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Knock, knock, knock! Knock, knock, knock!
"Tony! Open up! Community service is here to deliver warmth!"
Outside the Stark villa, Luca, who had rushed over in a hurry, was banging on the door.
"Jarvis, hurry up and open the door! I brought something delicious for Tony!"
Actually, Luca didn't need to shout much. After just a few knocks, the villa's main door opened automatically.
Luca walked in with practiced ease. At the same time, Jarvis's voice rang in his ear.
"Mr. Aurantius, Mr. Stark is currently debugging his armor in the underground laboratory."
As Jarvis spoke, he projected a holographic arrow in front of Luca.
But Luca just waved his hand casually.
"Hey, no need for the trouble. I'll find Tony myself."
Given how close he and Tony were, this wasn't his first time visiting. Carrying the food container in his hand, Luca walked enthusiastically toward the underground lab.
However, upon arriving at the lab, Luca found that it had changed quite a bit since his last visit.
To his left, the various older models of Mark armor were still displayed in their cases. But in the center of the lab, a large area had been cleared out, and the floor was covered in complex engraved symbols.
In the middle of what looked suspiciously like a magic circle, Tony Stark was sitting with his head bowed, holding an Iron Man helmet faceplate and engraving runes onto it with intense focus. Even the exuberant Luca paused at the sight.
"Wait, Tony, what are you doing?"
Tony, carefully carving magic runes, didn't even look up. Still fully concentrated, he just moved his lips to reply.
"Luca, magic is just too useful!!"
"I've been going through a lot of data on Ancient Runes these past two days. I'm getting ready to enchant my faceplate with a Mind Shielding spell!"
"..."
Hearing this, Luca, who was already speechless, didn't know what to say.
"No! Dude, remember who you are! You're Tony Stark, Iron Man! The tech genius! Don't go down the wrong path!"
Hearing this, Tony stopped his work. He looked up at the "triggered" Luca with some confusion, then said nonchalantly.
"You calling me a genius shows you have good taste. But magic is just a branch of science—didn't you say that yourself?"
As he spoke, Tony raised his palm.
Then, a white light suddenly lit up in Tony's empty hand.
Although the white light flickered and looked like it might go out at any moment, it definitely qualified as a simple illumination spell.
"Th-this..."
"It's simple really. Compress inert gases in the air using a plasma field, then shock trace elements to stabilize the luminescence effect. Not much different from a regular fluorescent tube."
"Even the power comes from this. The magic runes just act like a simple circuit board."
Saying this, Tony dispelled the light in his palm and tapped the Arc Reactor on his chest as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Seeing this, Luca picked his jaw up off the floor and asked helplessly.
"It's only been two days, and you've already miniaturized the electric-to-magic conversion device? You even figured out the functions of so many new runes?"
Tony just spread his hands casually, his gesture seemingly saying:
Is that supposed to be hard?
Luca could only shake his head helplessly and switch to another question.
"But didn't you say you were planning to take some time recently to research parallel universe positioning and help Gwen find a way home?"
"Sigh. Spider-Sister said she wants to think about it a bit more. That kind of thing..."
Seeing Tony looking somewhat resigned about it too, Luca shook his head.
It seemed Tony, like him, didn't intend to interfere with Gwen's own choices.
But soon, Luca tossed these thoughts aside.
Remembering his purpose for coming today, a mischievous grin appeared on his face.
He held out the food container to Tony.
"Here, I found a new burger joint that's really good. I ran all the way here just to bring you a taste."
Seeing this, Tony took the container from Luca without hesitation.
His germaphobia only applied to strangers. Even so, looking at the container, he was still full of suspicion.
"What, you need a favor from me? I haven't seen you this attentive before."
Hearing this, Luca rolled his eyes dramatically at Tony and retorted in annoyance.
"Look at you! Don't bite the hand that feeds you. I've always been happy to share good stuff!"
However, Luca shouldn't have said that. As soon as the words left his mouth, Tony, who had already taken the burger out of the box, paused. He shot Luca a look, his face darkening as he muttered under his breath.
"Last time I ate your last piece of Sweet and Sour Pork, you almost clawed down my throat to get it back! 'Happy to share' my ass!"
Of course, despite his grumbling, Tony didn't stop eating.
Working day and night on experiments meant he was indeed quite hungry.
The burger looked appetizing enough, so he just took a big bite.
But after just a few bites, Tony noticed Luca looking at him with an increasingly weird expression.
Did this kid put wasabi or chili in the burger? I don't taste anything...
However, while Tony found Luca's look strange, Luca was equally confused.
"That shouldn't be right? You should have hit it on the first bite?"
He had personally printed, designed, and wrapped the burger wrapper. He had even personally "assembled" the burger itself.
All to ensure Tony would eat the "treasure" in the very first bite.
So why was there no reaction after eating half of it?
"You really did put something in the burger..."
Hearing Luca's mutter, Tony immediately confirmed that he was being pranked by this kid again.
But before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt his whole body heat up, and his limbs went weak and limp.
"You brat! What did you put in the burger?"
"Hehe, good stuff. Don't panic~"
"Sir, you..."
Jarvis, sensing something wrong, was about to speak.
However, the next moment, a scene appeared in the laboratory that overturned the worldview of even an artificial intelligence.
Tony, who looked like he had been poisoned, slumped toward the ground as his limbs gave out. But as he fell, his entire body began to shrink and become smaller?
No, more accurately, he was becoming younger!
The wrinkles on his face disappeared, the stubble on his chin fell off, and his exposed skin became smoother and more tender.
The whole person was getting younger at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The only fly in the ointment was...
This rejuvenation seemed to have gone a bit too far!
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