"What idea do you have?" Morgana asked.
"Turning the Soul Dimension into a universe — not just any universe, but a perfect one with its laws, rules, and authority."
"What you're saying is the final evolution of an Arcanist is for their mind to be its own internal universe that condensed laws based on their understanding or type of magic," Morgana summarized.
"Exactly."
"This actually makes sense," Morgana pondered. "So far, we have only encountered two things that can hold laws: magical objects and a universe. My idea was that we could refine the Gate of Truth into an object that can hold the law, but your idea is better than mine."
"No, your idea is also excellent," Edward said with shining eyes. "Maybe we can combine the two. We use the Gate of Power as the Law Core of the Soul Universe. This would make the universe more stable and make it easier to wield the law."
"We are getting ahead of ourselves once again," Morgana reminded. "Let's succeed in fusing a person with a dimension and go from there."
"You're right."
After leaving Black Widow to train, Edward used the Time Stone and his Cosmic Awareness to track the whereabouts of the Morag, the Shadow Demon God. However, that bastard was sneaky, resulting in Edward searching in vain. Finally, he had to elicit the Ancient One and Hawkeye's help. With the two of them simultaneously using the Time Stone's power to sift through countless possibilities and Hawkeye's divine eye, they finally found his dimension.
Then, the three of them invaded the Shadow Dimension to capture Morag. Edward might have the strength to do it alone; however, he used the others' help to ensure no problem. After all, Morad had the home advantage, and his Shadow Attribute meant he was good at hiding.
Then, with two Sorcerer Supreme ganging up on him and an Archer who can fire Tier 10 arrows from across dimensions, the Demon God was captured and sealed.
Once that was done, Edward summoned the Library of Cagliostro from the river of time and put all its content in Kamar-Taj. After mastering the library's content, he returned to Natasha's training.
As Edward entered the training room and synched his memories with his clone, his mouth could not help but twitch. "You couldn't control yourself, could you?"
"I'm you, so what do you think?" the clone replied, and with a snap of his finger, the original dispersed this bastard. The clone had tried to woo Natasha, as expected. Unfortunately, she rejected his advance despite flirting back. Apparently, she was not too thrilled with Edward being married with seven or more wives.
Edward coughed in embarrassment to get her attention. Then, he said, "I apologize for his actions. I take full responsibility for not restraining him better, but you should understand they were the clones' actions and his alone."
It took Natasha a while to understand what he was getting at, and when she did, she smiled. "Is this a weird way of you trying to excuse your behavior?"
"Is it working?"
"No," she replied.
"In that case, it's not. This is my way of taking accountability for my inappropriate actions," he declared shamelessly with a serious face.
"It always makes me smile when I see the difference between how you truly are and how I originally perceived you," Natasha commented.
"How did you see me before?"
"Pragmatic, cold, calculating, duty-bound, very serious — maybe too serious, and this detachment from human or mortal affairs. In other words, everything a godly being with your power should be," Natasha replied.
"Did I look so grim?"
Natasha nodded.
"Ooh," Edward shook his head. "These traits are a small percentage of my personality, and some are just skills I had to learn to be as accomplished as I am today."
"So, what are you truly like?" Natasha had a peek at his personality in the five years they spent training in this place. However, she wanted to know how he viewed himself.
"If I had to put it simply — I'm a magic nerd," Edward replied. "If I could have it my way, I would spend thousands of years researching without interacting with anyone or the outside world. Sadly, I have an Empire to run, a family to watch out for, wives to keep happy, and citizens to protect."\
"Why does it sound like these other things were chores you were forced to do?"
"The wording does sound a bit off," Edward acknowledged. "But it's true, to some extent. I love my family, but I would prefer if we lived in this enormous laboratory, everyone doing research together and discussing the results over lunch.
"I love my Empire and my people. After all, I built it step by step, and I could not have accomplished my goals without it or my people. Plus, there is this sense of strength when knowing you have people behind you that you must protect.
"However, I'm not a fan of all the tedious politics, even though I know it's fundamental to the Empire's prosperity. That's why I left most of the politics to my aunt and the council while the military is under my wife's control."
"Something has been puzzling me ever since you, I mean, your clone, told me how laissez-faire you are with how you rule," Natasha said. "Are you worried that your aunt or wife will betray you? If they decide to revolt, they will literally have the power to divide the empire into two or three if you consider people loyal to you."
Natasha looked him in the eye. "From what I gathered, so much power, resources, and wealth is involved. Not to mention things like immortality, godlike powers, and so on. Aren't you the least bit worried?"
"Not really," Edward replied.
"How come?"
"As you said, I trust these people with my life."
"That can't be just it," Natasha continued. "I don't believe in absolute loyalty, especially when it comes to temptation of such a magnitude. Someone as bright as you can also recognize such a possibility.
"You're correct."
"So, what is the reason?"
"How do I explain this?" Edward asked. "You said it yourself. There is so much temptation. Given how human desires work, how do you think such an empire could thrive despite so many people competing for personal, political, military, and economic power? That's because a monster — me — is above them, constantly suppressing their greed.
"And I didn't do it unfairly. No, I established a system that allowed them to take everything away from me as long as they were better than me. However, after a hundred years," Edward used an air-quote for the hundred parts. "I'm still leagues ahead of them."
Edward smirked.
"The Empire literally cannot exist without me. Everyone with a little bit of brain knows that if they successfully revolt, and that's a big if, they might get some pieces of the Empire, but that piece will soon crumble due to internal problems.
"Meanwhile, as long as I'm alive, I can create a new and better Empire. Then, I can return and retake everything they stole from me."
Natasha was impressed and momentarily speechless. "Did you intentionally establish such a system?"
"Not at first," Edward replied. "However, my Think-Tank observed how things were developing, so they created measures to ensure it proceeded as smoothly as possible."
"Think-Tank?"
"One of my greatest assets is I know how to delegate tasks and when to listen to people who know better than me," Edward explained. "I built a Think-Tank with the most brilliant minds of the Empire to help me run things. In fact, I have several of them to cover everything and keep them balanced. I even have a History Council."
"History Council?"
"Basically, a think-tank of all the famous people from history, like Einstein, Newton, Plato, Confucius, Al Khwarizmi, and even the Buddha himself. They gained eternal life and access to magic and advanced knowledge and technology, and in return, they helped me with my problems or develop new things for the empire."
Natasha looked at him, genuinely speechless this time.
"What can I say? Time magic is truly remarkable if you use it correctly," Edward shrugged.