Chapter 61: The True Inventor

Before him lay an orange tennis ball, about the size of a basketball, emitting a faint white glow.

Indeed, this was the “core component” Luka had recently acquired.

Having finally settled down to develop after dealing with Jin Bing these past days, Luka had been occupied not only with handling the aftermath of this incident and gradually intervening in company operations but also spending most of his time scouring the mall for more synthesis materials.

Originally, Luka had intended to assemble the “Conan five-piece set” to see what changes would occur when the “1/5” on the cheat panel became “5/5.”

Thus, he had been searching mainly in places like watch shops and clothing stores, where items such as the “Anesthetic Watch,” “Voice-Changing Bowtie,” and “Elastic Suspenders” were most likely to appear.

Unexpectedly, he found none of the Conan series items. Instead, at the pet toy counter in the mall, he stumbled upon this glowing orange tennis ball.

This item was originally meant as a “dog boredom relief ball.”

But Luka paid little mind to that.

The crucial point was that the item’s panel description seemed to address his most pressing need.

Moreover, since the [TUX-1 Tactical Suit] (the miraculous tailcoat) required “720 micron-level neural stimulation units,” which were hard to come by, this new component’s synthesis materials had actually arrived first.

Luka gently placed his hand on the “dog boredom ball” before him.

At once, a pale blue panel popped up.

[Hello]

[Gundam 00 1/5]

[Manufacturer: Europa Research Vessel—Quasi-Revolutionary 0026]

[Core Component: Orange Tennis Ball Toy]

[Synthesis Materials: 2 red LED beads, 1 smart chip loaded with weapon data, 1 set of small microphone and speaker devices, 2 small multi-directional mechanical arms, 1 small battery, 1.32 square meters of carbon fiber]

[Item Description: Multifunctional intelligent pet. A small intelligent robot equipped with human-machine interaction, weapon maintenance and manufacturing, programming, and mech piloting functions. Its shell material makes it nearly impervious to conventional attacks, and its internal chip stores vast amounts of technology far ahead of its time.]

[Warm Tip: Don’t treat it as an ordinary electronic pet. To you, it might be more like a true mechanical master~]

Indeed, this humorous “core component” synthesized into none other than Haro—a robot renowned as the true protagonist and ace pilot’s companion throughout the Gundam series.

Most importantly, according to the panel, this version of Haro was not merely an electronic pet.

It integrated multiple functions such as “weapon repair and manufacturing,” “programming,” and “mech piloting.”

“If Haro really is as powerful as described, perhaps this little thing is an even truer inventor than I, the impostor!” Luka thought eagerly.

Without hesitation, Luka gathered the tennis ball and neatly placed it aside, then retrieved the other “synthesis materials” from the just-arrived delivery box. He chalked a circular array on the ground.

He then carefully placed each synthesis material into the formation: the LED beads, smart chip, multi-directional mechanical arms...

Once all the materials glowed white, Luka exhaled deeply and clapped both hands on the circle’s edge.

Silently, he chanted: “Synthesize!”

In the next moment, milky white light enveloped the entire array.

As the light faded, a round robot resembling the “dog boredom ball” appeared at the array’s center.

“It worked!” Luka thought.

The orange-yellow spherical robot’s pair of red bean-shaped eyes flickered to life.

Then came a “beep~” electronic prompt.

Moments later.

“Start! Start!”

The round robot before him, its eyes gleaming red, repeated its boot-up phrase, rolling swiftly from the array’s center to Luka’s side.

“Highest authority! Highest authority!”

“Luka! Luka!”

‘Could it be that it has a limitation protocol similar to Baymax’s Zeroth Law?’ Luka mused, finding it somewhat silly.

Watching this bouncing little thing, Luka felt it wasn’t as intelligent as the cheat panel had suggested.

“Haro?”

“Haro! Haro!”

“...”

“Sure enough, a bit silly...” Luka muttered.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he said this, Haro bounced angrily in place and headbutted Luka’s knee.

“Not silly! Not silly!”

“Luka’s silly! Luka’s silly!”

Luka was speechless.

“This little thing has quite the temper...” He reached out to stop Haro from headbutting again and gave it a gentle squeeze. To his surprise, though it was supposedly made from the special “E-Carbon” material of the Gundam 00 world, the robot was surprisingly elastic to the touch.

Dropping it to the floor, it bounced back like a real tennis toy, deforming under pressure and springing back.

‘Is this another concept force born from following the original faithfully?’

Thinking his cheat panel had always been so unreasonable, Luka stopped worrying and instead grew even more eager to explore Haro’s functions described on the panel. He immediately asked,

“Haro, tell me, what functions do you have?”

Haro, who had been bouncing nonstop, finally stopped.

It folded down its mechanical arms, shaped like ears, and stabilized itself.

Its red eyes flickered continuously.

Yet, just as Luka eagerly awaited an explanation of its features, the little thing suddenly jumped up again and hit the top of Luka’s foot, then, seemingly annoyed, repeated,

“Dummy Luka! Dummy Luka!”

Luka was momentarily stunned, then grabbed Haro and rubbed it vigorously, clearly displeased.

“I’m the highest authority! You little thing...”

Before he could finish, Haro, still being rubbed, extended a data cable with a connector from its body and mockingly said,

“Connect device! Connect device! Words complicated! Words complicated!”

Luka, who had been a bit annoyed, now understood.

With Haro’s two-word-at-a-time speech pattern, if it tried to explain all its functions, it might take until next month.

The little guy had been patiently waiting for Luka to bring a computer to connect the data cable all along.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Luka ignored Haro’s ‘mocking’ glare and obediently brought the little robot to the computer, hooking up the data cable.

Immediately, red light flickered in Haro’s eyes.

On the computer screen, its various data and capabilities were displayed one by one.