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"This place is weird," said Auron.
"How so?"
"I don't know. However, my beast-like instinct tells me that this place is weird. Especially the royal family. I feel like both the Emperor and the Queen can easily kill me."
"I have the same feeling," added Ghilanna, which surprised the two even more. After all, she was one 1 Tier higher than the Emperor.
"Augustus, what do you think?"
"The level of mana on this planet is in the upper-middle range. There are probably a few powerful Artificers." He could not help but remember the soldiers at the palace entrance.
The armor and weapons that they were all holding were magical, and he could not recognize the type of enchantment used.
"There seemed to be many talented individuals in this place."
One of the things that shocked Augustus the most was the amount of Tier 5 individuals she met since coming here–especially the Imperial Guards at the palace, who were all Tier 5.
He knew that humans were one of the weakest races regarding talent for mana. As such, becoming Tier 5 is very difficult for them, and Tier 6 is the limit for many of them–and only if they can reach it.
However, there are so many of them in this place which is very odd and difficult to explain.
Ghilanna nodded but disagreed with him. She knew that humans were not as talentless as Augustus was implying. Humans are known as one of the most imaginative species in the universe.
And although their natural talent for mana is not on par with some powerful races, they make up for it in skills and control.
Additionally, there are two main reasons that humans are limited in Tiers. The first is that they do not have a magic system perfectly suited for them. Well, this issue is faced by many species in the current era.
And secondly, the Gods have ensured the oppression of humans. And that is because humans can rapidly reproduce and are intelligent enough to provide them with a large quantity of faith.
In the universe, a few species like goblins have an even faster reproduction rate than humans. However, most of them are of low intelligence, making the faith that each individual can provide very little.
"So, did you discover anything else?" asked Augustus.
"Yes. The ambush that intercepted our teleportation was too sudden. Why did that fleet have a Tier 8 Weapon on board?"
"Well, this is their home planet, so it would be normal to have such a powerful weapon defending it."
Ghilanna shook his head: "The Nightskin Queen is the only Tier 8 Caster in the galaxy. The Eldamar Kingdom and the Intelligens only have Tier 8 Weapons, and they treat them as their faction's final frontier; unless absolutely necessary, they would not take it out.
"Yet, this Arcane Empire did so. This could only mean three things: one, they have a way to mass-produced Tier 8 Weapons, or at the very least, have more than one.
"Two, Tier 8 Weapons are not the most powerful weapon of their Empire, so they do not care for their use.
"Three, they already expected our arrivals and put on an act to scare us."
Augustus and Auron became serious after hearing her analysis.
"The first two could be eliminated. It is almost impossible to create a magical artifact 2 Tiers higher–unless we're talking about technology."
Augustus knew the limit of humans. Unless they become Priests, Paladin, or Divine Mercenaries, this Tier 6 is their limit. As a human-based faction, the Arcane Empire should face the same problem.
So, it is not possible for them to create Tier 8 Weapons on their own, let alone a Tier 9.
"Are you saying their weapons were discovered from an ancient Lost Civilization?" asked Auron.
"Yes. This could explain why this Empire suddenly appeared out of nowhere and is already Tier 8."
"We could check the archives to see if there was once a flourish civilization in this area once we return," added Ghilanna. "So, based on this analysis, then the 3rd option is the answer.
"Now, the question is: how did they know we would be here?"
"They either have a spy in our group or a Divination Master."
The two frowned as they pondered deeply. Divination is a scarce type of magic, even rarer than space and time. And even if someone had a talent for it, they would still need the necessary knowledge to predict their arrival so accurately.
So, the most likely possibility is that this Arcane Empire has a spy in their federation and a very high-ranking one. This is not a new occurrence, as the other Tier 8 Civilizations do the same.
The only exception is that the Federation is aware of these people's actions and pretends not to. However, they did not even notice when this Arcane Empire infiltrated their ranks and how deep said infiltration was.
"What do we do now?"
"I don't know," replied Ghilanna as she looked at a watch that appeared in her hands. " I could not infiltrate their cyberspace to gather any information whatsoever."
"How about we ask them for an official tour?"
"That's a good idea, but I doubt we would be able to gather much information."
And Ghilanna was correct. After asking for the tour, she and her group were brought to one of the cities to visit many locations. The only thing they learned was that this Empire was a combination of technology and magic.
The general life of ordinary people was excellent; they had access to abundant food, healthcare, and education. Besides that, there was nothing special.
That night, the group once again gathered to discuss.
"So, what do you think?"
"Everything seemed fake like it was already planned," responded Auron. He had an intuition for these kinds of things, so he stated his opinions.
"This place obviously has a lot of secrets. I think its best to follow protocols, charge them a small amount, and leave here as soon as possible to report back," added Augustus, to which Ghilanna nodded in acceptance.
So, the next day, the group met with Edward again and told him they had to pay a small fee. Then, with the excuse that their supervisors called them back, they left.
In the palace, Edward was watching a video along with his aunt. In it, the three that just left were fighting a bunch of pirates.
Augustus smashed anyone close to him with his hammer, then used Light-Based attacks like [The Hammer of Justice] or [Light of Judgement.] His attacks were typical of how Paladin usually fought.
As for Auron, he was also using his physical body to kill his opponent. No attack–both physical and magical–could damage his scale. And once in a while, he would spew fire from his mouth.
The two had an overwhelming advantage at first–even if the pirates had two very powerful Tier 6 Mages. However, they were soon overpowered by the number of pirates and the attacks from their spaceships' guns.
Then, Ghilanna appeared with a little elf spirit on her shoulder, dressed in green. She raised her staff, and a mighty wind tornado destroyed everything in sight.
All 20 ships of the pirates were destroyed instantly. Once done, she looked around with a frown as if looking for something. Then, she boarded her ship with the rest and left.
"Spirit Magic?" said Edward. "And she appeared to be a Wind Mage."
"Don't you think that this is too obvious? As soon as they left here, they were attacked by pirates," said Amelia.
"That's because it is too obvious, making it a good move. Plus, nothing happened to them."
Edward expected these pirates to fail. After all, they only had 2 Tier 6 Casters. All he wanted was to see the magic of these people.
"We could have used this opportunity to gather more information on the current situation."
"I know, but I do not trust these people from the Federation," replied Edward. "After this visit, the news that we are a Tier 8 Civilization will quickly spread. Then, we can take this opportunity to contact the other 3.
"Well, the other two since the Intelligens are not that pleasant to interact with."
"Whatever you say."
Then, Edward reviewed the battle again to see if he could learn something from it. Once he was done, he prepared to deal with Herpo before beginning Project Akashic Records.
Once that is done, he can travel to a new world and become more powerful as rapidly as possible.
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Next Chapter Title: Technology and Magic