In fact, Luca knew beforehand that opening the stone tablet sealing the Dragon Bone supposedly required the Iron Fist.
That was why, when assigning the mission to the Shield Squad, he didn't order them to storm the place fully armed. Instead, he planned for them to approach under the guise of cooperation to see if they could gather more intel.
However, the high-ranking members of the Hand seemed to have courted death all on their own. And judging by their logic, they didn't look capable of finding the Iron Fist either.
So, Luca stopped fretting over details and chose to try his own method.
Snap~
Luca raised his hand and snapped his fingers crisply.
An ink-colored portal immediately appeared beside him.
Watching the Spot step out of it, Luca pointed at the sealing stone tablet in front of him.
"Give it a try~"
Seeing the boss's order, the Spot didn't waste words. He slapped his hand directly onto the stone tablet.
The next moment, a brand-new ink-colored portal slowly emerged. The Spot didn't hesitate and stepped right through it.
"Boss, no problem!"
Seeing things proceed so smoothly, even Luca couldn't help but shrug.
"Well, looks like I overestimated the lore of these street heroes."
Although sending Shield and the others to "recover" the Dragon Bone was just a matter of convenience...
Actually, besides this somewhat mystical Dragon Bone, Luca had also sent people specifically to collect dinosaur fossils.
But if he had known the seal could be broken so easily, he might have just snuck in himself to steal the Dragon Bone earlier.
With that, Luca also stepped through the portal in front of him.
However, as soon as he entered the underground cavern storing the Dragon Bone, Luca was blinded by a brilliant white light.
"Holy crap! This is actually a Component!"
That's right. The entire massive Dragon Skeleton before Luca's eyes was emitting a glowing white radiance.
This took Luca—who originally only hoped to scrape some active cells from the bone to clone Dragon Blood for synthesizing the [Pink Dragon Fruit]—completely by surprise.
Without wasting words, Luca stepped forward quickly and placed his hand on the dragon's skull.
Immediately, the pale blue System panel floated up before him.
> [Hextech T-Rex Mecha]
> [League of Legends World 2/5]
> [Creator: Cecil B. Heimerdinger]
> [Core Component: Energy-infused Dragon Bone]
> [Synthesis Materials: 1 Large Transformable T-Rex Mechanical Armor, 1 Semi-Perpetual Magic Energy Core, 1 Large Ion Laser Cannon, 2 Medium Rocket Launchers, 1 Heavy Machine Gun, 1 Large Energy Shield Generator, 2 Medium Optical Sensors, 1 Low-Level AI Chip]
> [Item Description: A mechanical lifeform driven by Hextech energy. Heimerdinger used the skeleton of a Void creature as a framework, implanted a Hextech Core energy furnace, and simulated the energy conduction structure of dragon bones to create this dragon-shaped intelligent mecha. As Piltover's ultimate defense against Void threats, the Hextech T-Rex Mecha can not only fight independently using AI but also be piloted manually to unleash even greater combat power.]
> [Friendly Reminder: As a technological crystallization created by Heimerdinger specifically to fight Void creatures, it possesses an adaptive learning algorithm, allowing it to constantly learn and evolve during combat.]
"It's... another Hextech creation??"
Staring at the introduction on the panel, Luca stood frozen in place.
Speaking of "Hextech Creations," although he had only obtained three so far (from the separate Arcane World and League of Legends World categories), he was incredibly familiar with them.
Leaving aside the [Dehydration Gun] synthesized by his System which constantly used "Hextech Dimension" energy...
Just a few days ago, Luca himself had used a "Hextech Crystal" to create a magically modified "Hextech Solar Furnace."
He didn't expect to get another Hextech creation today.
And a very impressive-looking [Hextech T-Rex Mecha] at that.
Learning? Evolution?
It seems I really have a destiny with Hextech...
Glancing over the "Synthesis Materials" listed on the panel again, it seemed most items weren't too hard for the current Luca to acquire.
Since he was planning to upgrade the Boxer Gundam recently anyway, maybe he could find time to build this directly.
As for the only somewhat difficult "Semi-Perpetual Magic Energy Core," he figured the "Hextech Solar Furnace" would definitely pass the System's check.
Pity. I originally wanted to upgrade the Boxer Gundam into a Twin Drive Gundam...
Luca only had two "Hextech Crystals" on hand. It seemed he wouldn't be able to keep both for the Gundam now.
Maybe later he'd have to figure out a way to draw energy from the Hextech Dimension without relying on Hextech Crystals.
But since this Hextech T-Rex possesses some intelligence, giving the Boxer Gundam a mechanical dinosaur mount seems like a nice idea too.
Thinking this, Luca took out his [Dehydration Gun] and compressed the Dragon Bone in front of him.
He wasn't worried that turning the Dragon Bone into the "Core Component" for the [Hextech T-Rex Mecha] would prevent him from extracting cells to clone Dragon Blood.
Leaving aside that Luca had long confirmed that "Core Components" could withstand a certain degree of damage—scraping off a little genetic material wouldn't affect the synthesis...
Even if he didn't "sample" it and synthesized the [Hextech T-Rex Mecha] directly...
Luca estimated that with his System's quirks, a mecha possessing both "Dragon" and "Lifeform" traits might leak some "motor oil" that would count as "Dragon Blood."
In fact, if the various lizards and snakes nicknamed "Something-Dragon" that he sent people to collect earlier hadn't failed the System's check, Luca's guess might have been even bolder.
But even so, this trip had yielded a new item recipe and the synthesis material for an old item all at once, which made Luca feel quite satisfied.
having settled everything, he happily signaled the Shield Squad to pack up.
As for the assets left behind by the Hand after their annihilation, because their reputation was too trashy and Luca was too lazy to manage them, he planned to hand them over to other company subordinates to simply pick through and dispose of.
However, just as he was about to have the Spot reopen the portal home, intending to call S.H.I.E.L.D. later to pick up the two unconscious unlucky souls...
In front of the ink-colored portal the Spot was opening, a giant, silver-glowing five-pointed star suddenly appeared.
Before Luca and his team could even adopt a defensive stance, a young girl's figure rushed out of the silver star, her face full of surprise and joy.
"Kate! I finally found you!"
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