Listening to Strange's description, Ryan's eyelids couldn't help but twitch.
Mysterious, hooded, and bald—aren't these three features obviously that bad woman, Ancient One?
So, not only are the Doctor Strange from another Universe and himself plotting against the Strange of this Universe together, but even the Ancient One is quietly providing assists from the sidelines!
She gave the Time Stone to him before, and now she's cooperating in advance to let Strange step onto the path of a sorcerer.
It seems this bad woman's desire to retire can no longer be suppressed...
In that case, he might as well give the Ancient One a hand and let her designated successor—the most outstanding of all generations, Doctor Strange—take office sooner!
By helping out, he could make three Sorcerer Supremes owe him a favor at the same time. Thinking about it felt pretty good!
The Doctor Strange from the other Universe would thank him for helping complete the request, the Ancient One would thank him for bringing her a successor, and Strange would thank him for helping him gain the power to protect his beloved.
But for now, he had to fool Strange first...
Ryan's expression turned serious: "I think I know who you're talking about, and I know why she sent you to find me. You must have encountered an invasion from the Dark Dimension?"
Seeing that Ryan seemed to know what had attacked him as well as information about that mysterious person from yesterday, Strange's spirits lifted. He quickly recounted his encounter at the Sky Restaurant last night and mentioned the name the monster had left behind.
"Dormammu, I do indeed know of him..."
Amidst Strange's surprised expression, Ryan said to him in a low tone: "You know that extraordinary powers exist in this World, and you know the Spider Family protects Earth from alien invasions and attacks by superhuman criminals, right?"
Strange paused, then nodded: "Although I haven't personally been involved in these extraordinary events before, I've certainly seen them on the news. Especially your Spider Family; you've prevented alien armies and powerful superhumans from harming this city and even the Planet countless times."
Ryan looked at Strange and shook his head mysteriously: "But you don't know that besides the Spider Family, which protects the physical plane of this World, there is also a magical force with an even longer history that guards Earth's spiritual plane, do you?"
At this, the materialistic Strange's face twisted: "magic? You mean the kind of magic like Harry Potter, where they fly around on broomsticks?"
Strange could still accept the Spider Family and other supervillains because their superpowers could more or less be explained by scientific mutations.
But magic... that was simply too surreal, wasn't it?
What kind of thing was that? Beings who could perform all sorts of illogical magic just by holding a broken wooden stick?
Seeing Strange's face full of disbelief, Ryan wasn't in a hurry and just said slowly:
"First of all, I must correct you. The magical force I'm talking about is a sorcerer force, while Harry Potter belongs to a wizard force. Although wizards do indeed exist in this World—in fact, our Spider Family recently took in two little witches."
"But... sorcerers are sorcerers, and wizards are wizards. This is a sorcerer force that has protected Earth for tens of thousands of years, far longer than the existence of wizards."
Seeing Ryan's serious expression, Strange ultimately didn't dare to refute the existence of the sorcerers Ryan mentioned and just said helplessly:
"Fine, even if this sorcerer force really exists, what does it have to do with my encounter?"
"Of course it's related, and very much so..." Ryan looked deeply at Strange and snapped his fingers.
Snap—
As the golden sparks of the Mind Stone spread from his fingertips, an image formed on the table.
It was a scene of a single person standing alone against an entire dark invasion.
The person in the image was a slender figure from behind, wearing yellow robes and with a bald head. Strange immediately recognized that this person was the mysterious individual who had given him the information about 'Spider Monarch's' true identity last night!
Except last night she wore black robes, while in the image she wore yellow robes. Compared to last night's mystery, this time she appeared even more divine!
As for the darkness this mysterious person faced, Strange found it even more familiar, because the large purple face within that darkness was none other than Dormammu, who had suddenly appeared and swallowed Christine last night!
However, compared to yesterday, the Dormammu this mysterious person faced was much larger—it was as if she were facing an entire Planet!
But facing a dark monster as massive as a Planet, the mysterious person had no intention of retreating, because...
Behind her was a blue Planet protected by golden magic circles anchored at three points!
That was... Earth!
While Strange was shocked by this epic scene of one person resisting the darkness to protect the Earth, Ryan spoke up.
"The person you saw yesterday is the one in this image, the contemporary Sorcerer Supreme who has protected Earth for centuries, the leader of the sorcerers from the universal sanctuary of Kamar-Taj, the Sorcerer Ancient One!"
"Over the years, she has saved countless people shrouded in despair and about to fall into darkness, bringing them back to a normal life. She has also saved many people like you who were harmed by Dormammu, giving them the power of light magic to counter dark magic, making them a part of the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj."
"And you, Stephen Strange, you are one of those harmed by Dormammu, and the most special one!"
Strange tried to calm his shocked heart, but he couldn't help but point at himself in confusion: "Me? Special? Other than being a bit outstanding in the field of surgery, how am I special?"
Ryan glanced at him, his lips curling into a mysterious arc: "Did you know, Strange? Actually, there isn't just one Universe, but countless different parallel Universes existing simultaneously..."
"And I recently visited another Universe and met a completely different you..."
As he spoke, the image composed of the Mind Stone's power in front of Strange changed again, still showing a person confronting the massive Dormammu.
But this time, the protagonist wasn't the Ancient One, but someone who made Strange's eyes widen even more!
Because that person... was actually himself!
"Dormammu, I've come to bargain!"
As that familiar yet Strange version of himself descended wearing a magical cloak, Strange witnessed a hundred different ways he could die in the time that followed.
But no matter how many times he died, the version of himself in the cloak of levitation would return within green magic, keeping Dormammu trapped in this Time Loop.
Compared to the Ancient One using raw strength to repel Dormammu, Strange had to say that the version of himself in the cloak of levitation was truly a bit pathetic.
But Strange didn't look down on his other self because of this; instead, he felt great admiration for him.
While it was true that his other self could be resurrected, the pain of death was also real!
To protect the Earth, allowing himself to die in pain over and over again just to make that dark monster back down—how was his other self not a person worthy of respect?
And when he saw in the final scene that Dormammu finally couldn't take being worn down by his other self and chose to spare Earth and take away all his Dark Followers, Strange's pupils suddenly shook, as if he understood something!
So... the reason Dormammu attacked him yesterday was actually because of what this other version of himself from another Universe had done?
No wonder Dormammu said such incomprehensible nonsense to him at the end, like 'You toy with time, and time will toy with you' and 'In another dimension, he trapped Him with time'.
Now, combined with the actions of his other self, it all made sense!
It turns out he was screwed over by the magic-cloaked version of himself from another Universe!
In an instant, Strange felt both respect and hatred for the version of himself from the other Universe!
He respected his other self's bravery, but also hated his other self's selfishness.
You saved the Earth of another Universe, but you caused Dormammu to take his revenge out on me!
How could you be so selfish!