Exchange

"Don't worry, I will show you that your choice was wise," said Edward with a smile. He pointed to the side, and a magical circle appeared. The Great Elder looked with interest as he had never seen such a magic system:

"If the Great Elder would do me the honor?"

Cori briefly looked at the magic circle before saying, "Why not?"

Without hesitation, he walked inside. Soon, the three found themselves in another space.

"Welcome to the Grand Arcane Library," said Edward with a proud smile. Cori looked around, not hiding the shock on his massive head.

"What a great library. Although the size is only 5% of ours, that's still impressive."

The Savant Race possessed the most extensive library in the entire Astral Realm, meaning the knowledge they contained was greater than countless planes combined. So, anyone with a library greater than 1% of their size should be praised for their accomplishment.

"I know my library cannot compare to yours in size, but I guarantee you cannot compare to me in quality."

"Bold words, Sir Edward," said Cori, not hiding the contempt on his face.

"Haha, I know you won't believe me simply because of my words," continued Edward. "So, let me show you the proof."

He waved his hand, and a holographic screen appeared before Cori. The latter immediately knew how to use it and began to browse the catalog of this library.

At first, he was nonchalant, but with each passing second, his brows became furrowed.

"Impossible; there is no way your library contained these secrets and knowledge.'

He was truly angry, believing this person had misled him with this fake library, probably in a shoddy method to impress their clan. This was not the first time their clan had experienced such a thing.

"I know you won't easily believe," said Edward calmly, not minding the latter's outburst. "I will grant you the authority to read some of these documents."

Cori frowned after hearing this; he controlled his urge to storm out of this place. Without hesitation, he picked a book called [Advanced Understanding of the Relationship between the Body, Soul, and Mana].

Their Savant Race's most advanced knowledge on this topic originated from studies done in the Heavenly Dao Plane. In that plane, the casters call themselves [Immortal Cultivators]. Their power system involved the concept of unity between Essence, Spirit, and Qi–another term for the body, soul, and energy.

Cori began reading this book and soon realized the first few pages reached the same level as their race's research. Furthermore, after more than twenty pages, the knowledge in this book was beyond them. However, something happened that made him want to kill someone.

"Where is the rest?" he asked, looking at Edward as if he was his enemy.

"Like I said, partial access," replied Edward with a smile.

"You!"

Cori's massive head moved sideways like he was about to fall from the air. He controlled himself before choosing another topic of interest and reading the information. As expected, the knowledge was true and very advanced. However, it stopped midway.

Cori tried a few times but eventually chose to stop. He felt like he was about to have a brain aneurysm.

"What do you want for your library?" he asked directly.

"Law of Equivalent Exchange," said Edward. "My Arcane Empire will exchange knowledge with knowledge, quality for quality, quantity for quantity. And if the quality is not on par, quantity can be used to make up for it."

Cori was quiet as he understood the latter's plan: he wanted to use this method to absorb most of the knowledge in their library. The worst thing is that their Savant Race could not resist this open plot.

Cori finally sighed, "How do you want to exchange?"

"Can you make the decision for your entire race?"

"Yes." As the Great Elder of the council, he has the final say in such a situation.

"In that case, everything is fine. I will send an ambassador to your city; they will be responsible for negotiating the exchange between us."

Cori frowned after hearing this. He could foresee how excruciating such an exchange would be, with each side arguing over the value of every piece of knowledge. If it were up to him, he would have preferred a faster mode of exchange, but he knew this was not possible.

'Maybe we could use the Akashic Record to facilitate a faster exchange?'

The Akashic Record has ways to quantify knowledge, so using them as an intermediary might accelerate the process.

"What about using the Akashic Record to accelerate the process?" suggested Cori.

"No," said Edward directly.

"Why not?"

"Such an act will reveal all our knowledge to them. So, how can we exchange in the future?"

"That's true." Although the Savant Race exchanged knowledge with the Akashic Record, they also controlled themselves since they knew little about this mysterious and unknown force.

"When is the ambassador coming?"

"As soon as I return home," replied Edward, and the great elder nodded. He took one last look at this library before unwillingly leaving, Edward and Luna did not spend too much time afterward, directly returning to the floating city.

"I haven't seen so happy and relaxed in a while," said Luna.

"Now that I know how to deal with my situation, I do feel a lot better," nodded Edward.

"That's good," she replied. "So, what machination do you have against the Savant Race?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"That face you made when you rejected their proposal to use the Akashic Records–that's the face you make when scheming something."

Edward laughed in embarrassment. "Based on the conversation, I deduce their authority in the record is not as high as mine so I will take this opportunity."

"So, you're getting them involved?"

"Only partially. I will use my authority to buy an artifact that can quantify the value of knowledge. I will give it to the ambassador and have them negotiate a higher price."

"Their desire for our knowledge is greater than ours for theirs, so it's possible to take advantage of this situation," nodded Luna. "However, as you said, aren't you afraid of them stealing our information?"

"With Merlin as my backer, they wouldn't dare," replied Edward, who suddenly frowned. "Speaking of the old man, I haven't heard from him for a while. I'm worried that something has happened to him."

Luna embraced him, "Don't worry. Lord Merlin will be fine."

"I hope."

Edward and Luna knew the significance of someone of Merlin's level dying. Such an event would shake the entire Omniverse, and it would also be an indication of how dire the situation was.

The two soon returned to the floating city without any problems. Edward returned to the surface world without hesitation. As soon as he returned, he contacted his family and told him he had succeeded in his endeavor and should stop worrying about him.

The family then scheduled a dinner for a few days later. Afterward, Edward continued his work. He needed to create a massive team dedicated to studying and developing the Quantum Realm.

The team did not only involve the ambassador but also arcanists with different research directions, including Divination. Luna was very interested in using the Quantum Realm as a medium for divination.

Meanwhile, Edward wanted to study that place's rules and know what to expect in the deeper layers.

The process took over a month, and Edward witnessed the team leaving. He had one last talk to the ambassador as he handed the Akashic Records artifact.

Finally, he began to prepare for the Time Game and the Empire's future.