Chapter 310: A Sorcerer's Gotta Keep Up With the Times
I'm Rolling In It: Pfft...the newcomer's THE Ancient One from my own world?! Good lord, isn't that a bit too much of a coincidence? The odds on this feel like a bad joke, honestly, hard to even believe it.
I'm Rolling In It: Statistically speaking, shouldn't this be borderline impossible?
Kaguya-sama: Why would that be impossible, Mr. Stark? Look at Kizaru-ojisan, Whitebeard-ojii-sama, and Sengoku-ojii-sama—all three of them are from the exact same world too, aren't they?
I'm Rolling In It: That's not the same thing at all! The Marvel world's got countless parallel universes—the One Piece world's just the one universe, isn't it?
Kaguya-sama: Are you forgetting the One Piece world has a mountain of fan-works too? And yet all three who joined were from the original canon world specifically.
Kaguya-sama: Long-shot odds like that already happened once—your situation's honestly small potatoes by comparison.
I'm Rolling In It: ...huh, genuinely got nothing to say to that, Uncle Tony's speechless!
The Ancient One: Stark? "Uncle Tony"?...Tony Stark? The Iron Man?
I'm Rolling In It: Eh? The Ancient One knows who I am too? Guess Uncle Tony's reputation really has gotten this far-reaching, huh!
The Ancient One: Only because I happened to catch it on television, that's all.
Crazy Diamond: Even a heavyweight Sorcerer Supreme watches TV?
The Ancient One: Gotta keep up with the times, after all...lately I've actually been debating whether to roll out full 5G coverage across Kamar-Taj. Also weighing whether to install a big screen somewhere, maybe run the evening news on it daily.
Street-Corner Illustrator: 5G?! Terrifying...I've only got 4G signal where I live.
Eternally Seventeen: A sorcerer bold enough to keep up with the times is a truly great one. All those stuck-in-their-ways old fogeys are just going to get left behind by history, one by one.
RawrSoFierce: First time I've ever seen you, of all people, engage this seriously and properly in the chat group.
RawrSoFierce: Genuinely rare sight. Did the sun rise in the west today or something?
Eternally Seventeen: HEY! When have I EVER not been proper? Hmph...there isn't a single soul in this entire chat more dignified and refined than this humble self. I am a youkai sage of impeccable grace and virtue.
RawrSoFierce: Pfft...if I didn't know you as well as I do, I might've actually bought that nonsense. "Impeccable grace," my ass—"shameless" is more like it.
Eternally Seventeen: o(#￣▽￣)o))￣0￣「)」
RawrSoFierce: pia!(‵-′)ノ」(ノ﹏.)」
[...]
With the Ancient One joining, the whole chat group's energy shot right up—if the group used to hit its 99+ notification cap in three minutes flat, now it was doing it in a matter of seconds.
Having the newcomer turn out to be a fellow countryman of an existing member, and someone most of the group had already crossed paths with in person, was more than enough kindling to set today's conversation ablaze.
Meanwhile, back in the Marvel world, at Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One sat with a faintly thoughtful expression, murmuring to herself, "Tony Stark, hm...so he's a member of this Dimensional Chat Group too? No wonder I saw him mixed in with that group during the whole Mjolnir incident. That explains it."
"Never expected something as remarkable as this Dimensional Chat Group to exist. No idea who actually created it—could it have been the group's Admin? RawrSoFierce?...In modern slang, that handle sounds a bit girlish. Is the Admin female, perhaps?"
The Ancient One held no particular resistance to the chat group's existence. After all, something like this already existed in the world regardless of her opinion, and since it bore no ill will toward either Earth or herself, there was no real reason to reject it outright.
Besides, the Ancient One was neither unreasonable nor the type to reflexively reject new, unfamiliar things.
Having read through the entirety of the group announcement, she had a fairly clear picture of just how much benefit the chat group could offer her, and understood the sheer power behind its various features.
Touching the pendant holding the Time Stone, she continued murmuring to herself, "The Time Stone genuinely couldn't glimpse this Dimensional Chat Group anywhere along the timestream of the future? First time I've ever run into something like this. Does that mean the chat group's power actually exceeds the Time Stone's own reach?"
"Never encountered a situation like this before. Clearly, I shouldn't be judging the Dimensional Chat Group's existence through the lens of my own world's current understanding—I need an entirely different frame of reference for it. Which brings me back around to the real question: is the Admin genuinely female?"
...
If Ryū had any idea the Ancient One was currently deep in speculation over whether he was male or female, he probably would've choked on his own blood.
Hadn't they already met face-to-face back in the Marvel world? He was clearly a man!
So what exactly had led the Ancient One down this particular rabbit hole?
Or maybe, back during that encounter in the Marvel world, the Ancient One hadn't actually realized Ryū was the chat group's Admin at all?
That was entirely possible, honestly—the chat group didn't exactly have just one person running things. Someone like Yukari, a Moderator, could just as reasonably be mistaken for one of the group's "leaders" too.
The Ancient One quickly set the odd thought aside, no longer dwelling on whether the group's Admin was male or female—something she'd figure out naturally enough the longer she stuck around the chat. No point burning mental energy on it now.
Focusing her attention on the upper-right corner, she mentally clicked on it.
A brand new interface immediately materialized in her mind.
The interface offered a wide range of feature options: Group Files, Group Sign-In, Group Photo Album, Personal Center, Notification Settings, Group Members...and more.
After a moment's hesitation, the Ancient One clicked into Group Files.
"Complete Guide to Armament Haki? Complete Guide to Observation Haki? Complete Guide to Life Return? Complete Two-Sword Style Guide? Complete One-Sword Style Guide? Basic Elemental Magic, Fully Explained? 10,000 Apprentice-Level Common Spells? 5,000 Elite Mage-Tier Spells? Complete Compendium of Dragon Magic Basics? Complete Compendium of Forbidden Dragon Elemental Spells?"
"A Complete Compendium of Gensokyo's Dark Magic? An Introductory Guide to Necromancy? 2,500 Curses Capable of Killing a Person? A Complete Guide to the Six Powers? A Complete Guide to Basic Navy Physical Training? A Complete Guide to Kicking Techniques? Kamehameha? Thunderclap Fist? Ki? Drunken Fist? A Complete Compendium of Dragon-Type Defensive Magic? Afterimage Fist?"
One bizarre file title after another scrolled past, leaving even the Ancient One a little overwhelmed trying to take it all in.
These were presumably all uploaded by various members of the chat group?
Nodding thoughtfully to herself, she clicked into a file titled Basic Elemental Magic, Fully Explained—uploaded, as it turned out, by Yukari herself.
Naturally, the file contained thousands of years' worth of Yukari's own accumulated magical knowledge.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you