Edward teleported to Ceres, the largest asteroid in the solar system. In the middle of this asteroid was a very tall white tower with a name written in large and bold letters:
"Dimension Study Institute."
The entire asteroid was enchanted to prevent outsiders from entering, so, Edward floated outside to wait for someone to come pick him up. Although he has the right and ability to barge in, he also understood to give a certain level of respect to powerful and capable Arcanists.
Flaunting his power and rights will only make people disgusted, and as a ruler, he knows when and how to win people's hearts, or at the very least, stabilize them.
A few minutes after sending notification of his arrival, a spaceship rapidly flew to the edge of the asteroid to receive him.
"Tower Master Aiworo, long time no see."
"Your majesty, it has indeed been a while. If I knew you were coming, I would have prepared a much grandeur welcome."
"I'm sorry for the abrupt visit. I've just learned of your institute and was curious, so I came by."
After a brief pleasant chat, the two flew back to the tower, then Aiworo gave Edward a brief introduction.
"In the past 3 years, we have discovered a total of 3 dimensions. And because of this, this institute was established so that a few Tower Masters involved in the study of dimensions can better share their result.
"I was brought into this program because of my theory of the Lumerian's civilization and their use of Elemental Dimensions."
Tower Master Aiworo led Edward to the first floor of this tower. Although it was only a floor, the entire space was probably larger than Australia. Countless people were either wearing white lab coats or white magical gowns.
Different machines were scatted everywhere; some of which were magical while others were not. Everyone looked busy as they focused on their tasks, not even noticing the arrival of Edward.
So, Aiworor led him to a room with countless monitors where an old man with gray hair was staring at a bunch of data. Despite looking frail, any sensitive person could feel the terrible mana inside his body as this old man was a Tier 5 Arcanist.
"Your majesty," said the old man after seeing Edward.
"Be at ease, Tower Master Gordon."
The old man nodded before once again looking at the screen.
"Fascinating isn't it? An entire world made only of food. No matter what enters inside, it will rapidly be infected and turn into food."
"Is this the food dimension?" asked Edward as he also reviewed the data gathered. It was indeed a fascinating place. According to data gathered, no matter what entered this place will turn into food.
All matter or energy will be turned into food–even people are no exception. Without the necessary protection, even a Tier 5 Arcanist will also turn into food after staying a long time inside.
'With this dimension, the problem of food will forever be eliminated from the Empire. Well, not that it was in the first place. However, the food inside should have many unknown benefits and also side-effects. It would be best to thoroughly study it before making it widely used.'
After checking the data and briefly chatting with Tower Master Gordon, Edward was led to the second floor. The Tower Master in charge of this floor was called Kim Ji Hoon, he was also a Tier 5 Arcanist.
Unlike Gordon, he was more sociable and introduced his research with a great deal.
"This dimension is currently labeled as the Inert Zone," said Tower Master Kim Ji Hoon as he showed Edward an image of a gray and lifeless place. The image showed something flying over and recording the environment, then, that thing seemed to have fallen in the sky, thus ending the recording.
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"This dimension is a place where all energy become inactive or useless. Whether it is mana, divine energy, psychic energy, or others, as soon as they entered this place, it becomes nonfunctional.
"The only exception is kinetic energy."
Edward reviewed the experiment conducted in this dimension. Golems, clones, animals–both magical and non-magical, plants, ores, and many other things were sent inside and observed before coming to this conclusion.
"So, what do you think this place can be used for?" asked Edward.
"By the way things look, it's probably better to use it as a prison," replied Tower Master Kim. "Additionally, if we ever face an unbeatable enemy, sending them to this dimension is another way to deal with them."
"You're idea is correct. However, if we want to use it as a prison, we have to find a way to deal with the problem of killing anything that enters this dimension."
The soul is considered a form of energy, so, after entering this Inert Dimension, people will die after a while. The more powerful a person, the longer they can last. However, this has not changed their final fate.
"Indeed this is a problem. However, studying this dimension has just begun and very little information is known. We do not even have a direction."
"Then, I will give you one."
After saying that, Edward sent information regarding the new magic system that he brought from his travel: well, the improved version that Hermione made that was more suitable for Arcane Sorcerers.
In this magic system, everything can be used as energy. As such, this dimension should have its unique energy. As long as it can be detected and studied, then it can eventually be used.
By then, this place will not be serving as just a prison
Tower Master Kim was fascinated by this new magic system, so he read a brief overview of it. And right when he was about to study it in-depth, he received a notification to pay the necessary merit.
After giving Edward a complaining glare, he paid the money. Then, he entered deep research mode while ignoring everything. Meanwhile, Edward headed to the third floor.
During the journey, he was thinking of placing the Quantum Prison inside this Inert Dimension. As for what was this Quantum Prison?
Well, it was the most secured prison of the Empire where the vilest and most dangerous prisoners were placed. As the name suggests, this was a place shrunk smaller than quarks.
All the prisoners will also be shrunk to this size before being transported inside. Additionally, the prison is located in an isolated pocket dimension that is full of enchantments to monitor any changes inside.
This prison is beyond the level of maximum security and no one can actually escape from there. When Edward was designing this prison, a few people said that he might have gone too far.
On the third floor, Edward saw the Elemental Dimension that was discovered by Tower Master Aiworo and Tower Master Abramovich: It was a Fire Dimension.
Unlike the other dimensions, some creatures have been detected inside of this one; they were Fire Elemental creatures. Unfortunately, the ones discovered have low-level intelligence so little information has been discovered from capturing them.
However, one memory ingrained in their bloodlines made them know that the most powerful creatures in that dimensions are referred to as Elemental Lords.
"Based on my research on the Lumerian Civilization, it won't take long to find the water, wind, and earth dimension," said Tower Master Aiworo.
Soon after this visit, Edward called a meeting with all the Tower Masters in this institute. While sitting at a circular white table, Edward looked at all of them before saying:
"You know, I'm a little disappointed."
The room became quiet as each Tower Master looked at one another, not knowing what to say. Finally, Gordon asked:
"Your majesty, are you dissatisfied with our results or the speed at which we attain them?"
It has long been a little over a year since most of these dimensions were discovered, so it is normal not to have a lot of results.
"I'm not that unreasonable," said Edward. "Do you remember what I said to each of you when you became Tower Master?"
Immediately, all of them remembered a saying of the Emperor that has become the motto of all Arcanists:
"Always pursue the truth with absolute caution."
Then, all of them became scared as they realized the mistake they made. Can studying dimensions be such a simple matter? Of course not. What if some extremely powerful dimensional creatures existed there and used this opportunity to travel to the Empire through their research?
After all, there is already proof that other life forms exist there with the Elemental creatures. So, why can't exist in the others?
After thinking about this, all of them did not know what to do, so they became awkward.
"We apologize, your majesty," said Tower Master Aiworo first, followed by the others.
"This is not completely your fault since someone from the Research Safety Bureau should have informed you; it looked like I should clean some people," said Edward.
"Move your research inside a pocket dimension. Enchant it to self-destruct in case of an emergency. Additionally, a Tier 8 weapon will be sent as another safety measure."
'A Tier 8 Weapon, that is something capable of instantly leveling the solar system. Although we already knew that the Royal Family was hiding many dangerous things, who would have thought that it was this scary?' thought Tower Master Ibrahimovich.
When he thought that his little Tier 5 would be instantly obliterated in front of such a weapon, he could not help but secretly shake his head; this was not the power that he could currently contain against.
Maybe in the future but now. As for taking that Tier 8 weapon for himself, he did not dare think. He could imagine how many restrictions and regulations will be placed on that weapon before it can be used.
Most likely, none of the Tower Master will ever even see that weapon unless an emergency truly occurred.