After having tea with Merlin, Edward told him about all his experiences in the Full Metal Alchemy World, including his battle with Truth. Except for private details regarding Olivier, he did not live much out. After all, he was the one looking for protection.
"So, old man, what do you think?"
After caressing his beard, Merlin replied: "You do not have to worry about Truth."
"What does that mean? Are you going to stop him if he comes or he cannot come at all?"
"Just know that you're safe."
Edward looked at him with a speechless look, then said; "Alright. I know old and powerful people like you enjoy speaking in riddles. When I become as powerful as you, I will continue the tradition."
This time it was Merlin's time to be speechless. Edward took out the orbs containing the different [Authority] and asked: "Please check to see if there are any problems with these things. Also, check to see if there is any problem with the knowledge I have received from the Eye of God."
Merlin took the orbs and looked at them, then looked up and down at Edward, who felt like all his secrets were seen through. Although uncomfortable, he did not resist because for one he was asking for help, second, resistance was futile.
"The orbs have no problem," replied Merlin. "However, the knowledge you receive have. Truth has placed a backhand on them."
"Please elaborate."
"I'm guessing that your plan was to create a Knowledge Dimension similar to Truth's. Then, once an Alchemist in your Empire opens the Gate of Truth, they will be sent there. However, if you use the knowledge you got from the Eye of God, Truth would be able to secretly steal from your Knowledge Dimension–even across universe."
"I knew it," muttered Edward; it was too easy to get all that knowledge from Father during the Promised Day. He also knew that powerful entities like Truth have weird methods that he could not fathom.
So, he looked at Merlin with shining eyes. The old man laughed slightly before snapping his finger. Suddenly, Edward felt like some heavyweight has been lifted from his shoulder, then there was nothing else.
He could not even remotely understand what Merlin did. After sighing to himself how he had a long way to go, he said; "Alright, let's discuss the other matters."
"There is more?"
"Of course."
"Fine, little brat, I'm in a good mood," replied Merlin. One of his closest relations is with his disciple, Arthur. However, the latter respected him so much that it was not easy to have a relaxed and non-formal conversation.
Even across multiple universes, it's always like that. It's the reason that Merlin likes the universes where he is an enemy with Arthur instead of his teacher. Or better yet, universes where things get spicy between them or their gender are reverse.
Of course, Old Man Merlin would never admit to his disciple that he secretly experience this universe himself. After all, he has a reputation to uphold.
"What do you think about my plan to reach the Akashic Record?"
"Well, all I can say is that you will need for your plan to have even a remote chance at succeeding. And I'm not talking about Morgana."
Edward pondered for a moment before his eyes lit up, "I know what to do."
"Is there anything else?"
"Yes," replied Edward; this time, he talked about his concerns regarding how coincidental it was for him to discover the hole in reality that led to the Void along with Rowena.
Then, he stared at Merlin intensely, waiting for his answer.
The Old man internally shook his head. To him, Edward was the perfect disciple with plenty of potentials; what he like the most about him was his desire to pursue the essence of magic.
There were two complaints he had about him: one was his womanizing way. He would have preferred if he was a one-woman kind of guy.
The second was his paranoia. However, he understood that his paranoia came from his personality, experience, and high intelligence.
So, after pondering for a while, he said: "Discovering the hole had nothing to do with me or anyone else. You were just lucky."
"Lucky?"
"Yes. Luck is a fundamental part of reality. Some people are born lucky and can accomplish great things because of it. Some people do not have high luck and have to work hard to accomplish their goals. Fortunately, you're one of the lucky ones."
Edward frowned after hearing this, then he asked: "What about Rowena? Was that also my luck?"
"No, she was my doing. She is from a different timeline where after being infected by low-level void energy, the hole in reality that you discovered in the Bermuda Triangle was instantly closed.
"I knew that your travel throughout different universes would be quite dangerous, so I wanted to give you something to protect you from some powerful entity, so I merged her timeline with the one you discovered the Void Hole."
After being silent for a few seconds, Edward said: "Thank you."
"Oh? I thought you would be mad."
"I'm not that stubborn of a person. I understand when people are trying to help me. Without meeting Rowena, it would have taken me a few hundred years if not more to control the lowest level of void energy; there is no way I could be able to use as efficient as now, so it would be impossible for me to deal with people like Truth."
"It's good that you understand. Well, is there anything else?"
"Yes," replied Edward with a more serious look on his face. "I want to know about my reincarnation. About the Earth, I came from."
Merlin caressed his beard, thinking how to reply. A few seconds later, he said: "The Earth you are from is called Primordial Earth."
"Is there any special about it besides the cliche name?"
Merlin was once again speechless before shaking his head and continuing:
"It is indeed a very special place. That Earth is located in a very special High Dimension. Truth be told, many people believe that it is the original Earth and all the other Earths are projections of it. However, there is not enough information to prove that."
"So, what's so special about it."
"Although the people there are just ordinary people, they all possessed an unknown ability. Their minds can receive information from other universes, dimensions, or worlds. Then, they will write about these worlds in the form of stories, movies, books, and televisions.
"On top of that, all the people of Primordial Earth have the ability to create worlds. Any story that they write down, any films that they create, any animations they draw will become a real world.
"The odd thing is that they are not even aware of this."
Edward had a looked of shock on his face, "Then?"
"After discovering this, many powerful people became interested in this small planet. Although no one found the reason for such power, they also discovered another important aspect:
"If you take a random person from Primodialr Earth and have them reincarnated or transmigrated into another world, using their knowledge of "story", they can rapidly grow powerful in a very short time.
"On top of that, a lot of these people have awakening powerful Innate Abilities after being transmigrated."
"What do you mean by Innate Ability?" asked Edward even though he had a guess.
"Things like "system" or your innate talent for magic. Basically what the easterners called [Golden Finger]."
Edward nodded his head as many things he did not understand became clear.
"Because of this fact, many people choose people from Primordial Earth as their disciples, their inheritor, or avatar. If the people they chose did not have Innate Abilities, they would be granted one; if they already did, they would be strengthened. Or they might not receive anything. It all depends on the people who choose them."
Edward understood Merlin's meaning. He has read many stories of protagonists that were granted wishes by Gods before being reincarnated into other worlds.
The Gods are the powerful people Merlin was talking about, and the wishes were the Innate Abilities.
"From what you said, there should be many people reincarnated into different worlds. How come I've never met one in my world?" asked Edward.
"Oh, they exist, just in different timelines. Additionally, these timelines are usually isolated and protected. The Harry Potter World is a favorite of many people, so there are many of them."
Edward nodded his head, planning to one day search for these timelines.
"What about me? Who is the one who reincarnated me? Was it you?"
"No one," replied Merlin.
"No one?"
"Yes. After so many people began to intervene in Primordial Earth, a change took place in that dimension. After death, some random people were chosen to be reincarnated on their own without outside intervention.
"You were one of the lucky ones."
Edward sighed both in relief and disappointment. He was relieved that he did not have some powerful old guy secretly planning his life. He was regretful since the only Innate Ability he received was his magical talent along with the ability to never forget.
He also wanted a system to help him reach the peak of life.
"You do not need to look down on yourself on your talent," said Merlin as if he could guess Edward's mind.
"I have seen many people across different timelines with more powerful ability than you, yet their accomplishments do not come close to you. The majority of them become satisfied after killing Voldemort and achieving immortality with the Philosopher's Stone.
"They become content with their strength and have no desire to explore the larger world, to explore the universe and come in contact with other magic civilization."
This is one of the reasons that Merlin decided to sponsor Edward. With his talent, his limit should have been like the other people, but he had greater visions and actively pursue them.
An example of that is the creation of his World Gate. Many people have been transmigrated into the Harry Potter World. These people should have realized that since the Harry Potter World is real, shouldn't the other worlds that they have learned about in the Primordial Earth be real as well and try to reach there.
But few people do so. The only people who actually do so are the ones who have Innate Abilities that allowed them to travel to different worlds. Unfortunately, these people did not rely on themselves but on their talent.
This is the reason he appreciated Edward.
After taking a few minutes to calm himself down and process all the information, he just received, Edward asked: "Could I return to Primordial Earth?"
"The political landscape there is too complicated. Wait until you're more powerful before trying."
Edward nodded as he was not in a hurry; he accept his new life. He just had a few regrets that he wanted to make up.
"Do you have any advice for me?"
"Yes," replied Merlin. "The World you are currently in is more vast and complex than you could ever imagine. So far, you have barely scratched the surface, be mindful of this fact."
Edward nodded his head, chatting for a little with Merlin before leaving.
The Sword God frowned after seeing the name of the book; he found the title very distasteful. And not just him, but his female companion as well. Nevertheless, the two still flipped through the book.
At first, they did not think much of it. However, as they read more and more pages, they become dignified, until a look of horror appeared on their faces. The hand of the Sword God trembled, almost letting the book fall on the ground.
'This is the book of the devil,' he thought to himself. Little did he know that he was quite right. The book in his hand was modified by Li Jun from the half-part of the [Gluttony Swallowing Scripture] that Wang Wei got from Mo Xingyun.
As the name implied, this was a cultivation technique that allow a person to swallow a God. Not just their strength, but also their faith. Once succeeded, they can control God's Heavenly Abodes as their own.
Additionally, if cultivated to the highest level, they can even swallow their Divinity; in other words, their law.
With this method, the Sword God realized that he could become a Supreme God without having to go through all the trouble of gathering incense and comprehending the Law.
Then, their revolution will finally have a chance.
In the current headquarters, he is the oldest one amongst all the Gods. He experienced the War of Annihilation over whether the cultivation technique should be spread to mortals.
Back then, there used to be 108 Realms and 108 Supreme Gods. Now, only 36 remained. The surviving ones swallowed the realms of the defeated to increase their power.
Thinking about how in the past, they had countless Supreme Gods fighting for their cause, but now, only a few Title Gods are left, the Sword God sighed in desolation.
The temptation of this technique is too high. He could foresee with it, their strength will drastically increase, thus giving them a chance at revival. Additionally, he also saw the downside.
He looked at the Shadow and said: "I appreciate your help, but I refuse to be your pawn."
With all his experience, how could the Sword God not see that these Outsiders were trying to use them to weaken the power of the Supreme Gods, then benefitted after the two suffered from fighting one another?
After hearing the Sword God's words, the Spear Goddess quickly woke up from her dream of the revolution rising up and finally accomplishing their goals. She realized that she was momentarily blinded by the benefit to realize the trouble of this kind of technique.
Cold sweat secretly felt down her back.
'I'm glad that the leader was clear-minded, otherwise, I could not imagine the consequence.'
As for the Shadow, he was calm after hearing this. A sinister smile appeared on his face as he said: "Unfortunately for you, it's too late."
"What do you mean?" asked the Sword God. Then, he seemed to have thought of something and looked at the other Gods behind him. He saw the excitement and greed in their eyes and immediately understood what happened.
This Outsider spread this technique to the other Gods. Even a person like himself with such strong will was momentarily tempted, let alone these people.
"You!" roared the Sword God at the Shadow, then he ordered: "None of you are allowed to cultivate this technique. This is the highest order. Anyone found disobeying will be executed on the spot."
All the other gods of this revolution lowered their heads in acknowledgment after hearing this, however, the Sword God knew that this was just for show.
Unfortunately, he could not tell who will truly follow his order and who will not. After all, this technique has already planted a seed of ambitions on these people. Even if they are gods, they cannot escape the shackles of Seven Emotions and Six Desires.
The Sword God became enraged after figuring this out and decided to take out his anger on the person responsible for all of this. Unfortunately for him, when he looked again, the Shadow had long disappeared, and he did not even notice when.
Gritting his teeth, the Shadow returned to his main temple thinking about how to deal with the current situation.
That night, the Sword God stood on watch around the Heavenly Abode to prevent anyone from secretly leaving and practicing that technique. One of the Void God called Hu God approached him with two tea bowls.
He handed one to Sword God and drank the other one.
"Leader, standing guard like this is not a permanent solution. The other members of our [Mortal Freedom Alliance] need to go outside eventually to cultivate and recruit other members."
The Sword God took a sip of the tea, feeling refreshed. He agreed with the Regional Commander. However, as of right now, he could not think of a better solution
"In that case, what do you think I should do?"
Hu God pondered for a moment, "Sir, do you want me to speak the truth?"
"Please."
"In our current situation, we cannot pass on this kind of opportunity. Most likely, this technique will bring us to the abyss. However, could things really get worse than they are?"
The Sword God savored the tea and Han God's words. Over the years, Han God has been one of his most trusted advisers amongst the 12 Regional Commanders. So, he took his words seriously.
However, after a few minutes, he shook his head: "Although you are right, I still insist that this is not the way to go forward."
Han God sighed deeply, "Alright. It's just a shame."
"Not really. As long as our alliance persist, we w–"
The Sword God suddenly coughed out a mouthful of golden blood with a look of shock on his face. He bend his neck down to look at the blade piercing his heart, then looked at Han God.
"Why?"
"For the alliance," replied Hu God. "I've always had a problem with your stubbornness and conservative approach to our situation. I understand that you have witnessed the War of Annihilation are afraid of the alliance being destroyed in your hands.
"However, what you failed to understand is that all of us here are not afraid of death; we came here knowing our chances of survival were minimal. What we are afraid of is living a meaningless life, watching as our ideals and goals evaporate in flame.
"This technique given by the Outsiders is an opportunity for us. Unfortunately, you did not cherish; you are unwilling to take risks."
The Sword God quickly mobilized his divine power to heal his injury. Unfortunately, it was to no avail.
"You poisoned my tea!"
"Yes. Not only that, the blade in my hand is made of Deicide Metal. It will negate your healing factor and ensure your death."
As Hu God looked at life rapidly being drained from the Sword God's eyes, he raised his hand to touch the body, then paused for a few a while. He remembered all the time they have spend together, all the battle, life, and death situations they have experienced together.
In the end, he gritted his teeth and muttered, "For the alliance."
He placed his hand on the Sword God's head. A red light flashed on it, then a swallowing vortex appeared. The vortex quickly swallowed the blood, life force, soul, and divine energy of the Sword God. Even the incense he controlled was swallowed.
Then, a powerful aura emanated from Han God's body.
"From now on, I will be the Sword God." However, Han God quickly frowned after digesting his gain. He realized that he could not control the Heavenly Abode of the previous Sword God.
'It seems that I have to cultivate this technique to a higher level to inherit everything from the people I swallow.'
Then, Han God looked in the direction of Vice-Leader, the Speak Goddess. An unnoticeable red light flashed across his eyes as he took a step forward.
'No, I cannot do this. I only kill the previous leader for the sake of the cause. The Vice-Leader can be an ally after being persuaded.'
Han God stood in his position for five minutes before flying in another direction. He was going to open the exit for all the members.
Death Realm:
Li Jun just received news of the Shadow's situation. He looked at the other members of the group and said: "Let's begin our new plan to spread the cultivation system of this world and cause chaos."
"I thought you said we should not spread the cultivation system to make it easier to gather the incense," said Tie Gang as he placed some fruits on his mouth, chewing obnoxiously loud.
"You of all people should understand the importance of adopting to circumstances," replied Li Jun calmly. "Now that we know for sure that this world is not simple, it's better to use the most efficient and fastest way to conquer it.
"So, creating chaos and using this situation to quickly kill the Destiny Goddes is our main objective."
Of course, Tie Gang knew this, he was just being obnoxious on purpose to annoy Li Jun. Anyway, he was recently bored and did not have anything to do.