differences were its pair of specially made, enormous red gauntlets and the scarlet great axe over two meters long on its back.

The gauntlets’ primary function was allowing him to fire Void Rays, while their secondary function was letting him engage in direct hand-to-hand combat.

The great axe was mainly used to destroy relatively large objects more conveniently.

Of course, with these additions, the Vibranium armor’s overall weight reached ten tons.

Although the thrusters Tony had developed were extremely powerful, they were limited by special manufacturing requirements.

As a result, Tony’s Vibranium armor could only reach one hundred meters per second at full speed.

Only after removing the great axe, which weighed more than three tons, could Tony reach the speed of sound.

Compared to the Iron Man armor’s mach 6, the difference was like heaven and earth, but Tony had expected this long ago.

The Vibranium armor was not meant to be known for its agility. As long as it was tough and powerful enough, that was sufficient.

It was only because Tony’s physical body was strong enough and his endurance astounding that he could wear this Vibranium armor.

If someone with an insufficiently strong body wore it, even lifting the three-ton scarlet great axe would be a problem, let alone wielding it in combat.

After all, lifting a weapon and fighting with one were entirely different concepts.

Even without using a weapon, Tony could activate the Vibranium armor’s charging mode, and ordinary objects would shatter upon impact.

During this time, aside from New York’s usual scenery of gunfights, Blue Star remained peaceful and calm.

Before he knew it, the New Year had arrived, making Tony wonder why Harvey had said he was temporarily unable to get away.

"Jarvis, when Harvey said I was temporarily unable to leave Blue Star—

"Did he include the research I had to do on Vibranium?"

At the start of 2012, the more Tony thought about it, the more something felt wrong. He began seeking agreement and answers from Jarvis.

"I don’t think so. You know Mr. Harvey is extraordinarily capable."

"He knows countless things even I do not understand. Since he said you were temporarily unable to leave, it certainly was not because of your research."

Jarvis also understood Mr. Tony’s feelings.

Although Miss Pepper had become increasingly beautiful and was very close to Mr. Tony—

Allowing Mr. Tony to enjoy himself every night, given Mr. Tony’s formerly flirtatious nature—

If he could, Mr. Tony would certainly want to sample some wildflowers.

However, even if Mr. Tony wanted to sample wildflowers, he did not dare look for them on Blue Star.

Although Miss Pepper knew Mr. Tony’s nature and turned a blind eye to his pursuit of wildflowers—

At most, that meant Miss Pepper allowed Mr. Tony to find a few wildflowers while he was in the universe.

This could be seen from how Miss Pepper had not asked Mr. Tony in much detail about some of the things that had happened in the universe.

He could enjoy himself outside, in the universe, but at home, on Blue Star, Mr. Tony had to behave himself.

After all, although Miss Pepper was not as strong as Mr. Tony and Mr. Tony would definitely win if they fought—

If Miss Pepper lost her temper, she could tear down the manor in minutes. If things blew up, it would become a joke.

After Mr. Tony created the Vibranium armor, he had privately told Jarvis many times that he wanted to go play in the universe.

He wanted to find Renoli and Kyle to show off his latest technology, while also breathing in some free air.

But because of Mr. Harvey’s words, Mr. Tony did not dare casually leave Blue Star, worried that something might happen there.

"I hope so. Creating new technology but having nowhere to put it to use feels pretty awful."

Tony sighed as he spoke.

Over the past year, Sonia had transferred him the money he was entitled to every three months.

For the previous three payments, because he had needed to repay Harvey, practically no money had ended up in his account.

But now, at the New Year, the fourth payment had arrived—more than seven hundred million in total.

Money in the universe was worth far more than money on Blue Star. With those seven hundred million, he could live in drunken luxury and pick up countless women in the universe.

But he did not dare leave. The feeling left Tony incomparably frustrated.

Meanwhile, Harvey had it easy. Free from Kassadin’s identity, he was living a carefree and romantic life on Blue Star.

And that was not all. Despite Harvey’s romantic exploits, his reputation remained excellent. Those who had received Harvey’s care were full of praise whenever they mentioned him.

Whenever Tony heard that, he could not help but feel immensely envious.

Having Pepper join the Void was a good thing. In the future, he would have a considerate wife who could accompany him through long years.

But the downside was that, before Pepper, he had to restrain that restless heart of his that always wanted to sneak out for a taste of something else.

"Mr. Harvey has already said that now is not yet the time for you to leave without worry."

"You should wait a little longer."

Seeing Mr. Tony like this, Jarvis comforted him.

"Yeah. After today, I’ll go research nanotechnology."

Tony nodded after hearing Jarvis’s words.

After researching the Vibranium armor, not only had Tony become more well-rounded in terms of strength, but his technological skills had also advanced by leaps and bounds during this time.

Now that he had the Vibranium armor for head-on clashes, he naturally had to evolve the Iron Man armor into nanotech armor and diversify his methods even further.

The path of technology had an end, because wisdom was limited and time was limited. Reaching that end was not something ordinary people could accomplish.

Even after conquering nanotech armor, Tony would only have temporarily completed his current stage of self-improvement.

If he wanted Blue Star to enter the interstellar age, he still had much technology left to research.

Ordinary people might simply give up after thinking about that, but Tony had joined the Void because he hoped to gain a longer lifespan and explore the limits of technology.

As 2012 arrived, Harvey scanned New York as usual and discovered that he still could not find Banner.

Although Banner, like Tony, was a super genius, Banner’s life had been far more miserable than Tony’s.

And Banner’s personality was different from Tony’s as well.

If Tony had obtained the Hulk’s power—

Tony would certainly have chosen to figure out how to control the power within his body, rather than fear Hulk like Banner did and even try to destroy Hulk through suicide.

To be honest, Harvey truly could not understand Bruce Banner’s way of thinking. Since Banner was not even afraid of death, why was he unwilling to try accepting and controlling the power within his body?

Third update delivered.