He was selling gashapon toys in Marvel Studios, and at the beginning, Tony turned into Kuuga.

"Slurp."

Li Ang took a sip of the oden broth and squinted as he surveyed the drafty walls around him.

"I must say, Mr. Stark, your aesthetic taste is always so... ahead of its time."

Li Ang pulled a lollipop from Harry's bag, unwrapped it, popped it into his mouth, and mumbled his opinion.

Tony ignored his sarcastic remarks.

All he could see now was that steaming bowl of oden.

Hunger is like a wild beast clawing wildly in your stomach.

Tony didn't care about maintaining his status as a billionaire; he picked up the paper bowl and wolfed down his food.

The soup slid down my throat, dispelling the chill from my body.

The radish was stewed until soft and flavorful, and the fish balls were bouncy and juicy.

"call……"

Tony gulped down the last bit of soup, exhaled a long puff of white air, and felt his heart, which had almost stopped freezing, finally start beating again.

He wiped the soup stains from the corner of his mouth.

"You're like Loki, appearing and disappearing without a trace."

"If you're here to mock my current sorry state, you've seen enough. The door's over there."

Tony crumpled the paper bowl and threw it into the waste oil drum next to him.

"Tsk, don't get so angry, it's bad for your liver."

Li Ang shrugged and straightened his bespoke suit, which seemed completely out of place amidst the oil stains on the floor.

He stood up and gracefully patted the gashapon machine next to him.

"I'm here to offer some warmth, after all, you're my VIP customer."

Li Ang wore an enigmatic smile.

"I heard your house exploded? That Extremis Virus female warrior seemed pretty tough to deal with?"

Li Ang walked up to Tony, the two of them no more than half a meter apart.

He stared into Tony's bloodshot eyes, his voice low yet seductive.

"Admit it, Tony."

"Even your prized tin toy has its limits when faced with magic and alien technology."

"Doesn't the Mark 42 lying in the snow look like a golden coffin?"

Tony's pupils contracted sharply.

The bulging veins on the back of the hand are an instinctive reaction to being hit in a sore spot.

"What do you want to say?" Tony asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm saying you have simpler options."

Li Ang stepped aside, making way for the gashapon machine behind him.

Multicolored light swirled in the dimly lit garage, illuminating Harry's stunned face and Tony's shifting expression.

"Want to go for it?"

Li Ang whispered like a devil.

"Maybe this time you can get an Infinity Stone, or a Saiyan serum."

"With just a flick of a finger, that Mandarin, or even those aliens deep in the universe, will no longer be a problem."

The air seemed to freeze.

Only the howling wind and snow outside the garage seemed to be urging Tony to make a decision.

Harry, holding the potato gun, looked at the mysterious Asian man, then at his idol.

Although he was young, he could sense that this was a crossroads.

Tony stared at the gashapon machine.

It looks really tempting.

By simply turning that knob, one can gain superhuman power.

Just like Kuuga before, just like the black hole form before.

That power is intoxicating, making you feel like you're invincible.

If it were Tony five minutes ago, he might have pulled out his black card without hesitation.

Because he was afraid.

Afraid of death, afraid of Pepper getting hurt, afraid of being powerless to change the situation in this world full of gods and demons.

but now……

Tony's gaze swept over the damaged Mark 42, over the rudimentary coils and capacitors on the workbench, and finally landed on his own hands, which were covered in grease and scars.

These hands have built the Arc Reactor and the first Mark armor.

"No."

A short, powerful syllable broke the suffocating atmosphere.

Tony turned away, no longer looking at the machine that represented the shortcut.

He walked to the messy workbench and reached out to grab the adjustable wrench covered in machine oil.

The cool metallic touch completely calmed his restless heart.

"Take your toy away, Li Ang."

Tony's voice no longer trembled, but instead possessed a firmness forged in fire.

"What do you mean?"

"Is Mr. Stark trying to cut back on money?"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes, but his tone remained playful.

"I have plenty of money."

Tony held the wrench in his hand, weighed it in his hand, and turned to look directly at Li Ang.

"Captain America once asked me, 'Who are you when you take off your armor?'"

Tony chuckled self-deprecatingly, a smile tinged with bitterness, but mostly with a sense of relief.

"Later I got the Kuuga Belt, and it took on the form of a black hole."

"That power was so strong, so strong, that I thought it was the answer."

"I started to rely on it. When I encountered an enemy, I didn't think about how to analyze tactics, but just went straight for Henshin and charged in."

"But I was wrong."

Tony raised his right hand and touched his chest.

There, the pulse of the Amadam Spirit Stone still existed, but he no longer craved its eruption as much as before.

"Those are merely containers of power, tools."

"If I pin all my hopes on the lottery, what's the difference between me and that Mandarin who only knows how to play with bombs?"

"At most, I'm just a gambler with a bit of money."

At this point, Tony looked up and gazed at the vast snowfield outside the garage.

"I, Tony Stark, am a mechanic."

"I am the source of power."

"If aliens come, if God comes to judge us, I will use my brain and my hands to create weapons to kill God!"

These words resonated deeply.

Harry's mouth dropped open. At this moment, Tony, though wearing a tattered hoodie and sporting a scruffy beard, looked taller in the little boy's eyes than he ever did when he was wearing armor.

clap clap clap!

Li Ang clapped softly.

The applause was crisp and clear, echoing through the garage.

The mockery in his eyes vanished, replaced by a look of satisfaction.

"A wise choice, Stark."

With a wave of his hand, Li Ang caused the gashapon machine to fade away like a phantom.

"Your superpower has never been those fancy transformations, nor your wealth, but rather your brain that is cursed by knowledge."

"The power of the void self and black holes is immense, but they make you lazy."

"You only think about solving problems with your fists, but you forget that what you're best at is creating miracles with screwdrivers and welding."

Li Ang's figure also began to become transparent.

"Since you have the materials, why not try to stop wearing them and instead... master them?"

"See you later, mechanic."

The sound dissipated.

Only Tony, Harry, and the small pot of oden that wasn't completely finished remained in the garage.

"He...is gone?" Harry rubbed his eyes, thinking he had seen a ghost.

Tony didn't say anything.

He was frozen in place, as if struck by lightning.

Li Ang's last words were like a key, suddenly unlocking the shackles of his mind.

Control them...

I will no longer wear them...

Tony turned his head and fixed his gaze on the Mark 42.

That is the culmination of human technology, the pinnacle of mechanical engineering.

He touched his chest again, feeling the bio-energy belonging to his empty self and the symbiotic matter within him.

Previously, he used them separately.

The armor is a weapon against the enemy, while transforming into Kuuga is a safeguard after an accident.

This sense of disconnect has always been there.

Why do I have to choose between the two?

Tony muttered to himself, his eyes growing brighter and brighter, a frenzy that foreshadowed a period of intense creative fervor.

"Bioenergy...mechanical conduction..."

"Since the symbiote and the Amadam Spirit Stone are readily available energy sources and amplifiers..."

Tony threw down the wrench, rushed to the workbench like a madman, grabbed a marker, and started scribbling wildly on the back of a blank pizza box.

"If I were no longer using my physical body to bear this power..."

"Or should we build a new drive that can support and amplify these forces?"

"And then combine that with the black hole energy within me..."

Brush brush!

The sound of the pen tip scraping against the cardboard was rapid and sharp.

An idea that had never been seen before took shape in his mind.

That wasn't just a simple steel armor, nor was it just a simple biological transformation.

That's forcibly stuffing the magic-side spirit stones and the biological-side symbionts into the technology-side reactor, using Stark Industries' precision machinery to tame these raging beasts!

"Harry!"

Tony shouted without turning his head, his voice filled with excitement.

"Quick! Unpack all the materials I bought!"

"We're going to do something big!"

"Is it bigger than the previous glove?"

Harry looked at Tony, who seemed to have gone mad, and although he didn't understand why, he was also excited.

"Much bigger, child."

Tony stopped writing and looked at the hasty yet powerful sketch on the pizza box.

That was a design drawing for a belt core.

But at its core, it is no longer a single spirit stone, but a dual-drive device that incorporates the structure of the Ark Reactor.

Tony's face lit up with a smile of discovery.

"This time, I'm going to show the whole world what Stark's Cavalier Kick is all about!"