On the day of the meeting, Edward took a special spaceship and headed to the meeting. He could have traveled alone, showing how he achieved Multiversal Travel using only his strength and ability. However, he decided it was unwise to show too much power during the meeting, which could easily lead to his other variants teaming up to deal with him.
However, he also knew what kind of people his variants were, so he chose a ship with very advanced technology to show up.
After opening up a portal, Edward headed directly to the coordinate of the meeting. He soon found himself on a somewhat desolate planet on some unknown planet.
His scanner showed him this was once Earth, but all life was eradicated for some reason.
"Was it done naturally or the actions of one of my variants?" muttered Edward before the power of time flashed in his eyes. He saw the reason for Earth's extinction, and it was just misfortune. A giant meteorite took out all life on the planet, just like it did for the dinosaurs.
Edward was a little reassured before focusing on a towering construct floating above Earth's orbit. He immediately sneered as he could see the design was eerily similar to the Citadel.
"One thing about me is I'm somewhat predictable when it comes to certain things."
He knew he would have chosen the same designs if he had been in charge of creating the meeting place for the Council of Bones. Without much hesitation, he controlled his ship to enter this fake citadel.
There was a designated area for people to land and undergo a registering process. Edward looked at the man with the same face as him registering his information, and he felt this experience was somewhat trippy.
"You're G-003?"
"That's correct."
"You only need a small test before attending."
"What test?"
"To detect your tier."
"I see," nodded Edward. "Has the council taken measures to prevent leaks of our data?"
"Such a thing will be discussed in the upcoming meeting," replied Edward A-765. His manner indicated this was not the first time he answered that question. Edward no longer asked any questions and followed the man to the testing area.
He saw the large room for the testing area, and his eyes immediately turned purple.
"What's wrong?" asked A-765 after seeing him stop.
"Why does this machine record my Mana and Soul Fluctuations, even scanning for other energies inside my body?"
A-765 frowned after hearing this before pressing a few buttons on the pad in his hand. Edward immediately knew he shut down these functions and sneered. Without hesitation, he entered before exiting a few seconds later.
"Tier 8," uttered A-765 with a severe tone. So far, the council has recorded seven Tier 8 Variants among thousands. Although all these variants are confident they will reach such heights–especially after coming into contact with the council–reaching this Tier so quickly was still an advantage.
After all, besides the founder of the council, who is rumored to have reached Tier 9, such a tier was the highest in strength.
"Welcome, G-003. I hope you have a pleasant time at the council."
"I hope so too," nodded Edward before leaving the testing room. Meanwhile, A-765 checked his pad and frowned after reading the information displayed.
[Technology Level: Highest Tier.]
A-765 knew what it meant for the ship of G-003 to be classified as the highest tier. Adding on his Tier 8 strength, this meant only one thing:
"Another contender for the Council President, and it's one of the best."
A-765 sighed before focusing on his task. He knew he had no chance of becoming the president. So, his objective was to become the head of the department that kept records on all members of the council.
After entering the council, Edward found himself in a vivid atmosphere with countless people talking, competing, exchanging ideas, and even fighting. An unforgettable look flashed in his eyes as he looked at his variants, specifically the ones who brought their wives.
Unfortunately, these variants had the same taste in women, so their harem was similar to his, minus the ones from other universes.
'It seems my inability to form single, deep, meaningful relationships is a constant of the Multiverse.'
Edward sighed to himself before mingling with these people. The council meeting would not start until five days later, giving everybody enough time to gather information and prepare for any worst-case scenarios.
During these five days, Edward met many variants of himself and made plenty of connections. He analyzed the information he received and summarized it.
So far, he has discovered a few groups or factions among his peers. The first one is the Arcane Empire Faction, composed of all the Edward who walked similar paths of conquering the planet and gathering knowledge from multiple individuals. Although not everyone used the name [Arcane] for their empire, their ideologies were similar.
So far, Edward discovered they were the most powerful and dangerous group. These people care deeply about a large population, so any timeline is another place to conquer. As such, even if they create an alliance, they are always on the lookout for each other.
The second group Edward noticed was the Dark Lords, composed of all the Edwards who gave in to their desires and abandoned all morality for the pursuit of magic. Although some of them led tragic lives, which led to their current situation, they were still a group of madmen willing to do anything to become powerful.
This group was considered the second most dangerous after the Empire factions. In some situations, they were even more dangerous.
The third group was the Headmaster Faction, composed of the variants who became Hogwarts' headmaster, slowly changing the wizard world through education. Edward loved teaching, and these variants of him pursued such love and talent to the extreme.
These guys were relatively harmless, with a more peaceful personality– at least on the surface. Edward feared that some of them would wish to create a Multiversal Academy, spreading knowledge and teaching across the multiverse. Their ambitions might make them as dangerous as the Empire factions by then.
Of course, they could also be a perfect group to ally with if they can control their greed.
The fourth faction is the God Faction, composed of the Edwards, who walked the path of Divinity and gathered believers. This faction was the least popular as most Edwards shared a passion for anti-God or even religion. Few people publicly associated with that faction, probably even worse than the Dark Lords.
The fifth faction was the Alchemy Group, created by a group of variants who enjoyed making artifacts, potions, puppets, and many more. This group has great potential and has the foundation to become extremely popular in the council.
The sixth and final main faction is the Magitech Group; these people focused more on the development of technology and fusing it with magic. They seemed to have some contradictions with the Alchemy Group, especially the Artificers.
Besides these six, there were other groups, like the Adventure Group, which focuses on traveling the universe and multiverse only for adventure, or the Yu-Gi-Oh Group, which focuses on the Monster Card Magic that Susan was developing. These groups were powerful but not enough to be classified as the main six.
'Besides becoming the Council President, I also need to become the leader of the Alchemists while maintaining sufficient power in the Empire, Headmaster, and Magitech factions.'
Edward made a plan before heading for the official meeting.