Modern World Warlock

The day after the meeting with the other mafia families, the leaders of the GTS and Azure Rebels were invited to stay at the Jade Palace while they finished distributing the cartel's assets.

Camille and Megan were so busy with the paperwork that they ended up asking Sophia for help, and fortunately for them, the blonde had a talent for economics and sped up their work.

Meanwhile, Dante went to the laboratory in the Jade Palace, where Paige was patiently waiting for him to arrive.

They had decided to make their contract as quickly as possible since Paige wanted to learn to develop devices using "Spellcore," which was the name of the practice that combined magic and technology.

When Dante arrived, he saw Asphodel and Wolfram sitting beside the scientist, and the women explained that they were curious to see the process of the contract.

Dante shrugged it off and began summoning his Shadow Well in the middle of the room, prompting the obsidian column with a bowl on top to extrude from the ground.

As the warlock began to mix his blood into the bowl, he moved his hands to the sides and pinched the air, generating a strange mist that he could hold with his fingers before placing them in the well.

'Such delicate work…' Wolfram thought, utterly impressed at Dante's masterful umbra control.

Asphodel was aware of Dante's talent, but she was still surprised at how meticulous the process was, so she kept attentively watching in silence.

After a few minutes, Dante wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead and said that it was done, prompting the three women to approach the Shadow Well and take a look at the glass orb sitting inside.

The sphere had a light-purple color, and when Paige held it and let the light from the room reflect on it, they noticed it was quite resplendent, to the point where Paige almost felt guilty for eating it.

"This looks prettier than diamonds…" Paige commented, and Asphodel and Wolfram agreed, though they could sense Dante's umbra flowing from the object.

Without hesitation, Paige placed the orb in her mouth and forcefully bit it, producing a loud crunching sound that enveloped the room.

Asphodel and Wolfram stayed silent, waiting for some kind of reaction from the scientist. Even Paige herself had pulled out a small notebook and a pen, as she wanted to document the sensation.

Nevertheless, she didn't feel anything other than a slight discomfort in her mouth, making her wonder if it had actually worked.

"Hmmm? Should I be feeling any different?" Paige asked, but right as she turned her gaze towards Dante, she felt dizzy and stumbled.

As the warlock promptly caught the scientist from tumbling down, he noticed there was a sudden glint in her eyes.

"Paige. What are you trying to do?" Dante asked, knowing that the scientist was somehow accumulating mana in her eyes.

"I wanna seeeee!" Paige exclaimed, making them realize her plan.

When Megan, Zac, and Alice had their contracts made with Dante, they mostly focused on awakening all of their strength and powers.

They could only see magical energy whenever it was highly concentrated in one spot, but they hadn't developed their magic detection much since learning how to control their powers was their priority.

On the other hand, Paige was wholly uninterested in her powers. She wanted to use magic so that she could study it, but she wasn't planning on fighting anyone.

Still, when she tried to accommodate her vision to see the flow of magical energy, she felt dizzy as her body was still adapting to her power.

Dante suggested that Paige rest for a few hours. Her body had just gained a sixth sense, so she had to gradually get used to it to prevent straining her brain.

With a bit of reluctance, Paige agreed and made her way to another room in the lab, where they had couches and vending machines with free drinks and snacks.

Asphodel and Wolfram accompanied them, and the wizard was curious to know how many times Dante could use his contract.

After witnessing the process of creating the small, glass orbs, Wolfram was experienced enough to identify a significant flaw. "Don't you get weaker after crafting the orb?" she asked.

The warlock explained that he had absorbed a large number of demon souls in the past, and all he was doing was removing the impurities before infusing a small amount of umbra, so even if he became weaker after each contract, it wasn't a big deal to him.

"Are you telling me you gave all that power to Megan, Alice, and the berserker kid—and it didn't put a damper on your powers?" Wolfram continued.

"That's because I only awakened their powers. They grew that strong by themselves…" Dante replied, satisfying the wizard with his explanation.

As the group kept talking about the transfer of magical energy, more people from the Jade Dragons arrived at the lab after hearing about Paige's contract.

Zac arrived with his girlfriend Victoria, saying that he wanted to see which "class" Paige would become.

Megan and Sophia were also there, but they were mostly worried about Paige's health.

A few minutes later, Camille had managed to get a break from her infinite amount of paperwork and arrived at the lab with Alice and June, instantly approaching Paige and asking about her well-being.

Still, Paige was excitedly waiting for her body to develop this sixth sense, and decided to ask a few more questions. "How do you guys 'activate' your magic?" she asked the group in general.

Nonetheless, they all gave a completely different response.

Dante said it was natural for him, and it was like asking a person how they activated their sense of smell or touch. It was something that was simply there from the beginning.

Wolfram and Asphodel gave similar answers to the warlock, which made sense since they were all born in Terra.

On the other hand, Megan, Zac, and Alice had their own way of explaining their powers.

"I kind of just clench my fists, and I can feel 'something' in my body that I can control… Like an arm or something," Zac replied.

"Is that how you do it? I usually feel like I can control it with my eyes…" Megan interjected.

"What are you guys on about? It comes from the gut," Alice refuted.

There was no clear answer, but for a scientist like Paige, it only made the whole topic more interesting for her.