When I arrived, I opened my eyes to a fairly spacious houseâthanks to the businessman setup. I immediately opened a window to check, and Central Park was visible a few buildings over.
"This is pretty rich. Worth spending the points."
I checked mail, photos, and documents around the house to confirm the setup. My parents died in a traffic accident. My name was Jin, age 20. I'd inherited the house and some assets from my parents.
I also owned a 5-story building nearby, with steady rent coming in. The first floor of that building ran a Japanese game console business.
"Game console business... It's 1998, so... PS1, maybe?"
I immediately took out my phone to check my bank balance. It was a Motorola StarTAC flip phone, not even a smartphone.
"Wow~! Not even a smartphone yet... Did I set the time too far back?"
No choice but to go to a nearby bank and check my balance: about 8 billion won in spare funds.
"Nice to start with plenty of breathing room."
I came to 10 years before Iron Man for funding and tech acquisition, and to learn magic from the 'Ancient One'.
So I looked for the New York Sanctum that Doctor Strange would master in the future.
"I remember it was between 'Central Park' and 'Statue of Liberty'..."
I roughly knew the location of the New York Sanctum but didn't know the address, so I had to wander for a while.
"Getting pizza and sightseeing in New York along the way isn't bad, I guess?"
Wandering around like a tourist, I finally found the New York Sanctum. There was a strange circular window on the building, so I was sure when I got close.
I knocked right away.
Knock knock knock!
A moment later, a man opened the door wearing the shabby robes you see in the movies. Since Kaecilius hadn't betrayed them yet, this was probably the Master of the New York Sanctum before Doctor Strange.
"What brings you here?"
"I need to meet the Ancient One. Send me to Kamar-Taj."
A stranger suddenly asking for the Ancient OneâThe Sanctum Master was flustered for a moment but quickly composed himself and asked me again.
"Why are you looking for the Ancient One?"
"It's a matter of cosmic importance. I must tell the Ancient One."
The Master thought for a bit and said,
"It sounds important, but I can't send an unidentified person to Kamar-Taj, so I'll contact the Ancient One for you."
"Understood."
"Then please come in and wait a moment."
"Yes, understood."
I followed the Master's guidance and sat on a sofa on the first floor of the Sanctum and waited.
After about 30 minutes, a bald woman in yellow magician robes came down from the second floor with the Sanctum Master. She looked exactly like in the movies, so I recognized her immediately.
"The Ancient One came in person."
"You... who are you? In the futures I know, you don't exist. This should be impossible."
"It's natural. I'm from another universe."
The Ancient One was surprised and asked again.
"Not a multiverse, but another universe?"
Since the future wouldn't show me, she probably assumed I was from another multiverse.
"Yes, since I'm here, the future has already changed."
"I see... So what brings you here?"
As expected of someone who'd experienced so much, the Ancient One understood quickly.
"Do you know how far into the future you've seen?"
"I believe I've seen enough."
"Do you know that half of all life in this universe will disappear?"
This was my guess, but I thought the Ancient One only knew the future up to Doctor Strange defeating Dormammu.
There were several reasons, but the biggest was that when Hulk came to get the Stone in the future, she refused to give the Time Stone, and only after Hulk told her about Doctor Strange's actions did she understand and hand it over.
She probably didn't know about the events of 'Infinity War'.
"No! What reason would cause half to vanish?"
My guess seemed rightâthe Ancient One was flustered.
"Someone is gathering the Infinity Stones. The main stage will be Earth. And it probably can't be stopped."
"Haa... This is unbelievable. Do you have time tomorrow? Can we talk again?"
The Ancient One sighed as she spoke. She seemed to want to check the future with the Time Stone.
"Yes, I'll come again tomorrow."
I left the Sanctum and went to the game console shop I ran, told the manager I might not be around for a while and to take care of the store, then returned home.
The next day I visited the Sanctum again.
"Welcome. We were waiting."
"Yes, hello."
They must've known I'd come at this time. The Ancient One and the Sanctum Master were waiting in advance. I sat on the sofa at her guidance and started talking again.
"It's trueâa crisis where half of humanity vanishes is coming in the future. And 'Jin', you play an important role in it."
"Does that mean we stop it well?"
"I can't tell you that. If I say it, that future might not come."
"Understood. I won't ask anymore."
"Then let's go to Kamar-Taj to learn magic."
She said to go to Kamar-Taj to learn magic without me even mentioning it. She must have seen my intent in the future, meaning future me told her well.
"Please take care of me."
"Rather, I should ask you to take care of us. You'll be doing many things."
And so I went to Kamar-Taj and started learning magic. The Ancient One introduced me to the students as a magician from elsewhere and allowed me to access all the books in Kamar-Taj.
During training I saw familiar faces. Strange's ally 'Wong', and 'Mordo' who would later split off because his ideals didn't match Strange's, and Kaecilius, who would become a villain in Doctor Strange, were all training, but I didn't particularly care.
Ding~!
[(B) Mystic Arts] ability acquired.
With Nano's help, I absorbed all the book knowledge quickly, and with the ability, I applied that knowledge and started acquiring magic at an incredible speed.[Genius]
In just one year, I went from B-rank to S-rank. I didn't just learn magicâI also used future knowledge and Nano's analysis to rapidly grow my fortune through stock investments.
But there was one problem. [Mystic Arts] itself drew power from the multiverse and various dimensions, so the advantage was that it didn't need special power, but conversely, if you couldn't draw power from those places, it was useless. So I started modifying [Mystic Arts] to link with my own mana.
Ding~!
[(S) Mystic Arts] evolves into [(SS) Mana Mystic Arts].
Event
[First Original Ability Created. Reward: 5,000 Points granted]
It took three years to get here.
My newly created [Mana Mystic Arts] used the power of the multiverse, various dimensions, and my own mana, so its power increased tremendously, but it now had the downside of consuming mana. But that was an expected downside, so it didn't matter.
Now there was nothing left to learn here, so I taught newcomers for a while, and before I knew it I got the title 'Master'.
The poor magicians pooled money to throw me a small celebration party. It wasn't grand, but their hearts were grateful.
"Congratulations, Master Jin!"
"Congrats! Jin."
"Thank you."
Kaecilius, who hadn't become a villain yet, congratulated me too, which felt odd, but I enjoyed drinking and talking with the magicians.
After the party ended and I was heading back to my quarters, the Ancient One called me.
"Congratulations on becoming a Master, Jin."
"Thank you, Ancient One."
"Jin, don't stop my death. Then we can't defeat Dormammu."
The Ancient One was drawing power from Dormammu's dimension, the 'Dark Dimension', to live eternally. That's why she was just accepting death in the battle with Dormammu. I didn't have a method right now either. Dormammu was that powerful.
"Understood. But I'll try to find a way."
"No. Just let it flow as it is."
"...Understood."
As someone who sees the future with the Time Stone, her saying that meant there was no other way besides her death no matter how hard I tried.
"Now you don't need to teach people anymore."
"You mean?"
"You're someone who has important things to do. I can't waste your time. Mordo and I can teach, so just visit sometimes."
"Understood."
I was grateful the Ancient One was considerate.
Training magic at Kamar-Taj was fun learning new magic, but there were two things I really disliked. One was the bathroom, and the other was the shower facilities. It was the old-style squat toilet, so it smelled bad and was hard to clean. And for showers, there were no showerheadsâyou had to pour water from buckets. I gave up and used Teleport to go home to use the bathroom and shower. Later I learned many others did the same.
'Since I made a lot of money this time, should I support Kamar-Taj with modern toilets and shower facilities as thanks? They won't refuse saying it's tradition, right?'
When I was thinking that, the Ancient One said it at the perfect timing, as if she knew.
"Ah, right! And please support us soon. I have a lot of complaints too."
"Hahaha... I will."
She really was like a ghost. She must've seen the future where I supported them.
Kamar-Taj couldn't bring in workers, so the magicians had to do the construction themselves. So I sent the machines, materials, sturdy modern toilets, sinks, bathtubs, etc., needed for construction. I heard people loved it.
'Wong' contacted me and said some people even cried, so I could tell how inconvenient it had been. For a while, there was a construction boom at Kamar-Taj, and everyone did their best.
After finishing magic training at Kamar-Taj, I honed my swordsmanship and throwing while steadily profiting from stock investments.
I ordered custom-made cards with good elasticity that included metal from Trump's company, and bought large quantities of metal balls from a bearing company. Now I slowly started investing in Tony Stark's company, 'Stark Industries' too.