Luke dragged a junk cart taller than himself down the streets of New York.
The return rate?
100%.
Everyone turned to stare.
When he got home, he carried the scrap electronics into his room in batches.
Karen stood nearby, completely stunned.
Luke quickly came up with an excuse:
"Our science teacher assigned us a project."
Karen looked half-convinced.
"…Elementary school is teaching this now?"
She was pretty sure she'd just seen an air conditioner.
An actual air conditioner.
Inside his bedroom—
Now packed wall-to-wall with junk—
Luke took a deep breath and rolled up his sleeves.
Time to work.
First—
He pulled out a pile of Magic Stones from his storage.
After opening so many loot boxes, he had accumulated quite a lot of them.
Clearly, this material had other uses in the Marvel world.
Recently, he discovered one:
Enhancing explosive materials.
These fiery red stones—
Contained an astonishing amount of thermal energy.
With practiced movements, Luke crushed several into fine powder.
The glowing red dust shimmered as he mixed it into his explosive compound.
Since ancient times—
Humanity had pursued one goal relentlessly:
Bigger explosions.
From black powder…
To TNT…
To nuclear weapons—
Technology evolved.
Materials improved.
Explosions grew stronger.
Limitless.
Through experimentation—
Luke realized:
Magic Stones had massive potential.
Could they reach nuclear-level power?
He didn't know.
But he also didn't know their upper limit.
His lab was just his bedroom.
His tools were primitive.
Still—
He confirmed one thing:
Even 1 gram of Magic Stone powder—
Could dramatically increase explosive energy.
Previously—
A small sample of his explosive compound produced a tiny flame.
Now—
After adding Magic Stone—
The same amount created a flame half a meter high.
It nearly burned his eyebrows off.
Next—
Luke grabbed scrap metal and began hammering together a new grenade shell.
Compared to glass bottles—
Metal shells increased internal pressure.
Higher pressure meant:
Higher internal temperature
Stronger explosion
Greater shrapnel force
The improvement was immediate.
And so—
Second-Generation Shock Grenade—Complete!
"Overall, this version is at least twice as powerful."
Luke planned to test it soon.
The new grenade finally looked like a proper weapon—
Even if the craftsmanship was still rough.
Function over form.
"A grenade doesn't need to look pretty."
"It's all the same after it explodes."
Right now—
The limitation wasn't the explosive—
It was the materials.
"If I can get better metals…"
"Iron, steel, carbon steel…"
"There's still a lot of room for improvement."
At that moment—
Rotas, who had been watching, spoke:
"Luke, can this kill the strongest being in this world?"
"The strongest?" Luke replied.
"You mean Dormammu… or the Ancient One?"
"…Who?"
"No."
Luke shook his head.
"Not even close."
"Those are completely different levels."
"Dormammu rules an entire dimension—basically like an Apostle."
"And the Ancient One can fight him, plus she has a time-manipulating artifact."
"You really think grenades are enough?"
Rotas scoffed.
"Then you're too weak. These things are useless."
Luke rolled his eyes.
"Not really."
"This is the Marvel world."
"There's Adamantium."
"Imagine making grenade shrapnel out of that."
"That's real potential."
Rotas bounced around excitedly.
"Get stronger faster! I want chaos! This world needs to know the Apostles exist!"
"Yeah, yeah…"
Luke didn't mind causing trouble—
As long as:
It didn't involve people he cared about
His survival was guaranteed
Then?
Anything goes.
Over the next few days—
Luke spent his free time:
Producing more grenades
Stockpiling them
But that wasn't all.
He was building something else.
Something critical.
This creation would determine—
Whether his future plans could proceed efficiently.
In fact—
It was the foundation of everything to come.
Meanwhile—
Peter Parker noticed something strange.
Luke seemed distracted.
Except when selling burgers on weekends—
He worked unusually hard.
At school—
He often spaced out.
Sometimes even muttering to himself:
"No… it's not the algorithm…"
"I'm missing a constant…"
"That constant… is the key to true AI…"
Peter didn't understand any of it.
But he didn't interrupt.
He knew—
Luke was working on something important.
One week later—
Luke finally finished.
"Done!!"
In his bedroom—
He let out a long breath.
Floating in front of him—
Was a mechanical object shaped like an oval.
Luke felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.
It had taken him an entire week—
Absorbing and applying knowledge from skill books.
Technically—
This wasn't just an object.
It was—
Artificial Intelligence.
His Mechanical Assistant.
In DNF—
Mechanical Assistants supported engineers by assembling machines, turrets, and combat units.
They possessed high intelligence.
Learning this skill had been extremely difficult.
Understanding the engineering concepts alone took most of the week.
Actual assembly?
Just two days.
The assistant hovered in midair—
Powered by turbine propulsion.
It looked like:
A robotic head
With a propeller mounted on top
"Master, what are your orders?"
It floated around Luke, displaying a pixelated smile.
Luke grinned.
"Burgundy shell… definitely female."
"From now on, your name is Christina."
(The color was actually rust.)
"Understood, Master. Thank you for creating me."
Its intelligence was clearly advanced.
"Tony Stark has JARVIS…"
"Now I've got Christina."
Luke nodded, satisfied.
"First task—"
"Clean the money in this account."
"No problem."
Christina flew to the desk, plugged into the computer via a USB cable—
And began working instantly.
"Once I have more money, I'll get you Wi-Fi."
"I look forward to it, Master."
AI was terrifyingly efficient.
In less than 30 seconds—
Christina reported:
"Completed."
"$186,000 has been transferred through multiple channels."
"It is now untraceable."
"Perfect."
Luke could finally use his money freely.
Elsewhere—
Casino operatives monitoring the funds were shocked.
The money—
Vanished.
Completely.
Their only lead—
Gone.
The casino boss smashed his favorite liquor cabinet in rage.
He had no idea how to explain this to Wesley.
Luke leaned back.
"At this rate…"
"I could probably get into MIT."
If he could build AI—
What couldn't he do?
"It's time."
The next step awaited.
That special skill—
More precisely, a blueprint—
Was even more complex than Christina.
But now—
With her help—
He could finally begin.