Orochimaru's Ambitions

Edward began to record and write out theories. After seeing the birth and destruction of the universe, he now had a deeper understanding of many things: space-time, matter, soul, creation, destruction, quantum physics, mathematics, and many others. He even glimpsed some truths about the Void.

With Morgana's help, his brain was on overdrive, operating faster than a quantum computer. As such, he spent the next three months ignoring everything, focusing on his theories, and testing them out. He recorded all his thoughts while also writing many theorems–both magical and non-magical.

Thousands of holographic screens float before him, full of mathematical formulas and runes designs. And these were not all of them, only the most important ones.

"What a wonderful experience," commented Morgana, talking about their accomplishment these past three months and watching the universe's birth and death.

"Indeed," nodded Edward, who felt today's experience would benefit him until Tier 12, maybe even 12. He waved his hand to show two screens before him. Both were papers he had written with two titles:

[Primordial Runes and their relationship with Ancient Runes.]

[The Possibility of Origin Runes Existing.]

These two theories could lead to an upgrade of his Arcane Rune System. And once that happens, everything else in the Empire will upgrade–especially Artificers.

'Is a title above Divine Artificers? I will find out soon.' Edward felt it was the best decision to come to this world.

"Who would have thought mages could have epiphanies like in the cultivation novels," commented Edward with a sigh.

"People have epiphanies all the time, master. Hence the reason the word exists." Newton discovered gravity after watching an apple fall: this is an example of epiphany. Although Morgana knew this story was not true, throughout history, many scientists have made groundbreaking discoveries after observing nature or because of an accident.

"You know what I meant."

"I know, but I feel you are sometimes too influenced by these novels."

Edward shrugged his shoulder. "Anyway, how are your injuries?"

"Almost heal. I should be able to contact home after a while."

"Alright, let's go check on the other people."

Edward called a meeting with everyone on the team, but some people were absent, mainly Tsunade and Tobirama. A while ago, the war ended, and the golems began re-establishing order in the world. They needed to build schools and spread knowledge and propaganda about the Empire to make it easier for the Ninjas to integrate.

Tobirama and Tsunade wanted to help the Leaf with the transition and negotiate some benefits for their village. As for their research, it ended months ago and could not continue since Edward did not have access to Otsutsuki with Tier 7 to 8.

After walking into the room, he immediately noticed Orochimaru and Kabuto had mana inside their bodies instead of Chakra, and the amount was close to Tier 4. He guessed they succeeded in transferring their Chakra into mana.

"I see you guys have transferred," he said to those two. "How is it, being an Arcanist?"

"Excellent, thank you, your highness, for this opportunity," said Kabuto. Edward's eyes squinted slightly; he could tell this shady-looking man had escaped the fate of being Orochimaru's shadow. And by the way, he casually called him your highness, he's accepted his role pretty quickly.

"Good. With your mindset, you'll quickly adapt and thrive in the Empire," said Edward with a smile. "What about you, snake-tongue?"

"Too much to learn," replied Orochimaru, not minding the named calling. He spent the past few months with the clones and knew of the latter's carefree personality.

"Too much to learn?" asked Edward baffled, before thinking of something. "You always wanted to learn all Jutsus. Don't tell me you also want to learn all spells or magical knowledge?"

Orochimaru remained quiet, making Edward speechless. "I thought I was arrogant, but you're on another level. That's simply an impossible task."

"I've been trying to persuade Lord Orochimaru, but he would not listen," said Kabuto. One of the clones told them to choose specific fields to focus on, even if they wanted to be a Master of All Trades. So, he chose the soul, body, and bloodline modification. Meanwhile, Orochimaru had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and wanted to know everything.

"Your goal is simply impossible from a practical stands point," said Edward. "Your soul is limited and cannot bear such vast knowledge. Furthermore, Arcanists value knowledge more than their life. So, I often have to entice them to share their research. And even then, I probably hold about 70% of the Empire's knowledge in my hands.

"As for you? You are allowed unlimited access to my library because you're a special recruit to the Empire. Once we return, you also have to start paying for high-level access. So, your ambitions are nothing but dreams."

"I have fully figured out these things in the past month," said Orochimaru. "But I still want to try."

Edward pondered for a moment, "All-knowing, the path of Omniscient. It's not like you don't have a chance."

Orochimaru's eyes brightened. "Please enlighten me."

"If you want to have a chance, you need to become a Legendary Arcanist and control Conceptual Magic–[Knowledge Authority], to be precise."

"Legendary Arcanist? Conceptual Magic?" Orochimaru had never heard these terms in the database he had access to. "How would I accomplish that?"

"That's classified information of the highest level, so I can't tell you," said Edward. "However, I can tell you difficult this path is. In all the Empire, I'm the only Legendary Arcanist, and I only succeeded through a lucky opportunity after coming to this place.

"In my universe, I am probably the only magic wielder with this achievement. And if there are others, the number won't be more than five." Edward did not know about other planes, but his conjecture about the Cosmic God Plane was probably accurate.

Orochimaru's heart trembled. He has read the Empire's history and this man's legendary exploits and accomplishments. Although he knew much of it was embellished to make him look better, he could still notice Edward's overwhelming talent and ability.

Even amongst all the geniuses competing in the Empire, this man is like a bright star that outshines everyone else.

'If his talent is the requirement to become a Legendary Arcanist…' Orochimaru did not want to think about it.

"Of course, you have an advantage," he continued. "I will one day make the requirement to become a Legendary Arcanist public. I have even begun creating methods for arcanists to have a clear and widespread method. So, it's only a matter of time before Legendary Arcanists are more common."

The snake tongue man breathed in relief. There was hope for him.

"Or, you could use an alternative path."

"Oh?"

"Become a God and wield the [Knowledge Authority.] Although you would have to kill the current Tier 10 God that wields such authority, this might be a better path than waiting until you become a Legendary Arcanist."

Orochimaru had a look of helplessness. He did not know how long it would take or even whether he would ever be capable of killing a Tier 10. It could be possible one day once he has a Floating City.

However, the path of Godhood was not appealing to him–at least, not after seeing the Arcane Path. He has read some basic information about Gods and how the Empire described them as parasitic lifeform that depends on faith for their powers and immortality.

With his intelligence, he detected the bias and aversion the information had against Gods. Regardless, he also felt it was inappropriate to become a God, given all the restraints and limitations. Perhaps the former him would jump at such a chance, but not his current self.

"Okay, don't talk about these things since you're only a little Tier 3 Arcanist. Even with your talent and Chakra foundation, you have a long way ahead of you," said Edward before looking at his clones.

"How are the research results?"