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Edward left his room to the living room where he saw Hermione waiting for him.
"How was your advancement?" she asked.
"Everything went fine except that I slightly underestimated how painful the process was," replied Edward with a smile.
"Don't be such a cry baby."
"Hehe, when it's your turn, you'll understand. Speaking of, how long do you think it will take you to also advance?"
Hermione shook his head, "It will take some time. Over the years, although my physical stats has reached the level required for advancement, my spiritual power is not enough to control such large and powerful mana.
"I still need some time to learn and increase the power of my soul."
She was slightly envious of Edward's talent; he can easily absorb a large quantity of knowledge to rapidly increase the strength of his soul. As for her, the process was not as easy or smooth and requires years of constant research and studying.
Edward caressed her hair, "There is no need to be envious as sooner or later, you will also reach the same tier as me. Plus, how many people in Empire are envious of your talent."
"I'm just worried that I will not be able to keep up with your footstep," she said as she laid her head on his shoulder.
'With your talent, becoming a Tier 11 Multiversal Arcanist is only a matter of time. And luckily, time is something that we do not lack."
She smiled while nodding her head, "What about Tier 12?"
Edward paused for a moment, "Honestly, I have no idea what this level is. I don't even know if I can reach such a level."
"You should have more confidence in yourself."
"You're probably right," replied Edward. "How is the situation with your Talent?"
"The situation is still the same. I cannot locate any dimensions in this universe to summon things from it. To be precise, these dimensions seem very vague to be, like they were blocked."
Edward frowned a little after hearing this. "Either the rule of this universe is very strict when it comes to dimensional spells, or these dimensions are occupied by other people and are inaccessible.
"However, there might be another way."
"Are you referring to the Bracelet of Anubis?"
"Yes. This bracelet allows the user to summon an army of immortal Humanoid Jackals species. By studying it, you could probably gain access to the underworld and summon these things.
"Of course, this will also mean that you are essentially stealing from Anubis."
Hermione nodded her head. Now that they had recovered–including the Floating City–their fears of the gods have greatly decreased.
"Speaking of the bracelet, we have done as you instructed and handed the Book of the Dead to the cultists. They have already used it to revive Imhotep."
'So, the plot of Mummy 2 has begun?' thought Edward.
"Let's go check things out."
He went into a room where Lily and Snape were waiting for him. In the middle of the room was a projection that displayed the O'Connell along with their 8-year-old son, Alex, in a tomb procuring the Amulet of Anubis.
After seeing this, the first thing that popped into Edward's mind was the power of [Correction of Fate]. Even with his existence, the plot of the Mummy corrected itself and returned to its original destination.
Edward even theorized that even if he did not give the Book of the Dead to the cult led by Blatus Halfez, these people might still find a way to revive Imhotep, or used someone else that could replace his role.
He once asked Merlin about this power, and the old man told him that most universes involving Primordial Earth actually operated in the same way. Although not all of them, most of them do.
However, according to Merlin, as long as you actively interact in the plot, it will change until it becomes impossible to revert to its original track.
As he looked at what was happening, Edward began to move.
"Hermione, when the cult abducts Alex, you can become invisible and stay next to him to study the ability of the amulet. Once the boy arrives at the temple in Ahm Shere and removes the bracelet, you can act based on the situation. If you have already learned something from it, just ignore it. If not, control Blatus and have him activate it, then study the summoning process."
Edward then looked at Lily and Snape. "Lily, you are in charge of the insignia at the entrance of the temple that took away Imhotep's power. Get there early and try to find out how Anubis was able to take away his power, and maybe even why.
"As for you Snape, you are responsible for Evelyn and Meela. During this journey, these two will began to remember the memories of their past lives. Secretly monitor their souls at all times and gather as much information as possible.
"Additionally, when Evelyn dies, you have to appear with the Book of the Dead and resurrect her yourself. That's the exact moment when her memories are restored and the perfect opportunity to gather the best data."
"What about you? What are you going to do?" asked Hermione.
"I'm going to watch the battlefield between Anubis' Army and the Medjai; I should be able to verify a few things."
After that, the group scattered to do their own things.
When Alex is kidnapped, Hermione appeared next to him to study the bracelet on his hand. Snape used clone spells to create a second version of himself. The original stayed with Meela–who was the reincarnation of Anck-Su-Namun and Imhotep's lover. The other one was with Evelyn, both secretly monitoring the state of these people's souls.
The previous Snape would not be able to do such a thing to a Tier 4 Imhotep, but now, with his Tier 5 that was very close to Tier 6, it was easier to do.
As for Lily, she reached the temple where the Scorpion King was buried and began to study the insignia at the entrance. Just like that, a few days passed.
The army of the Medjai led by the charismatic Ardeth stood in the desert waiting for their opponent. Soon, a bunch of mummified jackal-headed humanoids appeared in front of them; they were the Army of Anubis.
Soon, a battle between these two groups began. In terms of battle prowess, the Medjai had the advantage–especially with guns. Unfortunately, the jackals were immortals. Even after being destroyed, they would spawn once again.
However, Edward did not care about this. As more people died, he closed his eyes to detect something. Before this battle, he placed a tracking mark on these people's souls. And after they die, he immediately began to trace where their souls were going.
At first, he could not find anything. However, over time, he soon discovered that their soul was being transported to a different space, to another dimension.
Their souls were being transported to a very specific place in that dimension, and while trying to find the final destination, Edward soon saw a giant humanoid jackal-headed individual who was lying in a golden coffin.
The souls were being swallowed by him.
Immediately, that jackal opened his eyes and looked straight at Edward.
"Mortal, you dare stare at a God."
Immediately, the connection to that pocket dimension was cut off, blood began to drip from Edward's nose.
"Interesting," he muttered as his mind started to rapidly function. Many pieces that seem unrelated began to be placed together. However, he did not immediately conclude anything as he needed one final piece of the puzzle.
So, he contacted Lily.
"Did you discover something?"
"Yes," she replied. "Anubis did not just take Imhotep's power but placed something inside of his body. According to my current theory, this should allow Imhotep to become his vessel and maybe possess his body."
"As expected."
"Did you discover something on your side?"
"Yes. If I'm not mistaken, the gods in this world seem to have fallen asleep for some reason and are drastically weakened. And when it came to Anubis, he is planning on releasing his undead army in the world to kill as many people as possible to absorb the souls of mortals to regain his power."
Edward knew that situation was more complex than stated. The Scorpion King has been rumored to revive for more than 5000 years, so Anubis might have planned this for so long.
Edward believed that the latter planned to take over Imhotep's body, then kill the Scorpion King and take back control of the army. However, another Egyptian God intervened to stop him: Osiris.
The latter did this by sending Rick with a spear capable of killing the Scorpion King, thus preventing Anubis from regaining control of the Undead Army.
Edward squinted his eyes as he thought deeply. Anubis' plan was not that simple. If things proceeded smoothly, Imhotep should have already revived and taken over Egypt more than 8 years ago, and maybe even started a war with the entire world.
Then, all Anibus had to do was wait for a few years later when Imhotep goes to the Scorpion King's temple, strip him of his power to reduce resistance, take over his body, and control the Undead Army.
Unfortunately, in both instances, he was stopped by the O'Connells who represented his father Osiris.
As for the reason Anubis needed to go to such length to possess Imhotep?
There is an explanation for this in the Mummy Reboot. Although Edward did not see the movie, he did watch the trailers and some videos online and knew a little spoiler. In the finale of the movie, the God Set took over the body of the main character Nick, played by Tom Cruise.
However, in the end, Nick was able to suppress Set's consciousness and take back control of his body while keeping Set's power. This shows that possessing anyone is not an easy task for the current state of these gods.
Truth be told, Anubis and Set might not be the only people using this method of soul sacrifice and body possession to regain their powers. In Mummy 3, the Dragon Emperor had a similar plan to use an army of undead to take over the world.
Most likely, some Chinese Gods had a similar plan as Anubis and have been planning this for over 2000 years; using the Emperor and Zi Yuan as pawns in their games.
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Title: Population
