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651. The Empire's Age of Exploration: Jean Claude's Planar Expedition
🕑 Added 2024-12-15 17:08:29 +0000 UTCJean Augustus Claude opened his eyes, feeling out of place. “The same dream again,” he complained as a potion appeared in his hand, and he swallowed it. It has been more than a thousand years for him, but he still remembers those years.
The wizards had just made themselves public, and before the world could adapt, the Dementors invaded. Claude was living in the now Haitian Region, trying to survive a country whose resources had been plundered by the US a few years ago. The people he knew suddenly started to enter a coma as the dementors sucked their souls.
The terrifying part about the entire experience was the fact he could not even see the opponent. So, when the wizards started recruiting logistic staff, he signed up. Then, with their magetech, he saw these creatures of abomination for the first time. Since then, he has hated them with a passion.
After Queen Hermione finished Project Magician, Claude was detected to have a talent for magic. He started his glorious journey as an Arcanist. His talent was excellent, and he made great strides, but he has kept the same dream since his career began. This dream has haunted him since. He was even forced to see a mandated Spiritual Arcanist, but he still could not get rid of it.
Claude checked his watch, which awakened him from his meditation—he was needed in the Strategy Room. He stood from his meditation mat and left the room. He could have teleported, but he wanted to clear his head using the walk, which might have been a mistake.
Bang!
Someone ran into him, splashing food all over his gorgeous blue and red robe with palm tree patterns on the cuffs. An unknown anger rushed into his clouded mind, but he controlled himself. As a high-level Arcanist, it was a basic skill to be able to control your emotions. He looked at the young man before him and accessed his Mind Palace to find his identity.
“You’re Andrew Shwartz, correct?”
“Sir…Sir Claude,” stuttered a handsome young man. He was only an apprentice; now, he may have offended his boss.
“Don’t you know it’s against the rules to take food out of the cafeteria?”
“I’m sorry,” Andrew swiftly said.
“Explain yourself.”
“There is much work to be done,” Andrew responded. Although Claude did not release an aura, he still instinctively felt fear. “I was so busy and figured I could eat on my way. Many…” Andrew wanted to say he was not the only one but figured he might be ostracized if people found out he was the one who told the boss.
Claude paused. He remembered this intern was on Tier 3 and thus could not survive on energy alone — he still needed food. However, this was not a good enough excuse. “You could have used a Nutrient Potion.” One Nutrition Potion could provide a Tier 1 Arcanist with the energy and nutrition to keep them from hunger for one year—six months for Tier 2 and 3 months for Tier 3.
Andrew lowered his head after hearing this.
“Well?”
“Sir, you only stock the regular potion.” Claude’s lips twitched as he understood the latter’s meaning. Nutrition Potion tastes horrible unless you ask a Potionist to alter the recipe and increase the taste. The thing is, the ones with flavors are more expensive. Claude had already used a ton of money on this expedition, so he became cheap when buying these potions. After all, there were only a few apprentices and a cafeteria.
“This is not a valid reason to break the rules. 3 Points will be deducted from your evaluation,” Claude said, and Andrew showed a painful expression. However, the young apprentice soon felt relieved. This sentence was relatively lenient.
Claude dismissed the latter while activating the auto-cleansing effect of his magical robe. “I shouldn’t have accepted these apprentices,” he complained. Unfortunately, he had no choice. There is a trial program with these apprentices as the first test rune. The government offered a lot of discounts for people who were willing to take them. And from what Claude knows, these apprentices are much safer than him. He might die in this expedition, but he knew for a fact that nothing would happen to these apprentices.
He walked to the main room full of people and waved his hand to prevent them from standing up and saluting him. “What’s the situation?” Motes of lights descended from the sky next to him, condensing into his tower spirit — his Morgana.
Unlike Edward’s, this artificial spirit was fully grown. She was black with a revealing naked upper body and a skirt. She was clad in gold. Her headpiece, the jewelry on her neck, and even her nipples were protected by a gold ornament. Anyone with sufficient knowledge would know she resembled the Sorceress in the critical children's movie Kirikou and the Sorceress.
This was not a coincidence. Claude saw it as a child, and it left a lasting impression on him. So, when it was time to build his own spirit, he modeled her after the sorceress.
“The negotiation has failed,” the Sorceress replied, making Claude frown. “Is there no room for negotiation?”
“I have lowered my bottom line, but she refuses to budge.”
This was not Claude’s first expedition — it was his third. However, he was cautious, so he chose weaker worlds for the first time. This expedition was his first time trying to invade a Tier 8 World. So, he followed the Empire’s Guideline For Peaceful Invasion (an ironic name)l and tried to negotiate with the Plane Will.
“Do you want to try it yourself? The Sorceress asked.
“No need,” Claude responded. The guideline said there were many risks with communicating with a Plan Will, primarily soul injuries and leaking memories and secrets. That’s why it is suggested for the Arcansit’s Tower Spirit to do the negotiations.
“Since the peaceful approach has failed, let’s begin the descent.”
A large screen appeared before Claude, and after his words, everybody started moving. An unknown plane in the Astral Realm had a majestic blue tower standing above the plan’s crystal wall. After Claude’s order, the tower started to move by forcefully entering this realm.
Numerous screens appeared before Claude, showing him the process and the data. He did not care for most except one: Energy Level: 93%.
‘The resistance was much higher than before,’ he thought. In his previous expedition, he conquered a Tier 6 Plane, and by then, his energy level had remained at 99.3%.
“Sir, we’ve arrived,” the Sorceress said.
“What’s the status?”
“The Plane Will has already started its suppression.”
“Then, we need to land as soon as possible,” Claude said. “Quickly scan the surroundings for any signs of life and land as far away as possible from them.”
Claude waited a while until he felt a slight shaking sensation. He nodded while keeping his eyes on the data. “Shield integrity already down to 89%? This Plane Will is really active. Activate the Law Resonance Spell.”
Under his order, the tower released a potent spell that instantly affected the entire plane. It has been 70 years since Edward left, and the Empire started its age of Exploration. Many innovations were made during that period, especially ones targeting plane invasions. The Law Resonance Spell was the most recent research, released less than 3 years ago,
It had one purpose — resonating with the laws or authorities of a plane and disrupting it, forcing the Plane Will to divert its attention to fix the problem. Such an invention was extraordinary since it involved the law, and what’s more, Edward was not the one who created it. Of course, he contributed.
This project was successful for several reasons, the first of which is the advanced Dragon Language and Intent that Edward brought from other worlds. These two allowed the Empire to improve its study of laws significantly.
Another contributor is Chris Tiu. His Will Meditation Method allowed Arcanists to raise their Willpower to level 5. This was not enough to access the Laws of most universes, but enough for weak planes below Tier 4. As such, most Arcanists who reach the requirement will conquer these plans to study the law.
“How is the situation?” Claude asked.
“The suppression on us has drastically decreased.”
“But?”
“Our energy level was reduced to 73%?”
“What? It took so much energy to cast the spell? Damn it, I knew I shouldn’t sign up for this kind of prototype,” Claude complained. The Law Resonance Spell was something new, so the Empire subsidized anyone willing to use it and gather data for them.
Claude exhaled to calm down. “Don’t forget to write that in the report. It’s best for you also to complain. Maybe the Empire will reimburse us somehow.”
“I doubt that,” the Sorcerer responded.
“We will not lose anything if we try,” Claude replied before focusing on the situation. Then, warning signs echoed in the room.
“What is it this time?”
“We have detected signs of life about 5 kilometers from us?”
“I thought I ordered to land far away—”
“We did. The closest life signs to us should have been at least 120 kilometers.”
“That only means this might be a civilization that has mastered the power of space,” Claude uttered. “Deploy the Sorcerer Eyes. I want eyes on the enemy.”
Comments
hector lyng
Thank you very much for the chapter
