New Item

"????"

Shamira had just lowered her pen to take notes when she suddenly jerked her head back up.

Her mouth fell open, her pupils contracted, and she stared at Luca in utter disbelief as he sat there looking perfectly calm.

It wasn't just her.

Even the company employee who had come along with the new car to serve as its temporary driver couldn't help wanting to look back at the company's future heir.

But perhaps he was worried about losing this well-paid job.

In the end, the driver summoned all his willpower and faced forward again.

Then, while "concentrating" on driving, he pricked up his ears to listen carefully and kept sneaking glances at Luca in the rearview mirror.

"Young... young master, that doesn't seem right. You're still so young. That... that sort of thing..."

Hearing Aunt Shamira's hesitant, trembling voice, Luca's mouth twitched. He forced himself to continue in a calm tone.

"Aunt Shamira, what are you thinking? I just need those things for my next invention. You only have to get them for me."

"But, but, young master... the company doesn't make anything like that," Shamira stammered.

"...I didn't say to get them from the company. Just like those medical devices, you can buy them from outside."

"R-right."

Hearing how firm Luca sounded, Shamira finally braced herself and wrote "vibrator" on the paper.

But she had no intention of asking anyone else to handle this order. She would buy everything herself.

She was a middle-aged woman, after all. Although she'd never married, she was quite familiar with buying these things and wasn't embarrassed at all.

The reason she'd been so nervous just now was simply that, as an elder, she was worried Luca might go astray.

Now that she'd calmed down, she didn't dwell on it.

She stole a glance at Luca and saw that he had gone blank-eyed again, lost in thought.

Shamira could only sigh to herself.

I wonder if little Luca's thinking about a new invention, or if he misses his mom and dad.

Either way, it's good to have something to keep him occupied.

After carefully putting away her notes, Shamira turned around and began wondering whether to have today's temporary driver fired or find a way to transfer him to a factory far from the New York headquarters.

Once Luca saw that Shamira was no longer paying attention to him, he finally relaxed a little and sighed inwardly.

Sure is nice to have money.

Without a company or funding, he would have to gather all these things himself. Never mind the cost of repeated trial and error; even if he happened to buy suitable items for "synthesis materials" every time, it would still take a lot of effort.

Still, it looks like I'll need to find a dedicated assistant to handle these chores. Shamira used to be a fighter, after all, and asking her to work as both a housekeeper and a secretary is too much.

But that would bring him right back to the question of how much control he had over the company and its funds.

Either I cure Gina or get the company under control. Whatever it takes, I need to find a way forward soon!

An hour and a half later.

Inside a seaside villa in Greenwich Town, Connecticut.

It was already close to dusk.

Looking at the jumble of things piled up in the villa's living room, Luca rubbed his aching head.

"Aunt Shamira, go notify the team to return and take care of ordering the materials. Those two things are more important."

"As for all this, I'll sort through it myself."

After seeing Shamira off, Luca plopped down in the middle of the living room.

The villa was one of the Orange Family's properties in Connecticut State.

Although it wasn't in New York City, it wasn't far from Lower District, Manhattan, either—just a little over an hour by car.

The family of three used to come here for the occasional weekend stay, escaping the bustle of Manhattan to relax and unwind.

But the apartment on the Upper East Side had suffered severe damage.

On top of that, Manhattan was now in chaos, with martial law imposed everywhere.

So Luca had temporarily moved here, turning a "vacation" spot into his home.

Well, he might have been staying here now, but for most of the past few days, he'd still spent the nights at the hospital.

As for the mess in the living room, some of it had been bought and gathered at Luca's request, while the rest had been sent straight from the company.

It was a jumble of all kinds of things: household items, toys, models, weapon prototypes, and much more.

The main reason was that Luca still hadn't figured out exactly how to trigger his cheat's "Core Component," or what kind of object could count as one.

He only knew that indirect images, such as photos and videos, couldn't show him the Shimmer emitted by a "Core Component."

With no other option, he'd had people buy a random assortment of things and bring them over so he could inspect each one himself.

But it didn't look like this approach was very efficient.

At least, after giving everything a quick look, Luca hadn't seen anything emitting the distinctive white glow of a "Core Component."

Looks like I can't keep doing things this way. It's too inefficient, and it's a pain to sort through everything.

Still, when I met those Avengers before, almost every one of them had a Core Component. Starting with characters from the story is at least one possible approach.

Then Luca thought of the Power-Enhancing Shoes he was wearing. Their "Core Component" had turned out to be an ordinary item he'd found in a regular shoe store, with no impressive origin at all.

Maybe going shopping and screening items in bulk at malls would be a good way to go.

As he considered this, Luca didn't immediately start opening the unopened packages one by one to check their contents.

Instead, he walked straight over to the two boxes in the corner of the living room.

One was quite large and bore the Orange Industries logo. It was obviously the custom equipment Luca had asked the company to make and send over.

The other box was smaller. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary red first-aid kit, complete with a white-and-red cross printed on it.

But in Luca's eyes, this box glowed with a faint, distinctive white light.

Yes. The reason Luca had come home today, after spending so many days at the hospital, was not only to see if he could make any new items from the assortment of things he'd gathered.

More importantly, he'd come across another "Core Component" in the past few days.