Ethan knew what Tony was talking about—it was the Extremis virus that appeared in Iron Man 3.
He had been interested in it back then, but as his personal strength continued to grow, he gradually stopped paying attention to it.
Now, his interest had been rekindled because Ethan realized that if he wanted to develop his mental power into a universe, it needed to encompass everything. That meant understanding and mastering various kinds of power, not just limiting himself to a specific type of magical energy.
The Extremis virus performed impressively in the movie, but its side effects were also obvious—it was very easy to lose control, and once it did, the user would directly explode into nothing.
However, such a small side effect wasn’t a problem for Ethan. Not even mentioning him, even Tony was confident he could remove the side effects.
In the original plot, Pepper Potts was injected with the Extremis virus and was later easily cured by Tony. Whether he simply removed the side effects or completely eradicated the virus, allowing Pepper to return to a normal state, the movie didn’t give a detailed explanation.
Ethan had seen Pepper Potts before and hadn’t felt any energy fluctuations from her. She was now just a bit healthier than the average person, with a better physique. It seemed that in this world, Pepper had returned to being a normal human.
That meant Tony had thoroughly understood everything about the Extremis virus, which also seemed to give him enough confidence to improve it and apply it to himself.
As Tony described the virus, Ethan also brought up several viruses he had mastered and the enhancement serums developed from them.
It was then that Tony realized Ethan possessed so many good things.
"You never mentioned it!"
"You never asked, did you?"
"So you got taller and more handsome because of those serums?"
"Yes, exactly! Aren’t you especially envious?" Ethan had a look like he’d seen through everything. He had long noticed Tony had been particularly concerned about this recently.
"Damn it. I’m definitely going to improve the Extremis virus to be better than the serums you have."
Ethan didn’t believe Tony could do it. One of the most important ingredients in the enhancement serum he used was Ares’ divine blood. Where would Tony find something like divine blood? Even if he worked himself to death relying solely on the Extremis virus, he wouldn’t be able to create a stronger serum.
After a bit of banter, the two returned to serious discussion.
Howard and Maria’s bodies didn’t need any attention for the time being. With Jarvis, the very capable intelligent system, monitoring everything, there wouldn’t be any problems.
What would truly require effort and attention was when Howard and Maria’s bodies reached their teenage years.
At that point, they could leave the cultivation equipment and begin engaging in regular activity, which would help them better adapt to their new bodies.
At the same time, they would need to rest in specialized equipment every day. This equipment would continuously stimulate accelerated physical growth, ensuring the two bodies could grow to around twenty years old in a short time.
After that, there would be no need for ’forced ripening’ using the equipment.
Although they were resurrected and weren’t young when they died, that didn’t mean they had to return to their previous age after resurrection. Who would want to live with an elderly appearance if they could be young again? A young body wasn’t just about being attractive—it also meant better health, free from countless subtle yet tormenting ailments.
Tony suddenly started thinking about creating enhancement serums, partly because he thought about his parents becoming young again in their twenties. Would he still want to maintain the image of a middle-aged man?
Especially since he’d had similar thoughts before, his parents’ resurrection only deepened this motivation. On top of that, the fact that his parents had been assassinated strengthened his resolve. He was Iron Man, but without the Iron Man suit, his body was still just that of a normal person. If someone targeted him for assassination, could he survive being caught off guard?
Although he had many methods and could react quickly if given a little time, could he guarantee he’d always have that time? What if the enemy took him out in a single instant?
Aside from staying cautious and creating more defensive equipment for himself, the safest method was to strengthen his own body. If he could become a modified human like those with the Extremis virus, even being shot multiple times wouldn’t kill him immediately. As long as he had a moment to react, he’d have enough means to handle the situation.
"Your line of thinking is correct."
Ethan agreed with Tony’s idea. With the many black technologies Tony had, what he feared most was exactly this kind of one-hit-kill assassination. There was no perfect defense against this. The simplest and most effective solution was: don’t let them kill you in one blow.
He couldn’t always hide inside the Iron Man suit, so he needed to improve his own physical body.
"I do have an enhancement serum that’s quite suitable for you. This serum is a semi-finished product. It doesn’t have any special effects—at most, it keeps your body in a very healthy state for a long time, slows down the aging process, and grants strong self-healing abilities. However, a direct hit to vital areas like the head or heart would still be fatal."
Ethan was referring to the enhancement serum made from the G-virus. This wasn’t anything extraordinary; even the serums used by Ada and Annette were better.
He wasn’t being stingy. Rather, he planned to use this serum as a base and try combining it with the Extremis virus Tony had. If the fusion succeeded, they could continue refining it into a new, more powerful serum.
"Sounds interesting."
Ethan gave Tony two options. One was to first inject the serum Ethan provided, allowing him to immediately enjoy a healthier body and some basic self-preservation abilities.
The other was to wait until the new serum was successfully developed and go through the enhancement in one go.
"Do these two methods have any advantages or disadvantages?"
According to Tony’s thinking, the two options might affect his future potential. Perhaps if he used the ordinary serum first, he’d run into trouble when injecting the new serum later—issues like poor compatibility or diminished effect.
This was a perfectly reasonable concern, but Ethan kept shaking his head.
"No, it won’t affect anything no matter which you choose. It’s just a matter of whether you want to enjoy a healthy body sooner or later."
When developing enhancement serums, Ethan always prioritized ’sustainable development.’ He would never cap someone’s potential directly. Even if a serum with capped potential seemed to offer better short-term results, he would always choose the long-term approach.
Tony’s concerns were completely unnecessary. Even if he used the improved G-virus serum first, he could still integrate the full properties of the new serum later. The effectiveness of future serums would not be compromised.
"Then what is there for me to hesitate about?"
Hearing that, Ethan took out a glass vial about the length of a finger and handed it to him.
"It doesn’t look like anything special." Tony held it up and examined it for a long time. "Do I need to inject it?"
"No. Just open the stopper and drink it."
When Tony heard Ethan’s words, he felt suspicious. Was such a precious enhancement serum really used so casually?
Ethan had to explain to Tony again what he had told Ada back then, which finally convinced Tony that this really was how the serum worked.
"This serum won’t take effect immediately. It will gradually improve your physique over time. The transformation will only be complete once your body has fully absorbed the energy in the serum."
Just as he’d explained before, he reminded Tony that it would be best to exercise afterward to help the body absorb the serum’s energy faster. Tony had no complaints about that. In fact, he had always kept up with physical training because many of his tasks required strength and good health. If middle-aged Tony didn’t maintain his training, he wouldn’t be able to perform those tasks at all.
Especially after becoming Iron Man, he needed to fight, which demanded a strong and healthy body. In the first Iron Man movie, Tony hammering in the cave already showed how physically strong he was.
As Tony drank the serum, Ethan said something that almost made him spit it out.
"Actually, there’s another path you can take—learning magic."
"Magic? Me? Stop joking." Tony thought Ethan was just messing with him, but after seeing Ethan’s serious expression, he realized he was serious. "Are you kidding me? We’ve worked on research together so many times—you should know I’m not suited for learning magic at all."
"No. Actually, you’re very suited for learning magic. What you lack is systematic foundational magical knowledge. Once you learn that, you’ll immediately become a top-tier mage."
Tony’s talent was undeniable. Coupled with the vast knowledge he had accumulated and his thorough understanding of various phenomena in this world, he could even comprehend magical phenomena from a different perspective and blaze his own trail in magic.
The hidden door above the lab that required mental power to open was already very close to being a magical technique.