In Stark's laboratory, files and materials were piled high. Jarvis had to equip his new body with a set of mechanical arms to sort out all these experimental materials.
A set of mechanical arms consisted of four, each attached to Jarvis's robot body at the shoulders and waist. The upper mechanical arms could work with his arms to sort different files, while the lower ones were responsible for stuffing them into various cabinets.
Some experimental data were too complex to be judged by simple programs and needed to be kept secret, so only Jarvis and Stark could handle these tasks.
In the room next door, Otto was banging the table irritably. He said, "If you don't trust my technology, why did you call upon me ?!"
"I'll say it again, the tentacles can directly access the human nervous system. There will be no aftereffects, no need to add another layer of battlesuit in between!"
"Of course, I've looked at your research materials, but I'm just not comfortable with attaching four big tentacles to my back, they're too ugly!" Stark retorted, raising his voice.
"You should know, my fans like Iron Man because they admire my streamlined, high-tech gear, not four ugly tentacles. I called you here to solve a problem, so could you just shut up and get to work?"
Deeply sighing, Otto remembered all the zeros in the contract Pepper had given him, and, resigning himself to his fate, began attaching mechanical tentacles to Stark's battlesuit.
To further enhance his own work efficiency, Stark felt it necessary to add a few more 'hands'.
Often accused of being an exploitative capitalist, Stark had to prove that when he became harsh, he exploited even himself.
He built himself a very sophisticated life-sustaining armor. With the help of magical energy, he could even go without sleep for a whole week.
Without eating, drinking, or sleeping, throwing himself into the experiments was also why his anxiety disorder was so severe earlier on.
This time, he planned to install four mechanical tentacles on the life-sustaining armor, similar to those of Doctor Octopus.
Although he could instruct Jarvis to activate the robot to assist him in his work, nothing matched the flexibility and tactile feedback of his own hands. It would be well worth it if the neural connection could result in having a few extra hands.
After spending half a day in the laboratory, Otto had adjusted all the mechanical tentacles to different models. Strange walked out of the Magic Portal and began to prepare for the surgery.
It was inevitable that surgery was required for neural connections. But after a period of technological advancements, Strange was attempting to perform minimally invasive or even external neural connection surgery.
In simple terms, special materials were used to extend human nerves to the surface of the body. This made it much more convenient to use various neural connection external devices, and avoided a lot of pain.
However, as this technology had not been tested, it could not be used on Stark. He had to use the traditional method of implanting neural access devices in his body to control the tentacles.
"I have to warn you in advance, the neural access procedure is risky. I have given the risk notice to Jarvis. Actually, it doesn't matter whether you sign it or not, because if the surgery fails, I will activate the gemstone, and we can try again."
"Additionally, in ten minutes, Shiller will be here." Strange looked at his own watch and said: "No, it's only seven minutes; he's always punctual."
"Wait a minute, what is he coming for?" Stark turned, walking backward into the Armor. After the Armor was mounted, he asked.
The life-sustaining armor is different from other battle suits; it seeks extreme lightness—it should feel as if wearing nothing. Therefore, when Stark put on this Armor, it looked more like he was wearing a leotard, with mechanical structures visible only at the joints.
Putting the medical record aside, Strange looked at Stark and said, "I have to warn you that the neuro-prosthetic surgery is very painful, extremely painful."
"Most importantly, you're unwilling to take an anesthetic. I really don't know how you ..."
"Don't bring it up." Stark turned his head trying to change the subject. From one side, Otto exclaimed: "If you're trying to prove your manliness in such a childish way, then I must tell you, you might as well go back to college for a refresher."
Stark let out a cold snort. "Manly? I'm not as immature as that kid Peter. Don't you guys realize? Any dose of anesthetic could potentially cause damage to the brain, a consequence I absolutely can't afford."
"So you mean to say, when you were tampering with that thing in your chest before, you did not use any anesthetic??" Strange looked at Stark and said, "I have to admit, you do have a bit of manliness."
Just thinking about what Strange was referring to was enough to make Stark a little pale. They pursed their lips and said, "Let's not bring that up again, I don't want to recall."
People always manage to maximize their potential when facing life and death situations. Even so, they would still feel afraid afterward. Stark's unstable mental state was a result of residual trauma from the Afghanistan event.