Chapter 23: BSAA (Part 1)

"It's truly worthy of being called the Stark Industries Expo." After leaving Stark, Daniel Davis didn't immediately leave the expo but wandered around for a bit.

Seeing it in person was entirely different from viewing it online.

There were many technologies that Daniel wouldn't have believed if he hadn't seen them with his own eyes. No wonder they say high-tech companies make money; it certainly seems true.

"Howard left a clue here back then; it's really impressive." The entire Stark Industrial Park was essentially a gift Howard left for Tony, containing a new type of energy particle, an isotope of the Tesseract.

"So, this is the Arc Reactor." Besides checking out various technologies and beautiful women, Daniel also saw the giant Arc Reactor exhibited by Stark Industries.

The giant Arc Reactor provided all the electricity for Stark Industries. Stark Industries showcased it to demonstrate their technological prowess.

This was also a significant source of income for Stark Industries. Even though the Arc Reactor hadn't been miniaturized yet, many were still willing to buy it, such as the Department of Defense, S.H.I.E.L.D., and some large companies.

Thanks to various black-tech energy sources, New York's electricity bills weren't high.

New, efficient energy sources were always the focus of research for many parties. Companies with the capability wouldn't give up on this. Stark Industries was researching the Arc Reactor, while Oscorp was working on tritium energy, known as the "artificial sun" if successful.

However, compared to the Arc Reactor, the other research projects either had a significant energy level gap or were extremely unstable. For instance, Oscorp's tritium energy research not only failed but also resulted in the creation of Doctor Octopus.

"I can't understand most of it. Maybe I should study physics; perhaps then I could create a small Arc Reactor before Stark does."

Standing next to the giant Arc Reactor, Daniel used the powers of the Op-Op Fruit to examine its structure, though it was just a passing thought.

Given the current situation, knowledge in biochemistry was more capable of utilizing the Op-Op Fruit's powers.

The Op-Op Fruit's abilities were most evident in its seamless cutting, making it invincible in surgical operations. Daniel could cut someone open without causing harm, making even heart transplant surgeries a piece of cake. Not just heart transplants, he could even swap consciousness.

This concept alone was terrifying. A person's individuality is primarily reflected in their consciousness or soul. The ability to swap consciousness meant one could transfer a dying person's consciousness into a young body.

This practically meant one could live indefinitely before their soul decayed.

If Daniel dared to reveal this ability, all the world's wealthy individuals would kneel before him. Everyone fears death, especially those who are rich and powerful but physically old.

The idea of living long and witnessing the death of all loved ones as a source of immense pain is merely a consolation for those who cannot achieve immortality.

Perhaps after experiencing the flower of eternal life, such thoughts might arise, but before that experience, 99.9% of people would not wish for a short life.

The reason it's not 100% is that there are always some unique individuals among humans.

The Ancient One had lived long enough and, as Daniel had speculated, might not even truly die. Given her strength, even if her soul went to hell, the devil there probably wouldn't dare to harm her.

To the Ancient One, hell was merely another dimensional space. For ordinary people or average sorcerers, hell was terrifying, but for the Ancient One, going to hell was just visiting another dimension.

Many doubted the Ancient One's strength due to her seemingly casual death at the hands of Kaecilius, but Daniel had no such doubts. The special status of Earth, or Midgard, among the Nine Realms was entirely because of the Ancient One.

As the overlord of the Nine Realms, Asgard surely hadn't forgotten about Midgard. Odin wasn't so easygoing. When the Frost Giants invaded Midgard, Odin brought his forces to defeat them and left without saying anything—could that be possible?

Look at the other realms; Asgard intervened immediately when something happened. But Midgard? It had no idea Asgard even existed, treating it as a myth.

Despite this, Asgard still considered Midgard one of the Nine Realms to be protected.

The Ancient One mainly defended against threats from dimensional spaces. As for issues in the real world, unless you blew up the Earth, she wouldn't interfere. This responsibility fell primarily to Asgard.

This was a world filled with aliens. Star-Lord was taken from Earth by Ravagers, indicating Earth's coordinates weren't a secret in the universe.

Planets that hadn't yet ventured beyond their world were prime targets for Ravagers. Apart from various resources, the population alone was enough for Ravagers to come and loot. The underground slave trade was thriving in the universe.

Even someone like Yondu had been sold as a slave before, and his planet was already in the interstellar era.

Earth was so well-protected that it indulged in endless internal strife, with foolish scientists continuously broadcasting its coordinates to the universe.

Little did they know Earth's coordinates were no secret, but no one dared cause trouble due to powerful guardians.

Of course, Earth had more than one guardian besides Asgard; there was also Captain Marvel.

"Forget it, let the big shots handle it. I'd better take care of myself first. By the way, the Op-Op Fruit is only worth 5 billion; that's unreasonable. It should be worth 50 billion, even 500 billion."

Daniel shook his head slightly. Law used the Op-Op Fruit quite well, but he didn't fully exploit its potential. This might be due to Law not having studied the relevant knowledge.

"If things go smoothly with Stark, I can move on to the next step. Too bad Ada didn't leave any contact info; her skills could be useful."

Ada was an ace agent and must have her own intelligence network, something Daniel currently lacked. Even as a hacker, he couldn't find everything.

"Where is that Berserker Staff hidden? It seems to be in a book." Daniel's next target was the Berserker Staff. Fortunately, he remembered some details about S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Even though this world now had the Umbrella Corporation, it shouldn't affect this.

"Was that doctor from Asgard, or a professor? I should have watched the movies more carefully when I came to this world." Daniel wanted the Berserker Staff not because it was powerful but to use it as an opportunity to study Asgardian technology, or rather, their magic.

At a certain level, technology and magic are indistinguishable. Similarly, magic can be considered a form of advanced technology.

"New York sure is chaotic." Hearing distant sirens, seeing three speeding police cars, and occasionally hearing gunshots, Daniel, riding his motorcycle, shook his head helplessly.

Queens, despite its grand name, was a poor area in New York. Its safety was just slightly better than Hell's Kitchen, making Spider-Man's constant busyness understandable with the high crime rate. During the day, things were better, but at night, especially after eight, only a few main streets were safe; elsewhere was dangerous.

Robberies, rapes, and murders were common occurrences.

After glancing at an ongoing situation in an alley, Daniel left. It seemed like a group of people robbing someone, but he wasn't Spider-Man and wouldn't get involved.

"The latest Hollywood blockbuster, who says you can't watch pirated movies in America?" Returning home, Daniel skillfully logged onto a website and projected the movie onto his big screen TV.

America had strict protections for legal content, but this only applied to ordinary people. Hackers, especially those advocating for information sharing, could find any movie on hacker websites.

For Daniel, it wasn't about disdain for legal content. It was just too boring to go to the cinema alone, so he bought a luxurious home theater system.

It was somewhat pitiful. After being in the Marvel world for several years, Daniel had only two friends, Rebecca and Sherry.

Thanks to Rebecca, Daniel had met Sherry a few times through video calls.

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