Once the lunchtime rush had passed, the restaurant returned to its usual quiet state.
Evan cleaned up the restaurant, untied the apron around his waist, and changed into a fresh set of clothes.
Then he walked over to the corner where the GT Robot was resting and crouched down.
He rapped his knuckles against the beak like point protruding from its face.
Thud.
Thud.
“Tough stuff.” Evan smacked his lips and withdrew his hand.
The force he’d just used was enough to punch straight through a ten centimeter thick steel plate, yet all he’d gotten out of the GT Robot was a dull noise.
He hadn’t even left a mark.
Then again, it made sense.
This was a combat robot specifically designed by Gourmet Corp. to capture prey.
There was no way its armor would be flimsy.
“The tougher, the better. Gives me more options for using it.”
With a thought, Evan placed the GT Robot into his Storage Space, closed the restaurant for the time being, and raised his right hand.
His finger traced an invisible circle through the air.
Sparks sprang into existence along its path, gradually forming a blazing ring that crackled continuously.
Once the circle stabilized and stopped expanding, Evan stepped through.
The next second, he appeared atop a skyscraper.
Looking down, he saw the streets at midday packed with pedestrians and endless streams of cars.
Towering buildings rose all around him, their glass exteriors reflecting dazzling sunlight.
The entire city radiated prosperity and life.
“Hmm. No positional drift.”
After surveying his surroundings, Evan nodded with satisfaction.
“Portal spell mastered. Wasn’t that hard! Took me only a few days. Looks like I’ve got some decent magical talent after all!”
A few days ago, Evan had suddenly remembered something from all the novels he’d read in the past.
Whenever the protagonist ran into the Ancient One, wasn’t becoming her student and learning magic practically standard procedure?
Well, he’d met the Ancient One too.
So why couldn’t he learn some magic while he was at it?
Sure, he already had the System, but there was no such thing as knowing too many useful skills.
Learning a few extra tricks certainly wouldn’t hurt.
So Evan had mentioned to the Ancient One that he wanted to study magic.
And she’d agreed.
Just like that.
There hadn’t even been a moment’s hesitation.
That very afternoon, she’d delivered a collection of introductory spellbooks straight to him.
A few days later, today, Evan had successfully cast his first spell.
He was officially a sorcerer now.
“Ahem. Easy there. Stay humble.”
Feeling his ego beginning to swell, Evan immediately thought about Stephen Strange, whose magical talent was downright ridiculous.
The tiny bubble of pride in his chest promptly popped without a trace. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“First stop, Tony’s place. Gotta drop off the GT Robot.”
Evan opened another Portal, this one leading directly to Tony’s seaside mansion.
The instant he emerged inside the mansion, a blaring alarm assaulted his ears.
“…Alert! Alert! Intruder detected!”
“…Alert! Alert! Intruder detected!”
“…Alert! Alert! Intruder detected!”
“…”
Listening to the smooth, mature male voice echoing around him, Evan’s mouth twitched.
J.A.R.V.I.S., you can do this too?
Down in the workshop, Tony was assembling an arm for his Iron Man Armor when J.A.R.V.I.S.’s warning startled him so badly that his hand jerked.
He nearly welded the wrong wire.
“What the hell?”
Tony cursed under his breath and swiped a finger through the air, pulling up the mansion’s security feeds.
He immediately spotted the figure standing in the upstairs living room.
“Huh? Evan? What’s he doing here?” Puzzled, Tony gave an order.
“J.A.R.V.I.S., kill the alarm. And give him visitor clearance while you’re at it.”
With that, Tony stopped what he was doing and headed upstairs.
At the same time, J.A.R.V.I.S.’s polished voice sounded throughout the room.
“Certainly, sir.”
The alarm fell silent.
A short while later, Tony’s head appeared at the top of the stairs.
As he walked over, he asked, “What brings you all the way out here, Boss? Don’t you have a restaurant to run?”
“You make me sound like some kind of workaholic who doesn’t know the meaning of a day off. I get plenty of downtime. Actually, I probably spend more time relaxing than working every day.”
“Now that’s a philosophy I can get behind. Work when you feel like working, relax when you feel like relaxing. That’s how life’s supposed to be.”
Tony pulled a bottle from the liquor cabinet and poured himself a drink as he enthusiastically agreed with Evan.
Evan rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch.
Easy for you to say.
You’re a billionaire with Pepper handling practically all your company’s work.
Try saying that to everyone else.
Ever heard of overtime?
“So,” Tony said, placing a drink in front of Evan before sitting opposite him, “you want to tell me why you’re here?”
He took a sip.
“I came to deliver this.” Evan pulled the GT Robot out of his Storage Space and dropped it onto the carpet beside the table with a heavy thud.
“Not long after you left, Ichiryu had it delivered to the restaurant.”
“Oh? It’s here!” Tony’s eyes lit up.
The moment Evan produced the GT Robot, Tony abandoned his drink and hurried over to examine it.
“Research it all you want, but don’t get distracted tearing it apart and designing your own version yet,” Evan warned.
“First, change the exterior and make me a few copies. Replace the main controller with signal receivers, then have J.A.R.V.I.S. operate them remotely. I need them pretty urgently.”
“Yeah, sure. No problem.” Tony barely seemed to be listening as he inspected the GT Robot from top to bottom.
“Fine. You do your thing. I’m heading out.”
Judging by Tony’s tone, there was no way he’d get it done anytime soon.
Evan certainly wasn’t going to hang around waiting.
He was a restaurant chef, after all.
He had a job.
He needed to make money.
Evan raised a hand, drew another circle of sparks, and stepped through the Portal.
He vanished from the living room.
Tony looked up from the GT Robot just in time to see the fiery ring disappear.
His mouth twitched.
“I wasn’t finished talking. What’s with the disappearing act?”
Then he looked back down at the GT Robot, which was sprawled across the carpet in an awkward position.
After a moment, Tony rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms.
“All right. Fine. Leave. See if I care. Tony Stark, human forklift, can handle one oversized tin can.”
He shook out his arms.
Stomped his feet.
Loosened himself up.
Then he grabbed one of the robot’s arms and pulled with all his strength.
Nothing happened.
“Crack!”
Something in his lower back did.
Tony froze.
“Okay. Mr. Stark officially withdraws his application for human forklift.”
Clutching his back, he collapsed facedown across the couch.
“I’m calling Happy.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
After leaving Stark’s mansion, Evan didn’t immediately return to the restaurant.
Instead, he found another tall building and stood on its rooftop, enjoying the breeze.
“Well, I’m already out. Might as well take care of that other thing too.”
Evan pulled out his phone and stared at the solitary number sitting in his contact list.
Then he remembered something.
He’d forgotten to ask Tony for his phone number.
Again.
“Whatever. Next time.”
He dialed the only number in his contacts.
After several rings, someone picked up.
“Hello, Williams residence.”
“Is this my landlord? It’s Evan Whitaker. Are you free tonight? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”