The Strange of the Main Universe had already become the Sorcerer Supreme long ago.
After overseeing Kamar-Taj for so many years, he had also dealt with plenty of troublesome opponents.
Many demon gods from the Dark Dimension, such as Dormammu, had been driven away by his own power.
He could be considered someone with very broad experience.
Yet when facing Karl, he still felt as though his entire worldview was being overturned.
Strolling through the Multiverse was actually this easy for him?
What kind of experience was that?
Were the Sorcerer Supremes of other worlds all this powerful?
Did becoming Sorcerer Supreme now require such a high standard?
For a moment, Strange, who was also a Sorcerer Supreme, actually became a little withdrawn.
Strange quickly realized something.
He could not continue discussing this topic.
If they kept talking about it, his confidence as Sorcerer Supreme would be completely gone.
"Ahem. Karl, let's talk about something else."
"In your world, what is magical training like?"
"Is it the same as the magic practiced by Kamar-Taj sorcerers?"
Strange was extremely curious about this.
As Doctor Strange, he possessed the immense curiosity unique to sorcerers.
Hearing this, Karl smiled.
On this point, the Strange of both worlds was exactly the same.
They were both extremely eager to learn.
There was a reason Strange had been able to become New York City's most famous neurosurgeon.
His talent was indeed very important.
But it was also inseparable from his hard work.
He had never given up any opportunity to learn.
"Most of the rules in the universe are the same."
"In terms of basic magic, there shouldn't be much difference."
"But the stronger the magic is, the greater the differences naturally become."
"Many spells may not be universally usable across different universes."
"That still depends on whether the laws between worlds differ from one another."
Karl patiently explained.
"So that's how it is."
Strange suddenly understood.
Although he was the Sorcerer Supreme, his strength was still insufficient.
He did not have the ability to travel to other parallel universes.
As for the differences between universes, he genuinely did not understand them.
Only, for some reason, when facing Karl, he always felt as though he were facing the Ancient One.
That feeling was extremely strange.
"Then, how do you view divine power?"
Strange asked again.
"Divine power?"
"That depends on how you define a god."
"In this world, gods in the absolute sense do not exist at all."
"If something has a personal will, then it can only be called a powerful life-form."
"If it does not have a personal will, then such a god is nothing more than the manifestation of some kind of rule."
"To put it plainly, the power of gods is no different from magic. It is merely the manifestation of will."
"Powers that seem impartial are, in truth, all manifestations of the wills of the powerful."
"To us, there is no difference at all."
"When you paid the price, you should have understood that, shouldn't you?"
Karl said with a smile.
Strange's expression changed.
He even knew about that?
Could it be that there truly were no secrets between parallel universes?
In Kamar-Taj, every sorcerer who practiced magic needed to pay an enormous price.
But those were the deepest secrets of sorcerers. Aside from themselves, no one else knew about them.
Karl even knew this secret. It seemed that in another universe, their relationship truly was extremely close.
Strange slightly relaxed his vigilance.
"Then how do you deal with these prices?"
Strange asked in a heavy voice.
Although the title of Sorcerer Supreme looked prestigious, it required one to endure pain ordinary people could not even imagine.
Even in this world, half of the price he paid was borne for him by mystically marked monks.
Even so, it still left him in tremendous discomfort.
His body had also suffered organic damage.
A wound had opened inside his stomach, even leaving him unable to eat normally.
This kind of price was truly too heavy.
Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
"Strange, you need to understand something. When you are strong enough, you don't need to worry about these things."
"If you borrowed something through your own ability, you don't need to return it."
"And when you don't have enough power, you need to seek help from others."
Karl said with a smile.
The founder of Kamar-Taj was the Ancient One.
However, only Strange had paid an enormous price, while the Ancient One had not.
Did that mean she did not need to pay a price?
Of course that was impossible.
Compared with Strange, the Ancient One had borrowed power from the Dark Dimension for who knew how many years.
Was Dormammu someone easy to negotiate with?
Of course not.
It was just that the Ancient One was clever. She had fooled many gods one after another.
After escaping through a fake death, she was directly sheltered by Eternity.
Who would dare cause trouble for Eternity?
In this universe, very few people had that kind of courage.
Naturally, the Ancient One would not have to pay much of a price.
Of course, this was also because this repayment mechanism was essentially a rule of world balance and absolutely could not be broken.
It was like a program inside a computer, running entirely on its own. Ordinary gods would not pay attention to something like that either.
That was what gave the Ancient One a loophole to exploit.
Even so, over the past century, no other sorcerer had managed to do the same.
It could only be said that the Ancient One was extraordinarily brilliant.
Although Strange's talent in magic was better, in this regard, he was still a little too honest.
Strange naturally did not know what Karl was thinking.
After hearing Karl's words, he became thoughtful.
Karl looked at him and said directly,
"If you are still unclear, go ask the Ancient One."
"She should be able to explain your doubts."
"There are still many things you need to learn from the Ancient One."
Looking at Strange, Karl felt somewhat emotional.
There was a reason the Ancient One had transformed into a sacred spirit to teach Strange after her death, even if her method back then had been a little too sly.
Earlier, when Karl had traced time backward, he had already seen the truth.
The Sorcerer Supreme of this world had not died in such a casual and ridiculous way. She had also been much more responsible.
First, she sealed Shuma-Gorath, the great demon that was about to invade the world, inside her own body. Only then had she been killed.
In other words, she had effectively taken Shuma-Gorath, a great demon powerful enough to devour Earth, down with her.
After that, she received the protection of Eternity and became a sacred spirit.
She had fulfilled all of her duties and was worthy of the title Sorcerer Supreme.
Strange had clearly been protected too well.
Karl shook his head.
Then he spoke again.
"Enough, Strange. You can slowly ask your teacher about these things later."
"Let's talk about something else."
"Why didn't I sense Baron Mordo's aura in Kamar-Taj?"
Strange was still thinking, but when he heard those words, he instinctively shivered.
He looked exactly like a child caught zoning out in class.
Fortunately, he reacted right away.
Then he let out a deep sigh.
(End of Chapter)
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