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Jiro broke through Earth's atmosphere, his black combat suit drifting silently in the vacuum of space.
He glanced back at the slowly shrinking blue planet behind him, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Stark Industries satellite..."
A flickering dot appeared in his field of vision. Jiro adjusted his posture, then exploded into motion with superhuman speed, carving a faint streak of light across the blackness of space.
A few seconds later, he came to a stop beside a silver-gray artificial satellite.
The STARK INDUSTRIES logo was boldly printed on its surface. Its solar panels glinted under the light of the sun.
Jiro grinned and flashed a peace sign at the satellite's surveillance camera.
"A little souvenir."
He turned, eyes locking on the massive ball of fire at the center of the solar system.
"Alright, let's go meet the real sun."
His body leaned forward slightly, and a golden aura formed over his skin—a biological energy field.
In the next instant, Jiro became a streak of light, flying toward the sun at incredible speed.
As the distance closed, the sun grew from a tiny glowing speck into a scorching fireball that filled his entire field of vision.
Even with his steel body, Jiro could already feel the temperature skyrocketing.
"System, analyze my current energy absorption efficiency."
[Ding! Yellow sun radiation detected. Energy reserves increasing… Current efficiency: 137%.]
Jiro raised an eyebrow.
Back on Earth, his maximum absorption rate had capped at 100%. Now, he was going way beyond that.
So being this close to the sun really does give a serious boost.
He stopped when he was still a million kilometers from the sun's surface.
Even for him, the pressure of the heat was becoming overwhelming. His skin started turning red, like metal left too long in a furnace.
"Not close enough." Gritting his teeth, Jiro kept pushing forward.
Five hundred thousand kilometers... Three hundred thousand... One hundred thousand...
The heat had reached unimaginable levels.
But Jiro's skin was beginning to glow with a strange golden sheen—his body was adapting to the extreme environment.
[Energy absorption efficiency breaking thresholds: 500%... 700%... 1000%...]
The system kept pinging in his head, but Jiro had tuned it all out.
All of his focus was on withstanding the most violent energy source in the universe.
At just 10,000 kilometers from the sun's surface, Jiro finally stopped.
This was a dead zone for human technology—but for him, it was the perfect place to evolve.
"This is it." He stretched his arms wide, letting the solar plasma storms wash over him.
Every single cell in his body was rejoicing, hungrily devouring this near-limitless energy.
[Energy reserves: 300%... 500%... 1000%...]
The numbers kept skyrocketing. Jiro could feel a surging power building inside him like never before.
His eyes turned solid gold. His heat vision temperature soared, and his bio-field expanded tenfold.
"Still not enough. I'm going in."
He made a wild decision.
Taking a deep breath—even though there was no air in space—he dove headfirst into the sun's surface like a pro diver.
In that moment, the world became nothing but pure light and heat.
The interior of the sun was beyond anything humanity could imagine—fifteen million degrees Celsius, and a pressure 250 billion times stronger than Earth's surface.
Hydrogen atoms fused into helium under these insane conditions, releasing unthinkable energy.
Jiro felt like he was swimming in a golden ocean, surrounded by boiling plasma.
Tiny cracks started forming on his skin—but they were instantly healed by the surging new energy inside him.
[Warning! Host body undergoing fundamental restructuring.]
[Steel Body evolving… 1%... 5%... 15%...]
It felt... amazing. Indescribably good—like soaking in a cosmic hot spring.
Time passed slowly. Jiro was fully immersed in the evolution process.
His cell structure was reorganizing, atomic patterns were optimizing, energy channels were expanding.
[Steel Body evolution: 100% complete.]
[New ability unlocked: Matter Restructuring (Basic).]
Meanwhile...
The lights in the Stark Industries lab had been on for 30 straight hours.
Tony Stark stood at his workstation, heavy dark circles under his eyes—clearly, he hadn't slept in a while.
Three holographic projectors were working at once, displaying two completely different suit designs.
"Adjust the chest plate curve by 0.5 degrees," Tony said to the air, sliding his fingers across the hologram.
"Remove all facial coverings. I want his expressions to be visible."
Mechanical arms responded instantly, tweaking the details of the all-black suit hovering in the center.
Its surface absorbed all light, giving it a mysterious, shadowy look. The only thing breaking that darkness was a simple golden S insignia on the chest.
"Sir, you've been working for over 30 hours," JARVIS reminded him. "Miss Potts has sent her twelfth warning."
Tony downed a shot of concentrated coffee. "Tell her I'll talk to her once this masterpiece is done."
He ran his hand along the surface of the suit. "How did the alloy substitute layer tests turn out?"
"Compatibility with Mr. Jiro's bio-field is at 99.2%," JARVIS replied."But defensive strength is only 15% of Mark 3's."
Tony grinned. "That's enough. That guy's basically heatproof anyway. This suit's just for style."
He stepped back and admired his creation. "Black suits Superman's vibe—powerful, mysterious, unstoppable."
"Sir, based on analysis, Mr. Jiro doesn't actually need armor. He might not even use it."
"JARVIS, you don't get it. This is man joy," Tony said, glancing at the suit with a smile.
"He gave us a hell of a first impression. We've gotta give him something back."
Deep inside the sun
When the system finally gave the last alert, Jiro opened his eyes.
To his surprise, he could now see clearly inside the sun.
The raging plasma now looked like gentle streams to him. He could trace every single energy flow with perfect clarity.
"So this is solar vision?"
Jiro reached out and gently touched a swirling vortex of energy.
To his shock, the high-temperature plasma actually changed direction in response to his will.
[Matter Restructuring ability allows host to influence material state at the atomic level. Current applicable range: Non-living matter, volume limit: 100 cubic meters.]
Jiro grinned.
This new ability was absolutely insane. Sure, there were still some limits, but give it time—he might even be able to create matter out of thin air someday.
"System, how long was I in the sun?"
[According to Earth time: 37 hours and 42 minutes.]
Jiro nodded.
He took one last look around this golden world, then pushed off with his legs and shot toward the surface of the sun like a rocket.
Leaving was way easier than getting in.
His evolved, iron-like body barely noticed the sun's extreme environment. He swam through layers of plasma like a fish, and within minutes, he'd broken through the sun's surface.
On his way back to Earth, Jiro began testing his new powers.
His super speed could now hit half the speed of light. His heat vision got way hotter. His biofield had expanded by ten times.
His senses were sharper than ever. When he closed his eyes and focused, he could sense every single person's life energy on Earth—millions of tiny light dots flickering across the planet's surface.
When Jiro re-entered the atmosphere, his biofield automatically adjusted to avoid creating a sonic boom.
"....."