Marvel Magic Case Files.

Chapter 2 Innate Magic

"This is the story of your birth, Salomon," the Ancient One said, stroking five-year-old Salomon's fluffy, curly hair. The Ancient One had always been very pleased with Salomon's behavior, because Salomon had never displayed the capricious crying and tantrums expected of a child; the Ancient One could always see Salomon deep in thought.

The Venerable One was not surprised by this performance. After all, Salomon's birth was a creation of Heaven. Although the Ancient One had intercepted it halfway, his special qualities would still manifest.

For example, he possessed some magical power without having to form a contract with the Vishanti. This ability manifested when he was five years old, around the year 2000, and it caused him a little trouble.

Spellcasters who use their own magic to cast spells do exist on Earth. Ordinary people, with the right methods, can refine magic from their life force. In the West, this power is called magic, and in the East, it is called qi. But regardless of the name, it is the necessary energy to drive magic. However, those spellcasters who refine their life force are invariably not very powerful. Apart from a few exceptionally gifted mystics, they are all self-taught mages.

Those who generate their own magic are all of special status, possessing some connection to other dimensions. Many Kamar-Taj sorcerers inquired with the Sorcerer Supreme about this, fearing that the source of this magic might negatively affect the beautiful child.

"This is because he has more life force." The Sorcerer Supreme pulled Salomon, who was sitting beside her in a daze, over. She opened his palms so that the apprentices could see the unresolved stigmas that could only be seen with special vision. She said, "The essence of magic is an energy that exists in all kinds of life. Because he was a born saint, his body was strengthened by positive energy, so he has a stronger life force."

The excessive life force was automatically converted into magic by the Holy Mark, and his magic only used his life force, which had nothing to do with the outer dimension.

Therefore, even before signing the pact with the Vishanti, Salomon already possessed the ability to cast spells autonomously. Furthermore, his body possessed strength and senses far exceeding those of ordinary people.

However, the Sorcerer Supreme did not tell anyone about the other things brought by the Stigmata; she felt that the other apprentices did not need to know these things.

Salomon's clothing was more conspicuous than that of the other Kamar-Taj apprentices because it was made by the Sorcerer Supreme from crimson rigging, intended to prevent the stigmata on his hands from going berserk. Wearing this clothing also made the stigmata no longer visible to ordinary people.

"Is it heaven? Or does it originate from Vishanti?" an apprentice asked.

"No, it's just a positive energy plane, not Heaven, nor does it originate from Vishanti," said the Sorcerer Supreme. "The magic we acquire is also positive energy, and Mount Heaven is a positive energy plane; there's no difference. If his body had been exposed to negative energy, that is, dark magic, he wouldn't be able to gain weight."

Salomon Damonette puffed out his cheeks in dissatisfaction, insisting that he was still chubby, which prompted several female apprentices to pinch his plump cheeks a few times.

The Sorcerer Supreme has spent years removing the worship of Vishanti from Kamar-Taj, even though Vishanti is the overlord of Kamar-Taj and herself. One of the reasons Kamar-Taj can draw magic from Vishanti rather than from other magical entities is the intervention of the Eternal God—one of the five cosmic entities. It was also due to the Eternal God's instructions that the Ancient One was able to form a pact with the magical entity Vishanti.

In fact, the Sorcerer Supreme was initially hesitant to accept this disciple, because even the Vishanti had their own ulterior motives. Although the Sorcerer Supreme had the Eternity behind him, the Vishanti were the true masters who provided the magic, and they had already designated the next Sorcerer Supreme. The Trinity—Agomortho, Oshtu, and Hoggus—all wanted to bring Kamar-Taj, which had effectively escaped their control, back under their wing. They wanted to choose a Sorcerer Supreme who was obedient enough—but the Ancient One was simply too powerful, and her relationship with Eternity was too close.

The Vishanti couldn't guarantee that breaking the pact wouldn't push the Ancient One to Dormammu's side, making her their enemy. They couldn't afford to gamble, so they could only quietly wait for the Ancient One to die naturally.

The birth of Salomon Damonet gave the Sorcerer Supreme new hope—a hope to ensure Earth's independence and autonomy before a new Sorcerer Supreme emerged, preventing Kamar-Taj from becoming merely a puppet of Vishanti. She also told him the story of Jezebel, attempting to channel Salomon's feelings into the human race, telling him that his existence was a continuation of Jezebel's love.

"How did you do that?" the Venerable asked Salomon after the apprentices had left.

The Sorcerer Supreme touched Salomon Damonet's fluffy, soft, long black curly hair. Before the human child had fully grown up, this hairstyle made it impossible to tell whether he was male or female, making him look especially cute. Even the Sorcerer Supreme couldn't help but pinch his chubby, rosy cheeks a couple of times.

"I just wanted to heat up the soup. I was reading the Book of Rozier and didn't have time to eat, so I wanted to finish the soup I didn't finish last night." Salomon shrugged, looking extremely innocent, and he was indeed not lying.

In fact, Salomon saw the Ancient One the moment he gained self-awareness. He quickly figured out his location, but due to his extremely low-desire personality, he didn't even bother to be surprised.

Salomon then examined the golden fingers more closely. The ten holy marks on his fingers not only granted him physical abilities far exceeding those of ordinary people, but also contained the memories of ten deceased archmages, filled with a wealth of magical knowledge and life stories—he could, of course, discern the origins of these memories: either Faerûn or Greyhawk, either Eberon or Klein, and even some from the Inner Sea world.

But he still wanted to complain about why there were so many mages who loved necromancy in the memories he received!

Is it because he's too evil that he'll be hammered to death? Also, why is his cheat ability similar in function to the Soul Stone of a demigod lich? Does all of this imply that he'll become a lich in the future?

While this cheat ability is a physical characteristic of his, it also brings some side effects—when unlocking the holy marks to acquire knowledge, he will receive a large amount of information overload, because these great mages are all beings with long lifespans, while he is just a reclusive shut-in, and his soul strength is not yet sufficient to accept all the memories.

This is a vicious cycle, so Salomon must begin learning Kamar-Taj magic and elevate his soul essence in order to receive the magic within the Stigmata.

After Salomon received his basic education, he was allowed to read some of the spellbooks in the library. The spellbook he read, the Book of Roziel, also known as the Key of Solomon, was not the original, but a translated version that had been deciphered. It had nothing to do with King Solomon and was purely written by medieval sorcerers.

The book encourages killing and blood sacrifice, which is typical of black magic. However, because its content is all nonsense and contains no useful information, it was thrown into a corner of the library and used as one of the terrifying textbooks for newcomers to learn about black magic. Salomon was able to read the book because of this.

The Book of Enoch, which truly records the knowledge of the angel Rozier, is currently forbidden to be viewed by Salomon.

This is equivalent to parents scaring their children by saying things like, "If you don't go to sleep, some strange thing like the Big Bad Wolf/Witch/Voldemort will come and get you"—purely intimidation education.

Salomon, however, was thoroughly enjoying the show. After all, he had only absorbed some memories of magic tricks and had never been exposed to orthodox mysticism.

Salomon's innate personality and the excitement he felt when mages first tried magic, as he remembered, led him to attempt to heat soup with magical tricks—in a world without spell slots and magic networks, he could only chant long incantations and control the output of magic power.

But instead of turning the cold soup into hot soup, he caused a burst of sparks to crackle and burst out of the door, which greatly worried the mages who were practicing their spells, hence the scene at the beginning.

The Sorcerer Supreme patted Salomon's head gently again. She knew, of course, that Salomon's origins were not simple, but she did not intend to tell anyone about it. She did not even use the Eye of Agamotto to see Salomon's future. Although she obtained the Eye of Agamotto from the Eternal God, as the Eye of Agamotto was an artifact of Vishanti, it was hard to say that Vishanti had not left any tricks behind.

The Venerable One seemed to be pondering something. One type of magic could only support one system of magic; for example, Dormammu's cultists couldn't learn the portals of Kamar-Taj. The Venerable One knew that Stigmata granted knowledge, but Salomon's magic seemed capable of sustaining those spells…

"You need to practice more, Salomon." After a while, the Ancient One reached out and pulled Salomon over. She took out a glass of juice from the portal. "You can try freezing this drink. Here, give it a try. Don't be afraid, I'm here with you."

Salomon was somewhat moved. Looking at the Sorcerer Supreme's encouraging gaze, he did as she instructed… Then the Sorcerer Supreme took a straw, inserted it into the cup, and walked away with the cup covered in a thin layer of frost. Salomon rolled his eyes—well, the Sorcerer Supreme was indeed somewhat different from what he had imagined.

Initially, in his mind, the Sorcerer Supreme should be an extremely dignified and compassionate wizard, like Dumbledore next door. But what kind of mentor would say a bunch of touching things just to trick an apprentice into casting a spell to freeze a drink?

The Ancient One doesn't look like a crooked-nosed old man who loves sweets!

New book! Seeking investment.

A heads-up: some people might notice this, while others might not, but the main character has been deliberately cultivated.

(End of this chapter)