Marvel: The Imposter Inventor

Chapter 103 Mutual Appreciation Between 'Geniuses' (Third Update)
'They've taken the bait!'

A sly glint flashed in Luca's eyes.

In fact, at this point in time, Tony's usual way of relieving his anxiety was to devote himself to upgrading and modifying his Mark series armor.

To put it bluntly, it's a fear of future enemies, a kind of "fear of insufficient firepower."

When he heard Luca say that he would use better materials to upgrade the robots he made in the future, he immediately thought of his Mark armor upgrade project.

'If this material were used to replace the existing titanium alloy, the performance of the Mark armor would be greatly improved!'

However, Luca did not answer Tony's question immediately. He just rolled his eyes, turned back to the workbench, and pretended to look at the blueprints.

However, the more Luca acted this way, the more Tony was tempted, and he hurriedly explained.

"I'm not saying I want to buy out the patent for this material, I just want a license to use it. No, no, no, as long as you accept my order and buy the finished product, that's fine!"

Upon hearing Tony's words, Luca's ears twitched slightly. He turned back around and uttered two words with a helpless tone.

“No money.”

"what?"

Tony pointed to himself with a look of astonishment, gesturing for Luca to see his face clearly.

"Are you saying I can't afford it? Look who I am! I'm Tony Stark! The world's richest man!"

Since Luca is prepared to manufacture the 'E-carbon' he mentioned on-site to create those 'garbage' robots, it's likely that the material's manufacturing process is already quite advanced.

Even if the process is somewhat complicated, how could the price be higher than vibranium?

In fact, if it weren't for the scarcity of vibranium on the market and the rapid pace of his own armor upgrades, Tony would have already used a full set of vibranium to create the Mark armor.

This kid in front of me is actually saying he can't afford it?
Tony always felt like he was being looked down upon.

However, Luca's next words brought Tony back to his senses.

"It's not that you don't have money, it's that I don't have money."

"Have you forgotten that four years ago Stark Industrialization shut down its weapons division, and two years ago you took down Hammer Industries?"

"After two consecutive blows, our company is on the verge of bankruptcy. Even with new technologies, opening a factory, upgrading equipment, and recruiting employees—all of these require money."

"I'm lucky if I can save the company now, I don't have that much spare money to start new businesses."

Upon hearing Luca's words, a hint of embarrassment flashed across Tony's face.

Actually, he hadn't paid much attention to the things Luca was talking about before.

However, after the battle in New York, when I got to know Luca, I also learned something, which was one of the reasons why I had Pepper Potts hand out his business card.

However, given the current situation, he could only stubbornly insist on saying so.

"There's really no good company to work with, really."

After he finished speaking, he immediately perked up and began to speak with great interest.

"The money problem is easy to solve."

But before he could finish his sentence, Luca seemed oblivious to his words and shook his head and sighed to himself.

"I don't want too much external investment coming into the company and losing control of the management, you understand? It's disgusting to think that you've invented something that can benefit society, but then you have to fight with shareholders and the plan gets delayed again and again!"

What Luca said immediately brought back some unpleasant memories for Tony.

His own uncle Obadiah, and those incompetent shareholders of the group. In fact, Tony had already bought back the vast majority of Stark Industries' shares during the period when the company's stock price was falling.

That's why he can now focus on his research and go out to be a superhero without worry.

Therefore, he could naturally understand the concerns Luca expressed.

However, this made it somewhat difficult for him to bring up the matter of investing in Orange Industries, which he had originally intended to do.

After a moment's hesitation, Tony looked again at the young man in front of him who looked a lot like himself when he was young, and finally made a decision.

"I can pay!"

Seeing that Luca was about to speak, Tony simply raised his hand.

"Don't rush to refuse. You can set up a wholly-owned subsidiary, which will still be under Orange Industries."

"You only need to contribute your technology as equity; all the funding will be provided by Stark Industries."

“$10 billion in funding, 10% equity. Stark Industries can help you with site selection, equipment manufacturing, and employee recruitment for your new company. But I will only share profits and will not participate in management. All you need is for you to grant Stark Industries priority purchasing rights for eCarbon!”

As he spoke, Tony Stark glanced at Luca, who was deep in thought, hesitated for a moment, and then dropped another bombshell.

"If you wish, after the Orange Group is established in the future, I can use my Stark Group shares to exchange for Orange Group shares, so that the two companies can have cross-shareholding."

"Sigh~"

Luca, who was pondering the gains and losses, gasped in shock.

'Tony really goes all out.'

Although Stark did not specify the share swap ratio for the cross-shareholding.

Even with a 1:10 share swap, given Stark Industries' trillion-dollar size, the yet-to-be-established Orange Corporation has already become a company with a market value of hundreds of billions.

'No, that's not right. This subsidiary that manufactures e-carbon alone is already valued at tens of billions after Stark's investment.'

In just a few words from Stark, his net worth, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, was to increase a hundredfold?
Luca, who had only intended to take advantage of Tony, was surprised when Tony stuffed the fatty meat into his mouth.

Taking a deep breath, he quickly calmed himself down and looked at Tony's Luca again, his eyes now devoid of any emotion.

"Sure! However, let's leave these financial matters to the professionals to discuss later."

"People like us should care more about the technology we possess!"

Of course, Luca, this imposter, was just boasting and trying to gain favor by going along with the other party's wishes.

However, Tony's face showed admiration again when he saw that the kid could calm down so quickly.

"Well, let me see if this 'e-carbon' you're talking about is really worth the price."

Next, the two turned their attention back to the blueprints, and Tony pulled out his own design blueprints for the Mark armor and began to analyze them.

It was as if the previous deal worth billions of dollars had never existed.

"I seriously doubt if you've ever studied mechanical engineering. This robot arm is so thick; even if the carbon fiber is light, it will still affect the arm's output!"

"Ion confinement isn't used like that. All those fancy transformations only increase power by 20%. With that space, you might as well use ion jets, which also give you flight capabilities!"

"With such a large hole in the robot's chest, what? You want to rip your head off and put it inside to pilot the mech?"

"Hello! Hit him!!"

(End of this chapter)