章節 369: Kairos Poisoning

While entering the Milky Way galaxy, Edward sensed some resistance before things finally settled down, and he headed straight home. However, as soon as he arrived, Morgana told him he was discovered despite being in Hidden Mode.

Furthermore, he received notifications that numerous weapons were pointed at him. Luckily, Morgana quickly used his highest authority to calm down all the detection systems in the Solar System.

"Something must have happened for everyone to be on such high alert," he muttered before heading straight to his castle. The moment Edward left the Floating City, he could sense he had access to an enormous amount of mana.

One of the titles the Akashic Record granted him allowed him to take a small portion of mana from all the Empire's citizens. But now, he sensed he had enough mana to reach Tier 8 Star System Level.

"Our population has expanded to this scale?"

Not long after his arrival, Olivier walked into the throne room to see him. She calmly walked toward him with a smile before hugging him. However, Edward was not happy for long as he saw the veins in her neck.

"Kairos Poisoning?"

"Yes," she replied. "Not long after you left, the war suddenly broke out. To cope with the situation, I allowed many Arcanists access to the Time Acceleration Rooms to become Tier 7 quickly, but everyone suffered from Kairos Poisoning as a result."

Before he opened the Time Acceleration Room for people to reach Tier 6 rapidly, he experimented on clones and discovered a form of poisoning called Kairos Poisoning.

The symptoms included certain parts of a person's suddenly aging forward or backward. And in the worst-case scenario, the person could suddenly die of old age or revert to a fetus.

He created a way to suppress the symptoms. However, this resulted in other symptoms such as drastic physical weakening, loss of vitality or life force, soul injuries, and decreased mana control.

Edward frowned as he had not found a cure for Kairos Poisoning yet. But, he was not the same person he was before leaving. He used Lucius' Time Magic to create a bubble around Olivier.

Then, he extracted the anomalous time energy inside her body. The veins on her body shrunk in size but did not completely disappear.

"I will make a potion with time attribute to fix your problem."

"I knew this would not be a problem for you," said the pale-looking Rowena, who had just appeared, accompanied by Luna and Bellatrix. Edward kissed them before removing some of the poison from their bodies.

"When did you get back?"

"Two years after you left," Luna replied.

"Did something happen?"

"No, we succeed in our mission."

"Really? Did you get the watch?"

"Yes, we penetrated that isolated timeline and sneaked in. Then, we can create a clone of you and give it an unsuspicious identity in that timeline. Afterward, we orchestrated the event for your clone to get his hands on the watch."

"Excellent," said Edward. If this infiltration mission succeeds, he won't have to rely on the Akashic Record to travel to other worlds.

Then, he had them accompany him to the palace's lab; he wanted to brew a potion for them as soon as possible. In the Black Clover World, he learned about wide varieties of magic–including poison.

One member of the Black Bull, Gordon Agrippa, was an expert on poison magic. His entire family has been studying poison magic for countless generations. Adding to his new profound understanding of time magic, he learned from the devil, Astaroth. Edward knew he could create a potion to deal with the issue.

Meanwhile, Olivier filled him in on what happened after his absence.

"Not long after you left, an event called the Fall of Darkness occurred. Guzznad suddenly appeared and destroyed the headquarters of the Intergalactic Federation, killing all their powerhouses.

"Afterward, he attacked all the Tier 8 Civilizations. The Elf Kingdom survived because of its Divine Tree but suffered tremendous damage. The Starskin survived because of a strange weapon their Queen used. But they also suffered tremendously.

"The Intelligens seemed to be destroyed in the attack. However, they recently showed up. We do not know how they survived the attack."

Edward frowned after hearing this, but he did not interrupt her and continued brewing his potion.

"As for us, we survived because of the Death Staff and the Aether Core you left for the second Floating City. Even then, 2.7 billion from the solar system died in that attack."

Olivier remembered that attack with great detail. Her, Bellatrix, Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and the Flamel couple had to fight Guzznad back even though they were on a bunch of Tier 6 Arcanists.

Although they succeeded, the Empire lost billions of its people.

"Did you revive these people?" asked Edward.

"We tried but only succeeded in bringing a quarter of them back. Guzznad's Death Authority granted them true deaths, with their souls completely destroyed. Ultimately, we could only honor their memories with a national funeral."

Edward nodded as he knew some things were impossible to change.

"After that, we entered war mobilization mode," continued Olivier. "The first thing I did was to gather the resources needed to build the second Floating City. The process was smoother than expected since the entire galaxy was now in chaos.

"I knew it would take time to build it, so I took some drastic measures. I had the Artificer department use the Time Acceleration Room. However, to combat the Kairos Poisoning, I used clones.

"The Artificer building the city placed their consciousness inside specifically create clones–who would then build the Floating City inside the Time Acceleration Room."

"That would not work," commented Edward.

"You're correct. They built the city relatively quickly, but all the Artificers were poisoned, and many good ones even died."

Olivier sighed as she felt sorrow for the death of these talented individuals. However, in times of war, death was inevitable, and she knew this fact too well. Death has not been completely conquered, even in an advanced civilization like the Empire.

"You did your best, and that's all that matters," said Edward with doting eyes. Olivier smiled at him before continuing.

"With the floating city, and Rowena and Luna's return, the war situation was under control. Guzznad also appeared to be busy regarding something and only appeared in the form of clones that were way weaker than his main body.

"I've proceeded with our plan to use the chaos to annex and expand our territories. We currently have 167 star systems with life and 397 star systems with no life but with resources.

"While all the other civilizations' territories are rapidly shrinking, we are growing exponentially. As long as the other Tier 8 civilizations surrender, we will only have to deal with Guzznad before we can conquer the entire galaxy."

"I see," said Edward as he raised a potion battle before his eyes and swirled it. He shook his head before starting over with new ingredients.

"Do you have any information on the fallen Intergalactic Federation?"

"No, their last leader died two years ago; they are no longer part of the equation."

"What about Guzznad? Any information."

"We know he is somehow related to the Magus Race," said Luna. "And there is a high chance he is after the Divine Sparks and us."

"Can't you divine any information about him?"

"No; he seems to have a very powerful magical artifact related to divination. Many times, he has even bested me."

"The magus race, huh?" muttered Edward as he focused on the potion.

"Everything about them seemed extremely precious," commented Rowena.

"If they are truly the only Tier 11 Civilization this plane has seen, it makes sense," added Bellatrix. After that, the group did not continue talking as they waited for Edward to finish.

A few hours later, he had a blue potion in his hand, and he nodded with satisfaction. He first tested the potion on a clone before he allowed them to use it.

And as expected, most of the chaotic time energy in their body was expelled; their souls were now healed, and they had no problem controlling their mana.

Of course, the potion was not an instant fix, as there were still some problems. But, a month of more recuperation should bring them back to full health.

"So, tell me, how was your voyage?" asked Rowena.

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章節 370: Universe Web

Edward then told them everything that happened to him on his voyage. From the moment he arrived, to be sealed, his time as the Wizard King, and finally, his confrontation with Eve.

Then, he also mentioned his experience in the Konosuba Universe.

During the explanation, Fleur and Hermione came to reunite with the family, telling their experience. Edward then introduced Wiz to the family. The others did not say anything about someone new coming into the family. Instead, they tried to make her feel comfortable and at home.

"Sounds quite like the adventure," commented Luna. "Next time, I won't miss the opportunity."

"We now have 3 Floating Cities and should be able to build a few more. So, everyone can go whenever they please," said Edward.

"You cannot just change everything as you did after the last voyage," said Olivier.

"Is something wrong?"

"Do you remember the Death Cult?" asked Luna.

"Herpos' pawns?" he said with a frown. "I thought I dealt with them already."

"You did, but a new one under Guzznad's control has infiltrated our borders," said Luna. "They first started to lure the citizens with the promise of immortality. However, their tactics failed with the Elixir of Immortality more available because of the war.

"So, they switched to luring people with power. Many people have become traitors because Guzznad promises them to become Divine Mercenaries."

As long as these people do things for Guzznad, such as giving it information, they would receive divine blessings that increase the power of their soul, increase their mana, and even acquire knowledge.

The divine energy of gods is versatile, allowing them to achieve all these things.

"Is the situation worse?" asked Edward with a frown.

"The Ghost Squad, Diviner, and Intelligence Department have rendered the situation manageable. However, it is impossible to hide such a large change from Guzznad's grasp."

"So, a clean-up is in order?"

"If possible, yes," said Luna.

"But that's not the main problem," added Olivier. "Ever since the war began, the Universe Web has become an important tool to send information. As you can guess…."

"Our information has been leaked to the outside world," said Edward before caressing his temple.

"Yes. So, if you don't want more of our secrets to be known to the Tier 10 Gods of the Central Region, you have to deal with the issue."

Edward did not say anything else. He's been trying to decipher the Universe Web for decades with no success. He did not even have a starting point he could use, meaning he was utterly clueless.

Everyone quieted down and waited for him to think.

"Let's cheat," said Edward.

"Excuse me?" asked Rowena.

"We don't know anything about the Universe Web, and it would take too long to research it, so let's cheat to get the answer."

"You mean the Akashic Record."

Edward nodded and no longer hesitated. He used his connection to the record and asked the price for information on the Universe Web.

"Fuck," he screamed, losing control.

"Watch your tongue," grunted Rowena. However, Edward ignored her and showed her the price for the information. The word "fuck" almost escaped her mouth; she only controlled herself out of pure unwillingness to make the same mistake he had just corrected him on.

Edward then showed everyone the price–even Wiz. However, she was confused about the meaning behind the information. Although Edward had her undergo learning training to be up-to-date on the ongoings of the Empire, certain information was not present in her learning module.

So, he condensed some of his memories and gave them to her so she could understand the situation. And she also wanted to swear after learning the exorbitant price for such a piece of information.

"Can we afford it?" asked Olivier.

"Morgana, calculate the price."

"As you wish, boss."

A few minutes later, she said: "It would cost us 80% of all the Empire's knowledge."

Edward wanted to throw something at someone. "Even with the knowledge we just brought back?"

"Yes," she replied since her calculation also considered those. Edward sighed and pondered for a moment. A few seconds later, he said: "Let's do it."

"Are you sure? This seems too expensive," said Rowena. And the others agreed with her.

"It's because it's so expensive I want to know the information. I hope the price is worth it."

Edward could see the pain in their face despite agreeing with him. After all, in this world where knowledge equals power, it was a pain to hand over such a vast quantity of knowledge.

"Don't be so sad. There is a high chance we can recuperate our loss with the information gained. Isn't that the reason we started the Empire? To use knowledge to create more knowledge."

"You're right; we should not lose ourselves and become like these other civilizations that hoard knowledge," said Luna. After everyone agreed, Edward no longer hesitated and exchanged with the Akashic Record.

Then, Edward closed his eyes and reviewed a summary of his exchanged knowledge. An hour later, he opened his eyes, full of brightness.

"Mana Grid, the source of all mana," he muttered with excitement. An invisible grid travels throughout the entire universe like veins: the Mana Grid. It is the source of all mana in the universe, and all the leylines on all planets are connected to that energy grid.

The magus race was a race of pure mana, granting them a connection to that grid to draw unlimited energy. They also used the grid as a way to connect and communicate throughout the entire universe.

That was the Universe Web. After the magus race disappeared, the gods discovered and took over the Universe Web, connecting everyone.

"Fascinating. Having access to this grid is like having access to nearly unlimited energy," muttered Edward, thinking about all the possibilities of that information.

"What is it? What did you find?" Rowena hurriedly asked, and Edward sent the information to all of them.

"Is this the source of magic?" asked Hermione.

"At least, in our universe, it is."

"I don't think we can say for certain that's the source of magic," said Wiz, making everybody look at her. However, she was not shy.

"After all, mana is only a certain aspect of magic. What about the other important thing: the soul? We now know where mana comes from, but what about the soul? Is it just an organ that all lives are born with? Or is there another mystery?"

"Wiz has a point," said Edward. "I've theorized that in some universes–most likely the ones where magic does not exist–the soul and its dimension do not exist. Instead, the soul is nothing but a form of consciousness when the brain evolves to a certain stage."

"You're probably correct," said Olivier. "In the Star Trek Universe, the concept of the soul has been studied, and a similar conclusion has been made. Even the clone you made for me had no soul after being influenced by the laws of that universe."

"I'd love to see that study."

"Get back on track," said Hermione. "What can we do with the Mana Grid? Could we block access to the Universe Web in our galaxy?"

"Near infinite energy also means near infinite resources," said Edward. "As for the Universe Web, if you give me some time, I could create a blocker with the Floating City and Brain Room.

"I could also use this opportunity to have Morgana begin invading the Universe Web to acquire information for us."

"It seems that the price we paid was worth it," commented Olivier. "However, before you enter deep research mode, there are many things that you need to deal with."

"That's true. Let's have dinner with my parents, and I'll introduce Wiz to them. After that, I'll begin to deal with these things."

"What about your return? Do you want to announce it now?"

"We'll see."

Afterward, Edward met his parents and had dinner with them, introducing them to his new wife. His mother was happy, his dad secretly jealous, his aunt shaking her head in disapproval, and his cousin, Susan, called out his womanizing ways.

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