Morgana quickly scanned the zombie to analyze why it turned into an undead without Death Magic.
"Cosmic Energy?" she muttered. "A large amount of cosmic energy was introduced into its body, forcibly altering its DNA. Is this the experiment of the Intelligens?"
"It would take time to slowly study and understand cosmic energy," replied Edward as he looked at the zombie. "So, they found a planet with humans of similar genetic base and bombarded the entire planet with massive amounts of cosmic energy.
"The people with talent will survive the process and have their DNA forcibly altered, gaining powers and the ability to control cosmic energy. Meanwhile, the one who fails will turn into this shape."
"A very rude but effective method," commented Morgana. "But something is wrong. The people who fail to adapt to the cosmic energy should not end in this situation."
"You're right. Based on our understanding of comics energy, their genes should have collapsed, resulting in death–they should not turn into zombies."
"Do you think it was the result of the concentration? After all, we have never experimented with placing ordinary people under such tremendous energy."
"That's a possibility," replied Edward as he reviewed the data from the scan. However, he did not find anything–including a virus like the T-Virus.
"Let's continue to observe," said Edward, and the two teleported to a location where he sensed a clash of energy.
He saw two people fighting. To be precise, a human and a massive bear. The human had the ability to metalize his body, turning into a silver man. Meanwhile, the bear could create an energy construct in the shape of bear claws.
Both were Tier 2 and fought nonstop, trying to kill each other.
"Both had their genes forcibly altered by cosmic energy," analyzed Morgana. "And it seems through repeated use of their abilities, they can passively absorb the energy in the surroundings to strengthen their genes."
"Very primitive power system, but the fact they already created a Tier 2 entity in a few months, that's a feat," commented Edward. "And they might not be the most powerful creatures on this planet."
Edward read the mind of these two and learned a few things about the people of this world.
"5 Disaster Class Ability Users and 7 Demon Kings; how interesting."
There are 5 people on this planet whose strength reached Tier 4, capable of destroying a country on their own. Then, there are 7 animals who also reached this level.
"Master, did you find something interesting?"
"Yes, let's check it out."
He teleported to a place with human habitat. It was a military city with countless humans living in a city surrounded by massive steel walls. While invisible, Edward appeared in a room where a man of South Asian descent sat cross-legged deep in meditation.
A few minutes later, the man opened his eyes and sighed:
"I need to reach Disaster Class as soon as possible. My method is the future of humanity."
The man stood up from his position and walked to the window, looking into the horizon.
"That man, could it be?" asked Morgana.
"That's right–he's a path seeker like me," replied Edward. "Most of the humans on this planet rely on the mutation of their genes to acquire their powers. However, he created a method to sense, absorb, and control cosmic energy.
"Although this method is rough and rudimentary, it's still a great accomplishment for such a short period."
Morgana swiftly scanned his body and discovered a crystal in his brain, "He condenses a crystal of cosmic energy in his brain, acting as an energy core. However, he recently reached the limit of Tier 3 and is searching for a way to reach Tier 4."
"In his current state, if he wants to reach a higher Tier, he has two options. The first is to walk Sorcery's path and find ways to control the cosmic energy in the environment.
"And the second is to condense more core. However, the brain is a very complicated machine. He was lucky to choose the right place for the first one, but he might not be lucky a second time."
Edward was not speaking nonsense as he used Time Magic to look at the past and saw this person condense the first Cosmic Energy Core, and it was purely out of luck he succeeded.
His method was perfect, but he chose the brain for the core, which has its advantage. However, although this person can be considered a genius in energy manipulation–especially cosmic energy–he knew very little about anatomy or the human brain.
So, the location he chose succeeded only out of luck.
"Boss, what should we do? Do you want to bring him back to the Empire? He's very talented and could make a great Arcanist," asked the purple-haired elf.
"No–at least, not now. Let this planet develop on its own to see what kind of civilization it can create. Then, we can show up and take the fruit."
After a few years, the Empire might increase its understanding of Cosmic Energy based on this planet's development.
Furthermore, this planet also walked the path of Gene Modification but using cosmic energy. The Empire can also benefit from this aspect of its technology tree.
"In that case, we must take control of this planet from the Intelligens."
"Correct, but wait until we discover what's going on with them."
"Okay. Do you want to go now?"
"Not yet. I want to know how these zombies appeared," replied Edward. "Before we leave, let's give him a Luck Potion to help him achieve Tier 4."
Edward secretly gave the man the potion before disappearing. He began to capture, observe, and experiment on the zombies.
"There is a weird energy affecting their bodies," noted Morgana. Not every human with low energy affinity turned into a zombie. Many died due to gene collapse, but the rest only became sick for a while before surviving, with no power.
The previous man, Raj, was one of these people. But, he used his knowledge of meditation to sense cosmic energy and created a method to condense the core.
So, the zombies were an anomaly.
"This energy seemed to be a negative polarity of cosmic energy. Let's call it Dark Cosmic Energy," added Morgana.
"And you said I'm bad at naming."
However, she chose to ignore him. "The problem is where this thing originated. The Empire never discovered this aspect of Cosmic Energy. Is it some type of change due to the concentration? However, this conjecture does not seem to have much merit."
Edward pondered for a moment, but he could not think of anything. So, he said: "This energy should appear when the experiment begins. So, let's observe them and see if we can detect something."
He did not hesitate and activated his time magic to see when the Intelligens experiment began a few months back. He saw how everything was normal until a bright light appeared in the sky during the broad daylight.
Then, everything changed for this planet.
Soon, Edward sensed the weird energy that mutated the people into zombies. Morgana quickly recorded its fluctuation before ending the time spell. Then, Edward also began to search for the origin of the energy.
He closed his eyes as he sensed. He soon found a direction.
'The Multiverse?'
He continued searching and soon found himself in the Blank Realm, looking at the infinite timelines.
(Blank Realm: the space between timelines. Also, the place black holes send things it swallows.)
'No, something is wrong,' said Edward while in this Mind Projection state. 'There is a dark, depressing, and negative aura surrounding the timeline, I noticed. What's going on?"
Edward's mind jumped from one timeline to another, and he always felt this negative aura. He even sensed it while in the Blank Realm. Countless thoughts flashed in his mind as a term came into his mind:
"The Dark Multiverse?"