[Spell Learned: Lesser Conjuration]
[Spell Learned: Shield of Tao Mandala]
[Skill Learned: Group casting]
[Skill Learned: Sling Ring Proficiency]
[Skill Learned: Mirror Dimension Manipulation]
That's everything I knew by the time I was ready to sleep. I hadn't bothered hiding how much I was learning in front of the ancient one since Mordo had gone away after my training had started.
However, learning all those spells wasn't what made me feel like a human for the first time in that universe. If anything the speed at which I was learning them and the disbelief in the ancient one's eyes as I did made me feel like a freak. An awesome freak but still one.
What had made me think normal for the first time since this bizarre trip had started was taking a good old bath. Kamar-Taj had a beautiful and probably magical hot spring. I loved the feeling of sitting in one and having it all wash off from my body.
"And here I thought Anime exaggerated how good it was." I couldn't help but mutter. "It's heaven."
Of course, since this was an outdoor hot spring, it wasn't reserved for just me.
"The world-famous neurosurgeon had time to watch anime?" Came the question from an Asian man sitting to my left.
"You don't become world-famous by working all hours. You have to make yourself scarce. Your time has to be fought for. They should eagerly wait for when you are available next. There should be a voice in their mind that tells them of how privileged they are to get your time."
I was the best bullshit generator I knew.
"I am sure your patients would have loved to hear it, Strange. An attitude like that on someone so magically talented? I can only see great things in your future."
I snorted.
"Don't forget that any two-bit idiot can do what I just said. That's the easy part, what's hard is making sure that the time I am available, I do the best damn work anyone could. The privilege and everything else are true. But those are barely peripheral reasons, the core of why I was famous was that I was the best in my business. If I was at the operation table, they knew that the patient was coming out alive." I replied. "Also my face helped."
"And humble too? I can only look forward to the future of Kamar-Taj."
This time my snort was louder than before.
"What's your name, Mr sarcastic? I like your sense of humour. I would introduce myself but you already know me and everything about me it seems."
"Wong. I manage the library. Most of Kamar-Taj knows of the arrogant new sorcerer."
That's how I met Wong. He was a chill dude and usually Strange's friend. We talked a bit more. I didn't just want to be "Strange but with some meta-knowledge", but it was hard to not like the guy. He mellowed out as we spoke but he never really did drop his obviously fake persona of the wise librarian.
I finished the bath, got out and went to sleep in my new sleeping quarters. The rest of my life will come as it does.
—
The next day I learned the limitations of being dr strange. I had martial arts practice with Mordo where he taught me how to throw a punch, while my memory was spotless and I doubted photographic it did not help me much in fighting against the martially superior foe.
[Skill Learned: Physical Enhancement]
Learning the skill, which was just me circling mana around me in ways I had observed him do, didn't help much either. The punches hurt a little less, I suppose.
My own martial failure was heightened due to me being obviously paranoid in front of the future traitor. However paranoia and meta-knowledge aside, he seemed to truly just want to teach me. He showed me how he had created enchantments for his weapons and even his shoe and I marked the subject for learning in the near future.
After training under Mordo for around four hours, where I was thought both spell casting and martial arts along with other trainees, I was basically left free to my own devices. It seemed that the same happened to every prospective sorcerer. I asked myself If I should network and make more friends or continue learning magic.
I obviously chose the latter. I found Wong in the library as I expected and he helped me pick up books that would help me.
Books, that I was happy to learn I could also learn magic from. I greedily learned the theories behind spells, magical traditions, lore and most importantly even more spells.
And before I knew it my day was over.
—
I woke up again and the routine began again. I learned magic at a pace that would have baffled anyone else if they truly knew how fast I did.
Three days into learning magic and I was already better than third-year students.
Three days into learning magic and I had already figured out sling ringless teleportation.
[Spell Created: Unassisted Teleportation (Minor)]
What if it was extremely limited in range and ate mana like a dragon? It was still a fact to be judiciously kept hidden from everyone around me.
Oh, I had no plans to keep it only to myself, of course. I wanted to teach others how I did it. And I would once whatever threat that would signify the oncoming change in status quo I was expecting happened. Once Mordo shows his true colours or proves himself incorruptible.
Also once, my instructions can be something more than how I was doing it now.
Learn everything about sling ring construction, mimic its constructions via conjuration and mana bending, keep it hidden and use that illusory sling ring to cast it.
Yeah, no, I didn't think anyone other than me would be able to learn all of that.
The routine continued, more and more spells entered my repository of knowledge. I refined my own casting methods. I also felt as if my internal mana factory was growing with each passing day.
I was hyper-focused on improving myself for just the sake of improving and saw days pass by. Finally, my routine was broken when I saw an infinity stone of all things sitting unattended.
It was embedded within the one artefact I knew was strange's staple from the old cartoons I used to watch.
The Eye of Agamoto. I picked it up with equal bits of reverie and apprehension. Apprehension because who would leave something so important out in the open?
I focused all my magical senses on the medallion before I touched it to make sure that I didn't trigger any curses and I was relieved when it seemed as if it was normal.
Just a normal infinity stone, if the book was to be trusted, sitting without a single guardian keeping it. Oh wait—there was something.
I looked closer and saw a shoddy ward around the library that connected to the artefact.
[Ward Learned: Lesser Anti-Chronomancy Ward]
What my magical insight told me of the ward made me want to snort. It was looking for subtle uses of chronomancy. Subtle. That's what it was listening for when an infinity stone was involved.
Then I really did snort out loud because it wasn't just that parameter was shoddy it was also that if the ward was a program I had written at my old job then it would not even have compiled. That said, breaking it with all the knowledge I had accumulated so far was child's play.
I doubted that the ward would have triggered even if I had picked it up and started using it. I wondered how this world had managed to keep out all the interdimensional threats they kept going on and on about if this is how an infinity stone was guarded.
That said, I had the Eye of Agamoto in my hand now and what else was I to do now but take it for myself for as long as I could?
—
[Skill Learned: Single Stream Chronomancy (Local)]
[Skill Learned: Biological Chronomancy]
Chronomany was awesome. Saying that rewinding and fast-forwarding time using a fundamental building block of the universe was intimidating would be a gross understatement.
Intimidating or not, It was something I couldn't stop doing. I had used it on an apple and saw it progressively get eaten more and more. I had also been able to turn the apple back into nothing by going backwards enough.
Chronomancy and the name of the first skill I had learned said fascinating things about my current reality but the real game changer for me was the second skill, [Biological Chronomancy].
I had learned it from the book that had originally shown me the eye of Agamoto. It was when I was trying to modify it to be used selectively that it happened.
[Skill: Boon of the Dark Dimension - 2% analysed.]
[Spell: Celestial Inferno- 7% analysed.]
An explosion rocked Kamar-Taj. I instinctively put up my shields against the oncoming debris that fell as a result of it. I watched in horror as boulders fell on countless priceless magical tomes.
Well, some priceless magical tomes and too many fictional spells listed as historical lore.
I didn't get time to use my newly donned eye of Agamoto to rewind time before the first offensive spell hit my shield.
My [Shield Dome] held. I looked towards where the spell was coming from and saw an invasion party.
Around twenty sorcerers and the obvious leader. And I stood there, with my shield up as I accessed my chances of getting out of here alive.
It was finally here. The end of status quo.
—