"I'm afraid I have to interrupt your conversation. We must hurry and leave. Of course, don't worry about not seeing each other again. Your identities are on file with the Time Administration and S.H.I.E.L.D. When the time comes, you can just add each other's contact information within the data dimension."
Just as Jaina and Susan were discussing something, Phil Coulson interrupted.
"Aren't we on the road, Lord Coulson?" Jaina turned her head and looked at Phil in surprise. She thought that the meteorite-like asteroid under her feet was their means of transportation.
Of course, she wasn't completely stunned or bewildered by the vast and magnificent cosmic scenery around her. In Azeroth, there were concepts of planets and universes, and mages had even encountered dangerous outside worlds. So, she had always considered this the cosmic space where Phil and his team were headquartered.
"If you think so, of course you can. But I don't have the authority to control this meteorite, and I don't even know where it is going. Its function is just to assign us a coordinate so that we can gather again." Phil shook his head.
"So, we're just drifting around?" Susan looked at the desolate surroundings in astonishment. She had the same idea as Jaina. But soon, another question came to her mind: "Will someone come to pick us up?"
"If there's no one to pick you up, we'll be yours." Phil slipped a peculiarly shaped ring onto his finger. Drawing a circle in the air with one hand, he smiled and said, "But this is the Data Dimension, a magical and incredible world. Here, those with authority have omnipotence."
A rotating door emitting sparks appeared in front of everyone, and the scenery inside the door showed another place.
"Oh my God, I've seen this kind of space gate in Azeroth! That's the spell used by the mages here. You are actually a noble mage, Lord Coulson?" Jaina's eyes flashed with intense surprise. She clearly did not feel any magic from Coulson, nor did she feel any magic fluctuations around him, but the other party opened a portal right in front of her.
Space magic and its knowledge are considered quite advanced among the mages of Azeroth. To successfully cast these space spells, one must have a deep understanding of arcane magic and sorcery. Although she knew that in other magical systems, the difficulty of these space spells would be greatly reduced.
"Mage? No, no, no, you think too highly of me. I really want to be a mage, but I'm not talented enough. Besides, I'm very busy and don't have time to sit down and meditate, or study spells like those mages. What's worse is that the Supreme Sorcerer told me clearly that I'm not suitable for the magic of their Kamar-Taj lineage." Phil waved his hands repeatedly, still with that friendly smile on his face, and corrected.
"Ah, Kamar-Taj, I know this. It is the holy land of mages here! The Supreme Mage is the most powerful one among them, right?" Jaina showed off the information she knew. She had indeed heard a lot of news about this world. It was precisely because she knew more that she wanted to come and take a look and study further.
In her opinion, this was like leaving her country to go to Dalaran to practice magic, but this time, her journey was to leave her own world and go to another powerful world to study.
"Also, you are too modest. Just based on your accomplishments in the space gate, people can already see how powerful you are. At least I couldn't sense any magical fluctuations from your previous actions." Jaina pointed to the wide-open and quite stable portal and smiled at Phil.
"I love what you said. Unfortunately, I don't know any spells. This portal only exists as a skill. Do you know what a skill is? It's something you don't need to understand the principles, the incantations, or where the energy comes from. It's given to you, and you can use it. Of course, this only applies to the data dimension."
Phil patiently explained to Jaina and Susan, "Many people in the Data Dimension have this teleportation skill, and it's a practical skill that most entrants will inevitably choose.
While the Data Dimension offers various methods of transport, they're fixed and require a fee. Money is crucial here. More importantly, this skill grants you greater control and convenience. After all, the Data Dimension is vast, so vast that you might spend your entire life confined to a single planet. Wasting time rushing around is a bad idea.
"Does everyone here know how to teleport?" Jaina and Arthas could no longer contain their shock. Arthas, in particular, had a rare moment of loss of composure on his face, despite his usual silence.
"No, no, no, it's not necessarily a spell. I just envied the mages of Kamar-Taj and thought their portals were cool, so I chose this skill. Actually, if you want, other fancy teleportation methods are also possible. Fixed-point teleportation, technological equipment teleportation, if you have enough authority, you can even choose to be swallowed by a cat and then spit out, and you will reach your destination. This is not a world that strictly follows the logic and rules of reality." Phil corrected: "Here, [it] is just a simple way to travel. We really have to leave this time, keep up."
Phil said this, stepping into the portal first. Susan and Jaina exchanged glances before following suit. Finally, after everyone had entered the portal, it vanished into the asteroid.
In the vast square, Jaina and the others looked at everything in front of them curiously. Phil motioned for them to follow, and led them on a long, winding, and rapid walk through the crowd, finally stopping in front of a church-like building.
"This is your destination." Phil pointed to the church and said to Jaina and Arthas, "I'll take you inside, and the handover will be completed."
"Here?" Jaina looked up at the old church-style building and felt that it was not as magnificent and magical as she had imagined. Instead, it seemed a bit ordinary.
"The Data Dimension Office of Kamar-Taj. Only if you pass the corresponding assessment can you officially enter the real Kamar-Taj to study. To be honest, this seems to be the first time that a wizard from another world is accepted to study here. You two are lucky, of course, it may also be unlucky." Phil said meaningfully, took them up the stairs, and pushed open the door of the building with the pre-existing authority.
Jaina was a discerning person, and she certainly understood what Phil meant by that last sentence. Fortunately, this was a first, and it would be taken very seriously. However, precisely because it was a first, many of the established rules hadn't been verified, and neither the mage nor the apprentice had relevant experience. In other words, without a comparison, the criteria for judgment might be difficult to determine.
"Wang, are you on duty today?" Phil saw a fat familiar figure at a glance. As the wizard who had the most dealings with S.H.I.E.L.D., Wang and he were already old acquaintances.
"Oh, Phil, so many apprentices? I remember there were only two?" Wang came up with a smile on his face, then was a little surprised when he saw the large group of people behind Phil.
"There are only these two, Jaina Proudmoore, and this is Arthas Menethil." Phil pushed Jaina and the other two forward. After introducing them, he pointed to Reed and the others behind him and said, "This is another group that will go to Heberon for evaluation."
"Teacher!" Jaina looked at Wang, not knowing how to address him. After thinking about it, she decided to use the title of teacher.
"Don't be in a hurry to call me teacher. Just call me Wang." Wang reached out to stop Jaina from addressing him. "You can adjust for a while. According to the agreement, I have to give you a basic understanding first."
"Then I'll leave first." After Phil dropped the person off, he immediately turned around and left without looking back. He still had to go to the next place.
The door of the building slammed shut.
Only the king, Jaina, and Arthas remained in the empty hall. As the king led them inside the building, he asked, "The magic you master is the arcane magic system of your world, right?"
"Yes, I studied arcane in the Dalaran system. Oh, Dalaran is our human magic city in Azeroth. It is the best place to learn and exchange arcane." Jaina said, and seemed to realize that the king might not know what Dalaran was, so she took the initiative to explain it later.
"I know," Wang replied. "We are not completely ignorant of your world. In fact, your world's information and arcane magic system may have reached our world much earlier than you imagine.
I heard you want to come here to study and learn? As an ally to help us fight the Burning Legion and the Void Lords, that's no problem. Kamar-Taj isn't a self-contained mage organization. In fact, we, like your mages, once shouldered the responsibility of protecting our world. But before that, I need to know how much you know about Kamar-Taj's magic system.
"Very powerful, difficult to control, and very dangerous." Jaina said everything she knew in one breath.
"I can't say you are wrong. But it is obvious that this understanding is a bit superficial." Wang had some understanding of the general stage of Jaina's understanding of Kamar-Taj's magic system.
"We all know that casting spells requires a certain kind of energy. This energy can be magic, arcane energy, or something else entirely. You are lucky, because your planet has arcane, a powerful magical energy that suits you. But before the emergence of psionic energy, we didn't have it."
"If you want to learn Kamar-Taj's magic system and history, it's divided into two stages. One is before the emergence of psionic powers, and the other is after the emergence of psionic powers.
The former, Kamar-Taj's magic system, is essentially a form of transactional magic. We pay a price in exchange for energy from a powerful being, or another powerful being, in order to unleash our own spells. However, the difficulty with this kind of magic lies in maintaining the balance between these transactions and discerning the nature of the being willing to lend us our power. I'm not sure if you understand the concept of usury, but if you do, you can imagine it. It's a precarious situation, with your life hanging in the balance, and you constantly have to tread on thin ice. Therefore, Kamar-Taj mages at the time would typically borrow power from relatively orderly dimensional demons, such as Vishanti.
Regarding the latter, after the emergence of psionics, Kamar-Taj's magic system underwent a transformation. Or, to use the analogy of a loan, it became a kind of external guarantee. The heavy costs you'd have to pay in the future would be offset and compensated by the psionics. Even now, you could say Kamar-Taj's mages possess their own "energy bank." In many cases, they no longer need to borrow dangerous powers. Of course, many of Kamar-Taj's powerful spells require specific dimensional powers, a fact that even the Ancient One finds difficult to alter. Therefore, sometimes, we still need to deal with the masters behind these dimensional powers. It's just that now we have other bargaining chips to negotiate with them.
"So Kamar-Taj's spell power system is chaotic. You can use just one type of arcane energy, but many of Kamar-Taj's spells require powers of different attributes.
I must remind you that to learn the magic of Kamar-Taj, spiritual will, character, prudence, and talent are all essential. Neglecting any of these elements could lead to you being influenced by the power behind it, and then corrupting yourself, becoming a puppet of the master behind it.
Do you still want to learn the magic system of Kamar-Taj?"
The king looked at Jaina and the other two with a serious expression. He almost told them: "Powerful? I risked my life on the edge of a knife!"
Jaina and Arthas looked at each other. Finally, in silence, Jaina stood up and said, "I want to give it a try."
"Perhaps it's difficult to convey the danger through words. I can let you feel it with your spirit." The king stepped forward and slapped out with both palms, striking Jaina and the other woman unprepared. Fatty's agility was so incredible that even Arthas wasn't prepared for it.
Two illusory figures emanated from Jaina and the other woman, and were then cast by the King into a strange and perilous dimensional world. The strange and bizarre nature, accompanied by a flood of whispers and radiating power, caused Jaina and the other woman, their souls shrieking from their bodies. They practically danced on the edge of a knife, their speed slowing down as they moved through the dimensional world, their souls becoming tainted with something terrifying.