After dealing with his interpersonal relationship, Edward used a magic item to teleport back to his World Gate that was located in the void outside of the Full-Metal Alchemist World.
Once there, he headed straight to a strange room full of machines. In the middle of the room was a machine that had something that looked like a bed. Without hesitation, Edward took off his clothes and lay on the bed.
"Morgana, begin the scan. I want everything to be searched: from every atom in my body to my soul, my mind, and my magic core."
"As you command."
Soon, Edward fell asleep, then, countless lights flashed around his body, scanning every inch of it. An hour later, he woke up and asked:
"What were the results?"
"There have been some changes, but not what you were expecting," replied Morgana who had a projection in front of her.
"What changes?"
"For one, your body's physical aspects have drastically increased due to the aura circulating everywhere.
"Secondly, you have now access to mana equal to the Second Limiter. Additionally, your mana seems to be undergoing some sort of mutation. Unfortunately, the process is still ongoing and there is not enough data to speculate."
Edward frowned after hearing this. After putting on a robe, he closed his eyes to feel the mana flowing through his body; he wanted to know what this mutation was all about.
A few minutes later, he opened his eyes with a little understanding.
Each world has different rules or regulations that govern them; they have different laws. For example, in his world, the speed of sound is 343 m/s. However, in another universe, this constant might change to 400 m/s or something less.
The mana in his body is a result of the Law of the Harry Potter World: it allowed the existence of magic and mana. However, the Full-Metal World is different; its laws do not allow the existence of magic.
So, what happens when mana is introduced into a world that it should not exist in? The logical answer is that it ceased to function or disappeared entirely.
But that's not what happened.
Instead, Edward's mana started to evolve, mutate so that it can function properly under the laws of the new world.
"I should have thought about this before," muttered Edward softly. "Why is it that I was able to use magic in a magicless world?"
However, the question he was asking himself now was: why did his mana evolve instead of becoming useless? Could this be a characteristic of mana that he had never heard about? Or is it related to some higher concepts that he has not come into contact with?
Is the only one this change was happening to?
Edward then waved his hand and an unconscious prisoner suddenly appeared in front of him. He placed his hand on his chest where his heart was located.
He then used a spell to check the magic core of this wizard. Unfortunately, he did not find anything. So, he immediately checked a few more dozen people, but the result was the same.
Edward frowned as he pondered deeply. Then, an idea flashed across his mind. Immediately, he took another prisoner: a special one.
This prisoner had appeared in the Full-Metal Alchemist World and was experimented on by Edward to see if he could have a Gate of Truth. Edward then checked his mana.
"Indeed, his mana is also evolving like mine–albeit at a slower pace."
He checked a few more people who he previously experimented on in Amestris, and they were all going through some sort of evolution.
"Since this evolution is a positive one, then I can encourage the other wizards of the Empire to travel to other universes to reap the benefit."
Edward could foresee that one day, countless Floating Cities of the Empire will travel to different universes, conquering, exchanging knowledge, and experiencing different power systems.
Of course, that will be in the future when he is powerful enough to suppress all these people even if they were to revolt at once, and also control or reign in their ambitions and desires.
Additionally, once a wizard is granted the right of Interdimensional Travel, they have to sign a contract that says that they have to hand over all the knowledge they acquired in other worlds to Edward.
And if they decide to walk the path of conquest, they have to hand over 30% of their gains as tax. If they fail to conquer a world, they can request back up from the Empire. However, in return, they have to pay 70% of their gains instead.
Additionally, Edward will promise them that if they die in another world, the Empire will avenge them, and maybe revive them if necessary.
Edward shook his head to remove these thoughts from his head. Right now, the development of the Empire has not reached such a point–and it's not even close.
After making this discovery about mana, Edward decided to gather some more data. So, he sent a few hundred wizard prisoners in a cell in his manor back in Amestris. He also sent another group of muggle prisoners as a control group to see if there will be other changes.
"Morgana, were there any other discoveries of the scan?"
"Yes. The strength of your soul has increased by at least 10 times. This should be the result of all the Alchemy knowledge you learn from the Eye of God."
Edward was not surprised by this discovery. In the Empire, a wizard named Carlos De Leon once discovered the relationship between knowledge and a wizard's soul.
The more knowledge a wizard has, the more powerful his soul is. And with a powerful soul, it is easier for them to control mana. For example, if two wizards with the same amount of mana were to fight, then the one with the more powerful soul has a higher chance of winning.
With a powerful soul, wizards can cast spells faster, the strength of the spells are more powerful, they have greater control of their spells, and they can recover mana faster.
This is one of the reasons that Scholar Mages are more powerful and respected in the Empire than Battle Mages.
Despite all this good news revealed by the scan, Edward was not happy. The reason he wanted to do it in the first place was to discover whether Truth had secretly done something to him.
Unfortunately, he did not find anything.
"I'm going to say it again: Master, you're too paranoid," said Morgana.
"That may be," muttered Edward. "I need you to do one last test. Do a psychological test on me to see if there are any changes."
Morgana sighed before nodding. She looked Edward in the eyes and asked a few questions. A few minutes later, he was in a trance, and Morgana asked more detailed questions, and Edward subconsciously answered.
Three hours later, he woke up from his trance.
"Well, did you find something?"
"Yes. I did discover an anomaly," replied Morgana with a serious look on her little face.
Title: New Magic System (I)
