(AN: Unedited Chapter.)
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"So, what do you guys think about my proposal?" asked Edward.
"Do we have a choice?" said Tobias with a wry smile.
"You do," he replied calmly. "You can resist; choose death over submission."
"How can that be a choice?"
"But it is. Well, I guess if you were that kind of person, you would have died long ago by refusing to submit to the God Space."
No one commented on this issue.
"Alright, let's get back to work," he said. "I will use a few spells to help me analyze your power system. I might ask a few questions, and you can answer as long as the seal allows it.
"Let's begin with the elf. What's your name?"
"Set."
Edward waved his hand to cast a spell on the latter. "You didn't answer my question. How did you break my shield?"
"I…I have a weapon created by the Titans."
"Really?" His eyes lit up. "Go get it and show it to me."
"I already included it in my tower. You would need to go inside," replied Set with pain in his voice; he already knew he could not keep that weapon.
"Is that so? Well, wait until I'm finished with the others."
Then, he set his eyes on Sasha.
"You should also be a caster. But why do you give me a strange feeling?"
Sasha did not know what to say, so Edward continued to observe her.
"Your Mana Quantity is very small. It's not stored in a core but fused with an energy vein similar to my world's Mana Vein."
For arcanists, Mana or Magic Vein seemed to be important after Tier 4 since they are no longer limited by their veins to cast spells. Furthermore, the other primary function of veins was to use mana to passively strengthen the bodies of Arcanists. However, with the invention of Aura, this method has become tasteless.
"Your Mana Vein is fused with your soul, which is different from ours," commented Edward. "It seems the more complex it is, the more mana you can contain in your body. Finally, it does not have the effect of increasing the physical body's stats, but it seems excellent in helping with mana control.
"What system are you using?"
"It's the Magic Circuit from the Fate Universe," replied Sasha with caution; she feared this Arcanist would try to dissect her. And her fear was reasonable since Edward would definitely do it if he did not have a better way to analyze her power.
"Fate? This would explain the vague things I saw sealed inside your Soul Dimension." He felt the Empire might benefit after he studied the Magic Circuit. He wanted to create an artificial one for the citizens to increase their Mana Control. And with the Gate of Truth, all citizens of the Empire will have a higher average talent for energy manipulation.
Are you a summoner or Master?"
"Yes."
"Let me see your heroic spirit."
Two people suddenly appeared before Sasha.
"Only two?" asked Edward.
"I have others, but I don't keep them in my soul."
"I see," he nodded as he looked at the two people present: King Arthur and Madara Uchiha.
"Master, I am afraid we have met a powerful opponent," said Saber as she stood before Sasha, guarding her and looking at Edward as if she had seen her greatest enemy.
"King Arthur, I didn't expect our first meeting would be like this," said Edward with a strange look.
"What does that mean?"
"We are technically fellow Apprentice under the same teacher."
Saber frowned for a moment before she seemed to have figured out something, "Merlin and I exist in your universe?"
"Correct."
"Am I a man or woman?"
Edward paused briefly, "I did not expect this would be your first question."
"Answer the question."
Edward could immediately tell this question had become the psychological problem of this version of Arthur.
"You should be a man."
"Should?"
"You die hundreds of years ago in my world. So, I can only use historical records to know your gender."
"Meaning, there is a chance I was a woman, but history changed the record?" she asked back, making Edward speechless.
"Yes. There are many historians who believe you were a woman." Edward did not technically lie since many people in the Empire once argued about King Arthur's gender and even existence during the early stages. However, all doubts were removed once he allowed these historians to use [Time Record] to experience and record the true history of the world.
"That's good."
"Well, please do not resist as I gather data on the composition of your body and existence. I already came to an agreement with your master."
He used a spell to gather data on Saber and Madara's Heroic Spirit existence; he always wanted to create his version of the Throne of Heroes to summon famous legends, myths, and heroes from history to fight for the Empire.
However, unlike the Fate Universe, many of these heroes did not exist, and the ones who did were powerful wizards. However, their power level is based on the standard of the old time. In the current era of the Empire, these people's powers were, at best, Tier 5.
So, he wanted to create these Heroic Spirits by gathering the power of [Myth], which is essentially the same as the Power of Faith. Based on what they were described in stories, myths, and legends, they use the power of fantasy and turn it into reality.
With this method, he could create many fictional characters that have the same powers in their stories or legends. For example, he could recreate Yahweh from the bible as a Heroic Spirit or the Cthulhu from Lovecraft's Mythology.
'She will be the first step in this grand plan. However, I might have to go to the Fate Universe before completing it,' thought Edward before recoding the data; his gain was tremendous after analyzing Madara's body. So, he asked Sasha to turn another person into a Heroic Spirit in front of him.
He chose a powerful clone from his collection as the test subject.
"Excellent. You're next." He looked at Michelle.
"What a weird energy you have. It is full of negative emotions; I've never seen something like that."
"It's curse energy."
"From Jujutsu Kaisen? Interesting," uttered Edward with brilliant eyes. "Do you have a Domain?"
"I have an incomplete one."
"Show it to me."
Michelle deployed her domain, and Edward looked at the surroundings to analyze it.
"I have always wanted to create ways for Arcanists to have a Magical Domain that can compete with the Divine Kingdom of Gods," he said. "So far, my attempts have not been satisfactory. My plan was to study the Jujutsu Sorcerer's Domain Expansion and the Fate World Reality Marble.
"Now, I can take the first step."
He gazed at Michelle. "In the next few days, I will support and train you until you have a complete Domain. Tell me what you need to achieve it, and I will try my best to grant it to you."
"Thank you," said Michelle, trying to contain her excitement. Since the arcanist saw her value, she might have a chance to escape the Samsara Hall's control.
Meanwhile, Sasha secretly cursed how unfortunate she was that one of her Heroic Spirits did not have a Reality Marble.
"It's your turn. What's your name and occupation?"
"Kingsley. I am a Technomancer."
"Very interesting. Most of the technology involved in your body is not new to me. However, it's very unique how they are perfectly integrated into one person."
Edward could tell Kingsley's body was a walking Science and Technology Civilization. As long as he has enough energy or matter, he can create anything.
"What is the most powerful weapon you can create?"
"Tier 5."
"This should not be," said Edward with a frown.
"The Lord God only granted me technology designs for weapons of Tier 5 destructing capabilities."
"But you should be able to calculate and deduce higher weapons."
"I should," said Kingsley with a forced smile. "However, there is a powerful virus in my system that prevents me from doing so. And the only way to acquire and use higher technology…." Kingsley stopped as his face began to contort out of pain.
"No need to say anymore." Edward could guess he wanted to say he needed more points. However, he suddenly became interested; he wanted to know whether this was the result of the Lord God's seal or another form of protection specially created for Kingsley.
(AN; The chapter is not edited.)
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Edward looked at Kingsley for a moment before a look of excitement appeared on his face.
"You don't have a soul?" he asked as he could not access Kingsley's Soul Dimension. He saw the latter's brain that had been modified by biochips to function like a super quantum computer.
"Of course not," replied Kingsley calmly. "The soul is either energy released after death, and this energy is an electromagnetic field that can interact with the physical world.
"Or, something created as the result of quantum mechanics; it arises from the complex interactions of subatomic particles within the brain."
Kingsley was limited in his scientific knowledge because of the restraints from the Samsara Hall. However, he did his research on the soul, and this was the result of his analysis.
Edward's eyes became brighter than the sun. He cast a hundred more spells.
"Morgana, look: my conjecture was right."
A little purple elf suddenly manifested next to Edward and observed Kingsley intensely.
"The existence of a Pure Materialism World," she commented. "I thought your conjecture was simply the result of your paranoia."
"I told all of you I was correct, but you were all so closed-minded," said Edward with a sneer. "Especially you; so smug because you have better computing power than everybody else."
Morgana blushed in shame, "Master, you have to admit: your conjecture was outlandish."
"Even if it was. We have known of the Omniverse. So, anything should be possible."
"But the worlds we have traveled to so far were not so different."
"Compared to the infinite universe in the void, we have not even discovered a trillionth of them."
"True."
"If you don't mind asking, what was your conjecture?" asked Kingsley.
Edward looked at him, "I hypothesized all universes were primarily composed of two concepts: materialism and spiritualism.
"Materialism is responsible for the laws of physics of the world, while spiritualism is the reason why things like mana, Chakra, Curse energy, or even the soul exists; it is the source of all supernatural abilities that science would deem fantasy or fiction."
Edward had a scholarly aura around him, "But I hypothesized the existence of a Pure Material World with no spiritualism. In such a universe, science and technology will be the core with absolutely no supernatural power."
"How is that possible? As long as science develops to a degree, it can modify the genes to acquire powers," argued Set.
"Such a world has spiritualism–albeit the majority of it would be materialism," replied Edward. "In a purely materialistic world, modifying the genes can prolong life but to an extent. They cannot have powers like Kryptonian or Viltrumite. Some species might develop on planets where the gravity is higher than normal, thus evolving higher muscular-skeletal structures than ordinary humans, but these people would never fight tanks or destroy countries or planets. At best, they could fight a bear singlehandedly.
"If humans want to transcend the shackles of death, they have to change their carbon-based lifeform; in other words, they turn into robots or cyborgs.
"They have to upload their memories into perfectly created clones or even into the whole wide web and become electromagnetic lifeforms.
"And only through cybernetic enhancement can supernatural powers can exist. The soul and Soul Dimension do not exist."
"Such a world seems very boring and a nightmare for people with ambitions or desires to be extraordinary," commented Set, thinking about planet Earth where he was from. And he was not the only one who had such a thought; the others thought of their home as well.
"You have no idea," agreed Edward. "According to my hypothesis, such a world would turn any Tier 10 Powerhouse into a normal human."
"Are you serious? On what basis is this assumption?"
"All universe has their own rules and regulation. So, once a Tier 10 Entity enters a universe that absolutely rejects any superpower, the rules of the universe will forcibly change him to adopt, thus stripping them of their powers.
"In fact, I believe even Tier 11 won't be much different in such a world. Only Tier 12 Entities who have transcended the Multiverse will not be affected. Of course, things are not as simple as I stated since there are other things to consider, like the level of the Pure Materialistic World and the amount of World Source it has."
"World Level? World Source?" Set was confused.
"If you don't know, then you don't." Edward shrugged and did not explain.
"There is an alternative to what you said," suddenly added Tobias. "Instead of stripping people of their power, the world rule might turn them into matter of equal energy value."
Edward glanced at him and smiled, "Great minds think alike."
"What does that mean?" asked Michelle, who was confused yet intrigued by the subject.
"The energy intensity of this excellency is Tier 8. After descending on a Pure Materialism World, the universe would turn him into a substance equal to his energy level," explained Tobias; however, Michelle still had a look of confusion.
"Basically, I will be turned into a Star System. Someone like Set would be turned into a Planet," explained Edward.
"Oh, I understand."
Edward looked at Tobias.
"Kid, it seems you are walking on the Body Training Path. That's such a waste of your intelligence. You should become a scientist or magician."
"Not interested."
"Are you sure? If you want, I can take you as my apprentice."
"Thank you for the offer, but I have to decline," he responded with caution. Tobias could tell this Legendary Arcanist was not only powerful but also very knowledgeable.
And from his observation, he seemed easy to talk to. However, he had only recently met the latter and did not know his true personality and temperament; for all he knew, the current him was nothing but a façade.
Furthermore, he chose One Piece's Haki System because of his love for the anime and because he enjoyed pushing his body beyond the limit. No matter how intelligent he was, it would be pointless if he did something he did not like or had any passion for.
"It's a shame."
"Master, don't corrupt the young and innocent," said Morgana.
"What does that mean?"
She did not answer him but looked at the group. "Don't look how cool he is by creating such an interesting conjecture. He only did so because of his paranoia that someone would imprison him in such a world.
"So, he created this hypothesis, thinking of ways he could escape such a prison."
"What you call paranoia, I call being prepared," countered Edward. "Plus, I was not only correct, but I found my way of escape."
His eyes focused on Tobias.
"His Technomancer Class is probably the result of the science and technology universe developing to its absolute peak in a Pure Materialistic World. After analyzing the technology he contained, the Empire will benefit, and I will have a way of escaping a Pure Materialistic World in case I'm ever stuck."
The group looked at him weirdly, not knowing whether to praise the latter's caution or complain he was mentally unstable. However, one thing they agreed with–such a person would thrive in the Samsara Hall just because of his extremely cautious nature.
"Arcanists are believed to be magical civilizations with the best potential because of their adaptive nature to any situation or environment. Today, I finally see the proof," muttered Set, who decided to emulate Edward if he survived this current situation.
"Indeed," commented Morgana. "Even his weirdness is worth of researching."
"Weirdness? What weirdness?" asked Kingsley.
"Why don't you have a soul?"
"Haven't you already understood the reason?" He was confused as even if his computing power could not follow the conversation.
"A high Tier entity will be affected by the rules of the universe after entering a Pure Materialistic World. So, why wouldn't someone of lower tier face the same situation after entering a world with Spiritualism?" asked Edward.
Kingsley paused for a moment, "Indeed. I have been to other universes where the concept of the soul exists. So, according to your logic, I should have been influenced by them and developed a soul and Soul Dimension."
"Correct."
"Could this be the power of the Samsara Hall?"
"That's the most logical explanation," replied Edward.
"But how did it do it?"
"Unfortunately, that's knowledge even beyond me. However, it will be interesting to know."
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