A Not-So-Secret Secret Base

Of course, the contract was something Yinsen had casually made up.

If Thea signed a contract with Yinsen, she could indeed gain powerful magic like the mages in the Marvel Universe did by making contracts with powerful beings from Alternate Dimensions.

In that case, Thea would essentially become Yinsen's "underling." However, compared to directly offering faith and "borrowing" power from a god, a contract imposed much stronger restrictions on both parties. Once signed, the contractor absolutely could not violate any of its terms.

On the other hand, as long as the contractor did not violate the terms of the contract, there would be no issue even if they used that power against the god who granted it. That god would also be unable to take the power away.

The most typical example was The Ancient One and Dormammu.

This was fundamentally different from faith gods and their believers. For example, Kaecilius, who had betrayed The Ancient One, was closer to someone who had offered up his faith, so Dormammu could deal with him however he pleased.

Without a professional like Yinsen explaining these details, neither Oliver, with his pitiful amount of occult knowledge, nor Thea, who knew nothing at all, would understand them.

Yinsen could even trick Thea into signing a completely unequal contract and turn her into his slave without much difficulty.

"You should be thankful I'm not that low."

Yinsen leaned against a table, idly playing with a sharply polished arrowhead as he explained all sorts of things to the two magic novices before him.

"I'm telling you this to remind you not to casually make promises or sign anything when dealing with people who wield mystical powers. It could very well be a huge trap."

"Thank you for the warning."

Oliver was gradually beginning to believe that