Tony began to conceive of the design with full of fighting spirit, while not forgetting to observe Lyon on the side.
He discreetly observed and noticed that Lyon was still studying the most basic mechanical structures. This made Tony involuntarily flash a confident smile, feeling assured of his victory.
With the motivation of competition, Tony felt different—energized. In just half an hour, he had already resolved the propulsion system issue that had been troubling him for the past two days. It was as if inspiration had suddenly struck.
Meanwhile, Lyon had finished studying exoskeleton knowledge and had moved on to learning circuit design. Tony paid a little more attention to this and smiled smugly once again.
He thought Lyon had given up on learning exoskeleton knowledge because it was too difficult and had switched to a different subject.
"Did you realize that learning about battle armor is too challenging? No worries, let's start with something simpler," Tony said, as if popping open a bottle of champagne. "Don't strain yourself. If everyone in this world could easily learn things, what would be the point of geniuses?"
He waved his hand dismissively and returned to modifying his equipment boots. "Don't worry, once I create the most outstanding battle armor, I might consider letting you try it out."
At this point, Tony had apparently forgotten that Lyon could already fly.
He was already fully immersed in the joy of defeating his foolish younger brother three days later.
While modifying the thrusters with Dum-E's assistance, Tony even started humming the tune of "Jingle Bells."
Lyon paid no attention to Tony's premature celebration.
Sitting alone to the side, he was rapidly absorbing the educational materials and comprehensive papers Jarvis had prepared for him.
If Tony were to walk over to Lyon's side at this moment and look at the screen in front of him, he would undoubtedly slap his earlier smug self.
Because on that screen, lines of text and charts were flashing by at a speed so fast they were almost a blur.
Yet Lyon's gaze remained fixed on the first line of text and chart that appeared each time.
—The speed at which the display was switching the content couldn't even keep up with Lyon's reading and comprehension speed!
It took Lyon only thirty seconds to complete a college-level textbook.
In just half an hour, he could become a comprehensive theoretical expert in a specific field.
If there were a system that could grade the knowledge an individual possessed...
At that moment, if there were a system capable of grading the knowledge one possessed, you could almost see upgrade icons constantly popping up above Lyon's head.
Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4...
In that case, Tony might have had a premonition that his brother had become a player with cheats enabled.
But, unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
After three hours had passed, Lyon finally stood up, feeling that he had enough foundational knowledge.
Tony was in the middle of his thirteenth propulsion device experiment. By now, Tony could hover relatively steadily in the air.
He was focusing on maintaining his balance when he glanced at Lyon: "Look who's here. Could it be that our little Lyon has finally realized the difficulty of learning and is coming to surrender and beg his big brother Tony for mercy?"
Lyon gave a mysterious smile and adjusted the non-existent glasses on his nose.
"No, I've finished learning the necessary knowledge. Now I'm ready to assist with your research."
Tony paused for a moment, then chuckled, "Well, that's perfect. Even though you can't help me much, you can at least handle moving some of the heavier equipment."
He slowly descended from the air, stumbling a bit before steadying himself after landing.
"Follow me. The propulsion system is basically complete, so we can start manufacturing the rest of the armor now."
Tony, convinced that victory was already in his grasp, focused all his attention on building the armor. He methodically organized the next steps of the process.
"Lyon, go fetch the titanium alloy and the gold. Dum-E, you hold the magnifying glass steady."
The two quickly began collaborating on the armor's construction.
Throughout the process, it was mostly Tony giving directions. Lyon would occasionally ask a few questions.
Tony, absorbed in his work, didn't notice anything amiss.
While working, he explained everything thoroughly, almost as if he wanted his brother, whom he considered somewhat slow, to learn as much of his skills as possible.
"Not there, that spot's wrong. You need to come around this way and work from here; otherwise, you'll cause a short circuit."
"Ahaha, you must be joking. How could such a large load-bearing structure possibly be equipped with a transformation mechanism?"
"Well, the flight stabilizer can be installed here."
"Lyon, your strength is an excellent tool for assembling and crafting equipment. I dare say even a hydraulic press isn't as good as you."
"If I had known, I would have asked for your help days ago."
...
After a full day and an entire night, the two of them worked on building the armor.
Thanks to Lyon's assistance, the assembly and manufacturing of the components were both precise and efficient.
For example, if Tony suddenly needed a part with IT-grade precision, he would normally have to wait for a factory to deliver it.
But tonight, all it took was a swing of Lyon's fist, and he could produce a component even better than IT-grade.
"Excellent!" Tony's dark circles had turned into full-on bags under his eyes, but his eyes remained bright and alert.
What would typically take one or even several months to craft and fine-tune was now eighty percent complete in just one night, thanks to Lyon's help.
Tony was now in an incredibly excited state of mind.
All he needed was one final push, and he could don the new armor and soar into the sky!
He instinctively began to direct, "Lyon, go ahead and craft one more electrical circuit. After that, we just need to connect it to JARVIS's system and conduct the assembly test. Then we'll be done."
However, the response he received was unexpected.
"No, Tony, I'm leaving," Lyon refused.
"What are you talking about? Why are you leaving?" Tony's eyes widened.
Lyon shrugged, "Did you forget? I said I'd build an armor better than the Mark in three days."
"And now, I've learned all your skills, so there's no reason for me to stay here."
"Besides, the final steps of your armor aren't too complicated. You can handle them on your own."
"Hehe~ So, I'm leaving. See you in three days, Tony." Lyon waved, "I'll be in your lab. If you need anything, come find me."
"What?" Tony's mind was flooded with questions. "You're really going to build your own armor? What kind of joke is this? You're just an ordinary... wait a minute."
Tony suddenly remembered.
During the past night...
During the process of assisting him, Lyon's questions gradually evolved from being simple at the beginning to becoming more complex, even to the point where Tony found them quite enlightening.
The same happened with the hands-on tasks. What started off clumsy gradually became more proficient.
In other words, Lyon had actually mastered those specialized skills!
Tony was stunned by the sudden realization. Immersed in the work last night, so intensely focused, he hadn't noticed.
But now, thinking back, Lyon had, within a single night, transformed from a mechanical novice into a mechanical expert.
An expert who might not even be weaker than him!
"Your learning speed! This... this is a super brain?" Tony was utterly shocked, collapsing into his chair.
What was this? Could a super brain really be this unreasonable?
This was like cheating!