Leaving

Kamar-Taj Library.

With an ingratiating smile, Li Feng handed the slip of paper Ancient One had written to the sour-faced librarian.

Although knowledge could be shared at Kamar-Taj and the books in the library could be borrowed by Mages at any time, it depended on who wanted to borrow them. Ordinary people certainly could not borrow books, and neither could visiting Mages like Li Feng.

This was knowledge that generations of Kamar-Taj Mages had painstakingly collected. Why should they lend it to outsiders for free? Even they themselves handled the books with great care, afraid of damaging them.

It was easy to imagine how poorly this librarian treated Li Feng. Moreover, some of the books listed on Ancient One's slip were from her private collection, which made the librarian even more displeased.

Li Feng did not care whether this familiar-looking librarian was happy or not. As long as he could borrow the books he wanted, so what if the man was upset? Besides, what could Li Feng do even if he was unhappy? Forget whether he could beat the librarian—if he did, he still could not escape Kamar-Taj. The place was full of Mages who could open Portals. Where could he run?

Besides, Li Feng remembered that this librarian would eventually have his head chopped off by Kaecilius with a pair of axes. At worst, he would remember this little grudge for now. When this guy was resting in his grave, Li Feng would dance on top of it to "Rub it, rub it, these are the Demon's steps."

Taking the books from the librarian's reluctant hands, Li Feng went straight back to his room. One hand pressed against the Magic Book while he used a translation tool to translate the Sanctum Mage books, then read them aloud in a low voice.

Li Feng did not have Balthazar Blake's ability to simply tap the Magic Book and record knowledge within it, so he could only use the most traditional method. He read aloud on one side, while the Magic Book automatically recorded the sounds it collected in written form on the other.

Of course, this came with some minor inconveniences. For example, he needed a quiet environment. Otherwise, if he read aloud on the street, the Magic Book's records would contain a car horn every few lines.

Likewise, Li Feng had to pronounce everything accurately when reading aloud, or there would be typos.

After recording everything, Li Feng still had to check the contents once. The Magic Book had made it clear that it was only responsible for recording. As for typos, polyphonic characters, and similar issues, it accepted no responsibility.

Fortunately, correcting typos was far more convenient than copying an entire book with a fountain pen. Otherwise, Li Feng would not have stayed at Kamar-Taj for just a month, but for years.

Among the books he copied, the most valuable were Ancient One's private collections. Basically, every book Ancient One allowed Li Feng to borrow was related to time in one way or another.

This was connected to the Time Spells Balthazar Blake had left in the Magic Book, which explained the flow of time in detail. Although these spells merely controlled the speed at which time flowed and could not reverse time like the Eye of Agamotto, they still gave Ancient One considerable inspiration.

At the very least, after studying those spells for more than a month, Ancient One said that she could already control the rate of time flow on certain objects without using the Eye of Agamotto. For example, she could make a green apple ripen rapidly, or slow its ripening so much that it would remain on the tree for ten thousand years without maturing.

Although she still could not apply these spells to living creatures, it was already a remarkable improvement. Given time, Ancient One said she would eventually reach the level described in the Magic Book—not only using Time Spells on living beings, but doing so without disturbing the seemingly tranquil River of Time.

Originally, Ancient One should have thanked Balthazar Blake. But she obviously could not personally travel to the Otherworld to thank him, so these gifts naturally became Li Feng's collection.

After spending a month constantly copying and recording books, Li Feng finally recorded all the books at Kamar-Taj related to basic spellcasting.

That day, Ancient One found Li Feng as he was preparing to pack his luggage. "It seems you're preparing to leave."

Li Feng felt a little awkward. During his time at Kamar-Taj, aside from Ancient One's personal instruction, he had eaten and lived there for free while taking countless benefits for free. All he had contributed was a Magic Book containing only a small number of recorded spells—and that Magic Book was still quietly lying in his backpack. It would have been strange if he were not embarrassed.

Li Feng scratched his head. "Did you need something?"

Ancient One nodded and waved her hand, creating a Mirror Dimension. "I'm very interested in how you travel between worlds, so before you leave, I'd like to see how you do it."

Ancient One's request was not difficult. After thinking for half a second, Li Feng briskly set down his luggage. As he removed some miscellaneous items from his body, he said, "Master, I don't know how much time will pass in this world while I'm gone. I'm afraid some of the dry rations I prepared will expire, so could you help me prepare some more after I return? It's not that I can't bear to spend the money, but..."

Stripped down to nothing but boxer briefs, Li Feng pushed out his Little Belly and said awkwardly, "But I really don't have much money left."

Looking at Li Feng, who wore a Sling Ring on his left hand and a ring set with an enormous red Magic Gem on his right, while holding the Magic Book in both hands and preparing to travel, Ancient One smiled and nodded. Kamar-Taj was wealthy and well-established. Forget preparing some dry rations for Li Feng; even preparing enough food to last him a lifetime would not be a problem.

With everything ready, Li Feng took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and activated the Quantum Energy within him. When his body was wracked by a tearing pain, Li Feng opened his eyes with a serious expression, extended his left hand, and rapidly drew circles with his right.

A blue-white Portal with a hint of green light hidden within it appeared before Ancient One. Before she could inspect it carefully, the light gate instantly lunged at Li Feng and swallowed him. As the Portal vanished, only the boxer briefs Li Feng had been wearing remained on the ground, proving that he had traveled to another world.

Ancient One stood with her hands behind her back, carefully sensing the residual energy of interdimensional travel in the air. Before long, a trace of envy appeared in the eyes of the ever-calm Ancient One. What a wondrous ability. He can travel through countless worlds. So what if his talent is lacking? If I'd had such a fortuitous encounter back then, I wouldn't have had to risk absorbing Dark Energy.

With a wave of her hand, Ancient One crossed the Portal and stepped out of the Mirror Dimension. But before she could leave Li Feng's room, she suddenly sensed something unusual behind her.

Ancient One turned around and saw a naked, scruffy, bearded Li Feng being spat out from a blue-white curtain of light?

So quickly? Ancient One's mind was full of question marks. Did Li Feng return immediately after traveling there? No, the beard on his face doesn't look like something that grew in a few days. It must have been at least a month since he shaved.

Rubbing his throbbing temples, Li Feng calmed the violent Quantum Energy within his body while taking a coat from his luggage and putting it on. "Master, don't tell me you've been coming to my room every day during this time, waiting for me to return?"

Ancient One shook her head slightly. "I hadn't even had time to leave your room after you traveled before you returned."

Li Feng froze for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "You mean I stayed in another world for half a year, but only a few seconds passed in this world?"

"Half a year?" Ancient One nodded and smiled as she examined Li Feng. "It seems you worked very hard during those six months. At the very least, your Mana has increased tremendously. If you aren't tired, could you tell me what kind of world you visited?"

Although Li Feng looked somewhat weathered from not shaving for a while, he truly was not mentally exhausted. After all, his spiritual power had improved considerably. However, that improvement left Li Feng somewhat helpless, because the world he had visited did not contain much magical energy. This forced him to focus on improving his spiritual power so he could control his spells more precisely and reduce the Mana consumed when casting them.

Scratching his head, Li Feng plopped down onto the bed. "You know I can only travel to worlds that have an Earth, and they also have to be worlds with supernatural powers. This time was no different."

As Li Feng slowly told the story, Ancient One learned that he had gone to an Earth whose Timeline was set just after the end of the American Civil War.

In that era, a soldier named Jonah Hex had been dissatisfied with his superior, General Turnbull, for ordering the massacre of a hospital. After shooting the general's son, he retired. But the general was not someone to be trifled with. He directly led his men to take revenge on Hex, tied Hex up, and forced him to watch his family burn to death.

That was where the story began. Hex, bound and left to die, was lucky enough to be rescued by a group of Crow Tribe Indians while he was barely alive. Under the treatment of their witch doctors, he gained the ability to communicate with the dead.

Li Feng did not care how Hex sought revenge on General Turnbull. He was only interested in the ability to communicate with the dead. So, after learning about the Crow Tribe from Hex, he asked around all the way until he finally found them several months later and learned how to communicate with the dead.

In Li Feng's view, the technique of communicating with the dead was more like a variant application involving Astral Bodies.

For example, when Hex communicated with the dead, he needed to touch the corpse and let the dead person's soul projection return from the Underworld to the body before him. That projection was a variant application of an Astral Body.

Because ordinary people could not see Astral Bodies, the dead appeared restored to their living forms in Hex's eyes. But in everyone else's eyes, Hex was merely a lunatic talking to a rotting corpse.

As for the Crow Tribe's other medical methods, Li Feng had taken one look and decided to keep far away from them rather than learn them.

Just look at how those witch doctors treated people. First, they gave themselves some drugs to get high, and only then did they begin treatment.

Li Feng's eyelids twitched as he watched. Brother, are you saving people, or are you trying to get yourself off?

As for whether the patient survived, the witch doctors put it this way: they offered no after-sales service. If the patient lived, it was to their credit. If the patient died? Then crawl out of the ground and bite them if you had the ability.

Damn it, what could Li Feng do in the Marvel Universe after learning from witch doctors like that? Perform a spirit dance?

So, after learning how to communicate with the dead, Li Feng immediately returned to the Marvel Universe. The only thing he had not expected was the difference in time between the two worlds.

Guan Yu warmed wine before slaying Hua Xiong. He warmed wine before traveling to another world.

After telling the story, Ancient One suggested that Li Feng rest for a day, but Li Feng still chose to leave.

After tidying up his personal hygiene, Li Feng returned directly to New York through Kamar-Taj's Portal. Aside from preparing to buy a secondhand RV, he had already made plans for the future while in the Otherworld, such as buying playing cards and turning them into Magical Artifacts for use during the transition period.