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*****
When Fini met the Ancient One, he suddenly realized that she didn't seem to have changed at all over the past few years; not a single strand of hair had grown on her head.
Then again, considering she was supposed to have passed away long ago and was currently drawing upon Dormammu's power to sustain her lifespan, it would probably be more abnormal if she did show any signs of aging.
"Good morning, Sorcerer Supreme!" Fini called out as he walked up to her while she was going through her morning physical exercises.
"You're back," the Ancient One acknowledged with a familiar, placid nod. "How did your journey through the other realms feel?"
"Honestly, Earth is still the best place to be," Fini replied with absolute sincerity. To be fair, aside from Asgard, Vanaheim, and Alfheim—which he hadn't even had the chance to visit yet—the rest of the Nine Realms simply weren't environments where a normal human from Earth could comfortably survive.
The Ancient One let out a soft chuckle and continued, "You've certainly caused quite a stir during this period. Your name is currently echoing across the various realms."
Fini felt a bit self-conscious upon hearing this. He was too embarrassed to ask exactly how his reputation was being framed, silently praying in his heart that the moniker the Ancient One spoke of wasn't some utterly bizarre, eccentric title like the 'White Butcher.'
The two of them traded casual small talk for a brief while longer. It was only when the Ancient One prepared to head out toward the training grounds to supervise the other sorcerers' regimens that Fini finally spoke up, a trace of hesitation in his voice. "Sorcerer Supreme, I'd like to learn a bit more about the fundamental nature of dimensions."
The Ancient One didn't pay it much mind, casually tossing out the title of an ancient text, seemingly intending for Fini to study the source material first.
However, what Fini truly wanted to comprehend was something that no generation of Kamar-Taj sorcerers had likely ever encountered. Thus, he called out to stop her, clarifying his request: "Sorcerer Supreme, what I really want to understand is exactly how a dimensional space expands!"
The Ancient One froze in her tracks. She turned around to face Fini, a deeply perplexed and analytical look entering her eyes. She asked abruptly, "Why exactly do you wish to understand that?"
"I've come into possession of a dimension of my own," Fini stated, choosing to lay his cards completely on the table.
Ever since he drew the 'Evil King's True Eye,' he had been weighing this decision. He had initially debated whether he should keep it hidden from her completely, or perhaps wait until she detected the anomaly herself before offering a breakdown.
But after thoroughly mulling over the options, he concluded that complete transparency was the best approach.
He had been living in the Marvel universe for nearly twenty years now. While there were very few people he truly trusted and respected, the Ancient One was undeniably at the absolute top of that list.
Ever since he arrived at Kamar-Taj, she had never done a single thing to wrong him. Instead, she had meticulously guided his education and treated his eccentricities with an incredibly high level of tolerance. She had favored him to such an extent that it had even sparked a faint trace of jealousy among some of the other sorcerers within the order.
Therefore, the Ancient One held an immensely vital position in Fini's heart. He harbored no desire to deceive a teacher who had shown him nothing but profound kindness, and he fully trusted that she wouldn't turn against him because of this revelation.
The Ancient One's peaceful expression shifted instantly. She locked her gaze onto Fini, her brow furrowing slightly as she questioned, "You have acquired a full dimension?"
In response, Fini smoothly extended his hand and channeled the Mirror Dimension spell. The spatial fabric directly in front of him immediately began to buckle, fracture, and fold in on itself. Then, with a casual flick of his wrist, he cleanly dissolved the magical anomaly.
Witnessing this flawless execution, a flash of genuine astonishment rippled through the Ancient One's eyes. Even with her immense mastery, she couldn't actively manipulate the boundaries of the Mirror Dimension with such effortless, lighthearted grace.
At this exact moment, when it came to the specialized art of opening and closing the Mirror Dimension, Fini had arguably become the number one practitioner within all of Kamar-Taj. After all, he was dealing with spatial mechanics from the baseline authority of an actual dimensional demon god.
The Ancient One reflected on the fact that ever since she brought Fini back into the order, the sheer volume of surprises she had endured over the years had only continued to skyrocket. The established future she had once been so deeply familiar with was rapidly becoming completely unpredictable.
"I believe we should locate a quiet place to sit down and have a proper discussion."
Hearing her suggestion, Fini nodded in agreement. The two of them promptly made their way toward a private tea house that the Ancient One frequently visited.
Upon arriving at the establishment, she didn't rush into a barrage of intense questioning. Instead, she naturally fell back on her habits, methodically boiling water and preparing a fresh pot of tea. It was only after she had poured the tea and seated herself across from Fini that she let out a slow, analytical sigh:
"I truly never anticipated that within a mere span of a few years, your overall baseline could undergo such a staggering transformation."
"To be perfectly honest, I didn't see it coming either," Fini replied, throwing his hands up with a perfectly innocent expression. The system's lottery mechanics relied purely on absolute luck; he had zero ability to guarantee what kind of abilities would manifest. Who could have guessed that a single draw of the 'Evil King's True Eye' would suddenly catapult him into the status of a Dimension Lord?
Fini's blunt breakdown left the Ancient One temporarily at a loss for how to react. She paused, then asked, "Could you provide a detailed clarification of your current physical condition first?"
"You're already well aware that I possess a few unique methods that allow me to actively awaken various supernatural abilities," Fini said, carefully choosing his words. After all, he had triggered the lottery mechanism nine times by now; he refused to believe that someone of the Ancient One's caliber hadn't picked up on the pattern. As long as the fundamental cosmic origin of the system itself remained hidden, disclosing the surface mechanics wasn't an issue.
"Not too long ago, my right eye unlocked a brand new capability. It actively grants me the authority to conjure a localized dimensional space that belongs entirely to me."
A profound look of surprise manifest across the Ancient One's face, heavily laced with professional curiosity. Her lifetime of experience spanning centuries meant her worldview was incredibly vast, yet a scenario like Fini's was an absolute anomaly she was encountering for the very first time.
Lifting her teacup, she caught the refreshing aroma of the leaves while pressing for verification. "Are you implying that this entire dimension actively coexists within your physical eye?"
Seeing Fini nod in confirmation, she pushed the analysis further: "Then how on earth did you manage to carry a foreign dimension straight past the planetary defense grid of the three Sanctums without triggering the arrays?"
Fini blanked for a second, offering a thoroughly clueless response: "I didn't bypass anything... or rather, did the Sanctums simply choose not to intercept me?"
The Ancient One's fascination only intensified. Setting down her teacup, she leaned in slightly and studied Fini's right eye with absolute focus. Finally, buried deep within the energetic matrix, she faintly detected the unmistakable resonance of an incredibly potent sealing matrix.
"You've locked it behind a seal?"
Hearing her deduction, a wave of surprise entered Fini's face. In all fairness, according to the standard operational constraints of the skill, utilizing the capabilities of the Evil King's True Eye did technically require releasing a seal, while closing it re-established the restriction.
"Yeah." Fini nodded with immense respect, marvelling inwardly at the fact that the Ancient One truly lived up to her reputation as the absolute pinnacle of the mortal mystic arts.
"Fascinating. That clarifies the baseline," the Ancient One murmured, nodding as a sense of understanding washed over her. However, deep down, she remained deeply astonished. A simple sealing spell would never be sophisticated enough to completely mask a full dimension from the hyper-sensitive scanning arrays of the three Sanctums; that eye undeniably harbored far deeper anomalies.
"Your left eye possesses a highly distinct category of unique power as well, doesn't it?"
During her close analysis just moments prior, the Ancient One had noted that apart from the right eye, Fini's left eye harbored an intense energetic signature that seemed fundamentally intertwined with the fabric of time itself. The signature immediately reminded her of the massive, ethereal clock face Fini frequently manifested during high-stakes battles.
"Exactly."
Back during the conflict in Jotunheim, he had actively deployed the 'City of Devouring Time' to siphon temporal energy from his surroundings. Both the Ancient One and Odin had been actively observing that battle through cosmic means, so he wasn't the least bit surprised that she had deduced the connection.
Time, space, and dimensional manipulation were universally recognized as the absolute most mysterious and devastating categories of primordial power in existence. Yet, here was Fini, comfortably hoarding all of them within his physical form. The reality caused the Ancient One to feel a faint trace of structural concern, even as she marveled at his fortune:
"To speak with absolute candor, there are moments where I find myself deeply tempted to ask exactly where and how you managed to harvest these incredible reservoirs of power."
This was a question Fini honestly had no viable way of answering, so he chose to maintain a quiet, polite silence.
Fortunately, the Ancient One was merely offering a passing reflection; she had no genuine intention of prying into his ultimate secrets. Seeing that Fini preferred to keep the details private, she smoothly transitioned back to the core topic: "What primary category of raw energy constitutes the foundation of this dimension?"
This inquiry caught Fini off guard once again. He fell into a deep, conflicted train of thought before ultimately shaking his head in defeat. "I don't actually know. The only thing I can confidently verify is that it answers completely to my will."
In the grand cosmic framework, every dimensional space possessed a defining elemental attribute. For instance, Dormammu's Dark Dimension was fundamentally forged from pure, corruptive dark energy. The pocket realm tied to that giant tigress was slightly more complex; it was sustained by a mixture of her own primordial essence and the collective spiritual faith of the Wakandan people.
(End of Chapter)