Chapter 41: Destiny Comes Knocking
In early February, Antonio returned to New York, and Oaks sold all his Stark Industries stocks and invested all the funds in the promotion of the beverage acorns.
Antonio's task was to open the market for this cost-effective and high-quality beverage in New York, along with Melinda. This would accumulate a large amount of funds for the Benevolence Society.
Meanwhile, Oaks once again ventured into the Amazon rainforest, which he had been away from for a long time.
This time, Oaks focused on training one of his four talents: Restoration, in order to prepare for the upcoming crisis.
Initially, Oaks focused on practicing the "Feral" and "Guardian" Talents, which involved animal transformation. With the blessing of a certain amount of Nature Energy, he could unleash formidable combat abilities in animal form.
However, restoration spells required a higher level of control over the Nature Energy. After all, Oaks was just a newly awakened druid, with less than ten years of training. That's why he could only use plant essences and be in a forest environment to exhibit healing abilities.
Although his potential was good, Oaks had already surpassed the stage where continuous practice alone could rapidly increase his strength.
After transformation, the enhancement of spellcasting required external energy infusion.
The crises he might encounter after this year wouldn't always come with vast forests to bless him, and he couldn't afford to prepare a bunch of plant essence potions during battle.
He needs to master powerful healing spells that could be cast successfully without relying on any spellcasting materials.
So, even though he knew Tony Stark would likely face significant changes this year, Oaks could only do his best to create the acorn bracelet and leave for his own training.
Because Tony wouldn't be in mortal danger, but if he didn't seize the opportunity and work hard, he would fall behind the times.
As for the most powerful and limitless "Balance" spells...
He didn't dare to use them now.
Balance spells involve both nature energy and Arcane energy, and Arcane energy is the "cosmic energy" possessed by many powerful figures in this world.
The path of balance between Nature Energy and Arcane energy allows druids to unleash terrifying spell effects.
However, Arcane energy was too conspicuous, and without a sufficiently strong balance of Nature Energy, Oaks didn't even dare to casually manipulate it. After all, manipulating the energy of the sun, moon, and stars might seem insignificant to him as a druid, but it would be a big deal for other wizards.
Because the magic in this world borrowed power from various dimensional entities and rarely directly used cosmic energy.
After all, Earth is guarded by the Three Supreme Sanctums.
The Nature Energy Oaks used came from the ecosystem itself, but cosmic energy came from outside.
If external energy frequently appeared in fixed locations, wouldn't it be discovered by the New York Sanctum?
Although he didn't know how the Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One, would deal with someone like him, who was completely on the positive side. But Oaks didn't want to leave his fate to the mercy of others without sufficient strength or bargaining chips.
So, he secretly converted the small amount of accumulated Arcane Energy into a special device, transforming it into... gasoline.
As Oaks diligently trained to secure a place in fate, Tony Stark's destiny officially came knocking on the door.
"What did you do to me?"
"What did I do? I saved your life. I did my best to remove the shrapnel from your chest, but there's still a lot left. Once they reach your heart, you're done for."
In a dark cave in Afghanistan, Tony finally regained consciousness and communicated for the first time with the middle-aged bespectacled man whistling and busy fiddling with what looked like a pot on top of what seemed to be a fire.
"But it's quite surprising... Your wound is healing much faster than I imagined, and you seem to be waking up earlier than expected. It seems your physical condition is much better than it appears."
Dr. Yinsen, the bespectacled man, wore a carefree smile, feeling relieved by Tony's awakening, although he didn't show it.
And finally understanding that Yinsen was keeping him alive with the electromagnet in his chest and the car battery beside him, Tony suffered a tremendous blow.
Of course, as an extremely arrogant genius, he would never show any emotional distress on his face when there were outsiders present.
He caressed the acorn bracelet that still remained on his left wrist, probably because it was too ordinary to remove—half of the acorns on it had already turned black.
Setting aside the shrapnel in his chest, most of his wounds had only left behind some scars.
However, although the acorn bracelet could help him recover from injuries, it couldn't remove the shrapnel in his chest.
With a sigh, Tony surveyed the surroundings and noticed a surveillance camera directly facing them.
And the person behind the scenes, who had discovered his awakening, didn't give him any more time and personally came to meet this "most infamous arms dealer in American history."
After receiving an education and being confronted with a reality he had never imagined, Tony finally regained his fighting spirit under the guidance of Dr. Yinsen.
And...
"My mind has never been clearer, Oaks, my friend. I have to hold on to your support...
I have a brilliant idea now. When I return, I won't envy your shapeshifting tricks anymore!"
At the same time, he finally learned about his savior—the physics PhD, Dr. Ho Yinsen, who was also a fellow captive from his hometown of Gulmira.
And the enemies they needed to fight against—the Ten Rings.
In the Afghan mountains as captives, in this dim cave, using a pile of scrap metal, Tony Stark stepped boldly into his fate in the face of life and death—
The revolutionary miniaturized arc reactor and the Mark I battle armor.
However, things didn't go as smoothly as they had imagined.
After all, they were always under the surveillance of their enemies.
"We still need a little more time."
Yinsen wore a carefree expression, as if seeing through everything. He looked at Tony, who was wearing the armor and waiting for the control program to download. A hint of unwillingness flashed in his eyes, but he firmly demanded that Tony stick to the plan as he picked up a submachine gun from the ground.
"I'll buy you some time!"
"Yinsen!"
As Tony, filled with anger, broke through the Ten Rings' blockade with the time Yinsen bought for him, he saw Yinsen again, barely clinging to life, lying in a pool of blood.
After all, Yinsen was just a scientist without any military training.
"We agreed to stick to the plan."
"That's exactly what my plan is."
"You still need to see your family."
"They... They're already dead. I need to go see them."
"...Thank you for saving me."
"Don't waste... your life..."
"...I promise, but I want you to witness everything."
The acorn bracelet fell next to Yinsen, and the steel gauntlet crushed the remaining three acorns with normal colors.
Tony vividly remembered Oaks' serious gaze when he gave him the bracelet. With his hands gloved in heavy leather, Tony roughly shoved the crushed acorns into Yinsen's mouth.
"Stay alive, please!"
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