The Ancient One later spent quite some time talking with Wong and Daniel, trying to calm and psychologically strengthen them after their encounter with Alaric.
She advised them to communicate and socialize more with Mordo, as that could help them become emotionally stable and recover faster.
After that, the Ancient One arrived at the temple in New York and found Alaric deeply absorbed in something.
"Ahem!"
She coughed twice behind his back, wanting to get his attention.
"Who–!?"
Alaric turned abruptly and sighed as soon as he saw who was standing behind him.
"I told you once already, could you please appear in front of me? Every time you just suddenly show up behind my back, I almost have a heart attack!"
He looked at her without a word, then stopped the magic he had just been about to summon.
It wasn't that he was afraid, but it was far from pleasant to be alone in the temple and have someone suddenly appear behind him like a specter.
Especially now, as he was trying to take a practical magical weapon, the Ancient One's sudden appearance made him feel like a thief caught by the landlady in the act.
"It seems you've adapted quickly."
The Ancient One nodded, looking him up and down.
It was obvious that Alaric, as soon as he left Kamar-Taj, started behaving more freely, more relaxed.
He wasn't the Sorcerer Supreme, yet he carried himself with such confidence that even she, who bore the title of Sorcerer Supreme, felt a slight discomfort.
"Alright, alright…"
Alaric smiled and slowly set down the book he was holding.
"Just so you know," the Ancient One said in a serious tone, "passing through dimensional passages may seem simple and harmless to you now, but the lords of those dimensions are not beings you should take lightly. You'd better not try anything reckless."
"Last time you were able to use the power of the Time Stone to force Dormammu to retreat, but what if such power isn't at your disposal? I don't plan to go running into other dimensions every time just to drag you out of trouble."
"Ahem, I understand… I was just saying it in passing, I didn't seriously plan on going to the Hell Dimension!"
Alaric sighed inwardly.
Why did she have to hear every single thought he uttered?
How long had she been standing there behind him?
"Seems like I should learn some kind of magic that will forbid spontaneous portal openings in the temple…" he muttered under his breath.
He even came up with a name for it — Forbidden Passage!
Even if the Sorcerer Supreme herself showed up, she'd at least have to knock before entering!
"What did you just say?!"
The Ancient One's eyes widened sharply.
This insolent boy!
Did he just think about creating a spell that would block her herself, in her own temple?!
Why? To stop her from surprising him?
This was her territory!
The temple was officially under her management.
She let him live here without any charge, and now he planned to stop her from entering freely?!
Was that even reasonable?!
"You'd better not mess around! Otherwise, there are dangers in the temple that the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj won't be able to help you with in time, and you'll be done for!"
"Aren't there still magical doors…"
"And what if they get destroyed!?"
The Ancient One was truly angry.
She seriously felt the urge to give this brat a good beating.
"Alright, alright, I get it! I won't do anything foolish, calm down."
Alaric saw the Ancient One's face grow darker and more grim, so he quickly gave in.
In his mind, however, he was already thinking about how he could improve his own magic for different situations.
The main thing was that he was aware he might be wrong, but he had no intention of changing.
"Ugh! In short, remember, don't wander around and don't cause trouble everywhere!"
"Yes, yes, I've got it. But as the Sorcerer Supreme, you really ought to keep a little bit of decency."
For the first time in so many years of life, the Ancient One almost cursed out loud.
"…"
She was still angry with him, but she took a deep breath, calmed down, and got back to business.
"Here."
The Ancient One tossed him a folder.
"What's this?"
Alaric asked suspiciously as he opened it and peeked inside.
"Your ID card, driver's license, health insurance, proof of paid taxes, and a bank card."
"Oh! So you handled all this this morning?" Alaric said with a smile.
He felt a sudden warmth in his chest, he hadn't expected the Ancient One to care so much about him.
Now he had a complete and valid set of documents, even proof of paid taxes.
Perfect, simply perfect.
"Otherwise, what do you think I went to all that trouble for?"
The Ancient One rolled her eyes.
Fortunately, she had lived long enough, gained many connections, and had enough influence.
Without that, such a complete set of identification documents certainly couldn't have been made in half a day.
Moreover, they weren't black-market forgeries but fully legitimate and could withstand any investigation.
"Thanks again!"
Alaric was leafing through the documents when one thing caught his attention.
"Wait… why does it say… thirty years old on the ID card?!"
He raised his eyebrows in astonishment and looked at the document again. He hadn't misread it — it really did say he was thirty years old.
He looked at the Ancient One with a suspicious expression.
"Take a good look at me, do I look like I'm thirty?"
"Hm?"
The Ancient One was surprised as well. She took the ID card and checked, it really did say thirty years old.
Then she looked at Alaric's face again… and indeed, he didn't look that old.
Still, it wasn't strange to her. When she first found him and brought him back to Kamar-Taj from the snowy mountains, she had estimated his age to be about thirty.
At the time, due to a long stay at high altitude, exposure to wind and sun, and exhaustion, he had an unkempt beard and his face looked older than it really was.
Later, as time passed and his appearance began to recover, she hadn't paid attention to how much younger he looked.
Only now, seeing him in a neat and clean state, did she realize how much he had changed.
The Ancient One inadvertently felt a slight unease. She knew how high a price she had to pay to prolong her own life.
And Alaric, it seemed, had gone through a similar transformation without much effort.
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