Shadow of the Beautiful World

At the same time that Merlin successfully summoned his guardian spirit, in the remote Nevada State, in the research base under SHIELD, Nick Fury, who rushed over urgently, was looking at the training in front of him. things in the warehouse.

It was a square, one-half the size of an adult's cultivation chamber. In a temperature higher than the outside world, there were several unique gadgets.

They were egg-like things, but each one was the size of a human head, and its appearance was similar to that of concrete. It looked quite rough, and each egg had strange barbs on its surface, which looked like some kind of rare egg. Same fruit.

Fury looked at these things seriously, with an inexplicable emotion shining in his right eye.

There are expectations, curiosity, and vigilance.

Behind Fury, stood a researcher wearing a white coat and gold-rimmed glasses. He had a gentle appearance. On the chest of the white coat, he was wearing the identity card of a S.H.I.E.L.D. 4 of the symbol.

This means that this is a level 4 researcher. In the recently rebuilt S.H.I.E.L.D., there are not many such researchers in total.

Dr. Richard.

Fury touched the shell of the incubator with his fingers, and he said softly:

Is this thing the one I imagined?

Um.

The researcher put his hands in his pockets and said in a rigorous tone of a researcher:

Although I don't have any information to prove the reproduction process of this creature, I can be sure that the five eggs in front of you are indeed the legendary dragon eggs. They were taken out from the abdomen of the dead Hungarian Horntail .”

Only five?

Fury looked back at the researcher named Richard, who pointed to a larger culture chamber on the other side of the laboratory with some regrets. There were many broken eggshells and some underdeveloped weird larvae.

more than.

Richard said:

However, these are the only five we have found that are intact and have weak life activities inside the eggshell.

And no one knows how the hornets lay eggs. We can only follow the clues we can find and follow the physiological habits of other lizards to place these immature dragon eggs in a high-temperature and dry environment. middle.

The doctor looked down at the watch on his wrist, pushed his glasses, and said:

Twelve hours have passed since the transplantation. The situation of these dragon eggs has not improved, but it has not deteriorated either. This shows that we have found the right method, but our method is not complete.

So, it looks like we need some help.

Fury narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin. After a while, he said to the researcher cautiously:

Dr. Richard, it seems that in addition to studying the biological gene enhancement project, you have to work more recently. Will this affect your life?

No, it won't.

The doctor shook his head and said:

I am very interested in these strange creatures, and my wife is also very supportive of my work. However, I cannot complete this work alone, Director Fury, I need some assistants.

Well, I'll arrange it.

Fury nodded, and he said:

Not only must you have rich knowledge and skilled skills, but you must also ensure your resume and personality. Such assistants are not easy to find, so Dr. Richard, you may have to wait for a while.

It doesn't matter.

The doctor laughed and said:

As soon as possible.

The two were talking when the cell phone in Fury's arms suddenly rang. The director smiled apologetically at the doctor, then walked aside, picked up the cell phone, and asked:

Merlin, what are you doing calling at this hour? Aren't you on vacation?

On the other side of the phone, Merlin who was lowering his head to clean up his messy basement said:

The Magic Congress has just sent an owl letter. The president of North American wizards invited you and me to visit the headquarters of the Magic Congress this afternoon to discuss their preliminary cooperation with SHIELD. Fury, you will not forget this something?

Uh, no!

Fury really forgot about this matter, mainly because too many things happened in the past few days, which made him feel a little bit overwhelmed.

But in front of Merlin, Fury was unwilling to expose his weakness. He said angrily:

I've been waiting for this meeting! I can come anytime, afternoon, right? Where is it?

New York, Woolworth Building.

Merlin says:

It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon, don't be late.

Fury snorted and said with some dissatisfaction:

How could I be late?

He hung up the phone, made another call quickly, and said to the assistant on the other end:

Hill, send a plane to Nevada to pick me up as quickly as possible, and prepare a set of formal clothes for me, and you prepare one for yourself. Come with me to the Magic Congress in the afternoon, and you will be the recorder.

—

reparo! (repair spell)

With his sleeves rolled up, Merlin kept waving his magic wand, throwing restoration spells one after another. In the basement before his eyes, the glassware shattered by the impact of magic power quickly reassembled and returned to their original state.

sourgify! (cleansing spell)

He threw a few cleaning spells towards the ground to wash away all the stains on the ground.

Cleaning up with magic is very convenient and far more effective than manual cleaning. In just a few minutes, the messy basement was tidied up very brightly, and those reorganized utensils even had a shiny feeling.

Merlin stood with his hips akimbo, and stood at the entrance of the basement, looking at the fruits of his labor, he nodded in satisfaction:

Well, if I don't work as an agent in the future, I'll just become a cleaner. I will definitely become the king of cleaners in New York.

Whoa!

And the moment Merlin closed the basement door, a sharp cry sounded above his head. Amidst the lingering dark red light, a bird appeared on the railing on the second floor of the living room, staring at it with its own red eyes. Merlin looked.

It is a raven.

This illusory raven is larger than the real raven. It is about 1 meter long, with a sharp and slightly curved beak, fluffy feathers that shine brightly, and a wedge-shaped tail with obvious points. layer.

At first glance, it looks like a small eagle.

This is the guardian spirit Merlin just condensed, an energy body like Harry's stag.

But this guy's appearance was far worse than Harry's beautiful and majestic stag.

It can even be called ugly.

Merlin didn't know what went wrong. In short, the color of this guardian spirit was a little strange. It wasn't as beautiful as Harry's guardian spirit in silver-blue, but it was the same as the magic power on Merlin's body. An ominous dark red.

And because Merlin's magic power is greater than Harry's, this guardian spirit can last for a long time, and it can communicate with Merlin's will. Merlin can feel that this energy body is like a part of his own spirit .

But it has its own will, very weak, like a newly born life, like a piece of blank paper.

Merlin didn't dislike this ugly guardian spirit, even though it was not beautiful and not as powerful as Merlin imagined.

He stretched out his hand, and the raven on the second floor spread its wings, twirled lightly in the living room, and landed on Merlin's arm.

Merlin stretched out his hand and stroked its feathers. He stepped forward and opened the window, allowing the raven to soar into the sky and fly into the bright sunlight outside the window.

This is an energy body condensed by magic power, which cannot be seen by ordinary people, and Merlin does not need to worry that its flight will cause panic.

He stood by the window, connecting his spirit with the flying raven. The next moment, a picture overlooking the city appeared in front of Merlin's eyes, as if he himself had transformed into the fast-flying raven. The sky flies over the city, and the whole of Hell's Kitchen can be seen in a panoramic view.

Moreover, it also inherited Merlin's perception of darkness. Its eyesight is excellent, and it can even clearly see the cheeks of every pedestrian on the ground at an altitude of hundreds of meters.

Under Merlin's control, the raven spread its wings and flew quickly in the air, crossed Hell's Kitchen, entered Brooklyn, and flew all the way from Brooklyn to Queens, and finally stopped outside the window of cousin May. , As a result, I saw Mei who was changing clothes.

Merlin hastily closed his eyes, canceling the Raven's perception.

The raven quickly disappeared outside Mei Lin's window, and when it reappeared, it had already returned to Mei Lin's arm.

Whoa!

The raven let out a cry, and Merlin reached out and touched its feathers. The appearance of this thing not only gave him a more effective offensive ability against dark creatures like dementors, but also gave him another kind of long-distance A means of distance detection and surveillance.

As ugly as it is, it's still useful.

Merlin said to his guardian spirit Raven:

I have to give you a name. In England, the raven is called the 'Victory Bird,' so I'll call you Victor.

Woohoo

Victor, the spirit of the raven, flapped his wings and neighed, and in the next moment, it shattered into specks of light that dissipated on Merlin's arm.

After completing the summoning of the summoning guard, Merlin was in a good mood. He hummed a song, returned to the laboratory, took out a wooden box from his pocket, and opened it on the table.

In that box, there were five small irregular crystal stones emitting pale light.

This is what was left of the five dementors whose bodies had been scattered.

Merlin had to find a way to get rid of this thing. As time went by, these five stones would absorb the happy emotions floating around Merlin, which would revive those difficult dementors again.

What should I do? Hand it directly to the Magic Congress? Or sell it on the black market?

Merlin looked at the hot thing with some sadness.

The fact that dementors cannot be killed is a headache, and they are nominally the jailers of the British Ministry of Magic, and they are also considered public officials. It is too hateful to just take it out so casually.

His gaze fell on the other side of the table, where there was a black leather glove, which was the material that Merlin was going to use to make the portkey. This time, he planned to make a long-term use of the portkey.

He looked at the glove, then at the stone in the box.

Soon, an immature idea appeared in Merlin's mind.

—

At three o'clock in the afternoon, in front of the Woolworth Building in downtown New York, Merlin, who was wearing a gray casual suit, wearing rimless glasses, and carrying the magic handbag given by Harry, waited for Nick Fowler who arrived on time. Rui.

This guy who always wears a windbreaker, military trousers and combat boots, changed into a steady suit today for the first time, with a bow tie around his neck, and the slightly rude eye patch on his left eye was also taken off, replaced by a pair of Some old black sunglasses.

Well, the one Merlin gave him.

Behind Fury, Maria Hill, who was wearing a short professional attire and light makeup, was holding some documents in her hands, and she also wore a pair of wine-red glasses, looking like an urban beauty.

Isn't your dress too informal?

Fury glanced at Merlin's casual clothes, and he said to Merlin:

I have clothes in the car, go and change.

Need not.

Merlin looked at the watch on his wrist and said to Fury:

Actually, I forgot to remind you that the wizards' aesthetics are different from ours. They admire the dresses of the previous era, but scoff at the suits of this era. Seriously, your outfit is too weird. It’s not as good-looking as your previous windbreaker and blindfold.”

Then you didn't say it earlier?

Uncomfortably, Fury reached out to take off the tie around his neck. He unbuttoned the first button, glared at Merlin, then turned around and returned to the car. A few minutes later, the old Fury reappeared.

Fury moved his shoulders and wrists, looked at the building in front of him that was built in 1913, and said to Merlin:

Come on, how do we get in? Take the elevator? Or go through the main entrance? I guess their base is in the basement of this building?

No.

Merlin raised his head and looked at the white building in front of him. He reached out and pulled out the wand at his waist, and tapped three times rhythmically on the street lamp beside him.

Like the way to open the Leaky Cauldron in London.

The next moment, under the amazed gaze of Fury and Hill, the 792-foot-high building in front of them took the center as the dividing line. In the vibration of the horizon, those bricks continuously rotated and retracted in a complex and mysterious way. , as if a sophisticated instrument had been turned on.

The scene was like countless Rubik's Cubes turning together. Fury couldn't help closing his eyes after watching it for a few seconds, and Hill turned his eyes to the other side with a pale face.

The Magic Congress of the United States is hidden in the center of this building. A powerful illusion has been imposed on the outside, which will exert a strong impact on the spirit of ordinary people. It is a very correct choice not to watch the process of unraveling this illusion.

After more than ten seconds, the complicated changing process ended, and an upward staircase appeared in the center of the building in front of me. At the end of the staircase, there was a door full of Gothic style. On that door, there was a huge , lifelike owl sculpture.

And in front of the door, Merlin's friend, the senior Auror Aisinus was already waiting for them there.

Merlin stretched out his hand and made a please gesture to Fury, and he said:

Come in, sir.

You and Hill are probably the few Muggles who have been invited to the Magic Congress since 1892.

Believe me, this is a rare honor, and I have to remind you, don't be surprised by whatever you see inside.