"I'm not too worried about the people of Asgard,"
the Ancient One said, glancing at Thor and the others.
"They are all protected by Asgard's unique divine essence. Ordinary interdimensional 'contaminants' cannot easily corrupt them."
"Especially Thor, the God of Thunder. He bears divine enchantments left by Queen Frigga, as well as Odin's power imprint. Those things would never dare provoke him."
Hearing this, warmth surged through Thor's heart.
Even though his parents were not by his side, they were still protecting him in their own way.
The Ancient One then turned her gaze toward Lucas.
"But you are different from them."
"Although your combat strength is formidable, it exists mainly on the physical level. On the spiritual and mental plane, you are not yet prepared to confront the mysterious beings that dwell in alien dimensions."
Thor nodded in agreement.
"The Sorcerer is right," he said.
"My father and mother both warned me that the beings hidden in other dimensions and extradimensional spaces are extremely troublesome and malevolent. They told me to avoid provoking them for as long as possible."
Lucas frowned slightly. As his thoughts raced, he seemed to realize something.
He looked at the Ancient One and asked gravely,
"In some timeline… was I corrupted by those things?"
The Ancient One shook her head.
"I don't know. And I cannot be certain."
Lucas did not become angry upon hearing this.
He understood her constraints.
If she were to answer too specifically, it could involve the emergence of a new timeline—something she could not allow.
"I understand," Lucas said, nodding.
"Sometimes, not saying anything is already a warning."
Soon after, under the Ancient One's direction, fifty sorcerers from Kamar-Taj followed them to the rooftop of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
As he followed her, Lucas saw various magical artifacts stored throughout the area.
After passing through a corridor filled with arcane devices, they arrived before a door.
The Ancient One placed her hand on the handle. With a gentle twist of her wrist, golden light flared like interlocking gears.
With a crisp mechanical click, the door opened.
Before Lucas lay an open space larger than a football field.
Above the vast platform, the air itself shimmered with strange, unstable spatial fluctuations.
When the group stepped inside, the space rippled. Two sorcerers in gray robes emerged from the distortion.
"Greetings, Sorcerer Supreme," they said in ancient, weathered voices.
Lucas immediately sensed that beneath their frail appearances lay unfathomably deep reservoirs of power.
"Mm. You may withdraw," the Ancient One said calmly.
"Yes."
The two sorcerers stepped back and vanished into the spatial distortion.
"This is a spatial node discovered and stabilized by Agamotto, the first Sorcerer Supreme," the Ancient One explained.
"It is also one of the most important nodes guarded and suppressed by the New York Sanctum."
She swept her gaze across the area.
"Earth itself occupies an extremely special position—like a central intersection on a two-dimensional plane that all paths must cross."
"Because of this, countless dimensional lords and extradimensional entities attempt to use Earth as a gateway for invasion."
"Kamar-Taj exists to guard this very point."
Lucas already knew this in theory, but this was the first time he had seen the spatial node with his own eyes—something never shown in the films.
"Using this node will greatly reduce the amount of magical energy required to send you to Asgard," the Ancient One continued.
By now, the fifty Kamar-Taj sorcerers had taken their positions, each sitting cross-legged in a precise formation.
"Can we also return through this node?" Lucas asked.
This time, the Ancient One shook her head.
"Sending you there will already consume a tremendous amount of the spatial energy stored within this node."
"To bring you back would require a bidirectional transfer. Even if all of Kamar-Taj worked together, it would be impossible."
Lucas sighed lightly.
"So this is a one-way ticket."
"Relax," Thor said confidently, wrapping an arm around Lucas's shoulder.
"Once I return and settle matters in Asgard, I'll have Heimdall send you back. Easy."
Lucas's eyelid twitched slightly.
"I certainly hope so."
At that moment, Lucas suddenly thought of Wanda back home.
"Sorcerer Supreme," he said,
"when the time comes, please guide the one in my household as well."
The Ancient One smiled faintly.
"I was waiting for you to say that. The Chaos Magic within that child is anything but simple."
"If it is not properly guided and restrained, one wrong step in the future could bring disaster—not just to Earth, but to the entire universe."
Thor and the others did not fully understand her words, but Lucas knew exactly how terrifying the Scarlet Witch could become.
After acquiring the Darkhold, her power was sufficient to pierce the barriers of parallel universes and transmit energy across realities.
"Rest assured," the Ancient One said.
"Leave her to me. I promise I will do everything in my power to help her."
Then she suddenly asked,
"By the way, you're carrying the Tesseract with you, aren't you?"
Lucas nodded. He always kept it on him.
The Ancient One nodded as well, seemingly confirming something—but she did not explain further.
Lucas had already grown accustomed to this.
It likely aligned with the requirements of some timeline.
"Since you are all prepared," the Ancient One said,
"we will begin the teleportation."
Her body slowly rose into the air, supported by magic, until she hovered above the center of the platform.
She sat cross-legged midair, her lips moving as she chanted an ancient incantation.
The fifty sorcerers followed suit, chanting in unison.
As they moved their hands, strands of golden magical energy appeared, rapidly weaving into complex symbols before them.
The next moment, these golden formations floated upward.
They converged and fused in midair, forming an enormous magical array.
Before the Ancient One, an even more intricate and profound array took shape. With a raised hand, she sent it soaring upward.
Click.
With a peculiar sound, the array activated like a machine coming to life. Its internal structure began shifting and recombining.
A unique energy fluctuation spread outward.
Lucas immediately noticed that this fluctuation was strikingly similar to the energy emitted by the Tesseract.
"May you return in triumph," the Ancient One said.
Her eyes suddenly flared with golden light.
Brilliant runes ignited across the stone platform, rapidly forming an immense magic circle.
The arrays in the sky and on the ground resonated with one another, unleashing a colossal surge of magical power.
Columns of golden light descended from above, enveloping Lucas, Thor, and the others one by one.
Humm—
When the light faded, all five figures had vanished from the platform.