Kamar-Taj (Part 2)

"No wonder the Ancient One had so few disciples. This was way too difficult. Did everyone have to learn all this knowledge?" Watching everyone practice magic in the courtyard, Shen Fei's brow remained tightly furrowed.

Like Strange in the original work, he was now practicing magic alongside the others. The difference was that everyone else had special effects in front of them, while he was merely going through the motions.

According to Wong's instructions, even someone talented would need at least half a year to produce anything with special effects. And that was only the beginning. To become an official mage required at least five to ten years of single-minded training.

The Ancient One's current disciples had all been there for at least ten years. Most of them had followed her since their youth and persisted until now.

As for those who could not persevere, they had long since left. Progress in magical training was far too slow, and in this age of the internet, few people could keep themselves calm and focused on training for so long.

Just like the person who had guided Strange and sent him to Kamar-Taj, he had left immediately after recovering from his injuries. Compared to the dullness of Kamar-Taj, the temptations of society were simply too great.

Even a genius like Kaecilius had stayed for more than five years. Strange was a different matter entirely. After all, he was the successor to the Sorcerer Supreme whom the Ancient One had found, and he also possessed a photographic memory.

When it came to learning magic, that talent was simply a huge advantage.

Although Shen Fei had only been at Kamar-Taj for a few days, he had already realized why the Ancient One needed to choose a successor. There was simply no one among her disciples who could truly fight. Wong, Mordo, Hamil, and the others with the title of mage merely had strange abilities. In a real fight, they probably could not even defeat Captain America.

Not to mention facing the many powerful Dimension Monsters. The only use of these disciples was probably to give the Ancient One something to do, so she would not be bored alone.

The entire Kamar-Taj could be said to be supported by the Ancient One alone.

"Room." Seeing golden beams before the disciples around him, Shen Fei thought for a moment, then turned and used the power of the Op-Op Fruit on the golden beam in the hands of the person behind him.

Over the past few days, Shen Fei had spent most of his time learning magical knowledge and memorizing the magical fundamentals Wong had taught him, so he had not used the abilities of the Op-Op Fruit.

"Hm." The Ancient One, who had been sitting in the hall reading, seemed to sense something when Shen Fei used the power of the Op-Op Fruit. She immediately put down her book and walked outside.

Shen Fei did not care about the Ancient One's appearance. He had considered this long before coming here. It was impossible for him to hide the power of the Op-Op Fruit from her.

Unless he never used that power in front of the Ancient One, but that was impossible. Besides, displaying such an ability might earn him additional training from her.

The Ancient One's magical system was Dimension Magic, mainly focused on energy shaping. Condensing a golden beam was only the beginning. Next, one had to expand the beam into a golden disc, then construct a magic circle on that golden disc. Only then could one shape energy into weapons or shields.

With enough proficiency, one could skip that step and directly form all kinds of weapons.

"Shen Fei, come here for a moment." After staring at Shen Fei for a while, the Ancient One suddenly called out to him.

"Yes." Since the Ancient One had spoken, Shen Fei naturally would not refuse.

"It seems that aside from the Ancient One, no one else sensed the Op-Op Fruit's sphere." In the world of One Piece, the Op-Op Fruit had only displayed its combat abilities, while its medical capabilities had not been revealed. However, judging by how Law could save Luffy, its healing effects were extremely powerful.

Aside from those abilities, the Op-Op Fruit also had another important power: it could cut through anything regardless of hardness. Unless one was protected by Armament Haki, nothing could block it.

"Sit." After having Shen Fei sit down, the Ancient One directly asked, "What were you doing just now?"

"Just now... it was an ability I was born with," Shen Fei said directly. After a brief silence, he explained some of the Op-Op Fruit's abilities.

"I see. You may return now." After hearing him out, the Ancient One told Shen Fei to leave.

After Shen Fei left, the Ancient One went directly to the Library and picked up the Eye of Agamotto hanging there. Unlike Strange, who always wore the Eye of Agamotto around his neck, the Ancient One had rarely used it for a long time.

The next day, the Ancient One summoned Shen Fei again. This time, before Shen Fei could speak, she slapped his soul right out of his body.

"Ahhh!" Just as Shen Fei's soul was about to say something, he felt the space around him change. A dazzling, multicolored world appeared before his eyes. At that moment, he finally understood why Strange had screamed so loudly, because he screamed too.

The Ancient One let him experience the treatment Strange had received: his soul traveled through Dimension Space. Anyone who had not experienced it personally could never imagine the wonder of Dimension Space. It was simply indescribable.

"How was it?" the Ancient One asked calmly after Shen Fei's soul returned to his body.

"Completely different from what I imagined." Movies really were misleading.

"Go back and rest first." The Ancient One nodded.

Shen Fei said nothing and returned directly. This journey through Dimension Space had shocked him too deeply. It was not something an ordinary person could accomplish. He had only managed it because the Ancient One had protected his soul. Otherwise, his soul would likely have vanished within Dimension Space long ago.

To learn Kamar-Taj's magic, the first requirement was to understand Dimension Space. One of the basic magic books was dedicated entirely to explaining it. If that book were released into the world, scientists studying parallel worlds would probably die of shame. For most scientists, research into parallel worlds was still only speculation, yet at Kamar-Taj, it was basic common knowledge. After all, this was the source of Kamar-Taj's magical power: absorbing dimensional energy through the soul.

Therefore, for Kamar-Taj's Sorcerers, leaving the body in soul form was a simple matter. Even fighting with one's soul was commonplace. In other systems, having one's soul leave the body was simply courting death.

Kamar-Taj's magic could heal injuries, even paralysis, precisely because it allowed one to absorb dimensional power through the soul and restore the body.

Dimension Space was, in fact, parallel worlds. Strictly speaking, though, the two were not identical. Dimension Space encompassed a broader range than parallel worlds.

Sizzle.

Seeing the golden beam flicker from his hand, Shen Fei immediately grew excited. Traveling through Dimension Space with his soul had indeed been tremendously helpful for learning Kamar-Taj's magic.

Being able to do this meant he had entered through the door. All that remained was diligent practice.

If the Ancient One mastered the Space Stone, wouldn't she be invincible? Shen Fei occasionally let his thoughts wander as he continued training.

The Space Stone's abilities were actually very similar to the Ancient One's. It had to be said that the Space Stone was truly wasted on Earth. No one could use its fundamental power; they all treated it as a battery with limitless energy. Red Skull did, Project Pegasus did, and even Nick Fury was no exception.

No wonder Kaecilius wanted to absorb dark power. Growing stronger through normal training was simply too slow. And was the Ancient One really dead? Perhaps she only died in this world.

When his soul traveled through Dimension Space, Shen Fei had not merely seen spaces filled with countless Dimension Monsters. He had also seen spaces inhabited by humans. Such spaces were normal parallel worlds.

With the Ancient One's abilities, traveling to those parallel worlds would not be difficult at all. Perhaps she had merely faked her death and gone to vacation in some parallel world.

After guarding the world for so many years, it was perfectly normal for her to want a proper rest.

Both Kaecilius and the Ancient One absorbed dark power, yet the difference between them was enormous. Kaecilius became Dormammu's slave, while the Ancient One could use that power to contend against Dormammu.

Few people on Earth knew the Ancient One's name, but among the top figures of the universe and throughout the multiverse, her reputation was even greater than Odin's or Thanos's.

After all, Odin and Thanos were famous only within this universe, while the Ancient One was renowned throughout the multiverse.

For someone of that level to be stabbed to death by Kaecilius in one strike—could her death have been any more casual? Someone capable of dealing with Dormammu had ended up being killed by one of Dormammu's slaves.

"Dimensional projection?" As Shen Fei read a large number of books on Kamar-Taj magic, he gradually gained some understanding of why he had appeared in this world, why film and television works about this world had existed in his original world, and why Umbrella Corporation had appeared here.

The first and simplest possibility was that Stan Lee had come from the Marvel Universe and traveled there. The multiverse consisted of parallel worlds, and under ordinary circumstances, they rarely intersected. But under certain special conditions, intersections could occur, just like Shen Fei traveling into this world.

The second possibility was a projection from Dimension Space. In his original world, Shen Fei had once seen an interesting idea: everything on Earth was merely a projection from a higher dimension and was false. Shen Fei had not believed it at first, but within the Ancient One's magical system, such situations did exist, though they were extremely rare. The prerequisite was that the space's location had to be exceptionally unique.

However, since Shen Fei had appeared in this world, the projection existed, but it was not false. If it were false, he could not possibly have entered this world.

As for Umbrella Corporation's appearance, it was like the blind men examining an elephant. Only by combining the images felt by everyone could one form the complete elephant. In other words, even more shocking things could appear later, and they would still be possible.

Parallel worlds really exist. That means the world of One Piece might exist too. I really want to go there, but unfortunately, there's no way to locate it. Traveling freely through Dimension Space to parallel worlds was not easy. Otherwise, Dimension Monsters would have run rampant everywhere long ago. Not even Dormammu could do it.

Fortunately, these books were never released. Otherwise, most scientists would probably go insane. Some scientists in the world were truly pitiful. What they spent their entire lives pursuing had already long since become a complete system.