Chapter: 19

"The eleventh day, thirty-seventh test, Configuration 2.0. Since there are no better options, Dum-E still needs to pay attention to fire safety. If I didn't catch fire and you still used the fire extinguisher, I will donate you to City University."

In front of the camera recording the entire development process, Tony was as usual talking to himself. Today, all the materials Mark requested for ordering finally arrived at the warehouse of the villa, so he was not in the garage at the moment.

"Okay, take it easy, Tony." Tony encouraged himself, "Start with 1% axial load support capacity, countdown,

Three,

Two,

One!"

Puff—Boom!

The airflow from the leg thrusters supported Tony's entire body, while the balance stabilizers on his arms allowed him to maintain balance and not flip over like before.

After stabilizing and hovering at a height of 40 centimeters for over ten seconds, Tony deactivated the propulsion device and landed smoothly on the ground. "Alright! Hey, Dum-E, don't point the nozzle of the fire extinguisher at me, making me feel like I could spontaneously combust at any moment. Just watch and be ready to come quickly if I have an accident."

Seeing Dum-E, who was itching to use the fire extinguisher, Tony couldn't help but remind him.

"Okay, let's do it again. This time, increase the axial load support capacity to 2.5%, three, two, one..."

Puff—Boom!

Tony successfully took off from the ground again, this time maintaining a height of 110 centimeters. The increased height made it more difficult for Tony to control his balance, and he started to drift uncontrollably. "Okay, I didn't want to move over here!"

However, things don't always go as you wish, and life is full of surprises. "Don't hit the cars, don't hit the cars!" Tony watched helplessly as he floated onto the limited edition sports cars he had collected in the garage, leaving behind even more limited edition patterns on them.

After a moment of heartache, Tony finally adjusted his direction, but things didn't improve. "The table!"

The strong airflow from the thrusters blew the design documents and calculation papers on the table all over the place, scattering them in disorder.

After a struggle against the Earth's gravity, Tony finally gained control of the thrusters and returned to his take-off spot, landing steadily.

"Very well, now I can fly."

After completing the flight system of the armor, the remaining parts progressed smoothly. Since it was an experimental model, Mark II didn't need to be equipped with weapons systems, which greatly accelerated Tony's development speed.

While Tony was making rapid progress on his side, Mark's floating prototype encountered a bottleneck in development. Although he had mastered the necessary technologies for each part, he was struggling with integrating them into an organic whole.

What troubled him even more was the programming of the floating prototype's autonomous combat system. Due to the large number of units, making them cooperate with each other in battle and form a protective formation was a complex programming task. First, he needed to determine various formations under different circumstances, then the combinations for cross positions, attack patterns, defense patterns, all of which gave Mark a headache and slowed down his progress.

However, despite the headaches, Mark firmly believed that he could solve these problems. Since he had no leads on the floating prototype for now, he decided to focus on building the main body of the exosuit. Mark turned his attention to the construction of the exosuit's transformation mechanism.

...

"JARVIS, are you ready?"

"At your service, sir."

After such a long preparation time, Tony finally completed the experimental model Mark II.

He also transformed his original intelligent butler, JARVIS, into the combat assistance system for the suit, assisting him in controlling the armor.

Click—

Finally, he put on the helmet and armed Mark II. "Activate the heads-up display."

JARVIS: "Completed."

"Input all parameters received from computer interfaces."

"As you wish, sir."

Tony carefully observed the surrounding environment through the heads-up display, feeling good about the field of vision and the high-definition display, then asked, "Okay, how does it look?"

"I have received all the data, sir. Connection established, everything is ready."

"Initiate virtual walking program."

"Inputting parameters, evaluating virtual environments."

"Check the control of the outer shell."

"At your command, sir."

Upon receiving the command, JARVIS quickly started executing it. The booster plates on the lower legs, the articulated plates increasing range of motion at the joints, the flow-control plates on the back for adjusting flight posture and speed, and the opening and closing plates for the hidden weapon systems on the arms—all of them were adjusted and linked, instantly distinguishing the overall feel of the armor from the clunky Mark I.

JARVIS: "Testing complete, preparing to shut down the power and initiate diagnostics."

"Alright, remember to check the weather and the automatic tool repositioning system. Also, start monitoring the airport control tower."

"Sir, the server still needs to perform 1000g calculations before actual flight can take place." JARVIS cautioned Tony against the dangerous idea.

"JARVIS, sometimes you have to run before you learn to walk."

"Are you ready? Countdown—

Three,

Two,

One."

Puff—Boom!

The flight system was functioning normally, and with the continuous boost from the thrusters, Tony swiftly flew out along the garage corridor, exclaiming, "Whoo!"

The freedom of flying in the sky immediately captivated Tony. He thought, "This feels like a dream. Mark will be so jealous!"

After getting accustomed to the flight system's working mode, Tony increased his speed and took on some challenging maneuvers.

720-degree barrel rolls, tight-radius aerial maneuvers, quick stops and turns in various states—all of these no longer posed any challenge to Tony. He confidently said, "Alright, let's see what this suit is capable of! What's the record for the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft?"

"The record for fixed-wing flight is 85,000 feet, sir."

"Records are meant to be broken. Let's go for it!" Tony adjusted his flight attitude and soared straight into the sky.

At that moment, JARVIS quickly interjected, "Sir, there is a potential risk of high-altitude icing leading to a crash."

"Keep flying! Higher!" Tony was rebellious and couldn't be deterred by any danger before it actually occurred.

However, Tony soon experienced the consequences of his reckless behavior. The armor quickly began to freeze in the high-altitude environment, the thrusters became clogged due to the low temperature, and the internal electronic systems of the suit stopped working due to the cold.

"Ah—ah!" Tony, devoid of power, accelerated towards the ground in a panic-filled freefall.

"We're frozen, JARVIS! Deploy the auxiliary wings, JARVIS!" Tony anxiously called out to JARVIS, but due to the impact on the electronic systems, JARVIS was unable to assist him.

"Hurry, we need to get rid of the ice!" With no other options and without JARVIS's help, Tony had to resort to the emergency devices he had left behind. He manually opened the auxiliary wings on the exterior of the suit, finally removing the layer of ice.

With the ice problem resolved, the electronic systems automatically restarted, but by that time, Tony was already less than 1,000 feet from the ground. With the ground looming ahead, Tony had no choice but to await his fate.

Fortunately, luck seemed to favor this rebellious and eccentric scientist. At the last moment, the electronic systems recovered and initiated the thrusters before Tony crashed, restoring power to the suit.

"Yahoo!" Tony, who had narrowly escaped disaster, ecstatically celebrated like a 200-pound fat man.

Flying all the way back to the mansion in Malibu, Tony gradually landed on the rooftop. Adjusting his landing posture, Tony commanded JARVIS to shut down the power of the armor.

Then...

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Tony crashed through the roof, landing in the living room, destroying the piano. He then fell into the underground garage and landed firmly on one of his beloved sports cars, bringing an end to this failed landing.

Chirp—

This time, Dum-E finally succeeded and sprayed the fire extinguisher over Tony's head.

"Did I miss something?" Mark, who arrived late, witnessed Tony, wearing the Mark II armor, lying in a sorry state on the completely ruined sports car. This comical scene made him unable to control himself, so he took out his phone from his pocket and snapped a picture.