章節 148: Existential Crisis
[If you are interested in reading 10 chapters ahead, go check out my Pa.tr.eon with the link https://www.patréon.com/LazySageDao, or just type in my writer's name in the website. The plot is getting exciting there and you guys can support me in any way you can.
Additionally, go read my other novel [Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor] and [The Otsutsuki Clan: A Legacy of Blood and Destruction], it's a Naruto Fanfic with an evil MC born in the Otsutsuki clan.
Join the discord: https://discord.gg/bnsezTApeY]
________
After leaving Xing, Edward did not go anywhere specific, he just teleported to his dimension and continued his work. A few days later, while taking a break, Edward sat in a chair in a room with a large screen in front of him.
On this screen, he watched everything that the Elric brothers went through after their last meeting. And to his astonishment, almost everything occurred as it did in the original anime; his involvement had only a little impact on the overall story.
Although this was what he wanted, he felt that something was wrong.
"Morgana, did you discover any [Correcting Force of Fate] like the one in our world?"
"No, master. Everything seemed normal."
Edward frowned after hearing this. This could only mean two things: either there is no power of fate existing in this world and the fact that everything happened like it was supposed to despite his intervention is merely a coincidence.
Or, Morgana is incapable of noticing the power capable of guiding everything back on his original track. Of course, Edward believed that the second option is the best explanation.
The entire Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood anime can be interpreted as a game between God (Truth) and humans (the Elric brothers). Truth believed that humans--or Alchemists--have become arrogant and boastful as they pushed the boundaries of science by conducting inhuman experiments.
Even when they know that Human Transmutation is taboo, many still decide to play God by trying to revert the power of Death. So, Truth always punished these people severely and in an ironic way.
For example, Edward Elric was trying to revive his mother, which was the pillar of their family. So, in retaliation, Truth took Edward's leg or his pillar to stand. Izumi Curtis wanted to bring her child back from the dead, in return, her ability to conceive children was taken away from her.
To Edward, the whole story is essentially Truth trying to see whether humans can learn from their mistakes, acknowledge their limitations, and respect the laws of nature.
And in the end, when Edward Elric chose to sacrifice his Gate of Truth and lose the ability to perform Alchemy to save his brother, he finally humbled himself and accepted the fact that he was just an ordinary human, and should never try to play God.
This is one of the reasons that in the end, Truth told him that he beat him; Edward finally won the game. Meanwhile, Father or the Dwarf in the Flask--who never learned any lessons during the game--served as a foil to the Elric Brothers, and he was punished severely for his actions.
All these thoughts quickly flashed across Edward's mind as he watched the videos. To him, only Truth may be able to slowly control fate to this extent and ensure that things develop as they should.
However, Edward still had many questions; to be precise, his theory still had many flaws. For example, why did Truth allow him to intervene if his actions had no significance whatsoever?
Could it be that it was trying to teach Edward a lesson as well? Or, because he did not intervene that much in the story, his impact was not enough to create large ripples in this timeline?
Thinking of this, Edward quickly looked through the videos, focusing on the things that did change because of him.
The first change was related to the homunculus, Greed. In the original timeline, he was not discovered by the other Homunculi until the Battle of Dublith when he was killed by Wrath after capturing Al.
However, since the homunculi suspected that he was the one to inform Edward of their plans after he was dissected by Edward and released, he was tracked down and almost killed.
However, he managed to escape
Unfortunately, things did not change much after that. Obsessed with finding a way to place his soul in armor like Al as a form of immortality, he still kidnapped him. And in the end, Wrath still discovered and captured him in Dublith. And like the original timeline, he was swallowed by Father and remade into a new homunculus.
The second thing that changed was that after the Elric brothers returned to see their teacher, they learned that their formula for human transmutation was flawed, and what they summoned was not even their mother. According to the original timeline, they learned this fact from their father Hohenheim, then told their teacher.
The third and final thing that changed was after Ed was accidentally swallowed by Gluttony along with Lin Yao, he was not as desperate as he was in the original timeline.
That's because he instantly remembered Edward's little talk about teleportation and knew a way out; however, he was still hesitating on what toll to pay once he opened the Gate again.
After knowing about this, the Xing Prince Lin Yao did not hesitate to ask Ed to use some parts of his body as a toll. According to him, he was completely fine with living with an automail.
In the end, Envy discovered them while they were bickering, and Ed--just like the original--decided to compromise his morals and used Envy's Philosopher's Stone as a toll.
After that, everything was the same as usual; whether it was Lust's death, Scar's meeting with May Chang, and all the political plots involving Colonel Mustang and the higher-ups of the military.
As Edward watched all these happening, a sudden thought came to his mind. He once read a novel in his past life about a place called the God Space that randomly chose ordinary people from Earth and sent them into movies, films, and anime worlds with specific missions.
And after these people complete the missions, the timeline of the world will be restarted and a new group of people will be sent again. One thing that caught his attention about this novel was the reason that the powerful being who created the God Space sent these people into these worlds.
The reason was that by destroying the established plot or destiny of these worlds, these entities could absorb the source of the entire world to increase their strength.
As for how this applies to him? Well, Edward has always wondered the reason he was miraculously reincarnated into the world of Harry Potter. Now, he was wondering if some powerful being was also using him for some purpose and he did not even know about it.
These kinds of thoughts brought Edward a great deal of existential dread, but he quickly placed these thoughts in the back of his head. He knew that he tended to be paranoid, so he did not think about it any longer.
Anyway, if his conjecture is true, there is currently nothing he can do about it now. So, all he can do is move forward and become powerful, then the truth will eventually be revealed.
After that, he ordered Morgana to keep watching these events unfold as he continued his research. He ignored the little elf's complaint that he was beginning to develop some voyeuristic tendencies and took out a special notebook:
It was Scar's brother's notes on the combination of Xingese Alkahestry and Amestrian Alchemy. This book contained how to reverse the control Father had over the tectonic energy which granted him the ability to deprive Alchemists of their powers.
________
Next Chapter Title: Fort Briggs
章節 149: Fort Briggs
[If you are interested in reading 10 chapters ahead, go check out my Pa.tr.eon with the link https://www.patréon.com/LazySageDao, or just type in my writer's name in the website. The plot is getting exciting there and you guys can support me in any way you can.
Additionally, go read my other novel [Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor] and [The Otsutsuki Clan: A Legacy of Blood and Destruction], it's a Naruto Fanfic with an evil MC born in the Otsutsuki clan.
Join the discord: https://discord.gg/bnsezTApeY]
________
Edward Elric sat in a medical room while listening to a female doctor telling him about how he needed to have a special automail because of the cold weather in the north, otherwise, he would freeze to death.
He placed his clothes back on, then complained about how he was forced to pay 100 cents for coffee that was not that good. Then, the door suddenly opened with three people walking in.
"Mr. Bones, you're also here?"
"Oh, it's Edward number 2. How have you been doing?"
"You know this individual?" interrupted a beautiful woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue army uniform. While standing, she exuded an air of dominance and authority.
"Major General Armstrong," saluted the doctor.
"At ease," replied Olivier before looking at the Elric Brothers. "Answer my question."
"We've met him before and he helped save the lives of a friend of ours. But, General, how do you know him," replied Ed.
"A few days ago, this man showed up here and I thought he was a spy, so I tried to capture him. Unfortunately, he single-handedly defeated all my men--and with no effort."
Ed and Al were momentarily surprised, however, after thinking about how knowledgeable of an alchemist he was, they thought that it made sense.
"Mr. Bones, I thought you were headed to Xing?" asked Al.
"I am, but I decided to visit the north beforehand."
The reason that Edward lied was that he knew that these two were looking for May Chang to learn Alkahestry, and if they knew that he already visited there, they might ask him instead.
Edward has no problem teaching them. Over the years, he has discovered that he had a passion for teaching. Nevertheless, since he decided not to interfere too much with the plot, he decided to avoid them for now.
Meanwhile, Olivier looked at these people happily chatting like acquaintances, coughed out loud to get everyone's attention, then she proceeded to ask the Elric brothers about their attention for coming to Fort Briggs.
And just like in the anime, she did not cuddle these brothers even though they were children.
'She deserved the title of Ice Queen,' thought Edward to himself.
After the conversation ended, Olivier asked her men to give the brothers a job, then she left the medical room. Edward along with Captain Buccaneer followed her.
"Those two boys haven't exactly had easy lives, General," said the Captain as he secretly looked at Edward. His eyes showed that he was both on guard against him, as well as worship and a little fear.
"I believe that they may have witnessed some carnage in their times. But I can tell that on the inside they remain soft and weak. And what's more, those two have a secret they aren't telling us."
Olivier then looked at Edward who magically had some weird fruit bag on his hand and ate it nonchalantly; her intuition told her that he knew something.
Soon, the three of them reached Olivier's office. Edward and she entered while the Captain remained on guard outside. While still eating, Edward looked at the General on her chair and asked:
"So, have you thought about my offer?"
She looked at him with a serious face for a moment before saying: "You randomly appeared out of nowhere, tell me that you're a wizard from another world and an Emperor to a vast Empire.
"Then, you offered me to become your concubine and promised me to lead an army, unlike anything I could possibly imagine. Tell me, if you were a normal person, how would you feel?"
Edward pondered for a moment, "Well, you have a point. How about I show you some proof first?"
"I would appreciate that very much."
Nodding his head, he made a downward motion in the air, then a space fissure occurred before a Gate suddenly appeared in the room. Looking at the General that was trying hard to retain her composure, Edward smiled and said: "After you."
Olivier paused for a moment, then she stood up from her chair and walked inside the Gate while Edward followed her. For a brief moment, she could only see white, making her eyes a little hard to adjust.
Then, Olivier saw something that she could not describe with words. She was in a room and in front of her were countless large rectangular metallic structures. She estimated that the smallest of them was at least 3 kilometers long.
"What are those things?" asked Olivier.
"They're spaceships," replied Edward. However, after seeing the confusion in her face, he added: "I forget that the technology of this world is still in WWI. Think of it as a tank that can fly."
Olivier nodded as she understood. Meanwhile, Edward snapped his finger, then the two of them suddenly appeared inside one of the medium-size ships, inside the control room.
"Morgana, take control of the ship."
"As you wish, master." Countless lights suddenly turned themselves on, and not long afterward, the ship started to levitate.
During the process, Olivier tried her best to remain composed and not show any surprise on her face; she had her pride to maintain. Even though she had many questions, she did not immediately ask.
After seeing this, Edward mentally nodded his head. One of the reasons he wanted Olivier to become his wife was not just because of her beauty, but because of her military leadership ability and composure during difficult times.
In the future, the Empire's Marine Fleet will be one of the most powerful military divisions. As such, he wanted the majority of control of such a force to be in the hands of the royal family. If Olivier becomes his wife, he would be relieved to have her take control.
Of course, not now. Only after they have established a certain level of trust and affection.
"Morgana, go to the testing site and use the lowest level of attack," commanded Edward.
Following this, Olivier discovered that the environment suddenly changed and she was now floating in the air above a deserted plain with nothing in sight. A screen suddenly appeared in front of her showing a cannon that was pointing at the plan underneath.
A white light flew from the cannon and hit the ground.
Boom! A massive explosion occurred, and for the first time, Olivier displayed shock on her face. The reason for that was the fact that this attack was powerful enough to destroy the entire country of Amestris.
"Are you telling me that this is the lowest level of attack?" she asked in a solemn tone.
"Yes. Unless you switch to Target Mode which is designed to attack single individuals."
Olivier took a deep breath to calm herself down. She has spent a great deal of her life guarding the Northern Borders, and she thought that she has seen many things.
But nothing compared to this. This single ship had the power to easily destroy the country of Amestris; no, it could take over the world with no effort whatsoever. No one could stop it.
And this man had dozens if not hundreds of them lying in a room.
"Is this the most powerful army of your Empire?"
"Technology-wise, yes," replied Edward. "However, in terms of size, this is not even considered a small fleet."
At this point, Olivier was a little numb to being surprised. "Can you tell me a little about your Empire?"
"No problem," replied Edward with a slight smirk on his face.
________
Next Chapter Title: Decision
每周推薦票狀態
200+ 推薦票
榜單 
134 推薦票 
段落評論