After hanging up the phone, Wesley looked at Ivan Vanko, who had already passed out on the table, feeling somewhat helpless.
Ivan Vanko had become his friend by chance since he arrived in Russia. He saw in Ivan what he used to be—someone with aspirations but held back by circumstances.
Wesley could relate to Ivan's predicament. He wanted to do something but was restricted by his father, much like Wesley himself had been.
Although Wesley didn't have his father around when he was growing up, he could see the similarities in their situations. Over time, they had become friends.
That's why Wesley had the idea to recommend Ivan Vanko to Charles Doyle.
Wesely called a hotel waiter to take the drunk Ivan Vanko to his hotel room. Wesley needed to figure out how to persuade this stubborn guy to come and meet his boss, Charles Doyle.
…
On the other side of the conversation, Ginny asked curiously, "Boss, do you know the person Wesley recommended?"
Charles smiled and responded, "I've heard of him and know a bit about him. His father is Anton Vanko, who used to work with Tony Stark's father."
"Seems like Wesley didn't make a wrong recommendation; he's indeed a genius in mechanics. However, I'm not very optimistic about his personality."
Charles acknowledged Ivan Vanko's talent in mechanics.
However, his personality and the ideology instilled by Anton Vanko made it difficult for Charles Doyle to be satisfied. While having him on board might provide some assistance, his impact wouldn't be significant.
Charles foresaw that this individual might become stubborn, fixated on seeking revenge against Tony Stark.
If that led to a confrontation, he could easily be defeated or eliminated. Charles questioned whether it was worth intervening and if there were any real benefits to it.
Considering all these factors, Charles Doyle wasn't inclined to bring this person into his organization. However, since he was recommended by his subordinate, he didn't mind having a conversation with him.
If there was still hope, he might consider recruiting him.
Charles was open to the idea of friendly competition between this individual and Tony Stark.
However, if the person insisted on a one-track-minded pursuit of vengeance against Tony, Charles preferred not to get involved. He would rather leave him to cause trouble for Justin Hammer.
Ginny nodded, understanding Charles's concerns. She believed that with Charles's personal charm, he could get this Russian mechanical genius to cooperate.
Thinking about the people he had recruited so far—it's still low in number—Ginny felt the need to expand their group. She wanted to help Charles increase the manpower under his command.
Ginny suggested, "Boss, how about I go to Moscow to check out this mechanical genius for you? If he's as good as Wesley says, I can bring him back with Wesley. If not, we can abandon the idea."
Charles considered the suggestion and replied, "Alright, Ginny, if you want to go, you can leave earlier. The distance to Moscow from here is quite far."
"You can meet him, and if he's as stubborn as they say, even you might not be able to handle him."
"But before you leave, transfer the recently received $10 million into my private account. I have plans for it."
Ginny smiled and agreed, "Sure, Boss, I'll go check it out for you, and I'll arrange for the money to be transferred to your account right away."
"Great, go ahead and make the arrangements."
With no other matters to attend to, Charles left the meeting room and headed upstairs to his room.
As Charles Doyle left the room, Ginny's eyes flickered with a sense of urgency. She could feel the pressure mounting, especially after seeing that the ninja group was growing larger.
To ensure her significance and succeed in securing Charles Doyle, Ginny needed more allies.
She had to increase her influence within Charles's organization. After all, she didn't possess any magical ninja skills or exceptional medical knowledge. She had to leverage her strengths in other ways.
Without hesitation, Ginny immediately arranged for the funds to be transferred and, using her high-ranking position, boarded a private plane bound for Moscow. She intended to assess the mechanical genius personally.
Back in his room, Charles Doyle had just rested for a while when he received a notification of a $10 million deposit into his account.
He entered his system space and glanced at the meager 1,806,000 copper coins he possessed. Charles decided to recharge his copper coins with $10 million, instantly bringing his balance to 11,806,000 copper coins.
With 10 million copper coins at his disposal, Charles accessed the summoning beast interface and prepared to upgrade Aoda.
Examining the interface, Charles saw that Aoda was currently at level 20, and the cost to upgrade was 500 reputation points and 50,000 copper coins. Furthermore, each level would require an increasing amount of resources.
Charles had 13,650 reputation points, but he was uncertain if it would be enough to upgrade Aoda to level 50, which was the maximum level. Nevertheless, he decided to start the upgrade.
After spending 13,000 reputation points and nearly 5 million copper coins, Charles successfully upgraded Aoda to level 40.
This improvement significantly enhanced Aoda's strength, but it was still 10 levels away from the maximum level of 50. At this point, each level required 2,000 reputation points and 250,000 copper coins.
To reach level 50 and activate the next summoning beast, Toad, Charles estimated that he would need approximately 25,000 reputation points and 4 million copper coins.
Copper coins were not a concern for Charles, but accumulating enough reputation points would take some time.
However, with the tasks available at the Continental Hotel, he believed he could accumulate the necessary reputation points in less than a month.
Closing the summoning beast interface, Charles glanced at his remaining 6.806 million copper coins. He then accessed the equipment interface, which displayed a set of level 30 Chuunin gear.
The equipment upgrade journey continued as Charles invested all 6.806 million copper coins to upgrade all six pieces of Chuunin gear from level 30 to level 50. Despite this improvement, he was still 10 levels away from the maximum level of 60, where he could become a Jounin.
Charles knew that he would need more copper coins for further upgrades. Nonetheless, he was satisfied with the enhanced defense and attack capabilities the upgraded equipment provided.
Although he hadn't tested it yet, he was confident that even small-caliber weapons would have difficulty breaking through his defense.
With his copper coins depleted, Charles mused that he would have to transfer more funds for future upgrades. The equipment enhancement had significantly bolstered his power, and he was eager to continue his journey toward becoming a Jounin.
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