The Ancient One handed Leon Ragnell a Sling Ring.
With this ring, he could cast—
a little like a wizard's wand.
She began explaining the principle of portals.
Leon listened closely.
"The Sling Ring is the only key that opens the door," the Ancient One said.
"It helps you focus your mind, anchor a coordinate in real space, and rip open a rift to your destination.
"Remember—no ring, no portal. That's iron law."
When the lesson ended, she asked, "Do you understand?"
Leon nodded. "More or less, yes."
"Good. Practice now. Target: the mid-slope of that mountain opposite us. Focus your mind. Picture where you want to go."
Leon narrowed his eyes.
Visualization… not necessary.
Just read the ki.
Remember your ki and then—
He drew lightly through the air. A perfect, round portal bloomed before the Ancient One.
She froze.
Was this really his first brush with sorcery?
The portal's exit hovered behind Leon. He stepped back and strolled through space.
"Not bad at all—and it barely sips ki," Leon said, taking a breath and smiling. "Master Ancient One, is this correct?"
She drew in a long breath, staring at him. "This is truly your first time learning magic?"
Leon chuckled. "Of course."
Magic…
He rolled his shoulders, loosening every joint. "Feels pretty simple."
Maybe it was the Majin Buu cells. Maybe the Namekian cells. Whatever the reason, casting came absurdly easy. Energy-flow structures, mental focus mechanics, spatial coordinate-locking algorithms—
Everything decomposed and parsed on contact, distilled into raw data his mind could drink down.
He touched it—and learned it.
It was… uncanny.
The Ancient One didn't even know what to call the feeling in her chest.
After that, she simply brought out a spread of Kamar-Taj spellwork for Leon to teach himself.
She didn't want to "teach" anymore.
It felt a little like losing.
Leon, for his part, was delighted to pick up new techniques.
And the further he went, the easier it felt.
He barely needed the Sling Ring—he could open a portal with his foot if he felt like it.
Next, Leon asked after forbidden arts.
Multiversal things, for instance—but the Ancient One refused.
They're called forbidden for a reason.
As for the Book of Cagliostro, she would not let him touch it.
Leon was already terrifyingly strong. If he ever turned, even she might not be able to rein him in.
But Leon wasn't satisfied.
Yes, he'd mastered a lot of skills. But he'd come to learn magic to boost his battle power fast.
As things stood, his gains were crawling: maybe fifty thousand a year.
Ten years to be on par with "stroller-pushing Frieza."
Too slow.
He couldn't even cheese it by cycling near-death.
The Buu cells in him were constantly contesting a seed of Destruction—God of Destruction energy. He was literally hovering at death's door every moment, only to be mended by Buu's regeneration.
Round and round it went; his power ticked up constantly, but never in great leaps.
Leon needed speed.
A million battle power—at least the baseline to go Super Saiyan.
Ten years? Way too long.
So he started doing the math on outside power.
Take the magic of Kamar-Taj. Besides training their own reserves, sorcerers routinely draw upon cosmic entities like the Vishanti and Eternity, or dimensional demons like Chthon and Dormammu.
Spell sigils are contracts with such beings; only through a pact can you use their power. It's why Doctor Strange once lost his sorcery after offending the Vishanti and other dimensional patrons.
The Scarlet Witch's chaos magic comes from the Elder God Chthon—she's his chosen vessel in the prime universe.
The Ancient One herself used a ritual from the books to siphon the Dark Dimension, extending her life by centuries. Kaecilius cracked that ritual too, summoning Dormammu's power to amp himself and his zealots.
How much you can borrow depends first on your own magical strength.
Then comes the question: when you borrow power—do you have to give it back?
The Ancient One borrowed from Dormammu to live longer, and Dormammu couldn't touch her.
Kaecilius borrowed from Dormammu, and Dormammu could snuff him out whenever he pleased.
In What If…?, a Strange from another timeline used forbidden methods to absorb powerful entities one after another, fell into darkness, and still managed to stand against an Ultron armed with six Infinity Stones.
If Strange can devour magical beings…
Then why can't I absorb powerful entities the same way?
With Buu's cells, I can just… eat them.
It's simpler than Strange's path.
That's not an exploit—that's down-tier annihilation.
Why should I return power to the gods—if I earned it?
(End of Chapter)
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