Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 223 Assembling the Construct (First Update)

"Ha, you'd never guess how surprised Nick Fury looked!" Tony Stark slapped his thigh and laughed maniacally on the sofa. Ever since Salomon killed that shapeshifting alien, Stark had been waiting for this day. When Nick Fury suddenly appeared at Trisolaris headquarters after disappearing for three days and managed to fool Alexander Pierce with some excuse, Tony Stark immediately donned his Iron Man suit and rushed to him, telling him about the Skrulls.

In the fleeting moment of astonishment that crossed Nick Fury's face, Tony Stark decided he could forgive Fury for breaking into Stark Tower. The petty billionaire felt he had finally gotten his revenge; he had finally outmaneuvered Fury in terms of intelligence—discovering Phase Two of the plan on the Helicarrier was nothing compared to what he had to offer. Back at his villa, Tony Stark couldn't wait to call Salomon, eager to share his joy with everyone.

Even the dogs on the street need to know about this!

He had already told Pepper Potts the story once, and when Salomon opened the portal to his residence, he repeated it again and again. Pepper Potts sat on the sofa nearby, a helpless smile on her face—Tony Stark had already told the story to his bodyguard Happy before she finished dealing with the Stark Tower renovation project and returned home, and Happy had then told her the story. So when Tony Stark excitedly began telling the story again, she could only feign appropriate surprise to create the atmosphere, to protect Stark's childish pride. But when Salomon arrived, Tony Stark's mouth showed no sign of stopping, and Pepper Potts decided not to waste any more time. She stood up and greeted Salomon with a smile, "I have work to do," she said, "I won't disturb your boys' party."

Immediately, Miss Potts turned away, her smile vanishing instantly, and then, with extreme impatience, threw a sofa cushion at Stark's face. "Women," Stark muttered to himself, a look of astonishment on his face as he removed the cushion from his face. He watched Pepper Potts strut up the stairs in her high heels, and muttered to himself, "Women are so hard to understand. Why didn't I realize this before?"

"I think this is punishment for your past promiscuity," the sorcerer said softly. "Women are extremely vengeful; they may not say it, but that doesn't mean they don't remember."

"How do you know so much about this?" Stark asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Because..." Salomon took a deep breath, recalling the events of the previous night. Last night, after Jeanne impulsively demanded a gift and, in a fit of rage, pulled out a gun, the atmosphere in the apartment was extremely awkward. Witches are all so strong-willed and competitive, but in front of Bayonetta, Jeanne could never be assertive. When she stammered, unsure of what to say, she even considered shooting herself in her embarrassment and anger. Fortunately, Bayonetta caught Jeanne in time, and in that moment, these two witches, both enemies and friends, reached a consensus: the innocent Salomon became the target—of course, this was Bayonetta signaling Salomon to cooperate; Salomon could never refuse a witch's request. So last night, he slept in his bedroom in Kamar-Taj, cuddling the Cheshire Cat and Phoenix.

There's nothing wrong with that. Phoenix can sing too, so he doesn't need a witch!

Please skip this topic.

"Alright. I've already manufactured the parts according to the blueprints you sent; they're in the basement." Stark only got down to business after finishing his story. He glanced behind the arcane mage and, finding nothing extra, was extremely disappointed. "You promised I'd witness the birth of the magical robot," he said. "But after you took that metal skeleton back, I haven't seen it since. Why didn't you bring it here? Instead, you made me carve some weird-looking gears and levers out of metal!"

"That alchemical skeleton needs to be infused with an alchemical soul, which is no simple matter. It will be true artificial intelligence. Have you heard of Homunculus? That's my android, an alchemical doll created by giving a part of my own life. It's my assistant in alchemy, except that the android isn't entirely made of flesh and blood, but rather various magical materials." Salomon's words thrilled Stark, who couldn't wait to see the completed mechanical maid. But the sorcerer's next words shattered his illusions. "Now is the time to put the alchemical skeleton into the incubation dish. You will absolutely not see it. If possible, I also need you to customize some specific clothing for me—the kind you see in the blueprints. You must ensure that no one knows about this! Otherwise, you will absolutely not see my maid! Damn it, Agent Romanov seems to know all about my little hobbies."

"While I don't want to interfere with your hobbies, I suggest you... well, I promise, unless a spy steals the information, no one else will ever know about it," Stark quickly swore. He then asked, "So what are you here for? Those parts don't seem like they could be assembled into a humanoid machine. In fact, those gears and springs don't even work. Or is your magic able to solve the problem?"

"You guessed right, it's about solving problems with magic. Homunculi are for protecting myself, but attacking enemies requires other constructs. I can't fight with weapons or my fists every time; that would be too far off-target. I hope you didn't assemble those parts, or I'll have to disassemble and reassemble them all over again."

"Can I watch?" Stark shrugged. "At least I'd like to see you wind up those robots."

"The official name is Construct." The arcane mage stood up from the sofa. Assembling these Constructs was much cheaper than creating golems. Although these Constructs were not as powerful as Flesh Golems (challenge level 2) and not as intelligent as his alchemical artificial lifeform mechanical maids, only able to rigidly execute commands, they were cheaper, easier to use, and quicker to manufacture (during long or short breaks). With the parts available, Salomon could assemble two to three Constructs today and get them moving.

Once his alchemical soul is complete and implanted into the body of his construct maid, these constructs will be under the unified command of his mechanical maid, serving as his army. At that point, he can happily cast spells from the rear, truly exercising the abilities befitting a spellcaster.

"I had no idea you were so into steampunk culture. Your taste is pretty good." Stark watched Salomon assemble the brass-colored parts, chanting incantations as he did so. Once assembled, Salomon didn't even install a power source for the robots. The robots, with their exposed gears and towering 2.5 meters tall, stood up on their own and obeyed Salomon's instructions to stand aside. Due to the arcane mage's personal preferences, these robots had no hands; where the arms should have been, there were only two long, sharp blades, and even the legs were razor-sharp. To save time, Salomon didn't bother with the construct's face, simply and crudely rummaging through Stark's inventory for a few extremely bright light bulbs, installing them into the barrel-shaped head, and then covering the bulbs with a layer of round glass as a perfunctory solution.

Even though Jarvis had recorded the incantations Salomon uttered, Stark couldn't bring himself to pronounce them aloud when he tried to recite them into his Iron Man suit. "What's going on?" he asked curiously. "Why are those robots moving? Why can't I say the incantations?"

"Because I infused it with magic during assembly (magic infusion)," the sorcerer replied without looking up. Thanks to his experience assembling Bandai Gundams, his assembly speed was extremely fast, and he was currently assembling the second construct. He casually explained, "Besides, magic is not just as simple as incantations. If you don't understand magic and just recite the correct incantation, you will suffer the backlash of magic—you should be glad you don't have magic, otherwise, given your recklessness just now, I'm afraid I would only see a pile of minced meat."

"Okay." Stark suspected Salomon might be bluffing, but lacking proof, he reluctantly agreed to stop the reckless attempts. "One more problem," he said. "Is your robot powered by electricity? I don't believe magic alone can turn on a light bulb. Shit! Could you stop it from turning its head? I can't open my eyes! Please turn off the light!"

"It's powered by electricity, of course, but the power source might be a little different from what you imagine." Salomon instructed the construct to turn off the lights, then opened the construct's chest cavity. "This is the power source."

"What's this?" Stark pointed to the small wooden stick, which he saw was positioned between two electrode-like objects. "Is this some kind of wood battery?"

"This is the Lightning Bolt (3rd Ring) wand, which automatically absorbs magic to recharge itself every day. This construct's abilities go far beyond just close combat."

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(End of this chapter)