บท 239: Chapter 239
Morning, Stark Villa.
"Jarvis, is the space detector ready?"
Tony stood in the studio, holding a cup of coffee, staring intently at the projection of the armor in front of him.
"Sir, everything is ready. Any abnormal fluctuations will be recorded for later investigation and research."
A gentle voice replied, and Tony nodded slightly.
Then he took a sip of his drink, placed it next to him, and waved his hand. The virtual projection of the armor changed, and the projection of the armor's robotic arm was enlarged several times.
With a swipe of his hands, he enlarged the arm further, studied several larger parts, thought for a moment, and canceled the parts with another swipe.
At the same time, he opened a new projection, briefly sketched out a few lines, drew a new part, and placed it in the robotic arm, leaving a certain amount of space.
He then ordered Jarvis: "Record this space for the vibranium version of the magic radiation jammer."
"Yes, sir." Jarvis replied smoothly.
"By the way, Jarvis, what is the total amount of vibranium purchased so far?" Tony asked. "Can it be used to make the jammer?"
"Sir, US$1 billion has been spent so far, but the amount of vibranium acquired is still insufficient, and the difficulty of obtaining more has increased significantly." Jarvis responded before adding a suggestion.
"I recommend you proceed with the second option: temporarily abandon the production of pure vibranium jammers and use magic metal or other precious metals as substitutes."
"Okay," Tony sighed. "Let's go with the second plan for now."
He had the money, but vibranium was scarce and difficult to obtain.
Although magic metal could serve as a substitute, the ideal solution was a device made entirely from vibranium.
At that moment, Jarvis's urgent voice broke in.
"Sir, space fluctuations have been detected and are being recorded."
Immediately afterward, a red-flame portal opened next to Tony, and Lockhart stepped out.
"Hi, Tony, good morning," Lockhart greeted him.
"Morning." Tony raised his coffee cup and responded simply.
At the same time, Jarvis chimed in: "Good morning, Mr. Lockhart, and welcome to Stark Villa."
"Morning, Jarvis," Lockhart replied.
Lockhart turned back to Tony and asked directly: "Tony, you mentioned in your message that the machine for making gold galleons is ready. Can I see it now?"
Lockhart was more direct than usual, skipping the pleasantries.
Tony was a little surprised but nodded, saying, "Sure, no problem, Lockhart."
He started walking forward with his coffee, Lockhart following closely behind.
Soon, they stopped in front of an elevator. After entering, they headed down toward the basement.
In the elevator, Tony asked curiously: "Lockhart, has something happened recently? You seem a bit off."
Hearing Tony's question, Lockhart replied with a sigh: "I've been dealing with a tough guy lately, and it's been a bit of a challenge. But we've found some clues, so I believe it'll be resolved soon."
Tony nodded, and the two fell silent.
After some thought, Tony finally said, "If you need anything, just let me know."
Lockhart nodded, not saying anything more, though his expression softened slightly.
Ding!
The elevator bell rang as the door opened, and they entered the basement.
Just a few steps in, Lockhart saw a slender, slightly bulky instrument.
Looking at the various precision parts inside, Lockhart asked Tony: "How long does it take to make a gold galleon now?"
"If you're making them one by one, it takes 10 minutes per coin," Tony replied, adding: "In batch mode, the best we've managed is about 60 coins an hour."
Hearing this, Lockhart quickly did the math in his head. At 60 pieces per hour, running 24 hours a day, over 1,400 coins could be produced per day. In a month, more than 40,000 coins could be made in theory.
Excluding potential issues, producing 20,000 to 30,000 coins a month should be achievable.
Considering this, Lockhart asked: "Tony, how much does this machine cost? Also, if I wanted 10 units, how long would it take to build them?"
Tony responded calmly: "The price of one unit is at least $200 million. For 10 units, the price would be slightly lower, but you'd still be looking at around $1.5 billion. And keep in mind, this doesn't include the price of the Ark reactors. These machines consume a lot of energy, and you'll need to purchase the reactors. The Ark reactors alone will cost at least $500 million."
Lockhart fell silent for a moment, stunned by the enormous figure Tony had just mentioned.
His current focus was mainly on the magical world, so he wasn't very active in the mundane world. As a result, he only had about $20 to $30 million on hand.
It seemed he might need to hunt down some Hydra agents.
Letting things take their course wasn't an option; otherwise, where could he get such large sums of money?
"As for the time," Tony continued, "10 machines will take at least 2 to 3 months to build."
Lockhart frowned slightly at the timeframe. Although he wanted them sooner, two or three months was still acceptable.
But as he studied the slightly bulky machine in front of him, Lockhart drew out his wand, stepped up to it, and gently touched it, sending magic into the machine.
Magic flowed throughout the machine, and Lockhart closed his eyes slightly, feeling the feedback from the magic—things like magic conductivity and resistance.
Next to him, Tony watched the process with great interest and whispered to Jarvis to record everything, planning to study it later.
Soon, Lockhart opened his eyes, a faint smile appearing on his face as he looked at the machine.
He took a few steps back, waved his wand, and quickly said: "Geminio."
A duplication spell!
In an instant, a white light shot from the tip of his wand, striking the machine directly, then spread over it, wrapping the entire machine like a scanner.
Under Tony's watchful eyes, a phantom of the machine gradually emerged, moving sideways under Lockhart's guidance.
With the continued infusion of magic, the phantom slowly solidified.
A moment later, two identical machines for casting gold galleons stood in front of Lockhart and Tony.
Seeing this, Tony quickly stepped forward, touching the surface to feel the same cold, hard texture. His eyes flashed with disbelief, and he murmured to himself:
"Incredible... is this 3D printing? No, is it particle-level reproduction? Or..."
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[Read up to 100+ chapter ahead and more Weakly Chapter Update at p@treon.com/goldengaruda]
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บท 240: Chapter 240
Unlike Tony Stark, who was shocked, Lockhart's eyes flashed with joy when he saw the gold galleon machine that had been cast with a duplication spell.
Fortunately, there wasn't much magic metal mixed into this machine; otherwise, it might not have been completely copied.
Even so, copying such a sophisticated machine consumed a lot of magic power, and the spell would only last about 10 days.
If he didn't replenish its magic power by then, the machine would easily disappear.
After thinking about it, he stepped forward and looked at Tony, who was carefully inspecting the machine, and said, "Tony, try making a gold galleon to see if this machine works properly."
Hearing what Lockhart said, Tony nodded and then called out: "Jarvis, bring all the materials and conduct a comprehensive test at the same time."
Afterward, Tony skillfully plugged in the power supply and pressed a series of buttons.
As the machine started up, a projection appeared in front of him, displaying a lot of data and charts.
Tony glanced at Lockhart and teasingly asked, "Lockhart, do you wizards understand this kind of data?"
Sure, magic was amazing, he had to admit, but technology was so sophisticated, complex, and rigorous that he doubted a wizard could fully grasp it.
Without a certain level of scientific knowledge and extensive experience with machines, someone could easily get dizzy just looking at such complicated data.
Lockhart walked up to the projection, looked at the data in front of him, and nodded slightly.
Then he moved his hands, opening various parts of the machine. He seemed a little unfamiliar at first, as it was his first time touching the device.
But soon, under Tony's incredulous gaze, Lockhart skillfully checked every working process of the machine and the corresponding data.
A moment later, as Jarvis brought the gold galleon production materials, Lockhart looked at Tony and said, "Tony, the machine is perfect. It seems you put a lot of effort into it."
Tony's mouth twitched slightly upon hearing this.
He still remembered how Lockhart had once told him that it was difficult for a scientist to master magic.
Practicing magic could be challenging due to cognitive conflicts.
Tony had understood that—scientists and magicians view things from completely different perspectives, after all.
But now, after witnessing this scene, Tony began to wonder if Lockhart had been deceiving him all along.
Tony didn't say anything, though. He walked forward silently, called for Jarvis, loaded the materials into the machine, and pressed the button.
The next moment, a glass cover rose, enclosing the material. At the same time, tiny robotic arms emerged above it, beginning to cut, melt, cast, and carve.
It was as if a doctor were performing surgery on a patient—precise, powerful, and complex.
As time passed, under Lockhart's gaze, a simple gold galleon appeared.
At the same time, Tony said, "This is the basic gold galleon. The goblins' magic hasn't been added yet. It will later be subjected to magic radiation and fine-tuned."
With that, the gold galleon entered a closed space. Through the glass, Lockhart could only see a continuous stream of purple light.
Meanwhile, Lockhart was monitoring the changes in the machine's magic power consumption after duplication.
As expected, there were certain differences between technology and magic.
With the help of the Ark Reactor, a large amount of energy was consumed, and the magic power was also drained faster.
Initially, he estimated the machine would last 10 days, but at this rate, it would only last about 3 to 4 days.
But that didn't matter. Lockhart had accumulated plenty of magic power through magical cards before. As long as he performed a bit of fine-tuning, he could use it to replenish the lost magic power.
After a moment, the mechanical arm picked up the gold galleon and placed it in front of Tony and Lockhart.
"See? It's the same as before," Tony said to Lockhart, though his tone was a bit unhappy.
The casting machine he had spent so much effort creating had been copied by Lockhart using magic.
To Tony, this felt like a mockery.
"Tony, this is an excellent machine. Give me 10 of them, and I'll pick them up in 2 to 3 months. I'll pay you then," Lockhart said casually.
While the duplication spell was feasible, it consumed a lot of magic power, and over time, mistakes could easily occur.
After all, it was just a spell, not a magical artifact.
It would work for a short period, but in the long run, a real gold galleon machine would be better.
Besides, wasn't Hydra's money essentially his money now?
Two or three months would be enough time for him to gain control over certain Hydra assets and access billions of dollars. He believed he could pull it off if he squeezed them hard enough.
Even if that didn't work, Nick Fury had embezzled plenty of funds over the years. It was time for some of that to contribute to the peace of the wizarding world.
S.H.I.E.L.D. always claimed to maintain world peace, after all. If given the chance, they should be reminded of their responsibilities.
Yes, that seemed like a perfect plan.
"By the way, Tony, I assume you have some Ark Reactor units in stock. I'll need those as well. I'll transfer the money when the time comes."
Hearing Lockhart's request, Tony looked at him suspiciously.
Could he really come up with that much money?
Seeing Tony's suspicious gaze, Lockhart immediately understood what the other man was thinking. After a brief pause, Lockhart took a few steps back, putting some distance between them.
Then, with a wave of his wand, a pyramid made of gold nuggets appeared in front of Tony.
Lockhart smirked and said, "Don't worry. I have plenty of money. What's a few billion dollars?"
"Give me some time. I have plenty of antique calligraphy, paintings, gold, and other valuables. I have more than a dozen pyramids like this one. What's a mere few billion?"
As if sensing Lockhart's indifference, and seeing the golden pyramid before him, Tony walked up to it in disbelief.
He casually pulled out a gold nugget and asked Jarvis to test it.
Then he fell silent.
He had originally thought Lockhart might only have magical abilities and wouldn't be as rich as him.
Yet, here he was, seemingly proven wrong again.
Seeing Tony's expression, Lockhart's lips curled up in amusement.
Of course, he didn't actually have that many gold nuggets. Most of them had been pre-duplicated using the duplication spell.
The nugget Tony had picked up was, in fact, the one Lockhart had guided him to select.
It was a real gold nugget he had purchased earlier, so it was impossible to detect any problems with it.
Well, this was a white lie. It wasn't meant to boast, but to put Tony at ease.
Lockhart then put away the gold pyramid and said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, Tony. Money doesn't hold much value for us wizards."
Tony could only nod helplessly, remembering how he had once said something similar to others.
Then, Lockhart's next words caught his attention.
"Tony, have you ever developed miniature positioning and monitoring instruments? I could use some."
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