Chapter 1073

"I know that for some time now, you have wanted to explain to Maria and me what your life is really about, wanted to tell us what things you have done, wanted to let us know how huge the changes in your life are now..."

"Perhaps you didn't even notice yourself that this has brought you a lot of pressure. You want to prove to us that you have done a lot and done well, but you don't want to tell us that we have already been left behind by this era."

"Tony, you are always like this. Whenever you want to speak directly but want to pretend to be tactful, you will appear very anxious and will write this emotion on your face. Maria and I have seen it countless times."

"No, you haven't..." Stark subconsciously denied it, but Howard's voice with a smile came from the other side of the communicator.

"Haven't what? Haven't seen that awkward look of yours? Or haven't been left behind by the era? Tony, don't deceive yourself."

"Maria and I have already completed our mission in the previous era. Even if the final outcome seemed a bit hasty and brought you harm, we are very happy to see that you can have the life you have today."

"You don't need to change your current life trajectory because of our accidental return, and we don't want you to do so either."

"So, we think the best way is for us to disappear from your life again. This way, you can continue to move forward along this beautiful trajectory."

"No... no..." Stark kept denying it.

"No Stark can live on other people's sympathy." Howard's tone became low: "... We are all like this."

"It's a pity, looking back at the past, what you saw in my career wasn't the same pride as you. I always retreated again and again, like a coward."

"No... it's not..." Stark's hand pressed against the wall tightened slowly, and in his eyes, which were always moist, more tears than ever began to accumulate.

"In the previous era, I didn't perform well enough, and there weren't many great deeds for you to commemorate. But every Stark has his own backbone. I don't want my career to stop here and be concluded like this."

"You have the ability to take your own great steps in this era, but I don't want to retire here, live in seclusion in the mountains, and be an old man fishing. Since I have already had a second chance, I hope I can grasp it..."

At this time, Maria's gentle voice also sounded on the other side of the communicator: "I'm sorry, little Tony, we have to part ways on such a warm Christmas."

"Your father and I will always be proud of you. I hope that one day, you can also talk about us proudly. We are planning to work hard for this..."

Stark heard the shouting of strangers from the other side of the communicator, seemingly asking Howard and Maria to go to the cabin. He was almost scrambling to get close to the communicator's microphone, wanting to say something, but at this time, Howard's voice had already come over:

"We are about to board the ship, and another great adventure is about to begin on this Christmas... Merry Christmas, Tony."

After the communication was hung up, only the busy signal remained. Stark leaned his back against the wall, slid down slowly, and sat on the ground.

He tilted his head to one side, closed his eyes somewhat painfully, and soon revealed a self-deprecating smile, talking to himself: "I really am like a little baby, crying and making a fuss, not wanting my parents to go out to work... but they still left. It was like this before, and it's like this now..."

"Tony Stark, when will you ever grow up?"

Sitting against the wall for a while, Stark seemed to have made some kind of decision. He stretched out a hand, and a floating controller flew out from the console next to him and came in front of him.

Stark pressed a button, and light began to gather on the top of the body in the square display cabinet.

Stark put his hand on the controller, closed his eyes tightly, and accompanied by the "buzzing" sound of current getting louder, with a "click," the lights in the entire room went out.

But the eyes of the robot body slowly lit up, like the first star to light up when night falls.

After a pleasant prompt tone, Jarvis's voice sounded: "Good evening, sir, welcome back."

"Good evening, Jarvis, and welcome back to you too."

Stark took a deep breath, tried hard to restrain his emotions, and asked in as rational a tone as possible: "How does the new body feel? Can you hear me speaking through your ears?"

"Yes, sir, this makes me feel very magical." Jarvis's voice still carried a flat mechanical feel, but in fact, it was no longer a mechanical device making the sound, but the voice coming out of his throat.

"This is how humans usually feel, appearing a bit primitive and backward, right?" Sitting by the wall, Stark smiled and said: "This is why I'm always a bit hard of hearing after staying up late. Human organs are far less reliable than machine sensors..."

"No, I feel very good." Jarvis in the display room moved his fingers and said: "It's truly wonderful. I didn't issue any instructions, but it is moving according to my thoughts. I lost a lot of data, but it seems like I'm receiving redundant information all the time..."

"Humans are just like this. We see, hear, and record too much useless information every day, so forgetting is a necessary function. If you find that you can't remember something, it means you are the same as us."

Jarvis lowered his head and found that his body was still perfecting itself. The exposed mechanical parts gradually healed, and he became like a creature made of liquid mercury. All the interface lines and parts were gradually disappearing.

"Sir, I don't remember you having such technology, being able to forge a body made of machinery but possessing a perfect human structure." Jarvis said while observing the changes in his body.

"I indeed don't have this technology." Stark stared at Jarvis's body. Jarvis looked at him with his eyes. Stark slowly turned his head away and said in a low, almost inaudible breath in the quiet room: "Therefore, I sought help from... magic."

"Existing scientific technology indeed has no way to give an electronic life a true soul, nor can it give you a perfect body." Stark said while opening the transparent cover on the controller, and then took out a red gem from inside.

"This is the Reality Stone, from Asgard, capable of turning the thoughts in my brain into reality." Stark took this gem to his eyes and said: "I hope you can possess a perfect body between carbon-based and silicon-based life forms. The gem is very strong, but relying on the gem alone still can't achieve this point."

"I made a deal with Strange, let him be the middleman, borrowed this gem from Asgard, and at the same time, obtained some technology."

"Asgard's starships have the ability to directly turn the power of the universe's origin, which is the source of their divine power, into power. This ability comes from their starship engines. I got this powerful technology from Loki."

"Then what is the price?" Jarvis keenly sensed the key point.

"No price." Stark shook his head and said: "Anyway, I was planning to do this originally. Asgard is the protective umbrella of Earth; they shouldn't fall in Ragnarok."

Jarvis's gaze paused for a moment, then he closed his eyes like a real human. His facial features, which hadn't been fully constructed yet, revealed a very human-like painful expression. He said: "You promised to help them when their Ragnarok comes?"

Stark nodded and said: "Apart from this, there won't be any other price that can obtain such important technology."

Jarvis fell silent until a perfect matte silver body was constructed.

He had an appearance almost exactly the same as a human, delicate to every pore and hair, no different from a human.

There were some other differences: below his eyes, there were two silver thin lines connecting to his mandible, and there were also two circles of mechanical interface-like patterns on his neck, but now they looked more like tattoos.

Apart from this, his exposed bones, which were his nails, could still show the texture of metal. His eyes were red like the Reality Stone. Stark looked at Jarvis with silver hair and red eyes and smiled, saying:

"You look like a vampire in a fantasy novel now. If Peter saw you now, he would definitely shout 'cool' and maybe even try to dye his hair silver..."

Through the reflection of the cubic display room, Jarvis saw his own face. He didn't look like anyone, but more like the perfect human appearance in human imagination. His eyes were deep, his nose bridge was high, and his muscle lines were smooth, without any excess fat, just like a character pinched out in a game.

Jarvis touched his face gently and found that he had body temperature. This seemed to scare him, making him hurriedly withdraw his hand.

Stark stood up directly from the ground, clapped his hands on the spot, and said in a light tone: "Alright, the clothes are on the table next to you. After putting them on, you can leave. I'm going to work."

The glass door of the display cabinet opened, but Jarvis still stood inside blankly. He looked at Stark and asked: "Leave? Where am I going?"

"Go where you want to go." Stark said while walking toward the laboratory: "Anywhere is fine... You are free."

"But I..." Jarvis just wanted to speak, but Stark turned around and stared at him, saying in a somewhat angry tone: "Leave here! Don't let me see you. You are not needed here!"

"Sir, you don't seem to be expressing anger, but feeling sad." Jarvis walked to the table next to him, picked up the clothes and put them on, then stood by the door and said: "You always like to pretend to be tactful when you have intense emotions, and express yourself directly with anger when you are sad. Dr. Schiller said this is a disease."

"If he said that, then go find him!" Stark turned back again, waved his hand, walked back to the laboratory bench, and said with his back to Jarvis: "Don't linger here. You should go find a job, find a girlfriend, or go to a party or something. Whatever you do, it's better than standing here like a fool."

"If you hope I do this..." Jarvis stood for a while, left this sentence, and then turned and left.

When the moonlight shone into the laboratory, Stark, who sat down with his back against the laboratory bench, turned his head and saw another himself.

He looked carefully, and it wasn't actually himself, but Howard from many years ago.

Stark saw the drunk Howard throw down a wine bottle and say to the young Tony Stark standing at the door:

"Leave here, Tony. Go find a girlfriend, or go to a party. Whatever you do, it's better than standing here like a fool."

Thus, this male eagle that left the nest too early felt sad that he had just ruthlessly kicked the fledgling out of the nest.

But he would rather sit here, holding a wine bottle made of air, pouring the bitter wind and rain from high altitude into his mouth, and would never make a sound, just like the previous male eagle, regretful, but stubborn.