"Uh, would you believe me if I explained?"
Su Zhou looked a little embarrassed. After all, none of his contingency plans had accounted for a situation like this.
But he couldn't explain the system, so Su Zhou decided to admit he was a pervert.
It didn't matter if his persona fell apart. After all, he wasn't relying on the Ancient One for a living!
"Don't bother explaining. It'll save you the brain cells you'd waste making up an excuse!"
The Ancient One smiled and tossed the spatial ring in her hand to Su Zhou.
"Well? Would you consider studying magic under me?"
Su Zhou: (〟-_・)ﾝ?
An owl never visited a house without a reason.
A weasel paying a New Year's visit to a chicken was up to no good!
The strongest person on the entire planet was setting a trap for me. What was I supposed to do?
"I'm neither an owl nor a weasel."
The Ancient One wore a remarkable expression as she gave Su Zhou a sidelong look.
"And I'm not planning to set a trap for you. I simply want to find the best possible successor for myself."
Su Zhou: (눈‸눈)
This was exactly why I hated talking to big shots who could read minds!
There was no privacy at all!
"I can't read minds, either."
Su Zhou's face instantly fell, even with his one-of-a-kind system in hand.
This feeling of being powerless to resist was absolutely awful!!
"Honestly, if you're looking for a successor, you should find someone named Stephen Strange."
Su Zhou decided to give the Ancient One a little shock, using [Telepathy] to protect his mind.
"He'll be the best of all the Sorcerers Supreme."
"That was before you appeared."
The Ancient One pressed her palm hard against Su Zhou, knocking his entire soul out with that single strike.
As though it had lost all support, Su Zhou's body slumped to the floor with a thud.
His soul floated helplessly in midair, flailing around for a while.
Then he instinctively used [Telepathy] and returned to his body!
The Ancient One: (._.)
Su Zhou: (゜一゜)
Sitting on the floor, Su Zhou looked up at the Ancient One and scratched his head sheepishly.
"Uh, did I just ruin my own fortuitous encounter? How about you smack me again?"
"No, this is precisely where you surpass Strange. Your starting point is much higher than his!"
The Ancient One nodded with a smile, then tapped Su Zhou's head with a finger.
"This special ability of yours allows you to locate yourself within the endless multiverse.
You will never become lost in those planes. That is the most precious quality in a Sorcerer Supreme."
The Ancient One felt around in her pocket, took out a Sling Ring, and handed it to Su Zhou.
She recited an incantation Su Zhou couldn't understand at all, but it seemed to imprint itself on his mind.
Even though he couldn't understand what the incantation said, he could still grasp its meaning.
This was the portal spell every mage at Kamar-Taj had to learn upon joining, and it was also the mages' most important skill.
In a sense, it was also how they stole energy from other universes in the multiverse.
It could be considered the starting point and source of all spells, equivalent to the most basic mathematical formula!
"Since you came from another plane, I won't go into detail about what the Sling Ring does.
We're currently in the Mirror Dimension, and I intend to lock you in here.
If you want to leave, draw a portal yourself!"
With that, the Ancient One vanished as though she had passed through a mirror. In that vast space,
only a bewildered Su Zhou remained, along with the antique-looking Sling Ring in his hand!
Su Zhou: (*ﾟﾛﾟ)!!
This wasn't right, was it? Couldn't you just dump me in the Himalayas instead?
Even the summit of Mount Everest would do!
With this powerful body of mine, I could definitely run back to civilization!
I was a loyal Bear Grylls fan, after all. Wilderness survival couldn't stump me!
But now... there were only two options: either break through the Mirror Dimension,
or learn the portal spell and draw circles to escape!
Su Zhou let out a long sigh and deftly slipped the Sling Ring onto his left hand.
He began trying to understand the incantation in his mind, only to discover to his delight
that he didn't need to figure it out. He could simply understand what it meant.
It was as simple as opening his mouth to eat!
Still unable to believe he really was so extraordinarily gifted, Su Zhou pictured the Ancient One in his mind.
He raised the two fingers wearing the Sling Ring and drew a circle in the air with his right hand.
A circle spraying sparks appeared, then rapidly expanded.
Holding a teacup, the Ancient One sat cross-legged on a cushion in a secluded chamber, with another cushion laid out before her.
Su Zhou shrugged and strode through the portal.
He sat down somewhat helplessly on the cushion opposite the Ancient One and asked,
"Could I have a beer?"
"Of course!"
The Ancient One nodded with a smile, and a brimming glass of beer appeared in Su Zhou's hand.
Just like the beer Strange had given Thor when they first met, it was a spell that made everyday life more convenient.
"Can you understand now why I value you so highly?"
Su Zhou didn't answer. He simply drained the beer in his glass.
But he discovered that his serum-enhanced body couldn't get drunk at all. Never mind a glass of beer,
even drinking a glass of alcohol would do nothing!
"I understand, but I don't want to become Kamar-Taj's Sorcerer Supreme.
Can we negotiate on this? A brute like me isn't suited to a mage's work."
"No, it's precisely because you're a brute that you're so suited to our line of work!"
The Ancient One pointed to the other side of the chamber, where all sorts of magical implements sat on a rack.
Sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, poleaxes, hooks, forks, tridents, staves, metal cudgels, clubs, whips, swordbreakers, hammers, claws...
"The staffs we mages of Kamar-Taj use are different from those of ordinary mages!"
Su Zhou: (=ω=;)
Well, when you put it that way, it made sense!
"And to say something that might hurt your pride, it's precisely because you haven't received much of a 'scientific' education
that you can understand the knowledge of the magical world more quickly. This is what Buddhists call the 'obstruction of knowledge'!"
The Ancient One's words really did sting, but Su Zhou was already used to it.
He couldn't understand any of Tony's high-tech creations, yet he could directly grasp the spells the Ancient One taught him!
"In other words, you have the sacred physique of a mystic mage. The position of Sorcerer Supreme will be yours sooner or later!"
The Ancient One raised her teacup toward Su Zhou, then said with a smile,
"I'll give you time to think it over. Once you've figured it out,
you'll come to me yourself. I'll wait for you at Kamar-Taj until you're willing to become the Sorcerer Supreme!"