Chapter 101 Geniuses Are Often Obsessive

“This Grandson is a true prodigy,” Saint thought as he gazed upon the crystal cylinder in front of him, mesmerized by the pulsing energy that flowed within. Compared to his own crude method of trapping the Dragon Ball with a plasma beam, Tony Stark’s control method was undeniably more elegant and imaginative.

He couldn’t help but admire the way Stark had “fooled” the Dragon Ball, using a series of what he called “Tesla coils” to rhythmically flash arcs of electricity. The Dragon Ball, now in the form of a flowing light, was trapped in an endless loop, only aware of chasing the arcs of electricity that were presented to it, like a prisoner in a cage, unaware of its own captivity. The overall appearance, dazzling and beautiful, was truly breathtaking.

Saint couldn’t help but ponder the possibilities of harnessing this technology. Could he use it to charge the Dragon Ball by placing it on top of the Empire State Building’s lightning rod? Or perhaps he could fly to the skies with a metal rod to seek out thunderbolts.

He couldn’t help but note that the power source for these Tesla coils was none other than Tony Stark’s Arc Reactor in his chest. The nonchalant way in which Stark used himself as a mobile power source was truly remarkable.

Moments later, Saint heard an exclamation, “This is truly unscientific!”

Tony Stark snarled as he turned to face Saint, pointing at the swirling energy that danced in the air. “All my instruments are telling me that there’s no trace of alien energy inside the Tesla coils, so what the hell is that energy body?!” he growled.

Saint shrugged, “Don’t ask me… I’ve told you before, this isn’t something science can explain. You said it yourself, ‘magic is just science not yet understood’, remember?”

Tony Stark was at a loss for words, his teeth gritted in frustration. He shut down the power to the Tesla coils and walked over to the most advanced detection instrument, determined to find out how that gray stone had materialized out of thin air. However, the data he received only confirmed that the stone was a complete anomaly, and it had literally come out of nowhere.

“$hit!” he swore, storming over to the mechanical arm in the garage. With its assistance, he quickly swapped out the reactor for a new one, one that could handle the palladium element core. He then tossed the old reactor, still sticky with the gray stone, over to Saint. “Take it! Take it!” he barked, his voice full of anger and frustration.

Saint looked down at the reactor, then back up at Tony Stark. “What about your lamp?” he asked with a smirk.

“Smash it, burn it, do with it as you please!” Tony Stark was not one to hold grudges, as within a few breaths he had already put his previous defeat behind him, “I have many titles, but ‘nostalgic’ is not one of them.”

“OK.” Saint was even more carefree. With a slight effort from his fingers, he shattered another valuable Arc Reactor in his hand. It was not that he didn’t want the energy inside, but that it was not worth the trouble for such a small amount of energy.

Tony Stark didn’t care at all, after returning to the workshop, he picked up a cup of dark green murky drink from the table, and as he sipped it, he said, “Remember, the Iron Man suit’s main sensor begins to dull at an altitude of 40,000 feet, and the overall pressure structure has issues. I think the icing caused these problems.”

Saint was still feeling bewildered, he could only hear Jarvis’ unique electronic voice echoing in the workshop, “Very astute observation, sir. If you plan on traveling to other planets, perhaps we should also improve the suit’s internal circulation system.”

This grandson is quite the self-absorbed one…Jarvis, this artificial intelligence’s main code definitely had a “flattery” sub-program added to it.

As Saint watched Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit fly away, he couldn’t help but mutter to himself in disapproval. But, he too had a mission to attend to, and with a glowing orb in hand, he disappeared into the upward-sloping garage tunnel in a flash.

Tony Stark, however, was not as nonchalant as he had pretended to be. He barked out orders to his team, “Contact the materials supplier, I need to change the material of the outer shell of my suit.”

“Use the military satellite’s titanium alloy,” he instructed, “That should stabilize the performance of the suit and maintain a good power-to-weight ratio.”

“Got it, boss,” came the reply.

“And, should we simulate the new suit’s color according to the supplier’s data?”

Tony Stark scrolled through the images on his screen, “A solid gold suit… too flashy and too eye-catching for my taste,” he said with a smirk, “I’m not some tasteless hair gel kid.”

“Let’s add some spicy red to it,” he decided, “That’s more my style.”

“As you command, it will certainly make you appear more low-key.”

“Hmph.”

“The suit has undergone a color change, it’s completed.”

“Excellent, I like it, craft it just as it is.”

“Initiating automated assembly, completion estimated in five hours.”

…

Meanwhile, Saint, who had long since departed from the coastal mansion, pondered on the bottle of dark green drink in Tony Stark’s hand and muttered to himself, “It seems…he has already discovered his ‘palladium poisoning’ symptoms.”

Even though he knew it would lead to his death, he still persisted. This grandson’s self-destructive tendencies were not inferior to that of J.A.R.V.I.S.

As long as Tony Stark refrained from using the Arc Reactor on his chest to power the Iron Man suit, he could significantly delay the symptoms of his palladium poisoning. Saint did not believe that with Stark’s intelligence, he would not think of an external Arc Reactor to solve all the problems.

Saint shook his head. Even though it’s said that geniuses are often obsessive, Tony Stark should not, because of this obsession, hesitate to push himself toward death. Perhaps he arrogantly believed that before he died, he would definitely be able to come up with a solution to this problem once and for all?

Well, in the movies it is indeed played out that way…

The question is… after Saint’s meddling, will the movie still be played out that way?