I’m Tired, I Just Want to Be Free

The newcomer had the same complexion as Daniel. It was Baron Mordo.

"You want to ask why I value him so highly?" Ancient One spoke before Mordo could ask.

"I just heard about him. His background is clean, but he bears traces of some magical entity from the multiverse. People like him should be monitored, just like everyone else. Yet you trust him completely and even let him read in the library. He’ll learn many secrets he shouldn’t know."

Mordo was somewhat confused. "I don’t understand."

Ancient One said, "It’s only one day. He can’t read much."

"But he’ll definitely read the Book of Vishanti and the Book of Cagliostro. The knowledge in them far exceeds his level!" Mordo argued.

Ancient One looked up at him. "If they are so far beyond his level, how could he understand them?"

Mordo said, "Uh…"

That seemed to make sense?

Knowledge was shared at Kamar-Taj. Many people had read those two books, but they would randomly flip to a page, understand nothing, and give up. They were simply too profound.

In all of Kamar-Taj, only the Sorcerer Supreme could comprehend those forbidden books.

It seemed he truly had been overthinking things.

Just as he thought that, he suddenly saw Ancient One’s expression change slightly.

"What is it?" Mordo hurriedly asked.

Ancient One frowned, a rare sight. "Several hundred books have disappeared."

They had not been hidden somewhere. They had vanished from the entire universe, as though they had been concealed in another universe!

How had that been done?

"He actually dared to steal books? At Kamar-Taj?" Mordo could hardly believe it.

There was nowhere safer on Earth than Kamar-Taj. Stealing anything from here would alert the Sorcerer Supreme. Even Odin would not escape her notice!

Did that Wang fellow have a death wish?

Had he eaten a dragon’s heart and a panther’s gallbladder?

"Let’s go take a look."

Ancient One had barely taken a step when a faint connection was suddenly reestablished.

Those books had returned!

With a casual gesture, she conjured a mirror that showed the library.

They could clearly see Old Wang entering the forbidden book section. With a wave of his hand, hundreds of chains unlocked one after another. Forbidden books flew before him, then vanished in the blink of an eye as though they had flown into a black hole.

In keeping with the principle of "sharing knowledge," the library had many protective spells, but none prevented anyone from opening any book. The chains existed only to secure the books and serve as warnings.

Ancient One suddenly felt that perhaps this rule needed changing.

For example, perhaps people should only be allowed to take one book at a time?

"He dares…" Mordo pulled out his rod-like staff and was about to charge over.

"Be patient." Ancient One stopped him.

Only then did Mordo realize he had been too hasty.

With the Sorcerer Supreme present, how could anyone possibly steal books?

Inside the mirror, Wang the Fatty was indignant at the sight. Yet after only a few breaths, all the forbidden books reappeared.

Wang the Fatty rushed over to inspect them, but Ancient One gently shook her head. "They haven’t been touched."

Every time a book was opened, it left traces behind. She normally did not concern herself with such things, but if she wanted to know, she would certainly find out.

"What exactly is he doing?" Mordo did not understand.

"The necklace around his neck is an artifact, one capable of connecting to some extra dimension or magical entity. It contains spatial-temporal power that even I cannot see through. There must be a fixed independent space within it."

Ancient One stared at Old Wang’s chest, seeing through his clothes directly to the Heart of Azeroth. "He stored those books in that independent space and activated the artifact. Perhaps it is some unique copying method, or perhaps he is showing them to a magical entity… I believe it is the latter."

"Then stop him!" Mordo said decisively.

"We already agreed to it. How can we stop him?"

Ancient One shook her head again. "For it to possess an artifact of this level, that magical entity must be no weaker than Dormammu, and it has already read the Darkhold. Whether it is the Book of Vishanti or the Book of Cagliostro, neither is particularly important to it. They are merely references."

There were other reasons as well.

Ancient One knew very well that there were too many beings in the multiverse no weaker than herself, perhaps even stronger, watching Earth. Yet many had no interest in Earth, and some even bore it goodwill, such as Odin.

After all, Earth was merely a remote corner of the vast universe.

Earth already had many enemies. It should not provoke another.

Before that magical entity showed hostility, she should not rashly offend it. Besides, she did not even know whether she could afford to offend it.

More friends meant more paths; more enemies meant more walls. This was an eternal truth of the universe.

Mordo seemed to think of something and grew slightly irritated, but he quickly calmed himself. "Sorcerer Supreme, do you truly value him so highly?"

"There are many strange things about him. A powerful soul and spirit, a somewhat weaker body, abundant combat skills, and the bearing of someone who seems to have experienced many grand scenes. I have only seen such bearing in a very small number of people."

Ancient One was clearly regretful. "Kamar-Taj’s mages do not have particularly high requirements for intelligence, but they have very high requirements for spiritual power, focus, and even physique. He possesses all of these. If he were willing to join Kamar-Taj, his future achievements might even surpass mine."

"He refused!" Mordo still could not believe that the Sorcerer Supreme thought so highly of that man.

What he found even harder to believe was that the man had actually refused!

"Of course, I believe it was the magical entity behind him that refused."

Ancient One said, "Kamar-Taj does not permit mages to use the power of the Dark Dimension, and that magical entity does not permit Master Wang to use the power of Vishanti. What is there not to understand?"

That was also one reason she was not worried that Old Wang would try to steal power from the Dark Dimension like Kaecilius.

A master with abundant True Qi already possessed a long life, and he had such a great existence backing him. Since he would not even use Vishanti’s power, why would he use Dormammu’s power?

Does he look down on me, Vishanti?

Mordo wanted to say more, but Ancient One waved her hand. "There is confusion in your heart. You need to calm yourself and think. No one can give you the answer. Only you can."

"Yes, Sorcerer Supreme." Mordo hurriedly bowed and left.

Ancient One fell silent as she watched Old Wang in the mirror.

The reason she was so tolerant of Master Wang was that in almost all of those seventy-two million futures, Master Wang stood on Earth’s side. In many of them, he even succeeded her and became the new Sorcerer Supreme.

That gave her hope.

After guarding for a thousand years, she had long since grown tired. She was always ready to answer the Eternal God’s summons, ascend into a higher-level Holy Spirit, and roam the multiverse.

But there had never been a successor capable enough. She knew very well that she was not a good teacher.

Now that one had finally arrived, she had to give it a try.

With this connection, even if Master Wang did not join Kamar-Taj, she believed he would offer help when needed in the future.

She had a feeling:

The day of her release was not far away.

Every exchange was a surprise, so surprising that it became numbing.

The forbidden book section truly was extraordinary. Any random forbidden book was worth dozens or even hundreds of ordinary magic books. Exchange after exchange brought Old Wang large quantities of Azeroth Blood.

The Book of Vishanti and the Book of Cagliostro in particular were especially valuable. The former was worth as much as the Darkhold, while the latter was only slightly inferior. The knowledge from the two books gave Old Wang as much as 1.5 grams of Azeroth Blood.

With thousands of forbidden books, along with ordinary magic books worth hundreds or thousands of times as much, it took Old Wang a full three hours to exchange them all.

Within the Heart of Azeroth, the spherical space filled with blood and soon surpassed fifty grams.

That was equivalent to the Dragon Bone of two or three Immortal Dragons.

With so much blood, Old Wang was full of confidence. Even if Ancient One held him accountable, he had nothing to fear. He could use Archimonde’s version of Finger of Death several times.

No matter how powerful Ancient One was, she could not possibly be as powerful as Archimonde.

A lifespan of a thousand years was impressive, but Archimonde had lived for tens of thousands of years.

Even a pig that lived tens of thousands of years would become a wild boar demigod, let alone a Burning Legion giant who climbed trees in public?

He had used only a few insignificant magical artifacts to obtain returns more than a hundred times greater. Ancient One had suffered no loss at all, while he had made an enormous profit.

Unmoved by gain or loss, Old Wang remained calm. He patted Wang the Fatty on the shoulder and said very seriously, "Thank you!"