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Chapter 132: Deception and Betrayal
🕑 Added 2025-04-23 14:13:17 +0000 UTCTime always flies, especially under the high-pressure training regimen of Master Ancient One. Noah had finally experienced what could only be described as hellish trials.
To be honest, he found himself silently complaining about his teacher every night.
Every day, the Ancient One would drain the last bit of his magic reserves, leaving him dizzy, heavy-headed, and mentally exhausted. It wasn’t just physical exhaustion, his very spirit felt like it had been wrung dry.
But there was no way around it. Even when Ms. Haifin expressed her dissatisfaction and confronted the Ancient One, an event that scared Noah half to death, she returned without saying a word about it again. It was as if she had been completely convinced, or perhaps defeated, by the Ancient One’s reasoning.
After that, not only did she take even better care of Noah’s daily needs, but she also followed the Ancient One’s strict training regimen. She didn’t allow Noah even the slightest opportunity to slack off.
Noah wanted to cry but had no tears left. If not for the system reporting his magic progress every day, he would’ve probably faked a sick day just to breathe.
“Doctor Strange didn’t have to go through this torture at the start, so why me?!”
Unfortunately, complaining was futile. Noah could only grit his teeth and endure.
This bittersweet pain gradually became something Noah adapted to, but the irony was, just when he got used to life at Kamar-Taj, he learned it was almost time to leave.
Unbelievably, nearly two months had passed since he arrived.
In those two months, Noah felt as though he had trained for an entire year at Hogwarts. The improvement he made in this short time was something he likely couldn’t have achieved in two years back at school.
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Name: Noah Finniel
Age: 13
Mage Order: Order 4, Rank 0
Yes, in just two months, Noah had somehow advanced to Order 4!
Back at Hogwarts, it had taken him an entire year to go from Order 3, Rank 0 to Order 3, Rank 5. But here? In only two months, he blasted through to Order 4!
Even more shockingly, under the Ancient One’s hellish training pressure, Noah had grown extremely adept at using this new power.
It felt just like the initial reward the system had given him, the raw magic essence extracted from the Spear of Longinus. That power had instantly become a part of Noah, needing no time to tame or master.
This time, too, the moment he reached Order 4, he found he could wield it like second nature.
The realization stunned him, but it also made perfect sense.
After all that torment, if he hadn’t at least achieved this much, Noah might’ve actually broken down.
But now? It felt worth it.
"Whatever, it’s done. Later, when Kate and the others come here, I’ll make sure they get the same treatment!" Noah thought, slightly maniacally. The thought made him grin in a way that made Wong, who was sitting next to him, subconsciously shrink back a little.
Wong, still young at this point, looked just slightly older than Noah.
“Noah, what are you smiling about?” he asked.
“Ah? Nothing. Just thinking about how fast time flew… and how I have to leave again soon.”
“Really?”
Wong rubbed his bald head, clearly unconvinced.
He suspected that Noah might actually be eager to leave.
After all, Wong had seen the brutal intensity of Noah’s training. He and Mordo once made bets on how long Noah would last, Wong guessed a week, Mordo guessed a month.
Both were wrong. Noah kept going until it was finally time for him to return to class.
To be honest, even the long-term Kamar-Taj magi couldn’t help but admire him.
It wasn’t just Noah’s willpower, although that was definitely impressive. Every student brought in by the Ancient One had strong willpower.
But it was Noah’s magical growth that astonished them. Magic level was a core metric for comparing magicians, and Noah, despite being so young, already matched or surpassed many of them.
They often attributed it to his bloodline, what else could explain such insane talent?
Of course, this was also because neither the Ancient One nor Noah had disclosed the meditation method yet. They had no idea there was a systematic way to increase magic power so efficiently.
Noah didn’t mind sharing it, since he’d already proposed the idea. But the Ancient One had reservations.
In her view, Noah had yet to fully mature. Revealing such a powerful method too early would draw dangerous attention. Hogwarts wouldn’t be able to protect him from all the magicians who might come prying.
Even if Noah could summon the Ancient One in an emergency, it would be too late once the attack began.
So she made a decision, to announce the meditation method at the upcoming Kamar-Taj Magic Awards, stating it would only be taught within Kamar-Taj.
By then, Noah would already be back in the sanctuary of Kamar-Taj. Anyone wanting to act against him would have no opportunity.
The title of Earth’s Guardian and Sorcerer Supreme wasn’t just for show. Without the Ancient One’s presence, countless beings from across the multiverse would have already descended upon Earth.
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“Yeah, honestly? Once I got used to it, this place grew on me,” Noah said as he stretched under the shade of a tree.
“By the way,” Wong asked, suddenly remembering something, “I heard you came up with the Kamar-Taj Magic Awards, the ranking system, and even the idea for Kamar-Taj University?”
“Uh… yeah? Why?”
“I saw the rankings. So it was your idea?!” A voice chimed in from behind them.
Noah turned slightly, not even bothering to sit up fully. “Mordo? Hey.”
“I checked the list. Noah, are you sure your rating system is accurate? Why the hell am I only Order 5?!”
“Is that strange? Wong is only Order 4.”
“But YOU are Order 4! You were Order 3 a few days ago, how did you jump a whole Rank already?!”
“Because I worked hard?” Noah replied lazily. “And besides, the rating system was vetted by Master Ancient One herself. Do you really think we’d post false rankings? That’s suicidal.”
“…Right, sorry.”
Mordo scratched his head awkwardly. He knew how dangerous misleading rankings could be. If someone overestimated themselves based on a false tier and got into a duel, it could cost them their life.
Mordo knew the Ancient One wouldn’t joke around like that, and Noah clearly wasn’t bluffing either, his growth was obvious to everyone.
Still, it bugged him that his score felt... low.
“Don’t worry about it, Mordo. Order 5 isn’t low. At Hogwarts, our strongest professor is Order 5 too, though he’s probably stronger than you. He’s over a hundred years old. How old are you again?”
“Alright, I get it!” Mordo grumbled. “Still a bit annoyed, though. I’m going to spar with Kaecilius later. He’s listed as Order 5 too.”
Noah rolled his eyes at Mordo’s competitive energy.
To be honest, Mordo’s path to becoming a villain had always felt like a tragic misunderstanding.
He was too rigid, too dogmatic. He obeyed the Ancient One religiously and refused to even consider the dark arts. So when he learned that she had used them, he saw it as betrayal.
And when Strange used the Time Stone in their final battle, breaking one of their fundamental taboos, Mordo lost all faith in the order and left.
Noah even remembered how, in the aftermath, Mordo went around removing magic from those he deemed “unworthy,” including a once-paralyzed man who had used magic to walk again.
He truly believed the world had betrayed him.
But Noah still believed Mordo had a shot at redemption.
As for Kaecilius? That man was a walking tragedy.
In the comics, Noah had read his backstory, Kaecilius lost his wife during a stroll, and his son had already died years before. That kind of pain broke him.
He eventually met the Ancient One and became a magician. But all he ever truly wanted was to see his family again.
When he discovered that the Ancient One refused to explore resurrection magic, Kaecilius saw it as another betrayal.
He delved into forbidden texts and uncovered the existence of Dormammu, recruiting others into his cause.
The movie started from that point, after he had already snapped and killed the previous Kamar-Taj librarian.
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“Two people who think they were betrayed by the Ancient One… and they’re sparring partners now? That’s pretty ironic,” Noah muttered, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
“Looks like Kamar-Taj’s future is going to be even more interesting than I thought…”
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Comments
Bonk_There_It_Is
Those two villains' motivations on film always felt a little bit weak - especially Mordo. Mordo's inflexibility was stupid due to the very fact Yao ( The Ancient One) from the get-go always preached about opening one's mind to endless possibilities - and that includes sacrifice. All Yao had to do was sit Mordo's ass down and explain to him that she took some of Dormamu's powers to "maybe" help KEEP him in check. As for the Time Stone, it's supposedly a "natural order" artifact.
