Shadow of the Beautiful World

swish

Amidst the violent, dark red, and seemingly unsettling light jumps of the Apparatus Curse, Merlin's figure was staggered and thrown into his living room.

There was a little accident when he landed, Merlin couldn't stand still, and his whole body fell on the coffee table in the living room, smashing the poor table to pieces again.

Amidst the loud noise, Merlin staggered and shook his head, trying to wake himself up.

But while he was shaking his head, the scorching heat emanating from the top of his head, the violent sparks dancing in the billowing white smoke, burned several holes in the carpet, and an unpleasant smell spread in the living room Come.

Merlin realized something was wrong.

He tried his best to open his hand, took out the blue-gray steel cane, supported his body, and walked towards his basement step by step. Every step he took would leave a scorched black footprint behind him.

He seemed to be on fire all over.

Although the clothes were still intact, the light around his body was distorted by the scorching heat, as if there was a ignited wildfire inside his body.

Snapped

In the slight sound, Merlin felt that the skin on both sides of his forehead was split, and two small hard horns protruded from the flesh and blood.

This meant that his body was transforming into a half-demon, which was a bad omen.

no no!

Merlin pressed his forehead with his hand, he tried his best to mobilize the boiling magic power of his body under the condition of chaotic will like a high fever, he called in a low voice:

Go back! Go back!

Under his scolding, after the magic power was pushed to flow again, the little black horn actually retracted, leaving two bloody wounds on both sides of Merlin's forehead.

But under the current circumstances, Merlin could no longer feel the pain.

The sublimated power seeds are in Merlin's body, merging with his own power seeds, he can feel the fusion process, in fact, it is not very painful, but it will bring a kind of swelling to every cell in the body tearing.

It was as if the entire body was to be torn apart to reorganize into a stronger and stronger body.

This feeling is very similar to what Merlin felt when he absorbed the first seed of power in space five years ago, but whether it is the surge of energy or the internal change process, it is clearer and more intense than that time many.

boom

The door of the basement was pushed open, and strange white smoke was emitted from the whole body, as if Merlin was ignited from the inside and staggered into it. His vision has begun to blur, but not like the kind of blur that is about to go blind.

On the contrary, he could feel that there seemed to be a new pair of eyes on the forehead to evolve.

This is different from the last time when Merlin temporarily entered the devil's form. This time, his body is actually converting between a human and a devil. Once the transformation is completed, Merlin will change from a human to a half-devil.

This is permanent.

Snapped

The tingling feeling on his forehead became more and more intense, and the evolution of the new pair of devil eyes would soon be completed. Merlin didn't waste any more time, he threw himself on the drawer where he put the medicine, opened the drawer, took out a small bottle of beige viscous liquid from those strangely colored bottles, and opened it Lifting the lid, he raised his head and poured the potion down.

potion smells bad

It was like the swill of the night, mixed with the juice of rotten apples after fermenting, the moment it entered Merlin's mouth, it made him want to vomit.

But the effect of this potion took effect extremely quickly.

Less than 3 seconds after Merlin drank the potion, he was accompanied by a sharp pain. He could feel that in the body full of swelling and tearing senses, there was a steady stream of new power coming from the pain along with the pain. The inside of the body gushes out, and one's own physical fitness, including the capacity of magic power, the speed of metabolism and blood circulation, is temporarily strengthened at this moment.

It was like a tank full of water that was about to overflow was suddenly doubled in size at this moment, and the water that was about to overflow fell back into the tank.

The weird sense of swelling in his body quickly subsided, and even the squirming of the devil's eye that was about to evolve on his forehead calmed down strangely at this moment.

Merlin's vision was recovering, and his consciousness was gradually returning to clarity. Even the billowing white smoke and the scorching skin quickly subsided.

This seems to mean that he has survived the most difficult moment.

In his body, the fusion of the power seeds has not yet been completed, but according to their fusion speed, the fusion and sublimation process of the power seeds should be completed before the potion expires.

Thanks.

Merlin looked at the empty crystal bottle in his hand, and he was really relieved.

This potion was called Full Moon, and it was a bottle of the first potion that Merlin concocted from the alchemy formula that Geralt gave him.

Its effect is very simple, it is to greatly tap the potential of the human body in a short period of time, and push the various qualities of the human body to a level close to the limit. The sex was widened by nearly two-thirds, so that the boiling magic power would not have a bad effect on Merlin's body.

But while this potion has amazing effects, it also has very bad negative effects.

After the body strengthening effect ends, Merlin will be weak for a period of time due to the toxicity of the potion itself, and all the potions of the demon hunter are highly toxic, which is fatal to ordinary people, as long as one drop, no matter how healthy Ordinary people will die tragically.

Merlin rubbed his forehead, put the crystal bottle aside, sat cross-legged on his own cushion, and began to mobilize the accumulated magic power in his body little by little to make them work again.

If everything goes well, then after the power seeds in his body are sublimated, Merlin's demonic power will change again. As Geralt said, every time he uses this power, he will consume a lot of magic power , so that the magic power in Merlin's body is always in a state of balance between consumption and regeneration, so as to ensure that the dark magic power will not erode his soul and body any more.

But this balance is easily broken.

The longer Merlin soaked in the power of demons, the faster the growth of dark magic power, and maybe a few years later, he will face another crisis of being corroded.

At that time, he will go hunting other demon sons again to sublimate the power seed again.

What's worse is that since this thing is called a power seed, it means that it will always blossom and bear fruit. Once the sublimation of the power seed reaches a certain limit, no matter how hard Merlin tries to maintain balance, his body will still transform into a half-demon.

In other words, his current persistence is only delaying the arrival of the dark mutation, just like drinking poison to quench thirst.

But unfortunately, Karma Taj is hard to find, and the Rock of Eternity has been cut off.

He has nothing better to do now.

In the state of meditation, several hours flew by, and when Merlin opened his eyes, it was already 10 o'clock in the morning of the next day.

He breathed a sigh of relief and tried to mobilize his strength.

swish

The familiar black mist lingered in his palm, just like before touching it, just as docile and easy to use.

And as Merlin's thoughts changed, the black mist in his hand also quickly changed its form. After a while, three sharp black throwing knives appeared between his fingers, which were extremely similar to the energy throwing knives thrown by the demon Anthony. resemblance.

Filled with a sharp feeling.

Merlin flipped his wrist, and the three flying knives flew out with a whistling sound, just like real flying knives. With the sound like bullets being fired, they were firmly nailed to the wall of the basement, causing several Flying smoke and dust.

With the swing of Merlin's fingers, the solid dark power turned into drifting smoke again and returned to his palm.

good.

He nodded and said:

Let's call you Shadow Flying Knife.

Merlin dispersed the smoke, and he stood up weakly. The toxicity of the full moon potion will take a while to be released, about a day or so. When he can also choose to configure another potion called white honey, it can dilute the toxins in the body and make him return to normal after ten minutes.

But unfortunately, there are too many ingredients in the demon hunter's alchemy formula that are too rare, and Merlin needs to go to Diagon Alley to purchase those ingredients, and Diagon Alley may not even have them.

After all, from the day of their birth, demon hunters and wizards are two completely different groups. The alchemy of both sides also has its own advantages and disadvantages. The alchemy of wizards is more comprehensive, all-inclusive, and has everything. The alchemy of the demon hunter is more targeted, and those potions are almost all prepared for assisting in the battle.

Merlin recorded the materials he needed, made a list, and asked his children in the UK to help raise them.

After the list was completed, he looked at the time, then thought for a moment, and sorted out all the things he was currently doing.

A few minutes later, he picked up his cell phone and called a relatively unfamiliar number.

Hello? Miss Vivian? I'm Merlin. I have a matter. I want to ask the Emperor Organization. It's not a business matter. Uh, it's a personal matter. I mean, can we talk about it face to face?

Well, okay, see you tomorrow at Mick's in Queens at 9 pm.

Merlin made an appointment with Vivienne Graham on the other side of the phone. He took out the formula of the mutagen that Geralt had left for him, and stroked the paper full of words with his fingers.

With the continuous efforts of the demon hunters, the mutation potion used by the demon hunters in this era is much better than the original version.

Its success rate has been increased from 30% to 50%, and it will no longer damage the Witcher's fertility. But this is still not the perfect recipe in Merlin's mind.

A 50% success rate means that one out of two people will die Fury was court-martialed.

What's more, Merlin didn't plan to tell Fury about the mutation potion right now.

Frankly, this thing is a bit hot to touch.

Although the extraordinary body that this potion gives to the demon hunter is not as good as the super soldier serum used by Captain America, the mutation potion is better than having good reproducibility, that is to say, once Merlin gets the improved With the formula, he can produce a batch of monkey version super soldiers that are far stronger than ordinary soldiers in a very short period of time.

Under such circumstances, even if Fury trusted Merlin again, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. would have a hard time keeping this formula in his own hands despite the different reactions from many parties.

What's more, the fact that there are ghosts in S.H.I.E.L.D. has been thoroughly investigated. Before those ghosts are found out, Merlin doesn't intend to reveal his secret.

But to improve the success rate of potions, it needs to be done by professionals. With Merlin's level of alchemy and potions, he still can't control such complicated potions. There is no trustworthy alchemist around him, so he simply leaves it to modern technology to study.

As far as the level of biology is concerned, is there any organization in this world that is more professional than the Emperor Organization?

The most important thing is that the research project of the emperor's organization determines that the members of this organization are very receptive to these nonsense things. Even if they see this formula, they will not make a fuss.

In the afternoon of the next day, after recuperation, Merlin went to his cousin's house, played with Little Peter at Mei's house for a while, and had another meal. At 8:30 in the afternoon, Merlin arrived on time in a taxi. Mick's Bistro in Queens.

This restaurant is well known in the neighborhood for its delicious pizza and snacks that are loved by adults and children alike.

Merlin is also a frequent visitor here, but today, when he opened the door and walked into Mick's restaurant, he saw a person he hadn't seen in almost 10 years but was very familiar with.

It was a gray-haired old man with tea-red sunglasses, neatly combed hair, wearing a jacket and windbreaker, and holding a red cane in his hand. He was standing behind the counter of Mick's restaurant, directing several waiters to place a new batch of endgames with a full-bodied voice.

I haven't seen him for 10 years, and the old man has aged a lot.

Stan?

Merlin yelled in surprise. When the old man heard someone calling him, he turned his head slowly, only to see Merlin wearing a gray casual suit with a handbag. A trace of surprise flashed in the old man's eyes.

Obviously, he also recognized Merlin.

Oh, Merlin is really strange, why are you here?

Leaning on a cane, the old man quickly walked out from behind the counter. He looked Merlin up and down, and asked:

You work around here?

My sister's house is nearby.

Merlin said something, and then asked:

Stan, aren't you a cartoonist? Why are you here?

Mick's Restaurant is my shop.

Old Stan shrugged and said to Merlin:

It was opened 7 years ago, and it has been up to now. Of course, this is just a sideline business. I still have to make a living by painting most of the time.

Come on, Merlin, let's sit down and chat. I've run out of inspiration recently, and I can't draw new works. Maybe, your experiences over the years can give me some inspiration.