Chapter 371: Another Lynchpin

After the dinner, Edward, his wives, and his aunt had a meeting since he wanted to show them something. He led them to a storage room inside his Floating City.

"Who wants to go first?" he asked, holding a book.

"Is this what you called Grimoire?"

"Yes. It is connected to this magical artifact," replied Edward, pointing at a bookshelf. "This artifact has the power of the Universe Will acting as an Artificial Spirit similar to Morgana. The artifact is connected to the Grimoire, which is connected to your mind and soul."

"And using it, it can calculate and create spells perfectly suited for my need?" asked Rowena.

"Yes. And you won't need to learn much knowledge to wield this spell. You will still need to practice to master it completely."

"That would make a great magic system perfectly suited for Battle Mages," commented Luna.

"That's true. This thing can also help us wield certain previously difficult magic: for example, time magic," added Edward. "Arcanists can also use it as extra spell slots to relieve the pressure from their Mind Space."

Not all Arcanists can instantly create magic circles inside their Mind Space to instantly cast spells. Some have to leave the spells inside, placing pressure on their Soul Dimension/Mind Space.

However, with the Grimoire, they can use it as an unlimited Magic Scroll, granting them more spells spots. The Grimoire is helpful to elite Arcanists that do not need spell slots in their Mind Space.

They can use it to hold certain powerful spells that require long chants or preparations.

"I want to go first," said Rowena. Edward nodded before having her place her hands on the brown color Grimoire. Runes appeared on the surface before entering her eyebrows.

Then, the Grimoire's cover changed to grey, with a sigil that looked like the Ravenclaw crest at Hogwarts. Rowena quickly opened the book to check the spell inside.

She raised her hand to create a sphere with roman numerals floating on a ring that surrounded the sphere.

"I should have guessed you would get Lucius' Time Magic," commented Edward. "After a little study, you won't need the Grimoire to use Time Spells."

Rowena smiled before changing the page. "Interesting," she muttered before creating a small grey orb in her other hand. Suddenly, everyone felt a sense of danger and took a step back-even Edward.

"Is that void energy?" he asked in shock. Although it was extremely low in quality, he recognized it.

"Yes. The spell allowed me to store and release void energy from my soul."

Edward then remembered Rowena's experiment ever since he first met her. She would absorb a small portion of void energy in her soul, making her sick and dying in the process.

Then, she would allow her soul to adapt to it before increasing the amount. Her objective was to mutate the composition of her soul, granting it the ability to control void energy.

Her experiment was dangerous. And Edward tried to talk her out of it, but she was stubborn. Ultimately, he had to ask Merlin for some unique potions for the soul to ensure nothing went wrong.

"This spell will really help my research," commented Rowena. Meanwhile, Edward looked at the bookshelf's magical artifact.

'It seems there is a benefit in using a Universe Will as the core for an Artificial Spirit.'

If he had the opportunity, he would find a way to update Morgana using a Universe Will.

After giving himself a mental note, Edward had the others also acquire their Grimoire. Hermione's attribute was Space and Summoning, Fleur was Mind Control, Luna acquired Vanessa's Fate Rewriting Magic, Olivier had extreme ice, Bellatrix had some death-related attribute, and Wiz had both Light and Dark Magic.

As for Amelia, she had all four elements of fire, wind, earth, and water. In the end, each person's main attribute did not matter much since Edward controlled the artifact and could give their Grimoires whatever spell they wanted.

The main reason he had them use it was to test the artifact and see if there were any problems in using it in this universe. So, once everything finished, he had to get down to business.

However, before everyone changed location, Luna suddenly stopped as he eyes turned all white again, gathering the attention of everyone present, waiting for her.

"I've found another lynchpin," she said a few minutes later. "His name is Chris Tiu."

Immediately, the person's information appeared before the group, showing a middle-aged man of Philippine descent.

"Do you have any idea of the reason he's a lynchpin?" asked Edward as he reviewed the other's life and record. The only words to describe this man was dedicated and hard-working.

"It seems to be related to the Grimoire you brought."

"I see. In that case, we'll deal with him like we did the others," he replied. "By the way, what happened to Havika Kainalu, the other lynchpin?"

"He succeeded in his project, and you will not believe what he found."

"Oh, is it that important?"

"Yes, and of the highest level to the Empire's development," commented Olivier.

"In that case, I can't wait to meet him."

Edward had a lot to do, but Havika was not currently the priority. Once he dealt with everything else, he'll meet the young man whose innovation was so crucial to the Empire.

For the next few hours, Edward spent time catching up on what had happened in the past ten years since he left for the Black Clover World. He learned about political, economic, cultural, and military changes.

"As you can see, we have done a great job so far integrating so many cultures, races, and ethnicity into the Empire. Nevertheless, there is still some problem with racism and prejudice that needs to be taken care of."

Edward nodded as he looked at the date. All schools in the Empire, scattered in different star systems, have to learn about other cultures, languages, history, and customs. And all citizens also have a mandatory online class to learn the same thing, and failure to do so will result in trouble with the law.

Although it has become a nightmare for citizens to learn so many things, in a society with memory magic, it is not as much of an issue as one would think.

"Some races do not want to interact with outside forces," commented Amelia. "I've decided to let them live an isolated life in their home planets, under the Empire's protection, as long as they provide certain resources."

Some races do not want outside influences to intervene in their way of life. And so, based on the individual case, Amelia decided which to accept their request and which to ignore.

"Anything specifically I need to deal with?"

"Yes. With the expansion of our borders, there has been an increase in representatives in the council. And most of these new representatives are determined to ask for nobility titles.

"I've shut them down before, but they were insistent. So, I've sent the Ghost Squad to visit them. At first, they backed down. But a few years later, they returned-even more aggressive than before.

"According to a recent investigation, there might be a team of Tier 7 Arcanists supporting them secretly. And this group might have a tie to the new Death Cult."

"Nobility title, huh?" he muttered as he looked at the bill proposition. These new representatives were once nobles that treated ordinary people worse than dogs; they held all the wealth and magical knowledge, preventing people at the bottom from rising.

Once the catastrophe began, they quickly surrendered to the Empire, but they were not happy that they no longer had any privileges. A few even wanted to make magic less accessible to the public, returning things to how things were on their controlled planets.

Now that they've used the Empire's resources to become more powerful and acquire wealth and immortality, they want to change things to the old ways.

"I'm going to update the Floating City. Once I'm done, Luna can use its power to divine all the people connected to these people. Then, we will deal with them in one fell swoop."

After that, Edward discussed many problems the Empire was facing. There was a rise in the crime rate because of the sudden increase in population and the lack of manpower due to the war.

Many people protested the constant expansion of the borders; these people did not like the Empire's colonialist nature.

Planet Earth's mana level had reached a record high, and the process of mana revival ended. Many people born with magical talents appeared in the Empire. At the same time, many animals evolved into magical beasts.

The Atlanteans had to surrender after the war started. Olivier did not want them to become a destabilizing factor, so she ordered their conquest. The Martians suffered a catastrophe that almost wiped out their species.

There were many things to deal with, and he suffered through the process. And once he finished, Olivier told him:

"There is someone you need to see and decide how to deal with."

Immediately, Edward sensed something was wrong as everyone present had a serious look on their faces.