Chapter 31 (Daily Life Arc) I can do this all day
Tony put down the ceramic coffee cup in his hand, swiped casually across the screen beside him a few times, and then slightly raised his chin, signaling the smart butler on the ceiling to start working.
Jarvis's electronically synthesized voice with a pure British accent instantly echoed through the workshop, beginning to connect to the encrypted communication frequency representing the highest level of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The call was answered in less than three rings, and Nick Fury's iconic, somewhat deep and husky voice came out of the loudspeaker. In the background, there were faint sounds of turning papers and dull footsteps of leather shoes walking in the corridor, obviously showing that the Director was in a highly busy working state at the moment.
Before Tony could make a couple of sarcastic remarks, Fury's slightly impatient inquiry had already come through the speakers, asking what kind of trouble the billionaire had found him, the head Agent, for early in the morning.
Tony simply shrugged, and casually stated that it wasn't he who was looking for him, but rather an Eastern kid with super-speed abilities who had just unilaterally and forcibly tossed the Director aside, and was currently sitting in his laboratory clamoring for the communication method.
The previously faint ambient noises on the other end of the phone suddenly experienced a very brief pause, and then the sound of turning papers disappeared.
When Fury spoke again, the original impatience in his tone had completely disappeared, replaced by the alertness of a hound smelling blood.
He replied extremely concisely, "Leave him there, I will be there in a moment," and then hung up the phone cleanly and neatly, leaving only a monotonous busy tone echoing in the workshop.
Tony looked at the ended call interface, turned his head and raised his eyebrows at Arthur sitting next to the dining cart, indicating that the matter was settled.
The waiting time lasted about half an hour. During these thirty minutes, the workshop located in the underground space appeared a bit too quiet.
Dr. Yinsen, like a tireless robot, wore goggles in front of the workbench, repeatedly grinding a high-temperature resistant alloy plate belonging to the Mark II armor. The splashing sparks were reflected in the old man's focused eyes.
Tony sat back in his swivel chair, holding a stylus to constantly modify the underlying code on the holographic screen, occasionally picking up the completely cold coffee to take a small sip.
Arthur appeared the most leisurely.
He had completely no awareness of being in a military-industrial fortress filled with top-secret technology. Instead, he strolled leisurely back and forth in the open space displaying sports cars and experimental instruments, just like taking a walk in the park downstairs of his own home, to digest the expensive capitalist breakfast in his stomach.
Right in this extremely homely atmosphere, a very slight but clear electronic doorbell prompt suddenly came from the direction of the main door.
Jarvis's voice immediately sounded, steadily reporting that the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had arrived at the external recognition zone.
Tony stopped the action of typing code in his hand, turned the swivel chair, and supported the ground firmly with his legs to prepare to stand up.
He took a deep breath, and was about to stride toward the direct elevator leading to the upper-floor reception room to greet that troublesome head Agent.
At the very instant when Tony's right foot had just lifted off the ground, not even reaching a height of two centimeters.
A muffled and faint sonic boom suddenly burst in the air.
Tony only felt a stream of light flash before his eyes, so fast that even afterimages could not be captured. Immediately after, Arthur, who was still strolling a few meters away, vanished into thin air instantly, as if he had been directly erased by space and reassembled at the other end.
Tony's right foot hovering in mid-air appeared extremely awkward, and he silently put his foot back onto the cold ground.
He turned his head, looked in the direction of the main door, his mouth twitching twice involuntarily, and muttered speechlessly, "How come it feels as natural for this kid to treat Stark Industries' private Villa as his rental house in Brooklyn?"
Dr. Yinsen not far away heard Tony's complaint, simply turned his head slightly, and revealed a gentle smile through his goggles.
The old man had long seen through the wonderful interaction mode between the two of them. He said nothing, took back his gaze, and continued to immerse himself in the complex mecha modification data before him.
At this time, Arthur, who was at the main entrance on the first floor of the Villa, had very smoothly pressed the electronic unlock button at the porch, and pushed open the heavy bulletproof glass door.
At the moment when the door lock was opened, what originally appeared in Arthur's mind was only Nick Fury's slightly reflective black Egghead under the sun, and that black long trench coat that was almost never changed year-round.
However, when the door was fully opened to both sides, and the scene outside the door came into view, Arthur's originally casual gaze froze for a moment.
Standing at the very front was indeed the one-eyed Director Nick Fury, but today, there were two other people standing on his left and right sides respectively.
On the left was a white male with an extremely tall and upright figure. He wore a solidly made vintage jacket, with a simple light-colored T-shirt inside, and his plump and firm muscle lines stretched the clothes to be extremely oppressive.
His standing posture was extremely upright, exuding a military temperament as deep-rooted as a javelin. Beneath his short blonde hair, a well-defined face was calm and gentle.
On the right was a woman with dazzling red hair like raging flames.
She wore an extremely capable black tight casual suit. Although it looked like ordinary casual clothes, both the material and tailoring of the clothes were obviously prepared to facilitate combat and tactical evasion actions under any extreme circumstances.
Her figure was soft and full of resilience, just like a Black Panther ready to hunt at any time, and her emerald green eyes revealed a slightly chilling calmness.
Captain America Steve Rogers, along with Black WidowNatasha Romanoff.
Arthur's eyebrows raised slightly. He first uttered an "Oh?", and then crossed his arms naturally in front of his chest, the corners of his mouth curving into an arc with a hint of playfulness.
"What, looking at this personnel configuration, is this planning to have a trial run of the first Avengers party here at my place?"
Arthur's tone carried a hint of teasing, and his gaze swept back and forth across these three figures who could represent the absolute core of the Marvel Universe.
The depths of Fury's only remaining single eye flashed extremely cryptically, but on his pitch-black face, there was not even the slightest emotional fluctuation shown.
As the highest authority of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury had long classified Arthur into the archive of "extremely uncontrollable factors with high intelligence-gathering capabilities".
He knew very well that people like Arthur might at any time blurt out remarks that seemed to have seen through the future or insight into top secrets. The best response was to let it go in one ear and out the other, and absolutely not follow the other party's rhythm to answer.
Fury completely ignored Arthur's teasing. He just raised his chin slightly, strode with his black leather shoes, very naturally bypassed Arthur who was blocking the door, and walked directly into Stark's private territory.
Steve and Natasha closely followed behind Fury. In those few seconds passing by Arthur, these two top warriors and Agents had already conducted a silent and comprehensive scan of Arthur from their respective most professional perspectives.
Natasha's gaze swept across Arthur's carotid artery, shoulder muscle groups, breathing fluctuation frequency, and the foothold of his center of gravity as precisely as a scalpel.
She was looking for tactical traces on Arthur, but the result made her feel very confused.
The young man in front of her had no calluses left from holding a gun for years, no defensive posture formed by practicing combat as a conditioned reflex. Although his breathing was steady, it was only at the level of an ordinary person, and his whole body was full of fatal flaws everywhere.
Steve observed from another angle, searching for the smell of gunpowder and vigilance unique to people who had experienced war or life-and-death combat.
But on Arthur, he only saw the slackness and relaxation belonging to an ordinary college student, a casualness with clear eyes and no trauma at all.
Obviously, under the condition that Arthur did not actively mobilize the trump cards of the Twelve Talismans within his body, the perfect physique bestowed by the Talismans completely hid all abnormal mutated features.
In Natasha and Steve's evaluation system, no matter how one looked at it, this was just an ordinary Asian youth.
The four of them came to the spacious and bright reception room. Tony had already walked up from the underground workshop, holding another cup of freshly brewed new coffee in his hand.
Tony stretched out his finger, casually pointed at the circular set of high-end genuine leather sofas in front of him, and said in a very familiar tone, "Sit wherever you want; Stark's place has never had so many boring rules and red tape."
Arthur walked over to a single sofa, didn't even tidy up the hem of his clothes, fell backward extremely casually, and sank himself into the soft leather surface.
Fury led his two top-configured bodyguards to the opposite long sofa. The three of them found their own seats and sat down, their movements revealing a subconscious tactical mutual-protection positioning.
As soon as he sat down, Fury leaned forward slightly, his only remaining eye locked onto Arthur, officially opening the substantive topic of today's meeting.
"The two people I brought today, Tony already met yesterday at S.H.I.E.L.D. Arthur, considering the agreement we reached yesterday, I think you happen to need to formally get to know these two."
Fury stretched out his black palm, first pointing flatly toward the blond man sitting on his left.
"This is Steve, and his internal code name in the bureau is Captain America."
Then, Fury's hand moved toward the red-haired woman on the right.
"And this one is Natasha, code-named Black Widow."
Arthur straightened up from the soft sofa cushion, smiling, and extended his right hand.
He first looked at Natasha. This top female Agent didn't hesitate at all and very naturally reached out to shake hands with him.
Arthur could feel that in that seemingly slender and soft palm, there was a thin layer of roughness at the joints left by years of using various cold and hot weapons. The grip strength was controlled extremely precisely, neither overly aggressive nor absolutely unable to be easily broken free from.
Subsequently, Arthur's hand grasped the palm extended by Steve.
That was a completely different touch. Captain America's hand was broad and warm, and his palm was as hard as a piece of granite tempered through a thousand trials.
At the moment of the handshake, Arthur could clearly perceive the terrifying power lurking in this body like an endless vast ocean, but it was controlled by the opponent with extremely abnormal willpower, keeping every trace of power within an absolutely mild range without showing any aggressiveness.
"Hello." After letting go of his hand, Arthur made a very calm self-introduction, "I am Arthur."
As soon as his voice fell, Arthur's originally gentle eyes suddenly rolled extremely subtly, as if a playful prank thought had flashed through his mind.
He slightly raised his chin, and the smile at the corners of his mouth deepened a bit. At that moment, a touch of elusive evilness inexplicably emerged from his originally casual temperament.
"As for the code name, I also have one. My code name is, Shendu."
This word was spit out extremely clearly from Arthur's mouth without the slightest hesitation.
Since he held in his hands the power of the Zodiac Talismans representing things outside the rules of this World, from controlling the life of still objects to supersonic flight, from the wrath of thunder to invisibility and healing, since he possessed this collection of god-like abilities, borrowing this noble title was obviously most appropriate.
Fury opposite him frowned imperceptibly, and a rare trace of astonishment and confusion flashed across his face, which seemed as if it would never become vivid.
The top-secret file in his hands had investigated Arthur's background thoroughly; this kid's life trajectory over the past twenty years was as clear as plain water. When did he get a bizarre code name behind S.H.I.E.L.D.'s back that sounded so much like a cult leader or comic book villain?
However, Fury quickly suppressed this doubt in his heart. For such super-powered individuals with powers incomprehensible to ordinary people, having a bit of chūnibyō or liking to give oneself a resounding name was actually a common psychological defense mechanism used to relieve pressure.
As long as the other party was willing to cooperate, Furydidn't care at all whether he wanted to call himself God or a demon, as long as he was happy. When archiving the title "Shendu" in the database, it didn't sound too bad either.
Just as the polite handshake segment had just ended, and before the atmosphere had time to develop toward the direction of serious intelligence exchange, Arthur suddenly clapped his hands together forcefully in front of his chest, leaned his body forward slightly, and a very direct and expectant light burned in his eyes.
"Speaking of which, what kind of special day is it today, and are there any specific activity arrangements? Our personnel have gathered so uniformly—there is a tactical master, a top Agent, and a legendary soldier. Surely everyone didn't run over to Stark's mansion specifically to drink morning tea, right? Could it be that you are preparing to have a real, hand-to-hand sparring match?"
When uttering the two words "sparring", Arthur's gaze unblushingly crossed over Fury and Natasha, locking straight onto Steve.
That internet-acclaimed god of war who goes fifty-fifty with anyone, that absolute tank who stubbornly resisted the attacks of all sorts of monsters and demons in the Marvel Universe with the extremely classic quote "I can do this all day".
Arthur was very clear that although he possessed the absolute strength of the Ox Talisman and the immortal body of the Dog Talisman, he severely lacked real combat experience and skills.
The man in front of him who had injected the Super Soldier Serum was undoubtedly an extremely perfect whetstone to test the physical upper limit of the Twelve Talismans in actual combat.
Hearing Arthur's remarks full of proactive battle-request implications, Fury crossed his hands on his knees, and the whole person remained silent.
His inner self was actually also frantically calculating the benefit conversion rate of this incident. He had previously witnessed Arthur's super speed like teleportation in the surveillance footage, but in a true evaluation system, speed alone could not become a complete trump card.
Since Arthur actively raised the topic of sparring, this was tantamount to a door-to-door data collection opportunity. Fury chose to keep his mouth shut, which was tacitly consenting to the occurrence of this test.
Sitting nearby, Steve acutely perceived the Director's silent attitude, and very naturally understood the hidden meaning within it.
With his hands supporting his knees, he stood up from the sofa with a powerful posture.
On Steve's face, which carried a strong old-school style of the 1940s, a highly approachable smile that made people feel like a spring breeze appeared.
He looked at the young Asian in front of him whose physique was obviously a whole circle weaker than his own, and his tone revealed an extremely natural gentleness and confidence.
"Since you are so interested, of course I am willing to accompany you. But sparring is sparring, and I will try to be mindful of my boundaries and go easy on you. After all, we can't leave any indelible shadows in the heart of our newly joined little fellow just because of a simple training session."
Chapter 32: Start? It's already over
Tony sat on the custom single-person leather sofa he had specifically ordered from Italy, holding a cup of coffee whose temperature had dropped to room temperature, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Arthur and Stevetwice.
Hearing Arthur's slightly flippant and eager sparring proposal, and then looking at Steve's unique, old-school soldier's smile tinged with a hint of elder-like indulgence, the corners of Tony's mouth couldn't help but twitch upward.
He leisurely placed the white porcelain coffee cup in his hand onto the crystal coffee table beside him, producing an extremely faint ceramic clinking sound, and just in time opened his mouth to pick up the conversation.
"What a coincidence,"
Tony spread his hands slightly, his tone carrying the composure belonging to a billionaire and a tiny bit of the sentiment of someone watching the fun without fearing it being too big.
"Stark Industries has nothing else, but it has more than enough space. As it happens, right next to my Underground Room, for the sake of some special aircraft propulsion testing, a sufficiently spacious vacuum area has been specially partitioned off. The surroundings there have all been reinforced; it was originally prepared for placing some large equipment, but currently it's completely empty. It just so happens to serve as a free venue for the two of you to release your excess energy."
Having said that, Tony didn't bother asking for anyone else's consent, directly stood up, tidied up the high-end casual T-shirt on his body which actually didn't need much grooming, and turned to take the lead walking toward the private elevator inside the Villa.
Led by Tony, the group thus took the spacious, fully transparent glass elevator, slowly descending to the deepest underground part of this seaside Villa.
The elevator doors slid open to both sides amidst an extremely gentle electronic chime.
Presented before everyone's eyes was an underground space so vast it could even produce a slight echo.
On the right side was Tony's private parking lot resembling a top-tier auto show, with over a dozen top-tier sports cars of various colors and extremely flamboyant designs gleaming with expensive metallic luster under the cool-toned lights.
On the left side, which was the vacuum area Tonymentioned, it appeared spacious and hardcore.
The ground here was paved with a dark gray anti-slip and shock-absorbing coating of a special material, partitioned off by extremely heavy reinforced concrete walls and several thick load-bearing pillars, and the air was filled with a very faint smell of engine oil and a certain dry rust inhibitor scent.
Arthur walked to the center of this open space, stopped, and turned to look at the few people following behind him.
The spacious venue was indeed very suitable for stretching one's muscles, and the rows of high-brightness shadowless lamps overhead illuminated the place as bright as day.
Steve stepped out from the crowd, his feet wearing old-style leather boots stepping on the anti-slip coating, making a steady and rhythmic sound.
He walked to a position about five meters away from Arthur and stopped, facing Arthur, and began to adjust his breathing extremely naturally.
Steve made no fancy moves; his legs were slightly apart, his knees bent to an angle just right for exploding at any time or providing an absolute center of gravity, his hands raised into fists that were relaxed yet without a trace of a flaw, guarding the sides of his cheeks and chin.
This was a standard combat stance that had been thoroughly tempered on countless life-or-Deathbattlefields, discarding all redundant flashy moves and leaving only the purest defensive and counterattacking functions.
"Kid,"
Steve looked at the young man before him who appeared somewhat thin compared to his own physique, a gaze revealing an extremely gentle kindness. He slightly raised his chin and took the initiative to remind:
"Let you strike first, lest people say later that I, a veteran who has experienced war, am bullying an ordinary college student like you here."
Hearing this, Arthur merely shrugged noncommittally.
He did not immediately put on any posture of facing a formidable enemy, but instead began to slowly warm up his body.
First he shook his wrists, then he stepped his legs outward, bent down, pressed his hands on his knees, and did a warm-up stretching move.
He twisted his neck left and right, and could even hear two extremely crisp friction sounds from his cervical vertebrae joints. Placed in a professional mixed martial arts arena, this set of movements would definitely be regarded by the opposing fighter as the purest provocation or the behavior of an utter layman without any common sense.
The few people standing aside at a safe distance to watch had their respective expressions and psychological activities heading toward two completely opposite extremes.
The hem of Nick Fury's black long trench coat fluttered extremely slightly. With his hands crossed in front of his chest, his single eye locked dead onto the two people in the middle of the field.
The Director My Lord maintained absolute silence throughout, with no redundant micro-expressions on that dark face. He simply maintained observation with the gaze of someone watching military experiment videotapes, making no verbal evaluation of the two's movements.
What he needed was data, what kind of offensive mode and strength threshold Arthur would expose when facing Steve, the pinnacle of human physical form.
And Natasha, standing beside Fury, acted purely out of the professional instinct of a top Agent and assassination master.
That pair of extremely sharp emerald-green eyes, while Arthur was performing that anime-colored warm-up movement, had already sized Arthur up and down dozens of times like a high-precision radar.
She observed the relaxation degree of Arthur's shoulder muscle groups, evaluated the angle when his ankles exerted force, and looked for possible martial arts foundations in his breathing rhythm.
However, the conclusions gathered from the data in her brain every single time were ruthlessly telling her one thing.
The Asian youth pressing his legs before her had ordinary skeletal force-exerting patterns, and there wasn't even a shred of defense against pain or Death in his eyes. Without a doubt, he was simply an ordinary person who had never received any systematic combat training, at best having performed this somewhat comical warm-up movement rather standardly, and his flexibility looked quite good.
However, this seemingly reasonable deduction instead raised a much stronger sense of vigilance deep within Natasha's heart.
She knew her immediate superior too well. Since Fury was willing to visit in person late at night, and even tolerate the other party proposing extremely harsh nominal conditions, and pull this young man who didn't even have the alertness of ordinary street punks into that extremely core embryonic organization...
Then this guy named Arthur definitely harbored some kind of extremely extraordinary power within his body, one that might even exceed the scope of common sense understanding.
Out of this extremely contradictory observation result, Natasha chose to lower her breathing, her hands naturally hanging down at a position where she could draw weapons from the outer thighs at any time, also remaining in a wait-and-see state without making any evaluation, quietly awaiting the development of the situation.
However, for Tony and Dr. Yinsen standing at the very edge of the venue, the atmosphere was completely different.
These two extremely pure scientists and technical madmen unhesitatingly, and even without any suspense in their hearts, firmly believed that Arthur would win.
They didn't need to analyze Arthur's combat posture, nor did they need to guess any tactical psychology. For no other reason than because a few days ago in that desolate desert scorched by the scorching sun in Afghanistan...
Arthur strolled leisurely amidst a hail of bullets, and then with that terrifying monstrous strength that simply could not be explained by conventional physics, directly smashed the pure steel-cast Base gate of the Ten Rings Gang—which was over a dozen centimeters thick—into pieces of scrap metal all over the floor with a single punch, just like smashing a dry biscuit.
Tony lowered his voice, his elbow casually bumping Dr. Yinsen who was pushing his black-rimmed glasses beside him, his tone carrying a bit of banter that only the two insiders could tacitly understand, and even softly discussing how many seconds the super soldier in the middle of the field could hold out.
Although Dr. Yinsen didn't make a sound, his slightly upturned mouth corners and the frequency of his gentle nods clearly indicated his agreement in his heart with Tony's wager.
Having finished that slightly exaggerated warm-up, Arthurslowly straightened his waist, patted the non-existent dust on his palms, and stood in place looking at Steve opposite him who was still maintaining a standard defensive posture with full concentration.
"Buddy,"
Arthur's voice was extremely relaxed, just like greeting a passerby occasionally encountered on a basketball court. He tilted his head slightly, his tone sincere yet mixed with a trace of unmasked banter:
"I'll state this beforehand, huh, I really haven't formally fought with others much before. If I hit too hard later, or fail to hold back my strength, please forgive me, ha."
Listening to such polite remarks that sounded extremely much like an outsider making excuses, Steve laughed extremely naturally.
The muscles on his face relaxed a bit because of this smile, and then he gently shook his head, his blue eyes revealing absolute composure and the calmness of someone accustomed to great storms.
"It doesn't matter,"
Steve's voice carried a bit of chest resonance within its full-bodied vigor, and to put the other party at ease, he even deliberately patted his plump and hard pectoralis major, producing two extremely dull sounds of flesh collision.
"This body of mine is certainly not vegetarian, nor is it made of paper. You don't need to have any concerns, just hit me with all your might."
"All right." Arthur responded briskly.
The moment the words fell, Arthur's expression didn't change at all, but he very cooperatively took a deep breath of the cool air in the Underground Room treated by the ventilation system.
Afterwards, his body bent forward slightly and extremely casually, his right arm pulled back, making an extremely standard charging posture preparing to deliver a straight punch.
Next moment, Rabbit Talisman, activate.
That was an ultimate phenomenon that completely surpassed the capture limits of human retinal nerves, and even directly crossed the transmission speed of neuron signals.
Even the explosive sound of the sound barrier being forcibly torn apart in the air didn't have time to echo in this underground space, and time seemed to produce a kind of local stagnation around Arthur.
In this Planck time before the afterimage—which was still five meters away striking a fist-retracting pose—even had time to dissipate, Arthur's true body had already appeared directly in front of Steve like teleportation, and the distance between the two was even less than half an arm's length.
Accompanying this extreme speed was the power of the Ox Talisman, which endowed the holder with incomparable physical oppressive force.
This terrifying-to-the-extreme power poured out along the muscle groups of Arthur's unassuming right arm. Under the speed blessing of the Rabbit Talisman which had not completely faded, his fist swung out fiercely, striking with extreme precision and without any obstruction onto Steve's forearms crossed together which he subconsciously used to block.
Steve's proud Super Serum lost all meaning of existence at this instant.
The split second his fist contacted his flesh and blood, Steve's pupils instantly shrank violently.
Steve's entire person didn't even leave any trace of struggle or friction on the ground; he was like a shell fired at close range by a large-caliber naval gun, his feet instantly leaving the ground, carrying a visible violent airflow, and instantly flying backward upside down.
The first reinforced wall originally used to isolate the vacuum area, the moment it contacted Steve's back, didn't even provide a blocking effect for half a second, directly emitting an extremely crisp shattering sound. Concrete mixed with snapped steel bars splattered everywhere like foam blocks.
But the momentum of Steve's flight didn't slow down at all; he smashed through two extremely heavy partition walls consecutively, kicking up a sky full of grayish-white dust.
Ultimately, his body, like a meteor falling to earth, heavily smashed onto the hood of a burgundy limited-edition luxury sports car belonging to Tony parked at the outermost edge of the parking lot on the other side.
The expensive high-grade alloy car body sank deeply downward instantly amidst this dull impact sound, and the high-strength explosion-proof windshield shattered completely like snowflakes.
The Underground Room was immediately filled with the extremely harsh sound of vehicle anti-theft sirens.
Red warning lights flashed wildly in the dust, and that party involved Steve—who the previous second was calm and collected stating that his body wasn't vegetarian—was now stuck in the car's front end, which had turned into a pile of scrap iron, in an extremely twisted posture.
His eyes tightly closed, his head hanging down limply, and there was no movement for a long time. Clearly, under that terrifying impact force without any buffer room, he had directly fallen into a deep coma.
The air was filled with cement dust and a slight smell of burning rubber, and the alarm sound echoed rhythmically throughout the entire underground space.
The few people standing not far away all looked as if they had been pressed on the pause button, falling into an extremely bizarre state of stillness and completely dumbfounded.
Fury's single eye, which was already not big, at this moment almost stared straight out of its socket.
He stared fixedly at that continuous stretch of wall ruins, his facial skin twitching slightly, and the data evaluation model in his heart that had been relatively conservative completely collapsed at this instant.
There was only one extremely clear thought left in his head: this kid was far more than deeply hidden; this combination of power and speed that casually batted a human body away like a toy simply could not be measured by the eyes of normal superhumans.
Natasha's hands, which were originally hanging down naturally, involuntarily clenched tightly into fists. Her pair of emerald-green pupils widened slightly, watching Arthur's back as he still stood in place, her respiration uncontrollably developing a trace of disorder.
Her proud sensory analysis system completely failed just now; she hadn't even clearly seen how Arthur crossed that five-meter distance.
Not until this moment did she have a thorough, and even extremely strongly subverted, brand-new cognitive understanding of Arthur's strength—this was a gap that combat skills simply could not bridge.
As for Yinsen and Tony who were previously placing bets, their reactions appeared relatively much more subtle.
Dr. Yinsen, through lens glasses stained with a bit of dust, looked at the scrapped luxury car in the distance still sounding its alarm, and extremely steadily reached out to adjust his frame.
He felt in his heart that someone who possessed the ability to shatter the Ten Rings Gang's specially made pure steel alloy door with a single punch completely finding it within reason to send a super soldier flying with a single punch—this result had long become an expected certainty.
But the one thing he didn't expect was that this competition crowned with the name of sparring would end at a speed so outrageously fast that it didn't even leave people the time to blink.
Meanwhile, Tony stood in place, looking at that originally glamorous beloved car in his garage which had now turned into an extremely atrocious lump of scrap metal.
The mood of planning to watch a good show was instantly replaced by an indescribable heartache.
He somewhat powerlessly covered his face with both hands, his brows knitted together in extreme pain.
He complained in a low voice, extremely annoyed and full of breakdown:
"Fuck! My car!"
Chapter 33 Steve: What do you mean you just have pure strength?
The reinforced concrete wall originally used for vacuum testing had now turned into debris all over the ground, and those broken steel bars were exposed in the air extremely abruptly like the bone spurs of some huge monster.
The harsh car anti-theft alarm screamed tirelessly in the open space like a crazy mechanical heart, and the flashing red warning lights flickered on and off in the grayish-white cement dust.
This dead-silent atmosphere, as if directly hit by a missile, lasted for more than a dozen seconds.
Except for the slight current buzzing coming from the damaged front of the car, several onlookers did not even dare to breathe heavily.
"Damn it."
With Arthur abruptly blurting out such a classic piece of cursing, that eerie silence was finally broken.
After throwing that punch just now, Arthur had originally maintained that casual posture that looked a bit like an anime action, but at this moment, as if he suddenly realized that he had caused trouble, the expression on his face instantly switched from nonchalance to an extremely abstract panic.
He ran and rushed toward the wine-red limited-edition sports car that Steve had smashed into a lump of scrap metal.
His sneakers rubbed fiercely against the extremely expensive non-slip coating. When he was close to the ruins, Arthur directly bent his knees and executed an extremely smooth sliding kneel right among the broken glass and cement bits all over the ground without any baggage.
He slid all the way to Steve, who was stuck in the dent at the front of the car, and grabbed the shoulders of Steve's solidly-made vintage jacket with both hands.
Arthur exerted force without any politeness, shaking Steve's extremely heavy Super Soldier body back and forth with great force, just like shaking someone who had just been fished out of the water after drowning.
"Captain! Steve! Brother!" Arthur screamed at the top of his lungs, letting out an extremely abstract dry howl without a single tear. That sound pierced through the car's alarm and reverberated back and forth in this underground space.
"You must not get into trouble. This is just a simple spar. What am I going to do if something happens to you? I am still young, and I don't want to carry the crime of attacking a centenarian."
Seeing no response from Steve after shaking him a few times, Arthur simply raised his head and began to howl with a cracked-gong voice towards the exhaust pipe on the ceiling, even adding an extremely heavy vibrato.
"Snowflakes are fluttering~ The north wind is sighing~ Heaven and earth~ Are a vast expanse~"
These few lines of old Chinese songs that did not belong to this era and completely failed to match the current context were shouted out by Arthur in an extremely desolate tune, directly roasting Tony not far away inside and out.
Tony was still heartbroken over his limited-edition sports car, with his hands already covering his face preparing to wail, but as a result, he was interrupted on the spot by Arthur's funeral-grade performance. He froze in place, the corners of his mouth twitching continuously.
On Nick Fury's eternally unchanging dark face standing in the distance, that single eye also twitched extremely obviously twice.
Natasha even more speechlessly withdrew her hand that was originally prepared to reach for her weapon. The Arthur before her didn't look like a powerhouse with terrifying combat strength at all, but rather like a rogue trying to extort someone after a failed street scam.
Under Arthur's extremely violent physical shaking—completely disregarding the super serum—Steve, stuck in the hood groove, finally reacted.
The veteran's fingers twitched extremely slightly, and immediately afterwards, those eyes that had been tightly closed slowly opened.
However, there was currently no usual steadfastness of someone who had survived hundreds of battles in those eyes, nor was there that kind of worldly-wise calmness.
Steve's line of sight was completely unfocused, and his gaze was as clear as a blank sheet of paper, even a bit clearer and more confused than a college student who had just entered campus and climbed up early in the morning for an 8 AM class.
Steve turned his somewhat stiff neck, and his bones made a few extremely muffled clicking sounds.
His gaze swept extremely slowly across the shattered windshield around him, the indented high-grade alloy panels, and the Asian youth still dry-howling in front of him.
The super soldier's super brain, which could originally process hundreds of tactical information in an instant amidst a hail of bullets, was obviously in a state of crashing and rebooting at this moment.
He opened his mouth, his voice a bit hoarse and ethereal, and uttered the three philosophical questions with extreme confusion.
"Who am I, where am I, what just happened."
Hearing this, Arthur's dry-howling sound came to an abrupt halt, and the expression on his face froze instantly.
He lowered his head with extreme guilty conscience to look at his own fist, then looked at Steve's clear and foolish gaze, and took a deep breath of the heavy engine-oil-scented air.
"Damn it, could one punch have given him amnesia? This is not covered by my claims settlement range." Arthurcomplained extremely bluntly, retreating half a step back repeatedly.
Fortunately, the super serum's extremely terrifying self-healing and recovery capabilities finally reconnected with Steve's brain nerves at this moment.
After about five or six seconds, that clear stupidity in Steve's eyes began to fade away extremely quickly, and past memories rushed back into his mind like a tide.
He remembered the extremely ordinary duel request in the luxurious living room upstairs just now.
He remembered the process of getting ready for battle in this open space.
Then, his memory flashed back to the exact moment when Arthur took a deep breath and prepared to throw a punch.
Anything after that completely turned into a black screen.
Steve's mind didn't even leave behind Arthur's movement trajectory. The only impression was that an extremely blurry afterimage suddenly flashed before his eyes, and then his entire body felt as if it had been directly struck on the face by a fully loaded heavy dump truck with its accelerator pressed to the floor, completely unprepared.
That kind of terrifying destructive power was simply not something humans could contend with. Steve could only remember the sound of wind and thunder ringing in his ears at that instant, and then he knew nothing more like a kite with a snapped string.
Steve shook his head with extreme helplessness, trying to shake off the lingering tinnitus in his mind, and looked at Arthur in front of him to ask.
"Did I... just pass out directly?"
As soon as his voice fell, the three people walking over not far away, stepping on the shattered glass and cement blocks all over the ground, also arrived close by.
Tony was still looking at his beloved car with a look of agony on his face, while Fury's black long trench coat was stained with quite a bit of dust when passing through the ruins. He walked to the front of the car, and that single eye extremely seriously looked up and down at his subordinate embedded inside.
"Steve, how are you feeling? Is your body okay?"
Fury asked. Although his tone maintained the dignity of a Director, it also carried extremely obvious concern—he had clearly seen Steve smash through three load-bearing walls just now.
Steve took a deep breath, tried moving his arms and shoulders, and then grabbed the deformed sports car frame, leveraging it to climb out of the dent with extreme difficulty, stepping onto the ground full of part fragments.
"Nothing major, no bones broken, it's just that all the muscles feel extremely torn. It just hurts a bit, and it'll be fine after a while."
Steve shook his head and casually patted away the cement dust on his jacket.
However, after standing still for a moment, he turned around extremely formally, and extended that rough and wide right hand toward Arthur, his eyes filled with an extremely pure admiration.
"Today I truly witnessed what it means by 'do not judge a book by its cover.' Your performance has completely opened my eyes. That kind of unheralded explosive force just now, could it be some kind of legendary ancient Chinese kung fu?"
Looking at Steve's extended hand, Arthur reached out and slapped it extremely perfunctorily as a handshake, then shook his head very practically, casually shattering all of the other party's beautiful martial arts fantasies about the mysterious East.
"You're overthinking it, buddy. There are no moves or routines. My strength is purely just a little bit bigger than an ordinary person's."
Hearing this extremely unreasonable explanation and recalling the experience just now of smashing load-bearing walls like biscuits, the corners of Steve's mouth twitched uncontrollably and violently for a long time, not knowing how to respond, until he finally squeezed out two extremely helpless words.
"Alright."
Seeing that staying like this in the ruins with poor air quality was not a solution, Arthur very smoothly pulled Steve's arm and dragged him to a relatively clean piece of flat ground.
Amidst Tony's extremely aggrieved sighs, the group returned along the original path to the transparent elevator, heading back to the top-floor living room full of sunlight and the scent of luxury goods.
After several people sat down again on those custom genuine leather sofas, the atmosphere had obviously undergone an extremely subtle change compared to before.
Although Fury was still chatting with Arthur on and off, his wording and attitude were obviously much more cautious, because in his heart, he had completely classified Arthurinto an extremely dangerous and out-of-control level.
Natasha maintained silence throughout the entire process, using only her peripheral vision to extremely obscurely observe Arthur, trying to figure out the true background beneath his lazy exterior.
They didn't sit here for too long. After casually drinking some water and chatting for a few extremely unnutritious polite phrases, this test crowned under the name of a party was completely over.
Fury very decisively took Steve—who needed recuperation—and Natasha, who had remained quiet all along, and left Stark's seaside Villa.
Arthur didn't intend to stay much longer in this place either. Although Tony expressed welcome for him to stay for lunch and incidentally discuss the ownership of the car repair expenses, Arthur just perfunctorily waved goodbye to Tony, then found a blind spot where no one was watching and slipped away directly.
Returning to that slightly aged apartment in Brooklyn, the sunlight quietly spilled onto the sofa through the gaps in the curtains. The house was empty with only him. Gwenwas still dealing with band practice at this time point.
Arthur walked to the sofa and threw his entire body heavily onto the cushions with extreme relaxation.
He put his hands behind his head, looked at the somewhat paint-peeling ceiling, and began to carefully ponder and study his next plan.
Showing his strength in the Underground Room just now was just a move, and getting involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. was just a byproduct.
Wanting to live safely in this Marvel Universe full of extremely dangerous purple sweet potatoes and all kinds of alien madmen, relying solely on the Ox Talisman and the Rabbit Talisman to be a pure physics-based warrior is obviously not safe enough.
A person's name suddenly flashed through his mind.
That Ancient One Sorcerer Supreme who usually always wears a yellow robe, wields the Eye of Agamotto, and can knock people out of their soul state at every turn.
According to the current extremely early 2008 timeline, this bald bigwig must still be alive, and even at the peak of her magic power.
He currently has the Horse Talisman to cure diseases, the Dog Talisman as a safety net against death, and even more crucially, the Sheep Talisman that can let one's soul leave the body at any time.
This is simply a match-made-in-heaven condition for visiting someone's house. If he can run over to her elder's place to freeload some tech, even if it's just casually learning a small magic trick like drawing circles for a Portalor changing into a glowing magic shield, future actions will also be extremely convenient.
"No sooner said than done, let's go."
Arthur was a restless character; whenever he thought of something, he went and did it.
He bounced up abruptly from the sofa, muttering a sentence extremely cheerfully.
Immediately afterwards, the divine power of the Rabbit Talisman surged instantly within his body.
Without any premonition of spatial fluctuations, Arthurdisappeared from the spot extremely abruptly, leaving not even a trace of an afterimage in the air.
However, just in the next second, at the exact original position where he had disappeared the second before, the air twisted extremely faintly, and Arthur flashed back completely, still maintaining that posture of preparing to set off just now.
He scratched his short hair with extreme awkwardness, looked at the empty living room, and uttered a soul-searching question full of self-doubt and helplessness.
"Oh man, I only thought about freeloading magic, but where on earth are the specific coordinates of that ghost place Kamar-Taj?"
Chapter 34: A Legendary Bigshot Throwing Herself at Him?
In that slightly aged apartment in Brooklyn, the originally sultry afternoon air seemed to become thick and sticky because of Arthur's inner conflict.
The faint humming sound made by the fan blades of the old air conditioner was infinitely magnified in this quiet living room.
Arthur sprawled out completely devoid of any image on that slightly sagging secondhand fabric sofa.
He stared at the somewhat yellowed and peeling ceiling above his head, a long and clueless brainstorming session taking place in his mind.
As a transmigrator from the real World, he could indeed be considered a Marvel fan, but the killer thing was that his understanding only lingered at the level of those popular theatrical movies and sporadic comic settings, not counting as a hardcore die-hard fan who knew every single branch Universe by heart.
Just now in the underground testing area of the Stark Villa, relying on the domineering physical power of the Twelve Talismans within his body—especially the absolute speed of the Rabbit Talisman and the absolute strength of the Ox Talisman—he used a completely unreasonable method to instantly kill that World War II veteran super soldier Steve Rogers with a single punch.
In that brief second, he indeed experienced the extreme exhilaration brought by a dimensional reduction strike.
But after calming down and returning home, as the adrenaline faded, a strong sense of crisis began to well up in his heart.
Because he clearly knew that in this Marvel timeline where so-called gods and multiverse rules existed, relying solely on violent output from physical stats was definitely not going to get him far.
Facing those existences that could easily distort reality, modify rules, or launch direct attacks against the soul, a lack of magic resistance and spellcasting methods would definitely become his most fatal shortcoming.
And the fastest and most effective way to fill this shortcoming was to visit that legendary Earth magicbarrier Guardian—Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One.
Yet now an awkward and killer problem was laid out in the open: he simply had no idea where the Ancient One's lair actually was.
Arthur rolled over, picked up his phone thrown in the crevices of the sofa, attempted to search for those potentially existing urban legends on the useless internet, and in the end just irritably locked the screen.
He cushioned his head with both hands and let out a helpless sigh.
In his memory bank, that Doctor named Stephen Strangein the cinematic Universe ran off to Kathmandu in Nepal to seek out Kamar-Taj.
But another set of memories untimely jumped out to remind him that in the comic's main Universe setting, that sacred land mastering countless mystic arts was tightly hidden deep in the harsh-climate Himalayas where snowstorms raged year-round.
As for this unlucky parallel spacetime where he currently resided, this was a heavily modified Universe where even Gwen Stacy wore a spider suit, and Peter Parker was still running around everywhere in Tobey's red-and-blue uniform.
Heaven knows which corner it was assigned to in Marvel's complex system.
The people and things here had long since fused beyond recognition; what if Kamar-Taj's address also underwent an outrageous deviation in this Universe?
Even if he possessed the Rabbit Talisman that could grant the holder abnormal movement speed and the Rooster Talisman capable of levitation and flight, he couldn't possibly act like a headless fly, checking every single street in Nepal bit by bit, or braving extreme cold to cross every mountain peak of the Himalayas.
The workload involved was simply suffocating.
The more he thought about it, the more upset he felt; Arthur tossed and turned on the sofa, changing postures several times, while the deductions in his mind were declared bankrupt countless times.
Having thought for a full half-hour, he still had no feasible way to resolve this predicament of intelligence fault lines.
Accompanied by a prolonged and helpless sigh, he lay flat again like a deflated balloon, deciding to temporarily give up this unrealistic searching plan.
At worst, he would take it one step at a time in the future; anyway, clenched in his wrist was the absolute immortality of the Dog Talisman, along with the healing ability of the Horse Talisman that could fully recover even with only one breath left, so even if he really encountered that kind of unspeakable magic-side disaster, preserving this life was definitely more than enough.
"This Ancient One is really idle."
Arthur scratched the short hair on the back of his head, casually complaining to the air,
"Why on Earth build a lair in such a remote place? Can't she just buy a building in downtown New York City like Tony, instead of insisting on maintaining that persona of an otherworldly expert, simply increasing unnecessary commuting costs for people wanting to visit?"
However, at that very brief moment when the last syllable of his sentence had just fallen and his mouth had not even fully closed, an anomaly abruptly occurred.
In the originally calm living room air where there was nothing except the sound of the air conditioner wind, a sharp, piercing sound suddenly burst forth, resembling an old cutting machine violently grinding against metal.
In front of the coffee table less than two meters away from Arthur, the space in mid-air twisted and folded without any warning.
Immediately afterwards, a series of dazzling and high-heat golden magic sparks exploded out of thin air, and those golden sparks, as if possessing life, rapidly wandered along a certain regular circular trajectory, forcefully tearing open a space Portal leading to a completely different dimension within the ordinary apartment in Brooklyn in less than half a second.
On the other side of the door was no longer the street familiar to Arthur that exuded the smell of city automobile exhaust, but a Zen room furnished in an archaic style with dark brown wood textures visible everywhere.
Those exquisitely carved wooden doors and lattice windows exuded a profound sense of age, and the air even faintly wafted with a certain sandalwood scent capable of soothing impatient emotions.
And directly opposite that Portal whose edges were still continuously spewing golden sparks, a figure quietly stood.
That was a person wearing plain, even somewhat antiquated bright yellow monastic robes.
That iconic hairless, reflective crown of the head, and that pair of eyes that seemed to have precipitated countless centuries of time, as calm as a deep pool, directly caused Arthur's heartbeat to completely skip half a beat at this instant.
The Ancient One's hands were naturally and casually clasped behind her back, and on that face without any wrinkles yet appearing weathered, a soft and benevolent smile was hanging.
She stood quietly on the other side of space, gazing at Arthur who was still maintaining a paralyzed posture on the sofa, and then spoke in a plain tone devoid of any emotional ups and downs, sounding like greeting a next-door neighbor.
"It seems I just heard someone passionately discussing my residence behind my back."
The Ancient One's ethereal voice seemed capable of directly piercing through Arthur's eardrums to echo in his mind,
"May I ask if there is anything you need my help with here?"
"Holy crap."
Arthur's instinctive reaction belonging to a modern young man completely covered up all the false disguises of so-called transmigrator calmness in an instant.
He let out a loud profanity, and his whole body ejected on the spot from the fabric sofa like a cat that had been electrocuted and stepped on its tail, completely devoid of any image.
Because the rising movement was too fierce, his knees directly bumped into the edge of the coffee table, but he couldn't care less about this slight pain; his body rapidly darted backward several steps, retreating all the way to the corner before barely stopping.
At the exact same moment he widened the safe distance, all the dormant Talisman powers inside Arthur's body fully entered the highest level of standby status in an instant.
The Rabbit Talisman provided mobile preparation for evacuation at any time, the Ox Talisman filled his entire muscle group for a physical counterattack just in case, and the Tiger Talisman efficiently reconciled the meridian conflicts caused by these two completely different powers.
He stared fixedly at the bald wizard opposite the Portal, his brain becoming exceptionally alert due to extreme fright.
"You are monitoring me."
Arthur tightly knitted his brows in vigilance, his voice appearing slightly tense due to the previous exclamation.
In this unfamiliar and dangerous Universe, his private residence actually had no secrets to speak of; this terrifying realization generated an extremely uncomfortable sense of resistance in his heart.
Faced with Arthur's enemy-approaching accusations and questioning, the smile on the Ancient One's face did not show any change; she only slightly and almost imperceptibly shook her head.
"It is not what you think; I do not have the habit of prying into other people's privacy."
The Ancient One patiently explained, her speaking pace still unhurried,
"I just happened to sense at this special moment that a special energy resonance erupted from this coordinate in New York."
As a Guardian, I naturally had to cast my gaze over to check things out.
And then, it just so happened that I heard you discussing my insignificant choices here.
Deep inside Arthur's heart, a strong sixth sense was sounding crazy alarms.
Anyone who believed this kind of official, slick rhetoric would be a fool.
What coincidental sensing of energy, what coincidental hearing—this was utter nonsense.
Given the profound methods of this old fox who had lived for who knows how many centuries and guarded Earthevery day from the intrusion of various dimensional demons, he was probably put on her priority observation blacklist the moment he started tossing things around on a large scale with magic talismans.
However, Arthur quickly recognized the realistic situation before him.
He currently had no stance, nor did he have the capital to fall out with her and directly expose her hypocritical yet face-saving excuse.
Not only did the other party not show any malicious actions, but she even considerately opened the door right in front of his sofa.
Continuing to bicker over this issue at a time like this was clearly unwise.
Realizing this, Arthur simply relaxed his tensed shoulders.
He took a deep breath, dispelling the excess cold sweat secreted by tension, and then stepped forward, without any exaggerated hesitation, directly crossing the boundary of golden sparks that seemed not to belong to this World.
Feeling the surrounding air twist slightly and the temperature instantly drop from stuffy to cool, he was already standing steadily inside the meditation room of Kamar-Taj.
Since he was already here, he might as well make himself at home. Since the other party hadn't ruthlessly slapped his soul out of his body with a single palm, Arthur simply completely discarded those restrained surface etiquettes.
He glanced at the low solid wood tea table in the center of the meditation room, casually pulled over a dark soft meditation mat placed nearby, and sat down cross-legged on it without any politeness.
His entire movement was as smooth as flowing water, as if he had skillfully lived in this place for several years, completely not treating this place as the territory of an expert with terrifying power.
Facing Arthur's rude and casual action, the Ancient Onestill maintained that transcendental calmness.
She didn't care about Arthur's reaction at all, calmly walked to the opposite side of the tea table, and slowly took a seat.
She rolled up her wide bright yellow cuffs, skillfully and elegantly picked up the kettle with rolling water bubbles on the small red clay stove beside her, and began to carefully make tea.
The scalding boiling water rinsed the emerald green tea leaves, and a fresh, bitter fragrance unique to alpine tea instantly permeated the entire meditation room.
The Ancient One first naturally poured herself a shallow cup, and then filled another cup.
She gently touched the edge of the teacup with her fingertips and gave it a light push on the wooden tabletop.
The white porcelain cup, still emitting misty white vapor, glided smoothly like on an ice surface, stopping steadily right in front of Arthur, without even a tiny ripple swaying in the overflowing tea inside.
Arthur looked at the teacup in front of him. Without too much hesitation, he picked up the cup and casually sniffed it near the tip of his nose; the scent was refreshing.
He took a gentle sip along the rim of the cup.
The tea entered his mouth smoothly, and the aftertaste lingering in his throat was long-lasting.
Arthur, a layman who usually only knew how to crudely gulp down cheap functional drinks and had no idea how to taste tea at all, sincerely praised in his mind at this moment, "This taste is actually delicious."
Putting down the teacup, Arthur raised his head to look at the Ancient One opposite him, who had taken a sip of tea and wore a relaxed expression.
He didn't plan to continue playing this patience-consuming probing game, so he simply cut straight to the point.
"Do you have something important you wanted to see me about?"
Arthur's tone was calm, without any roundabout modifiers, "I don't think a Sorcerer Supreme as lofty as you, having monitored me for such a long time, would suddenly be willing to see me this afternoon just to politely treat me to such good tea."
The Ancient One slowly placed the white porcelain cup in her hand onto the tabletop, her movement so light that it didn't even make a single sound.
Her eyes, filled with endless wisdom, stayed focused on Arthur's face. That profound gaze gave Arthur the illusion that he was exposed unshielded under the blazing sun.
"Because in my eyes, you are a special individual."
The Ancient One said in a gentle voice that seemed to come from a distant time and space.
"Before today, I firmly believed that the future Stephen Strange is the special candidate who can take over this heavy burden on my shoulders."
"In the endless river of fate, he is the brightest special anchor point I have ever seen."
Speaking up to here, the Ancient One paused for a rare moment, her gaze seeming to pierce through the heavy spatial barrier to see the outside World, "However, until a certain day a few months ago, you suddenly appeared on this World."
"Without any logical process, just like a friend from another Universe who abruptly and forcefully broke into this soil."
Arthur's fingers holding the teacup stiffened for a split second by a subtle margin.
Hearing the phrase "friend from another Universe", which precisely tore off his last piece of disguise, he forcibly suppressed the violently churning tremor in his heart and unexpectedly controlled his facial muscles.
He paused there, the expression on his face as calm as stagnant water, not revealing any special flaws that could expose extreme shock because of it.
The Ancient One didn't care at all about Arthur's strong psychological quality; she didn't seem to expect Arthur to give an immediate flustered response, and simply continued to state the facts in her slow and calm tone.
"I have sat in place many times, trying to use the powerful laws of time to see through your past and future."
The Ancient One calmly recounted her private spying behaviors, "But what I can see is nothing."
"I cannot see through your trajectory."
"On the huge web of time woven by fate, you are like a muddy and unbearable chaos."
"There is bizarrely no starting point of birth, nor is there terribly any end of ultimate destination. Without beginning or end, messy, and even unreasonably leading astray all established causal lines around."
"Until just now today, when you casually and accurately talked about my name in that coordinate that did not intersect with me, the threads of fate finally produced a rare and clear resonance. I know this is the right time for us to meet."
Speaking up to here, the Ancient One's pale yet powerful right hand extended from her wide sleeve robe.
Her slender fingers slid lightly through the calm air between the two of them.
The harsh friction sound similar to tearing space earlier sounded again, and golden magic sparks abruptly burst into mid-air.
Then, in the brief light of the sparks, an antique brass ring with a double-ring structure directly fell out.
That thing sullenly traced a short parabola in mid-air, and with a crisp crashing sound, it landed accurately on the tabletop in front of Arthur.
"This is the important and basic Sling Ring of Kamar-Taj."
The Ancient One pointed at the rough small metal object, her tone even rarely carrying a trace of joking meaning, "I want to try it on you, an unpredictable person, before the stubborn Strange of this Universe arrives, to see if this ancient heritage can produce any interesting resonance with your chaotic fate."
Arthur was completely stunned.
That face, which had always been tense due to vigilance, was completely frozen in a comical and dazed expression at this moment.
His gaze switched back and forth between the Sling Ringlying casually on the table and the Ancient One's calm face.
His brain's CPU burned down tragically at this instant.
The legendary, hard-to-meet magic expert, after suddenly dragging you into a secretive lair, not only didn't ruthlessly kill you or recite lengthy rules upon meeting, but instead actively threw the core beginner divine equipment directly onto your face, practically begging you to try it out for free.
What kind of outrageously absurd dream plot was this unbelievable direction of development?
Chapter 35: Master's Hands-On Teaching
The water in the tea stove simmered slightly, and the mellow tea fragrance slowly spread across the slightly dim meditation room.
Ancient One did not stop talking because of Arthur's somewhat dazed expression.
She adjusted her posture, her profound gaze falling upon the grain of the wooden tabletop, and calmly continued to recount the unimaginable timeline trajectories that seemed absurd to ordinary people.
"In that originally predetermined trajectory of fate known to me, some time from now, the future Dr. Banner, who has completely merged with Hulk, will travel through time to come here and borrow the Time Stone."
Ancient One's voice echoed in the quiet room, carrying a detachment unique to a bystander, "And in the years following that, a surgeon named Strange will come to Kamar-Taj to seek miracles beyond medicine because his hands suffer incurable, severe trauma, ultimately embarking on the path of the Sorcerer Supreme."
Speaking of this, Ancient One raised her eyes, casting her gaze back onto Arthur's face, the corners of her mouth curving into an extremely faint smile.
"But things are different now. Those events have already become inherent processes within another cumbersome and lengthy timeline."
Ancient One stretched out her pale finger, pointing at the brass Sling Ring she had just tossed onto the table, and continued speaking.
"After the arrival of you, an unpredictable person, I peered through the gaps of the laws of time and saw a simpler and more suitable future trajectory. Therefore, rather than me continuing to ramble on here about so many dry principles of fate, don't you want to put it on yourself and experience this novel power of the laws?"
Listening to Ancient One's rather metaphysical remarks, Arthur curled his lips while sitting on the straw mat.
He himself was a transmigrator from the real World. The plot developments of Avengers: Endgame, the storyline of Hulk borrowing the stone from Ancient One, and the origin story of Doctor Strange were already clear enough to him after watching them once in the cinema in his past life.
Right now, he really didn't have the patience to listen to a canon character retell the plot outline to him again.
Without any polite formalities with Ancient One, and not wanting to listen to her profound theories about timeline branching any further, he directly reached out and grabbed the brass Sling Ring from the tabletop.
The touch of the metal surface was icy, and the carved patterns upon it felt rough under his fingertips.
Following his limited memory of the movie scenes in his mind, Arthur slipped the Sling Ring onto the index and middle fingers of his left hand.
Arthur took a deep breath, imitating the starting stance of Strange from his memory.
Steadying his breathing, he raised his left hand wearing the Sling Ring, then extended his right hand, beginning to clumsily draw circles and slide in the air before him.
His movements were somewhat stiff, just like wiping a glass window in mid-air.
At first, there was no reaction whatsoever in the air.
But after Arthur drew about seven or eight circles consecutively, two golden sparks suddenly burst outward from the very front of the Sling Ring's trajectory.
Those sparks were extremely fleeting, even accompanied by a slight crackling sound.
Arthur suddenly widened his eyes, the corners of his eyes that had drooped slightly due to a lack of confidence instantly lifting up.
Those two real magic sparks landed on his retina, causing a distinct sense of joy to surge into his calm heart.
Feeling that he seemed to have found the trick, he waved his right arm even harder, striving to draw smoother circles in the air, attempting to expand that tiny spark from just now into a complete Portal.
But the feedback reality gave him was very harsh.
Next, no matter how hard he slid his fingers, or even waved his arm until it faintly ached, apart from the stirred breeze, not even the slightest hint of golden movement appeared in the air.
Those two sparks were like a lighter that had run out of battery, completely fizzling out.
After dozens of consecutive attempts, Arthur helplessly stopped the actions in his hands, lowering his arms while panting slightly.
He looked at the completely unresponsive Sling Ring on his finger and let out a heavy sigh.
"Am I just not cut out for this at all?" Arthur muttered somewhat defeatedly.
Ancient One looked at his deflated appearance and shook her head slightly.
"No, you already succeeded halfway in that exact moment. Your body does not reject the conduction of this energy."
Ancient One's tone remained calm, but her words then took a turn, "However, your state of mind is still lacking a bit. Your heart is too impetuous; you attempted to drive it with physical brute force, resulting in you not only being unable to control this power belonging to magic, but in fact, even the innate power originally residing within your body remains in a crude state that you completely cannot control."
Hearing this, the expression on Arthur's face visibly froze for a moment.
His brain began to spin rapidly. Could this "innate power" mentioned by Ancient One be referring to the Twelve Talismans within his body?
Arthur recalled what had happened this morning in the underground test area of Stark's Villa.
Facing Captain America Steve at that time, he had only activated the powers of the Rabbit Talisman and the Ox Talisman.
In that instant, all he could feel was the raging speed and terrifying monstrous strength that almost threatened to tear his muscles apart.
That kind of power was like a breached flood, and he could only act as a switch responsible for pulling down the floodgate; yet when the flood rushed out, he was completely unable to finely control the thickness of every single stream of water, having to let this power destroy all blast walls along the way in the most barbaric manner.
This violent release in its initial stage was perhaps the true meaning of what Ancient One referred to as "being unable to control one's own power."
Before Arthur could completely sort out this logic, Ancient One had already casually raised her right hand and made a gentle swipe in mid-air.
Accompanied by a harsh frictional sound and dazzling golden sparks, a complete circular Portal instantly appeared beside the tea table.
A crisp and chilly breeze blew from the other side of the Portal.
That was the open-air plaza located in Kamar-Taj, paved with ancient dark-gray stone slabs.
Dozens of apprentice monks wearing robes similar to Ancient One's, but slightly dimmer in color, were neatly lined up, earnestly practicing the circle-drawing movements in the plaza against the cold wind.
Scattered sparks flickered everywhere in the air.
"Starting today, you will stay with them for basic training first." Ancient One pointed at the plaza on the other side of the door, calmly issuing the arrangement.
Just at this moment, a stoutly built man slowly walked over from behind the heavy stone arch on the other side of the plaza.
He wore dark cultivation garments, and his round face bore a serious and stern expression.
This person was the current librarian of Kamar-Taj, and also the future Sorcerer Supreme, Wang.
Wang walked with steady steps to the front of the Portal.
He first cast a somewhat scrutinizing glance at Arthur, who was sitting on the straw mat dressed in casual modern attire, and then turned his gaze towards Ancient Oneinside the room, slightly bowing.
"Sorcerer Ancient One." Wang's voice was deep and resonant, "Is he the special alternative plan you mentioned earlier?"
Ancient One nodded gently: "Take him to study together with everyone."
Wang nodded again, raising no redundant questions.
There was no extra expression on his somewhat round face; he simply made a brief gesture for Arthur to follow, then turned around and led Arthur toward the group of apprentices who were practicing diligently.
Helplessly, Arthur stood up from the straw mat, stepped through the heat-emitting Portal, and walked in a single step onto the somewhat chilly stone slab plaza of Kamar-Taj.
Time slowly passed by several hours amidst this dry and repetitive training.
By this time, Arthur was casually standing in the very last row of the apprentice ranks, as if he had already become an ordinary member among this group of practitioners.
Wearing his own short-sleeved shirt, he appeared somewhat out of place under the blowing mountain wind.
During these long hours, Arthur's right arm had almost been drawn into a state of numbness from drawing circles.
Over and over again, he mechanically raised his hand, slid, and lowered it.
During the process of training with the Sling Ring, tiny golden sparks would indeed occasionally brush out from his fingertips.
But those sparks were quite disappointing, often flashing only slightly before quickly and completely dissipating in the air.
Arthur's brain was extremely exhausted, unable to figure out what the underlying principle of this so-called spatial magic actually was; this was completely outside the same logical system as his talisman superpower that could be activated with just a single thought.
Yet, unusually, he did not choose to give up here.
On one hand, he didn't want to lose face in front of the chubby Wang; on the other hand, he knew clearly in his heart that if he could really master this rule-based magic of directly opening doors to send people places, it would definitely be much more convenient in the future.
Pragmatically speaking, with a Portal, he could freely travel back and forth to various places, no longer needing to worry about being late due to distance issues, or neglecting Gwen who was still waiting for him to come home in New York.
He wouldn't even have to worry about people experiencing discomfort due to speed when carrying them using the Rabbit Talisman.
Most importantly, he could show off.
Just as Arthur was holding onto this cliché yet effective motivation, preparing to make what he didn't know was the several-hundredth or even several-thousandth attempt, a familiar and ethereal voice sounded at the edge of the plaza.
"Stop, come, follow me." Ancient One, who had been standing under the corridor at some unknown point, called to a halt the disheveled Arthur.
With a sense of relief, Arthur lowered his arm, which felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead, and obediently followed Ancient One across the plaza, returning once again to the tranquil zen room from earlier.
"Sit. Next, watch closely and follow my movements."
Ancient One walked over to the familiar tea table, without any hesitation, sat down steadily, crossed her legs, and then naturally closed those eyes laden with the traces of time.
Obediently, Arthur walked back to the straw mat he had sat on earlier.
He laboriously folded his leg muscles, which had grown somewhat stiff from standing for a long time, sat cross-legged imitating Ancient One's posture, and then closed his eyes.
Inside the room, only the thin white smoke generated by the burning agarwood drifted about.
"Relax your body, level your state of mind."
Ancient One's voice was soft, as if she were directly conducting some subtle dialogue with Arthur's consciousness.
"Cast aside those rigid external movements from just now and look inward into your consciousness. Truly feel the powers lying dormant within your body. I can clearly sense within your body that you have severely underestimated yourself. You have not fully unleashed the original strength of that power core at all; those things are far more powerful than what you currently think or display, by severalfold."
Listening to the soothing guiding voice by his ear, Arthur's breathing gradually became steady and prolonged.
He purposely relaxed the tense cervical spine muscles, letting his shoulders sink naturally.
His mind began to slowly empty out; those distracting thoughts about drawing circles, sparks, and timelines burst and vanished bit by bit like fine bubbles.
His consciousness was like a heavy pebble cast into a calm body of water, beginning to slowly and uncontrollably sink toward the depths.
In that wondrous state of being half-asleep and half-awake, Arthur peered inward clearly for the first time at the full picture of his spiritual World.
In that dark and boundless void of consciousness, twelve regular octagonal stones floated quietly.
They were the Twelve Talismans that bestowed various freakish abilities upon Arthur.
Arthur's consciousness drew closer, clearly seeing the intricate patterns carved all over their surfaces.
The intaglio grooved lines representing the animal forms of the twelve zodiac signs such as the rat, ox, tiger, and rabbit were distinct.
However, under this fine visual perception, Arthur truly discovered a problem he had never noticed before.
These Twelve Talismans suspended deep within his consciousness all appeared gray and dim.
Their surfaces lacked luster, with only a faint trace of energy flowing slowly across their edges occasionally.
It was just like a pile of ancient equipment that had entered a low-power standby state due to long-term lack of maintenance.
At this moment, Arthur finally deeply understood the words Ancient One had said earlier.
These Talismans stayed quietly there, looking ancient and heavy.
They were not completely activated at all right now, unable to even steadily emit basic radiance.
No wonder that every time he used the Talismans, aside from the violent initial physical vent, he could never achieve fine control—because he hadn't truly touched upon the deep origin of these powers at all.