After Pepper left, Roger pointed at the Arc Reactor in Stark’s chest and said earnestly, “Are you sure you don’t want to make a spare? If this thing breaks, aren’t you finished?”
Stark swatted Roger’s finger away, his expression turning angry.
“Even if *you* broke, it wouldn’t break. This is a masterpiece of the modern era, created by the great Tony Stark.”
“And besides,” Stark continued, his voice growing somber, “I don’t want to hand this over to anyone else right now. I don’t know if it would become just like the weapons I made.”
It seemed this trip to Afghanistan had left an indelible mark on him.
Roger crossed his arms and smiled helplessly.
“Alright! But I still need to give you a full physical exam. You…”
“Listen, Roger, I’m fine. There’s no need for a hospital, and I have more important things to do.” Stark impatiently pushed Roger out of the garage, forcing Jarvis to shut the door and lock it to everyone.
Left with no choice, Roger returned to his room to diligently practice controlling his power.
A few hours later, a sudden idea struck him.
“Jarvis, are you there?”
“I’m here, Mr. Roger. How can I help you?”
“I want you to set up an alarm system that links Stark’s heart reactor to my phone. If his reactor ever stops working, I’ll be notified immediately so I can go save him.”
As Roger spoke, he mentally replayed the movie’s plot.
Poor Little Tony had trusted Obie too much, which had left his life dangling by a thread in Obie’s hands.
Roger was breaking his back worrying about this.
If Stark had crawled any slower in the movie and failed to reach the garage, that would have been the end of the story!
“Mr. Roger, I need to ask Mr. Stark for permission regarding this matter. Please wait a moment.” Jarvis’s voice gradually faded.
Half an hour later, Jarvis’s voice returned.
“Mr. Roger, Mr. Stark has approved your request and has already completed the modifications. The reactor’s operational status has been synced to your phone.”
Roger breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.
Finally, there was a backup plan.
It seemed Stark wasn’t so arrogant after all; he knew how to keep an ace up his sleeve.
Looking at the reactor’s real-time status on his phone, Roger opened the system panel in a good mood and began his daily draw.
***
Four days later, in Roger’s room.
[You have consumed ten Dimensional Crystals to perform ten reward draws. (90/100)]
[You have received common rewards: …]
[Congratulations! You have triggered a Special Exploration Event!]
[You have arrived in the “Beast Taming Novel World,” where you have become a Beast Tamer.]
[This 500-acre bamboo forest is your daily workplace. Your task is to feed the little Iron-Eating Beasts their special alloy food.]
[The Iron-Eating Beasts spend their days eating and sleeping. They often bury themselves under piles of fallen leaves, and you must search through the leaves every day to find them.]
[Today is the one-year anniversary of you becoming a tamer. You are cheerfully going about your duties when suddenly your legs give way. A powerful force strikes you, and you lose consciousness.]
[You have received a reward: one “Iron-Eating Beast Baby.”]
***
In its paws, it clutched Roger’s collector’s edition Unit-01 figure—now reduced to a mere half.
Roger felt that even if he had gone completely insane, he never would have imagined pulling an Iron-Eating Beast.
And before this, he had also drawn the Hito Hito no Mi and a Master Ball.
The man and the beast stared at each other, their wide eyes locked in a bizarre silence.
Finally, Roger surrendered, collapsing onto his bed and sighing helplessly at the ceiling.
Five days had passed since Stark’s return.
The bombshell news from five days ago had sent Stark Industries’ stock plummeting to an all-time low, nearly triggering a market crash.
A storm of public outcry, condemnation, and curses had erupted.
Unfortunately, Tony Stark had retreated into his garage like a turtle in its shell, refusing to come out.
Aside from Pepper, no one else could get in—including Roger.
As a result, Roger had been able to focus entirely on his exploration progress.
With the combined power of Dimensional Crystals and US dollars, he could perform twenty draws a day, drastically shortening the interval between two real-time explorations.
The previous ninety pulls had yielded the following rewards:
1.
Hito Hito no Mi
2.
Telepathy X (Professor X)
3.
Master Ball
4.
Portable Car (Pym Technologies)
5.
Spider Physique (Garfield Bug)
6.
Spider Strength (Bully Maguire)
7.
Spider-Sense (Tom Holland)
8.
Cupid (Starfox)
9.
Iron-Eating Beast (Beast Taming World)
Looking at these rewards, Roger felt a massive headache coming on.
Sure, his System was a “cultivation” system, but did it really have to make him raise a pet?!
And not just any pet, but an Iron-Eating Beast that looked just like a panda.
The damn thing ate everything in sight—it had even chewed up several of his figurines!
Roger’s heart bled with every bite. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
But there was even more news to make his heart ache.
On the third day, when he obtained the Spider Physique (Garfield Bug), the System popped up a notification about skill upgrades and, as always, spending money.
[Congratulations! You have successfully collected three Primary Skill Fragments and unlocked the Fragment Synthesis Function.]
[Three Primary Skill Fragments can be synthesized into one Intermediate Skill Fragment. Three Intermediate Skill Fragments can be synthesized into one Advanced Skill Fragment.]
[An Intermediate Skill Fragment can boost the proficiency of an acquired ability from 30% to 60%. An Advanced Skill Fragment can boost it from 60% to 90%.]
[You may choose to purchase already-acquired Primary Skill Fragments with US dollars. The price for each Primary Skill Fragment is $100,000. Activate the Super SVIP Diamond Membership to enjoy…]
Seeing this prompt, Roger was absolutely furious!
*What the hell!
Why does everything cost money?!*
What good are these green slips of paper to a system that spans the entire Multiverse?!
Roger had originally thought nine fragments would be enough to max out a minor skill.
But now?
After acquiring the skill, he’d need to buy 38 more fragments just to reach the maximum level.
*Your company is truly a paragon of the industry, isn’t it?
Only 38 fragments to reach 90% proficiency for a minor skill.
How generous!*
***
That afternoon, Roger brought the Iron-Eating Beast to the garage entrance.
“Tony! Open up! I need to tell you something!” Roger pounded on the glass door, shouting to Stark, who was completely absorbed in building his armor.
But Stark, lost in the deafening music, ignored Roger’s calls.
After a moment, Roger passed through a clean doorway, leaving the Iron-Eating Beast behind to munch on the doorframe, and appeared beside Tony.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing? Can’t you hear me calling you?” Roger boomed right into Stark’s ear.
Stark recoiled, clutching his ears.
He turned to glare at Roger in annoyance, but his gaze immediately fell upon the Iron-Eating Beast chewing on his doorframe.
“What? Where did you get a panda?” Stark pointed at the creature, speechless with shock that a panda could eat a doorframe.
“Why is it eating my door?!”
Roger sighed, hands on his hips, and explained to Tony in the most exasperated tone imaginable, “I was just about to tell you. This isn’t a panda; it’s an Iron-Eating Beast. Pandas generally only eat bamboo, but this guy eats everything.”
Stark was convinced Roger was lying.
With a snap of his fingers, he ordered Jarvis to scan the creature.
“Sir, the scan results indicate that this creature, identified as an Iron-Eating Beast, shares no genetic similarities with any known organism on Earth.” Jarvis’s report left Tony completely stunned.
“Where did you get an alien creature?” Stark’s eyes widened as he stared at Roger, his expression as if he were seeing an alien himself.
He looked as though he had finally uncovered Roger’s mysterious true identity.
Roger rubbed his face and sighed again.
“Ugh! Never mind where I got it. I need to leave for a few days. Watch this little guy for me. And keep a close eye on your ‘mysterious masterpieces’—this little guy even eats stone.”
With that, Roger walked straight out, completely ignoring Stark’s shouting.