Ch.45 New York Sanctum, Destroyed for the Second Time

Actually, whether Hydra had literally gone underground or figuratively infiltrated everywhere, Ronan didn't really care.

After all, these were issues related to this world.

In his own world, these events hadn't happened yet.

That meant Ronan had the chance to resolve them.

Taking out Hydra foot soldiers might not give much experience, but if he could destroy a machine capable of predicting the future—no, more accurately, an artificial intelligence capable of it—how much experience could that bring?

Thinking about it, Ronan's eyes lit up.

Although he had missed the opportunity to gain experience from Thanos, he had now discovered a new, enormous prize.

If he let this big prize continue to grow for a bit longer, could he get even more experience?

At that moment, Ronan felt like he had stumbled upon a new world.

"I get it now. Your world's timeline is still early, right?" Strange said, seemingly understanding Ronan's intentions. "You're trying to prepare for future events that might arise."

Ronan nodded. His timeline was much earlier than theirs, so it made sense to take precautions.

"Yeah, exactly," Ronan replied, nodding. He had been thinking about how to come up with a convincing reason for Strange, but Strange had already figured it out on his own.

It just goes to show that sorcerers think differently from everyone else.

"Well, then it's all up to you," Strange said, shrugging as he regained his composure. "I'm sure your world has plenty of superheroes, right?"

Ronan smirked and shrugged back. Of course, there would be others to take care of it.

"I just don't want to end up sitting in school one day, labeled a threat, and have a missile level my school," Ronan said, rolling his eyes. He still wanted to enjoy a few quiet years as a student.

Strange, who was sipping his hot cocoa, suddenly choked. He wasn't sure if it was from being startled or drinking too fast.

"You're still in school?" Strange asked, swallowing hard as he avoided spilling the hot cocoa.

Ronan glanced at him dismissively.

"What's with that look? Never seen a sixteen-year-old Sorcerer Supreme candidate?" Ronan said smugly. "I'm sixteen, in high school. You ever hear of a student by day, sorcerer by night?"

Strange's face twitched as Ronan spoke, making him look odd. Maybe Ronan had watched too much AI-generated content in his previous life, but something about Strange's face didn't seem to fit.

"Oh, by the way, do you know someone named Sherlock Holmes?" Ronan asked. "Sherlock Holmes?"

Given Strange's face, it was hard not to make the connection.

Strange frowned, clearly confused.

"Sherlock Holmes? The character from the novels?" he asked.

"Does he have a problem too? Or is it his author?" Strange was immediately suspicious.

Ronan laughed and shook his head. "No, nothing like that. I just think your face fits Sherlock Holmes perfectly. Especially your personality," Ronan said with a smirk. If his system involved making movies, Strange would definitely get cast as Sherlock Holmes.

Strange's face darkened, and he knocked on the glass-like wall of the Mirror Dimension, clearly annoyed.

He had read the Sherlock Holmes novels, so he knew exactly what kind of personality the detective had.

Standing up, Strange decided he'd had enough of this pointless conversation and turned to get more hot cocoa.

Bang!

Just as Strange stood up and headed toward the cocoa, he walked straight into the wall.

The sound of his forehead smacking against the glass echoed through the Mirror Dimension.

Ronan stared at Strange in disbelief, as if to say, "Are you serious? You had a wall and you still ran into it?"

"What is this?" Strange asked, rubbing his forehead, his voice muffled by the impact.

The mixture of disbelief and embarrassment on Strange's face almost made Ronan burst out laughing.

"That's the wall of the Mirror Dimension. Surely the Ancient One told you about it?" Ronan asked, struggling to contain his laughter.

Strange's actions had been downright hilarious.

"I know it's the Mirror Dimension's wall!" Strange replied, frustrated. "But I thought I dispelled the Mirror Dimension! Why is it still here?"

Strange knew what the Mirror Dimension was, but he didn't understand why it was still active after he had supposedly deactivated it. That was why he had run into it.

"That I don't know," Ronan said with a shrug. "My version of the Mirror Dimension only works the way it does after I had some 'exchanges' with Wong. It's been less than two weeks."

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Wong."

Strange frowned, now even more confused. Had Wong shared some sort of secret technique with Ronan during their "exchanges"?

"Wong wouldn't have shared some secret knowledge with you without telling me, right?" Strange said, shaking his head, still looking bewildered.

The truth was, Ronan's Mirror Dimension was slightly enhanced. While the basic activation and deactivation were the same, it had a bit of an illusionary component to it, causing Strange to believe he had already dispelled it.

"Huh?" Strange looked like he had seen a ghost. He knew Wong had discussed the Mirror Dimension with Ronan, but he hadn't mentioned anything like this!

"Forget it. I'll ask him about it later," Strange said, waving his hand. He was more interested in when Ronan planned to leave.

"After all, having someone from another world stay here too long isn't ideal."

"I'm leaving soon, just waiting for Tony and the others to finish—"

Boom!

Before Ronan could finish, a violent explosion interrupted him.

The previously impenetrable ceiling of the New York Sanctum was blasted open, creating yet another gaping hole.

It was the second time it had been destroyed.