Returning from Asgard to the London Sanctum, Noah felt an immediate sense of comfort.
He had never felt this way in the Warcraft universe.
First, the people there didn't trust outsiders. Lothar-the so-called hero-was the clearest example.
With the Orcs as precedent, trusting strangers would've been foolish.
Second, that place was simply too dangerous.
A Naaru he didn't even recognize had nearly broken him.
That feeling was bad.
Noah had never liked taking risks.
Caution was practically his middle name.
Coming back to this familiar "variant Marvel" universe, the pressure was still there, but it wasn't foreign.
Everything felt known.
He had preparations here.
Foundations.
He hated starting from scratch in a strange place.
Even so, Noah didn't immediately reunite with family or friends.
After briefly explaining a few things, he shut himself in his room and entered the Mirror Dimension.
Noah wasn't a monk.
Even if his methods looked similar, they weren't the same.
But Dormammu's feedback had been so intense that he'd been forced to live like one.
Honestly, he wanted to spend time with his girlfriend.
He wasn't a mage-in-training anymore.
By any standard, he'd long since become an Archmage.
He was already over thirty.
Even if he still looked early twenties, those restrictions no longer applied.
"So unlucky," Noah muttered to himself.
"I thought I'd reached the end. Turns out I've just started."
Complaining didn't change anything.
Work still had to be done.
Secluded training was painful.
Fortunately, Noah was used to it.
This time, once he entered deep meditation, everything else disappeared.
All he felt was his mana steadily rising.
As he went deeper, fragments of past battles surfaced.
It was a sensation he'd never experienced before.
It felt like he was reliving every battle he'd ever fought.
From the troll at Hogwarts.
To Marcus.
To the Basilisk.
To Voldemort from fifty years ago.
Each memory unfolded like a dream.
A strange, vivid dream.
In it, Noah seemed to control his past self, using the magic he'd had at the time to defeat each enemy again.
The process was long.
He'd fought too many battles.
If he counted the enemies in the Room of Requirement and the System Space, the number was absurd.
But Noah was patient.
He treated every fight seriously.
It was a complete review of his journey-from Hogwarts all the way to A'dal.
He didn't even skip opponents like Gul'dan.
Time lost meaning.
He didn't know how long had passed.
But when Noah finally woke up, he felt something he had never felt before.
His soul felt... elevated.
His perception had expanded infinitely.
His mana had undergone an indescribable surge.
It felt like opening a Domain.
But smoother.
More natural.
As if terrifying spells could be completed with a single thought.
Even the simplest spells felt frighteningly powerful in his hands.
Noah was captivated.
He even wondered what would happen if he faced Dormammu like this.
After thinking it through, he didn't have an answer.
But one thing was certain.
In his replayed battles, he had injured Dormammu more than once.
That alone was unbelievable.
Before, his only goal had been survival.
Now, during those simulations, he was actively thinking about how to wound him.
Killing Dormammu was still impossible.
But the difference was night and day.
Noah frowned.
Why would a single meditation session cause this?
"Did my meditation skill level up?" he muttered.
Meditation had levels.
He had changed methods twice already.
Once at Hogwarts.
Once after growing stronger at Kamar-Taj.
Those two methods had carried him through most of his path.
After that, he'd stopped changing.
According to the System, there was no need.
Noah trusted it.
If this hadn't happened, he wouldn't have questioned it.
But now-
He wanted every session to feel like this.
After some thought, Noah closed his eyes again.
He tried to enter that state once more.
"Huh?"
Something was wrong.
He felt... floating.
No-flying.
Noah snapped his eyes open.
He was flying.
Not physically.
His soul was soaring.
His body remained inside the Mirror Dimension, within the Sanctum.
"What the hell is going on?"
A trace of unease surfaced.
The last time this had happened was when the Space Stone had dragged him along.
But this time, he'd done it himself.
And the path felt different.
More like the one the Ancient One had shown Strange.
Curious, but calm, Noah followed the guidance of meditation.
His soul streaked through a bizarre, multi-dimensional universe.
Strange planes.
Distorted cosmic barriers.
Mysteriously powerful beings lurking in silence.
They watched him.
Some with disdain.
Some with curiosity.
Some with hostility.
Some without any reaction at all.
Their faces were unclear.
Like Dormammu, all Noah could see were shifting colors and eyes filled with emotion.
He drifted for what felt like an eternity.
Then, he stopped.
Before him was a massive sphere.
Radiant like a sun.
Looking closer, it pulsed.
Beating.
Like a heart.
It wasn't especially large.
Yet it filled Noah with awe.
A sense of divinity beyond anything he'd known.
As if everything originated from it.
As if everything began there.
As the sphere pulsed, Noah felt... acknowledged.
Recognized.
In the next instant, his entire being underwent a shocking elevation.
A precise.
Soul-level ascension.
Noah was stunned.
What was this place?
What was that sphere?
What had just happened?
"Ah-!"
He didn't get time to think.
The sensation of free-fall seized him.
In less than a second, Noah plummeted back into his body in the London Sanctum.
The moment his soul returned, space collapsed.
Whether it was because Noah was too "heavy" or something else-
A massive black hole formed inside the Sanctum.
A suffocating pressure spread across Earth.
Then beyond it.
Even into the Milky Way.
"I didn't expect him to reach this step so soon."
In Asgard, Odin stared into a magic pool reflecting the Ancient One's face and sighed.
"He truly is the disciple you chose. Again and again, he shatters our understanding."
"Without Dormammu," the Ancient One said softly, "we might never have forged him."
"I wonder if the boy was scared out of his wits. That place is not something one visits lightly."
"No," Odin replied quietly. "It isn't."
He fell silent, lost in memory.
The Ancient One didn't speak either.
The tenth rank was unimaginably difficult.
And after entering it, there was a unique ascension.
Some fainted halfway through.
Some couldn't endure it at all.
But those who perceived it-
They gained something indescribable.
They understood how vast the world was.
And how small they were.
"The Heart of the Universe..." Odin finally murmured.
"I've only seen it twice in my life. It took countless years."
"I didn't expect you to leave me speechless."
"And now your disciple makes me feel even more helpless."
"Thor will see it one day," the Ancient One said calmly.
"Have faith in your son, Your Majesty."
"I wish I could," Odin snorted.
"That fat one is also my son, and he never saw it!"
"Well..." the Ancient One smiled faintly.
"He comes from another universe."
"And besides-maybe Noah didn't see it either."
"Rest easy, Your Majesty."