A Traditional Invitation to Tea

A vein bulged at Ancient One's temple. How many years had it been since she'd met someone like this? Greeting her with "fuck" when they met-where were his manners?

Even so, she maintained her composure. With a wave of her hand, the two of them instantly appeared in a tea room, seated in their places.

As a cup of tea was placed in front of him, Xiahou finally came to his senses. Looking at the tea, he wondered if, in keeping with tradition, Ancient One had invited him to tea. But he was in a game! He could get invited to tea even here? Incredible!

Watching Xiahou's thoughts wander again after he came to his senses, Ancient One frowned once more, then sighed softly. There was nothing she could do. Even she couldn't kill the man before her, and even if she threw him into another dimension, he could kill himself or be killed and return to Earth in this world. It left her utterly speechless; she couldn't even seal him away.

In the end, she could only give a light cough to bring Xiahou's thoughts back.

Hearing it, Xiahou immediately looked at Ancient One and prepared to ask what she wanted with him. But before he could speak, Ancient One had already begun.

"Hello, Xiahou! I'm Ancient One, as you know."

Xiahou nodded and was about to speak, only to be interrupted by Ancient One again.

"I know what you want to ask! I mean you no harm. I only want to invite you to stay at Kamar-Taj as a guest for a while."

Without waiting for Xiahou to answer, Ancient One continued.

"You want to ask how long, right? For now, let's say two and a half years!"

Xiahou said, "I..."

"You don't need to say it. I know-you want to know why it's so long, right? The time is mainly to let you adapt to this world and gain better control of your abilities."

"No, no, no, this isn't house arrest. It's just to train you! Do you want to learn magic? That's possible too, but it takes talent. Although you possess magical power, you might not be suited to the magic of our world! No, I can't read minds. I just know what you want to ask."

Xiahou thought, And you still say you can't read minds. Transmigration novels really didn't lie to me!

"I really can't read minds, and I don't know any transmigrators either. You can only be considered a special case!"

Xiahou was speechless. He thought again, So can I speak now?

Ancient One said with a kindly expression, "Yes. If you have something to say, go ahead!"

After clearing his mind, Xiahou said, "Fuck, and you still say you can't read minds! Speaking of which, you seem way more badass than in the movie! If you're so badass, can you let me quit the game?"

Ancient One cursed inwardly, but kept a smile on her face. "No. As you can see, I'm just an NPC!"

Xiahou was speechless. Then he said, "Is it really just to train me? You're not putting me under house arrest in disguise, are you? And is there really no way I can learn your magic?"

"Yes, no, I don't know. At least, in the future I saw, you didn't learn it. But anything is possible, isn't it?" After saying that, Ancient One took a sip of tea, but inwardly she thought, I really want to kill him. If I weren't worried about driving him over to the dark side, I'd kill him outright. I really want to get off work!

Hearing those three answers in rapid succession, Xiahou had no choice but to ask, "Then what can I train in here? If I can't even learn magic, what can I do?"

Ancient One said calmly, "As everyone knows, we Kamar-Taj mages are all melee mages! So you know what that means!"

After saying that, she didn't forget to wink at Xiahou.

Xiahou couldn't help complaining inwardly again, You're an old woman who's hundreds of years old, and you're still acting cute at me? As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he inwardly groaned that he was done for. He'd forgotten this old woman could read minds!

Ancient One's expression remained unchanged. She merely took another sip of tea before asking, "Do you have any other questions?"

Xiahou instinctively asked, "Speaking of which, do you know Gabriel?"

Ancient One was really reaching the end of her patience. With a wave of her hand, Xiahou appeared in the training grounds again, and Ancient One's voice reached his ears.

"Kaecilius will tell you the rest, and he'll be responsible for training you during your time here!"

Kaecilius, who had been waiting in the training grounds for quite some time, walked up to Xiahou at just the right moment and said, "My name is Kaecilius. I'm the Sorcerer Supreme's eldest disciple. I'll take you to your room first!"

The current Kaecilius wasn't like he would be later, after Dormammu had beguiled him, with thick smoky makeup around his eyes. He was only around thirty, and he didn't have the same deeply embittered look he would have when he appeared in Doctor Strange.

Looking at him, Xiahou couldn't help saying, "Do you know how famous your name is? Eight million warriors know you! And let me tell you, there's no future in following Dormammu. The Kaecilius I know is known as the Fourth Apostle, thanks to the twin blades in his hands. How about you stop practicing magic and take up twin blades instead? He's ridiculously strong!"

Kaecilius stared at Xiahou in bewilderment, then said, "I didn't know that, and how could I possibly follow Dormammu? But the twin blades you mentioned might be worth considering. Are they really that powerful?"

Xiahou gave him a thumbs-up. "Really! Ridiculously powerful! Just don't let a loli tempt you! Otherwise, all you can do is go to the sewers!"

Kaecilius responded solemnly, "Don't worry, I don't like children!"

Xiahou asked again, "Speaking of which, do you eat human flesh? I don't mean anything by it. I'm just curious!"

Kaecilius's face darkened, and his voice grew louder. "I don't eat human flesh!"

His voice made the other mages passing nearby turn to look, curious about what the newcomer was saying to their eldest senior brother.

Xiahou knew he shouldn't have asked that question, but looking at the face before him, identical to Hannibal Lecter's-Uncle Mads's-he really couldn't help himself! This wasn't King Hannibal from before!

After taking Xiahou to his room, Kaecilius told him to gather at the training grounds the next morning, then left straight away.

Xiahou watched him leave and shouted, "Where's my little note? Why aren't you following the procedure?"

Kaecilius ignored him completely. How was he supposed to know anything about a little note? Was he supposed to conjure one up?