Marvel Magic Case Files.

Chapter 94 Alchemy and Seeking Help

"Classical literature, interesting. Why do I have to study thermodynamics? Isn't that a university course? Celestial mechanics? I'm in high school, not some thermonuclear research institute." Salomon, whom Athena already considered to be entering his rebellious phase, couldn't help but complain. "You didn't expect me to build a nuclear reactor right now, did you?"

"Shut up, and then follow my instructions. The Sorcerer Supreme doesn't have a diploma, but I do, and I'll arrange all your courses." Athena suddenly became agitated. "In a sense, I am your mother, and you must listen to my arrangements."

"But this isn't like ancient Greece anymore."

"That's just the rebellious phase. The more I tell you to do something, the more you want to rebel. Why can't you just listen to me like you would the Sorcerer Supreme?" Athena took a long breath and patted her chest. "Alright, let's talk, let's talk openly and honestly."

"I know the full-time school makes you uncomfortable, but your life can't be all magic. You should have some normal human thoughts. You should have fine wine and flowers; these things won't go out of style even after thousands of years. I know your hormones are making you find me annoying, but you should have what normal people have," Athena said. "I've prepared a gift for you—a Ducati motorcycle. I know you won't stay in school forever, so the bike is downstairs. It's my gift to you. You can ride it, go for a spin on the streets, and date some ordinary girls. I won't even mind if you take them out for the night, as long as you remember to wear condoms. You've already taken sex education. But female spies and witches are a different story; you can't control them yet. They'll take advantage of you."

"Let's not even talk about whether I'd be interested in motorcycles," Salomon said hesitantly, "You should know I'm an egalitarian..."

"That's good. You're at least much smarter than the ancient Greeks, who didn't even give women the right to vote." Athena raised an eyebrow. "Ever since they voted to execute Socrates, I've thought they were a bunch of idiots. What's wrong? Go on."

"I don't think there's anything wrong with witches, Athena." Salomon almost choked; talking to immortals was inevitably tiring. "It's a game, a game of emotions. Two people need to work things out together. Besides, I really have nothing to do with the female spy."

"I've lived this long, what kind of bitch haven't I seen?" Athena moved her lips, but swallowed the words back; she intended to express herself differently. But before she could speak, Salomon spoke first.

"These are things that are rarely shown in romance movies, so I guess you might not have experience with them, after all, you're a virgin goddess..."

"But I lived a long time."

"I don't think previous plays would have depicted this kind of content..."

"But I lived a long time."

"..."

"Anything else?"

"I'm back in Kamar-Taj."

"Remember to come tomorrow night, you've already broken your promise to Lorna."

----------

Salomon's full-time school life was no different from his time at the private high school.

Sleep in Kamar-Taj until 7 a.m. London time, then get up, open the portal back to your Eton College dormitory, wash up, put on your clothes and cloak (so the housemaster can see you), and then enjoy the traditional 16th-century English court breakfast unique to the old dormitory (if you don't like it, you can choose the modern recipe, but smart people know how to choose, don't they?).

His main courses consist of the usual three subjects: mathematics, physics, and chemistry, plus advanced mathematics, which is the most useful for him because most of his magic requires precise calculations to function, which relies on his "intelligence" attribute. Since he is in Year D, he needs to study in a total of 10 study groups. In addition to the four subjects mentioned above and physical education, he also has art courses (mainly drama), classical languages ​​(ancient Greek and Latin), modern foreign languages ​​(actually Chinese), theology, and modern English (counting as two study groups). Although most of these are not A-Level subjects, they are still required courses for his year.

Salomon's favorite subjects were chemistry and physics. Although these two subjects had given him a hard time in his previous life, Eton College offered a wealth of hands-on opportunities, allowing Salomon to use the school's equipment to complete his alchemical works in addition to his assignments.

He didn't intend to practice the path of a shapeshifter alchemist on himself; those alchemists who would go on a rampage after taking mutation potions seemed somewhat insane to him. He planned to start with alchemical bombs and healing potions, with a short-term goal of creating an inspiration potion to stimulate creativity and enhance mental abilities. As for whether he would become an enlightenment chemist skilled in mental work, a creation scholar specializing in constructs, or even a master of melee combat and internal cultivation alchemy, that would depend on what his future magical path required.

As for the source of his alchemical materials, he purchased them through a portal in Kamar-Taj to the interdimensional wizarding city of Vandazar-Fol, a relay point between different dimensions. All arcane mages in the material world [Note 1] would come here to exchange ideas; it was essentially a "doorless bar" for all dimensions, open only to spellcasters. Vandazar-Fol was also a major source of magical materials for Kamar-Taj, and Salomon's herb orders went unnoticed. In addition, he secretly captured a deep blue mana-eating slug from Vandazar-Fol's garden and put it in a box—this slimy magical creature had absolutely nothing usable about it, practically the worst of the worst magical creatures. These slugs were everywhere in Vandazar-Fol's garden; its only redeeming quality was its ability to consume magic. Salomon didn't want to just throw his failed potion down the drain. Who knew if one day four turtles wearing different colored bandanas would crawl out of the sewer and call him "Dad"? He wasn't ready for that! Now, a demon-eating slug was conveniently taking care of his alchemical scraps.

Salomon assumed that Eton College would not care about the loss of a few flasks and the missing corks from the housemaster's wine collection, and indeed, no one cared about such a trivial matter except for the housemaster who was splashed with red wine.

Good heavens! The sorcerer suddenly realized. Did I attend Eton College or Hogwarts? They seem pretty similar.

However, Salomon quickly dismissed this somewhat ridiculous thought, because something else was bothering him—Nick Fury would text him every day, but after sending the texts, he wouldn't mention anything important, only trying to find out his location. Salomon would turn off his phone when he went to Mount Athena and his apartment in Bayonetta to avoid being tracked by S.H.I.E.L.D.—after all, the Prism program involved more than just the CIA; S.H.I.E.L.D., an organization that monitors the entire world, was also involved.

In Nick Fury's mind, Salomon was an extremely dangerous individual—a magical assassin who never obeyed the law, only the precepts of an ancient organization, and possessed global mobility. He didn't believe that the organization's precepts included a "no killing" rule; he had already seen the fate of the team members—the survivor was now barely surviving, lying in bed drinking juice. Furthermore, bound by the contract, he couldn't reveal Salomon's information to his agents and colleagues. Therefore, the King of Agents had to act as Salomon's monitor himself. This "surveillance" was conducted daily; whenever Salomon turned off and then back on, he would be bombarded with text messages from Nick Fury.

Nick Fury knew this action was futile, as he couldn't restrict the sorcerers through any national means, and doing so might even provoke a retaliation. Moreover, Salomon was backed by an organization far older than the United States itself, and Nick Fury wouldn't risk making a fool of himself. All he could do was send text messages.

Even though Salomon would initially reply to texts, after months of texting bombardment, he had learned to ignore Nick Fury's messages. But he couldn't blacklist Nick Fury, because Fury would just keep sending texts from different numbers…

"I don't want to waste my love-struck texts on a man. Leave that to Agent Natasha Romanoff. I know she's busy, but I'll feel better knowing there's a beautiful woman on the other end. Your bald head makes me anything but happy. 'No insurance,' 'No loan,' 'Unemployment benefits received,' 'Let's get a divorce, I want the kids,' 'Nuclear fusion strike detected en route,' choose one. You can select my auto-reply."

Salomon pressed his phone and set a timer to send the message. He had specifically calculated that the text message would be sent late at night Washington time, as payment for Nick Fury's intrusion. The sorcerer ended his day contentedly. Tomorrow would be his third month at Eton College. Apart from off-campus work and morning assembly in the chapel, he had performed all his coursework flawlessly. He hadn't participated in any inter-dormitory debates or choir activities, and his physical education time was only the minimum required. Apart from that, he had no shortcomings; even the strict housemaster couldn't find fault with his dining manners.

Michael's term is almost over, and he still has an exam and a report to complete, but this is not a problem for him.

At 9 PM London time, which is 2 AM Washington time, Salomon had just taken a dose of his self-made panacea [Note 2] to help him concentrate on reading his magic book when he sent a text message. Nick Fury quickly replied with a text message. Salomon glanced at it curiously. He was very curious as to why this guy wasn't sleeping at night, and which auto-reply Nick Fury had chosen—in fact, the latter reason was the more important one.

"Let's talk," Nick Fury texted. "I need your help."

"No!" Salomon replied crisply, since Nick Fury hadn't opted for an automatic reply. "I won't help unless it's stated in the contract."

Nick Fury replied quickly, "I have a vampire lair location, but it's not in New York or Washington, so that helps you out. But I have another favor to ask of you. How about it? Peter pays Paul (a proverb meaning people in similar situations help each other)."

"Give me the vampire's address," Salomon dialed the number, "and then tell me what you want to do."

P.S.: [Note 1] The Material World: The lowest level of the four layers that constitute the Tree of Life, its prototype being Earth, one of the four elements. This is the world in which we humans live, where the soul takes on a physical form. The primordial light disintegrated and began to crystallize, forming matter, nature, and human existence. Abstract concepts become concrete things; this is the human world.

[Note 2] Panacea

School of thought: Change system

Ring slots: 1 Alchemist, 1 Warlock/Mage

Casting time: Standard action

Ingredients: Posture

Scope: Individual

Goal: Myself

Duration: See below

This spell will choose from several effects and create a fun one related to your health, well-being, and happiness. The potion has no side effects (for example, the Intoxication Potion will not cause a hangover).

When you use the Panacea, choose one of the following effects:

- Pain Relief: You can ignore minor pain, such as arthritis, a cold, or a hangover, for one hour. During this time, you gain a +2 resistance bonus when saving from spells that affect pain.

- Clarity: You gain a +1 performance bonus on a single-attack roll, saving throw, or skill check within one minute. You can choose when to use this bonus, as long as it applies.

- Hallucination: You can see various interesting hallucinations for one hour, such as wandering lights, music, cute surreal animals, etc. You can tell yourself that these are not real, but they will distract you and give you a -2 penalty on your perception check.

- Ecstasy: Makes you feel lightheaded for an hour, just like you've drunk some alcoholic beverage.

- Waking Dream: If you use this secret medicine within an hour before going to sleep, you will have a waking dream that is completely under your control and will last for an hour.

- Resistance: You gain a +1 resistance bonus on all saving throws for one minute.

- Sleep: You entered a pleasant and comfortable sleep that lasted for at least one hour unless you were awakened. If this is your usual sleep time, you will continue to sleep normally after the effects of the elixir wear off.

- Sober: You are fully sober for one hour, and your actions are immune to any drunkenness penalties. Magical and alchemical effects (such as detection potions) still register you as drunk. The duration of this potion does not count towards the time it takes for you to sober up (as it merely delays it).

- Resilience: You gain 1 temporary health point for 1 minute.

- Awakening: You remain awake and undrowsy for 2 hours without side effects such as neurasthenia. You gain a +5 resistance bonus to resistances to sleep effects, such as lullabies and sleep spells. This elixir only delays your sleep time and does not count towards your rest and sleep duration. You can use this elixir multiple times, but each time the elixir's effect ends, you will still feel fatigued as if you hadn't used it.

There's not enough space for the annotations here, so I'll have to put them at the end of the main text.

Please give me a recommendation vote, really, I've already updated early. Actually, all authors are incredibly erotic; they only give it to you when you desperately want it, and they'll even insert themselves into your life at unexpected times.

What's going on? The system automatically censored and even changed my content? And it deleted my comments? What's happening?

(End of this chapter)