95 CHAPTER 95 - INSIGHT TO ENERGY

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Pietro and Wanda left the wizened old man and Vision alone after he called one of the masters under him to direct them out and show them around where she will be staying for some time.

Left alone in the room, Vision found himself under the scrutiny of the old man in front of him that actually pressured him in a way he didn't understand.

"I've been faced with an enigma concerning your existence for some time now but rather than me whining in my own thoughts, I find that it's better to just ask you and hear it straight from your mouth." He started.

"Who are you Mr. Simons? The evolved ego of an Infinity Stone or the byproduct of another of humans experiments?" He asked.

Faced with such a question, Vision's face showed no emotion as he returned the stare he was being subjected to.

"Who am I?" He asked. "The simple answer would be that I am Vision, but that's probably not what you meant. I guess if you really look at it from all angles, I am indeed the byproduct of a series of coincidences stacked upon each other until it gave a viable reason for my birth."

"Basically, I am who I am. Who I'm not, I will never be."

At Vision's answer, the Ancient One burst into a round of laughter. The look he gave Vision was no longer one of appraisal but one of amusement.

"Quite the profound words there, young man, but you're right. Only you can define your existence." He picked up a tao fan and called out to Vision as he walked away. "Walk with me, Mr. Simons."

Following the Ancient One, they passed through a few courtyards while Vision quietly followed behind until the Ancient One broke the silence.

"What do you think confirms an entity's existence: the mind or the soul?"

Vision was about to answer but paused as he found out those two answers contradicted each other so instead of picking one of either, he thought about it on his own with the aid of his own superior processor.

The Ancient One didn't mind the silence and swished his fan at different intervals as he led Vision into a building with low lighting.

"Figured it out yet?"

The reason why this particular question stomped Vision was because it was directly tied to his existence.

Did he possess a soul or was he just sentient energy?

When he transmigrated into this universe, he wasn't a normal human or even an alien species but instead he found himself being composed of digital codes before being granted a self-serving ego by the Mind Stone.

He seriously pondered on it and decided to go with the answer that resonated with him the most.

"I believe it is sentience of the mind that confirms existence."

"The mind huh? Well, I think it's the soul." He stopped before a huge wooden door and looked at Vision with a facial expression that looked as if he was the only one privy to a particular funny running joke. "But you know what? Both are correct and wrong at the same time."

He didn't give Vision the chance to ask another question and walked into the room after the door opened on its own accord.

The room they entered was a great library with towering shelves of books on every side of the hall-like room. The few students and masters who saw the Ancient One bowed to him in respect as he walked towards a particular section and pulled out two tomes before handing one to Vision.

"You can only read this at specific times and you are not to leave with it."

Vision wanted to ask what he meant earlier but seeing that he wasn't going to expand further on it, he shelved it for future conversation and wanted to ask another question only to find out that the Ancient One had disappeared from the library.

He looked at the door and the book and only took a second before he found a seat to sit on and started reading through the tome.

<Insights to Energy>

The tome was a journal of a wandering mystic over 3000 years ago and contained detailed writings on his understanding of the energy of the universe.

Vision did not scan the whole book out of respect for the Ancient One, neither did he rush through it. He flipped through the thick bindings page by page, taking his time to read every single word, sometimes twice, and before long he felt as if he could clearly visualize the life of Zak Naran as documented in the book.

During his conscious trance, he felt the Mind Stone pulsate but he ignored it for now and focused on his reading.

Unfortunately for him, his time was cut short and so was his trance as the book closed on it and glowed with a faint golden energy.

A little effort from him and he could shatter whatever protective spell was covering the book but that would be blatant disrespect so he picked up the book and kept it back from where the Ancient One took it from.

He didn't bother greeting the librarian who looked to be meditating as he left the library and traced back his steps to the abode of the Ancient One, finding Wanda and Pietro seemingly waiting for him in the courtyard before the Ancient One's house.

"Damn, Vis! This place is hella dope. I would have stayed and tried to figure out this magic thing but I don't think I can right now." Pietro whined as soon as he saw Vision while Wanda had a wry smile on her face as she had been subjected to his whining and random bouts of boredom.

"Are you guys done with whatever you went off to do?" Vision asked, to which Wanda nodded.

"I'll be moving in the next few days. What about you? Did he agree to help you?"

"Yeah. Though I seem to have a time limit imposed on me but that's more than I can ask for at this point." He answered. "Is the Ancient One inside."

They shook their heads and told him that one of the masters said the Ancient One was currently out attending to a few tasks. Seeing that they couldn't see the Ancient One at this time to thank him, Vision decided to go back to their base.

They asked one of the older masters around on how they could leave and he told them to go back through where they came from and that was what they did and surprise surprise! The stairs were magically back in place but none of them commented on it and just walked past the door and left the New York Sanctum.

°°°°°°

"My Lady, we have lost contact with the group tasked with protecting Trask and a survey of the place showed that they were all killed. All of Trask's research were found destroyed too."

A woman draped in all black sensuous royal garb sat on a golden throne and looked at the kneeling servant who was reporting the destruction of the base that that little boy Shaw begged her to secure.

She was a little interested in the potential of the sentinels they were building so she agreed and did Shaw a favor but now not only was the man missing but five of her subjects were found dead too.

"Hmm~. The recent happenings in the Hellfire Club have been rather interesting. Maybe I should consider checking out the new changes and entertain myself while at it."

Each of her words sounded so sensual that both men and women who did not know her would find themselves ensnared in its seductiveness. But the kneeling servant shivered in fright as each of her words hammered into the eardrums.

"Leave."

They scurried away with trembling steps much to the woman's amusement.

Selene Gallio, the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club.

She tapped on the armrest of her throne and a fog of deathly darkness flowed from under her throne and gathered in front of her and formed a mirror with eerie designs, showing a desolate valley with scattered scraps and upturned earth.

"Hmm? Such a unique magical trace. Two? No three attackers. Two of them possess very unique magic signatures while the last one feels almost normal, a mutant probably. Now this is interesting." She licked her lips at the prospect of acquiring two users of unique magic.

Though one felt familiar, she still couldn't remember where she had felt it before.

"It looks like the human world has gotten interesting again."