Yesterday was really tough, so I'm making up for the extra chapter I promised to add today.
I'm so sorry, I had a fever of 40°C yesterday afternoon, and I couldn't stand it anymore, so I went to the emergency room and got an IV drip before I felt better.
I still have to work this afternoon, but I'll upload the extra chapter tonight.
The instant Strange's consciousness was ripped from his body by an invisible force, he felt as if he had been thrown into a high-speed centrifuge. The tea room, the tea table, the Ancient One, Lynn —everything around him twisted, stretched, and shattered in a fraction of a second, turning into countless afterimages trailing trails of light, rapidly receding from the edge of his vision.
He tried to shout, but no sound came out of his throat.
Then everything froze.
He was suspended in a void that he could not comprehend at all.
There was no ground beneath my feet, no sky above my head, no walls around me, only endless light surging in from every direction at the same time.
These lights have temperature, texture, and weight; they are like flowing aurora compressed into a liquid state, or like countless luminous rivers flowing silently in unseen channels.
He looked down at his hands. He could see the outlines of his ten fingers, but they weren't the color of flesh and blood; instead, they were a translucent energy body that glowed with a pale blue light.
He could see his own bones, blood vessels, and nerve endings. Every nerve fiber he had ever known was now clearly visible before his eyes, pulsating slowly in a way he had never understood before.
He tried moving his fingers. The glowing nerve fibers responded to his will immediately, more nimble, more precise, and more responsive than ever before.
Then he saw more.
His vision was suddenly pulled up, and the Earth became a small blue and white sphere. The entire Solar System system unfolded before him, and the spiral arms of the Milky Way floated through the void like luminous silk.
He saw the universe, the real, close-up universe, where every star was burning.
He can feel the temperature of stellar winds, see new worlds being born in Nebula, and hear the regular electromagnetic pulses emitted by pulsars echoing in the void like heartbeats.
He had never felt so insignificant, nor so real.
Then a massive dimension, composed of countless overlapping and rotating geometric structures, exploded before him.
He saw a tree, or more accurately, a multidimensional entity existing in the form of a tree, with each leaf being an independent microcosm, and within each microcosm, countless Strange making countless different choices.
In one universe, he didn't board that flight to Kathmandu; in another universe, his hand was never injured.
These universes exist simultaneously, occur simultaneously, and he saw them all at once.
Strange floated in the void, forgetting even to breathe, all his preconceived notions crumbling away bit by bit.
Outside, in the tea room, the Ancient One looked at Strange's soul, which was suspended in mid-air and glowing slightly.
Lynn leaned against the window, arms crossed over his chest, a standard "just as I expected" smile on his face.
"Aren't you going a bit too far?"
The Ancient One's voice carried a hint of helplessness, "I originally only intended for him to see things beyond Earth, to let him know that the universe is much larger than he realizes. Why did you cramm other things in? Those dimensional structures, the panoramic view of the universe, and that tree-like multiverse model..."
"Anyway, I'm just idling around."
Lynn shrugged. " Master The Ancient One, people with bad tempers and arrogance like this need strong medicine. Make him take it once, then it'll be easier to talk to him later."
The Ancient One shook his head, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.
Lynn's playful expression vanished as he looked at the still faintly glowing body in mid-air, his tone regaining its composure. "I want him to see everything he might encounter in the future all at once."
It's not just about seeing 'there are other dimensions beyond Earth,' but about seeing his own place in those dimensions, what the consequences of each of his choices would be, and what price he would have to pay. This level of impact is the most effective way to persuade someone like him who is used to controlling everything with scientific logic.
"It really works. Aren't you afraid of scaring him?"
The Ancient One put down her teacup and looked at Strange's slightly furrowed brow in his unconscious state. "He's starting to doubt the boundaries of his own understanding. He is indeed a genius, but he's been blinded by arrogance for too long."
"Like that arms dealer who built the first generation of armor out of scrap metal in an Afghanistan cave."
The Ancient One glanced at him, but didn't respond to the conversation. However, the smile on his lips deepened slightly.
A few minutes later, Strange's consciousness was pulled back into his body. He didn't wake up with a violent, almost convulsive spasm.
His legs had no strength to support him, and he slid off the chair, his knees slamming heavily onto the wooden floor.
He couldn't stand up. His hands were on the cold floor, his ten fingers trembling uncontrollably, his chest heaving violently with heavy breathing.
He slowly raised his head, looking at the Ancient One, who remained seated calmly on the futon, then at Lynn standing against the wall beside her. His lips moved several times, his voice hoarse and weak, carrying a pleading tone born of utter conquest. "... Teach me."
The Ancient One didn't answer. She simply looked at him quietly, her previous smile gone, devoid of any other expression. She remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, her voice steady and clear. "No."
Then, she looked at Lynn.
Lynn met her gaze and understood the meaning in her eyes.
He looked down at Strange, who was kneeling on the ground, still trembling slightly, and sighed softly.
"I knew it would be like this."
He snapped his the Snap.
Five-colored soft light emanated from Strange's body, intertwining and coiling into a semi-transparent cocoon of light, slowly lifting him off the ground.
Strange's body floated up uncontrollably, and he struggled instinctively.
"Wait, I have no more questions. Please teach me."
I know what you're talking about.
Lynn pushed open the door and used magic to gently pull Strange was levitating in mid-air, out of the room. "You've only given up questioning, but you need to figure out what you really want. Your hand is ruined, so you've come to us."
"But even if your hand is healed, are you still Stephen Strange? Still that arrogant surgeon who uses other people's lives to prove his worth on the operating table?"
Strange struggled to say something in mid-air, but Lynn didn't give him the chance. He slowly lowered the light enveloping Strange, gently placing the middle-aged man, who hadn't quite regained his footing, on the cold stone floor. Strange staggered, reaching out to grab the doorframe, but Lynn had already taken a step back, gripping the doorknob.
"You remember how to get back to the hotel we stayed at before, right? I paid for a week's room for you. Come find me again once you've figured out what you really want." He closed the door.
The sound of the latch hitting the door echoed down the corridor for a while before being replaced by the muffled thud of Strange pounding on the door. "Open the door! I've given up questioning! I said I'd teach you! What more do you want from me? I've already knelt down! I spent all my money on the way here! I have nothing left! Please!"
Lynn leaned against the door, listening to the gradually collapsing voice outside. He heard the dull thud of fists hitting the wood, heard the voice change from anger to pleading, from pleading to a low growl of near despair, and then slowly, little by little, quiet down. Footsteps echoed intermittently in the corridor for a while, eventually fading away in the direction of the courtyard.
Lynn walked back to the tea room and sat down again at the low table. The Ancient One had already refilled his cup. He picked it up, took a sip, then leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. "Master the Ancient One, I truly didn't expect this," he said, his tone tinged with genuine helplessness. "I gave him a hard time yesterday, and he's still like this today. I've truly witnessed the inertia of the timeline."
The Ancient One looked at him with amusement and placed the teapot on the coffee table. "I told you long ago. Timelines have an instinct to converge. You can change details, delay nodes, and replace characters, but the gravity of core events far exceeds your imagination. Strange will definitely come to Kamar-Taj, and he will definitely kneel down and beg me to teach him. Only this time, he also brought along a young sorcerer who picked him up from the alley, paid his room and board, and filled his mind with the panoramic view of the multiverse."
Lynn gave a wry smile. The Ancient One continued, "I know what you're trying to do. You've been trying to protect everyone in your own way— Tony, Steve, Natasha, Wanda, even me. But some changes can be absorbed by the timeline, while others will trigger a chain reaction. The more changes you make, the greater the backlash will be. I just don't recommend it, not because you can't, but because the cost will appear when you least expect it."
"I know."
Lynn's voice was soft, "But you never stopped me. You foresaw this day would come the moment I first got involved, but you still let me do it."
"Because stopping you won't help. At times, you're more stubborn Strange and Tony."
There was another urgent knocking at the door, and it was Strange's hoarse voice again.
He didn't leave; he came back. "Please! I mean it! I'm ready; I'll accept whatever it takes! Please open the door!"
Lynn didn't move. He looked into the Ancient One's eyes, waiting for her to make a decision. The Ancient One remained silent for a long time, so long that the voice outside the door had completely fallen silent.
Then she spoke, her tone still calm and unhurried, but Lynn detected a subtle hint of weariness in it.
"Go out and take him back. I've seen all his traits over the years—stubbornness, arrogance, ambition... He's got the wrong mindset right now, and leaving him like this isn't a solution. This time, be reliable. Take him back, let him figure out what he really wants, and then bring him back."
She paused, turned her head to look in the direction of the door, her gaze seemingly piercing through the wooden door and landing on the man kneeling on the stone floor outside, his hands trembling, his eyes filled with despair and longing.
"I don't want another Kaecilius. His inner demons are too strong now; his desires have outweighed his pursuit of self-understanding. I can't watch him be swallowed by darkness."
Lynn stood up and finished the last sip of tea in her cup. "Don't worry. When have I ever been unreliable?"
He walked to the door, reached out and grasped the doorknob, then glanced back at the Ancient One. "I can handle that arrogant Tony, so dealing with another one shouldn't be a problem."
"I hope so." The Ancient One picked up her teacup, and the faint smile on her lips finally reappeared.