13 minutes passed... after the mysterious woman whispered in my ear, I woke up with a dizzy, tense state like a hangover. Even though I (LAW) have never been completely drunk but the owner of this body, STRANGE has experienced it so I can somewhat compare the feeling.
But... it was a hangover of someone who consumed more alcohol than a normal person in 6 hours. In comparison, it's equivalent to 9 people drinking 1.5 liters of liquor, which is 13.5 liters...
Why do I know the numbers so accurately? It was the mysterious woman's voice that explained my current condition, which should be called drunk on knowledge, numb on letters, and dizzy from the many ancient languages stuffed into my head, more than drunken by liqueur
But these symptoms only lasted for a short while before disappearing like the wind blowing ashes into the air.
And I... became an expert in all ancient languages used to study magic spells in this library.
'Stephen Strange... a genius. In 312 hours, he has mastered 27 ancient and difficult languages.' I thought to myself before raising my thumb to look. One thumb is fine, but the other thumb has a black D tattoo.
I still don't know how to reset the D ability from DEATH for can use again, Let it be... for now.
The most important thing now is to start learning spells. The basic spell that all the sorcerers of Kamar-taj can use is... the Mystic.
I stood up, picked up the dozens of Sanskrit books that were around the table, and returned them to Master Wong, speaking to him in Sanskrit with a perfect accent and grammar, like a native speaker who has been with it all his life speaking it himself.
"Master Wong... Please put these books away. Also, can I borrow the Mystic art book?"
"Ah… um… you… just fell asleep less than half an hour ago… your Sanskrit is quite fluent. Even though I can't translate it all, I can understand it." Wong blinked his eyes before nodding slowly and waving his hand once. The dimensional portal opened. Then he flicked his other wrist, summoning a glowing golden whip to pull out five spell books.
"Read carefully this time. Don't fall asleep immediately again." Despite being teased by him, I nodded, thanked him, and took the stack of books to read intently.
'Try studying by yourself. Save the E A T H letters in your left hand for other spells.' I thought to myself before diving into a deep meditation that I didn't feel the flow of time.
The origin of Kamar-taj The rules for borrowing magical power from other dimensions The origin of the first sorcerer on Earth, Agamotto stipulated the duties of the protector of the world from interdimensional invasions. This information was read, absorbed, thought, analyzed, and considered carefully.
After laying the foundation, it was time to start talking about the basic spells to draw pure golden-yellow magic power from the dimension of the magic spell to use as weapons to fight enemies.
Mystic Arts!
It can be various forms of glowing weapons, whips that swing and tightly restrain enemies, spread out into a flat circular magic shield, a circle that covers the user's body, or spread out a magic net to overlap into a Taoist mandala that has the power to deflect physical and magic attacks better than a normal magic shield.
Before I realized it, 13 hours had passed... 13 hours that I wasn't hungry, thirsty, or wanted to get up from my seat to go to the bathroom to relieve myself.
'This must be a special ability that DEATH gave me, right?' I thought to myself before putting all the books away and stretching. Stretch before going to do the daily routine that I didn't do today.
When I knew that I needed to eat, drink, and poop to prepare for bedtime, my body protested at the same time, both from my stomach shaking, warming up to stimulate digestion, and my bladder and large intestine moving to release waste as well. So I had to rush to the bathroom, release waste, and take a shower, and walk out to eat breakfast at 3 a.m. . . meaning yesterday's breakfast, not today's.
Fortunately, Kamar-taj doesn't have the concept of 3 meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because the magicians here work 24 hours a day. They might have to open a dimensional door to protect against magical attacks in that dimension. So the kitchen is always open. There are chefs taking turns making hot food to regain energy. Even though the menu at 3 a.m. is simple, rice porridge with various kinds of pickled vegetables, it's enough for me.
After eating, I went to my room to rest, which took only . . . 13 minutes. I woke up feeling incredibly full.
Don't ask me why I knew. And why is it always number 13... My life is almost in hand of. . .
No I have to use a nicer word...
My life is now under the care of DEATH.
Every action, if I have any doubts, there will always be a female voice replying in my head.
It's like now, at 4:13 AM, when I don't know what to do. The female voice immediately advised me to continue studying magic. Because time is very valuable. The more I use it wisely, it will...
Increase the chances of survival of all things in this multiverse.
I don't know how much everything in the multiverse is. It's beyond the comprehension of a 15-year-old soul like me.
So I narrowed down the scope of it. Just think that I have to quickly learn to be good at it. So I will have enough power to protect myself, protect Metro Hospital, and the people of New York if there is another alien invasion. Because I can't always rely on the Avengers like in 2012.
The short-term goal is to just expand and protect the entire state, the United States, the continent, and then expand further from protecting the entire world, the entire solar system, the inner boundary with the asteroid sea between Mars and Jupiter, expanding to the entire solar system, the surrounding area, the Milky Way galaxy, and gradually reaching the physical universe level.
Then upgrade yourself in dimensions, cross parallel worlds, neighboring timelines to deal with the problem that will destroy the balance of existence of reality.
"The path to becoming a mage is really not easy" I said softly before getting out of bed and walking to the library to read the Taoist Mandala spellbook again, to study and become more proficient.
And time passed quickly. From the second I sat down and opened the book to read, it seemed like it had passed in the blink of an eye. The new morning, 7:07 a.m., arrived, according to the watch that rang. Even though I didn't set an alarm, I could only guess that DEATH was the one who alerted me to look up from the book to see the person walking towards me with a sense of astonishment, amazement, and surprise shown on his face. Clear gesture
"Strange... you read this book all night?" Master Wong asked, staring at me with eyes that wanted to squeeze an answer.
"Yes." The short answer didn't seem to please him much.
"Forcing your body to read won't help. It'll just make you sick." He shook his head from side to side before waving his right hand to tell me to go to sleep. But I felt that my body was full of energy that wanted to... to try it out after studying the theory all night.
"Seriously!? Who do you think you are? You can use the Taoist Mandala after reading the book only one day..." After Master Wong heard my invitation to try fighting him, he looked very angry. From his face, tone of voice, and the rapid pace of his speech, the latter sentence wasn't in English, but in Mandarin.
But his speech stopped when he saw me raise my right hand, all five fingers pointing to the sky, closing together slightly from the lingering injuries. Before the tremors disappeared when I pulled the magical power to nourish the muscles in my hand. Then I slowly drew my right arm and spread my five fingers apart.
Chi~ Chi~ Chi~
With every movement of my fingers, golden magic lines flowed out from the tips of my fingers, floating out and weaving together into a complex mandala diagram. And in 5 seconds, a mandala of Tao the size of a large fried fish plate appeared above my palm.
"Master Wong… are you ready to practice in the morning with me, Doctor Strange?"