The extreme heat carbonized the skin on his hands instantly, filling the air with the smell of scorched flesh. Heart-wrenching screams echoed through the small cabin, piercing the solid wood walls and vanishing into the blizzard, carried away by the howling northern winds.
"Cough, cough... please, let us go." Anton lay on the bed, struggling violently. Driven by love for his son, he desperately tried to get up, only for his efforts to result in a fit of severe coughing.
"Rest easy," Makiya comforted him casually. A faint green light emanated from his palm as special chakra seeped into Ivan's charred hands, stimulating cell division and growth.
Ivan Vanko panted heavily. He was indeed a tough guy; aside from the initial involuntary scream, he endured the rest with gritted teeth, staring intently at Makiya.
If looks could kill, Ivan would have swallowed Makiya whole by now.
At the same time, he was profoundly shocked by Makiya's actions. 'What is that? Magic?'
The materialist values his father had instilled in him since childhood were being shattered. Ivan was baffled, guessing that Makiya must be using some kind of technological means to control the shape and color of the flames, just like with the gun barrel earlier.
An intense itching sensation came from his hands. The charred skin and flesh began to crack, revealing pink tissue growing underneath. A few minutes later, the new skin faded to a brownish-tan, indistinguishable from his original complexion.
Ivan subconsciously raised his hands to examine them, realizing he had regained control of his body. He stared in amazement at his fully healed hands, no longer doubting Makiya's claim that he could cure his father.
The only thing left to consider was the order of the patent transfer and his father's treatment. If he handed over the patent first, would the other party turn hostile and refuse to fulfill the contract? In Ivan's mind, that was how Americans usually behaved.
"Well? Have you reached a decision?" Makiya waved a hand in front of Ivan's eyes, snapping him out of his daze.
Before Ivan could speak, Anton, lying nearby, coughed twice and immediately agreed.
"I agree... I agree!" Anton said urgently.
"Father!" Ivan exclaimed in surprise. He rushed to his father's side, gently supporting the frail man. He pulled out a worn cushion and placed it behind Anton so he could sit up and speak with Makiya.
Anton paused to catch his breath, his aging eyes fixed on Makiya. "I agree to your demands. In fact... cough, cough... if you intended to take it by force, we couldn't stop you anyway. So, I believe in your sincerity. Take the data; it's in the cardboard box under the workbench... cough, cough..."
Anton understood perfectly. Health was the foundation of everything; if you're dead, nothing matters. He wasn't content to die pathetically in a Siberian blizzard, watching Howard's son bask in the spotlight on television. All that glory should have belonged to him and Ivan.
Having witnessed Makiya's methods, even though his body was ravaged by illness, Anton's mind remained sharp. He immediately decided to accept the deal. No matter how harsh Makiya's conditions were, he would agree without hesitation.
Recalling his past experiences—the repeated torture and abuse at the hands of the FBI and KGB, returning to this small town with only half his life left to linger on—he had spent countless nights sobbing in bed. Anton vowed to win it all back. Now that the opportunity for change was right before him, he had to consider if this would be the last chance of his life.
A healthy body was the capital for all dreams and plans. It was just an Arc Reactor; if he could have a clear mind and a healthy body again, combined with his equally brilliant son, Anton was confident they could invent even more revolutionary works.
His son was much stronger than that playboy Tony Stark. From television news and newspapers, Anton believed Howard's son was nothing special—just a rich heir obsessed with women.
"The old man is much more sensible," Makiya chuckled, quite satisfied with Anton's attitude. He waved his hand, summoning a cluster of green light that floated around Anton's body. The magical aura, saturated with healing power, continuously poured into Anton, awakening his vitality while gradually eradicating the disease.
This was a skill from the Priest class in the DNF worldview: Slow Heal. It was perfect for this situation.
While the Soul Reaper's Kaido could heal physical wounds, it leaned more toward healing the soul. Both the Mystical Palm and the Delicate Illness Extraction techniques from ninjutsu placed a certain burden on the body. The Priest's skill was much gentler, like spring rain nourishing dry seedlings, slowly restoring life.
As the healing magic merged into his body, Anton felt an instant relief, as if a thousand-pound weight had been lifted. He straightened his back and took a deep breath, a refreshed expression appearing on his face.
"Hiss... what a miraculous power. Mr... may I ask, are you a wizard?" Anton's face was full of curiosity as he slowly climbed out of bed with Ivan's support.
He had been bedridden for a long time since falling ill. Now that his feet touched the ground, he actually didn't know how to walk at first. Fortunately, the instinct etched into his body wasn't forgotten. He slowly lifted his feet and moved, shuffling toward Makiya.
The green healing magic circle followed him like a shadow, floating up and down around him.
"I'm not a wizard; I'm actually a game producer." Makiya took out a business card and handed it to the father and son. "My game is about to go live. If you want to obtain power like mine, enter the game and explore it for yourselves."
Seeing the pair take the card with obvious questions burning in their eyes, Makiya cut them off. "If you have any questions, wait until the game opens and experience it for yourselves. I don't want to explain too much right now. Don't disturb me."
As a mature adult, Anton promptly shut his mouth. Though Ivan was impulsive and stubborn, the earlier flames and healing magic had clearly cowed him. At his father's signal, he chose to remain silent.
Makiya walked to the workbench and identified a massive cardboard box amidst the clutter that looked no different from a pile of trash. He waved his hand to clear away the junk and carefully cast a Levitation Charm to pull the box out.
"I'll be using your workbench for a moment," Makiya announced. Countless blueprints flew out of the box, unfolding and floating before him one by one.
Under the shocked and confused gazes of the father and son, Makiya pulled a hammer and a bunch of miscellaneous raw materials from behind his back. Clang, clang, clang—he hammered away incessantly, occasionally stopping to stare at the blueprints in deep thought before continuing.
After a short while, Makiya wiped non-existent sweat from his forehead and lifted the hammer with a satisfied smile. "Done. Hmm, looks decent."
An orange-sized cold fusion Arc Reactor appeared in Makiya's hand. The core conduits emitted a brilliant azure light, illuminating his face.
"That's impossible!" Ivan cried out. This scene shattered his worldview once again. He lunged forward for a closer look, but every detail matched. What Makiya held wasn't a fake lightbulb disguised with LEDs; it was a genuine Arc Reactor.
But how could that be?
He had studied tirelessly, saved money to buy materials, and conducted endless tests and analyses, yet he hadn't even finished a standard Arc Reactor after three years. And this man just hammered one out with a ridiculous hammer in a few minutes?
Where was Newton? Where was Einstein? This guy was cheating! Isn't anyone going to do something about this?
Anton was equally shocked by Makiya's display, but as he looked at the magic halo still floating around him, he suddenly felt at peace. The man clearly wasn't ordinary. If he could use magic, then forging an Arc Reactor with a hammer wasn't that hard to accept.
With the design data for the Arc Reactor in hand, Makiya had completed half his goal. The rest was the patent transfer process, which he would naturally leave to his secretary.
"Alright, that's it for today. Remember to test my game. Someone will bring the hardware to you tomorrow and handle the patent paperwork." Makiya waved his hand, cast another healing spell, and vanished instantly along with the stack of blueprints.
The display of what seemed to be a spatial jump stunned the father and son once more. Men who had always believed that truth was determined by the range of a cannon felt blindsided by the sudden appearance of this mysterious "wizard."
But the magic still taking effect on Anton couldn't be faked; the physical sensation was undeniably real. Anton hopped in place, clearly feeling his vitality returning. It wasn't a final burst of energy before death, but a systemic removal of his illness and restoration of life.
The two looked at each other, feeling as if the world they had lived in before was a facade, while a more "real" world had been hidden in the shadows, inaccessible to ordinary people. This feeling was normal; anyone who has experienced the shattering of their worldview knows that once you see enough bizarre things, you become indifferent. The world has no obligation to make sense to you.
The two looked at the business card in their hands, their curiosity about the game Makiya mentioned reaching its peak. The door to a new world was slowly opening. Compared to learning miraculous magic, seeking revenge on Howard's son didn't seem quite as important anymore.
'No, revenge is still important.' Anton stood firm in his resolve. 'Learn magic first, then take revenge. Howard would never have imagined what his son would eventually face.'
New York, Hell's Kitchen.
The abandoned warehouse was gone, replaced by a three-story building under construction, serving as the company's temporary headquarters. If needed later, Iris would rent a proper office building, but Makiya felt it wasn't necessary. After all, he completed all the content for the virtual reality game alone; there was no need to hire technical staff.
The actual controller of Future Technology was Iris. Makiya's status remained that of an illegal immigrant. He had originally entered on a business visa, but it had expired back when he was acting as a human massage gun in the blood bank. Logically, he should have been deported, but now, he made the rules. As long as he wanted, most places in this world couldn't stop him.
The situation in China was too deep and difficult to stir up trouble in, so Makiya chose to stay here, where he was more familiar with the characters and the plot progression.
After handing over the Vankos' address to Iris, Makiya mentioned the Arc Reactor and the history between the Starks and the Vankos.
"So this is the Arc Reactor? Doesn't look like much." Iris curiously examined the blue "lightbulb" in Makiya's hand. Its small and cute appearance was a far cry from its grand reputation as a "revolutionary clean energy source."
[Support the story with Reviews, Power Stones, and Comments—they mean a lot and keep me going! 30+ chapters waiting on patreon.com/elite_reads]