________
The family dinner ended after a few hours. Then, Luna went to see her parents, and Olivier returned to the military. She was now a newly promoted general and had a lot of work to do; her path toward becoming the Commander-in-Chief was smooth sailing.
Hermione decided to take a small break, Fleur and Bellatrix returned to their research, while Rowena began to prepare for her advancement to Tier 6. Edward prepared a few Divine Potion for her made from the Pool of Eternal Life.
He had prepared enough for all his family. He was even preparing to create a Time Accelerating Room for all of them so that they can all reach Tier 6 at a quicker pace. However, this was for later.
After the dinner, he had a meeting with Amelia to discuss a few things.
"So, what are you going to do regarding the Tier 11 problem?" Amelia understood that the problem of Tier 11 involving Primordial Earth is not a "simple problem" as he previously stated.
And although the others did not want to talk about it to alleviate the pressure and sense of oncoming doom, she had to start planning for this issue.
"Well, reaching higher Tiers is not as simple as you imagine, so as long as we reach higher Tiers quicker than our opponents, we still have a chance."
"Wouldn't it be better to assassinate these versions of ourselves that have higher Tiers? That way, the issue will be resolved."
"I've thought about this, but most of these people have people from Primordial Earth backing them. And from what I heard from Merlin, many of their backers have already reached Tier 12 or higher."
Amelia sighed out loud after hearing this. "You're a person who always has a backup plan. So, what's your plan in case one of us fails?"
"The plan is to cut off your connection to other versions of yourself in the multiverse, becoming an entirely different person."
"Same name, different person," muttered Amelia as she understood. For example, let's say that the Rowena of this timeline is Earth-616, then the one who is already Tier 10 is from Earth-858.
If the one from Earth-858 is the final winner and becomes a Tier 11 Multiversal Entity, then Edward's plan is for the one in Earth-616 to cut off her connection to the winner, becoming an entirely different entity with the same name as the one from Earth-858; she will no longer be a clone.
"This method is feasible, but it might cut off our paths to Tier 11."
"Not really. After becoming a new person, although it will take some time, new variants of you will eventually appear again in the multiverse."
Edward asked Merlin this question, mainly he was wondering whether there were variants of himself in the universe that he traveled like FMAB and the recent Undead Combination Universe.
And the answer he got was positive. As long as he staid in the world long enough and has a great impact on one of the timelines, eventually, countless variants of himself will appear in that universe.
Edward also asked him if he should prevent variants of himself from popping in the multiverse of every universe that he travels to, but Merlin told him that having variants of himself was quite beneficial to himself in later Tiers.
The more variants he had in different universes, the better.
"Thing seemed a little too complicated," commented Amelia, feeling a sense of unease.
"Don't worry. There is a backup plan to the backup plan, and that is for your guys to reincarnate with all your memories. That way, you guys can officially be different people without any complications."
"Indeed that is another method," nodded Amelia in relief. From what she just learned, these two have learned a great deal about reincarnation magic in their recent trip.
"Since you have already planned everything, then there is no need for me to worry. In that case, let's deal with the current issue."
Edward nodded his head:
"There are a few things for you to prioritize. First is the placement of the population. There are a lot of people with magical talents in the group that I have brought back. Settle them quickly and take care of their education."
Amelia nodded her head as she knew that her nephew was not only talking about their magical education but also their world views and sense of belonging to the Empire; essentially, brainwashed or indoctrinate them to be loyal to the Empire, or at the very least, have a sense of belonging.
"Second, it is the Novad race. There are one king and queen, one Tier 8, and the other Tier 9. I have already placed some control inside their souls but it is not enough. So, we need a group of people to constantly reinforced it until it becomes permanent."
"And where do you want me to place them once that is done?"
"Place them in charge of the Time Aurors that are guarding and protecting our timeline. Plus, send a few warrior classes of their races to Soleil and Narcissa. The Novad race is extremely talented in using Psychic energy and it will be a great help to their research."
"What about Yahweh's arm and Set's body?"
"Give the arm to the Tower Masters that are studying divine energy. As for the Set, I will be responsible for it."
Then, the two talked about many issues of the Empire before separating. Edward then updated the Arcane Library to include the gains of his recent journey. Then, he went to see a grumpy dragon.
Juliette Lumiere's Demiplane:
Large pocket dimensions are now referred to as Demiplanes. And according to the Empire's Law, all Tier 5 Arcanists have the right to own a private one of their own.
And inside that plane, they have complete autonomy and do whatever they please–with a few exceptions like forcing people into labor or experimenting on them.
But, Arcanists can even have an army of their own inside their Demiplanes; most of them have legions of golems of their own. Because of this level of freedom, one of them felt that he was unstoppable.
So, he opened the space to his Demiplane and began to invade Earth with his army of Golems. Unfortunately, not even 5 seconds later, the Earth-Defense Army responded and annihilated that Tier 5 Arcanists along with all his golems.
This was then that many of them realized that compared to the Empire, the number of resources that they have access to is simply a joke. So, it did not matter if every single Tier 5 Arcanist with a Demiplane had the manpower to conquer a low-level civilization singlehandedly.
In front of the Royal Family and the Empire, they were still ants. That failure curved the ambitions of many people. After all, the Earth Defense Army is considered the weakest force under the Empire's command.
There is still the Imperial Marines, the Royal Guards, and the elusive Ghost Squad.
There are many reasons that Edward allowed these people to have armies of their own. One, it's to prepare for the future for when the Empire enters the age of Floating City.
At that time, every powerful Arcanist will be a walking armament. Now, Edward has begun to test the waters to see how these people react to having power. Also, to take this opportunity to ingrain in them that no matter how much power they have, he will always have more.
The second reason is that he knew that forcing all these people who have God-like power to follow rules and regulations requires a certain balance. He has to give them some level of control or power–or the illusion of it.
So, he allowed them to have Demiplanes and create golem armies. However, the majority of resources to make these armies are still in his hands.
Juliette Lumiere is a very powerful Tier 5 Arcanist. Today, she was in the middle of her research when she received a notification from Skynet. She knew that the Tower Spirit in Demiplane would not disturb her if it was not something important.
After checking, she immediately frowned as she noticed the update in the Grand Arcane Library. With a heavy sigh, she muttered: "This man is even more powerful now."
Her gaze focused on one item in the exchange lists:
"Divine Potion: Potion made from the divine energy of some fallen god. Drinking it can increase mana. Effective for Tier 5 Arcanists.
"Warning: Side-effects include the possibility of the soul being affected by the remaining will of the fallen God. Although the divine energy has been properly purified, such danger still exists.
"As such, every Arcanist who used this potion will require a Soul check to ensure that their minds have not been affected, or worse, been possessed by some unknown entity."
As she looked at this description, she frowned. No one would like to have their soul checked as this was an invasion of privacy and could have some dangerous effects if something went wrong.
This is obvious for more powerful people like herself. However, there is an even bigger problem. With her intelligence, she can tell that this was a potion that accelerated the rate at which people can reach Tier 6.
If she does not take it, she will be left behind by others who are willing. So, in the end, she does not have a choice if she does not want her peers and even enemies to surpass her.
This is essentially an open scheme.
After sighing deeply out loud, she headed to a secret floor inside her Tower. She logged in to a private server that was not monitored by the Empire.
Soon, Juliette found herself in a room with a round table along with 9 other individuals that looked like shadows to hide their identities.
"I'm assuming that all of you have seen the update. What do you think?"
________
Title: Undercurrents
