Six months had flown by in the blink of an eye.
Early one morning, Alex sat quietly in his room at Kamar-Taj. After finishing his daily meditation, he pulled out his crystal meter — a small, clear device that hummed softly in his hand — and checked his latest reading.
The number that flashed into view made his eyes widen for a moment.
388.
"My crystal points have skyrocketed these past six months…" Alex murmured under his breath, staring at the number with a faint, satisfied smile. "Is it because of the magician's meditation, boosting my mental power? Or the Asgardian bloodline? Or both?"
Ever since he'd switched from the old Yi Jin Jing to the Sacred Heart Art, he'd noticed the difference immediately. His cultivation efficiency had soared. Then came the Asgardian bloodline — toughening his body, extending his lifespan, and pushing his base potential higher than any ordinary human's.
Add to that the Ancient One's relentless training and the constant aid of the Mind Stone at his chest, and his mental power had grown at a pace that almost felt unfair.
The result? His crystal points had climbed faster than ever before.
Even more impressive, his C Drive — that strange, inner reservoir that stored the skills he copied — had grown by another thirty gigabytes. He'd started with a finite space, but the Asgardian constitution and this steady surge in spiritual energy seemed to be expanding it bit by bit.
Cultivation alone could lengthen a lifespan to a point — but the Asgardian legacy amplified that a hundredfold. Power, vitality, longevity — it was all bundled together now, woven through his cells like golden threads.
Whether the boost came from the Sacred Heart Art, the Mind Stone's influence, the Asgardian blood… or all three… Alex didn't care too much about which was responsible. What mattered was the result: faster growth, more power, more freedom.
He took a slow breath, letting the crisp Himalayan air clear the last haze of meditation from his mind. Then he lowered his gaze to his palm.
There, etched faintly into his skin like a hidden circuit, was the completed computer pattern. Half a year since he'd first arrived in this world — and now the pattern glowed faintly under the morning light, a sign that his system had finally reached a new threshold.
Almost instantly, the pattern on Alex's palm cracked apart — shattering into countless pinpoints of starlight that danced in the dim light of his room. At the same time, a swirling vortex of space and time bloomed inside his hand like an opening black hole.
Before he could brace himself, Alex's body was pulled forward — sucked into the vortex as if he weighed nothing at all. The courtyard, the stone walls, the wards of Kamar-Taj — all vanished behind him in a single heartbeat.
"So it's true… The Sorcerer Supreme's spatial seal can block my normal teleportation magic — but it can't stop this."As his body slipped through the dimensional tunnel, Alex felt an odd mix of relief and exhilaration. He'd gambled that the system's interdimensional jump would bypass the Ancient One's wards — and he'd been right.
Back in Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One sat quietly in her own chamber, her body perfectly still in deep meditation. Her spirit drifted far beyond flesh and stone — roaming freely through overlapping planes of existence, brushing against dimensions both real and imagined.
For more than a thousand years, she had anchored her life to this power — drawing secrets from the shadows of the Dark Dimension, weaving magic that few in the universe could ever hope to match.
After a long, timeless moment, her soul returned to her waiting body. The immense mystic energy swirling within her settled like a blade sheathed after battle, and her expression softened into calm once more.
She opened her eyes, feeling the familiar pull of dawn pressing at the edges of Kamar-Taj.
"It's getting late…" she murmured, rising to her feet. "Mr. Alex should be up by now."
Normally, by this hour, she would sense the subtle tremor of his meditation echoing across the courtyard. But today, there was nothing. No ripple of power, no sign of life.
A faint unease prickled at the back of her mind.
She moved to his room, knocked softly on the old wooden door — no answer.
After a brief pause, the Ancient One lifted her hand, tracing a sigil in the air. The lock clicked open by itself, the door creaking wide on silent hinges.
Inside: nothing. The room was empty — cushions still neatly stacked, the incense cold, not a trace of Alex to be found.
"Gone…?" she whispered. Surprise flickered across her ancient features.
She stepped forward and pressed her palm into the empty air. Ribbons of golden runes sparked and danced where her fingers touched, a web of magical inscriptions flickering to life as they read the residual traces in the room.
When the runes faded, the Ancient One slowly drew her hand back — her eyes widened just slightly in disbelief.
"Space… torn open?" she murmured. "My wards — my dimensional seals — they couldn't hold him?"
She stood there for a long moment, her face half-lit by the glow of morning sun creeping in through the paper screens.
In just half a year, he had broken through a barrier even seasoned Masters of the Mystic Arts would never dare test. She felt wonder… and, beneath that, a quiet pang of regret.
"Such a prodigy," the Ancient One whispered, her voice almost a sigh. "Such talent — yet he chooses to walk away from magic itself…"