92 The Unmovable Hammer

After the meal, Tony Stark and Kagura Hitomi followed Natasha Romanoff westward from Puente Antiguo, heading toward the location where the rumored "falling object" had landed.

Pepper and Happy stayed behind in town to handle hotel arrangements and other matters.

Kagura knew exactly what was coming.

Based on Natasha's description, they were about to see Thor's Mjolnir—the hammer of the Thunder God.

Mjolnir, Thor's enchanted hammer, was supposedly forged by Odin from the core of a dying star, and it's said to hold immense power.

After receiving Odin's blessing, only those deemed worthy can lift it.

Kagura didn't care who could lift Mjolnir—she certainly didn't think she was worthy to wield it.

But then again, if being an automaton disqualified her from Mjolnir's criteria, that might be another story.

However, on second thought, that theory didn't hold.

If that were the case, wouldn't Ultron be able to lift it?

And everyone knew that the reason Vision could lift the hammer was because of his inherent goodness, and the fact that he contained the Mind Stone.

''Sigh. Forget it, forget it!' The girl shook her head and looked out the window at the vast desert landscape.

What really intrigued her was why Mjolnir had such godly power.

The hammer seemed to have its own consciousness, which led Kagura to think that it might be an artificial intelligence—or at least, have one embedded within it.

The Asgardians were technologically advanced far beyond Earth, yet their tech wasn't completely incomprehensible.

When technology becomes so advanced that it's beyond human understanding, people call it magic.

So, could Kagura reverse-engineer some of Asgardian tech to enhance her own Rhodes Island industry?

That would definitely be useful in her mission to defend Earth.

She thought this over, focusing her mind while her holographic UI system continued to run quietly.

No new tasks had popped up yet, nor were there any new items in the store.

It had been a while since she'd last reviewed her skills.

During this time, she'd completed three additional tasks and unlocked two new concept skills—[Full-Spectrum Electromagnetic Invisibility] and [Electromagnetic Control].

The remaining task, "Assist Natasha with investigating Hammer Industries," had disappeared.

It seemed that getting the "all options" choice in branching tasks was harder than she thought.

What surprised Kagura was that no additional task appeared during the battle against Whiplash.

'So... was Ivan Vanko just a cheap guy who isn't even worth a single QP? That was a little sad,' she thought with a laugh.

Currently, Kagura had 20 QP, which was a decent amount, but there were still plenty of things to unlock that would require more than that.

Should she focus on unlocking more concept skills, or buy some mysterious tech from the store?

She looked through the items in the system's store.

Most of them didn't seem all that useful at the moment.

First, the AI upgrade module could be ruled out.

Cortana was functioning perfectly, so no need to upgrade her.

There was also the [Adamantium Alloy Structural Blueprint/10 QP], but she didn't really need it.

Vibranium was more than enough for her purposes, and Adamantium Alloy, while harder than Vibranium, didn't have the energy-absorbing properties that Vibranium did.

So what was she going to do with it?

Maybe get an Adamantium Alloy knife to cut Captain America's shield?

But why would she even want to fight Captain America?

'Forget it.'

She moved on to the last two items:

[Negative Space Light Quantum Energy Supply Device Improvement Blueprint/10 QP]

[Negative Space Light Quantum Advanced Energy Core Prototype Blueprint/20 QP]

Since Tony Stark had already upgraded his Arc Reactor, Kagura's Arc Reactor tech was probably due for an update too.

Future equipment would likely require stronger power sources, as her previous use of the electromagnetic cannon showed signs of power shortages.

'Hmm, the new Arc Reactor tech looks like a good option.'

Of course, if she could obtain better Asgardian tech here, then she might put the Arc Reactor upgrade on hold.

"We've arrived," Natasha reminded them.

The car slowly came to a stop, and Kagura looked ahead.

Not far off, a massive circular crater was starting to take shape.

At the center of the pit stood a silvery metal hammer.

There were already a number of people gathered around the crater, apparently drawn by the same rumor, all eager to try and lift the strange hammer.

A burly man flexed his muscles, gathered all his strength, and tried to lift the hammer from the ground, but it wouldn't budge.

An older man, having had a drink for courage, was straining his body and pulling with all his might—still nothing.

A grandfather, not willing to try personally, pulled out a steel chain from his car, wrapped it around the hammer, and then floored the accelerator, revving the engine.

The tires spun, kicking up dust and smoke.

With a loud 'clang', the back end of the car was suddenly lifted off the ground and slammed heavily into the dirt.

"Did It work?" The old man, wearing sunglasses, leaned out of his car with a grin, causing everyone around him to burst into laughter.

"Looks like they're having fun," Tony Stark said, observing the crowd.

"So it's not a meteorite, but a hammer—a real hammer?"

"It does seem like that's the case," Natasha replied.

"Tell me, Natasha, this isn't something you planned, right? This isn't some S.H.I.E.L.D. vacation scheme?" Tony asked suspiciously.

"Of course not," Natasha laughed. "It's just a lucky coincidence."

"Forget it, let's go try it ourselves," Tony said, stepping forward. "I want to see what kind of powers that hammer has."

"Sister…?" Kagura piped up.

"Hm?" Natasha turned to her.

"Well... I want to have some skewers," Kagura said sheepishly.

"Alright, I'll go get them for you, my little food princess," Natasha said with a sigh, gently tapping Kagura's head.

"Hehe, thanks, Sister! You're the best!" Kagura said happily, as Natasha walked off.

After Natasha was distracted, Kagura opened the communicator on her earrings.

"Cortana, deploy Rhodes Island industrial reconnaissance drones to scan that hammer and see if we can get any insight into Asgardian tech."

"Command confirmed, Master," Cortana responded.