Ryan pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Strange gritted his teeth and followed Ryan in.
Inside, the house had an old-fashioned charm. The windows were carved wood, and the wooden floorboards were spotless.
Strange looked around curiously until he saw a woman approaching him.
She was a bald woman in monk's robes, and something about her put Strange at ease.
Her first glance went to Ryan, standing beside Strange. "Where did you pick up this scruffy drifter?"
"..." Ryan was speechless. The Ancient One had told him to bring Strange here, and now she was pretending she knew nothing about it.
So her acting skills are Supreme-tier too, huh?
The Ancient One paid no attention to what Ryan thought. She told Strange to relax, then poured him a cup of tea.
The warm tea calmed Strange considerably. He drank it with the hopeful look of a man who had finally found a direction. "I came here to find a way to heal my hands."
"You're certain Kamar-Taj has what you need?"
"You healed a man who was paralyzed. He can even play basketball now. It's a miracle."
"That was his own effort. He brought vitality back to his body," The Ancient One said softly.
She showed Strange acupuncture, books on mysticism, and ancient knowledge.
It only made Strange angry. "Enough. I spent every penny I had on a one-way ticket here, and now you're telling me faith can cure anything?"
"The mind," The Ancient One corrected, as calm as ever.
Then she gave him an example. "You're a medical doctor. When you reconnect nerves, it's the body that heals itself."
"Cell regeneration." Strange seemed to understand something. "Here, where there's no medical board to oversee you, you've developed cell regeneration."
The Ancient One smiled and shook her head. She