"Get up." Ian opened his eyes, "You must be Mordo. The Ancient One mentioned you to me."
"Each other."
"Oh, what did she say about me?"
"She claims to have discovered a natural genius in the occult."
"It sounds like you don't believe it," Ian said, standing up from the crib.
"Your abilities have yet to be understood and tested," Mordo explained calmly. "Please put on a suitable uniform. I will wait for you outside."
'I almost forgot how rigid this person's ideals and thoughts are,' Ian thought as the magic robe on his body turned into the gray uniform of Kamar-Taj.
Mordo is the kind of person who absolutely cannot get along with someone like him who constantly breaks the rules in order to push boundaries. Ian walked out, thinking about how to secure his relationship with these people.
"So fast?"
"I don't want to be late."
"It seems that you are at least very disciplined; that's good," Mordo nodded, leading him to a group of students wearing ugly clothes. Then, Mordo began to speak to these young mages.
"You must go beyond your ordinary senses to feel the energy from those dimensions and harness them to your own advantage. You must..." He went on for thirty minutes, leaving some students wondering why he was repeating the same old tune. Finally, Mordo ended the lecture with several demonstrations.
'Interesting,' Ian thought to himself. 'They change the frequency of their brains and souls so that they resonate perfectly with the dimensional ocean around them, drawing energy from it. Their meditation techniques are a work of genius, and perfectly attuned to humans.'
Ian closed his eyes and tried according to Mordo's method; he found himself in a sea of colorful light, with light rushing in all directions.
'Those should be dimensions,' Ian thought to himself. He felt that it was ridiculously easy to obtain the energy of these dimensions.
When he compared this to the mage magic in the Empire that required Gate of Truth and a lot of effort to cast, it was unbelievable how easy this method made things.
'This method is too simple. With proper training, 90% of humans can do it,' Ian concluded. Of course, talent determines the length of time required, but as long as a person perseveres, no matter how talented he is, he can achieve success within 5 to 8 years.
Ian sighed and continued to admire this method in his heart, thinking about how much help it would bring to the Empire. He waved his gestures to guide the energy, condensing a shield composed of yellow runes in front of him.
'So this is Mystic Arts,' Ian thought to himself, becoming a little more interested. 'Because human bodies are too weak to guide much energy from other dimensions, so they must rely on skill proficiency or magic weapons.'
The reason why the Ancient One is a great mage is not only because of her superb skills, but also because her body is strengthened by the energy from Dark Dimension.
'My body has no such limitations, but I should learn their mastery of using and manipulating interdimensional energy,' he concluded.
"Excellent," said Mordo who walked up to him. "You succeeded in the first try." Ian just nodded to him. "In that case, let's try some more advanced spells." He asked the students to practice conjuring weapons such as whips, but these tasks were not difficult for Ian at all, and he learned it easily.
During the practice, he chatted with his classmates and made sure to leave a good impression on them. In order to gain their support and avoid resistance when he was selected as the next Sorcerer Supreme, he knew the importance of being likable. So, he put on his signature "Emperor Smile" to radiate charm.
"The afternoon class is about close combat," Mordo said. "As a mage, you must exercise your mind and body at the same time. Now, prepare to defend." Ian fought with him for less than a minute and subdued him.
Mordo could not accept such an easy defeat, so he chose the second round with weapons. He handed Ian a short stick and took one himself. The result remained unchanged.
"Have you been trained?"
"Yes," Ian nodded, causing Mordo to sigh. "I feel very guilty for even doubting the Ancient One's words for a moment, but now, she has proven that her vision is far beyond my understanding."
The corner of Ian's mouth twitched. He liked that his followers were so loyal to him, but in this case, Mordo's fanaticism was a trouble; this was one of the reasons why he later left Kamar-Taj after discovering that the Ancient One was not the person he imagined.
'Maybe losing people like Mordo and Kaecilius is not a bad thing,' Ian thought. As long as he prevents them from making any reckless moves, losing one or two mages, even if they are extremely talented, shouldn't be a big problem.
Today's third training is to learn how to use Sling Ring, which is another discovery that Ian finds very useful. This magic weapon can make it easier for people to control a specific type of energy, thus opening a portal to any dimension. The idea of transforming this thing came into his mind to make it suitable for all space energies.
If Space Magic becomes more popular in the Empire, it will bring many benefits and advantages. Of course, there will also be more chaos and dangers, but before publishing this knowledge or technology, he will be prepared for these emergencies.
In the evening, before Ian had time to go to the Library, he was summoned by the Ancient One.
"How was your first day?"
"It's pretty good. It's just that the pace is a bit slow for me, but many things in your magic system are very valuable to my system."
"I'm very happy," she nodded. "I originally wanted to wait a few days, but after seeing your performance today, I think it's better to finish it early." Then she took Eye of Agamotto off her neck and handed it to him along with a book. Ian spent thirty minutes reading the entire book and absorbing all the knowledge.
"Do you understand?" The Ancient One asked.
"Got it."
"Any questions?"
"Some," Ian said. For the next thirty minutes, he asked questions and she answered them. After that, they spent an hour discussing Time Magic, forgetting the passage of time.
The Ancient One sighed, "I haven't had such a fascinating conversation about the occult for a long time." The last time was hundreds of years ago when she talked with Odin and his wife Frigga.
"Let's get down to business." She took a bite of the apple and placed it on the counter in front of them.
"Is this necessary?" Ian asked.
"To give me peace of mind," she explained. So Ian used Time Stone to manipulate time and restore the Apple to a different state. The Ancient One then performed several more difficult tests that allowed him to peek into the future.
He was curious about what she saw and what he needed to prepare, so he posed and peeked into the future. An hour later, Ian woke up without saying a word.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Can I curse loudly?"
"Please."
"(&&*^^%^%$(08," he continued to curse for twenty minutes, using more than a hundred languages, some of which did not even exist in this universe. Finally, he breathed out and said, "I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter. You lasted shorter than me." The Ancient One had the same reaction at the time; it was the first time in hundreds of years that she had cursed, and she cursed for more than twenty minutes.
So, what exactly did Ian see that made him react like this? Multiversal Convergence: All Infinity's timelines and dimensions collided with each other, Fusion, until only one timeline remained.
In this process, countless terrifying creatures emerged, including those that went against common sense. The most terrible thing is that many of these creatures are Tier 11 or even higher.
In fact, the only reason those creatures did not cross time and space to kill him who was spying on the future was because of Time Stone's protection and his quick evasion.
"So, what are you going to do?" The Ancient One asked, Ian stared at her. She was the one who dragged him into this mess. "You can't blame me for your decision."
Ian breathed out, 'There's no need to go crazy and lose your cool. If even this can scare me, I won't be able to survive the coming war.' He restored his cold and rational side.
"We have a lot of work to do, and let me tell you clearly in advance, the scene will definitely not be pretty."
"That's why I chose you," she replied with a smile.