Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 375 A Rigorous Scientific Attitude (Second Update)

Salomon now understood just how closely S.H.I.E.L.D. was monitoring him. Judging from Agent Coulson's embarrassed expression, they must know quite a bit. However, he still didn't accept Agent Coulson's invitation. He believed that Coulson's team had their own things to do, and unless they encountered a magical event, it was better not to meet.

He asked Agent Coulson to convey his thoughts as soon as possible, that he wanted to do more preparation before going to college.

However, just a few days later, Salomon, who was resting at home, received a mission notification from Kamar-Taj. It was a minor mission, a consequence of the celestial conjunction, a small-scale overlap between an outer dimension and the prime material plane. Generally, this meant that one or two not-so-powerful outer-dimensional beings had entered Earth. Normally, any temple deacon could handle such a mission, but His Holiness required Salomon to lead the team personally because few mages had the time to deal with such trivial matters.

But he was not alone. Salomon had been ordered by the Sorcerer Supreme to take his newly recruited apprentices, who had never seen combat, to resolve this matter. Salomon did not know the Sorcerer Supreme's purpose in sending these apprentices, but he believed it was likely to prevent the corrupted mages from contaminating their minds before the investigation was completed, and also to give the rookies some practical experience.

No amount of training can replace real combat; this is an undeniable truth. To give Salomon confidence that he could bring all his apprentices back safe and sound, the Venerable One assigned him an assistant. The young monk was dragged out of the kitchen and thrown among a group of newcomers who were nervous even while chanting incantations.

"Foduo snake soup is the worst thing I've ever eaten. Even with the detoxification process, the rotten taste of snake meat can't be removed," Master Wang muttered before opening the portal, still reminiscing about his achievements over the past few days. On the outer dimension battlefield, Master Wang had reaped considerable rewards, which gave him the opportunity to study his family's inherited outer dimension recipes.

Those recipes contained detailed descriptions of the edible parts of extradimensional creatures and the necessary detoxification and pickling methods—extradimensional creatures are generally poisonous, and humans cannot eat them without these treatments. Moreover, based on Little Wang's observations, he believed that creatures from the upper planes tasted the best, while creatures from the lower planes and some dark magic planes required extremely long periods of pickling and aging before they could be consumed.

Little Wang's most successful product was low-level demon jerky from the lower planes. According to Salomon's tasting, this jerky from the lower planes had the effect of making people less susceptible to burns from flames, also known as "fire resistance +1," and this effect could last for about ten minutes, which was quite remarkable. Little Wang also gave Salomon some demon and devil skins and claws—"kitchen scraps"—to make magical items and paper, which Salomon accepted without hesitation and even taught him a few spells.

Salomon glanced at the novice arcane mages lining up behind him. Many of them were older than him, but their magical skills were far inferior. Most of these people had been guided to Kamar-Taj from outside. They were nervous because they had witnessed the arcane mages returning from the outer dimensional battlefield—no battle is without sacrifice, and even if some of them understood this principle, knowing and seeing are two different things—"Don't be nervous," Salomon said with a smile. "The Agamotto crystal ball has already revealed the enemy's power. You only need to use what you've learned to drive away that creature. This isn't an isolated incident; we still have a lot to do."

He opened the portal, and the intense sunlight streamed in from the other end without hesitation.

The sight of Salomon in his crimson robes reassured these novice mages. This was true; in the isolated environment of Kamar-Taj, Salomon was a household name. He was not only the Sorcerer Supreme's favorite disciple, but his abilities were also exceptional. These apprentices had witnessed Salomon's prowess in the training grounds more than once, and with him present, the novice mages knew they had someone to back them up for this mission.

"Remember how to use the spell for shaping the demonic flames." Before passing through the portal, Salomon reminded the novice arcane mages, "The power of Vishanti is the sharpest blade to all the demons of the lower planes. You should at least remember either the [Holy Sword of Vishanti] or the [Binding of the Demonic Blade] that I wrote down. Knowing one of those is enough."

Dressed in Kamar-Taj attire, the group was conspicuous in the small town. It was a self-organized community of families from a research institution on the outskirts of town; almost every household had someone working there. Given the highly confidential nature of their research projects, strangers appearing in town were usually questioned by the local police. However, today, no one paid any attention to the extremely conspicuous Salomon group. Everyone hurried along, whispering amongst themselves.

This caused Salomon's prepared illusion to fail.

Before he could ask anyone, a plane roared overhead and took off. Salomon, with his sharp eyes, immediately recognized the aircraft's model and the company it belonged to. Furthermore, although he couldn't see the passengers, he knew who owned the plane.

Salomon was somewhat deflated. "Shit! We're too late." He pulled out his phone and made a call. Before the call connected, he said to the rookie arcane mages behind him, "S.H.I.E.L.D. came, but they can't handle this. We need to see what they left behind."

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"Hello, Agent Coulson," Salomon's voice came through the speakers. "I saw you take off from Batesville."

"Hello, Salomon Damonette, I didn't know you were there." Agent Coulson glanced at Melinda May beside him, seemingly seeking her opinion with his eyes. "I don't think this incident has much to do with magic," he said, "unless you consider telekinesis to be magic."

"I know who you took, Coulson." Salomon spoke calmly, making no mention of what he had said to Agent Coulson last time. "Hannah Hudgens, the people in town were very welcoming; they told me everything they knew, and I learned what happened from them. Here's the thing: although this universe is absurd and messed up, a particle accelerator explosion doesn't grant anyone any unscientific superpowers. This event was related to a celestial collision—remember how particle accelerators work? Particles collide and undergo nuclear fusion, releasing a huge amount of energy, but because the newly formed particles are smaller than the original particles, collapse occurs."

"but……"

"I know what you're going to say, Fitz." Salomon interrupted Fitz, imagining Fitz scratching his head. "Although the particle accelerators here don't have this much energy, under certain specific circumstances—that is, celestial conjunctions, where unusual gravitational phenomena and portals occur not only in London but all over the world—the particles here gain far greater acceleration and energy than usual, and a fleeting black hole is born, pulling out something that doesn't belong to this world."

"You mean, this has nothing to do with Hannah Hudgens?" Agent Coulson understood Salomon's implication. "Have you discovered anything?"

"Nothing, Coulson. We haven't found anything more unusual here." Salomon sighed on the other end of the phone. "The particle accelerator explosion site is too dangerous, and the creatures I summoned haven't found anything further. If possible, could you please fly the plane back? Otherwise, we'll be detained by the local police."

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(End of this chapter)