Chapter 206

Although time had entered autumn, the afternoon in New York was still somewhat hot. The pull-tab of a soda can clicked lightly, followed by a "pssh" sound. Peter looked up, took a gulp of cool cola, and let out a refreshing: "Ha..."

"Finished drinking? If you're done, perfect this part a bit more."

"Oh, coming."

Peter put the cola on the table in the preparation room, then put his lab coat back on and came to the laboratory bench. He looked left and right, then whispered to Dr. Connors: "Is it really okay for us to do this? I feel like we definitely won't be able to hide it from Mr. Stark. This is the Stark Tower laboratory, after all."

Shiler, sitting in the preparation room, said to Peter: "It seems that you haven't listened to a single word of the psychological theory knowledge I taught you before."

Peter scratched his head and asked: "I just didn't really remember it... but what does that have to do with us conducting experiments behind Mr. Stark's back?"

"I am very certain that Stark will not use surveillance equipment to observe the situation in this laboratory. He is a very proud person. Therefore, knowing that Dr. Connors holds several patents for biotechnology, he will not adopt this kind of method, which is similar to peeking."

"His pride prevents him from doing anything that borders on 'stealing knowledge.' Even if there is only a slight risk, he will avoid it as much as possible."

"Stark is like a proud bird. His intelligence and wisdom are the beautiful feathers he is most proud of. He will avoid any behavior that might soil his feathers, even if such behavior could allow him to obtain more food."

Connors also added: "This is why he is more like a scientist than a businessman."

Peter nodded to indicate he understood. He looked up at the clock in the room and said: "Sorry, Doctor, I have to go in an hour. I have friends waiting for me."

Connors looked up and asked Shiler: "When is Strange coming?"

Just as Shiler was taking out his phone, intending to give Strange a call, a red crack suddenly appeared in the center of the laboratory room, which then expanded into a red circle. Strange walked out from inside, holding a crystal ball in his hand.

"Phew..." He let out a long breath and said: "You have no idea what I just went through. My god! I never imagined that a mage would actually have to do this kind of work!"

"Tell us about your magical experience." Shiler looked up at the window; it was still very early.

Peter stared at Strange with a curious expression. Strange carefully placed the crystal ball on the table, let out a long breath, and began his account.

The matter still had to start from Kamar-Taj.

After Strange became an apprentice mage at Kamar-Taj, he began his long journey of learning magic.

Strange had good talent and learned quickly. It didn't take long for him to get the hang of things, and he was using some small spells quite well.

At the same time, frequently traveling to and from Kamar-Taj, he gained a deeper understanding of the interpersonal relationships there. Besides the Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One and the Kamar-Taj steward Wong, he also got to know someone else—that was the Ancient One's eldest disciple, Baron Mordo.

Strange felt that the person he got along with least at Kamar-Taj was this senior brother of his. Mordo's behavior and demeanor reminded him at every moment that he was an outsider, a wild card who had started halfway through.

Because Baron Mordo was truly too much like a mage—even more so than the Ancient One.

He was silent, solemn, and mysterious. Every word he spoke carried a mysterious meaning that ordinary people found difficult to understand. Not only was his magic ability strong, but the style in which he cast magic was exactly the same as a traditional mage.

Every time Mordo used magic, he would float in mid-air, his robes fluttering slightly, mysterious points of light circling his body, and he would utter a series of mysterious incantations, acting with ease and grace.

By comparison, Strange's magic casting wasn't as aesthetically pleasing. Being wrapped into a rice dumpling by disobedient Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, magic portals disappearing halfway through being opened, the Seven Rings of Raggadorr spiraling out of control and flying everywhere—these were all common occurrences.

More importantly, Strange didn't have much understanding of mysticism and philosophy. He simply couldn't speak as eloquently as Mordo, opening his mouth to talk about the true mysteries of life, seeking tranquility, the source of power, and so on.

Every time he heard the Ancient One and Baron Mordo talking, Strange felt that the Ancient One must be very impatient when talking to him, because Strange neither had rich theoretical knowledge of magic nor understood those obscure and esoteric mystical stories.

The topics Baron Mordo and the Ancient One discussed were all keywords like the universe, truth, origin, etc., while the topics Strange and the Ancient One discussed were basically loans, interest rates, margins, etc.

The former looked like a magic temple preaching and teaching, while the latter sounded like a bank business sales call.

If it were just that Strange and Baron Mordo couldn't talk to each other, that would be one thing, but because of the financial fraud scheme Strange introduced to the Ancient One, the two of them frequently traveled between Asgard and other dimensions to prepare for the entire plan.

During this time, the Ancient One took Strange all over the world, but left the eldest disciple Mordo at Kamar-Taj.

As the only disciple of the Sorcerer Supreme for many years, Mordo had long considered himself the successor to the Sorcerer Supreme and Kamar-Taj in his heart. But now, seeing this little junior brother who was completely out of place with magic being so favored by the Ancient One, he naturally had thoughts about it.

And what surprised Mordo the most was that the Ancient One actually asked him to contact Dormammu.

At Kamar-Taj, the magic everyone used was mostly white magic, coming from Hoggoth or other deities of order; black magic was absolutely forbidden.

But because the definition of magic was relatively vague, most mages didn't just use white magic. For example, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak—the power from the Crimson Dimension wasn't violent, and many novice mages would use his magic, but Cyttorak was clearly not a deity of order.

Therefore, there were also some mages who considered themselves powerful and used power from dark deities. Both the Ancient One and Baron Mordo were aware of this.

The Ancient One turned a blind eye to this; as long as the mages could control this power, the Sorcerer Supreme would not pursue it.

But not pursuing it and bringing the contact with dark deities out into the open were two completely different things.

Many mages at Kamar-Taj were guessing what the Ancient One was trying to do. Of course, they didn't think the Sorcerer Supreme would collude with foreign enemies; they just suspected whether the Ancient One had finally found a way to kill Dormammu and wanted to trick him into coming in to be killed.

And Mordo was even more uneasy, because his connection with Dormammu was much deeper than the Ancient One knew.

Mordo's research into black magic was extremely deep, and he was confident that the Ancient One hadn't discovered any of it. Yet suddenly, one day, the Ancient One actually said to him: "Go contact Dormammu, the Lord of the Dark Dimension who is the darkest, most chaotic, and thinks about invading Earth every day!"

How could Mordo not be nervous?

Could it be that my private contact with the Dark Dimension deity has been discovered? Is this the Ancient One warning me? Or has the Ancient One really found a way to turn Dormammu into dumpling filling? Then what should I do?

Just as mentioned before, Mordo had a characteristic: he was a very traditional mage. Simply put, he truly believed in magic.

And at this moment, an idea gradually formed in Mordo's heart. After he returned from the Dark Dimension, no one knew what he had discussed with Dormammu.

And not long after, Strange also met Dormammu. Not just Dormammu, but the famous Lord of the Crimson Dimension, Cyttorak, the ruler of Hell, Mephisto, and a large group of famous cosmic deities whose names alone could shock people—he met them all.

The place they met was the palace of Asgard. The person presiding over the meeting was the All-Father Odin, the initiator of the meeting was the Earth's Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One, and standing beside the Ancient One was Strange, whose legs were feeling a bit weak from looking at this group of big shots.

Under the Ancient One's constant phone harassment, this luxurious lineup was finally assembled, and Strange never dreamed that he would have to give a speech in front of this group of big shots who could make the universe tremble just by stomping their feet.

Strange was just regretful—very, very regretful.

When he stood in the center of the Asgardian palace, on his right was a surging black mist. Inside it was a vague humanoid figure, exuding endless darkness; just looking at it was suffocating.

Little Book Pavilion

On his left was a huge red vortex. Behind the vortex, one could see a boundless world, and an even larger monster was sitting at the peak of the world, whose gaze alone could devour everything.

In front of Strange was the raging hellfire, and stairs covered in corpses led to a tall throne. A demon with a vague figure sat on the throne, watching the human world from Hell.

Beside these three big shots were many monsters with strange shapes that made one feel terrified to the point of madness just by looking at them.

Strange stood in the middle of this group of demons and ghosts, feeling that he must have boarded a pirate ship.

But things had already developed to this point; it wasn't a matter of Strange not wanting to speak. He could only grit his teeth, stomp his foot, and brace himself to explain that wicked and shameless plan.

Strange, who was recounting this experience in the laboratory, looked exhausted. He said: "... I had just finished speaking halfway when that demon walked down from the throne. He appeared directly above my head. Can you believe it?"

"The entire sea of hellfire appeared above my head, and I could even hear the screams of souls inside it..."

Strange said with a look of despair: "Then, that deity called Cyttorak poked his head directly out of the vortex. Do you know what a terrifying sight that was?! Even one of his whiskers was bigger than my entire body!"

"I simply can't describe to you what those things were." Strange covered his forehead and said: "I feel that after this experience, there is nothing in this world that I will be afraid of."

"So, how did the final talk go?"

"After I finished speaking, I returned to my teacher's side. Until they started discussing it one by one, the atmosphere was still quite terrifying."

"And then?" Connors also asked with some curiosity.

"Later..." Strange revealed a strange expression and said: "They started arguing, and the more they argued, the fiercer it got. Odin had to start breaking up the fight."

"At first, they were still reasoning, but later it turned into a competition of who had the loudest voice, and finally it turned into a competition of who had the bigger fist."

"You mean, they had a fight?"

"The God King Odin originally intended to break up the fight, but it seemed like some deity spoke rudely to him. He directly struck down with a bolt of lightning, and then within a few seconds, the sky above Asgard turned into a mess..."

"In the end, most of the deities either ran away or died, leaving only those few more powerful ones to sit down and continue talking."

"They actually continued talking?"

"The Sorcerer Supreme told me that negotiations between deities are like this. Whenever they gather together, they must have a fight first. Only those who are alive can stay to negotiate."

Strange sighed and continued: "After they sat down again, I realized that they hadn't even understood one-tenth of what I had said before."

"They came up with a bunch of questions, and I answered them as best I could, but there were still many questions, especially that Mephisto!"

Strange's tone became a bit angry: "He threw a bunch of messy questions at me. Some I couldn't answer, and he actually scolded me for being unlearned! I'm a neurosurgeon! Not a financial practitioner, how would I know how interest rate benchmarks are calculated?"

"What was the final result?" Shiler asked.

"The remaining people all agreed to participate and paid a deposit. It's this." Strange picked up the crystal ball on the table and said: "This is the pure magic energy they provided. It doesn't contain any personal attributes, can be used directly, and doesn't need to be returned."

"But the condition is that we have to send some professional personnel to answer their bunch of questions."

"That's simple. Tomorrow I'll have Nick find some financial practitioners in prison with reliable moral standards."

"But we can't let this group of people go see those cosmic deities, right? They'll be scared to death."

Shiler asked Strange: "Do you know that there's something called a telephone?"