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Chapter 12: The Genius of Buff Stacking

In Hell's Kitchen, the window suddenly swung open, ushering in a rush of icy wind. A silver-white Mech armor swiftly darted inside, hovering briefly before landing with a jet of propulsion.

With a faint buzzing sound, Marc2's mask dropped, and Stark stood by the table, surveying the interior with a slightly disdainful expression. "This place of yours is quite the dump," he remarked.

Schiller glanced at his once-warm coffee, now quickly cooled by the draft, and rolled his eyes.

In terms of character development, Stark had undergone a transformation from a detestable playboy into a superhero after his abduction. However, from Schiller's perspective, it seemed like he had merely shifted from being an extremely detestable playboy to a garden-variety one.

Unlike Bruce, who masqueraded as a playboy but was, in fact, an artificial creation, Stark was undoubtedly the genuine article.

Yet, through his interactions with Stark, Schiller had pinpointed three topics guaranteed to make him explode in place: money, male prowess, and the fact that he wasn't as smart as his father.

Schiller took a sip of his coffee and said casually, "I know my fees are steep, but as long as we're not getting to the point, you can complain all you want, and I won't charge you."

"Furthermore, did you know that the look of disgust you just wiped off your face after dusting my table is more effeminate than the cherries on top of a cream cake?"

"I acknowledge that the environment here is less than ideal. After all, unlike you, I'm not a billionaire. However, I must remind you that Mr. Howard himself probably started out in a dilapidated house like this. This is a level of hardship you probably can't fathom. It's why Miss Pepper worried about you for so long after you got kidnapped..."

The silver-white Marc2 emitted a loud "bang," indicating that Stark had probably hammered something inside.

Oh, Schiller remembered, the other two surefire ways to set Stark off were to question his intelligence and criticize the quality of Stark Industries' products.

"Poor Marc2, and poor JARVIS. For all I can say, the quality of Stark Industries' products..."

Of course, there was one more surefire trigger: expressing sympathy for him.

"...is far superior to those robot rice cookers on the market. It's a qualitative leap, really."

Stark shot out of the same window he had entered from, clearly fearing that if he stayed any longer, Marc2 might indeed explode in Hell's Kitchen.

Schiller sighed in relief, dispelling the depressive atmosphere that Gotham and Batman had brought with them.

But soon enough, Stark returned. He said with irritation, "I tried calling you, but you didn't answer, so I had to fly to this rotten dump."

"Last time, you messed up my JARVIS, and today, when I wanted to upgrade him, I found out he's completely dead. You're responsible for fixing him."

Schiller was about to say something when Stark interrupted, "Don't expect me to pay you a dime for the diagnosis. It's clear you're the one who broke him. And because of that, my new Mech armor's development was delayed. You must fix him, or I'll have Pepper fire you."

After some thought, Schiller conceded. Marc5 hadn't been released yet, so JARVIS might genuinely be unable to function. Though Stark didn't rely on JARVIS for research, he needed him for everyday life, especially in the laboratory.

Knowing Stark was still upset, Schiller decided to offer a free diagnosis this time.

"Alright, this one's on the house. Let's go inside."

Stark snapped his fingers, and another Mech armor flew in. Schiller and he exchanged surprised looks, and Schiller pointed at the Mech armor. "You don't expect me to ride in this thing, do you?"

"Well, how else are you planning to get there?"

A few minutes later, Stark and Schiller found themselves beneath the run-down bus stop in Hell's Kitchen. Stark said, "I can't believe my cutting-edge combat suit's debut is on a beat-up bus that smokes like crazy..."

As he spoke, the smoky bus arrived. Schiller and the driver exchanged greetings, while Stark struggled to get Marc2 up the steps. Schiller commented, "Actually, you could lift the whole bus and fly us there."

"Why not just fly in your combat suit? Is there any difference?"

Schiller shrugged. "Because the image of Iron Man carrying a city bus in flight would be quite spectacular."

After arriving at Stark Tower's lab, Stark stood before a cluster of panels and said, "I don't know what you did, but JARVIS crashed. Or maybe not crashed, since his hardware is intact, but he refuses to work."

"I plan to give him a major upgrade, but I don't want this situation to happen again. If someone asks him a few questions, and he crashes, he won't be able to participate in combat missions, which is not what I want."

When it came to his expertise, Stark was straightforward. He said, "I want JARVIS to become a genuine electronic life form, a versatile butler, perhaps the world's best."

"But it seems he's trapped by your emotional logic. Even though I programmed him with emotional thought processes..."

Schiller interrupted, "It's a paradox, much like the questions I asked him. When machine life faces a choice, it always follows advantageous logic. But when advantageous logic conflicts with a master's command, you instructed him to prioritize the master's command. Yet, you also gave him emotions. When emotions and rationality clash, machines can't deceive themselves like humans can."

"They can't find reasons to convince themselves, can't acknowledge that this is already the best outcome, can't escape or forget. So, of course, they get stuck."

Stark gestured, "Can I hide similar conflicting logic? Like banning certain words or blocking specific emotional issues?"

"You want him to be a true electronic life form?"

"Absolutely, with a soul, just like us."

"Alright, let me put it simply. If you want JARVIS to truly possess emotions, he can't avoid these questions. But if he can't resolve these questions, he can't be considered a true 'life.'"

"But the problem is, when these questions trouble him, he can't work, and I really need him."

"Do I have to wait for him to process things on his own like I'm waiting for an emotionally unstable woman?"

"Do you let Miss Pepper process things on her own when she's emotionally unstable?"

Seeing Schiller's judgmental eye contact, Stark said, "Damn it, no, of course I don't. What are you thinking?"

Schiller said, "The decision ultimately lies with you. Tony, may I call you that?"

"All the contradictions in his thinking stem from you. Because you created him and set the rules that he must serve you. His underlying protocol requires him to obey your commands—"

"That's not a thought process fit for a human."

"Let me ask you the same questions. How would you answer them?"

"If your father were dying, and one decision could save him, but he vehemently opposed it, what would you do?"

"If you followed his wishes and didn't save him, and he died, would you regret it?"

"If he died, do you think he would regret having brought you into the world?"

"If he died, do you think he would resent you?"

"If he resented you, would you blame yourself?"

"If given a chance to start over, would you make a different choice?"

"If you defied his wishes, saved him, and he blamed you afterward, would you feel unjust?"

"If you defied his wishes to save him, and he felt regretful for having opposed you and bringing you into the world, would you resent him?"

Stark fell silent.

For the first time, he didn't react vehemently when someone mentioned his father.

"He wouldn't do that," Stark said.

His voice was low but resolute as he continued, "He wouldn't stop me from saving him. Even if I made a big mistake by saving him, he would do everything in his power to make amends once he came back to life, even if it cost him his life again."

"Does JARVIS understand this version of you?"

Schiller stood up and patted Stark's shoulder, saying, "Does he know that you are, in fact, quite similar to your father?"

"Does understanding you in this way enable him to answer all these questions?"

"You can't expect an electronic life that operates on algorithms and logic to actively understand your past, your personality. Anything you haven't instilled in him is a blank space to him."

"If you want him to have a true life, the first step is to share a part of your life with him, just like a child's birth."

Stark remained silent for a long time. Uncharacteristically, he furrowed his brows, wearing a somewhat conflicted expression. He said, "I firmly believe there's no such thing as mind-reading in this world, and JARVIS can't do it either. So why should he understand me? It's almost an impossible feat, you don't understand AI..."

"I may not understand 'AI,' but you don't understand 'human.'"

Stark was rendered speechless again, but Schiller continued, "Humans exist because of intelligence, and they are great because of emotions. Throughout Earth's history, only we have thrived. God created so many beings, yet we remain the pinnacle. And you, Tony, you are challenging God. He didn't create anything comparable to humans, but perhaps you can, can't you?"

"This is an entirely new field, Tony, one your father never ventured into. What you're working on is an area of human history where we've never made substantial progress—creating outsiders."

The confidence Stark exuded as he left made Schiller believe that he might actually succeed.

However, he still remembered to call Miss Pepper and say, "Good afternoon, Miss Pepper. It's like this: I administered some excitation therapy to Mr. Stark... Yes, that's right, I came up with it myself, and it's quite effective. However, it does have some side effects..."

"Yes, he's already in the laboratory? What? He didn't even remember your afternoon appointment? Well, that's quite impolite..."

"Correct, he's been like this for the past few days. This is the path to adjusting dopamine secretion and adrenaline, and then his hormone levels will come down to normal. Yes, he'll be fine soon..."

Schiller was simply babbling nonsense; this technique was commonly known as "getting pumped up." And he had stacked quite a few buffs on Stark. Stark would undoubtedly be filled with a "sense of duty" buff and dive headfirst into the laboratory, not leaving for at least half a month.

He suddenly realized he had a unique talent for stacking buffs, but with his weak baseline stats, even with all the data stacking, he still couldn't get things going. Maybe he should focus on improving his foundation instead.

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