Oaks’s Crazy Idea

"Impressive. As expected of the great Tony Stark—your sophistry is truly formidable!"

After sending the dizzy twins, who had finally untangled their emotional knots and drunk themselves silly, back to the Nature Guardian and arranging for Sharon to look after them, Oaks and Tony headed to the laboratory.

Oaks practically wanted to applaud Tony. It just went to show how powerful a person’s survival instinct could be…

This guy had actually compared what happened to him in Afghanistan with what Wanda and her brother had gone through as children.

And surprisingly, it had worked. Oaks had even forgotten that part.

Ignoring the latter half—where one had been blown up while the other two had not—it really was a very similar situation.

So selling misery… no, having shared experiences was what earned forgiveness?

"Hmph! You were just standing outside enjoying the show. I broke out in a cold sweat!"

Tony’s hands were still trembling slightly. He glared at Oaks, who was clapping insincerely.

"Either one of those two could kill me in an instant… I’m just an ordinary person!"

"Oh, please. Your close-fitting undersuit is bulletproof, and there’s a millisecond-response energy barrier in front of the sofa in your reception room!"

Oaks gave a disdainful chuckle.

"You even made an exception and installed the sonic paralysis weapon you once experimented with. Their abilities aren’t mature yet, and the warning signs before activation are far too obvious. They’re no threat to you—

Besides, wasn’t I there?"

"…Anyway, thank you for discovering them early and doing so much work."

Tony grimaced, fell silent for a moment, then sighed.

"A debt has to be repaid slowly. Right now, I only feel that our protection of this world is still far from sufficient."

Tony, whose mind had not been ambushed and controlled by Wanda, did not suddenly insist on building a planetwide intelligent defense system to protect the world as he had originally.

But he had still been living with that anxiety—

Earth’s defenses were too weak, especially now that S.H.I.E.L.D. had collapsed and Hydra had emerged.

If Oaks, Steve, and the others had not resolved several major crises in succession, he did not dare imagine what the world would look like now.

"So, you said earlier that you wanted to discuss something important with me. Tell me it’s what I think it is."

Tony waved his hand and brought up a holographic display containing information related to the Mind Scepter.

"How has your research been going? Does this thing work on people like you who can use magic?"

"Yes. It works quite well."

Oaks held out his hand, and the Mind Scepter appeared in it. Then, before Tony’s stunned eyes, he directly pried the gem off with his other hand.

"The scepter is only a base. What truly matters is the gem on top—

Tony, this is extremely important. Do you remember the Aether that the Dark Elves activated in Greenwich?"

"Hm?"

Tony’s expression turned serious. The might of that thing was still vivid in his memory.

"You’re saying this is on the same level as the Aether?"

"That’s right…"

Oaks squeezed his hand, cracking open the blue gemstone casing and revealing the yellow gem inside.

"I need to properly explain what the Infinity Stones are."

After telling Tony that the core of the Mind Scepter was the Mind Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones, Oaks directly used magic to control the Mind Stone and place it on the detection instrument.

"The Infinity Stones… things on the same level as the Tesseract and the Aether?"

Asgard’s endorsement explained why Oaks knew a little more than usual, so Tony did not question him.

"Does it also possess infinite energy?"

"Theoretically, yes, but its energy radiation is very different from that of the Space Stone.

Besides, you already know what the Mind Stone can do. So why is it capable of doing that?"

Oaks took a deep breath. Once separated from the Mind Stone, the all-around drop in his perception and mental power made him feel uncomfortable.

Fortunately, he had repeatedly acclimated himself in advance and quickly returned to normal.

"Let’s scan it and see."

Tony stared fixedly at the glowing yellow Infinity Stone and only calmed down after a long while.

Unlike the Tesseract and the Aether, this thing could directly control human consciousness. It had already gone beyond the material level and entered the realm of the mind.

"Jarvis, scan it. Display a structural analysis."

"Yes, sir."

Jarvis initiated what was perhaps the most advanced scanning process currently possible. Strings of data and models rapidly appeared.

"The gem’s energy is extremely powerful, but unlike a Reactor, it resembles a computer. The scanning process is like deciphering code."

"…That’s why Strucker was able to use those devices to create so many things."

Tony supported his elbow with one hand and his chin with the other, watching lines of Jarvis’s data stream past like a waterfall while his mind raced.

"This thing is very unusual… It reminds me of how Jarvis operates—

I’ll need some time. Once the scan is complete, we’ll be able to observe it more directly."

"I’ll call Bruce over."

Oaks nodded and took out his phone.

"Bruce and I have recently been researching how to drastically increase Malorne’s computing power to support one of my rather wild ideas—

Come to think of it, it was an idea from the last century, but we’ve never been this close to achieving it."

"Drastically increase its computing power?"

Tony looked up, somewhat incredulous.

"Malorne’s computing power isn’t enough? Drastically increase it? Are you planning to turn Malorne into a supercomputer that takes up hundreds of square meters?"

"I don’t have that much spare space to house so many servers."

Oaks raised his phone. He had already sent Banner a message.

"The computational power of the supercomputing chips you developed is already terrifying. It can even support a super AI like Jarvis, but for my idea, it’s nowhere near enough."

"Both Jarvis and Malorne can connect to the internet and rely on massive amounts of data to assist their calculations."

Tony frowned. "But in local mode, they’re nowhere near that powerful."

Whoosh!

A Portal opened, and Dr. Banner, wearing glasses, stepped through into the laboratory.

"Hey, Tony. Looks like you’re… oh, what’s that?"

Banner immediately noticed the Mind Stone being scanned. The enormous data stream on the holographic display made his eyes widen.

"Did you develop a miniature supercomputer?"

"No, not yet. But that’s exactly what we’re discussing today."

The Portal closed. Oaks shrugged and first explained the Mind Stone to Banner.

"So this is the core of Loki’s Scepter that Hydra had been researching?"

Banner had already read Hydra’s research files. At this, he adjusted his glasses and stepped forward to inspect it carefully.

"An Infinity Stone… what a miraculous creation!"

"Now that Tony is here too, Bruce, do you think that with the Mind Stone’s assistance, we can achieve what we envisioned before?"

"…A Biological Computer."

The term Banner spoke made Tony raise an eyebrow.

"You’ve been researching that? It could indeed provide computing power beyond any existing electronic computer, but the most crucial problem of extracting information still hasn’t been solved."

Then, in the next moment, he froze.

"You mean… the Mind Stone?"

"Let’s wait for the scan results."

Oaks nodded slightly.

"The Mind Stone can control minds. There’s no doubt it can easily read and write information in the human brain, and its own structure resembles that of a computer.

So perhaps we can use it to solve several of the greatest problems with Biological Computers—

The storage and retrieval of digitized information, as well as entirely new algorithms that need to be researched and developed."

"Interesting… I never expected a guy obsessed with planting trees to suddenly start researching Biological Computers—

Well, perhaps that does fall within the field of biology, but it shouldn’t have much to do with environmental issues, should it?"

Tony checked Jarvis’s scan progress. Eighty percent.

Then he looked at Bruce and Oaks.

"So what is this wild idea?"

"Tony, the Mind Stone can greatly enhance its user’s mental power."

Oaks pointed at his head.

"Using that power, I discovered that Earth’s Biosphere possesses its own ‘consciousness’—the Gaia Hypothesis."

Tony’s eyes widened, while Banner’s mouth fell open outright.

"Wow. You never told me you’d gotten that far!"

"That’s why I wanted to explain my plan while both of you were together—

I want to fully simulate Earth’s Biosphere, manifest the Gaia Hypothesis, and thereby enable direct communication between humanity and nature, as well as make ecosystems replicable!"

"Fully simulate Earth’s Biosphere?!"

Banner scratched his curly hair and shook his head in disbelief.

"You mean a project like Biosphere 2? The one in Arizona? But that was declared a failure twenty years ago…"

"That’s right. The sample size was too small, the parameters were severely insufficient, the simulation conditions were too crude, and so on… And it also ignored the influence of the Gaia Hypothesis."

Seeing Tony already looking up information on Biosphere 2, Oaks nodded again.

"Tony, Bruce, there are two directions for solving humanity’s current survival problems, and countless scientists have recognized them—

First, improve Earth’s own environment and achieve harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.

Second, expand the environment in which humanity can survive, either by finding planets suitable for habitation or transforming unsuitable planets into habitable ones."

Tony had already reviewed the information on Biosphere 2 and fell silent, while Banner looked thoughtful.

"Improving Earth’s environment is what you’ve always been doing, Oaks. So you intend to tackle both at once?"

"The Quinjet Tony modified can already travel through space, proving that humanity can achieve the feat of entering the cosmos within a short period of time—

But planets suitable for human habitation and without owners are not so easy to find."

Oaks affirmed Banner’s guess.

"So if we can replicate an ecosystem, even if we can only build an ecological dome capable of sustaining a large population in a self-sustaining cycle based on the parameters of a real ecosystem, humanity can truly take the first step toward exploring the universe!"

PS: The guild leader still has another ten-thousand reward. I’ll add that chapter tomorrow.