Not long after Tony stood there observing, more and more people began gathering around him.
Hearing the voices, Tony turned around and found that the faces of everyone around him were obscured by a layer of fog, making it difficult to see through or recall any distinguishing features, though he could still make out slight differences in their appearances.
"Ahem, my friend, where did you get that armor you're wearing?" a muscular man asked, approaching Tony with a curious look, inspecting him from head to toe.
Tony turned to examine the newcomer. On the surface, he didn't seem like a mechanic but likely hailed from another profession.
"Why do you ask? Planning to buy one?" Tony replied, raising an eyebrow.
The man, Ajie, nodded enthusiastically, a goofy grin on his face. "Yes, yes, it looks very impressive at first glance!"
Tony paused, considering the comment. Ajie's words hinted that there might be a way to introduce Stark Industries here.
"Well, I won't leave you empty-handed," Ajie quickly added, "You must be new here. I can introduce you to the Lord God Space. I'll even give you 50% off the information fee and 100 points."
At this, Tony's eyes widened. Could this guy actually be some sort of senior?
"The information fee is free. As long as your introduction is good enough, I'll tailor a package for you," Tony responded, giving Ajie a skeptical yet curious look.
"No problem…"
In reality, Ajie wasn't someone recruited by Qi Yun, but rather a dependent transformed by Qi Yun's energy.
Not many people like Ajie existed yet. Though his initial combat power was considerable, as a dependent of Qi Yun, he lacked the stability needed to control the world, unlike qualified individuals like Tony.
In other words, the more dependents there were, the slower Qi Yun's development would be.
After a brief tour of some major buildings, Tony had begun to accept the person standing before him.
From their brief interactions, it was clear that Ajie was a bit slow-witted and prone to speaking without thinking, but he wasn't entirely useless.
"Thanks for the long introduction," Tony said to Ajie.
Ajie's guidance had at least saved Tony several hours of familiarizing himself with the Lord God Space.
"Whatever functions you need for your armor, I'll do my best to make them happen," Tony added.
"Functions?" Ajie scratched his head, looking confused.
"It doesn't need any special functions," Tony clarified. "I just want it to look like this. I'm planning to use it as a decorative piece in my room."
"Ah?!" Tony was taken aback.
"Hahaha! I see you misunderstood," Ajie laughed. "A functional armor for actual combat is worth far more than 100 points, and I don't need something like that."
Bang, bang! Ajie struck his chest twice, producing a sound like a drum being pounded. "Muscles are my strongest weapon!"
Tony chuckled awkwardly but said nothing. In his mind, he resolved to make Ajie's armor out of the best materials and technology available—something that would leave him speechless!
Meanwhile, in the Marvel universe, Qi Yun sat in his home, the curtains drawn back to let sunlight flood in.
Suddenly, Qi Yun's eyes snapped open—the first qualified person to return to the Marvel world had appeared.
At the same time, Gu Yi, meditating in Tony's house, sensed the anomaly.
However, Gu Yi didn't invite the qualified person to tea as Qi Yun had imagined.
She remained seated, seemingly oblivious to the event. If Qi Yun hadn't sensed a fluctuation in Gu Yi's power around the qualified person, he might have been fooled.
There was a rule in Qi Yun's main god space: between two missions, qualified candidates couldn't remain in the space for more than three days.
This rule was in place to conserve energy. Of course, if someone was willing to spend points to extend their stay, Qi Yun had no objection.
Because of this rule, once the first returnee appeared, other qualified candidates followed soon after.
Though Tony was the first to complete his mission, he was the last to leave.
The moment Tony left the main god's space, Qi Yun was ready for a confrontation with Gu Yi.
But when Tony truly returned, the Ancient One made no move.
Instead, she stood, her hands lighting up with magical circles. Layers of space blocked Qi Yun's sight, and then Gu Yi disappeared.
Throughout this, Tony stayed at home, unmoving.
This outcome left Qi Yun puzzled. Still, if he couldn't figure it out, he decided to set it aside. He had already wasted too much time in this stalemate with Gu Yi.
As long as Gu Yi didn't actively target the qualified people, Qi Yun had no intention of dwelling on the matter.
Returning to his main god space, Qi Yun made his way to his family base camp.
"Ajie, how did your interaction with Tony Stark go?" Qi Yun asked, looking at the sweaty muscle-bound man before him.
"Huh?" Ajie was confused. "Tony Stark? Who's that?"
Bang! Qiqi, who had a petite figure, smacked Ajie hard on the head with a fan. "Silly! I need to call you an adult!"
"Oh..." Ajie looked bewildered. "Who is Tony Stark?"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Qiqi hit him three times in a row. "I'm not calling that person an adult, I'm calling an adult an adult!"
"Huh?" Ajie stood still, completely puzzled. "The adults are called adults? Which adults are called adults?"
"Ouch! I'm stunned by you!" Qiqi kicked Ajie away in frustration.
Turning to Qi Yun, she bowed respectfully and said, "Sir, Ajie didn't mean it. When you enlightened him, the muscles just got mixed up in his mind."
Qi Yun smiled happily, watching the two interact. With them around, the atmosphere was lively, and the house didn't feel as dull.
"Alright, no need to be so formal," Qi Yun waved his hand.
"Tony Stark is Iron Man," Qi Yun continued. "Did you sense anything after your interactions with him?"
"No," Ajie rubbed his head.
"No," Qiqi piped up, "Sir, Ajie means there's no problem."
"I observed their entire conversation," Qiqi said, straightening her clothes and continuing.
"Because of the change in the world line and Ethan not being dead, Tony Stark is still somewhat resistant to selling weapons to others, but it's not as extreme as in the original timeline."
"Also, the Tony Stark you met is just a slightly more mature rich man who has survived death. There's still a big gap between him and the future Iron Man."
Qi Yun nodded thoughtfully. As expected, the success of enlightening dependents still depended on luck.
Ajie spent more than twice the energy as Qiqi, but in terms of intelligence, Qiqi was far ahead.
Right now, Qi Yun couldn't claim that he didn't need high-powered dependents, but those with intelligence were definitely more valuable.