Chapter 124: Chapter 124
Before approaching the test bench with two bags of blood, Abel glanced at the potion being brewed there. He poured Bruce Banner's blood from one of the bags into a glass bowl, ensuring it was added to the cauldron for potion-making just before it coagulated.
As the potion gradually turned a dark red, Abel finally stopped adding blood. Watching the mixture change, he prepared to stir with his wand, but the potion suddenly turned pitch black and exploded violently.
The black potion and fragments of the broken cauldron flew outward, but they stopped at the force field barrier created by the Ring of Controlling Energy, causing no harm to Abel.
With a wave of his wand, Abel cast a spell to clean up the scattered remnants of the failed potion and cauldron. Looking at the remaining blood, he realized he had failed. He had wanted to create a potion that could empower people using Banner's blood, but it wasn't that simple.
"Making a potion isn't easy—it requires more study. It looks like I really need Tony and Jarvis's help."
Putting his potion research aside temporarily, Abel approached a device for making magic wands. This was a tool he'd obtained from Tony to assist in wand-making.
A wand body was already completed in the device, crafted by Abel for Kaecilius. Now that he had decided to have Kaecilius follow him, he intended to fully support his training. Half measures would yield no real progress.
The body of Kaecilius's wand was made from pine.
In addition to the wand material, Abel had obtained a variety of woods from Asgard's back hills and acquired the bodies of many mystical creatures across the Nine Realms from Thor. This greatly enriched his material library, making wand-making considerably easier.
This also revived a long-suppressed hobby of Abel's.
Before, he hadn't had the resources to pursue it, but now, with ample supplies, his interest in wand-making had resurfaced.
Some people collect stamps; others collect bottle caps. And some collect… well, things best left unsaid.
Abel, however, liked collecting all kinds of magic wands. That was the main reason he learned wand-making. In his past life, few wizards made wands themselves, and if he hadn't loved collecting them, he wouldn't be so proficient.
Kaecilius's wand had a pine body and a core made of serpent nerve tissue. After confirming the wand's perfection, Abel took it, left his laboratory, walked out of the closet, and opened a portal to Kaecilius's location.
It was a private psychology clinic, where Kaecilius resided in the real world.
Before going to Kamar-Taj to study magic, Kaecilius had been a psychiatrist. Now, he'd resumed his former profession. Most Kamar-Taj mages practiced as doctors in the real world, and Kaecilius was simply returning to tradition.
"Master Abel, you're here."
Sitting across from Kaecilius's desk, Abel placed a box in front of him and said, "In this box is a magic wand I made for you. There's also a memory crystal with ten basic spells recorded on it. You're not yet at the level where I can teach you directly, so you can learn these on your own. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me."
"Understood, Master Abel."
Without further conversation, Abel got up and left Kaecilius's clinic. Exiting the building, he looked at the iconic Stark Tower in the distance. Though he couldn't be certain, he suspected New York might still face the Chitauri. Abel aimed to strengthen himself as much as possible before such an event and had already identified a path to do so.
San Venganza.
The place had been left in ruins after the previous battle, its original appearance almost unrecognizable.
Abel reopened the portal and arrived. He glanced around, and before he could speak, the bright moonlight overhead dimmed as dark clouds quickly blanketed this once-sacred ground.
An instant later, an old man in a black robe, holding a cane with meticulously styled hair, emerged from the half-collapsed church of San Venganza and approached Abel.
"Mr. Xiao, you didn't keep me waiting long. You've come to make a deal so soon."
"Mephisto, perhaps we have different senses of time. To me, it's already been quite a while."
Mephisto's eyes drifted to the Rings of Energy and Frost on Abel's left hand, lingering especially on the Ring of Frost. Then he smiled, "Regardless of how fast or slow time passes, you're here to make a deal, correct?"
"That's right. I can give you the San Venganza contract, but you'll need to give me something in return that satisfies me."
"As long as I have it, I'll provide whatever you want."
"Anything?"
"Anything!"
Abel looked at Mephisto, smiling, and said, "Very well. Then I'd like one-tenth of the authority over the Fires of Hell."
Mephisto's smile immediately faded, his face shifting to a fierce demonic visage as he stared intently at Abel in the dim night.
"Abel Shaw, do you know what you're asking?"
"Mephisto, I may not know all about the San Venganza contract, but I understand it's important to you. It's not just about a handful of souls—the power of a few hundred souls means little to you. There's something else significant about it, so it's worth the price.
"Besides, I'm not asking for dominion over the hell dimension itself, just a portion of the authority over the Hellfire that resides within it. I think, given the circumstances, this price is not unreasonable. Don't you agree?"
"Mr. Xiao, I must admit you have an impressive grasp of Hell's dynamics. But you should also know that the concept of 'authority' is not trivial. I may be able to grant you some degree of power over Hellfire, but one-tenth… is impossible!"
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