Harry handed Tony several books: Arcane Essentials, What Exactly Are Dimensional Demon Gods?, Lending and Magic, and An Introduction to Runes.
"These are all entry-level texts from Kamar-Taj—ordinary people who've never touched magic can understand them. Oh, right, I almost forgot to give you a Sling Ring."
Tony took the Sling Ring and the stack of books, visibly excited.
"With my genius-level IQ, learning magic is going to be a walk in the park. Wait, what's this 'lending' thing? You have to take out a loan to learn magic?"
"Of course," Harry said, giving him a quick crash course. "Most magic power comes from mighty dimensional demon gods. For example, most of Kamar-Taj's spells draw their power from the Vishanti. Casting magic means using their power—so of course you have to pay a price.
"The price is usually a sorcerer's life force, knowledge, or soul. In any case, it's very expensive. But I happen to know a very affordable lender. Interested?"
"For example?" Tony asked.
"You could borrow from me."
Tony: "???"
Harry felt Tony had real potential as a borrower, so he enthusiastically explained:
"For certain reasons, I hold a portion of the authority usually belonging to dimensional demon gods, including the power to lend magic.
"If you don't want to pay the hefty price of long-term spellcasting—sensory disruption, organ damage, and your soul being claimed by a dimensional demon god after you die—you can choose to borrow power from me instead.
"Compared to other dimensional entities, my lending terms are extremely generous. You won't have to give up much—just some money and knowledge.
"And most importantly, when Earth is in danger, you have to show up and help."
Tony once again realized that Harry's behavior always exceeded his expectations. No matter how highly he updated his opinion of Harry, he still kept underestimating him.
He seriously doubted that someone who held part of a dimensional demon god's authority could be called a "normal sorcerer."
This might even be something the Sorcerer Supreme herself couldn't do.
Tony was a smart man; he immediately realized that if the terms were this generous, there had to be some downside to borrowing from Harry. So he asked:
"What's the catch if I borrow from you?"
In the spirit of honest business and mutual growth, Harry didn't hide anything.
"Because your power would come from me, once I die you wouldn't be able to keep borrowing magic.
"But don't worry. At that point you could still borrow from other dimensional demon gods. Besides, I almost never die."
If Harry were to die, his chaos magic would very likely resurrect him—but whichever dimension he happened to be in at the time would be in for a world of hurt.
Tony was tempted. "Sounds pretty good. What are the details?"
"Casting a low-level spell once costs ten thousand dollars. A mid-level spell costs a million. A high-level spell costs ten million. If you want unlimited use, you just pay a thousand times the original price.
"Of course, that's the price if you want to use magic without learning anything.
"If you learn how to construct spell circles yourself and only borrow raw power from me to cast your own spells, then you don't need to pay money. All I want is for you to share the magical research you come up with."
Harry had basically just pulled those numbers out of thin air. Unlike in the wizarding world—where he needed a lot more trusted agents to change the world—he had no intention of developing a large pool of borrowers here.
Lending to ordinary people, without asking for life or soul as collateral, was a guaranteed loss.
But lending to someone like Tony, a bona fide genius—or to people who already had magical potential—meant he'd get their research and insights in return. That way he wasn't losing anything.
He wasn't like the evil dimensional demon gods who demanded souls and lifespans—not just because he didn't want to, but because he didn't need to.
Simply by existing, his power would keep growing. He didn't have to scrape by and rely on lending deals like most of those miserable dimensional entities.
The only reason he was offering Tony a loan was because he was sponsoring a friend.
Thinking along those lines, Harry suddenly realized that ever since he'd started hanging around Tony, he'd probably appeared on the radar of various high-level government agencies. That might bring danger to Aunt May and the others.
He decided that once he got home, he'd set up loan contracts for Aunt May and the family too—free of charge, of course.
Just giving them access to a small handful of high-level spells would be enough for them to deal with most threats.
Noticing Tony staring at him with a strange look in his eyes, Harry asked curiously, "What's wrong? Did I set the prices too high?"
Tony shook his head. "It's way too cheap. Ten million dollars to mass-produce superhumans? If the military heard that, they'd lose their minds."
Harry shook his head. "I don't want to lend to too many people. Unless the contracts are extremely strict, lending magic is usually a losing deal.
"The reason I'm willing to lend to you is because you're a good person—and you're my friend. You've got great talent, so I won't be losing out."
Tony gave a bitter smile. "You actually think the world's biggest arms dealer is a 'good person'? If anyone else heard that, they'd be rolling on the floor laughing."
"Haven't you already shut down your weapons division?" Harry asked.
"You knew? You saw the news?"
"No, I heard people at the party talking about it. Why did you shut it down?"
Tony's expression twisted with pain. "In those three months when I was kidnapped by the Ten Rings, I saw ten-year-old kids shot to death by weapons I made with my own hands.
"I wanted those weapons to protect them, but in reality, they were being used to kill them.
"I want to make a much greater contribution to the world than just building things that explode."
Harry tried to comfort the suffering Mr Stark.
"See? Just like I said, you're a good person. When you learned the truth, you were willing to walk away from massive profits and turn over a new leaf. Just that alone is more than most people could ever do."
A moment later, Tony pulled himself together and smiled at Harry. "Let's forget about the sad stuff for now. Tonight's star isn't me—it's you."
Tony snapped his fingers, immediately drawing everyone's attention.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he called out, "I have an announcement to make. I'm transferring five percent of Stark Industries' shares to Harry!
"From today onward, Harry Potter is a new shareholder in Stark Industries!"
For a heartbeat, the entire hall fell silent—then the room erupted into deafening cheers.
Even Harry was taken aback. It might only be five percent on paper, but for a corporate giant like Stark Industries, that represented a transfer worth hundreds of billions of dollars, instantly catapulting Harry past most of the world's rich and into the ranks of the global ultra-wealthy.
Dozens of hot girls seemed to move as one, rushing him like a tidal wave, each one hoping to be the first to make contact with this freshly minted tycoon.
Politicians, celebrities, and business leaders Peter recognized also hurried up, all wanting to exchange a few words with Harry and leave a good impression.
By the pool, Peter—who had been shyly chatting with a girl in a tiny bikini—stood there slack-jawed.
He couldn't believe his buddy had suddenly gone from "ordinary neighbor" to "stupidly rich" in the blink of an eye.
Did this mean he'd finally be able to buy that used Ford?
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