I, Matou Sakura, Third of the Flame-Chasers!

Matou Sakura fell silent. Only after a long while did she slowly ask, "What did you see through the Time Stone?"

"A terrible future."

The Ancient One no longer spoke in her previous tone, and her expression had become much more solemn.

"Without my interference, you would seize the Infinity Stones through various means in the future. Many people would die because of you, half the Earth would be destroyed beneath your terrifying power, and even I would die by your hand. By then, this world would completely lose its future."

"So you came to stop me?"

Matou Sakura's expression remained indifferent as she said coldly, "But have you considered that this is a paradox?"

"Of course."

The Ancient One smiled faintly, her expression no longer solemn.

Matou Sakura saw the Eye of Agamotto hanging before the Ancient One's chest flicker just then.

"What I am doing will indeed create a so-called paradox, but Miss Matou Sakura, you should understand that, strictly speaking, so-called paradoxes have never existed. Time itself only took on a form because of humanity's own definition of it. As long as you do not believe it to be so, then no such paradox exists."

"You're distorting the established facts."

Matou Sakura frowned, though she was not surprised that the Ancient One knew her name.

"What you say is also true. Then why not look at it from another perspective, Miss Matou Sakura?"

As she spoke, the Ancient One removed the Eye of Agamotto from around her neck.

The Eye of Agamotto containing the Time Stone floated before the Ancient One. With a gentle push from her, it drifted before Matou Sakura.

"As long as the one using this stone is Miss Matou Sakura, and you return it to where it belongs when you leave this universe, then the so-called paradox and distortion will cease to exist. After all, Miss Matou Sakura, you do not belong to this world, nor do you belong to this universe. This universe's rules cannot bind you in any way, nor can they record your existence. Therefore, this world's paradoxes and distortions do not apply to you."

"So..."

The Ancient One smiled slowly, accompanied by a natural breath.

"Miss Matou Sakura, would you be willing to make a deal with me?"

Vishanti

The Himalayas, Kamar-Taj.

This was the Ancient One's home, as well as the base of the sorcerers.

Matou Sakura followed the Ancient One here.

Passing through the spark-spitting Space Gate, Matou Sakura truly set foot in the Marvel Universe.

"Sorcerer Supreme."

Upon seeing the Ancient One return, Mordo, her disciple, immediately stepped forward. At the same time, he discreetly examined Matou Sakura, who stood beside the Ancient One.

What a strange person!

As the Ancient One's disciple, Mordo's years of magical training had carried him through a span of time long by ordinary standards and given him a wealth of experience. Yet he had never encountered an existence like Matou Sakura.

She was filled with a warm radiance, like the sun hanging high in the sky.

Only, that sun was in the heavens, while this one stood before him.

Matou Sakura naturally noticed, but she did not pay it much mind.

"Mordo, this is Miss Matou Sakura."

The Ancient One smiled slightly as she looked at her disciple. "From now on, Miss Matou Sakura is an honored guest of Kamar-Taj and will be staying here for quite some time."

Though greatly surprised, Mordo still clasped his hands slightly and replied, "I understand, Sorcerer Supreme."

The Ancient One nodded with a smile, then gestured for Matou Sakura to proceed.

This action surprised Mordo, who had yet to leave, even more.

Over all these years—rather, ever since he had joined Kamar-Taj and become the Ancient One's disciple—aside from those destined individuals who had found Kamar-Taj and joined it, he had never seen anyone else come here, much less a friend of the Sorcerer Supreme.

In his impression, the friends of this teacher of his seemed to have long since departed this world with the passage of time.

Matou Sakura followed the Ancient One to her residence, a seemingly simple room.

"According to our agreement, this Time Stone and the Eye of Agamotto will be placed in your hands."

The Ancient One looked at the girl before her and smiled faintly.

Matou Sakura then took out the Eye of Agamotto that the Ancient One had already given her earlier.

This was a guarantee, and now it was time to completely lift that guarantee.

The Eye of Agamotto was the vessel that contained the Time Stone, but it was also a magical artifact of immense power. In the comic version, this Eye of Agamotto had even been given to the Ancient One by Eternity, one of the five creator gods.

In this universe, without the corresponding magic, it was impossible to open the Eye of Agamotto and come into contact with the Time Stone, let alone wield the power contained within it.

The Ancient One clasped her hands before her chest, then slowly separated them.

The Eye of Agamotto resting in Matou Sakura's palm immediately reacted.

The intricate mechanism of the Eye of Agamotto slowly loosened, then began to turn. The beautifully colored Time Stone revealed its true form within the Eye of Agamotto.

Beautiful and dazzling, merely looking at it seemed enough to feel the endless mysteries of time.

The rotating Eye of Agamotto suddenly stopped. With a click, it held the Time Stone at its center in another form.

Like a pendant set with a gemstone.

"Thank you."

Matou Sakura tightly grasped the Eye of Agamotto. It was still the vessel containing the Time Stone, as well as its barrier. She could directly sense the Time Stone's mysteries and use its power to make herself stronger, while the Eye of Agamotto continued to serve as a layer of protection for the Time Stone. Its altered form merely made it more convenient for her to wield the Time Stone's power.

"I still need to remind you not to attempt to use the Time Stone to alter this world's history. Miss Matou Sakura, it would be best if your use of the Time Stone were limited to yourself. I believe you understand just how terrifying the consequences of disrupting the order of time can be."

"I understand. It is part of the contract."

Matou Sakura nodded, then stored away the Eye of Agamotto and the Time Stone within the AllSpark at her heart.

The AllSpark contained infinite genetic codes. It was not merely a repository for genetic codes, but also a storage box with infinite capacity.

The Ancient One sensed the Time Stone's disappearance—its disappearance on the level of the world itself—yet the Time Stone still existed within this universe.

A Third Space separate from ordinary space?

Though she had seen Matou Sakura's existence and some matters concerning her through the Time Stone, the other party's uniqueness meant she could not use it to glimpse much detailed information about her. To The Ancient One, Matou Sakura was filled with unknowns beyond her knowledge.

The unknown aroused curiosity, but The Ancient One was long past the age for that. She knew what should be investigated and what should not. Besides, as long as Matou Sakura had no intention of destroying this world, she did not care about some of Matou Sakura's secrets.

After briefly sensing the Time Stone's condition within the AllSpark, Matou Sakura could not help showing a trace of delight.

"Thank you."

"No need. This is part of the contract."

The Ancient One smiled faintly, then made another inviting gesture.

"How about having some tea with me? If you do not mind, I would like to learn about knowledge from other worlds. Naturally, I will pay a price for it."

"This is outside the contract."

The Ancient One was undoubtedly a very intelligent person. Her long life and wealth of experience allowed her to handle every matter well, and made others inclined to like her. "Of course."

Matou Sakura naturally had no reason to refuse.

Her mind contained far too much knowledge of the Nasuverse, much of which was of little use to her. But for The Ancient One, it was something valuable.

The Nasuverse's magecraft could not compare to the Marvel World's magic.

Some ordinary spells in the Marvel World possessed power that surpassed the Nasuverse's magic and the vast majority of magecraft.

However, magic in the Marvel World had a fatal flaw: Magic Power!

Magic was driven by Magic Power. This was something the Nasuverse and the Marvel World had in common.

Yet most beings in the Marvel World did not possess so-called Magic Power. Their Magic Power came from external sources—or rather, from mysterious entities.

Magic Power and magic should have been one whole, with Magic Power used to drive magic. Though the Marvel World also used Magic Power to drive magic, there was a prerequisite before that could happen: one had to possess a source of Magic Power.

The Ancient One did not possess Magic Power. All of her Magic Power came from the beings backing her—the trinity deities, Vishanti!

As well as the dark power she had stolen from Dormammu's Dark Dimension!

Most magic in the Marvel World, and even a portion of its spells, required contact with powerful entities to cast.

In one comic, the future Doctor Strange used Dormammu's dark Magic Power and the Scarlet Chains of a hellish demon god. Kamar-Taj's guardian deity, Vishanti, regarded this as defiance and directly stripped Doctor Strange of all the Magic Power and magic it had bestowed upon him, even taking the Book of Vishanti, the white magic tome that recorded everything!

Because both dark Magic Power and hell magic were special forms of magic that Doctor Strange could only cast by relying on the Magic Power granted by Vishanti, once that Magic Power was stripped away, Doctor Strange was no longer Doctor Strange. He became an ordinary man with crippled hands once more, eventually even turning into a beggar on the streets. If Vishanti had not ultimately granted him powerful Magic Power again, Strange would have faced only death, his soul drawn into the Dark Dimension to suffer Dormammu's endless torment!

Thus, having a powerful backer was extremely important to a mage. The Ancient One was special, and her uniqueness was not limited to Vishanti. Even Eternity, one of the five great creator gods, had a connection to her.

However, that was their relationship in the comics; it probably did not exist in the cinematic universe. But Vishanti truly existed!

Magic for Beginners

The exchange of knowledge had always been something that took time.

Though they could have used the Time Stone to accelerate the process, Matou Sakura and The Ancient One seemed to have both forgotten the Time Stone existed.

They simply sat there, conversing and drinking cup after cup of tea.

They did not stop until night had enveloped all of Kamar-Taj.

Light shone in The Ancient One's eyes. The knowledge Matou Sakura had given her brought her a different line of thought.

To her, the magecraft and magic of another world strictly distinguished the boundaries between technology and fantasy.

Strange, yet interesting.

Among them, the existence of magic foundations was what she found most intriguing.

Using magecraft through self-constructed magic foundations, even creating one's own magecraft—this was completely different from this world's magical system and could open up an entirely new path.

If it succeeded, the requirements for mages to obtain Magic Power and begin learning magic would be greatly reduced.

Thus, The Ancient One came up with an interesting idea and intended to devote time to realizing it.

"Thank you very much, Miss Matou Sakura," The Ancient One said to Matou Sakura with utmost sincerity.

"I should thank you as well." Matou Sakura smiled softly.

The Ancient One had gained something, but hadn't she as well?

Type-Moon magecraft was useless against her, and it had little effect on The Ancient One as well. All it gave The Ancient One was a novel idea.

To bring that idea to fruition, The Ancient One would still need to spend time working it out herself.

In return, she gained a portion of The Ancient One's knowledge.

Setting aside certain strange side effects, Marvel magic far surpassed Type-Moon magecraft and magic in both functionality and power.

Moreover, the magical schools of the Marvel World were incredibly diverse, with all manner of variations.

As night gradually deepened, Matou Sakura bade The Ancient One farewell, left the room prepared for her, and made her way to Kamar-Taj's library.

All of Kamar-Taj's magic was stored there, whether black magic or forbidden knowledge.

However, the latter was protected by wards personally cast by The Ancient One, and could not be read without permission.

Curiously, The Ancient One forbade her disciples and the other mages of Kamar-Taj from coming into contact with black magic, yet the books recording black magic in Kamar-Taj's library had been placed there by her own hand.

This could be seen as The Ancient One's way of tempering her disciples and the other mages, but in her eyes, such tempering was nothing more than asking for trouble—and a foolish thing to do.

Looking at Wong's plump figure, utterly incomparable to the handsome man from the comics, Matou Sakura only felt that so-called prejudice was truly tedious and disgusting.

"This is indeed the Sorcerer Supreme's token."

Wong held the token out before Matou Sakura and said gently, "The Sorcerer Supreme informed me beforehand. Miss Matou Sakura, you may freely read any book in the library. However, considering that you have never encountered any magic before, I suggest you begin with the first book on the first shelf—the introduction to magic."

Wong's attitude toward Matou Sakura was exceptionally gentle, though he was not usually like this.

It was simply because, like Mordo, he had sensed the presence of light within Matou Sakura.

That was why Wong treated Matou Sakura so gently. Of course, it also had something to do with The Ancient One's instructions to Wong before Matou Sakura came to the library.

The Ancient One's instructions to Wong were actually very simple. She merely told him that this guest was of utmost importance, that her existence concerned Earth's future, and that she had to be treated well.