"This kind of training will make you stronger," the Ancient One said, "and it will also give you a way to resist mystical forces."
That was the part that mattered most.
It was exactly the sort of threat Drex Valen had always been wary of, the kind of power he could not cleanly model or easily predict.
"Then add the Eye of Agamotto to the deal, and let study it too."
Drex was tempted, but not stupid. He kept his expression guarded.
The Ancient One lifted the amulet hanging at her chest. The Eye of Agamotto rested inside it.
Drex stared at her, surprised.
She was really willing to lend him the Eye of Agamotto?
That slled like trouble.
Still, if anyone asked whether he was tempted, the answer was obvious.
Of course he was.
That was the Ti Stone. Outside the Cosmic Cube and the Heart of the Universe, it was one of the most terrifying artifacts in existence.
And to be clear, the Cosmic Cube was not the sa thing as the Space Stone. Different beast entirely.
"Agreed," the Ancient One said with a nod.
"Tell exactly what I am supposed to do first," Drex said. "You are agreeing a little too fast. That makes nervous."
"There is a fragnt of the Hell Dinsion that has touched the material plane. I need you to go in with . While I complete the magical sealing of that dinsion, you keep anything from interfering."
The Ancient One said it plainly, as if she were discussing the weather.
Drex exhaled through his nose.
"Sounds suspiciously like a trap, Ancient One. And this Hell Dinsion fragnt, is it unclaid?"
"If it had an owner, then the mont it touched this world, Earth itself would already count as invaded."
She shook her head. Even with the protection of the three Sanctums, situations like this still happened from ti to ti.
An unclaid fragnt of the Hell Dinsion, then?
Drex considered that.
If no one owned it, then he would not exactly be walking into soone else's territory.
"Ancient One, don't you have the Eye of Agamotto? Why not use its power?"
The Ancient One's expression did not change.
"Those who play with ti are eventually played with by ti."
She clearly had no interest in relying on the Eye's power any longer.
Drex paced slowly, weighing the situation. He knew the Ancient One's condition. She did not have many years left. People in that position could do all kinds of things.
Maybe she was trying to settle him once and for all. Maybe she was worried he would disrupt a future she had already arranged.
It was not impossible.
"Then I want the reward first," Drex said.
"That was always my intention," the Ancient One replied.
So now she was talking about "learning" first, and still expected him to believe there was no catch?
In the end, though, Drex followed her to Kamar-Taj.
Mostly because he was curious.
"Where is Morgan?" he asked once they arrived and realized the girl was nowhere in sight.
"I isolated her in a separate dinsion," the Ancient One said calmly. "There, she will not be disturbed by dinsional demons."
Drex could not tell whether she was telling the truth or not. He had no way to verify it.
The Ancient One led him into the library at Kamar-Taj and, with a casual motion, drew a book into her hand.
"This is the cultivation thod for the Iron Fist recorded in Kunlun."
She handed it to Drex. He took it and opened the book.
The text that had once been written in English was now in Chinese.
Drex read with imdiate focus.
From everything he understood about the Iron Fist's power, the book was surprisingly detailed. But it also made one thing clear: the reason the Iron Fist was so miraculous was the power of the dragon.
Without the dragon's power, the Iron Fist was just an ordinary martial art. Nothing special. Nothing divine.
Drex looked up at the Ancient One.
She gave a small shake of her head.
All right. Then it was ti to try.
Drex sat cross-legged and took the posture described in the text. The Ancient One helped gather the necessary chi around him.
Then she realized he had already entered a ditative state.
"Of course," she murmured. "His talent in this area is high too."
She did not leave. Instead, she stayed nearby to guard him. In Kunlun, this step was traditionally protected by a master standing watch, so the student would not be invaded by inner demons while entering deep ditation.
Once Drex closed his eyes, it felt as though his restraints vanished.
His thoughts rose like mist into the sky.
He beca light as a feather, drifting over rivers and mountains, sinking into clouds one mont and resting against the blue vault of heaven the next.
I... am a dragon?
That thought snapped him awake.
He surfaced from the trance, and a dragon tattoo had appeared on his body.
"You really are gifted," the Ancient One said, impressed when she saw the dragon mark.
"The power of the dragon..." Drex ran a hand over the tattoo. He could feel a mysterious force sleeping beneath the skin. "For a mont there, it felt like I beca a dragon myself."
"You connected with the dragon's power," she explained. "That is why you do not need to kill an ancient dragon to gain it."
Drex absorbed that quietly.
So that was it.
He now understood how to use the dragon's power. And it was strong. Vast. Deep as the sea.
"You have one day," the Ancient One said.
She set the Eye of Agamotto down and removed the seal on it.
Drex picked it up.
Inside, the green Ti Stone shimred with a seductive light.
He did not touch it directly. Its power might be more than he could handle, and even with his steel body, he was still not strong enough to be careless around sothing like that.
Instead, he studied the Ti Stone's atomic structure.
That was the real reason he wanted the Eye of Agamotto in the first place. He wanted to see what the Ti Stone was made of. He wanted to know whether he could replicate it.
He frowned.
"There is no atomic structure? Impossible."
But that was exactly what he found.
He could not see the Ti Stone's atomic structure at all.
Or more precisely, it did not seem to have one.
Well.
Drex was getting used to impossible things.
Still, the result was disappointing.
With so ti left over, he returned to refining the dragon's power.
And soon discovered sothing interesting.
Under the blessing of the dragon, he could beco even stronger.
Before gaining the dragon's power, he had only been brushing the threshold of the Father Tier.
Now, he had truly crossed into it.
Without firsthand experience, it was difficult to understand the gulf between the sub-Father Tier and the real thing.
And Ancient One and Odin were both old monsters at that level. Odds were, they were still far stronger than he was.
So he would need to stay low-key.
"Ready, Drex?"
The Ancient One's timing was suspiciously precise. She appeared exactly when she ant to, which made him wonder whether the Eye of Agamotto she had given him was even real.
"I'm ready."
Drex nodded.
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