In the meditation chamber of Kamar-Taj, Strange was changing his clothes. Since the Three Great Empires in the cosmos are humanoid beings — more accurately, most advanced civilizations are humanoid beings — they have a standard formal outfit similar to human suits. Interestingly enough, it resembles human suits but actually originates from the military uniforms of two large mechanical empires, making them more glamorous than ordinary suits; generally, there is a ribbon on the left chest, a badge on the right chest, and the tailoring is sleek, giving one a solemn aura.
This type of attire is generally referred to as "Imperial Dress" in the cosmos. Even if one is not a member of the Three Great Empires, it is considered formal attire for important occasions, representing an unwritten etiquette in the cosmos.
Among them, the Shi'ar Empire favors lavish colors, typically using crimson or bright blue as the base, adorned with golden or silver ribbons, and the belt is made of shimmering fabric, with a large gemstone embedded at the center.
The Skrull Empire and Kree Empire are much more low-key. They prefer old-fashioned clothing, mostly in black and dark blue, with white only used for very important and solemn occasions. Ribbons generally match the color of the attire, with only the belt having some understated metallic decorations.
There are also differences between these two empires. When both nations are present simultaneously, the Skrull Empire will choose warm colors, while the Kree Empire opts for cool colors, distinguishing the two countries clearly.
Of course, one can choose to wear one's own ethnic attire. For instance, when Asgard participates in interstellar meetings, they never wear Imperial Dress, opting for either traditional Asgardian attire or human suits.
In fact, because human superheroes and mutants love wearing tight suits, many aliens have a stereotype of humans, believing all humans wear tight suits. However, as humans expand their range of activities in the cosmos, many realize they have normal clothes. Especially after humans have triumphed over the Three Great Empires and JARVIS has dismantled the dominance of the Three Empires' network speech, humans have become increasingly popular on the interstellar internet, and many aliens are becoming more familiar with humans.
Though Strange also owns an Imperial dress, he decided to wear the Supreme Magician attire for the election, his most classic, frequently worn outfit.
There's no choice; even if it's just a formal appearance, he will still face verbal battles. Dressing as the Supreme Magician, at least, will make others think twice — if seriously provoked, who stands here isn't just a prospective councilman but the Supreme Magician.
Strange adjusted his collar in front of the mirror, while his Cloak restlessly swirled behind him. Strange hurriedly pinned the Cloak down and murmured, "Behave yourself; it's a solemn occasion later, don't flutter around, affecting my performance."
The Cloak tugged Strange back forcefully, leaving Strange to helplessly shake his head and say, "No choice; whether I want to go or not, I have to. The beginning is the hardest, but it gets better after a while. Isn't Shiller coming along?"
The Cloak looked equally resigned, folding its robe's corners together in mid-air, assuming a cross-legged position, shaking its collar as if nodding.
"Alright, come down now. It's about time; let's get moving."
Strange beckoned to the Cloak. It flew down, hanging around his neck. He passed through the Teleportation Portal, arriving in a bright hall. This was the headquarters of the interstellar council, located in the Central Twelve Stars of the Ring Region.
This is a very special Star Area; twelve artificial planets are linked by the Shield System, with nine on the exterior and three inside. These three planets can be understood as the Parliament Building, Executive Building, and Military Building.
The election is held on the Parliament Star. Strange is on one of the outer planets used for reception. Upon his arrival, the Shi'ar Empire staff responsible for reception looked visibly surprised.
"Oh, Mr. Supreme Magician, didn't you arrive by spaceship?"
Strange regarded him like a fool, saying, "I can directly open a Teleportation Portal from Kamar-Taj to here; why would I spend half a day on a spaceship?"
"Well…" The staff seemed at a loss for words, adjusted the feather beside his head, and continued, "Mainly, past candidates have typically arrived directly at the Parliament Star via spaceship, as it is a campaign tradition. I'm unsure if entering via a Teleportation Portal might be overly audacious."
Strange sighed internally. Comparing it to humanity, it's akin to attending foreign visits by deplaning, taking a car, visiting Congress Building and other places, whereas Strange essentially lands the plane on top of the Congress Building himself — he can do it but it's quite astounding.
Human teleportation technology is unique, and the Supreme Magician's Teleportation Portal is unparalleled, yet other civilizations mostly view such teleportation technology as military in nature. Directly opening a portal to someone's face is tantamount to declaring war.
"Prepare a spaceship for me." Strange said.
The Shi'ar Empire employee visibly sighed with relief, smiling and saying, "Yes, Supreme Magician, we will immediately prepare the most luxurious personal spaceship for you."
Soon, a small spaceship was parked at the port of the outer planet. Strange stepped inside, finding the interior truly opulent, apparently a Shi'ar Empire ship, filled with a deep avian décor style, feather patterns everywhere.
The planets in this star zone are very close to each other, and Strange had barely boarded the ship before he arrived. When he disembarked, the reception staff looked very surprised.
"Oh, Your Excellency Supreme Magician, we thought you would teleport directly here. Nice ship, is it your new purchase?"
"I wanted to teleport, but the people at the reception advised me against it. Considering there would be many bigwigs today, I thought it best not to scare them." Though Strange appeared understanding, his tone was full of coldness and sarcasm, as if saying, "If this can scare you, you might as well find a block of tofu to bash yourself to death."
The reception staff wiped the sweat off his forehead and led Strange inside. After passing through a corridor, they arrived at an exceptionally spacious hall. The entire hall was spherical, with countless seats suspended in mid-air. With a wave of the hand, Strange's designated seat floated over.
Strange was no fool. He did not step onto the floating seat but waved his hand and asked the reception staff behind him, "Where is my seat?"
The reception staff pointed it out to him and was about to say more, but Strange had already flown there himself.
After flying to the spot, he sat cross-legged in mid-air, closed his eyes, and began to meditate, exuding an aura of profound mystery.
In fact, the hall was already full of people, and when Strange arrived, everyone was watching him. Some whispered, and some openly discussed, clearly having anticipated the choice of council leader.
However, Strange put on the demeanor of a Supreme Magician, and the others dared not say much; even the murmurs significantly quieted down.
The human presence in the council was a rare event, not due to humans being unable to come, nor the council barring them, but rather because so few humans were capable of sitting down at a council meeting and having a reasonable discussion with their victims.
About a thousand years ago, The Ancient One had visited once, not because of a joint complaint by the Demon God or the extensive damage to the Three Great Empires' properties during a brawl, but because of a magic-related incident they encountered, inviting The Ancient One as an expert advisor.
Professor X had also visited once before, not because Magneto had been robbing fleets for a consecutive month, nor because mutants had forcefully occupied mining colonies under the Three Great Empires, but due to a special binary star system approaching the Star Area at high speed. To ensure the political center remained intact, the Three Great Empires specifically invited Magneto to adjust the magnetic field of the Star Area.
As for those who wanted to sue humans or seek justice from the Three Great Empires for being attacked by humans or wished to apply interstellar political pressure on humans, they generally failed to bring humans here. During The Ancient One's era of prominence, the Three Great Empires understood that causing trouble for humans on behalf of any subordinate civilization was an entirely unprofitable affair, so they avoided such foolishness.
Therefore, when people saw Strange seated there, many felt a bit strange. Flipping through their histories and genealogies, they could always find scenes of profound persecution by humans. Since the human representative had already arrived, it was time for some tearful accusations to let the numerous interstellar civilizations know how wronged they felt.
But upon looking at their life bars and the Supreme Magician's attack power seated in the center, they swallowed their grievances. After all, there were truly too many grievances; if everyone complained individually, the meeting would last until next year, yet if they all cried together, it would inevitably appear ridiculous.
Thus, everyone chose silence, letting bygones be bygones. As seasoned civilizations within the interstellar community, they felt no need to fuss with such novices.
But at the same time, letting go of the past didn't mean they truly didn't care. When humans sat in primitive forests like savages, they naturally had no way to deal with them, but now hadn't they walked into the trap themselves? Hence, if anything happened, it certainly wouldn't be their fault.
In politics everywhere, those in these positions aren't fools but rather increasingly shrewd individuals. They were acutely aware that military force is indeed the backing of all political maneuvers. If you do not wish to integrate into interstellar society, much like Asgard previously, no one could do anything; but if you care about interstellar appearances, aiming for both profit and fame, then overly relying on military force sometimes not only fails to bring benefits but can be counterproductive, accelerating demise.
They had waited for so many years, finally witnessing humans stepping into the arena. If they didn't seize this opportunity, they would truly be letting down their ancestors.
No matter what, the election proceeded as scheduled. A Skrull, wearing the Empire's attire, walked to the center of the conference hall. His voice was translated into thousands of civilizations' languages, resonating in each participant's ears, including Strange's.
After about half an hour of meaningless talk, the election finally got to the main point. First was the raising of hands by civilization representatives, then voting by seated members, followed by the review by the Three Great Empires, each step more critical than the last.
After all, there were over a hundred candidates here, hailing from various civilizations. During the civilization representatives' voting, it became clear how many supporters each candidate had, giving a rough understanding of their reputation. Those too obscure would be eliminated in this round.
This, of course, did not include Strange. Not to mention his name as Supreme Magician resonated throughout the cosmos, numerous civilizations under the Three Great Empires raised their hands, and the council leader's position was originally prepared for him; the Three Great Empires would surely arrange this in advance.