Kamar-Taj (Part 2)

"No wonder the Ancient One has so few disciples—this is way too difficult. Does everyone really have to learn all this knowledge?" Watching the others training magic in the courtyard, Shen Fei kept frowning.

Right now, like Strange in the Original Work, he was practicing magic alongside everyone else. The difference was that the others actually had visual effects in front of them, while he was just waving his hands around with nothing to show for it.

According to the guidance Wang had given him, even for someone with good talent, it would take at least half a year just to produce visual effects—and that was only the beginning. As for becoming a full-fledged mage, that would take a minimum of five to ten years of focused, undistracted training.

The current disciples of the Ancient One had all been here for at least ten years. Most of them had followed her since they were youths and had persisted all the way through.

As for those who couldn't stick it out, they had long since left. Magic training progressed too slowly, and in this age of the internet, very few people could truly settle down and cultivate.

Take the man who had guided Strange to Kamar-Taj, for example. Once his injuries were fully healed, he left immediately. Compared to the monotonous life at Kamar-Taj, the temptations of the real world were far too great.

Even a genius like Kaecilius had stayed for over five years. As for Strange, that was a different story—he was the successor to the Sorcerer Supreme that the Ancient One had chosen, and he also had a photographic memory.

When it came to learning magic, that talent was like adding wings to a tiger.

Although Shen Fei had only been at Kamar-Taj for a few days, he could already see why the Ancient One needed to pick a successor. The truth was, none of her current disciples were really combat-capable. Wang, Mordo, Hamil—those with the title of mage—had impressive abilities, but if it came down to a real fight, they probably couldn't even beat Captain America.

Let alone facing the countless powerful dimensional monsters. The only real purpose these disciples served was to give the Ancient One something to do, so she wouldn't be bored all alone.

The entire Kamar-Taj was essentially held up by the Ancient One alone.

"Room." Looking around at the golden beams of light in front of the other disciples, Shen Fei thought for a moment, then turned and used the power of the Op-Op Fruit on the golden beam held by the person behind him.

These past few days, Shen Fei had spent most of his time learning magical theory and memorizing the basics Wang taught him, so he hadn't used the Op-Op Fruit's abilities at all.

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

Shen Fei didn't pay much attention to the Ancient One's appearance. He had already considered this problem before he came. Facing the Ancient One, there was no way he could hide the power of the Op-Op Fruit.

Unless he never used it in front of her—but that was impossible. Besides, revealing this ability might even earn him some extra guidance from her.

The Ancient One's magic system was Dimension Magic, primarily focused on evocation. Condensing a golden beam of light was just the beginning. The next step was to expand the beam into a golden disc, and then construct a magic circle on that disc. After that, it could be shaped into weapons or shields.

With enough proficiency, one could skip this step entirely and directly form various kinds of weapons.

"Shen Fei, come here." 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 wouldn't refuse.

"It looks like no one besides the Ancient One sensed the Op-Op Fruit's aura." In the world of One Piece, the Op-Op Fruit had only shown its combat abilities; its medical capabilities had never been demonstrated. But judging from how Law had saved Luffy, the fruit's healing effects were incredibly powerful.

Beyond those abilities, the Op-Op Fruit also had an important trait: it could cut through anything regardless of hardness, unless the target was protected by Armament Haki.

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

"Just now? That was my innate ability." Shen Fei replied bluntly. After a moment of silence, he explained part of the Op-Op Fruit's capabilities.

"I see. You can go back for now." After hearing him out, the Ancient One dismissed him.

Once Shen Fei left, the Ancient One went straight to the library and took down the Eye of Agamotto hanging there. Unlike Strange, who always wore the Eye of Agamotto around his neck, the Ancient One had stopped using it regularly a long time ago.

The next day, the Ancient One called Shen Fei over again. This time, without waiting for him to speak, she struck his soul straight out of his body with a single palm.

"Ahhh!" Shen Fei's soul tried to say something, but then he felt the space around him shift. A world of dazzling colors unfolded before his eyes. In that moment, he finally understood why Strange had screamed so loudly—because he was screaming too.

The Ancient One let him experience what Strange had gone through: a soul journey through Dimension Space. Anyone who hadn't experienced it personally could never imagine the wonder of Dimension Space. It was simply indescribable in words.

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

"Completely different from what I imagined." So the movies really were lies.

"Go back and rest for now." The Ancient One nodded.

Shen Fei said nothing and simply left. This soul journey through Dimension Space had shaken him to the core. It wasn't something an ordinary person could do. The only reason he had managed it was because the Ancient One was protecting his soul. Otherwise, it would have been lost in 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 entirely dedicated to explaining it. If that book ever got out, scientists studying parallel worlds would probably die of shame—because for most of them, parallel worlds were still just a hypothesis. But at Kamar-Taj, it was basic common sense. After all, this was the source of Kamar-Taj's magical power: absorbing dimensional energy through the soul.

So for Kamar-Taj mages, soul projection was a simple matter. Even soul combat was routine. In any other system, projecting the soul would be suicide.

Kamar-Taj's magic could heal injuries, even paralysis, precisely because of this. By absorbing dimensional energy through the soul, the body could recover.

Dimension Space was essentially parallel worlds—though strictly speaking, the two weren't exactly the same. Dimension Space had a broader scope than parallel worlds.

Zzzt.

Watching the golden beam of light flicker in his hand, Shen Fei immediately grew excited. The soul journey through Dimension Space had clearly been a huge help in learning Kamar-Taj's magic.

Being able to do this meant he had passed the threshold. From now on, it was just a matter of diligent practice.

"Speaking of which, if the Ancient One had the Space Stone, wouldn't she be invincible?" While continuing his training, Shen Fei sometimes let his mind wander.

The Space Stone's abilities were actually very similar to the Ancient One's. It really was a waste for the Space Stone to be on Earth. No one had ever been able to use its true power; they all treated it as an infinite energy battery. The Red Skull did, the Pegasus Project did, and even Nick Fury did the same.

"No wonder Kaecilius went to absorb dark power. Relying on normal training to get stronger is way too slow. And did the Ancient One really die? Maybe she just died in this world."

During his soul journey through Dimension Space, Shen Fei had seen not only spaces filled with dimensional monsters but also spaces with humans—normal parallel worlds.

For someone of the Ancient One's caliber, traveling to these parallel worlds wasn't all that difficult. Maybe she had just faked her death and gone on vacation to some parallel world.

After all, guarding the world for so many years, wanting a good rest was perfectly normal.

When it came to absorbing dark power, the gap between Kaecilius and the Ancient One was enormous. Kaecilius became a slave to Dormammu, while the Ancient One could use that power to fight Dormammu on equal footing.

The Ancient One's name was almost unknown on Earth, but among the top figures of the entire universe and across the multiverse, her reputation far surpassed Odin's or Thanos's.

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

A figure of that level, killed by Kaecilius with a single stab? Could you die any more casually? Someone who could stand against Dormammu, killed by one of Dormammu's slaves.

"Dimensional projection?" After reading a large number of Kamar-Taj's magical texts, Shen Fei had gained some understanding of why he could appear in this world, why his original world had film and television works from this one, and even why the Umbrella Corporation had shown up.

The simplest explanation was that Stan Lee was a person from the Marvel world who had crossed over. Multiverses are parallel worlds; generally, it's hard for them to intersect, but under special circumstances, intersections can occur—just like Shen Fei crossing into this world.

The second was dimensional space mapping. In his original space, Shen Fei had once come across a brain teaser: everything on Earth was a projection from a higher dimension, all illusory. He hadn't believed it before, but within the Ancient One's magical system, this situation, though extremely rare, did exist—provided the spatial location was uniquely positioned.

However, since Shen Fei had appeared in this world, the mapping existed but wasn't illusory, because if it were, he couldn't have ended up here.

As for the Umbrella Corporation's appearance, it was like blind men feeling an elephant: the image each person touched, when combined, formed the complete elephant. In other words, even if other things that shocked Shen Fei even more appeared later, it would all be possible.

"Parallel worlds really do exist, which means there might be a One Piece world out there. I really want to go, but unfortunately, there's no way to lock onto it." Casually crossing dimensional spaces to reach parallel worlds wasn't that easy; otherwise, dimensional monsters would have been running rampant everywhere long ago, and even Dormammu couldn't manage it.

"Good thing these books never got out; otherwise, most scientists would probably go mad." Thinking about it, some scientists in the world were truly pitiful—spending their whole lives chasing something they could never obtain, only for it to already be a complete system.