Ancient One's Question

"I am Mordo. Welcome, Mr. Hawking, to Kamar-Taj. The Ancient One is already waiting for you in the hall."

Mordo looked Hawking up and down, a hint of curiosity in his eyes, but still politely opened the door.

This was the first time that the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, had personally come out to greet him and solemnly instructed him not to neglect his guest.

"Okay, then I'll trouble you."

Upon hearing Mordo's words, Hawking raised an eyebrow. He didn't ask Mordo why the Ancient One knew about his arrival, but simply waved to Kaguya and stepped through the wooden door.

The moment his body stepped through the wooden door, he knew he had experienced a spatial teleportation.

However, compared to the loud noise of Portkey, the teleportation magic in Kamar-Taj is much more stable and quiet.

If it weren't for his keen senses, an ordinary person wouldn't have felt the spatial magic teleportation at all, and would have thought they had just crossed a threshold.

"Perhaps I can take some time to study it later."

Experiencing Kamalaki's magic for the first time inspired Hawking to want to learn more about it.

In the Marvel World, magic is mostly borrowed. For example, Loki's magic uses the power of the World Tree, and most of the wizards in Kamataki use the power of the Trinity Vishanti.

Many famous spells belong to Dimensional Demon God and can only be released by borrowing the power of the corresponding Dimensional Demon God.

Since it's a loan, it naturally has to be repaid.

He didn't know the specifics of how the repayment would be made, but he could guess that it would be something like the "nine out, thirteen back" method.

Having used the magic and power of the corresponding Dimensional Demon God, I then meditated to collect energy and slowly repay it.

However, this is not absolute. As long as you are strong enough, it doesn't matter if you borrow and don't repay, as long as you can withstand the wrath of those Dimensional Demon God.

For example, the Ancient One's actions were not so much borrowed as outright robbery; they were more like forcibly taken from her. Even the Dimensional Demon God couldn't do anything about her.

Hawking certainly didn't intend to forcibly seize the magic power of those Dimensional Demon God.

He wanted the opportunity to research the fundamental magical principles behind the signature spells of these Dimensional Demon God, and then unleash them using his own magic.

No matter what kind of magic it is, it must have a corresponding magical principle.

Just like the Runes that Agatha showed Wanda, normal mages must learn the corresponding magical principles to cast spells. Even the magic developed by Dimensional Demon God does not appear out of thin air.

Wanda is an exception; her power is the Chaos Magic, which can disregard magical principles.

"Our position has changed."

After being teleported through the wooden door to Kamar-Taj, located in the nearby mountains, Kaguya, who is sensitive to space, immediately noticed that the space had been shifted.

"Don't worry, it's alright."

Hawking replied softly.

The Nam was enchanted with spatial magic. When an ordinary person opened the door, they would see a normal room. However, anyone allowed to enter Kamar-Taj could use spatial teleportation magic to travel directly to Kamar-Taj.

As for the Ancient One knowing that he was coming, it's not really hard to believe.

The Ancient One possessed the Time Stone, which allowed her to predict the future.

Just as Doctor Strange used the Time Stone to predict the future 14,000,605 times, the Ancient One could naturally use the Time Stone to predict his arrival.

However, the future predicted by the Time Stone is not necessarily the real future, but rather a series of possibilities for the future.

In the Marvel Universe, the past cannot be changed. Trying to change the past will only create a new timeline and will not actually change what has already happened.

The future is also impossible to predict accurately; we can only see various possibilities.

Of course, even so, it's like having a cheat code, allowing you to deal with many problems that you couldn't handle before.

Doctor Strange saw the only possible future among those 14,000,605 futures, and then acted according to the development of that future, ultimately saving the other half of the lost universe.

What's disheartening is that the only successful future required Iron Man to sacrifice himself.

Even if we can predict so much of the future, there are still some things that we cannot change or stop.

Ultimately, Hawking believed that none of these were the right path. The right path was one's own strength. Only when one's own strength is strong enough can one create the best future.

If Doctor Strange had the power to completely overwhelm Thanos, then even if he couldn't predict so much of the future, he could easily resolve the crisis brought by Thanos by simply confronting him head-on.

Ancient One have discovered something, which is why he predicted his arrival.

He actually knew that the Ancient One could predict his arrival, and perhaps even the purpose of his visit.

That's why he brought all his Super Hero with him.

He wanted to make the Ancient One understand how troublesome things would be in the future if she did everything she could to stop him from obtaining the Darkhold.

Led by Mordo, Hawking and Kaguya walked through a corridor and arrived at a circular hall with a strong Tibetan temple style.

The hall was filled with bronze incense burners, and several mages dressed in Kamar-Taj -style robes came and went in a hurry.

In the center, a bald woman in a white monk's robe was intently brewing hot tea.

"Good morning, Ancient One. I hope you won't mind my sudden visit."

Hawking walked up to the bald woman in the white robe and greeted her with a smile.

He recognized her at a glance as the Ancient One, who had lived for five hundred years, not only because of her appearance, but also because of the vast and complex magic power within her.

There are forces filled with justice and light, and there are forces filled with evil and darkness.

The power of justice and light naturally originates from Vishanti, the source of White Magic, while the power of evil and darkness comes from the dark lord Dormammu.

In order to protect the Earth, the Ancient One constantly stole Dormammu's dark power to prolong her physical life.

"Mr. Hawking, you're too kind. Please have a seat. This is some tea I just brewed. Let's drink and chat."

Ancient One smiled and poured two cups of tea for Hawking and Kaguya.

Seeing this, Hawking was not in a hurry. He sat down, picked up his cup, and began to sip.

"Excellent tea!"

Since he had already prepared for the worst—that Ancient One would forcibly take it if she refused—there was no need for him to rush.

He would remain unchanged in the face of all changes. Since the Ancient One had predicted his arrival, he would see what the Ancient One's plans were and respond accordingly.

If you can't take it apart, just flip the table and get to work.

"I know why Mr. Hawking came to see me, but before making a decision, I have a question I'd like to ask Mr. Hawking. I wonder if you would be willing to answer it?"

Seeing Hawking put down his teacup, Ancient One smiled and asked.

Hawking did not hesitate:

"Ancient One, please ask any questions you may have. If I can answer them, I will."

If we could get the Ancient One to hand over the Darkhold willingly, that would be ideal.

Ancient One nodded:

"Mr. Hawking, what is your purpose in wanting the Darkhold?"