บท 369: Chapter: 369
"'Ancient One'? Is that your real name? ... Forget what I think I know?"
Inside the temple, as Ancient One and Mark were exchanging magical insights, they both simultaneously stopped upon hearing the voice from outside, turning their gazes towards the entrance.
"What did I say? Look, isn't he here now?" Ancient One said with a smile to Mark.
Similar to the movies Mark had seen in his previous life, Mordo, who had returned from his errand, had encountered Doctor Strange in his search for Kamar-Taj. Through a miraculous twist of fate, Mordo brought him into Kamar-Taj, where he met the Sorcerer Supreme.
Mark wasn't surprised by this, but he couldn't help but comment as he looked at Ancient One, who seemed to have everything under control, "You possess the Eye of Agamotto, the Time Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones, a universal treasure that can see the past and the future. Of course, you know when he will come."
"No, I didn't foresee Strange's arrival using the Time Stone. He, like you, is beyond my sight regarding any definite future. I can only see infinite possibilities. That's also why I chose him as the Sorcerer Supreme's successor.
The reason I knew he would arrive at Kamar-Taj this afternoon is because I assigned a task to Mordo. I instructed him to bring a lost traveler searching for Kamar-Taj from the marketplace to my temple after he finishes teaching the apprentices."
"Isn't this a bit like cheating compared to predicting with the Time Stone..." Mark shook his head in resignation, no longer arguing with Ancient One.
Coincidentally, at that moment, Mordo arrived with Doctor Strange at the temple's entrance.
"Inside is the place of my master's practice. After you go in, you must be respectful, not impolite like just now, understood?" Mordo instructed.
"Understood!" Doctor Strange nodded vigorously, then followed Mordo into the temple.
However, as soon as he entered, he met Mordo's stern gaze. Seeing the appearance of the two individuals in the temple, he exclaimed loudly, "Mark Stark!"
This exclamation shattered the tranquility within the temple and left Mordo quite angry: What happened to maintaining respectful behavior? Why is he shouting as soon as he enters?
With a piercing glance at Doctor Strange, Mordo suppressed his anger and respectfully bowed to Ancient One and Mark, who were seated on cushions. "Sorcerer Supreme, Sanctum Guardian, I have brought the lost traveler seeking Kamar-Taj."
Doctor Strange, now standing nearby, spoke up, "I apologize for my excitement earlier. I didn't expect to see Mr. Mark Stark, the genius who brought revolutionary changes to the entire medical field here.
So, you are Ancient One. I knew that if anyone could completely cure a paraplegic patient with complete damage to the seventh and eighth segments of the spinal cord, allowing him to walk again, it would be you.
Are you researching cellular regeneration here? It's cutting-edge medical technology. Is that why you're hiding here, evading scrutiny from the medical community?"
Doctor Strange looked at Mark excitedly, feeling he had uncovered the truth, completely unaware of the awkward expressions on Mark's and Mordo's faces behind him.
"Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Strange. However, I am Mark Stark, not anyone else. Ancient One you're looking for should be this person beside me," Mark explained.
"Hello, Mr. Stephen Strange," Ancient One said with a smile.
As they say, if you're not embarrassed, then the one feeling awkward is someone else. However, Doctor Strange hadn't yet reached that level of thick-skinned audacity.
He glanced questioningly first at Mark, who nodded, then at Mordo, who brought him in, receiving another nod and a quiet reminder, "This is Ancient One."
"Very well, thank you for bringing him here, Mordo. You can rest now. Mark and I need to have a discussion with Mr. Strange."
Mordo bowed to Ancient One and Mark respectively, bid his farewells, and respectfully left the temple.
"You can call me Doctor Strange. I am a doctor," despite his earlier embarrassment, Doctor Strange straightforwardly expressed his dissatisfaction with the title Ancient One had used for him.
"Oh? If you're still a doctor, then what brings you to Kamar-Taj?"
"You recently performed many surgeries, seven times, am I correct? Unfortunately, these seven surgeries seem to have brought you deeper despair and not any improvement to your hands."
"You're right. I am no longer considered a doctor... I came here because I learned that you once cured a patient named Jonathan Pangborn, a paraplegic."
"Yes," Ancient One replied casually.
Doctor Strange: "How did you cure the completely damaged seventh and eighth segments of his spinal cord, allowing him to walk again?"
Ancient One: "In fact, I didn't perform any treatment on him. He couldn't walk, and all I did was persuade him."
Doctor Strange: "You're not talking about some form of psychotherapy, are you?"
Hearing Ancient One claim that she convinced a paralyzed patient to walk again, Doctor Strange's years of clinical experience and modern scientific mindset led him to instinctively doubt this. His gaze toward Ancient One shifted from initial eagerness to uncertainty.
"Mr. Strange, I want to ask you: when you reconnect damaged nerves, is it you treating them, or are they healing themselves?"
"It's the cells themselves," Doctor Strange answered confidently.
"But cells only regenerate in their unique ways. So, what if I told you that your body could convince itself to regenerate in various forms?"
"You're still insisting that you're not conducting experiments on cellular regeneration here.
Apart from cellular regeneration therapy, no other medical theory can explain how a patient classified as completely paralyzed managed to stand up again and even play basketball normally with others."
Looking at Doctor Strange, who believed he had uncovered the truth with the excited and enthusiastic expression on his face, Ancient One shook her head and said, "No, Mr. Strange, I haven't been conducting cutting-edge medical research on cellular regeneration here at Kamar-Taj. But I do know how to better heal the body by utilizing the soul."
At this moment, Doctor Strange's previously excited expression had completely frozen. Clearly, the mention of the soul by Ancient One had transformed his initial suspicions into disbelief and immense disappointment.
However, Mark, who had been quietly listening to Ancient One's explanation, was now generating numerous thoughts.
During his time learning magic at Kamar-Taj, he had undergone Extremis transformation and had nanobots performing micro-adjustments within his body, making him healthier than ever before.
Because of this, he had never heard from Ancient One about the interplay between the soul, body, and cellular restoration.
In his view, Ancient One's theory about influencing the soul to ultimately stimulate cells for recovery through their specific ways was reminiscent of his own method of using the Extremis virus to stimulate the brain and ultimately activate the body's immunity and self-healing functions.
This once again reaffirmed his belief that the pinnacle of science leads to theology. Everything attributed to unknown mystical forces is essentially yet-to-be-unveiled scientific principles.
However, Doctor Strange was different from Mark. He lacked Mark's godlike perspective as a reincarnator and didn't possess Mark's extensive knowledge base.
Now, hearing Ancient One repeatedly expound her theory about the soul influencing the body, he was consumed by uncontrollable anger due to his profound disappointment.
"I emptied my pockets and bought a one-way ticket to come here, and now you're telling me that your method relies on some kind of faith to heal? This is ridiculous, absolutely the most laughable joke I've ever heard in my life!"
Clearly, Doctor Strange had completely disregarded the advice Mordo had given him about "forget what you think you know."
"Strange, you're a person with a limited view. Your whole life, you've been trying to climb out of a well, hoping to see a broader world in the process. But now that you have the chance to completely break free from the well's constraints and witness an entirely new world, you're giving up this possibility because you're afraid it's too vast out there."
"I reject this possibility because I simply don't believe in myths like chakras, spiritual energy, and faith. There's no such thing as a soul in this world. Humans are composed of matter, and are just a tiny and insignificant speck of dust in the universe!"
"You underestimate yourself, Mr. Strange."
"You think you've seen through me, huh? Let me tell you, I've actually seen through you! You think you can deceive someone like Mark Stark, a blinded fool manipulated by money, and expect to deceive everyone else? Well, let me tell you, I, Stephen Strange, won't fall for your tricks!"
"Blinded fool manipulated by money!? Fine, then let this blinded fool show you, a frog in the well, the vastness between heaven and earth—"
Mark was initially just planning to watch the spectacle unfold, but upon hearing Doctor Strange's assessment of him, decided to put him in his place.
With a single step forward, Mark crossed the several-meter distance between them instantly. He reached Doctor Strange's side and extended his palm, pressing it against Doctor Strange's chest. In an instant, Doctor Strange's entire body uncontrollably fell backward.
Yet, in Doctor Strange's perception, there was no sensation of losing balance and falling. Instead, a strange scene unfolded before his eyes.
Time seemed to suddenly slow down across the entire world, and his body, right before his eyes, appeared to play out in slow motion, gradually tilting toward the ground.
But when he looked down at his own hands, he realized that he was floating lightly in mid-air, and his body had become somewhat transparent. He could see through his own hands.
Just as Doctor Strange was about to further explore his current state, Mark's palm, within this time-slowed world, moved as if he had pressed fast-forward, swiftly grabbing his falling body and pulling it back up.
With this pull, as if drawn by a powerful force, he was dragged back into his own body, spirit and flesh becoming one again.
"*Huff—huff—huff—!* What did you just do to me!?" Doctor Strange took deep breaths, panting heavily, and looked at Mark in front of him, questioning.
"I simply pushed your soul out of your body, just to demonstrate the existence of the soul to you."
"No! I don't believe it. Did you release some kind of hallucinogen in the room's incense?"
"No, that was just regular incense. In that split second, you entered a soul world, where your soul departed from your body."
But this "blinded fool manipulated by money"'s lesson for you, isn't over yet—keep your eyes wide open!"
As soon as the words fell, amidst Doctor Strange's horrified expression, Mark once again extended his hand towards him.
Swoosh! Immediately, Doctor Strange felt himself transition from the extremely slow space to an accelerated world. His body, as if released from the pull of gravity, rapidly left the Earth, reaching the orbit of the planet's satellite.
At this point, his high-speed movement suddenly halted. Doctor Strange felt himself return to a state of stillness.
However, before he could gather his thoughts, the sensation of weightlessness and extreme speed came crashing back. Doctor Strange's entire being was caught in this cycle of acceleration, pause, acceleration, pause.
"If you continue like this, his body won't be able to withstand it, Mark."
"Is that so? I think he can hold on a little longer."
For some reason, during this continuous journey of back-and-forth movement, Doctor Strange could distinctly hear the conversation between Ancient One and Mark from his surroundings, as if all of this was a dream he had imagined.
What Doctor Strange didn't know was that, strictly speaking, this was indeed a dream for him, but it was a dream woven by Mark, not one he had imagined himself.
This is a kind of mental mysticism created by Mark in his exploration of the connection between magic and technology. It could also be called an illusion.
By using his own magical power to influence the souls of others, thereby affecting various sensory centers in their brains, those ensnared in the illusion perceive, hear, and feel everything as a fantasy created by the caster. The principle behind creating this illusion is actually extracted by Mark from virtual reality technology and applied to magic.
Boom! Doctor Strange had no idea how much time had passed as he traversed through different times and spaces at different speeds. When he once again saw Ancient One and Mark, he had lost control of his body due to excessive fright, and he ended up sitting on the floor.
"How about it? Are you satisfied with this personalized journey through the multiverse that I've prepared for you?
In the past, you always thought you understood how the world worked, believing that the material universe was everything. However, in reality, matter is connected to spirit and they mutually influence each other. Thoughts shape reality, and reality, in turn, gives depth to thoughts.
The universe we see before us is just one among the infinite universes, and the world is boundless. Some are beautiful and harmonious, while others are cold, evil, and filled with slaughter. In those dark corners, primal forces are greedily awaiting the opportunity to harvest everything.
So, in this vast and genuine multiverse, who are you, Doctor Strange?
Tell me, am I still the foolish tycoon blinded by money, or are you the frog in the well, who only sees a limited perspective?"
"Teach me, I implore you, teach me the secrets!" At this moment, having endured Mark's retaliatory revelation, Doctor Strange finally believed in the existence of the soul, and he also believed that there was a way to restore his hands to normal in Kamar-Taj.
However, opportunities aren't perpetually present, waiting to be seized at any moment. Some things, once missed, may never present themselves again.
Ancient One and Mark exchanged a glance, then simultaneously provided Doctor Strange with a despairing answer: "No!"
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