Both of them sat up straight, listening. Stick gave a satisfied nod.
"This location works well. No one's going to interrupt us up here—we can speak freely."
"First: I was born in K'un-Lun, but I have no connection to K'un-Lun now—at least not on the surface. K'un-Lun is a remarkable place in the East; I'll tell you more about it over time. What I want to say now is this: my abilities are not simply martial arts."
"Dragon Power. Every so often in K'un-Lun, someone receives the Dragon Power. Those hosts then develop an ability known as qi from that power. Through centuries of accumulated trial and practice by our ancestors, this qi gradually became something ordinary people could master. The process of mastering it, we call 'cultivation.'"
"My core strength comes from the qi produced through cultivation. You could call it a secondary form of Dragon Power—or more precisely, a derivative of it."
Maya had held out as long as she could. "Shifu—what actually is Dragon Power? If I don't know what it is, how am I supposed to cultivate your qi?"
Stick's expression darkened like a piece of coal. "I. Never. Said. I. Was. Going. To. Teach. You. Qi."
At that, Maya bristled. "Shifu—are you one of those old fogies from the stories? The kind who always keeps one technique hidden from their disciples? Everyone holds something back, secrets get lost, whole art forms disappear—is that you?"
These damn foreigners, Stick thought. No concept of respecting your elders. How on earth did I let myself be talked into taking these two on?
Even so, he had to explain himself—the last thing he wanted was a rift forming this early.
"Cultivating qi is an advanced discipline. You have absolutely no foundation for it right now—there's simply no way to begin. As for Dragon Power—"
He turned to Maya. "Your energy. It's called Chakra, isn't it? In Sanskrit, it means 'the force of life.' In truth, qi and your Chakra are very similar. This universe has many dimensions. Some contain worlds—like the cosmic expanse we inhabit. Others are filled with strange and unique energy."
"Every dozen years or so, K'un-Lun connects to a particular alternate dimension. The energy that dimension generates—we call it Dragon Power. It saturates our bodies. Those who can directly absorb it become its hosts. Those of us who cultivate qi are those who have been thoroughly permeated by it."
"Your Chakra follows the same principle. It, too, is an absorbed form of higher-dimensional energy—a derivative, in the end. Does that make sense to you?"
"Yes," said Maya.
"No," said Matt.
Stick pressed his palm to his forehead and exhaled. "Whether you understand it or not, I won't be explaining it again. There are things you can only grasp through experience. Very well—I'll give you one chance to ask questions. Maya—you first."
...What about me? Matt thought, quietly aggrieved.
"Shifu—aside from Dragon Power, are there other energies like it?"
Stick considered. "You know about mutants? Think about it: given how fragile human bodies are, how do they produce world-ending power?"
Maya went quiet for a moment. "A mutant's X-Gene is also a key that unlocks a specific dimension—each key opening onto a unique energy-dimension. That dimension grants all awakened individuals a unified energy source, and the X-Gene channels it differently based on each person's genetic code. That's where all the different abilities come from."
Stick nodded with visible satisfaction. "Maya, you're remarkably sharp. I only knew this from K'un-Lun's hidden archives. For you to work it out in one step, just now—genuinely impressive."
Maya's thoughts turned to the Ancient One. "Shifu, do you know who the Sorcerer Supreme is?"
Stick's face shifted immediately. "Maya—how do you know about the Sorcerer Supreme?"
"I accidentally disturbed her while practicing spatial techniques. What's wrong with that?"
A complicated expression crossed his face. He murmured, almost to himself: "Ah...I see now. What a shame. What a terrible shame."
"What shame?"
"The shame of a talent like yours never becoming her student." He seemed to deflate slightly. "The Sorcerer Supreme is the greatest mage in this corner of the universe. Compared to her, K'un-Lun is like the moon beside the sun."
And wasn't that obvious? The old man's own disciple—Daredevil—was a street hero who'd hesitate to announce "I'll take ten at once" even against ordinary criminals. Meanwhile, the Sorcerer Supreme's disciple, Doctor Strange, was Earth's planetary guardian: the one who had repelled Dormammu, the cosmic destroyer; traded blows with Thanos and survived; and played the trickster god Loki like a fiddle.
K'un-Lun's greatest warrior, Iron Fist, could make his fist glow gold—for about two hits before the power went on standby. At Kamar-Taj, even the lowest-ranking servants could slip through time and space with their sling rings like it was an errand run.
The gap between the two wasn't just magic versus qi. It was the difference between Investiture of the Gods and The Deer and the Cauldron—not in terms of literary merit, mind you. In raw power level.
All right—that might be putting it a bit strongly. But the Ancient One was genuinely the strongest being on Earth, and that much was beyond dispute.
"What's the source of the Ancient One's power? Is there some specific magical dimension—one that's particularly strong?"
"Maya, there's one thing you need to be clear on: whatever type of power you're discussing, the dimensional source only provides the seed. The individual always determines how strong that power actually grows. That principle holds for every power system. Power seeds do have gradations—some stronger, some weaker. But people carry no such gradations. More precisely: the seed provides a bridge for understanding this world; a power's true strength is simply the outward expression of how deeply the individual has grasped the truth at the heart of the universe." He paused, as if struck by something, and tilted his face toward the night sky.
"The Ancient One has gone furthest ahead of all of us. Her understanding of this universe surpasses our imagination. Some people live for hundreds of years and spend every last day of it lost on the path to truth."
"Oh my God—hundreds of years?" Matt's head snapped up. That was the first thing he'd actually followed. "Humans can live that long?"
Stick gave Matt a withering look, then returned to Maya. "You yourself are actually a fine example. I know your school's environment—poor conditions by any measure—and yet you've risen above ninety-nine percent of students at the finest private schools anywhere. Cultivation is the same. A dimensional seed is like access to knowledge. Cultivation is like learning. Yes, some schools are better than others—but to become a top-tier scientist, the individual has to do that themselves."
Maya understood that her newly minted shifu was trying to teach her something. She nodded. "I understand, Shifu. My natural talent is already exceptional to begin with. And even if your qi is a step below the best, as long as I keep working, I'll certainly surpass the Ancient One someday."
Stick: That is not what I meant. How can this child be this insufferably arrogant? And didn't I just say I'm not teaching them qi yet?