Marvel Magic Case Files.

Chapter 85 Passing By

Lorna's parents are completely ordinary people with no special genes or superpowers, while the little girl in Salomon's arms possesses extraordinary abilities due to a genetic mutation. According to Athena's physical examination of these children, the genetic mutation in their bodies is intermittent, making their superpowers highly unstable. However, after a certain period of time, this mutation will completely disappear.

Salomon believes this is the result of multiple realities caused by interference from parallel universes. He had always had a question: where did the mutants go? Now he roughly understands—mutants don't exist in this world at all. The parallel universe counterparts of the children Athena adopted are probably all mutants. Otherwise, the origins of these genetic mutations and superpowers are inexplicable.

Especially Lorna Dayne; Salomon knew her name because in another world she was nicknamed "Polaris." Now that she's lost her superpowers, it's a good thing, at least she can live out her life peacefully under Athena's care. Of course, it's also possible that a mutant might emerge due to a relatively stable outcome of the interference, provided that such a mutant is incredibly powerful—like Scarlet Witch. After realizing this was the result of interference from a parallel world, these children also became Salomon's subjects of observation, which greatly enriched his life.

At least he can mentally distance himself from those classmates who have colorful parasites on their heads.

Salomon's daily routine is as follows: After breakfast, he puts on the everyday clothes chosen by the Sorcerer Supreme (who has excellent fashion sense) and is taken to London for school by Kasirius; after school at 3 pm, he goes to Athena's apartment for art lessons and then visits the children; in the evening, he goes to the apartment shared by Bayonetta and Joan of Arc for dinner (and pets the cats); after dinner, he begins his magical studies; before bed, he puts on his sheep pajamas, goes to the Dark Dimension to see Dormammu, and says goodnight to Him, although Dormammu is always manic, Salomon still forgives Him.

After Jubilee was completely destroyed, the angels rarely visited Earth anymore, and even when they did, they were minor figures. This gave Bayonetta and Joan of Arc a great deal of free time. Joan of Arc found a job as an elementary school teacher in New York, while Bayonetta became a nominal nun in the nearly bankrupt Ragnarok Order, specializing in funeral affairs. With the witches idle, Salomon's only opportunity to go out was also lost. The Sorcerer Supreme seemed to have foreseen this opportunity, ordering Salomon to achieve good grades at school. As for other affairs of Kamar-Taj, the Sorcerer Supreme did not want Salomon to be involved for the time being.

During this nearly year-long, uneventful period of school life (referring to Salomon's initial greetings to the extradimensional bacteria and the naming of them), Salomon studied and took exams just like any other student his age. However, the influence of the magical world permeated every aspect of his life. For example, his thinking speed was much faster than most people's, and his grades were even ridiculously outstanding, which earned him the qualification to participate in the European Union's Young Scientists Competition.

Indeed, in a science competition, science and magic are not incompatible. The magical technology of the Inner Sea world is extremely advanced, and power armor represents the pinnacle of personal protective technology. Although these technological products are all powered by magic, this does not prevent Salomon from replicating them and using batteries to power them. After gaining access to one of the memories and reviewing it briefly, Salomon recalled some of the knowledge of a technological mage.

To fulfill the Sorcerer Supreme's orders, Salomon reluctantly created a rather useless contraption: a chemical analyzer. This handheld device had a retractable stick with a nozzle at the other end, and could be used to quickly identify synthetic drugs, poisons, and chemicals with extremely high accuracy.

In the hands of someone with expertise, this can be an extremely useful tool, but it's utterly useless for analyzing magical potions, which is why Salomon called it a worthless thing.

Despite this, the invention still garnered praise from professionals, and Salomon received an award for its unanalyzable technology. During the photo session, Salomon's smile was strained, as he clearly disliked the way the capitalists pointed and commented on him, reminding him of his own days as a victim of financial exploitation. Meanwhile, Tony Stark, now Iron Man, seemed quite interested in these future scientists during this period, and he became one of the judges for the competition.

"Good idea, Mr. Damonette." In the private lounge, the billionaire approached Salomon, marking their first conversation. To Tony Stark's surprise, Salomon didn't seem overly excited upon his arrival, though he wasn't particularly bothered either.

He brandished the analytical instrument in his hand and said to himself, "I've tried to disassemble this thing, but I've never seen this kind of technology before. You did all of this by yourself? How can you do something like this while wearing so many rings?"

"It's just a small, insignificant thing, not very useful, and it's nothing compared to your achievement," Salomon said. "As for the rings. Yes, I finished this little thing while wearing these rings; it wasn't difficult."

Salomon was telling the truth. Tony Stark's Iron Man suit possesses many advanced technologies that far surpass the current level of human technology. Whether it's the Iron Man suit's electric propulsion system or its shock absorption design, they are all extremely outstanding. Tony Stark miniaturized these technologies and installed them in his suit, which is a remarkable achievement.

Salomon's praise seemed to have cheered Tony Stark up a bit, but the impatience on his face still lingered.

"What about the cost?" he asked, seemingly suppressing his emotions and pretending to be nonchalant.

"Fifty pounds of gold," Salomon replied without looking up as he packed his things. He knew what was bothering Tony Stark, but Salomon showed no interest in his palladium poisoning; after all, he would handle the problem himself, and Salomon didn't need to worry about it.

"Gold? Your unit of measurement is really old-fashioned. But I think if it's mass-produced, the cost should come down quickly, and it's something that can be put on the market immediately." Tony Stark blinked. "You're going to high school soon, do you want to go to any college? Are you interested in... after you graduate from college?"

"No, Mr. Stark." Salomon slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked out of the lounge. "Like I said, it's just a gadget, something I came up with on a whim."

"But you can do better, can't you?" Tony Stark said. "You've only achieved a little less than I did at the same age, and you can do much more and much better at Stark Industries. The future of the world needs scientists like you."

"I think you don't understand what I mean, Mr. Stark." Salomon turned his head and said expressionlessly, "Science is just a research project that I took for granted. I have no interest in advancing human technological development. I only do this because of my teacher's requirements, and you don't need a few more researchers."

"I can give you the patent!"

"It's yours," Salomon said. "I don't mind."

"This is the first time I've met someone stranger than me," Tony Stark muttered, watching Salomon walk out of the lounge. Before Salomon had gone far, he saw a red-haired woman in business attire walk over from the other side of the corridor. The sorcerer seemed completely oblivious to her, not even glancing at her, and brushed past her without a second glance.

This is Natasha Romanoff, a S.H.I.E.L.D. spy planted within Tony Stark's inner circle. One of her missions is to monitor Tony Stark's health and conduct psychological evaluations. Salomon didn't want to attract S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention, so he deliberately avoided her.

Natasha Romanoff turned around, puzzled, watching Salomon's retreating figure. She had briefly glanced at his file earlier: Salomon Damonette, born at Christmas, parents unknown, guardian a widower (referring to Kasirios), but evidence showed that this widower and Salomon Damonette had no connection. Because of the suspicious background, she had rushed over immediately after learning of Stark's meeting with this man, but Salomon's behavior only deepened her suspicions.

After all, Salomon had never received counter-surveillance training, which made his movements and expressions seem overdone and extremely unnatural—a teenage boy who, upon seeing a beautiful woman, didn't even flinch could only mean that he was either shy or knew her and didn't want to attract her attention. Natasha didn't see Salomon blush at all, so only the second possibility remained.

But she suppressed her doubts for the time being. The most important thing now was to confirm Tony Stark's situation. When she had free time, she could access S.H.I.E.L.D.'s information network and investigate Salomon Damonette herself.

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"Are you serious?" Salomon asked, full of doubt. "Go to Eton College? Are you planning to send me to Oxford in the future? Are you going to make me a civil servant in Whitehall?"

"In fact, His Holiness doesn't mind your choices about the future," Mordo said. "As long as you don't reveal the secrets of magic, you can do whatever you want. I think going to school will help you develop your mind, since you won't need to work after graduation anyway."

“Well, thank you very much, Mordo,” Salomon said. “Full-time school, what a mess. I can’t even study magic there. Am I supposed to read spellbooks in a normal person’s dormitory? You know, my magic level has been improving by leaps and bounds lately. I’ve endured years of only being able to use a few tricks. You can’t just interrupt my progress like this.”

“But His Holiness wants you to go to a good school,” said Cassirios, who was sitting next to him. “For some reason, His Holiness seems very happy that you were able to beat those people in the competition, and now it seems that His Holiness wants you to beat even more opponents.”

Salomon roughly understood the Venerable One's thoughts. The Sorcerer Supreme was a Celt, while the majority of the British population were the former invaders, the Anglo-Saxons, along with some Vikings. The Venerable One essentially wanted the Saxons to taste defeat again, but this time it would be done by him, an Israelite or Hebrew.

This could be considered a minor tantrum from the Sorcerer Supreme. Having lived to such an advanced age, he should have long since reached the point of being able to do as he pleased, but the Sorcerer Supreme's only act of capriciousness had to be indulged by Salomon, which was somewhat both amusing and exasperating. Having understood all this, Salomon sighed.

"I will explain this to His Holiness," he said. "I think His Holiness will understand my thoughts."

"I hope so too." While Kasirius agreed to Salomon attending school, he opposed Salomon completely leaving the magical world; that was impossible. After Salomon's spellcasting level began to soar, the Sorcerer Supreme instructed him to select a few spells to copy into the library. Now, many Kamar-Taj apprentices were learning the spells he had copied—Sleep, Preemptive Strike, Distracting Step, Magic Missiles, Featherfall, Leap—these spells had become compulsory for apprentices, and Salomon, who shared these spells, was welcomed by almost everyone in Kamar-Taj. They were already discussing in private whether Salomon might be the next Sorcerer Supreme.

Fortunately, the whole thing about sending Salomon to the public school was a misunderstanding. The Sorcerer Supreme was just joking, but the stubborn Mordo took it seriously. When Salomon went to see the Sorcerer Supreme, the misunderstanding was quickly cleared up.

"You met with Tony Stark today?" the Venerable asked.

"Yes, teacher," Salomon replied.

"How is it?"

"What, how is it?"

"His character." As usual, the Venerable handed Salomon a bottle of orange soda; it seemed the refrigerator in Salomon's bedroom had been compromised once again.

"A synonym for frivolity," Salomon said.

"No need to rush, he needs to grow," the Sorcerer Supreme said. "You also need to grow. Have you decided on your future path in magic?"

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)