You Will Return

Yinsen regained consciousness and abruptly sat up. Looking down at himself, he found that his tattered, sea-worn clothes had been replaced with a set of white cloth garments. They were clearly not new, but they were clean.

He touched his lips. The cracks caused by dehydration had mostly healed, and he even felt more mentally refreshed than ever before. That sleep—or coma?—had been incredibly comfortable.

"Your body is in good condition. You woke up much earlier than I expected."

Hearing the voice, Yinsen immediately turned his head and saw that the bald person who had approached him before he lost consciousness was quietly making tea at the table beside his bed.

"Although I fed you some restorative medicine while you were unconscious, I'm still surprised that you woke up so quickly..."

The bald woman continued making tea without even looking up at Yinsen. Yinsen did not respond because he realized that her mouth had not moved when she "spoke." The voice seemed to be echoing directly inside his mind.

"Yes, I am using magic to directly link with your mind and communicate with you. I assume you do not understand the language of our world... young man from another world."

The bald woman finally looked up, and Yinsen finally saw her face clearly... Well, perhaps he should be using "she"?

"Where is this?"

Yinsen tried focusing his Mental Power, then "said" those words.

His response surprised the person across from him. The bald woman rarely showed any surprise. "Oh, you are quite talented. You mastered mental communication so quickly. This will make things much more convenient."

The bald woman picked up a cup of tea and walked over to Yinsen. As she handed it to him, she introduced herself. "This is Earth. My name is The Ancient One, and I am a Mage... Do you know what a Mage is?"

Yinsen accepted the tea and took a slow sip. "I do!"

He did not merely know what a Mage was. He knew what Earth was as well, since he had been born and raised on Earth in his previous life—just not this Earth.

The moment that thought crossed his mind, Yinsen suddenly became alert. Mental Link... can it directly read my thoughts?

He looked up at The Ancient One. This powerful Mage of the Marvel Universe did not seem to have "heard" his inner thoughts. He did not know whether she was deliberately hiding it or whether she truly lacked the ability to read minds.

Don't panic. Yinsen set down his half-finished cup and began casually "chatting" with Ancient One Sorcerer.

He deliberately alternated between focusing his Mental Power to speak and thinking up some "conversation" in his mind without focusing, trying to determine whether Ancient One Sorcerer could directly read his thoughts.

It did not take long for him to reach a conclusion: either Ancient One Sorcerer had noticed and was deliberately pretending not to, or she could only "hear" messages he consciously sent out with Mental Power.

Though he hoped the second possibility was true, he did not dare rule out the first. Fortunately, regardless of which possibility it was, The Ancient One's attitude allowed him to relax a little for now—at least she had not turned hostile outright.

As for conspiracies and schemes, someone with The Ancient One's power had no need to play such games with him. One look from her could probably kill him.

After chatting for a while, The Ancient One roughly understood Yinsen's "situation": he came from a world covered in oceans, had just turned seventeen this year, had lost both parents, was alone, and had accidentally arrived here.

Yinsen also finally learned why he had appeared here.

The glowing sphere pointer on his hand had been pointing toward scattered Space-Time Energy. Once it found Space-Time Energy, it absorbed it. Then, as the host, Yinsen could use his Mental Power to activate that Space-Time Energy, thereby triggering the Magic Array and performing Planar Teleportation.

After the teleportation, the Space-Time Energy would "protect" the host for a period of time. Once the energy was depleted, he would be sent back to his "original location."

That was the real reason The Ancient One had talked with him for so long: unstable Space-Time Energy existed within Yinsen's body.

Yinsen also learned something else. The destination of the Teleportation Magic Array had not been Kamar-Taj, where The Ancient One lived. Rather, The Ancient One, who protected Earth from invasions by forces from Alternate Dimensions, had detected the intrusion of this "stowaway" and intercepted him midway.

"Alright, she really is the Sorcerer Supreme. She says she'll intercept you, and she intercepts you—no room for negotiation... I really can't understand how all those people who traveled to the Marvel Universe managed to hide from Sorcerer Supremes who watched for dimensional invasions every day."

At the same time, he was glad he had come to the Movie Universe, because the Ancient One before him was so familiar. If this had been the Comic Universe... his fate might not have been so pleasant. He did not know the details, but he knew that the Marvel comic universe had more monsters, and they were much less reasonable.

"According to my observations, the energy in your body is slowly decreasing. It should dissipate completely in around seven days."

Yinsen knew that the Space-Time Energy in his body would not last seven days, but six. Six days later, when it dropped to the lowest possible level, it would automatically erupt, activate the Magic Array, and send him back.

"I finally made it here. I can't just have a few meals and drinks before going back. That would be such a loss." He just did not know whether the Sorcerer Supreme would be willing to teach magic to a suspected "stowaway" like him.

After a brief probe, The Ancient One immediately changed the subject, just as he expected. When the persistent Yinsen asked a few more questions, she finally made him abandon the idea of directly becoming her disciple to learn magic.

"Your Mental Power can only be considered decent. Even if you studied magic, it would be difficult for you to achieve much. Instead, you would waste most of your life."

Alright, so she simply looked down on Yinsen's aptitude.

That was not strange. In the setting of any story, Mages had never had low requirements for talent. Whether in his previous life or this one, Yinsen was just an ordinary person.

"However, if you merely wish to use magic to solve the trouble you are facing, that would not be difficult."

Yinsen had already confessed the predicament he faced, hoping to win The Ancient One's sympathy. However, The Ancient One, who had lived for an unknown length of time, was not someone whose compassion could be so easily stirred. Fortunately, neither was she the sort to watch Yinsen face a desperate situation without helping.

"You have good control over your Mental Power, so getting started will not be difficult for you. As long as you practice diligently, this little spell can solve your drinking water problem."

The greatest advantage of communicating through the mind was that many things difficult to describe through speech or notes could be conveyed far more conveniently. Yinsen immediately understood every key point of the small spell. Now, he only needed to practice properly before he could cast this minor spell, which specifically extracted nearby Water Elements to create clean water.

This little spell extracted Water Elements already present in the environment—water molecules?—then gathered them into drinkable fresh water. The environment directly affected the spell's effectiveness. It did not create water from nothing or transform it from magic power, so it was not difficult to cast, but it had high environmental requirements and only average practicality.

But it perfectly suited the world Yinsen lived in—wherever he looked, there was water...

The only difficulty was controlling Mental Power. Many people possessed sufficiently strong Mental Power but could not become Mages because they lacked precise control. Yet ever since he had traveled here, Yinsen had constantly trained his Mental Power control in order to use the glowing sphere pointer. This difficulty was practically nonexistent to him.

Watching droplets gradually gather in his palm, Yinsen finally revealed a delighted expression. This trip had not been in vain with this alone.

What was more, in order to communicate with him more easily, The Ancient One had also "taught" him a local language through the Mental Link. At last, he had escaped the awkward situation of being unable to speak with anyone.

Over the next three days, Yinsen wandered around beyond his own room, but there were not many places he was allowed to visit, nor many people he met. He certainly did not see any "familiar" faces.

Although The Ancient One had not harmed him, she was not about to let him wander recklessly through her home. Appropriate surveillance remained in place. Whenever Yinsen tried to leave his "designated activity area," someone would appear at the right time to stop him.

Other than that, there were no restrictions. He could chat nonsense with the apprentices, boast idly, and even discuss magic studies without issue. One young Sorcerer's Apprentice even took out a Smartphone to show off in front of this "native from another world," thinking Yinsen had no idea what it was. After Yinsen pretended to fiddle with it for a while, he taught the fellow a lesson—he had already grown tired of games like Angry Birds in his previous life.

Thanks to that fellow's showing off, Yinsen was finally able to determine the Timeline he was in while handling the phone—Iron Man had only appeared not long ago, and this game was still new. That meant it should be sometime between Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 2.

"So Doctor Strange won't come here for several more years... Huh? Does that make me his senior brother?"

Perhaps because he had behaved "well," The Ancient One sent over a few more things afterward.

They included packed food, some basic living and sailing tools, several changes of clothes, and a few books.

"The energy in your body will activate tonight and send you back to your original world. These things should be enough to last you for a while."

The title of Sorcerer Supreme had not been given to her for nothing. In just a few days, The Ancient One had figured out the true state of the energy in Yinsen's body, calculated the exact time of his departure, and prepared several things for him in advance.

"Though the Water Creation Spell I taught you is a very simple spell, diligent practice will also be good training for your mind. Therefore, I believe you will need these things in the future."

The Ancient One pointed at the books before him. The first was "Introduction to Mental Power Cultivation." Next came "Detailed Explanation of Basic Spell Application," followed by several hefty volumes, beginning with a thick stack of "Oxford Dictionary." There were also French and Chinese textbooks and dictionaries.

"Do not worry. If you cultivate diligently, your memory will improve along with your Mental Power. You will soon be able to memorize these books."

Yinsen scratched his cheek. "But why are you giving me these?" He did not understand why she wanted someone from another world to learn English. He had studied more than enough of it in his previous life.

"I have a feeling that you will return..." The Ancient One's expression suddenly became extremely serious. "When that time comes, perhaps you will be able to help me solve a major problem."