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Chapter 81: The Masters' Assessment
🕑 Added 2025-09-14 04:17:49 +0000 UTCAfter spending what felt like an eternity in meditation, Jay thought he'd finally gotten the hang of it. The fractured reality of the Mirror Dimension had become almost familiar, its impossible architecture no longer making his head spin quite as much. He'd settled into what he believed was proper meditative posture, eyes closed, breathing steady, mind focused on... well, that was still the tricky part.
The sound of approaching footsteps on crystallized space announced the Ancient One's return. Jay kept his eyes closed, determined to show her he'd made progress.
THWACK!
The rolled-up newspaper connected with the back of his head with practiced precision.
"Ow!" Jay's eyes snapped open, one hand flying to rub the spot where she'd struck. "Now what did I do?"
The Ancient One stood before him, newspaper still in hand, wearing an expression of patient exasperation that teachers throughout history would recognize. "To be in true meditation means to separate yourself from the physical world, yes. But your body must also find peace." She gestured toward his legs. "You may believe you are meditating, but your legs have been trembling for the past hour."
Jay looked down and realized she was right. Despite his best efforts to remain still, his legs were jittering with restless energy, as if his body refused to accept the concept of stillness.
He exhaled in frustration, running a hand through his hair. "I've always been on the move, you know? Always planning three steps ahead, creating backup plans for my backup plans. Even before I came to this world, I worked in a hospital where you literally can't get rest to save your life. You're moving from one patient to another, going from one emergency to the next. I don't think I know how to just... stop."
For a moment, the Ancient One's stern expression softened. She knelt beside him and gently patted his head. "You are no longer in those circumstances, child. Remember why you came here... to learn, to improve yourself. And you cannot do either if you insist on dragging your past burdens with you."
Jay nodded, taking a deep breath and preparing to return to his meditation position.
SMACK!
Another newspaper strike, this one to his forehead.
“Ow!” Jay's eyes snapped open, one hand flying to rub the spot where she'd struck. His thoughts scrambled. ‘Now what did I do wrong this time?’
"I am not finished yet," the Ancient One said calmly, as if she hadn't just assaulted him. "Several masters and I have developed a comprehensive training plan for you. But first, there are rules we must establish."
She fixed him with a look that could have frozen the Darklords themselves.
"Your darkforce abilities must remain completely secret while you are here. You are not to use them anywhere on these grounds, lest the more... traditional masters attempt to try you as a dark practitioner. The politics of mystical education can be quite unforgiving."
Jay nodded quickly. That made perfect sense, and honestly, he was already planning to seek out any Lightforce users he could find to complete that particular power set. He had big plans for their fusion.
"As for your technomorphing capabilities," the Ancient One continued, "we cannot provide adequate training in that area. The most prominent practitioners of technomancy are not currently on this planet."
The casual reminder that aliens also practiced mystical arts still caught Jay off guard. The scope of the Marvel universe never stopped expanding in his mind.
"However, for your other abilities, we will need to conduct physical assessments to properly gauge your capabilities and limitations. Shall we proceed to the training hall?"
Jay stood, stretching muscles that had been locked in meditation position for far too long. "Finally! Are we getting out of the Mirror Dimension?"
The Ancient One chuckled, a sound like wind chimes in a gentle breeze. "Oh, we are still very much in the Mirror Dimension. However, I have merged two separate sections together. There are other masters waiting for us."
Jay cursed internally. How the hell were sorcerers not done justice in the movies? The sheer scope of what they could accomplish was staggering.
As they walked through corridors that bent at angles that shouldn't exist, Jay could sense other presences ahead. The training hall, when they reached it, was exactly like the normal one but somehow larger, with space that folded in on itself to accommodate whatever they might need.
Four figures waited for them in the center of the hall.
Master Mordo stood with his usual rigid posture, arms crossed, wearing an expression that suggested he was finally accepting Jay. Wong, the keeper of Kamar-Taj's library, observed with quiet intelligence, his hands clasped behind his back. Master Hamir, renowned throughout the monastery for his defensive techniques, studied Jay with the calculating gaze of someone assessing a puzzle.
And then there was Kaecilius.
The tall, intense sorcerer with the sharp cheekbones and calculating eyes was someone Jay recognized from his knowledge of future events. Seeing him here, still apparently loyal to the Ancient One, was a stark reminder of how early in the timeline they currently were.
The Ancient One stopped before the assembled masters, and they all bowed respectfully. Jay quickly followed suit, offering his own bow.
"Please guide me, Masters," he said formally, doing his best to show the proper respect.
Their reactions varied. Wong nodded approvingly at his manners. Mordo's expression remained skeptical. Hamir smiled kindly. Kaecilius studied him with undisguised curiosity, as if Jay were a particularly interesting specimen.
"You have all observed Jay use his molecular absorption ability during his sparring match with Master Mordo," the Ancient One announced. "Now we need to properly assess his other capabilities so we can finalize his training regimen."
She turned to Master Hamir. "Master Hamir, as our most accomplished defensive practitioner, please use your non-mandala-based shields to test the limits of his offensive capabilities."
Hamir stepped forward, his weathered face calm but alert. "Of course, Ancient One. Jay, please select a weapon."
Jay moved to the weapons rack, his enhanced senses automatically cataloging the options. Practice swords, staffs, various martial arts weapons... his hand settled on a practice katana. The balance felt right, the weight familiar from his use of Murasama.
"This will do," he said, drawing the blade and feeling its edge. Dull, as expected for a training weapon, but that wouldn't matter for what he had in mind.
Jay closed his eyes and reached for the Silver Samurai's power, feeling the familiar tingle as tachyon energy began to gather around the blade. When he opened his eyes, the practice katana was wreathed in a field of barely visible silver distortion that made the air itself seem to shimmer.
Master Hamir's eyes widened slightly, his mystical senses clearly picking up the dangerous energy signature. Without hesitation, he began weaving complex gestures, and thick barriers of stone erupted from the floor between them.
"Impressive, they can even put earth benders to shame," Jay murmured, then stepped forward and made a single, casual slash.
The sound was like silk being cut by the sharpest possible blade. The stone barriers, each several inches thick, separated cleanly along the line of Jay's strike. The cut surfaces were so perfectly smooth they looked polished, gleaming like mirrors in the strange light of the Mirror Dimension.
Master Hamir stared at the effortlessly severed stone, then raised his hands again. This time, multiple layers of barriers appeared, each one reinforced multiple times its original thickness.
Another slash. The barriers fell like wheat before a scythe.
"Fascinating," Hamir muttered, then his expression grew more serious. He pressed his palms to the floor and began chanting in Sanskrit.
The ground rumbled and cracked, and massive stone golems began rising from the fractured floor. Each golem stood nearly ten feet tall, their eyes glowing with arcane energy.
"Now we're talking," Jay said, his adrenaline beginning to spike.
The first golem charged with surprising speed for something made of stone and metal. Jay sidestepped easily, his danger sense having given him plenty of warning, and brought his tachyon-enhanced blade up in a diagonal cut that separated the construct's arm from its body.
The second golem swung a massive fist that could have pulverized a car. Jay ducked under the blow and swept the blade across its legs, the tachyon field slicing through the mystical reinforcement as if it were paper. The golem toppled with a sound like an avalanche.
"Your physical enhancement is remarkable," Wong observed quietly, making notes on a tablet that didn’t match the monk's aesthetic.
The third and fourth golems attacked simultaneously, forcing Jay to rely more heavily on his enhanced reflexes and danger sense. He moved between their strikes like water flowing around stones, his blade finding openings with surgical precision. Each cut was economical, purposeful, and devastatingly effective.
Within minutes, the training hall floor was littered with neatly sectioned pieces of what had once been Master Hamir's most formidable constructs.
"Impressive," Kaecilius said, and there was genuine appreciation in his voice. "But can you handle that?"
Master Hamir had been preparing his most powerful defensive artifact while Jay dealt with the golems. Now he unveiled it- a massive shield gate that rose from the floor like a fortress wall, easily twelve feet high and radiating with so much protective magic that it hurt to look at directly.
"One of my most prized creations," Hamir said with obvious pride. "The barriers woven into its structure have withstood attacks from demons, dark entities, and at least one very angry dragon."
Jay studied the massive shield, his senses providing detailed feedback about the layers upon layers of its structure. This wasn't something he could casually slice through. This required technique.
He closed his eyes and drew upon memories that were from an anime he watched. There was a technique, something he'd seen in anime but that existed as more than mere fiction in this reality.
Jay shifted into a specific stance, one that aligned his body with the flow of tachyon energy around the blade. The katana settled into its sheath with a soft click that seemed to echo through the Mirror Dimension.
The training hall fell completely silent.
Then, in a motion too fast for normal human perception to follow, Jay drew and resheathed the blade in a single flowing movement.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the massive shield gate, Master Hamir's prized artifact, fell apart in three perfectly clean sections. The cuts were so precise that the pieces balanced for a moment before gravity claimed them.
"Hoggoth..." Mordo breathed, his usual composure cracking.
"Extraordinary!" Wong exclaimed, typing frantically on his tablet.
Kaecilius simply stared, his calculating mind clearly reassessing everything he thought he knew about Jay's capabilities.
Master Hamir looked stunned, staring at the remains of his masterwork shield.
And Jay... Jay was cursing intensely.
"Dammit," he muttered, holding up his sheath upside down. The practice katana had been reduced to fine metal powder that was now trickling out of the bottom like sand from an hourglass. "I ruined a perfectly good katana. My Aura points are definitely in the negative now."
The masters stared at him in bewilderment.
"You just casually destroyed one of the most powerful defensive artifacts in Kamar-Taj's arsenal," Wong pointed out, "and you're worried about a practice sword?"
Jay shrugged, a self-deprecating smile tugging at his lips. "Well, when you put it that way, I guess my priorities might be a little skewed."
The Ancient One stepped forward, and something in her expression made everyone fall silent.
"Your attack capabilities, absorption powers, physical enhancement, healing aura, and danger sense are all areas we need to focus on developing," she said, her voice carrying the weight of authority. "Jay, you may return to your quarters and rest. From tomorrow onward, you will rarely have the luxury of leisure time."
The seriousness in her voice was unmistakable. This wasn't a casual training program they were discussing. This was preparation for something significant.
Jay bowed again to the assembled masters. "Thank you for your guidance. I won't waste the opportunity."
As he left the training hall, he could hear the masters beginning to discuss what they'd witnessed, their voices carrying a mix of amazement, concern, and calculation.
Whatever they had planned for him, it was going to push him harder than anything he'd experienced.
Comments
Chaotic Gravestone
I'm catching up and so far this is my favorite chapter good work!!!
Gemaxter
Shields down. Swords down. Aura down. Is there anything else down that I don't know about?
