Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 546 Tools (First Update)

Every spell comes at a price; this has been the guiding principle for all spellcasters since the end of the Magic Era. However, Wanda was unaware of this, and neither was Salomon aware of the extent of her past debts. These debts are the noose around her neck, and the switch to the mechanical floor is held by Sithon. Once the Great Shadow pulls the switch, she will be hanged, and then this body will fulfill its true purpose: a vessel, a tool.

No matter how unwilling Salomon was, he needed her to begin recalling, starting with the most brutal parts, all the way back to when she foresaw him, and every miracle that had occurred in her life needed to be remembered. Salomon knew this was yet another blow to her, but magic wasn't about sentimentality, especially since Wanda's innate magic belonged to the most vile and malevolent of all dark magic, each spell's side effects far greater than white magic. Judging from her previous condition, her extremely sensitive mental state had already been ravaged; to not trace the root cause and find her to blame would be irresponsible to everyone.

"Sorry, let's not talk about that anymore." He stopped lecturing, dispelled the illusion model, and pushed the table and books aside. Then, he retrieved drinks and food from the portal and chatted with the Maximov siblings as if they were old friends, recounting their past lives and the incredible things that had happened. The warm tea and sweet cake softened Wanda's resistance; she wiped her nose sheepishly and slowly began to recount the past, with Pietro adding and correcting as he spoke. In some places, the siblings' memories were completely different; what now seemed like trivial matters, even things they would laugh about in their past absurdities, were etched in Salomon's memory—such as finding a wallet when they were starving, or escaping human traffickers in an almost impossible way.

The siblings' life on the streets was extremely difficult, yet they grew up healthy and showed no signs of malnutrition. In such a war-torn country, this was practically an impossible miracle.

The truth has been buried by time, and everything remains a mystery. Even with Salomon's extensive knowledge of arcane arts, he couldn't discern the extent to which the Maximov siblings' past lives had been affected by Sidon. A mountain of clues needed to be investigated, and he still needed to go to N-Gale to see for himself the state of Sidon's seal.

That is the greatest threat to the Prime Material Plane, and Wanda is merely a pawn in the Great Shadow's invasion of reality, now imprisoned within its own domain. In that boundless astral plane, countless other twisted and terrifying threats exist, those insane magical entities that feed on the faith and emotions of beings; each one is capable of destroying humanity and the entire real universe. Kamar-Taj's responsibility is to protect humanity's survival while fighting them until the very end of time.

This responsibility would permeate Salomon's life; it was his inescapable destiny.

"Gene alchemy," Maya Hansen said. "To put it another way, our current progress is limited to targeting and knocking out the genes encoding myostatin, insulin-like growth factor, or α-actin-3 to promote muscle regrowth. We combat aging by synthesizing large amounts of antioxidant proteins like superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase, and by synthesizing large amounts of erythropoietin to increase blood oxygen levels. Meanwhile, I've discovered widespread telomerase overexpression in both Asgardians and your DNA, as well as cells dividing far more than 10 to the power of 16—a phenomenon that has been achieved in ordinary human cells through your magician and Extremis gene-editing tools."

"So, you mean we can now create super soldiers who surpass Captain America?"

"If you're still not satisfied, we can insert another heart into the test subject. We can just use stem cells to grow the organ." Maya Hansen stretched. She had rested thoroughly for several days while Su Rui was setting up the defenses; this was a vacation Salomon had given her. "Or we could insert another lung."

“You know I want more than just that, Maya,” Salomon said. “I’ve prepared armor and weapons for them, and if they’re only at Captain America’s level, they definitely won’t be able to wear what I’ve prepared for them. Go on, Maya Hansen.”

"This is technology that has already surpassed the level of human technology, Salomon."

"Our enemies don't care about these things." The sorcerer looked down at the report in his hand and said without looking up, "Remember that monster that was carried out of my office the other day? There are hundreds of millions of those monsters. Even Captain America might not be able to defeat one. I need more powerful warriors."

"Hmm? You still won't tell me what happened in this office that day?"

"It's just a prank by some bored old man," Salomon waved his hand, sitting behind his newly renovated desk. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. The reason I'm letting you rest is so you can get ready for the next phase of work. The prophecy tells me that soon I will reap something in Siberia that will be enough to advance and even complete this work. It's a high-dimensional vision, an intuition that walks through the river of time. You can trust my prophecy."

"What is that? Is it a technology?"

"I don't know. I only know it will help our work, that's all." Salomon didn't look up at the female biologist in the white robe, but rather shrunk like a garden eel in the sand. "You're very important to me, Maya. I don't want anything to happen to you. Your safety is the foundation of the entire Immortal City, understand?"

"Of course I know." Maya Hansen smiled slyly. "You promised me you'd let me go shopping sometime soon."

"Just call the sorority's security team." Salomon ignored Maya Hansen's unspoken message and lowered his head back to reading the report. Only when the office door slammed shut with a silent thud did he quietly look up from behind the report and let out a long sigh of relief. Garden eels poked their heads out of the sand, continuing to sway with the current.

The office door suddenly opened, and Salomon ducked his head back in.

"My lord." Stephanie strode into the office, excitedly handing the documents to Salomon. "We've taken over almost all of Hydra's pharmaceutical companies. Whitehall's tentacles have been severed, including the World Vaccine Organization." She said with a beaming smile, "My father wants to ask you when we can launch a full-scale offensive against Whitehall. He doesn't know who the enemy is yet because we're acquiring them under the name of Baron Strucker."

"Whitehall won't fall for it."

"Of course he wouldn't, but he also can't guess that it's the old Hydra conservatives tearing him apart." Stephanie grinned maliciously. "We need Whitehall's research, don't we?"

"Yes, but not now," Salomon said casually. "He will lose, we will win. But I still need Whitehall to do something big that will change the world."

"Everyone is a tool."

"Including myself," Salomon said. "Let him live first; I need him as bait."

Stephanie was almost completely captivated by Salomon's cruelty.

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(End of this chapter)