Rowan leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowed in thought, considering how best to price the ten-kilogram sample of Tier-3 Kro-Alloy he had brought to the Marvel world.

Tony Stark wasn’t exactly strapped for cash. Rowan could name a price as high as a hundred million, and Tony might still buy it without blinking.

But that wasn’t the route Rowan intended to take.

After all, he was planning to establish a company focused on selling Kro-Alloy.

If he sold it to Tony at ten million dollars per kilogram, what price could he offer to others? Undercutting that would risk offending Tony, which was the last thing Rowan wanted especially when he was still relying on the arc reactor to recharge his ring.

No, the price he gave Tony had to be consistent with what he would charge other clients later.

“In the Swallowed Star universe, this ten-kilogram Tier-3 Kro-Alloy is worth about 400,000 Huaxia credits. Let’s say… I sell it here in the Marvel world for four million US dollars,” Rowan calculated silently.

That would break down to four hundred dollars per gram.

Currently, the international price of gold was around forty dollars per gram.

So this was roughly ten times more expensive than gold already a steep markup.

Sure, Rowan could try to inflate the price even further, say, to one hundred million per kilogram, but what would be the point?

Kro-Alloy’s greatest utility lay in crafting cold weapons.

And in the Marvel world, there simply wasn’t a strong market demand for that.

No only a reasonable price would attract buyers and open up the market. That was the fastest path to making money.

And fast was exactly what Rowan needed. He wasn’t interested in a long-term income stream. Once he reached the planetary level of strength, Earth’s currency would be meaningless to him.

“As long as Tony starts using Kro-Alloy in his Iron Man suits, I won’t need to worry about demand at all.”

Just recently, Tony had held a press conference revealing his identity as Iron Man, and had gone on a rampage dismantling terrorist networks in the Middle East.

His armor’s capabilities had left countries across the globe salivating with envy and many were already secretly trying to replicate it.

If Tony used Kro-Alloy, it would be like having Iron Man himself as a brand ambassador. It would be hard not to succeed.

Having made up his mind, Rowan pulled out his phone, scrolled through his contacts, and dialed Phil Coulson.

He and Coulson were well-acquainted, practically friends.

“Hello? Rowan,” came Coulson’s calm, reassuring voice on the other end.

“Hey, Coulson.”

“What’s up? Everything okay?”

“I heard you’re being reassigned to New Mexico?”

“Yeah. Something unexpected came up out there. I need to check it out personally.”

“I was hoping to invite you over for hotpot. Guess we’ll have to wait until you’re back.”

“Hotpot?” Coulson’s voice lifted a notch, and he chuckled. “All right. I’ll try to wrap things up quickly and get back soon.”

“Haha, I’ll be waiting,” Rowan said with a smile. Ever since Coulson had tried hotpot at his place last year, he’d become a die-hard fan. “Oh, right. You’ve been handling Stark Industries-related assignments lately, right? Do you have Tony Stark’s private number? I need to talk to him about something.”

“Tony’s private number? I do. But he doesn’t exactly like strangers calling him. What’s this about?”

“I’ve developed a new type of metal. I heard Tony’s been aggressively acquiring exotic materials recently, so I thought I’d reach out.”

“Huh. All right. I’ll send it to you shortly,” Coulson replied after a moment’s thought, not hesitating too much.

To be honest, he doubted Rowan had created anything that could impress Tony Stark. And giving out Tony’s personal number might upset him.

But his relationship with Rowan was far stronger than his ties to Tony. Even if it caused friction, he was willing to take that risk.

“Appreciate it.”

Rowan ended the call, a touch of gratitude flickering in his heart.

Coulson was a real brother.

When the Chitauri invaded New York down the line, he’d definitely make sure to save him.

A few seconds later, a text arrived Coulson had sent the number.

Rowan dialed it immediately.

In a seaside mansion, deep in the basement workshop, Tony Stark was tinkering with his Iron Man suit.

A few days ago, while testing the suit at high altitudes, he had nearly died when the outer shell began to freeze.

To solve the issue, he had swapped out the armor plating for a titanium-gold alloy used in the Seraphim Tactical Satellite System.

It had worked the freezing issue was resolved, and the suit became much lighter overall.

But the new material came with its own problem: reduced durability.

Titanium-gold alloy was still too soft.

During every live-fire test, the suit sustained considerable damage.

“Maybe I should develop multiple suit models,” Tony muttered to himself. “Each one optimized for different purposes defense, speed, flight…”

It sounded good in theory.

But the reality was messier. Combat situations were unpredictable. He couldn’t exactly carry a dozen suits with him at all times.

“If only there were a metal that didn’t freeze at high altitudes, had excellent defensive properties, and wasn’t too heavy,” Tony sighed.

As he was brainstorming, a phone ring echoed across the virtual display from JARVIS.

“Sir, you have an incoming call,” the AI notified him.

“Who is it?” Tony asked without looking up.

“Unknown number.”

That made Tony set down his tools and turn around with a frown.

“Only a handful of people know my private line. How the hell is someone calling me?”

“JARVIS, trace the origin.”

“New York.”

Tony exhaled in relief. At least it wasn’t some terrorist threat.

“Should I take it, sir?”

“Put it through,” Tony said after a pause.

“Hello. Is this Mr. Tony Stark?” Rowan’s voice came through clearly after the connection was established.

“This is Stark. Who’s this?” Tony’s tone was curt, almost hostile.

His private number was tightly guarded. For someone to get their hands on it meant they had used some means he didn’t appreciate.

“Who I am isn’t important. I’m calling about a business proposal. I have—”

“A business pitch? Sorry, not interested. Contact my assistant. I’m hanging up,” Tony interrupted sharply.

Rowan chuckled at that. Tony was living up to his reputation prickly as ever.

“Your titanium-gold alloy isn’t cutting it, is it?” Rowan said quickly.

“JARVIS, hang—”

Tony was just about to have JARVIS end the call, but Rowan’s words stopped him mid-sentence.

“What did you say?” Tony asked, eyes narrowing.

“I’ve developed a new alloy metal that surpasses your current one in every way. It has all the advantages of titanium-gold alloy and its hardness is 1.5 times that of diamond.”

Tony’s expression turned incredulous.

He felt like the guy on the phone had to be joking.

Titanium-gold alloy was one of the best materials used in aerospace technology. And now someone was claiming to have something better? Something as hard as one and a half times diamond?

This had to be a prank call… right?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep