Kamar-Taj.
In the courtyard, the scent of incense wafted from the cold center.
This place is located deep in the Himalayas, surrounded by vast expanses of white snow-capped mountains.
The buildings in the courtyard also exude a rustic, oriental charm.
Hundreds of mages dressed in robes of various colors were engaged in tedious martial arts and magic training in the square.
Golden sparks and the glow of magic shields occasionally flashed in the air.
Steve stood out as an outsider among these mages.
Fortunately, he was not shocked by the magical phenomena that defied the laws of physics that appeared around him.
After all, compared to magic, he felt that Luca was the truly outrageous guy.
Thinking this, Steve took a cigarette out of his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it with a match.
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
Wang, standing beside Steve, broke out in a cold sweat as he watched Steve's lawless behavior.
After thinking it over, he could only lower his voice and cautiously remind him.
"Captain, put out your cigarette. This is a sacred place of cultivation; the Ancient One is just ahead."
Steve paused for a moment, then gave Wang a cold glance.
"Fatty, stop trying to fool me with words like 'sacred.' I'm almost a hundred years old and I've seen plenty of cults that use the guise of 'sacred' to swindle money from people."
As he spoke, Steve pointed to the apprentices sitting on the ground meditating.
"This looks like a drug rehabilitation center that doesn't offer prostitutes."
"These guys in their pajamas gesturing in the yard prove nothing except that they're a bunch of virgins who have never had sex."
Wang was speechless, choked up, and could only wipe his sweat and continue leading the way.
Well, arguing with Steve is definitely not a wise choice.
The two followed the Ancient One into a tea room.
The tea room was simply furnished, with a low wooden table in the center.
The Ancient One sat cross-legged in front of the table.
Then, with a gentle wave of his hand, two cups of steaming tea appeared out of thin air.
Steve frowned slightly, but said nothing.
"Please have a seat, Captain Rogers. Have some tea first; it will help you relax."
Steve nodded and sat down on a cushion with an air of nonchalance.
But he didn't touch the cup of tea; instead, he continued smoking his cigarette.
"I don't drink this kind of herbal water that looks like urine."
Seeing the Ancient One's expressionless face, Steve looked directly into her eyes and spoke calmly.
"Bald lady, if you think I'd worship your tricks like a Boy Scout seeing a big-breasted cow, then you're definitely out of your mind."
"My zipper is zipped up tight, and my mouth is shut tight. So, stop with the formalities, just say what you have to say."
The Ancient One was not angry because of Steve's rudeness.
Having lived for hundreds of years, I have seen all kinds of people.
She knew that beneath Steve's rough exterior lay a hard and guarded heart.
But whether they hold a grudge or not is another matter.
"Captain, your perspective is limited by the material world."
"You think what you see is all there is. But in reality, you haven't even crossed the threshold of the universe. Perhaps I need to show you this world from a different perspective."
The words had barely left his mouth.
The Ancient One suddenly reached out her right hand and slapped Steve on the chest, the movement so fast that no one could react.
Steve instinctively wanted to retaliate, but the next second...
He suddenly felt incredibly light.
Looking down, I was surprised to see my body still sitting on the cushion, with a half-smoked cigarette dangling from my mouth.
He himself transformed into a semi-transparent spirit, floating in mid-air!
Out-of-body experience!
Before Steve could even utter a curse, the Ancient One lightly tapped her finger in the air.
Steve's soul was instantly pulled away by an irresistible force and he was thrown backward at an extremely fast speed.
The surrounding teahouse, courtyard, and snow-capped mountains vanished instantly.
What reappeared was endless darkness and dazzling light.
Steve crossed the boundaries of matter, witnessed cell division, and saw the microscopic world of atoms and quanta.
Immediately afterwards, his field of vision was magnified infinitely.
He saw countless parallel universes colliding in the void like bubbles, and he saw Mirror Dimension filled with eerie colors.
They also saw a dimension composed entirely of dark matter and distorted faces.
This amount of information, beyond human comprehension, is enough to drive an ordinary person to a mental breakdown and madness in an instant.
One minute later.
The immense suction force returned once more.
Steve's soul was put back into his body.
He suddenly opened his eyes and leaned forward slightly.
The tea room remained as quiet as ever.
The Ancient One calmly watched him, waiting for the unruly warrior to show an expression of awe or fear.
However.
After regaining his balance, Steve simply reached for his cigarette and took a deep drag.
"Fuck."
Steve exhaled a large puff of smoke and gave his serious evaluation.
"This stuff is even more exciting than when I was on the Europe battlefield, having sex with that big-breasted France female spy while smoking a cigar."
At this point, Steve licked his lips and smiled at the Ancient One.
"Frankly, bald lady, you shouldn't be staying on this godforsaken snow mountain."
"You should open a nightclub in New York and sell this trick to those rich bastards on Wall Street. I guarantee you'll make enough money to buy the whole of Manhattan. How about one more time?"
Wang, who was standing nearby, almost had a heart attack on the spot.
He desperately tried to signal to Steve with his eyes, but the other man completely ignored him.
Even the Ancient One showed a hint of surprise.
Well, she finally realized that any sophisticated methods were futile in dealing with Steve.
"Let's get down to business, Captain."
The Ancient One abandoned the idea of continuing to enlighten him.
He then raised his hand, Eye of Agamotto on his chest slowly opened, revealing the Time Stone shimmering with green light.
"The reason I invited you here is because the future of this world has already deviated from its original course."
The Ancient One lightly traced a line with her finger in mid-air.
A green timeline projection appeared in the center of the tea room.
"In the past, I could clearly see countless possibilities for the future through the Time Stone. I could avoid disasters and guide the world towards the right outcome."
Steve was taken aback for a moment, but quickly accepted that the Time Stone still existed.
"That's great, isn't that a good thing?"
The Ancient One nodded slightly, but quickly shook her head again.
"But everything changed after Luca Stark awakened his powers."
In the projection, the originally clear timeline suddenly turned into a chaotic mass of light.
Like a forest, it's full of fault lines and fog.
" Luca is a variable that doesn't fit the logic of the timeline."
"His abilities have no limits; he can forcibly devour and assimilate Chaos Magic. Such energy plundering not only disrupts Earth's energy balance but also attracts the attention of other dimensions."
"Due to the disruption of the timeline, cracks have appeared in Earth's defenses. Ancient demons lurking in the Dark Dimension, such as Dormammu, have already sensed an opportunity. Their invasion may come much sooner than I foresee."
Steve listened quietly, his face expressionless.
The world is ending?!
That's Luca's responsibility, what does it have to do with him?