Overturning Howard’s Worldview

Drawing Item Cards took far less time than drawing Ability Cards, but the restrictions on what could be drawn were much harsher.

For example, sand, scraps of paper, stones… none of these could be drawn.

However, a box of sand containing gold dust, paper bearing technical design drawings, stones carved by a master craftsman, and similar items could fall within the scope of Item Card extraction. What mattered here was the item’s value.

Special items such as out-of-control fighter jets, severely damaged firearms, unstable energy sources, grenades or nuclear bombs about to explode, likewise could not be drawn.

Furthermore, the item had to be someone else’s private property. That was the primary requirement for Item Card extraction!

"Hurry up."

Urged on by Kyle, Howard, who had still been hesitating, gritted his teeth. He swiftly unfastened his seat belt, removed his hands and feet from the controls, and shifted himself into the copilot’s seat.

Yet the card information did not change. It still showed that it could not be drawn.

"Still not enough?" Kyle pondered, then rose and stepped forward, reaching out to shut off the aircraft’s engine directly.

The helicopter’s faint hum and vibration ceased as it began gliding downward. Howard’s face went pale, and he hurriedly grabbed hold of the cabin interior with both hands.

"It worked." Kyle smiled. In his eyes, the rare green-quality Modified Helicopter had changed from undrawable to drawable.

"What worked…" Howard still looked utterly confused. Then, three seconds later, the helicopter vanished from solid form into thin air, and the two people inside plummeted from several hundred meters above the vast ocean.

"Oh my God, Kyle, what did you do to the helicopter—where did it go?!"

Howard, in free fall, was dumbfounded. His gentleman’s hat had long been flung away by the fierce wind, his little mustache blown crooked. He could only spread his limbs helplessly, falling faster toward the sea in the shape of a large "X."

This phenomenon was completely beyond scientific explanation. No matter how frantically his mind raced, he could not come up with an answer in time. Worse still, their perilous situation made it impossible for Howard to maintain his gentlemanly composure as he let out a scream.

"Relax. Why are you afraid when I’m here?" Kyle fell alongside the repeatedly screaming Howard, his expression calm as he said, "If you’re going to follow me, then starting now, throw away all your old worldviews and principles."

"I’m going to take you beyond the confines of Earth’s current well and overturn everything!"

As the two neared the sea below, Kyle suddenly reached out and grabbed Howard by his suit jacket. Dark crimson wings spread from the back of his hooded leather jacket.

Holding Howard’s body, Kyle used Venom’s gliding ability to slow their descent and hover in midair. When they were five meters above the ocean, he pulled out an Item Card and tossed it down, materializing it into a modern speedboat.

Kyle landed slowly on the deck and released Howard once he was steady. Howard’s legs went weak as he clung to the speedboat’s railing, gasping for breath.

After a long while, Howard finally calmed down. Still staring at Kyle in disbelief, he asked, "J-just now, how did you do that?"

"This is one of my abilities. I can store items in another dimension and retrieve them whenever I need to use them," Kyle explained without hiding anything.

With a wave of his hand, several Item Cards landed on the speedboat’s deck, materializing into lounge chairs, a parasol, a round table, red wine…

"This isn’t scientific at all." Watching the miraculous scene unfold like a magic trick, Howard could not help but smile bitterly. Still, he did not stand on ceremony. He sat down in a lounge chair, opened the wine, and poured himself half a glass.

"I never said it was science. In fact, there are many things in this world that science cannot explain. One day, you may see gods flying in the sky, magic that sends souls out of bodies, or even things that cross the universe and turn back time." Kyle shrugged. He was not showing off by doing all this; he was helping Howard break through the outdated conceptual framework of this era.

Howard was already one of the world’s foremost scientific engineers, and his ideas were advanced enough. Yet in Kyle’s eyes, the technological level and rigid mindset of this old era tightly shackled this noble soul burdened by knowledge.

Half a century ahead of his time, he would master antigravity levitation technology; study the Tesseract and derive a structural diagram for a new energy element…

Such scientific talent was certainly not much inferior to the future Iron Man Tony. The only difference was that Howard had been born in the wrong era.

Kyle wanted to help Howard overturn and break free from the conceptual restraints of this old age, turning him into his greatest source of advanced technology!

"This is yours." After Howard drank a glass to steady his nerves, he poured one for Kyle as well. Looking directly at him, he asked seriously, "Kyle, tell me honestly. Are you a god, or an alien?"

"Of course, I’m merely a human beyond ordinary humans." Kyle chuckled, lifted his glass, and took a sip of red wine. Then he said meaningfully, "As for the future, that’s hard to say. I’ll become a god and stand above all gods. Do you believe that?"

"I do. You keep creating miracles and overturning the expectations of others. Your perspective and experience constantly leave me astonished. If gods exist, I believe even they would be astonished by you." Howard laughed.

"Howard Stark." Kyle looked straight into Howard’s eyes and got right to the point. "I can grant you a long enough lifespan, let my family’s power protect you from harm for the rest of your life, and allow you to witness the cities of the future, Earth in the next century, and the technological beauty of alien civilizations."

"That really sounds like the temptation of a devil in a fairy tale." Howard fell into thought, then asked calmly, "What price must I pay?"

Kyle smiled and spoke words that made it difficult for Howard to remain calm. "You don’t need to pay any price!"

"Why?" Howard frowned.

"Because the road I’m taking is too lonely and too long. Using nothing but schemes to win people over isn’t really my style. If you can use scientific resources to keep walking by my side, that alone will be enough to comfort me." Kyle spread his hands, sounding bored.

Howard was one of the few people in this world whom he could sincerely treat as a friend. He had no intention of erasing that meaning through forceful methods.

Howard’s entire body trembled as he understood. He said with emotion, "Kyle, I misspoke just now. It was the occupational habit of a businessman who cares too much about gains and losses."

"If you truly can do all that, I’ll give you all of Stark Industries under my name. I wouldn’t even care if I had to pay any price. As long as the future lets me continue researching new scientific products and exploring Scientific Truth, that will be enough!"

These were the true words of Howard, a scientific madman, and the lifelong dream of every scientist: to constantly excavate and seek the truth of the world’s science!