Shifting his attention, Roger looked at the fresh blood sample he had just obtained.
It could be said that this was the best reward from this Real Exploration.
After all…
It was free.
Its primary function was to cultivate characters by turning part of the target’s abilities into a serum that could be injected into someone else, granting them powerful abilities.
Of course, this “serum” wasn’t simply injecting the recipient with a superhuman’s blood.
These two tubes of blood first had to be processed through the system’s built-in Alchemy Synthesis Bench, undergoing eighteen separate procedures, including side-effect removal, ability selection, compatibility testing, and much more.
The final product was a VIP Deluxe Origin Power Elixir capable of cultivating a specific supernatural ability.
Rather than injecting another lifeform’s genes into the user, the serum worked by extracting the target’s power characteristics, then infusing them with primordial cosmic energy supplied by the system through the alchemy bench.
As a result, every ability Roger gained through these serums was completely free of any karmic ties.
The source of all those powers came directly from his own system.
If Roger’s guess was correct…
Using the Alchemy Synthesis Bench probably cost money too.
“Once I conquer the entire universe, I’m definitely hanging every mobile gacha developer from the gallows!”
Roger silently swore to himself before turning his attention to the upper-right corner of the system interface.
The newly unlocked cash shop was located there.
“The f—… BEEP BEEP BEEP! One crystal costs ten thousand dollars?!”
“Mr. Roger! Your emotional state has become highly agitated. Do you require assistance?”
JARVIS suddenly had the urge to call a psychiatric hospital.
Even as an artificial intelligence, it simply couldn’t understand why humans thought the way they did.
Roger sprang off the bed and strode over to the mansion’s swimming pool.
He casually picked up a bottle of 1982 Château Lafite, pulled out the cork, and was about to drink straight from it.
“Mr. Roger, Mr. Stark was saving that bottle to celebrate his birthday. Also, this wine should be allowed to breathe before—”
Gulp, gulp, gulp…
“Haah!”
JARVIS suddenly froze for a moment.
Then its voice became noticeably louder.
“Mr. Roger, I have detected that $100,000 has suddenly disappeared from your bank account. Would you like me to notify the police?”
Roger collapsed weakly into a beach chair and waved his hand lifelessly.
“No need, JARVIS…”
“I spent it myself.”
Holding the wine glass in his hand, Roger watched the crimson wine shimmer beneath the moonlight.
For a moment, he found it difficult to put his feelings into words.
He gently swirled the glass.
Again.
And again.
The ruby-red wine slowly spiraled upward inside the glass like a rose-colored silk ribbon, quietly drifting toward the night sky.
…
6:50 AM
Yawning, Roger walked into the garage.
With an exhausted expression, he watched Tony tinkering with a car engine, his own head feeling heavy and aching.
“Morning, Roger. Looks like you didn’t sleep very well last night.”
Tony glanced at the dark circles under Roger’s eyes, immediately understood why, smiled knowingly, and even thrust his hips forward suggestively.
The message was practically:
“See? That’s how incredible I was last night.”
Roger rubbed his face and let out a long sigh.
“I’ve made up my mind.”
“This morning, we’re having congee.”
“Century egg congee.”
As he spoke, he reached behind his back.
Like a magician performing a trick, he produced a tray holding two steaming bowls of century egg and lean pork congee.
“Your magic tricks are as impressive as ever.”
Tony set down the engine component in his hand and cradled one of the bowls.
Leaning closer, he sniffed it.
Then his eyebrows knitted together.
“So this is that egg you people bury underground for a hundred years?”
“This… dark cuisine isn’t going to poison me, is it?”
Roger finished his own bowl in two or three bites, casually tossed it aside, and raised an eyebrow at Tony.
He didn’t say a word.
But the expression on his face clearly mocked Tony for being a coward.
Who was Tony Stark?
The richest man in the world.
A philanthropist.
A playboy.
The most adventurous inventor alive.
Would he really be afraid of eating a hundred-year-old egg?
What a joke!
Tony pinched his nose with one hand, lifted the bowl with the other, and swallowed the entire thing in one gulp without chewing.
After finishing, he even gave Roger a thumbs-down.
Seeing Tony’s utterly bewildered expression after eating the century egg, Roger couldn’t help clutching his stomach and bursting into laughter.
“Hahahaha!”
“Alright, alright! I’ll stop laughing.”
“I mean it.”
“Oh, right.”
“Can you help me build this?”
“I just designed an insanely cool robot.”
Roger snapped his fingers.
“JARVIS, show my design to your daddy.”
A holographic projection of a two-meter-tall humanoid robot slowly appeared before Tony, rotating in midair.
Tony only looked at it for a moment before shaking his head.
“No.”
“I absolutely will not help you build this toy robot.”
“You’re way too childish.”
“I’m a weapons manufacturer.”
“Not a toy manufacturer.”
At that moment, Pepper Potts walked into the garage while talking on the phone.
“Tony! You should’ve been on the plane already.”
“Your flight was supposed to take off an hour and a half ago.”
Tony smiled dismissively.
“Oh, come on.”
“I thought my private jet would just keep waiting for me.”
Used to this sort of thing by now, Pepper completely ignored his complaint.
She was about to go over his schedule when she suddenly noticed Roger’s face.
The dark circles beneath his eyes made him look like a terminally ill patient.
She jumped in fright.
“Oh my God!”
“Roger!”
“What happened to you? You look exhausted!”
Pepper patted her chest as she caught her breath.
Roger spread his hands helplessly.
“This is all Tony’s fault.”
“You have no idea how loudly that blonde reporter was screaming last night.”
“It kept going until morning.”
“I couldn’t sleep at all.”
As he spoke, Roger pulled out an old-fashioned cassette tape.
The instant Tony saw it, his eyes widened, and his face turned black.
An overwhelming sense of dread washed over him.
Roger held the cassette toward Pepper.
“Want to hear it, Pepper?”
“I recorded the whole thing.”
He even gave her a mischievous wink.
Pepper shuddered all over, goosebumps instantly covering her arms.
“Dammit!”
“JARVIS, is he telling the truth?”
“JARVIS!”
Tony immediately felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment.
This is basically a live broadcast of my social death!
“Sir.”
“Mr. Roger is telling the truth.”
“He really did make a recording.”
Roger spun around, jumped off the workbench, dodged the wrench Tony hurled at him, and teasingly waved the cassette in his hand.
Tony instantly looked as though he were in agony, clawing at his own face.
“Dammit!”
“I’ll give you ten thousand dollars!”
“Give me the tape!”
Roger shook his head and once again began reciting the same familiar line.
“But you’re my dear, dear brother…”
“Fifty thousand dollars!”
“But you’re my dearest, dearest brother…”
“One hundred thousand dollars!”
“Dammit!”
“Give it to me already!”
Watching Tony smash the tape recorder to pieces with a wrench, Roger whistled happily.
Feeling thoroughly satisfied, he said,
“JARVIS, has the money arrived?”
“And remember to deduct the income tax from Tony’s account.”
Watching everything unfold before her, Pepper was left utterly speechless.
She simply didn’t know what to say anymore.
She was completely numb.