Practicing Kamar-Taj Magic!

Looking at the pile of chips in front of Luo Bai,

Tony Stark and Ethan's shock was beyond words.

"Brother, if I hadn't been watching you this whole time... I'd definitely suspect you were cheating. Can you explain how you did it?!" After being stunned for a full minute, Tony Stark finally could not help complaining.

It was outrageous—truly outrageous.

For four whole hours, Luo Bai had not lost a single hand.

Even a gambling king could not pull that off without cheating!

If not for Tony Stark's sake, the people playing cards with Luo Bai would probably have wanted to search him and see whether he had hidden cards on him.

"I didn't expect it either... My luck seems to be just a tiny bit good..." Luo Bai muttered quietly.

To be honest, he was a little dumbfounded himself at that moment.

Although he had vaguely sensed that his luck had been exceptionally good ever since coming to the Marvel Universe, he had never been completely sure before.

It was not until after those four hours that Luo Bai became somewhat certain.

His luck was good—extremely good!

He had won for four straight hours in this pure luck-based high-card game. If that was not Heaven-Defying Luck, nothing was!

"Your luck is so good it's practically unscientific!" Dr. Yinsen could not help remarking from beside him.

Luo Bai smiled somewhat sheepishly. After all, he had not expected his luck to be this good either.

Could it be that he actually had some hidden cheat ability—Heaven-Defying Luck?!

"By the way, Tony, won't your friends mind that I won so much money from them?" Luo Bai asked symbolically.

Tony Stark shrugged. "Even if they do mind, it doesn't matter. But your luck really opened my eyes today. Has your luck always been this good?"

"Not really, but my luck has been pretty good lately," Luo Bai answered honestly.

"Then..."

"Tony!"

Tony Stark seemed about to ask something else when a voice interrupted him.

Following the voice, they saw a burly bald man walking straight toward them.

Luo Bai recognized the bald man who had arrived.

His name was Obadiah Stane, a shareholder of Stark Industries.

He appeared to be in a hurry. He did not even greet Luo Bai or Ethan, instead walking directly up to Stark.

"Listen, Tony. You can't decide to shut down the weapons manufacturing division on your own. You'll cause enormous losses for Stark Industries!" Obadiah said forcefully.

Stark did not seem surprised by either his arrival or what he had come to say.

"Weren't you at the press conference this afternoon too?" Tony Stark asked in return.

"I was, but you didn't discuss it with me!" Obadiah snapped angrily.

"I already told you—the terrorists who captured me were using weapons made by Stark Industries! Do you understand? I made weapons because I wanted to fight crime and strike back against it, not help criminals!" Tony Stark answered with complete seriousness.

"Fight criminals? Tony, we're businessmen!"

"Maybe I used to be a businessman, but I'm not anymore."

"Are you trying to be a hero, Tony?"

"Why not?"

"Tony, you're being completely unreasonable!"

After cursing, Obadiah stormed away. Clearly, the two had failed to reach an agreement.

Watching his retreating figure, the joy on Tony Stark's face vanished, replaced by seriousness.

"Tony, did something troublesome happen?" Ethan asked from the side.

"The first thing I did after returning to New York was hold a press conference and announce that Stark Industries would shut down its weapons manufacturing division indefinitely. The shareholders have some objections, but it's not really trouble," Tony Stark explained.

"I heard about it. I'm surprised you made that decision," Ethan said with feeling.

"It's nothing to be surprised about," Tony Stark said.

No one knew what he was thinking. After a long while, he suddenly said goodbye. "It's getting late. I'll be leaving first. Have fun, you two~"

Everyone was somewhat surprised by that.

It was already past eleven at night.

Ethan asked curiously, "With your personality, I thought you'd at least stay until after midnight. It's only a little past eleven, and you're leaving already?"

Tony Stark smiled. "This party was meant for you guys to have fun. I originally planned to greet you and leave, but Luo Bai's luck... really surprised me."

"So I kept you here for four hours and delayed you?!" Luo Bai asked, half-jokingly.

Tony Stark shook his head and smiled. "I wouldn't call it a delay. I'm just planning to go back and work on the Iron Armor."

"The device we made in the cave?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah." Tony Stark nodded. "Materials and time were limited in that cave. I can build a better one."

"All right, then. I'll play for a little longer before leaving," Ethan said.

And so, Tony Stark left first.

Ethan stayed at the party and continued celebrating.

As for Luo Bai,

although Ethan warmly invited him to stay and keep playing, he still chose to leave.

After all, Luo Bai had originally come here to solve his money problem.

Now that the issue had been resolved, he naturally wanted to go home and study that magic book.

Before going home, Luo Bai cashed in his chips.

He had not realized it until he counted them: he had earned a full three million dollars.

That was after the wealthy guests noticed something was off but, because Tony Stark was there, could not simply leave and therefore began holding back.

If they had played normally, he likely would have won even more.

Although more than three million meant nothing to those wealthy people,

for Luo Bai at the moment, it was already an enormous fortune.

Tony Stark seemed to have anticipated that he would win so much. He probably felt it would be inappropriate to take it all, so he had given instructions beforehand.

After taking some cash for daily use, Luo Bai converted the rest into a check.

With the money in place, everything that followed became much easier.

He casually found an open store and bought a computer and a phone. Once Luo Bai got home, he began focusing on the Supreme Compendium.

With the computer translating the book's text, he could finally understand what the Supreme Compendium was saying.

Starting from the first chapter, it introduced the origins of magic, the relationship between the human body and magic, basic magical knowledge, and how to practice magic.

The book contained a great deal of material. It even included knowledge of biology, geography, mathematics, and much more.

If he had not known it was a magic book, Luo Bai would have thought he was reading some kind of textbook.

Though the writing was rather boring, he still gritted his teeth and continued reading seriously.

As he read, he noticed something was wrong.

It was as though a switch inside his body had suddenly been turned on. His body slowly began absorbing energy from the outside world.

This situation...

According to the book, it meant he had officially begun practicing magic.