American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

Two prolonged screams filled with fear and pain erupted as two souls crashed into their respective bodies, becoming inseparable. Both Jaina and Arthas were instantly drenched in sweat, staggering and collapsing to the ground, their faces still etched with intense terror and fear.

"It seems that after a little taste, you should understand the dangers of Kamar-Taj magic," Wang said, crouching down to meet the gaze of the two who were gradually recovering their senses and regaining their sense of self.

"What were those things?" Arthas vowed he had never felt such terrifying life forces before. Even the demons of the Burning Legion hadn't instilled such dread in him. He was certain that without protection, even with his command of the Holy Light, he might be influenced and corrupted if he came into contact with those powers and beings.

Arthas knew what the end result of being corrupted would be! The lives of those on Azeroth who had been tainted by fel energy or the Old Gods served as examples. Some of these entities, in terms of their intensity of distortion and corruption, Arthas felt were even more vicious than fel energy.

"Are you referring to what you 'saw'? Those are what we call dimensional deities and dimensional beings. If you need a point of reference, you can think of them as your world's Old Gods, but amplified. And the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj deal with such dangerous beings, borrowing their power," Wang calmly answered Arthas's question, without exaggeration or belittlement.

"This is too dangerous!" Jaina took deep breaths to calm herself. The bizarre appearances of those dimensional creatures still lingered in her mind, and even recalling them gave her a throbbing headache. Since she began studying magic, her teachers had often told her that arcane magic was dangerous, not only to people but also to the world. But having experienced this dimensional journey, Jaina felt that the arcane system was like a harmless lamb compared to the Kamar-Taj magic system.

Jaina couldn't be sure if she would be influenced and fall because of this. After all, the mages of Azeroth, once they reached a certain stage, always came into contact with other powers, were always influenced, and then fell for various reasons, just like how those talented mages had a constitution that made them prone to falling. Of course, Jaina knew that things were definitely not that simple.

"So, do you still insist on learning the magic of Kamar-Taj?" Wang asked.

Jaina and Arthas exchanged glances again, feeling that their minds were still in a dizzy and throbbing state. But they also understood that their next answer might determine their fate.

"Don't worry about anything else, just say what you think in your heart. There's no need to overthink it. Kamar-Taj magic may not be suitable for you, and you don't have to bet your future on it. My leading you on a dimensional journey wasn't meant to scare you, but to make you understand the dangers involved. Honestly, you only scratched the surface just now. Once you really start learning, the dangers ahead will be even more terrifying than what you saw and felt.

I can see that you are both talented children. You have your own power, and there's no need to force yourselves to pursue the power of Kamar-Taj," Wang said, seeing the struggle in their eyes, comforting them.

"I choose to learn," Jaina said with a determined expression. Arthas was silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"Are you sure?" Wang reminded them again, "Once you choose, it will be difficult to back out."

"I'm sure. My teacher taught me a saying: any power is a double-edged sword, and you must ensure that your hand is on the hilt when you wield it. I believe I have enough caution and restraint to control them," Jaina said through gritted teeth.

"The Holy Light will protect me!" Arthas said succinctly. Although his faith in the Holy Light had wavered for a moment, that wavering was not enough for him to abandon the Holy Light or be abandoned by it.

"Alright, since you've decided, welcome," Wang said with a smile, standing up and extending his hands to the two on the ground.

Jaina and Arthas each grabbed one of Wang's hands, using his strength to stand up.

"You have passed the first test. In fact, everyone who comes to Kamar-Taj to learn magic has an unyielding obsession in their hearts, which allows them to remain firm in their choice to learn magic when faced with possible future dangers," Wang said with a smile.

"So, this was just a test?" Jaina looked at Wang suspiciously.

"You can think of it as a test, or you can think of it as some other ritual. It's the first time Kamar-Taj has accepted sorcerer apprentices from another strange world. I think the necessary procedures should still be followed," Wang smiled, drawing a circle in the air and taking out two tubes of azure blue potion from the circle.

"Drink them," Wang handed the two tubes of potion to Jaina and Arthas.

"What is this?" Jaina and Arthas took them, pulled out the stoppers, and drank them. A cool sensation instantly swept through their bodies, and all their mental discomfort was instantly cleared away, relaxing their entire mind and soul.

Neither of them had ever felt so relaxed and clear-headed, not even in meditation. In this state, Jaina felt that the arcane energy in her body was incredibly obedient, like an extension of her limbs. High-level spells that were once difficult to cast, she now felt she could cast instantly with ease.

Arthas felt the same way. He had never felt such incredible control over his body as he did now.

"This is for calming the nerves, and it can also help you to calm your minds and remove some possible contamination," Wang explained, "Although your journey was just astral projection, it's not absolutely safe. If your mental consciousness is not strong and resilient enough, some things will stubbornly take root and sprout in your minds, deeply remembered by you. Then they will be reincarnated in nightmares again and again, eventually strengthening to the point where their master can locate your coordinates and come to harvest your souls and power.

But this calming liquid can protect your minds. Even if dimensional beings are relentless, the cost will be borne by them. You've come at a good time."

"Then teacher, can I understand that the magic of Kamar-Taj is not as dangerous as you said? Its risks are controllable?" Jaina addressed him as teacher and guessed based on Wang's words and tone.

"You are very clever. But I didn't deceive you or deliberately exaggerate. In the past, the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj were like this. We walked on the edge of a knife, constantly swaying back and forth between madness and corruption. But it's different now. We have a source of power that belongs to sorcerers. Although it also has some side effects, compared to the dangers of dealing with those dimensional powers, it is already acceptable," Wang didn't pay attention to Jaina's little cleverness, didn't deny it, but didn't admit it either, just gave his answer to her question.

Of course, this excludes the two most recent Sorcerers Supreme! All sorcerers paid some price before learning magic, but only the Sorcerer Supreme ignores this price.

Gu Yi never thought of returning the power she borrowed, never greeted the owner of the power, and didn't need the owner's consent.

Paying the price—obtaining permission—borrowing the power, this is the normal process. But Gu Yi bypassed all the prerequisites and processes for a sorcerer to cast magic. All she had to do was to keep herself conscious and not be contaminated or influenced. Later, after she abdicated, the new Sorcerer Supreme inherited his teacher Gu Yi's forte very well and took it to the next level with innovation.

You know what I'm doing, and you also know what I can do. We both know each other well. But I take without asking, which is the reward you should pay me. I am paying the labor cost in the void.

For example, Dormammu, he had to grit his teeth and admit this when he looked at the abyss seals in his dimensional world. Although it was paid to those in the energy bank, the Sorcerer Supreme of Kamar-Taj was one of the creditors, which was also true. The other party was one of the main forces in maintaining the abyss seal.

"I once met a powerful archmage in Azeroth named Kel'Thuzad. His source of power seemed to come from a powerful god called Mephisto from your place," Jaina was overjoyed, thinking that Wang had tacitly approved of her address, so she boldly asked another question.

"Then he is really a pity. I hope he lives long enough, or is still useful to Mephisto," Wang mourned for that archmage. He had fallen into the hands of the wrong person, into the hands of Mephisto. Was his hellish power so easy to take? You sell your life when you are alive, and your soul will be priced after death. He didn't find a good master!

"We now generally borrow power from two demon gods, one is the psionic energy represented by the elemental demon god Gu Yi, and the other is the Vishanti who represent white magic in the Trinity. But now new sorcerer apprentices rarely borrow the power of the Vishanti. There are still many rules in this, which you must master.

In addition, the spells of the Kamar-Taj sorcerer lineage may have a different style from your sorcerers. We are used to close combat. So, if possible, some combat experience is still needed. Of course, you can also specialize in one lineage."

Jaina and Arthas listened carefully.

……

"I didn't expect the examiner to be you, Miss Gwen," Phil Coulson said in surprise, stepping forward to greet her after seeing Gwen Stacy, who was there to welcome him from Hebron.

"Maybe it's because we're more familiar with each other," Gwen Stacy said with a smile, wearing a white research suit.

"Where's Quiet? Isn't she coming out to say hello?" Phil looked Gwen up and down, somewhat puzzled. He and Gwen had a lot of interaction, or rather, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Gwen had always had a lot of interaction. After all, Gwen started working and studying part-time in Hebron during high school, and directly joined Hebron after graduating from university. With a good teacher and being half a veteran, Gwen's development in Hebron has been good. Naturally, Nick and the others valued her more.

"She's drunk," Gwen said with an awkward smile.

"Drunk?" Phil was stunned.

"She used emotional primordial liquid to brew a kind of wine, and applied for a patent, obtaining a certain amount of primordial liquid freedom. Now she is either on the road to being drunk, or on the way to being drunk. I can't control her anymore," Gwen spread her hands helplessly. What could she do with a degenerate symbiote who didn't need a caretaker and could be self-sufficient? It was already good that the other party was willing to stay with her and treat her as a host.

But now she spends most of her time in Hebron anyway, and the risk of encountering external dangers is not high. So she simply let Quiet go. Anyway, when the other party drinks too much, she just soaks herself in the primordial liquid. The only thing she has to consider is observing and adjusting the proportions of various primordial liquids to prevent Quiet from being completely transformed from a symbiote into another kind of life. But now it's hard to say whether Quiet is still a symbiote. Even if she still has all the characteristics of a symbiote.

But now, it is already difficult for Quiet to access the symbiote's thinking network. If she forcefully accesses it, the entire symbiote network may even experience serious congestion and lag. The event where millions of symbiotes were collectively dropped offline almost led the symbiote group to believe that their thinking network had collapsed, and there are still aftershocks to this day. Subsequently, under the emergency maintenance and expansion of Hebron, the symbiotes who reconnected online unanimously voted to request restrictions on Quiet's access to the symbiote network. Otherwise, the symbiotes can only transmit messages to Quiet, and then Quiet transmits them to other symbiotes. The originally borderless instant communication now requires a process. And everyone knows Quiet's personality, her mental thinking is abnormal! It is even more impossible to honestly transmit messages to you.

So Quiet is now almost eating and sleeping, and sleeping and eating, living the life she once dreamed of.

"Okay," Phil smiled helplessly. This was indeed Quiet's style, and it was something she could do. He pointed to Reed and the other four behind him and introduced them to Gwen one by one.

"Come with me," Gwen nodded to them, signaling them to follow.

"Can I ask, what kind of assessment is it?" Susan leaned closer and asked in a low voice, and Reed and the others behind her also pricked up their ears to listen.

"If you have a chaotic world model, how would you, as a 'god', program it?" Gwen said without hesitation, standing in front of a metal door and revealing the exam question. (End of this chapter)