SUP Chapter 103: Strange Marvel! Origin Power! (Part Two)

[Greenwich Village Blake Street]

He carefully tucked Steve's overly vigorous mysterious hair back into his tight shorts.

When the protagonist jogged close to this brownstone townhouse, that man who had been setting up a stall seemed to have already packed up. Not only was the small table gone, but even the villa's front door was completely closed.

Cold wind rolled with snowflakes swirling.

Ian stood in front of that oak door carved with mysterious runes, looking up at this Victorian-style super villa. If he wasn't mistaken, this place should be the so-called Sanctum Sanctorum.

The sanctuary of Kamar-Taj.

From the outside, it looked no different from the surrounding houses, just a bit better-looking, with French Baroque architectural charm and a unique Mansard-style roof.

Before there were buildings, this place had been used by a Native American shaman as a location to seal demons, later becoming a mass grave and a site for cult killings.

Later it became Kamar-Taj, the territory of what was the magical sanctuary of Marvel Universe Earth, and at some unknown time, the originally evil place became the base that the Sorcerer Supreme had placed in New York.

It was also Doctor Strange's residence.

And if Captain America and Spider-Man had both become such characters, the street scammer Ian had encountered here might already have an obvious identity.

"I can't accept this at all, this isn't the Marvel journey I wanted." Ian was quite depressed, the gargoyle on the spire tilted its head as if mocking his hesitation.

After more than ten seconds of struggle.

The boy took a deep breath and raised his hand to knock, knock, knock, knock.

He knocked quite loudly.

Unfortunately, no one responded.

"This is too strange." Ian muttered as he withdrew his hand, his fingertips stained with a layer of fine copper rust, "Don't Kamar-Taj mages even maintain the door knocker of the Sanctum?"

It wasn't Ian being picky.

This indeed seemed somewhat inexplicable.

As an important building for the Sorcerer Supreme to guard Earth and protect this universe, the Sanctum Sanctorum was an important node of the protective barrier and should logically undergo regular maintenance.

How come it now looked.

Almost as broken down as America's Air Force fighter jets?

"Knock knock knock~"

The puzzled Ian knocked on the door again. After this knock, the door crack seemed to widen a bit, and a very plant-scented incense smell wafted from the house.

"An invitation? Or is the door not locked properly?"

Ian tried pushing the door.

The heavy oak door slid open silently, revealing the resplendent hall inside. Floating candelabras cast warm halos, illuminating the thin dust accumulated on the spiral staircase handrails.

It looked like it hadn't been wiped for at least several months.

"Is anyone home?"

Ian politely poked his head in to ask. His voice echoed in the hall, startling several pigeons roosting on the chandelier, and also letting him see where these pigeons were flying to.

Feathers fluttered down.

The folding table covered with purple velvet was stored in a corner, where there was also a constantly swaying armchair with the horse-faced man from before lying on it looking relaxed.

The man's attire was more slovenly than when encountered on the street, dark blue pajama pants peeked out from under his mage robes, his left slipper was nowhere to be found, and his right sock had a hole in it.

He was flipping through a copy of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" with his slender fingers, the hardcover with Holmes's pipe painted into some kind of wand shape with a highlighter.

"Sir, why didn't you continue setting up your stall?" Ian stepped onto the old Persian carpet, his boot sinking into the carpet. His naturally familiar personality made him take the initiative to ask.

"Of course it's because I pack up once I make 200 bucks a day." The man instinctively gave an answer, then, as if suddenly realizing something, snapped the book shut.

"Wait!"

The man jumped up suddenly, the hot tea placed beside him spilling on his pajama pants. He didn't seem to care about this, looking at Ian with a somewhat uncertain gaze.

A red cloak automatically flew to his back.

Identity verification successful.

"How did you get in here!?"

Doctor Strange looked at Ian with disbelief, his eyes wide.

"Maybe because the door wasn't locked?"

Ian pointed behind himself, making a somewhat embarrassed expression.

"This has nothing to do with whether the door is locked or not. What about the Sanctum's protective spells?" Doctor Strange rushed to the door in a few steps and after checking, his expression became even more incredible.

"The protective spells are fine, only people I've allowed can approach my house, and you, you don't have my invitation." Doctor Strange stood at the door position and suddenly turned around.

There was no anger on his face, but rather excitement, "This proves the Sanctum itself invited you, which also means you probably belong to the kind of shocking talent who's naturally meant to become a mage!"

Doctor Strange made what he considered a reasonable judgment.

At least he thought it was reasonable.

"..."

Ian was silent for a moment.

"Are you learning from Holmes to make deductions?"

He found himself increasingly unable to understand the superheroes of this world.

Out of place, perhaps this was exactly that feeling.

"Ah?" Doctor Strange was stunned.

"You discovered this too?"

He somewhat embarrassedly had his cloak help him scratch his head.

This really had the feeling of being lazy to the extreme.

"Don't learn it next time." Ian sighed deeply.

"It's not similar at all, but even so, it still makes me easily cross over into Holmes stories."

His words left Doctor Strange very confused.

He pondered for a long time and still couldn't figure out whether Ian was praising him or criticizing him.

"Stephen Strange? Former neurosurgeon?" Ian's mood was quite melancholy now, so he didn't continue chatting but instead confirmed identity information with Doctor Strange.

Upon hearing this, Doctor Strange was first stunned.

"You even know this?" Then, as if he had "deduced" something again, he patted his forehead, "It seems you also have outstanding talent in prophecy!"

"This is fantastic! At least you won't starve in the future!"

"Child, are your parents nearby? Forget it, that's not important, I can handle them, the main thing is you, would you consider changing careers to become a magnificent mage?"

"Really, I'm not lying to you, you have the potential to become Sorcerer Supreme!"

"I am the Sorcerer Supreme, look how handsome my cloak is. You don't need to wait for me to die, as soon as you learn I'll give it to you, and I'll immediately find a place to hang myself!"

"Seamless succession! Simply couldn't be better!"

Doctor Strange spoke very quickly, but this didn't prove his thinking speed was also fast. He rattled off a bunch of things, his intention to trick Ian was really too obvious.

"..."

Ian looked around.

He didn't find traces of a second mage's existence.

He roughly understood.

"Is Kamar-Taj down to just you now?"

Ian's tone carried some probing.

Doctor Strange's excited expression froze instantly at this moment.

"Uh, it's not just me, it's just that the others... the others don't have such high talent, you know, it seems you already have some prior involvement with the magical world."

"Are you from some mage family?" Doctor Strange forcibly changed the subject, his technique was terribly crude. He was obviously covering up, seeming to want to engage in some back-and-forth with Ian.

However, Ian didn't want to engage in any back-and-forth with Doctor Strange.

"No, I'm not from a mage family, I'm from a positive energy family... Damn it, can this world be a bit more normal? Compared to learning magic, which is no longer that important..."

Ian interrupted Doctor Strange who still wanted to continue his sales pitch, "What I actually want to know more is what's wrong with this world."

He stared intently at the Sorcerer Supreme in front of him.

"What do you mean what's wrong?"

Doctor Strange's expression was somewhat confused.

"You're setting up fortune-telling stalls outside, Captain America is working as a model in clothing stores, and Spider-Man went off to do strip shows... Damn it, I really hope he was just doing strip shows!"

Ian held his forehead.

Even he found it somewhat hard to accept such an absurd world.

"Oh, you mean those two guys, that's very normal, they're all just making a living." Doctor Strange lay back in his chair, his tone carrying a sense of matter-of-factness that shouldn't be matter-of-fact.

The red cloak behind him flew back to the coat rack.

"Those are superheroes!"

Ian covered his head.

"No, I need to see the Ancient One, I need to see Eternity... Go quickly tell Eternity that I've made contributions to Marvel, I've bled for Marvel, I deserve to know an answer."

He wasn't unable to accept an absurd Marvel.

The boy who had finally been a hero once just couldn't quite accept that his heroic deed had actually created such a strange and ridiculous world.

"Eternity? If I knew how to cozy up to such a big shot, would I be here reading novels?" Doctor Strange picked up that copy of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" again.

"What's hidden in your crotch? I can sense magical aura." Doctor Strange asked while reading, even conjuring a chair for Ian but Ian wasn't in the mood to sit down.

"A demon book?"

Ian pulled out his collection from his crotch. Honestly, he still hadn't figured out what this book really was, perhaps Doctor Strange could help him identify it.

Though the world was different.

Some things should still have commonalities.

"Ian's Book of Creation"

This book liked to change its name, and Ian was quite pleased with it, but he still held this sycophantic book and approached, hoping to seek identification from the Marvel universe's Sorcerer Supreme.

"What the hell is this thing? The words on it have twisted into monsters, I can't read them at all."

Doctor Strange looked at Ian suspiciously, "As for demons? Are you trying to scare me? Even ten-year-old mages should know that demons only exist in bedtime stories."

His words carried some disdain.

Ian's pupils contracted sharply, he once again noticed something new that was wrong.

"What do you mean? You haven't seen demons? Haven't fought dimensional demon gods? Dormammu? Cyttorak?" Ian, under his super brain's normal performance, keenly caught very crucial information.

He immediately began questioning.

And directly snatched away the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" from Doctor Strange's hands.

"Who are Dormammu and Cyttorak?" Without his book, Doctor Strange could only helplessly answer Ian. In his heart, he had already regarded Ian as the successor to replace himself.

He had to be patient.

He still needed to trick the other party into joining the school.

"They're dimensional demon gods, also called dimensional lords."

Ian swallowed hard, he seemed to have realized what Omni-machine Tony God had done.

"I don't know what dimensional demon gods are." Doctor Strange picked up his empty teacup and drank a few sips. When he put the teacup down, it was as if he had spit into it, full to the brim.

"And no one has seen demons either, because demons are just stories used to scare children, perhaps they also appear in film and television works, but they're at most just products born from people's imagination."

Doctor Strange's answer was still so matter-of-fact.

Dead silence enveloped the hall.

"Oh..."

Ian's expression kept changing.

"Tony, and you said you weren't affected... Oh, he seemed to go silent at that time."

His brain was slightly crashing.

"No, then what kind of magic do you Kamar-Taj mages actually learn, and your cloak, its power should come from the Trinity Vishanti, right?"

Ian seemed to have grasped a loophole in this world.

"Uh... what is Vishanti? You're making me somewhat confused. It seems you have some understanding of the mage world, but how does this understanding still mix in so much fantasy flavor."

Doctor Strange stood up from his chair and manually took down the cloak that had automatically hung on the coat rack. That somewhat cheap and inferior texture seemed very discordant.

"This is my levitation cloak, it's not some work of Vishanti, but a magical artifact I crafted myself... God knows how much effort I spent to create it."

"But practicing magic is like this, everything can only rely on yourself." Doctor Strange's tone was full of emotion, his words seemed to reveal why this place was so desolate.

No creditor!

No backer!

The magic of this Marvel universe could only be cultivated through one's own efforts! And the reason for this must be because of the information Tony added when setting up that Infinity Gauntlet!

Tony had tampered with the planning information! Mixed in private goods!

"There's no magical source bestowing power for mages to take shortcuts, I mean more convenient cultivation?" Ian swallowed hard, trying to digest the information.

"No."

Doctor Strange shook his head.

His gaze at Ian was very strange.

"So there are people lazier than me in this world."

His tone was quite emotional.

"How did you get this magical artifact? Did you steal your parents' magical artifact?" Doctor Strange's attention returned to the magical book Ian had pulled out. He began weighing in his heart whether he could beat Ian's parents and snatch this child back to Kamar-Taj to learn magic.

And just at this moment.

"Knock knock knock~"

The sound of knocking on the door rang out.

"That's my takeout."

Doctor Strange was immediately attracted, he quickly ran toward the door.

"When I knocked just now, I didn't see you react this quickly. Can't a boy like me be a delivery boy?" Ian was puzzled, but Doctor Strange's expression was even more puzzled.

"You didn't knock on the door. If you had knocked, I definitely would have heard it." Doctor Strange said while opening the door, cold wind mixed with cheese aroma rushing in as the door opened.

It was pizza delivery.

The delivery person was also a pretty girl.

Ian found her very familiar.

"Hi, Gwen, you finally stopped wearing leather pants. Do you still remember the bond between us? The fact that you owe me one hundred and eighty-something favors can't be easily dismissed!"

Ian greeted her, testing whether this acquaintance had memories of the past.

Yes.

Standing outside the door was a girl wearing a rabbit-eared wool hat, holding a pizza box in her hands, her nose tip red from the cold. This pretty pizza delivery girl was Gwen Stacy.

"Huh?"

Gwen looked blankly at the boy in the house.

"Who are you?"

She felt somewhat familiar, yet couldn't remember anything.

"Me? Magical boy Ian, the one you begged to be the new Spider-Man but I didn't agree." Ian keenly caught that trace of confusion in Gwen's eyes.

"I knew it! The bond of friendship can transcend time and space!" Ian was extremely excited. He directly pushed Doctor Strange aside, rushed out the door, hoisted the bewildered Gwen up, and ran off.

"Put me down! This is kidnapping! Kidnapping!"

Gwen was scared out of her wits.

"We need to find Tony! If you still remember me! Even just a little bit, then Tony must be the same as you!" Ian had always had his own plan.

"Oh God! What are you talking about? What magical boy are you? You're simply a psycho boy! Damn it! How do I feel like this sentence is so familiar!"

Gwen pounded Ian's back but found Ian's back was rock hard.

"Fantastic!" Ian was overjoyed.

"Just like this! The power of bonds continues to work!"

He quickly crossed the street.

Behind him, Doctor Strange, who had been knocked to the ground, looked confused like an abandoned mistress.

"Damn brat! I was just about to invite you for pizza! Is this how you treat me? Fine, treating me like this is okay too... Are you coming back to be this Sorcerer Supreme or not!"

After he stood up, he picked up the pizza box from the ground, opened it while eating pizza and shouting outside, however, the only response to him was Ian's figure carrying Gwen and disappearing rapidly into the distance.

Ian was in a hurry because Ian was about to return.

"How is he running so fast... Holy shit! He bounced up! He's flying!" Doctor Strange looked at the distant scene, the half piece of pizza in his hand falling directly to the ground.

Moments later, he slowly recovered from his shock.

"It only fell on the ground for ten minutes, definitely still edible."

Doctor Strange picked up the pizza from the ground, closed the door dejectedly, and walked back to the Sanctum's main hall, his greasy hands directly grabbing for "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."

At this moment, something in the darkness knocked against Doctor Strange's thoughts.

"Wait, what did he say his name was?" Doctor Strange suddenly ran toward the back hall of the Sanctum Sanctorum, opened a portal, and instantly crossed an extremely vast distance.

Kamar-Taj.

Stephen Strange stepped across the threshold, his boots continuously colliding with the stone floor.

No greetings from apprentices.

No conversations with mages.

Only the whimpering sound of cold wind passing through the corridors. The deserted holy land was very desolate, the wooden training dummies in the practice field were covered with dust, and several abandoned practice robes still hung on the rack, already weathered.

"I remember this name!" Doctor Strange's footsteps echoed in the long corridor. He pushed open door after door, arriving at the dusty and empty library. Doctor Strange's fingers wandered among the bookshelves with few remaining books, finally stopping on an ancient tome with a golden cover.

He carefully pulled it out, the spine making a slight "crack" sound, as if it hadn't been opened for many years. He still needed to blow off the dust on top to see the large characters on the cover.

Inside the empty book were no text or magical records.

"Ian's Magic Book"

On the cover, these characters, even more golden than golden, were very conspicuous.

[NEXT CHAPTER]