Marvel: I'm a Symbiote-Symbiote 0333: Study Time (2/3)

(A/N: It bothers me that this chapter couldn’t be Study Time (3/3) …)

…

Doctor Strange taught Laura and Peter some more theories as they hiked through the mountains and reached the outskirts of civilization, as depicted by the complete disappearance of any traces of people having been there. As they continued walking through the forest, the sound of flowing water entered their ears, filling everyone with a sense of calm and relaxation.

“Is that river our destination?”

“Regrettably, yes. But that’s the best thing we can find for the time being.” Doctor Strange seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the location as he approached the source of that sound, with Laura and Peter following close behind.

Their destination looked like the purest, untouched paradise of nature, completely untainted by any human presence. There was a faint aura in the place that downright made Laura want to leave and not disturb the tranquility of the scenery.

“This is regrettable?” Peter seemed to share Laura’s thoughts, going by his question. “I don’t think a paradise better than this can exist so close to the city. We were walking for less than half an hour.”

“If you have the ability to track the ley lines and locate their hotspots, then such a location is easy to find. This is regrettable because what we have at Kamar Taj is a hundred times more efficient at enhancing Ecocentric Magic.”

“It’s also built upon a potent intersection of ley lines throughout the Himalayas,” Laura pointed out.

Strange moved on and got closer to the clear stream of water. “Come here and observe my actions,” he said, extending his palm in the direction of the river. A thin golden string with hints of blue was released from his palm and entered the water. Suddenly, the water seemed to gain some kind of life as its serene flow was disrupted, suddenly getting errant as some sections of the water moved faster than others, forming multiple tiny whirlpools in the middle of the flowing water. “Sense it with your spirits. I am using my spiritual energy as the medium to command the water to act in a certain manner.” As he spoke, he released a much more potent amount of spiritual energy from his palm that submerged into the water, immediately stabilizing the dissonance while maintaining the whirlpools.

“Laura, what did I just do?” Doctor Strange suddenly quizzed Laura and pulled his palm back, cutting off the flow of his spiritual energy into the water.

“You used your spiritual energy to control water?” She asked.

“What changed?” He emphasized. “Between me using a minimal amount of energy and increasing it.”

“Your control …” She said. “You used your spiritual energy to do the same thing with marginally greater control.”

“What I did first was to take control of the river’s natural energy to form those whirlpools, performing Arcanum Eco. To gain absolute control over those whirlpools, I infused a greater amount of my spiritual energy into it and took over it directly, performing Arcanum Ego.” He clarified. “Peter, which is better?”

“… It depends on the situation, no?” Peter answered. “When you require precise control, you use Arcanum Ego. When you want to preserve energy and still perform large-scale actions, you use Arcanum Eco.”

“Good,” he nodded. “Now you try.”

“That’s it?” Laura asked with raised brows, noting that Peter wasn’t fazed, and approached the water to follow what Doctor Strange had done.

“That’s it,” Doctor Strange said. “I can give you the theory behind it. You must devise the method by yourself. That is how all magic works. You are given the details of what is to be done. The how of it is up to you. After all, you were the one who said that magic is the process of bypassing the how of something and directly reaching the result.”

“Damn it, this sucks …” Laura suddenly groaned. “I thought you’d give me instructions and the method I should use … Otherwise, I’d just let Apex teach me. He was doing the same thing. That’s the whole reason I asked you to teach me.”

“There are no shortcuts in magic, kid,” Doctor Strange said with an amused laugh. “Only talents. Some people need a mere thought to cast extremely complex magic; others need to spend years training to figure out methods to do the same thing. Like him,” he pointed to Peter, who seemed to already get a handle on things as he formed the same whirlpools in the water as Doctor Strange. “Remember when I told you that sensing natural energy would take hours at the very least? That was for a normal person. A talent would still need a couple of minutes to get the hang of things. And someone like Peter? He only needed to see what was done to repeat it. He told you he’s been training for a week, right? He only applied magic practically yesterday. The rest of it was all theory and foundational information. I daresay, his talents are beyond even me when it comes to the Mystic Arts.”

“Impressive,” Laura looked genuinely impressed.

“You don’t seem disheartened,” Doctor Strange said.

“I’m a hobbyist when it comes to magic,” she responded with a self-assured smile. “I think it’s cool, but my strength lies in a different domain. And I have someone to rely on,” her face took up a momentary, gentle expression as she mentioned Alex.

“Your friend must be something then,” Doctor Strange said. “Reasonable, considering that he is fighting a greater battle against the so-called overlord of this planet. At least from what you’ve told us.”

“He isn’t going to fight her just yet. I told you, I’m just here to probe things and the viability of an attack of such a nature.”

“Why don’t you give it a try? Maybe you’ll surprise yourself,” Doctor Strange decided to move on. “When we get back, I will give you and Peter a lesson on Arcanum Exo, which is much more complex and what makes experienced magicians such fearsome foes across the universe.”

“The universe is filled with terrifying stuff,” Laura said. “I think it’s hubris to think that magic has such a high standing in the universe.”

“It seems that you are not aware of the source of Earth’s magic and the Elder Gods,” Doctor Strange smiled, not bothered by Laura’s words. “Another lesson, maybe. You don’t need to learn everything on the same day.”

Laura gave him a snide look and approached the water close to where Peter was testing things out.

[Alex … Are you free? I want to show this guy who’s boss~]

[You just told him you don’t care about magic …]

[Yeah, well, I don’t like the look on his face and how he keeps calling me a kid.]

[So you want to show him you’re not a kid by childishly cheating and showing him that you can do it better.]

[Please~]

Her mental plea resulted in Alex sighing.

[Fine. But don’t expect me to give you my usual attention. I’m dealing with some important stuff in the Chaos Dimension that needs me to concentrate. At the latest, I’ll be freed up tomorrow, around when those three arrive. It might be earlier, but not by much.]

[Okay … If it’s too much … I’m not that much of a child that I can’t swallow my pride every once in a while.]

[Don’t worry about it. It’s not an extreme crisis just yet. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had the time to respond to you.]

[What are you doing over there?] She asked curiously.

[Battling the real personifications of eldritch horrors straight out of Lovecraft’s stories. As far as I can tell, these guys are probably the real deal behind those stories.]

[Y-you’re battling what?] freewёbnoνel.com

[It’s a complicated situation … I’ll tell you later. For now, let me help.]

Laura felt her hands being guided toward the water as her muscles were compelling her to move in a specific manner. It wasn’t as forceful as Alex’s usual control, which was enough to tell Laura that he was truly distracted. She didn’t resist the guided movements and followed along, mobilizing her spiritual energy as Alex took control of it and released a small amount, close to what Doctor Strange had released.

The moment her bluish spiritual energy made contact with water, Peter exclaimed, “Huh?!” He’d suddenly lost his connection with the water. Instantly, the unstable whirlpools that were forming in the water turned stable, almost as much as when Doctor Strange was using his spiritual energy to manipulate them. Moments later, multiple thin pillars of water shot out of the river, looking like poles of clear water, as suddenly, a faint rainbow started appearing above the river amidst all the tiny droplets of water.

“So that’s why I felt as if those spells were cast by you …” Doctor Strange spoke from the side, closely observing the way Laura’s spiritual energy interacted with the natural energy of the water.

“What?” She asked as if unaware of her cheating. “I just tried it …”

“No need to pretend, kid. The only reason Harkness could snatch my position was because of her uncanny ability to use Chaos and Death energy, which surprised me.” Doctor Strange snorted a laugh. “There is a difference in the frequency of your spiritual energy now compared to when you showed me your barrier. That friend of yours is helping you with this, somehow … Now that’s something I’m genuinely curious about. To be able to control someone else’s spiritual energy so intricately. Such an action is impossible while continuing to allow the host to maintain free will.”

As Doctor Strange’s eyes turned scrutinizing, Laura made an annoyed face, pulling her hands away from the river. “I’m going to chew him out when he’s free …” She mumbled before responding to Doctor Strange. “Yeah, well, he’s special. Let’s just leave it at that. He’s just a little distracted at the moment, which is why you even noticed the slight inconsistency.”

The ex-Sorcerer Supreme simply shook his head at Laura’s antics. They continued training at the river for a few hours, trying to manipulate other aspects of nature like trees, the ground, the air, and more. While Peter was progressing very quickly, Laura tried and only barely kept up with Peter’s progress with some background support from Alex. Once Doctor Strange was satisfied with their training, they left, planning to take a short break for lunch before they reached their temporary residence to learn the theories about Dimensional magic, or Arcanum Exo.