Chapter 24: The Secret of the Card

The Ancient One’s explanation continued: “Recite the incantation, forge shields and weapons, and thus cast spells…”
She seemed like the most skilled painter, splashing ink and adding color with abandon in the space around them. In just a few blinks of an eye, seven circular miniature magic arrays appeared in midair, arranged in a formation reminiscent of seven stars encircling the moon.

To make it easier for Mumu to understand, the Ancient One even broke it down in detail. Closest to Mumu were several circular spell arrays forming the seven-star-with-moon pattern. Then came the disk as the base, which served to solidify and stabilize the energy output. Suspended farther back was a square array, functioning as an amplifier.

The world of magic was so mysterious that Mumu, ever the curious child of socialism, was utterly entranced. Mesmerized and somewhat bewildered, he reached out with his right hand—still trembling from nerve damage sustained in a car accident—toward the magic array.

The Ancient One smiled gently: “Don’t be afraid. You can try to touch it. I’ve lowered its power to the minimum; it poses no threat to human safety. However…”

She had intended to say, “It might hurt a little,” but before she could, something utterly astonishing happened—even for her.

Mumu extended two trembling fingers, and as if pinching soft malt sugar, drew out a thumb-thick strand of golden energy from within the seven spinning circular arrays.

The Ancient One was dumbfounded, staring for a whole second before exclaiming in surprise, “How did you do that?”

“No! Well, I… just thought whatever came out of here should be the magic whip I’ve seen before, so I tried to imagine that shape and pulled out what was stored in the array. Uh, Master Ancient One, did I do something wrong?” In Mumu’s deep, dark eyes, a mysterious light shimmered.

The Ancient One was not unfamiliar with such phenomena. She had seen the same thing in the eyes of more than one disciple—such as Kaecilius, such as Mordo…

Only those with exceptional talent and aptitude, upon witnessing the slow unveiling of a magic array for the first time, could enter this spiritual, enlightened state, which was nothing short of an ‘awakening’ or ‘epiphany’. Such moments were rare and precious, the perfect start that could elevate a student immensely. It was like painting on a vast blank canvas, before the first stroke, filled with the sense that anything could be done, anything could be drawn—a state of infinite possibility.

Even the Ancient One felt a small surge of excitement.

She hurried to say, “You did nothing wrong! On the contrary, you did very well. Keep trying to slowly draw out the whip, shaping it as you envision.”

“Alright.”

The Ancient One carefully maintained her output of magical power, allowing Mumu to knead and flatten the energy as he pleased.

Shimmering light, as sharp as the prow of an icebreaker, a broad blade engraved with dragon patterns…

A legendary Dragon Slayer Sword, ready at a click—does that ring a bell?

Mumu had thought, being ***** Doctor, that what he’d instinctively create would be something like the Nine-Tailed Whip, but who knew those trashy browser games had poisoned him so deeply!

Mumu was amazed, and the Ancient One was utterly shaken.

Mumu’s talent seemed easy to interpret: low elemental affinity, almost negligible magical reserves. If the magical radiance that naturally emanated from Mordo and Kaecilius was as brilliant as a lighthouse in the night, then Mumu was barely at the level of a firefly.

She had not held out much hope for this new disciple’s aptitude, yet what a surprise! Perhaps his magical reserves were minuscule, but his sensitivity to magical elements, his imagination, and his shaping ability were all top-notch.

For the first time, the Ancient One thought, “So even with a thousand years of experience, I can still misjudge someone.”

This overlapped with the image she had once glimpsed of Stephen Strange in her visions of the future.

The Ancient One thought to herself: It seems I must devote more time and energy to teaching Mumu.

As Mumu was about to perfect his magically forged Dragon Slayer Sword, attempting to sculpt the fierce dragon-head hilt as he pictured it in his mind, he suddenly froze.

His mind was struck as if by a heavy blow; everything spun, and the half-formed ‘Dragon Slayer Sword’ vanished without a trace.

There was no magical backlash—throughout, it was the Ancient One who controlled the magic and the arrays.

With a gentle wave of her hand, the arrays disappeared.

“Ah! Huff, huff, huff!” Mumu gasped for breath, panting as if he were working a bellows: “I… this… sigh, my hand just won’t obey.”

The Ancient One’s face bore a faint smile: “Think about it—could you perform surgery in your first year of medical school? How did you reconnect a patient’s nervous system, how did you fit fractured vertebrae back into place?”

“I…”

“Exactly! Practice—day after day, practice.”

Mumu couldn’t shake the feeling that the Ancient One had read his memories—or perhaps she could glimpse his thoughts.

Just as his mind recalled the memories of the original Stephen *Mu* Mei, it seemed the Ancient One sensed it.

“Let’s stop here for today. You’re already progressing beyond my expectations. After this magical initiation, you need to master solid theoretical knowledge. Over the next few days, go to the library, seek out ‘Wong’, and study those foundational theories. I’ll check your progress in a week.”

At the Ancient One’s instructions, Mumu bowed deeply.

A guardian who has protected the human world for a millennium certainly deserves respect, and even more so as the one who guided him into the world of magic.

Leaving the Ancient One’s sanctuary, Mumu felt as though he’d just endured another college entrance exam—the tense nerves in his mind all relaxed at last.

Phew! At least he’d scraped by.

He opened his right palm and looked at the card that only he could see: [Dalaran Apprentice Mage].

A mere [Excellent] quality character attachment card would hardly astonish a seasoned veteran like the Ancient One.

If the card could evolve by unlocking its mysteries, however, that would be another matter entirely.

The best part was, the answer was right on the card’s surface.

In truth, when Mumu first received the card, he was despairing. But when his stubbornness drove him to use the Balance System’s magnifying glass function to examine each apprentice’s face on the card, a miracle occurred.

Among hundreds of apprentice mages, Mumu recognized one—the ‘Dalaran Apprentice Mage’ was named… Khadgar.