Chapter 3636

"Hello, Mr. Stephen Strange. I am Congressman Bins Asentai of the International Relations and Security Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives. This is Congressman Ali Tranis of the Solar System Development and Space Affairs Committee. We two are the principals and questioners of this inquiry meeting. I hope you can answer our questions truthfully and cooperate with us to solve the relevant matters that the House of Representatives is currently resolving..."

The congressman sitting in the middle had some gray hair and looked quite old. Nick whispered to remind Strange: "Bins is a relic of the post-Cold War era and is very difficult to deal with. The questions he asks you later, don't answer if you can; if you must answer, don't follow his train of thought, it doesn't matter if you go off-topic..."

Strange looked like he was listening, but Nick wasn't sure either. Strange has many typical characteristics of a magician, and also has significant mystical characteristics. Sometimes it's hard to understand what he is thinking, and it looks like he can't communicate at all.

"Hello, two congressmen," Strange nodded and said, "Very happy to talk to you here. Do you have any questions?"

His attitude was obviously a bit too friendly. The reporters behind and on both sides and the congressmen sitting in front were a bit confused. In their impression, a magician should be the kind of person with a very strange temper—even if Strange was a surgeon before, his temper wasn't good when he was a surgeon!

"Thank you very much for your cooperation. The first question I want to ask is: How did you obtain this ability called 'magic'?"

"It was a coincidence," Strange said, "One day a mage named Ancient One found me. She said I had magic talent and hoped I could become her disciple. So I followed her to learn magic until today."

"Then is this magician named Ancient One a human?"

"Yes, and she is a long-lived person. I'm not sure how long she has lived, but her lifespan is significantly longer than that of ordinary people."

"Alright. Then what did you do with this magic power after you obtained it?"

"What my teacher did, I have been doing. Including maintaining the magic defense network, maintaining the normal operation of Kamar-Taj, engaging in magic activities in the universe, etc."

"Does this include joining the Avengers?"

"Yes. I received an invitation from S. H. I. E. L. D. director Nick Fury, joined the Avengers, and got along well with my colleagues."

"Did you also join the Solar System Development Plan?"

"Yes, I am fully responsible for magic matters, including building magic portals, using magic energy to assist equipment operation, etc."

"In all the above processes, do you personally think magic energy is reliable?"

Contrary to everyone's expectations, Strange shook his head. He said: "This must be explained from the source of magic energy. I am not willing to deceive anyone, in fact, it is impossible for the human body to produce any magic energy, and the source of all magic energy is extraterrestrial creatures, commonly known as 'demon gods'."

"Every magician needs to sign a contract with a demon god to obtain magic energy. Then we use our own practice to better control this energy and do what we want to do."

"The energy the demon gods give us is completely under our control after entering our bodies. But they can choose not to give it. So no matter from which aspect, this cannot be called reliable."

Nick kept winking at Strange, but Strange seemed not to see it, throwing out truths one after another.

Congressman Bins pushed his glasses and said: "I need to confirm your meaning to prevent misunderstanding. You mean: magic is not human power; the source of magic power can cut off this power at any time to make humans lose magic. Right?"

"Yes, theoretically speaking, this is the case. However, they also have profits to make from humans, so usually they won't do this."

"They have profits to make from humans?"

"Exactly. Earth is special. Demon gods must have their own agents on Earth—every demon god must have one, and there are many demon gods in the universe. That's why there are so many magicians."

"Then why do they have to have agents on Earth?"

"The faith of Earth people is beneficial to them."

"You mean they want to organize illegal religions on Earth?"

"Not illegal religions," Strange said, "They didn't visit Earth in this era either. In fact, most of the myths and legends passed down from ancient times are left by the visits of demon gods. Most of the gods that humans believe in now are demon gods, including God and Satan."

Bins opened his mouth. Because Strange was too honest, a series of follow-up questions he prepared were of no use, so he had to get straight to the point:

"We heard that you want to establish a magic school in Massachusetts. Since the essence of magic is signing a contract with a demon god, what is the school used to teach?"

"Of course it is to teach them how to use the energy obtained from demon gods. Just like you bought noodles from a supermarket, but you need cooking to turn them into bread, and then you can eat them into your stomach. Baking bread requires skills, and magic is the same."

"Alright. I'm afraid I have to ask you: since magic is unreliable, is it too dangerous to establish a school to recruit students and teach magic to them?"

"I don't deny this," Strange said, "However, I need to emphasize: learning magic requires talent. If you are born unable to communicate with those mysterious existences, then you will never learn magic; even if you can communicate, if your body's affinity is not good, it will also be very unstable. The requirements for learning magic are very high, so it is destined not to have many students. I think there might be a few hundred people."

"That's a lot too," Bins said, "At least for ordinary people, they are walking bombs. Right?"

"No. Bombs can at most blow up a street. If all the energy in a magician's body is poured out, maybe the Earth will not exist."

The congressmen were in an uproar. Strange continued: "Just like me. If I lose control now, and all the energy explodes uncontrollably, it can probably level most of the galaxy. Compared with the mutants you often describe as 'bombs', it is probably the destructive power of an Omega-level mutant."

Now everyone was quiet again. Although they don't know much about magicians, they know mutants too well. If you had used mutants for comparison earlier, we would have understood earlier.

"Maybe it's different from what you imagine, I didn't come here to lobby you to agree to build a magic academy," Strange said with a serious face, "On the contrary, I came to tell you what magic is, how dangerous it is, and what kind of harm it might cause if used indiscriminately without control."

"If possible, I really don't want humans to use this unreliable power to do anything. But the reality now is: we have to partially rely on this power—at least we absolutely cannot remove the magic defense network. I think you also agree with this view of mine."

"Since humans and magic must coexist, then governments of all countries and ordinary people have the right to understand this power. Even if I am called 'Sorcerer Supreme', I cannot deprive you of this right. You have the right to know the truth."

"Magic is very dangerous. Magicians are even more dangerous. The demon gods behind magicians are more dangerous than most things in the universe. We must be cautious and try to control it. If possible, we must also study it carefully, striving to understand the deeper meaning behind the power, so that we can better control it."

"This is the original intention of my proposal to establish a magic school. Magic is dangerous, but humans can't get rid of it, so we must study it more deeply. Even if the source is not in our hands, we must understand its principles as much as possible and standardize its use to minimize the danger."

"Just like the steam engines, internal combustion engines, various dangerous chemicals, and bomb materials of the Industrial Revolution. They are all dangerous, but they are all very useful. Humans have established one discipline after another just to be able to use them to benefit humanity while avoiding safety accidents. Magic lacks these things, but it's not too late to establish them now."

"And unfortunately, basic science can be learned by everyone—most people with normal intelligence can learn at least a general idea. But magic can't, magic is too dependent on talent. This means that talents in magic will be very scarce, so scarce that it is not enough to establish a basic discipline."

"If there is no unified school and research institute, then they will be scattered all over the world, and it is even more impossible to research any results. What we have to do is to get the already scarce talents together, so that we can do research more efficiently."

"And because the talents of one universe are not enough, we have to look for talents within the multiverse, absorb and accept them, and let them contribute to the magic research cause of our universe."

"And the reason for choosing Massachusetts is because it is the place that has absorbed the most talents from all over the world in the United States. The Federation has developed into what it is today in the hands of these scientists from all over the world. The academic atmosphere there is strong, the natural environment is beautiful, and the policies for high-tech talents are also very good."

"In short, because it is dangerous, it needs to be studied; but the threshold is too high and talents are too scarce, so it needs to absorb immigrant talents. This is the reason why I advocate establishing a magic school. Any other questions?"

Nick next to him was stunned.

The congressmen obviously didn't expect Strange to say this. In their view, Strange should desperately praise the benefits of magic, emphasize that magic is not dangerous, and emphasize that the school will not cause any harm, so that they would agree to the plan to build a magic academy.

But now it's completely reversed. Strange has been saying how dangerous magic is, but humans can't do without magic; there are quite a few magicians active now, so in order to minimize the danger, a school must be built.

What's the difference?

The difference is: if it is the former way of telling, and the magic academy is not built, if magic causes any trouble later, it reflects the foresight of politicians—"Look, I said magic is dangerous, right? If the school had been agreed to be built at the beginning, wouldn't it be even more dangerous?"

But if it is the latter way of saying, then if you don't build this school, if something happens to magic later, the politicians will have to take the big pot.

Even if it doesn't matter whether this school is built or not, the public will feel: the path not chosen at the beginning would definitely lead to a good result. They will feel that if the magic school had been built at the beginning, maybe they would have fully mastered magic now, and there wouldn't be any accidents. If the politicians block it, isn't it them taking the pot?

Politicians like taking the pot the least. The meaning of politics is to make everyone not stick to the pot. After Strange finished speaking, all the congressmen began to discuss frantically, because everyone didn't want to be the one to take the pot in the end.

And this also solves the problem of no return in the short term. We invite people from other universes to come over, which is absorbing immigrant talents—talents are benefits in themselves. Didn't your United States develop by relying on a large number of immigrant talents?

In the case where people with magic talent are very scarce, they absorb talents here, which can not only make the talents of other universes less, but also make the talents on their side more, which can achieve the two strategic goals of weakening the other side and strengthening themselves at the same time, which is the zero-sum game that the United States likes most. No matter how you look at it, it is a big profit.

Strange successfully reversed the awkward situation of the establishment of the Magic Academy with one move of advancing by retreating. Although the fact is still that the establishment of the Magic Academy is mixed with good and bad, at least nominally, there is no reason worth refuting.

The theoretical problems that were entangled were solved quickly. Now Strange knows why Shiler is anxious to investigate the environmental protection problems in the actual construction process.

This kind of wording of confusing black and white, reversing cause and effect, and reversing heaven and earth, why is it a bit familiar? Nick couldn't help but turn his head to look at Strange.

"I seem to know who your psychologist is."

Strange smiled.

"He may be unscrupulous, but he is definitely not a quack."

?? Hee hee

? (End of chapter)