Cycle of Progress

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"This can be an opportunity for us," said Olivier.

"Oh? For what?"

"To conquer the Milky Way."

The others paused for a moment before Dumbledore said:

"Indeed. If the Undead Problem is severe enough, we can take this opportunity to rapidly increase our population, and even conquer the entire galaxy."

The previous Dumbledore would never agree to such a thing as conquest since such acts almost always require the use of violence. However, after his time in space and seeing the chaos of the universe, he understood that this might be the best option.

To him, the Empire has many rotten parts that he disagrees with–even if they are considered necessary. However, compared to the horror of the other places in the Milky Way, the Empire was considered heaven.

And maybe by conquering the galaxy, they can bring some level of order and peace to it.

"Yes. My plan can be divided into four steps: Money, Reputation, Population, and Salvation.

"In the current situation, resources that are effective to undead will become very precious. With the knowledge you just brought back, we can sell a lot of magical items and potions that are effective against the undead. We can even sell a large quantity to the Tier 8 Civilizations as our production speed would be even higher than them."

"That way, we can gather a large number of resources to facilitate our rapid development," commented Dumbledore.

"The second and third steps are self-explanatory. By selling these resources, we can create a positive image for the Empire, and also officially reveal ourselves as a powerful civilization in the Milky Way.

"And through that good reputation, we can gather a large population. Whether through buying slaves or convincing other groups to surrender to us. Slowly but steadily, we can swallow Star Systems after Star System to increase our borders.

"Finally, when the right time arrives, we can defeat that Death God and become the hero of the Milky Way. By then, with how high our fame and reputation are, it will be easier to rule the entire galaxy."

"This plan is feasible," said Dumbledore while caressing his beard, "However, there are a few problems. For now, we do not know how strong the Death God is. If he is only Tier 8, the other civilizations should be able to deal with it.

"Second, although the Empire has many powerful weapons, the individual strength of Arcanists is still too low.

"After all, so far, only the royal family has Tier 6 Arcanists."

"There is nothing we can do about the Death God, but we can still deal with the second problem," added Edward. "I will make the Time Acceleration Room publicly available, that way, Arcanists can pay to enter and use as much time needed to reach Tier 6 inside while only a small amount of time passed outside."

Dumbledore was slightly surprised after hearing this before saying: "Sometimes, I'm astonished at both your generosity and your confidence."

Back in the old era, as one of the most powerful wizards, he knew far above the majority if not all wizards. And yet, he was never this generous–and this was not because of selfishness, at least not entirely.

The way that his mindset worked was that he never thought of sharing his magical knowledge to encourage the further creation of more knowledge. Plus, back then, he lived every day in fear of creating a new Voldemort, so he would never be this open when it comes to sharing knowledge that could grant people great power.

Edward did not care about the professor's words. He was never afraid of people catching up or surpassing him; he was that confident, and even a little cocky.

Plus, this decision might seem dangerous but he knew that it was not. For one, it did not matter how many Tier 6 are in the Empire, with the Floating City, they could all be annihilated together.

Additionally, with his method, more than 50% of the people who will take this opportunity to become Tier 6 will belong to his camp, thus ensuring his power and control.

Lastly, this move will accelerate the development of the Empire. To get access to these Time Rooms, Arcane Merit will be required, and where would these merits come from? From the research and knowledge of these Arcanists.

To have enough merit, many of them will have no choice but to hand over their hidden research and discovery, which will in turn benefit Edward and the Empire as a whole.

And after using their merit to increase their strength or Tier, they will get back to study and develop magic and technology. Then, use them again to become more powerful, thus forming a cycle of constant improvement and progress.

This has been the model he has been using so far to develop the Empire and keep his lead on everyone else.

"Alright, let's return home."

The three then entered the spaceship before rushing home. Meanwhile, all the people who Edward forced to evacuate felt relieved before rushing to the planet that they previously were.

Since such a powerful Tier 6 Caster came here, there might be some secret to that particular planet. As long as they can discover the slightest information, they can sell it for exuberant prices.

After returning to the Empire, Edward gathered a group consisting of the Elder Council, the Commanders and Generals of the Imperial Navy, and a Think Tank.

They discussed Olivier's plan and how to implement it. After all, if successful, the territory of the Empire will drastically increase. There need to be laws and regulations on how to properly govern these territories, and how to integrate the people into the Empire.

Plenty of things need to be taken into account. While Edward was bogged down by politics, Dumbledore returned to Earth after many decades. So, he reunited with his friends–mostly the former members of the Order of Phoenix.

Many of them were surprised to see him as they thought he died after that legendary battle. Finally, Dumbledore was reunited with his old flame, Grindelwald. They went on a mini-vacation together.

A few days later, great news was released to all the citizens of the Empire scattered in the 3 Star Systems currently under its control. To be precise, the Imperial Navy has conquered 7 Star Systems, however, the remaining 4 either did not have living creatures or only contained mindless creatures that served as training grounds.

The 3 Star Systems with life were the Solar System, the Metal System where the Fer race lived, and the new Fur System where the cat races originated.

The other Star Systems were being used to mine resources and served as military bases.

Back to the topic, the announcement stated three important things:

The current Milky Way Galaxy was in turmoil, and because of this, the Empire has decided to create Time Acceleration Rooms to allow Arcanists to reach higher Tier at a much faster rate.

Secondly, all resources that allow individuals to become Arcanists or reach high Tiers will have a discount on their prices until the situation calms down.

With this news, the people knew that rapid development was about to take place–especially with the recent update of the library which allowed many subclasses or professions to flourish.

Many new Arcane Sorcerers were discovered with this new magic system created by Hermione. The [Word Blessing Enchantment Method] has created a new branch of Artificer.

Some people might not have talents for the typical enchantments that require rune or word engraving but have a talent for this new method. As such, many new Artificers were born.

And the same applied to the Herb Enchanting Method that Snape discovered and improved from Chloe's parallel universe. Adding to the increase in population with people with magical talent, the future looked bright.

Additionally, Lily has already created the manifesto for her Druid Class and will soon start testing qualified people. So, more Arcanists will appear.

On a train, Chris Tiu was using his watch to surf the web when he received a notification. After reading, he could not control himself and yelled "yes" out loud. However, he quickly realized his misdemeanor and looked around. He sighed in relief when he realized that he was in a compartment alone.

'With this new update, I can save enough merits in less than 25 years.'

He quickly calmed down.

'No, I don't know how long this nationwide discount will last. I need to take this opportunity to change my life. But where do I get so much merit? I can borrow from some people, and even take a loan from the bank.'

Taking a loan for Merit has very stringent rules to be qualified. This benefit was only allowed to ordinary citizens with a certain income. Plus, you have to sign contracts to guarantee repayment. Chris did not know whether he would be qualified.

'It's better to try. Even if I fail, at least I know I tried.'

Without wasting any time, he went to the necessary website to fill out an application. Once he was done, he contacted a few close acquaintances to see if he could borrow some merit from them.

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Next Chapter Title: Lily's Choice