In the familiar quiet of his upstairs study, Eric’s suspicion was confirmed the moment he stepped inside.
Sitting comfortably in the corner armchair, casually flipping through one of his old paperbacks from the small shelf, was a bald woman dressed in flowing yellow robes.
The Ancient One.
She looked perfectly at ease, like she’d been invited over for tea instead of breaking into a teenager’s house through a mystic portal.
The second she sensed his presence, she calmly closed the book and slid it back into its exact spot on the shelf with precise care.
Then she turned her gaze toward him, offering a small, knowing smile that carried centuries of wisdom and just a hint of curiosity.
Before Eric could even open his mouth to say something witty, the world around them began to crack like a shattered mirror.
Fractures of glowing light spiderwebbed through the air, distorting the very fabric of reality as the Mirror Dimension started to take hold.
However, before the Ancient One could fully comprehend what was happening, a shadow loomed large.
Igris, the towering knight clad in dark armor, reached out with his gauntleted hand.
The extension into the fragmented void was effortless, directly grabbing the space like a paper.
What should have been an expanding pocket of mirrored reality halted instantly.
The fractures froze mid-spread, then dissolved completely as waves of pure shadow energy swallowed them whole, erasing the spell as it had never been cast.
Igris had taken action the moment the shift began.
A brief moment of emptiness followed—silent, heavy, absolute.
Then everything snapped back to normal.
The study looked unchanged: same cluttered desk, same posters on the walls, same faint smell of old books and teenage neglect.
But the Ancient One immediately realized the deeper truth.
Everything had changed.
She was no longer in the material universe.
Nor was she in her controlled Mirror Dimension.
She was in his domain now.
A unique pocket of reality unlike anything she had encountered in her long existence.
Her sharp gaze shifted to the armored shadow standing protectively in front of Eric.
Igris, one of the oldest and most reliable soldiers in the army, a master of energy manipulation who had once followed Ashborn himself.
That was exactly why Eric had chosen him for this.
If Eric had entered alone, he might have needed to brute-force his way through the dimensional trick with overwhelming power.
With Igris, the counter had been clean, surgical, and conflict-free, pulling her seamlessly into this shadow realm without breaking a sweat.
It could be said that Igris manipulated the shadow realm even more effectively than Eric himself could—for now, at least.
After all, Eric had only gained full access to Ashborn’s complete power a couple of months ago.
Mastering it effortlessly would take time.
The Ancient One stood there, outwardly composed but inwardly registering the overwhelming difference in power.
This wasn’t a battle, though.
Not yet.
It felt more like a test—a subtle contest of dominance wrapped in conversation.
She raised both hands in a clear gesture of surrender.
Seeing this, Igris, who had been reaching for the hilt of his sword, paused and glanced back at Eric for direction.
Observing his king’s calm expression, the knight stepped back respectfully, refraining from further action.
Neither side escalated.
Good.
The Ancient One had come to talk, after all.
Eric was from Earth, and as far as she could tell, he hadn’t done anything overtly wrong yet.
“So, who are you?” Eric asked, his voice calm and steady, carrying neither hostility nor excessive curiosity.
He already knew exactly who she was, of course, but there was no reason to tip his hand.
More importantly, he wanted to see how much she was willing to reveal on her own.
The Ancient One was taken aback for a split second.
She had expected something different.
Most beings who suddenly gained control over dimensional energies—especially newly empowered ones—tended to fall into predictable patterns.
Some attacked immediately, drunk on their inflated confidence.
Others cowered once they realized how hopelessly outmatched they were.
A few tried clumsy negotiations, assuming they stood on equal footing without understanding the gap.
After losing the dimensional struggle so cleanly, she had half-expected to be treated as a lesser being.
But this young man… his unwavering calmness was beyond her expectations.
This wasn’t the reaction of someone who had stumbled upon great power by pure accident.
Nor was it the arrogance of a mortal suddenly playing god.
No.
This was the demeanor of someone who had fought hard for every ounce of strength he now wielded.
Someone who had left blind arrogance behind long ago.
Fascinating.
She studied him carefully.
He observed her right back with equal scrutiny.
There were generally two ways for a being to become what some mystics called a “Dimensional Demon”—an entity capable of bending space and time at will.
The first was inheritance: born with it or granted through bloodline or the deliberate will of a higher power.
Those beings usually had control from the start.
The second was the wild card—stumbling upon an ownerless dimension and claiming it by force or luck.
Those individuals were often unstable, their power erratic and dangerous.
At first, she had assumed Eric fell into the second category: a reckless mortal who had stolen something he couldn’t fully comprehend.
But after watching him, after feeling the subtle, controlled waves of energy radiating from his core, she knew she had been wrong.
This one was trained.
His power wasn’t something he had clumsily grabbed.
It had been given—bestowed by someone who had carefully prepared him to wield it.
Another detail stood out: his power was still growing.
Even now, as they faced each other, she could sense it.
Waves of pure energy pulsed from deep within him, subtle yet undeniable, like an ever-expanding universe constantly adapting and releasing excess force at measured intervals.
That was concerning.
If he had already reached this level and was still evolving, then his full potential was something even she couldn’t begin to imagine.
Eric walked forward casually and took a seat directly in front of her, completely at ease.
Behind him, Igris remained motionless, his towering armored figure radiating an undeniable, protective presence that filled the room like a silent promise.
The Ancient One stayed quiet, her neutral expression never wavering.
She was testing him—deliberately stalling to gauge his temperament and patience.
If this had been Eric before his year in the Solo Leveling world, he probably would’ve attacked out of impatience by now.
But he was different these days.
He simply waited, unbothered, arms resting casually on the chair with relaxed yet firm posture.
The Ancient One studied his face carefully.
He had been forged through countless life-or-death battles, tempered into someone who didn’t act recklessly.
A true rarity among those carrying his level of strength.
Good.
Finally, she spoke.
“Some time ago, I sensed… a disturbance.” She lifted one hand, tracing a few intricate mystic patterns in the air for emphasis.
“A foreign presence entered Earth at unimaginable speed.
It ignored every barrier I had set in place… as though those barriers did not even exist.”
She gave him a pointed look.
“That presence was you, wasn’t it?”
Eric smirked but said nothing, letting her continue.
“As the self-proclaimed protector of this world, I naturally investigated.”
At the words “self-proclaimed protector,” Eric’s mind immediately flashed to another bald guy—Nick Fury.
The knock-off Batman of the Marvel universe.
A competent enemy was far less dangerous than an incompetent ally, and Fury was definitely the latter.
A fool who overestimated his reach.
Just like Batman, he wanted to control everything around him.
But unlike the Dark Knight, who could actually back up his paranoia with skill and intellect, Fury lacked both.
The ambition of a hero without the capability to support it.
Even now, Hydra was probably roaming free right under his nose, maybe even bringing him coffee every morning.
The thought almost made Eric laugh out loud.
He couldn’t hold it back completely.
A small chuckle escaped his lips.
The Ancient One noticed the smile but didn’t seem to mind.
There were more important matters at hand.
“Anyway,” she continued, “when I used the Time Stone to look into your arrival…”
She leaned forward, her expression growing more serious.
“I saw nothing.”
Eric’s smirk faded slightly.
The Time Stone could peer into past, present, and future.
There were only two real reasons why it would fail to see something: either the individual possessed time-related powers that blocked its sight, or they were simply beyond its reach—stronger than the artifact itself.
Judging from her tone, she had already confirmed it was the second option.
Eric leaned back in his chair, resting one hand on the armrest.
“So what now?”
The Ancient One tilted her head slightly, a knowing smile playing on her lips.
“That depends on you.
I just want to know your purpose.”
Eric chuckled softly.
The room fell into a thoughtful silence for a long moment.
Then, finally—
He answered.