A certain American comic book's secondary profession master

Chapter 150 Gold Acquisition
"Eight hundred kilograms? Less than a ton? That's so cheap?" When Tony heard the price, he was just as incredulous as Levi. "You really didn't hear wrong, it's not eight hundred tons, but eight hundred kilograms?"

Tony was actually prepared to spend a fortune on the purchase of the spaceship.

While it might not be as exaggerated as 800 tons, he was indeed prepared to purchase gold by the ton.

Given Stark Group's financial resources and influence, acquiring less than ten tons of gold globally would not be too much of a challenge.

Even though this figure exceeds the gold reserves of many small countries.

Of course, doing so would certainly arouse suspicion from governments around the world.

However, if Tony could actually buy a starship, he felt the price would be worth it.

Unexpectedly, what we received was an incredibly low price of 800 kilograms.

“Absolutely true!” Li Wei said, shrugging. “If it’s eight tons of gold, according to Sif, that’s enough to buy a frigate.”

Of course, the frigate that Li Wei is talking about is definitely not a marine frigate on Earth.

Instead, it's a spaceship about 300 meters long.

However, the talk about buying warships is just that—talk.

Although the price of a space frigate is around eight tons, that's only if someone is willing to sell it to you.

After all, selling warships and buying small spaceships, even small combat spaceships, are completely different concepts.

Just like on Earth, it's not difficult to buy ordinary weapons. In those more chaotic countries and regions, as long as you have money, you can buy them.

Even some conventional tanks and armored vehicles are no problem.

But you want to buy more advanced weapons and equipment? That's not something money can solve.

"But thinking about it, it makes sense. We were measuring the value of a spaceship by Earth's productivity, which was a flawed concept!" After hearing Levi's confirmation, Tony was surprised, but after a moment's thought, he realized the problem.

Ultimately, it boils down to the productivity gap between technologically advanced civilizations on Earth and in the universe.

Tony and Levi initially thought the spaceship must be expensive because there weren't any on Earth.

Moreover, even the cheapest launch vehicle on Earth costs tens of millions of dollars.

But in reality, a typical small spaceship is roughly equivalent to a top-of-the-line luxury car on Earth.

For ordinary people, it's incredibly expensive, but for wealthy people, it's just another name for it.

However, gold, as Tony and Levy deduced, is indeed a hard metal in the universe.

In fact, because the populations of various civilizations in the universe are larger and the per capita amount is lower, the actual purchasing power of gold in the universe is actually higher than on Earth.

“That’s right, it seems you won’t have to bleed a lot of money.” Li Wei nodded and said.

If it's just two hundred kilograms of gold, you can easily collect enough by collecting a little bit; there's no need to go on a large-scale acquisition.

"No, no, no! Precisely because spaceships are cheap, we should increase our gold acquisition efforts!" Tony, however, offered a completely opposite opinion to Levi.

"You want to... make some purchases?" Li Wei was initially surprised, but after seeing Tony's expression, he suddenly understood.

"That's right! Since gold's purchasing power is so strong in the universe, we can easily acquire large quantities of gold on Earth and then purchase various technologies that are far more advanced than those on Earth from neutral forces in the universe!" Tony said excitedly. For Earth, whose overall technology is relatively backward, gold's high purchasing power is clearly a great thing.

Even if we can't buy the technology, it would be a good thing to buy more advanced weapons for research or use.

Tony was quite confident in his abilities. Although the technology in the universe was very advanced, he believed that he could quickly learn to crack it and eventually imitate or even surpass the related products.

In this way, their alliance will have more confidence when facing the Chitauri or other cosmic forces in the future, right?
“In that case, we’ll probably have to change our plans. After all, buying up gold on a large scale internationally will definitely attract the attention of governments around the world, and all the effort we put into relocating S.H.I.E.L.D. will be wasted.” Levi gave a slightly helpless smile when he heard Tony’s plan.

However, he did not object.

After all, plans can't keep up with changes.

"What's there to be afraid of? If I can really acquire enough advanced technology, I can build a super corporation that is countless times more advanced and powerful than the current Stark Industries, as well as an incomparably powerful Iron Legion! What will S.H.I.E.L.D. be then?" Tony said arrogantly.

“That’s true. In that case, go for it! I support you!” Li Wei expressed his support for Tony with great appreciation.

In any case, from the moment he came into this world, the course of history was destined to change.

So even if there are bigger changes now, he doesn't care at all.

I wonder what kind of expression Captain America will have when he wakes up and sees the even more changed new world.

And what a sight it must have been when the Chitauri arrived on Earth and were greeted by an even more impressive steel legion than their own army.

Li Wei is quite looking forward to this.

I want to see rivers of blood!
…………

After making the decision, Tony quickly got to work.

Of course, the initial movements won't be very large.

He simply sent company representatives to various gold-producing regions to sign a series of gold purchase contracts.

Moreover, these are all long-term contracts with relatively small amounts.

The public announcement was simply that Stark Industries wanted to expand its business and was preparing to enter the jewelry industry.

After all, if they start by buying up gold at a frenzied pace, it will only drive up the price of gold quickly, which is not conducive to Stark Group's gold acquisitions and will also cause a crazy increase in acquisition costs.

Anyway, there's still plenty of time before we can buy the first spaceship.

Unlike before when Sif only returned to Asgard to report, she returned with gifts in just three days.

This time, when Sif went to buy the spaceship, she first had to contact a space broker, and then the raiders would take the order. In addition, after the spaceship was purchased, the Alliance also needed to familiarize themselves with the spaceship and learn how to pilot it.

The time required during this period will certainly not be short.

It might be a year or two before we actually set off for space.

Therefore, Stark Industries has ample time to gradually acquire sufficient amounts of gold.

(End of this chapter)