Preparation

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A small floating island that was invisible to the naked eyes traveled in the clouds. Vast energy emanated from it. In the middle of the island lies a palace that looks eerily similar to Asgard's Palace from the MCU.

This was the Royal Palace of the Arcane Empire, the residence of the Emperor, Edward Bones. In one of the main bedrooms, he sat with his eyes closed, while his long black hair reached his back.

Suddenly, he opened his deep blue eyes and muttered: "Another defeat."

As soon as he said those words, a little fairy with purple hair appeared next to him; she was a few centimeters in height, had two pairs of small wings constantly flapping.

"Master, you do not have to be discouraged. This time, you lasted longer," said the little fairy.

"You do not have to console me, Morgana. I'm not that fragile."

That's right. The Little fairy was the physical manifestation of Edward's artificial intelligence in his Gate, Morgana. Edward used Voldemort's soul as material to give birth to her. So, she is essentially a real Artificial Intelligence.

Of course, as someone who has seen the movie Terminator and countless others about the potential danger of artificial intelligence, he also took precautions.

When creating her, he used a small part of his soul as well as Voldemort, so she is part of him. Additionally, since she has a real soul now, he placed the most stringent contracts on it, thus making it impossible for her to go rogue.

"Summarize the results of the past few years," ordered Edward. Then, a keyboard appeared in front of the little fairy and she began to type. Edward knew that she did not need to do such a thing, however, her personality is showy and whimsical, so she often does weird things like this.

"In the past 30 years, you've fought a total of 14,234 Simulated Battles with the individual labeled as [Death God, Herpo] and you have lost all of them. Based on the fact that Herpo's abilities are only estimated based on the information we gathered on [Authority], it can be guaranteed that his strength will be even greater than estimated, not lower."

"Is there any good news at all?" asked Edward.

"Yes. Every time you lose, your control of magic increases drastically. Having an unbeatable opponent has proven to be very helpful to your growth, master. Allowing you to absorb and learn to utilize all the magical knowledge of the Empire.

"Additionally, according to De Leon Basic Law of Soul, the more knowledge a wizard learned, the more powerful their souls become. Since you have learned all the knowledge of the Empire, your soul has drastically increased compared to a few years ago."

"I never understood why wizards like to place their names in front of their discoveries and newly-invented spells. How narcissistic of them."

"Master, you've done the same thing as well."

"Do not focus on the small stuff. I'm sensing there is a but, what is it?"

Morgana paused for a moment, "But, in the past 2 years, you have made little to no progress."

Edward was silent for a moment as he felt the mana rushing throughout his body. Over the past few decades, his mana still remained at the Three Limiter Level as he had not found a way forward yet.

So, he followed the path of magical beasts and stored mana inside his body's muscles, bones, organs, and magic veins. As a result, his physical strength and magic resistance have increased dramatically.

So did his mana reserved.

"It seems that it's about time that I leave," muttered Edward.

"Master, I think it would be best to wait for both Project Magic Core and Project Uranus to finish before leaving," warned Morgana.

"Show me the recent progress of Project Magic Core," asked Edward.

Then, a holographic image of a bunch of wizards' experiments appeared in front of him.

From what Edward learned from Albion, other wizards or mage civilizations in this universe follow a similar path: they all have a magic core. Of course, each civilization calls it differently like Mana core, mana room, mana pool, etc.

After a wizard's mana reaches a certain level, it will fill the magic core, thus preventing them from further gathering mana and growing. When that happens, they will use different methods to expand the magic core to be able to contain more mana.

After hearing this, Edward asked him if he knew the method of expanding the magic core, and the dragon responded negatively. According to him, dragons have a completely different system than ordinary wizards as they do not have magic cores, but Dragon Heart.

Dragon Heart is essentially an organ made of pure condensed mana--which is one of the reasons that dragons are so powerful creatures. As for the reason that Albion had a magic core after being born, according to him, it was because the environment did not allow him to create his own Dragon Heart.

So, his body adapted to the situation and created a core based on information from his memories and surroundings. As such, Edward started to research a method of his own.

Immediately, he had the idea of enchanting his magic core with the Extension Charm--which had the ability to expand internal dimensions. Unfortunately, even with his knowledge of how to enchant the soul, he failed after so many decades.

After checking the slow progress of the Magic Core Project, Edward sighed as he shook his head. "Both these projects are not nearly close to being completed, so I cannot wait.

"More ever, I have not given up on the idea of following the Xianxia idea of liquifying mana; it would be best to do so, then expand the magic core. That way, our civilization would have an advantage over other magical ones in the future."

"As you wish, master," added Morgan helplessly.

"So, what's on my agenda for today?"

"First, there is the recent Council Meeting. I will send you what happened directly to your mind." Morganna connected to Edward's soul, then sent him all that happened in the meeting.

"An Intergalactic War? That's indeed a good method. However, the target should be chosen carefully to properly control the flow of the war. Send my approval to my aunt. What's next?"

"Your mother and father called you while you were still fighting in Virtual Reality."

"Call them back."

A few seconds later, a large screen appeared in front of him, and two middle-aged people dressed in casual clothes, hugging one another appeared in front of him.

"Mom, dad...are you guys on Venus?"

"Yes. We suddenly wanted to take a vacation, so we chose here," said his father.

"So, how was it?"

"It was fine until the Royal Guards came and started 'protecting us. As if we needed their protection," complained Edward's mother.

"Well, I understand your frustration. They even follow me everywhere. As you know, aunty Amelia complains a lot when I dish them, talking about proper royalty protocol. So, just ask them to enter stealth mode, then pretend like they are not here."

"That's indeed a good idea." Then, Edward's mother--who was also called Morgana--rushed out of the frame.

Meanwhile, Edward's father, Edgar Bones, looked at his son and asked: "Are you preparing to leave?"

Edward paused for a moment before nodding his head. His father sighed out loud.

"Is it dangerous?"

"Yes."

"You know that I support all you do, but your mother has become more sensitive after being revived. So, do not tell her, and make sure to create a way for her not to find out."

Edward nodded his head, and once his mother returned, the family had a long conversation about many things before ending the call.

"What's next, Morgana?"

"The Empress is waiting for you to have lunch."

"What about the other Imperial Concubines?"

"Most of them are preparing for the Inspection three days from now."

Edward--who was in a large bath with many maids bathing him--continue asking: "Continue."

"You have to attend the launch 5 days from now."

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes, master. Recently, I have noticed that the stress level of Imperial Concubines Fleur Delacour has risen quite significantly compared to usual. I'm afraid that she is quite worried about the Inspection. You should probably do something about that."

Edward pondered for a moment, then he said: "If I remember correctly, I've prepared gifts for all of them for the next 100 years. Take one of them and send it to her with a card saying that everything will be fine. Do not forget to copy my handwriting.

"Wait. The last time I had you copy my handwriting, Luna discovered the truth and I was labeled as insensitive; all of them except for Bellatrix did not talk to me for three months. So, I'll write the note instead."

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8 more chapters.

Next Chapter Title: Inspection (I)