Edward left the secret base, heading directly to the palace located in France. He wondered why Charles chose that location. Maybe he was French back on Earth before his reincarnation.
On his way, he took a deeper look at this Magic Empire. The magic system they used was vastly different from his Empire. To reach Tier 1, the practice method is used by all wizards to break the first limiter.
Afterward, they will use a Mana Potion created by Charles after studying the Philosopher's Stone. With the vast quantity of mana rushing through the wizard's veins, they can break the second limiter and reach Tier 2.
As for Tier 3? The only solution currently available was to infuse a new bloodline. After many years of study and effort, the Magic Empire has successfully created a potion with a 70% success rate.
The path to Tier 4 is extremely arduous in this place. Charles has no way to compress magic into liquid. After all, Edward had to use knowledge from other universes before creating that system. As such, Charles did what he was good at–infusing bloodline.
After a bloodline infusion, a wizard will experience an instant rapid mana growth. Furthermore, the rate at which their bodies produce mana will also increase, allowing them to reach a higher Tier. Sadly, the second bloodline mana has a survival rate of 30%, limiting the Magic Empire's Tier 4 Wizards.
Currently, only Charles has reached Tier 5, and most of the Tier 4 Individuals are from the Royal Family. Edward could guess how they were trained. Whenever someone fails to fuse a bloodline, Charles will take their experience and travel 24 hours to the past and try again.
Magic Empire, Palace:
Charles sat on a desk with countless papers before him, reviewing them individually. Although the Magic Empire had a computer, he loved the feel of paper, so he often used it instead.
Someone knocked on the door, but he did not answer, lost in the work before him.
"Honey, honey…honey."
"Huh?" muttered Charles as he saw the beautiful woman beside him.
"Lily, what is it? Is there an emergency?"
"No, it's dinner time," she replied with a smile.
"Already?" Charles finally noticed the passage of time. He looked at all the work he still had and wanted to refuse. However, he remembered he promised his family to spend more time with them.
"Good."
He waved his hand, and all the papers disappeared as if they never existed. Then, he followed her to the dining area. As he opened the door, he was welcomed with a cacophony of sounds, most of which were laughter, chatting, and yelling.
He watched the people sitting at the rectangular table: Hermione, Fleur, Luna, Ginny, Cho Chang, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Tonks. Among them, a few had children with them.
Charles smiled after seeing his accomplishment. He sat at the main seat, and his youngest daughter immediately came to sit on his lap. She was only five years old and could be described as extremely cute.
"Phoebe, what did I tell you about royal etiquette?" reprimanded Ginny, unhappy by her daughter's actions. The little girl made a sad face but was quickly reassured as her father caressed her head.
"Don't worry about such a thing," said Charles, who did not mind.
"You can't spoil her."
"She's my daughter. If I don't spoil her, who will I spoil? Who is Daddy's little girl?"
"I am," replied Phoebe, yelling out loud.
"Yes, and don't forget–even after you get married."
"Don't worry, Daddy, I won't ever get married. I will still be with you forever."
"That would be even better," said Charles with a smile. Then, he frowned after noticing something:
"Where is Harry?"
"He's…in his lab," said Lily with a deep sigh, deepening Charles' frown.
'I knew I should have killed that bastard Sirius.'
He practically raised Harry, being his lovable and supporting uncle until he became the latter's stepdad. However, someone in his late teens, Sirius Black, spews some nonsense to the kid, giving him a deep and uncharacteristic attachment to his father.
Afterward, he even became obsessed with reviving his father, so he's been diving into that kind of magic. Charles cannot do anything to Harry since his family might crumble apart if even whispers of this got out. So, he had to resort to his backup plan–give Lily all his love and attention, so in the unlikely case James is revived, she won't return to him.
Of course, he will do everything possible to prevent him from returning. He had already prepared. He will summon the latter's soul from the afterlife using the deathly hallows and destroy it. In the future, even if Harry's research is successful, he can use the excuse that Voldemort's Killing Curse might have destroyed James' soul.
"Make sure he is okay," said Charles before beginning the dinner, not minding the kid's rude behavior. Everyone ate while chatting, and Charles took time to feed his youngest.
"Dear, are you okay?" asked Hermione. "You seem more stressed than usual."
"Things are not going well," he replied.
"How come?"
"As I told you, we have reached a plateau. If we want fast development, we need access to the knowledge of another magical civilization," explained Charles. "However, all my attempts have not been successful.
"I haven't found any relics of ancient magical civilizations. My experiment to open a Space-Time Gate to another dimension was a catastrophic failure, and the Spaceship I have been trying to build to navigate the galaxy can barely be countered as a prototype."
"I think we are developing very fast; we only need some time," commented Narcissa.
"No, compared to the Arcane Empire, our speed is slower than a snail," counted Charles.
"Love, you don't have to compare to whatever Arcane Empire," reminded Fleur.
"No, since he can do it, I can also do it, and even better."
No one said anything besides secretly sighing; they no longer mentioned the subject.
Charles saw their reaction and smiled wryly; he opened his mouth to apologize:
"I didn't expect you to hold me in such high value."
"Who is so audacious?" yelled Bellatrix with craziness in her eyes. Everyone became alert as they watched the young man suddenly enter the palace.
"It's you," said Charles with an ugly expression.
"Yes, it's me."
Charles looked at Edward with complicated eyes; he cast a spell to calm down his rampaging mind, but his beating heart betrayed his displayed calmness.
"I have had countless nightmares of this day. I thought I was prepared, but it seems not," said Charles.
Edward did not answer him but looked at this family dinner. It was a weird sensation to see his "wives," but they did not recognize him; they even looked at him with wariness, disgust, and a desire to kill.
"You're here for me; they have nothing to do with this," said Charles. "I'm asking you, as a fellow traveler, to spare them."
Edward looked at him, "The agent sent to monitor disappeared. Do you know anything about this?"
"I don't."
"You should know this answer is not enough to satisfy me."
"I suspected you sent someone to spy on me, but I could never find their existence. So, I really don't know what you're talking about."
Edward frowned as he realized Charles might be telling the truth.
"Honey," muttered Lily as she touched Charles's hand.
"It's pointless," he said as he understood her implication. He knew his ability was useless in front of this man. A great horror enveloped Charles' family as they realized the severity of the situation. Their husband's greatest reliance was his Time Talent. But if even that was useless, then the situation was truly dire.
"Did anything happen recently? Anything abnormal?" asked Edward.
Charles hesitated for a moment before saying, "Yes. A few days ago, I tried to open a Space-Time Gate to another dimension, and things went terribly wrong. The spatial-temporal energy I controlled was rampaging and spreading; according to my calculations, the entire solar system would have been wiped out."
He paused as if to recollect his memory.
"I felt a great sense of dread overcoming me; it was like an intuition of death. However, the odd thing is this intuition did not originate from the maelstrom of chaotic time energy."
"Oh, where did it originate from?"
"I don't know exactly. All I know is I felt I was in grave danger but could not pinpoint the source of the danger. So, I immediately activated my ability and returned to the previous day."