American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

"Wang!" Lang Rom stepped forward and greeted the sorcerer Wang, his eyes calmly observing Strange before losing interest.

Strange felt a surge of curiosity towards Lang Rom's attitude. In his mind, if Lang Rom knew Wang, he should also know him, or at least the version of himself from this universe. However, Lang Rom displayed a clear sense of detachment and unfamiliarity, which Strange found somewhat abnormal.

"This is Sorcerer Strange," Sorcerer Wang said, pointing to Strange beside him. "I believe you can tell that he comes from the multiverse. As an alternate candidate for the Doctor Strange Corps, he wants to learn about the powers we possess."

"Here?" Lang Rom seemed mentally prepared for this kind of request, or perhaps he had experienced it before. He looked around and asked directly.

"Let's go somewhere else. This place isn't suitable." Sorcerer Wang created a portal, signaling Lang Rom and Strange to follow.

The three of them stepped through the portal and arrived at an empty space, surrounded by biting cold wind and drifting snowflakes. The temperature instantly plummeted. However, this harsh environment posed no real threat to any of them.

"Would you like to experience it?" Sorcerer Wang looked expectantly at the prepared Lang Rom, gesturing to Strange beside him.

"Experience what? Oh, I can." Strange glanced at Lang Rom, who had walked to the opposite side, and instantly understood. He agreed without hesitation, stepping forward to stand directly opposite Lang Rom. Sorcerer Wang retreated a distance, giving the two of them space.

"Come on," Strange said, mentally prepared, inviting Lang Rom. Lang Rom's cold face flickered, and a black vertical slit suddenly appeared between his eyebrows. Under Strange's astonished gaze, the black slit abruptly split open to both sides, and a jet-black eyeball, occupying the entire vertical eye socket, seemed to pop out, instantly capturing all of Strange's attention and focus.

A vast and powerful mental force, along with the appearance of the eyeball, suddenly descended upon this area. Even Strange's mind was instantly trapped in the eyeball's incredibly powerful mental swamp, unable to escape.

He only felt a mental force like a sharp thorn suddenly stabbing into his mind, stirring it violently. His head instantly throbbed with pain, making it difficult to maintain mental calm and tranquility. The impact from his mind also fed back to his body, causing the gathered magic power to instantly erupt and dissipate, and his body went limp, making it difficult to even stand.

A cacophony of chaotic whispers constantly rang in his ears. That mental force, containing the sound of corruption, was forcefully eroding his soul, attempting to twist and corrupt him.

Feeling this somewhat familiar power, the figure of the monster known as the Eye Demon involuntarily flashed through Strange's mind.

Although this sudden impact caught Strange off guard, it was not enough to make him immediately surrender and become a fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others. In a very short time, Strange employed corresponding mental defense magic to apply a layer of protection to his mind, temporarily offsetting the influence.

Lang Rom was also well aware that this was just a friendly exchange, so he did not attack during Strange's moment of distraction, but simply stood in place, quietly waiting for Strange to recover.

"How was it?"

Seeing Strange break free from Lang Rom's mental influence, Sorcerer Wang stepped forward, waved his hand to Lang Rom to signal the end of the exchange, and proactively asked Strange.

"Very strange. Is that the power of an Eye Demon? How did you manage to seal the power of a demon god into a human body and still allow him to maintain his sanity, without succumbing to madness?" Strange rubbed his head, cautiously glanced at Lang Rom, whose eyeball had been pushed back in, his eye socket returning to a black vertical slit, and then disappearing between his eyebrows, unable to suppress his inner curiosity as he pressed for answers.

This phenomenon once again challenged Strange's worldview. He could sense from Lang Rom that he was not a sorcerer, but a strengthened human similar to Captain America, whose physical strength perhaps exceeded that of normal humans. However, in any case, it should be difficult for him to resist the erosion and influence of that high-dimensional power.

Even Kamar-Taj sorcerers, who were skilled at borrowing power, wouldn't dare to play with such unrestrained methods. Because it would be easy for the owner of the power to follow the trail and come to collect the debt. After all, any demon god harbored greed and malice towards any life that dared to borrow their power. Even their fanatical followers!

And Lang Rom was clearly not a fanatical follower of the Eye Demon. He seemed to retain his sanity, and neither his soul nor his mind had been corrupted, which was simply unbelievable!

"A demon god? No, no, no, that's a bit of an exaggeration. He couldn't bear the power of a demon god," Sorcerer Wang shook his head. "At most, it's just a little bit of power fragment."

"That's still amazing enough! Daring to graft the power of a demon god into a person's body and still maintain his calm and sanity is incredible. This is even more amazing than resolving the erosion and pollution of high-dimensional life. Did you extract the power of an Eye Demon's clone and then graft it onto this Lang Rom?" Strange asked speculatively.

"You can see that?" Sorcerer Wang was somewhat surprised by Strange's guess. He nodded and said, "This is actually essentially a kind of [deception]. In short, it's to make the main body believe that it is still its clone that is using its power. In that case, as long as Lang Rom doesn't encounter another Eye Demon face-to-face, his power won't go out of control."

"What about the mind? How do you protect his mind? No matter how much you deceive, this power ultimately acts on his body and will inevitably affect him," Strange pressed.

"Psionic power! Psionic power can protect and maintain a person's mental stability. Of course, this is still somewhat unreliable, so after each mission, these grafters come here to receive mental examinations. If there are any problems, they undergo surgery or take potions as needed. Kamar-Taj has some rich treatment experience for this kind of symptom." Sorcerer Wang reopened the portal. "In fact, if you were to strike out his soul, you would see that his soul is already entangled with the Eye Demon. In my opinion, being able to maintain the balance of two souls with unequal status is the truly difficult thing. Maintaining that fragile balance and making it stable for a long time is something that makes people think it's a miracle."

(End of this chapter)