The next morning, Noah sat on the sofa watching TV, which was broadcasting a live racing competition featuring Tony Stark.
Iron Man Tony Stark's Arc Reactor in his chest needed to run constantly to absorb shrapnel from his wound, but because the Arc Reactor relied on palladium for power, and palladium elements could cause fatal harm to the human body. As Tony couldn't find a new element to replace it, his palladium poisoning was worsening daily. Knowing his time was short, he began his final revelry, personally participating in a dangerous car race, a fact even Tony's secretary, Pepper, was unaware of.
"So, it's the Iron Man 2 timeframe now. At this point, I remember Tony was severely poisoned by palladium and almost dying, and then Ivan Vanko appeared, right?"
Noah watched Tony greeting the audience before entering the race car. The audience at the scene started screaming and cheering at the appearance of Iron Man Tony Stark, never expecting to see Iron Man show up. For them, it was a huge bonus. Finally, Tony entered the race car and the competition began.
At the racetrack, a man dressed as a worker, with a toothpick in his mouth and a mocking smile, ignored the dissuasion of other staff and entered the track. Everyone nearby thought he was crazy. The race cars on the track were moving very fast, and running onto such a dangerous track meant he could be smashed to pieces if he wasn't careful.
The intruder was none other than Ivan Vanko. He resented the Stark family for his father's death and, using the material his father left behind, built a simplified Arc Reactor. Now, he was coming to seek revenge on Tony Stark.
Ivan Vanko walked on the track as several race cars whizzed past him. If he were hit, he would surely be smashed to pieces at such speeds, but he showed no fear, merely pulling out two whips from his waist.
Ivan Vanko took out the two whips he carried and pressed the button on the handles. The two whips instantly filled with blue lightning. His clothes were ignited by the high heat emitted from the energy transmission device worn on his body, falling to the ground and revealing Ivan Vanko's chest, where an Arc Reactor similar to Tony Stark's was visible.
After the electric whips charged, Ivan swung them with both hands, striking the track and leaving several scorched cracks. Just then, a race car approached Ivan from the opposite direction. As people thought it would collide, Ivan swung an electric whip, directly cutting the high-speed race car in half. One half spun in the air, while the other crashed into the barrier. The audience outside the track immediately screamed. Meanwhile, Pepper, watching from a bar outside the racetrack, was extremely nervous. She looked at the person rampaging on the track, feeling that he was targeting Tony. Pepper immediately put on the portable Iron Man Suit Tony had brought and drove to the scene with Happy, the bodyguard.
On the track, Tony, who had just come out of a turn, saw a person blocking his way. Before he could react, Tony's race car was cut in half by a strike from Ivan Vanko's electric whip. The entire car flew up and then crashed to the ground. Tony struggled to crawl out of the car. Ivan approached, waving his electric whip and cutting the car, but didn't find Tony Stark. As he wondered where Tony was, he was ambushed from behind by Tony. Enraged, he launched a series of attacks towards Tony. After Tony was nearly cut in half, Tony used a trick, a car explosion, to temporarily separate himself from Ivan Vanko. Finally, Happy drove up and crashed into Ivan Vanko, pinning him against the railing.
After several impacts, Ivan, who had regained his senses, cut the car in half. A startled Pepper threw out the portable Iron Man Suit Mark 5. Tony put on the suit, and the audience in the stands screamed. The Mark 5 was a portable suit developed by Tony, with its only weapon being repulsor rays from its hands. So, at first, Tony took several whips from Ivan Vanko, causing damage to Tony's suit. Finally, Tony endured Ivan Vanko's whips, got close to Ivan Vanko, landed a few punches, and then a shoulder throw, knocking him to the ground and pulling out the Arc Reactor from his chest.
Noah watched the live broadcast and understood the current timeline. Next would be Tony Stark's storyline at the Stark Expo, and he would have to go then. Such a plot would definitely yield a B-rank mission.
Noah turned off the TV and opened his panel. After returning home from helping Daredevil with the B-rank mission last night, he checked the mission rewards. There were over 1000 essence, and with the previous treasure chest rewards, he was only 1000 essence away from being able to draw a prize.
"This B-rank mission is pretty good. High rewards, easy to complete. When will Daredevil send me another wave of missions?"
Noah thought happily. Although it felt a bit ungenerous, the mission was truly rewarding. Noah opened his backpack and looked at the potions inside. He didn't need the health potion himself, so he could give it to others. He had Resolve Rune, so he could heal injuries directly with the rune's power, no need for potions. As for the Mana Potion, he might have a chance to use it. Although Yasuo doesn't use mana in the game, he still needs it in Reality. He looked at the vision ward and Tear of the Goddess, and with a thought, both items appeared in Noah's palm.
[vision ward]
[Place an invisible vision ward on the ground to provide vision of your nearby area. The vision ward lasts for one day. Replenishing its magic power can increase its duration, up to a maximum of five days.]
[Tear of the Goddess]
[Tear of the Goddess is a magic gem that provides heroes with a continuous supply of magic energy. There is an upper limit to the accumulated magic power.]
Noah looked at the two items in his hand. The vision ward looked like a small blade of grass, but with an orange, spherical, multifaceted crystal floating above it. The Tear of the Goddess was a blue gem shaped like a teardrop. The entire teardrop-shaped crystal looked very transparent, and from the outside, one could see some shimmering, teardrop-shaped particles rotating within it. The overall appearance was very exquisite and beautiful.
"These in-game items look pretty good in Reality. This Tear of the Goddess is really beautiful."
Noah exclaimed in surprise after seeing the shape of the Tear of the Goddess.
The gem was incredibly beautiful. In Noah's opinion, it could easily surpass many expensive gems in Reality. It truly lived up to being a magic creation.
"System, how do I use this equipment? Do I wear it on my body?"
[Summoner, the system comes with 6 equipment slots, which can equip armor, weapons, accessories, and other gear. Equipping them will increase the Summoner's attributes. Summoners can also choose to equip armor, weapons, accessories, and other gear in Reality.]
"Oh, so that's how it is."
Noah looked at the vision ward. He placed the vision ward in his hand directly on the floor in the center of the living room. The vision ward rooted itself, then became semi-transparent. It was only semi-transparent in Noah's eyes; to others, it was invisible. After the vision ward rooted itself in the floor, Noah felt a strange perspective appear in his mind. With a thought, he switched to that perspective. The scene within the perspective was his living room, and he was standing on the floor with his eyes closed.
Noah's thoughts returned, and he opened his eyes. He felt a strange sensation, as if he now had a 360° surveillance camera in his mind that he could switch to at any time, covering every corner of his living room. Noah gathered his magic power and transferred it to the vision ward. A few seconds later, the vision ward's storage was full, allowing it to last for five days. Then, by replenishing its energy, this vision ward could exist indefinitely.
After setting up the vision ward, Noah equipped the Tear of the Goddess into the system's equipment slot. After equipping it, Noah could feel a presence of magic power from the Tear of the Goddess. He felt he could easily guide and use this magic power, though it was still a bit weak now. The Tear of the Goddess needed time to accumulate magic power.
After equipping the Tear of the Goddess, he felt there was nothing else to do. He planned to tackle the daily mission by bothering the gangs in Hell's Kitchen at night. Also, today was Sunday, and yesterday was Saturday, so he didn't have to go to school. Speaking of which, he had a friend at school named Peter Parker, who seemed to be Spider-Man (I've changed the timeline here, otherwise Spider-Man would still be a child at this point), but he hadn't been bitten by a spider yet and was still a normal high school student.
Glancing at the baseball bat he had left on the table after returning home last night, Noah pondered whether to buy a weapon or commission a better sword.
"Forget it, I'll just wait for the system to summon a weapon."
After much thought, Noah decided that commissioning weapons was unnecessary. When he used the baseball bat, he primarily relied on the sword energy attached to it to cause damage.
Therefore, these ordinary weapons made no difference to him. At most, iron weapons were a bit more durable than a baseball bat. Noah decided to buy a few longer fruit knives for backup.
Putting the baseball bat into his backpack, Noah walked into his room, opened his computer, and began his entertainment time.
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In Tony Stark's Underground Room, Tony, who had just finished a hearing, was replacing the palladium energy plates of his Arc Reactor. After the replacement, he looked at the green poisoning phenomenon on his chest, feeling a bit helpless. He had already had Jarvis simulate all known elements, but none could serve as a substitute for palladium energy. He picked up the chlorophyll on the table. He had to drink this stuff to neutralize the palladium poisoning, but as his palladium poisoning worsened, this stuff became useless.
"Sir, Ms. Potts is approaching."
Just as Stark was drinking chlorophyll, Pepper Potts opened the door to Tony's laboratory. She wanted to talk to Stark about why he had donated all his collected artworks. This was actually because Iron Man Tony Stark felt his days were numbered, so he wanted to donate these things.
Next, Tony handed over the CEO position of Stark Industries to Pepper, and then Pepper called a visa officer to handle related matters. This person was Black Widow. Of course, Tony and Pepper didn't know this yet. Tony saw Black Widow's hot figure, and his playboy nature immediately kicked in, wanting Black Widow to be his secretary. Pepper, of course, wouldn't give him this opportunity. Just like that, Pepper was now the CEO of Stark Industries.