Employment Contract (First Update)

Salomon’s magical contracts had always been fair. Everyone who signed one had nothing but praise for them.

Take Nick Fury, for example. He had signed so many contracts and was still full of life, even jumping up to pick fights with Salomon and happily exploiting loopholes. An Arcanist could not add unequal terms to a contract simply because he was unhappy. With the Vishanti serving as its guarantor, a contract had to uphold at least basic fairness and justice. The Vishanti were not evil gods.

Of course, if Dormammu were the guarantor, then he could make it as evil as he liked. A deed of sale would only be the most basic part; if Salomon did not cram the written terms into a single punctuation mark, he would consider it a loss. But he could not do such things openly. The Vishanti were quite strict with their Arcanists. Only the Sorcerer Supreme could make the Vishanti somewhat more tolerant.

Honestly, they were too tolerant. Salomon believed the Vishanti knew about what the Sorcerer Supreme had done with Dormammu. Otherwise, merely drawing power from the Dark Dimension should have reduced the Sorcerer Supreme’s magical reserves—Salomon believed that although he could absorb the Dark Dimension’s power as well, the contract formed by those three rings was far too ambiguous.

When punishments were unknown, authority could not be measured. Contracts with unclear terms made him deeply uncomfortable.

Take the time he had summoned the Vishanti’s power in an attempt to conceal the matter of Hell Gate. Oshtur, the goddess of White Magic, had insisted on making him suffer a minor injury. Although that injury was insignificant compared to the price he should have paid for summoning such power, it showed that Oshtur was not particularly friendly toward Salomon.

Thus, Salomon generally did not test the Vishanti’s attitude too much. If he had to, he preferred speaking with Agamotto, who held humanity in relatively high regard—the Sorcerer Supreme should have been responsible for the entire Material Universe, yet The Venerable One favored humanity, which greatly angered Oshtur and Hoggoth. Otherwise, the Vishanti would not have so forcefully demanded that The Venerable One pass the title to Strange.

That was why the Sorcerer Supreme had separated part of the title from herself and given it to Salomon, ensuring that Kamar-Taj would always stand on humanity’s side.

That aside, while the Vishanti’s contracts emphasized fairness and justice, how the contract was written depended on the drafter’s own skill. The contract Salomon handed to the Sola Red Forest Druid Order was an extremely strict one. It included, but was not limited to, restrictions such as hiding the secrets of the City of Immortals within their souls and preventing them from speaking his name. At the same time, the rewards he offered were exceedingly generous. His promise to help these druids restore their inheritance was not merely "words too pleasing to the ear," as Shakespeare would put it. He was serious.

Druid spells originated from nature, and the spells of the four elements that made up nature were druids’ forte. The Arcanist could offer some Evocation Spells for these druids to learn. Though he could not restore the spells for Wild Shape, he could still reverse-engineer some spells through transfiguration. As for other abilities druids should possess, such as slowed aging, as well as unique druid spells, Salomon could only ask Balthazar. He believed Balthazar would not refuse him.

As High Priest, Mariana Stern was the first to receive a contract. She briefly looked it over, then glanced at Salomon, who sat on an old sofa hand-writing other contracts. Suddenly, the document written in dark green ink felt incomparably heavy in her hands, and even the dust in the air seemed to choke her breath away.

Everything had happened too suddenly. Opinions within the druid order were divided over whether they should accept the offer. Only when the Arcanist proposed first showing them their future workplace did they temporarily set aside their disagreements.

"Your contract does not require us to fight for you. Why?" After handing the contract to her companions, the High Priest raised her question. "We can exorcise demons, we can divine the future…"

"You are too weak." Salomon’s eyes remained fixed on the parchment. Writing a contract required intense concentration; not even a single letter could be wrong. "That’s right. Very weak. You cannot even properly use the Lemegeton Magic Circle. In the world of magic, weakness is equivalent to stupidity, and stupid spellcasters always cause trouble." The Arcanist’s expression did not change as he belittled the druids. "I need you as research assistants, to help me improve my research into mutagenic alchemy. Once your colleagues from the biological sciences department return, you will understand what I require."

Gerard seemed deeply dissatisfied with Salomon’s disdain. Or perhaps he simply disliked Salomon’s London accent. Or perhaps he was merely an arrogant young man from the United States. Whatever the case, he looked as though he wanted to test Salomon’s abilities—but the Arcanist merely waved a hand, making him vanish from where he stood. Before long, Gerard came plummeting down from the towering stone ceiling of the City of Immortals, wildly flailing his limbs and wailing in terror.

Just as he was about to strike the ground, he stopped with startling abruptness, as though an invisible hook had caught him.

"Knowledge is power. That is not an empty phrase. Your order has lost too much of its inheritance. I do not know how much Merlin originally taught your order, but what you have now is clearly far from enough." The Arcanist placed the freshly written contract into the hands of Gerard, the blond young man who had stumbled back into the building in a panic. What Gerard did not know was that his weight had fortunately not exceeded the spell’s limit. Otherwise, his forehead would have smashed into the floor. Salomon had not known his weight beforehand.

The others in the order were clearly somewhat afraid of Salomon’s spellcasting. It was far more visually shocking than taking control of the magic circle in the manor. But to Mariana Stern, the High Priest who was more knowledgeable than the others, seizing control of the magic circle demonstrated Salomon’s strength even more clearly.

"You need to learn. Sign the contract, and you can leave behind your old petty ways and formally come into contact with the essence of this world. You can gain knowledge and… life. Trust me, I have seen druids who lived for more than a thousand years. Even if you are utterly mediocre, you can still live for over a hundred years."

"I agree!" Pale yellow lamplight reflected off Mariana Stern’s thick lenses. Though her tone was calm, she could not conceal the excitement in her heart. "I agree," she emphasized again. "As long as you can fulfill everything written in the contract!"

"Of course. The contract binds both of us. Now, choose the rooms you want in this building. One room per person. You can use the teleportation array to travel to Filgerin Hall. Please observe working hours. The protective spells here are no joke. You may not notice them, but do not attempt to touch anything you should not touch."

"What happens if we do?" Karim asked.

"Nothing much. You die, that’s all. This place is dangerous. Do not explore unstable areas. I will not rescue you, because that would be private conduct and not an employer’s obligation." The Arcanist shrugged. "Also, there will be another contract to sign tomorrow: the employee code of conduct. What you signed today is only the employment contract and non-disclosure agreement. Oh, I nearly forgot. You also have a supervisor—the disciple of Merlin’s disciple, the legitimate heir of Merlin’s Wizarding Group. I will bring him to meet you."

"No, no, no, no, no!" Dave shook his head so violently that afterimages appeared. "I don’t want to stay in some dungeon! Look at me, I’m studying environmental science now. How much more are you wizards going to disrupt my life?"

"You are a spellcaster too, Dave." Leaning against a folding desk in the tiered classroom, Salomon spoke patiently. "Do you dare claim you have never touched the Sacred Sword? Have you forgotten the duty Balthazar gave you?"

"Keeper of the Sacred Sword, I know." Dave put down his book as well. "Look at me, I have a girlfriend. I cannot work in your secret base. And do you know how expensive dating is? I need to work at an ordinary company!"

"I am not asking you to go now. You have not even learned many druid spells. Don’t look at me like that. Your progress is too slow. Balthazar has already complained several times. How is your transfiguration coming along? What about alchemy? Balthazar expects your spellcasting to surpass his—perhaps not with Merlin’s endless transformations, but you should at least be able to turn into an animal, shouldn’t you?"

Dave looked helplessly at the Arcanist. He felt that ever since he began learning magic, his acne had started hurting again.

"I found a stray branch of the Camelot Wizarding Council. You should lead them. You could become the High Priest of the druid order. Perhaps Supreme Merlin is only a joke, but your talent is not that bad."

"It is terrible compared to yours."

"Other than me…"

"Fine. Tell me what you want to do."

"Human mutation…"

"God! I study environmental science, not biology!" Dave irritably scratched his hair, and Salomon could practically smell the otaku stink on him. Yes, very druid-like.

"The druid inheritance contains some research into diseases. I need you to accurately induce diseases in my test subjects, thereby developing immunity."

"Wait, you’re conducting human experiments?"

"Not yet. I haven’t even done animal experiments."

"But your goal is human experimentation, isn’t it?"

"Yes."

"You know what you are doing, right?"

"Yes. I know exactly what I am doing. Perhaps Balthazar never told you what Kamar-Taj’s work truly is, but it is time for you to accept the cruel reality. The world of magic is not a fairy tale."

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