This Volume is called Intergalactic War.

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"Morgana, do not forget to land as close to our time of departure," said Edward. Then, the Gate shook for a few seconds before arriving at its destination.

"Where are we and what time?"

Morgana quickly connected to her main server before saying: "It's currently Arcane Year 40 and we are on the continent of Africa."

"So, only 5 years passed since we left," muttered Edward before leaving the Gate; he wanted to see what change occurred during his absence.

As soon as he landed, he felt the difference. He could feel energy in the environment; to be precise, he could feel mana.

"So, the Mana Trees were planted. I wonder what changes a high mana environment has brought to the people, animal, and general ecology of the planet,"

Edward then looked at the ground underneath his feet. He could feel the tectonic energy along with the life force of the planet. Although his Gate of Truth was destroyed, with his senses, he could still feel these energies.

However, after trying they became extremely difficult to control without the Gate. Nevertheless, Edward was not worried as he already knew how to create a Gate of his own based on Father's research.

And with Merlin dealing with the issue of Truth, he did not have to worry about using the gate.

As Edward felt the different energies in the Earth, he also felt the leyline nodes and the mana inside. He mobilized this mana to cast a spell. A small flame appeared on his hand.

"Well, one of my theories has been proven true. With the Gate of Truth, ordinary people can use the mana in the leylines to cast spells."

After a few tests, Edward apparated to the nearest large city. With an invisibility spell on him, he watched everything around him. He watched the flying cars, children riding hoverboards, wizards, and ordinary people using magic.

Because of its large resources, Africa became one of the most prosperous continents in the Empire–especially on the magical side. The continent had the largest magical resources on the planet.

While Edward was walking in the city, he discovered a special area with a magic shield covering. With intrigued, he apparated in that direction. He discovered a special place in the city that was protected by the shield.

At first, Edward thought some people had broken the law in his absence and created a place where only the rich or magically gifted could enter. However, after arriving at the destination, he saw a sign with the words:

"Mana Free Zone."

After a quick investigation, he realized the purpose of this place. The environment had changed with mana being present. However, to some people, mana is a poison to their bodies.

So, some special places were created that did not contain mana for these people to live in. After entering that place, Edward discovered that all of these people would wear a bracelet, ring, or watch on their bodies with a specific enchantment.

After checking the enchantment, he found out that it would release a weird frequency that repels the mana in the environment and prevent it from entering their bodies and making them suffer.

'It seems that the Council did a good job at handling this transition,' though Edward to himself.

Then, he did a few more research on the Mana Free Zone; he learned that a year ago, there was a breakthrough in genetic technology. The Empire could modify the bodies of these people to permanently prevent mana from entering their bodies, thus curing them of this problem.

That way, they could leave the Mana Free Zone without wearing magical items. Moreover, this procedure was very cheap ensuring that everybody in need could use it.

Unfortunately, not many people were willing to do so. This is all because of a rumor that long-term exposure to mana can grant ordinary people magical talents. So, even if mana would cause them tremendous pain after entering their bodies, many people were willing to take the risk. Many people would remove their protective device for a few hours every day to withstand such pain.

Edward frowned deeply after seeing this. He then continued his secret visit to the Empire. His next destination was Hogwarts.

He walked along the walls of the castle that had withstood the trials of time. Nothing of significance had changed during his absence. After all, only five years had passed.

Edward thought that his visit would only be a trip to memory lane, however, one event caught his attention.

A student that looked like he was in the 5th Year had a bunch of other students behind him as he dueled three people at the same time. Based on his green outfit, he was a Slytherin.

With his small wand, he easily defended against the attacks of the three people. Then, he used a Disarming Charm to remove their wands from them.

"I have to say, you Mages are really weak," said the Slytherin student.

"You!"

"Did I say something wrong? None of you will ever be as good as us wizards," added the Slytherin students; his words made his friends laugh out before leaving. They all sneered at the defeated students.

As Edward watched all of this happening, he was a little disappointed. Not just at the Slytherin students, but the other houses as well who just stood by and did nothing. Not even the little badgers.

As Edward watched the three defeated students walk away, he listened to their conversation.

"John, are you alright?" asked one of them to his companion who seemed more agitated than the other two.

"I'm fine, just a little unwilling," replied John.

"Don't listen to them. One day, the problem of Unstable Magic Core will be fixed. And once the research on expanding the internal dimension of our cores has a positive result, we Mages will not be any weaker than any Wizard," said the third person.

Unfortunately, John seemed to be still in a bad mood, so one of them said:

"Think of it that way. At least we are better than the muggles."

"Don't say that. You know this word is considered a racial slur according to the law. If you get caught, you will be placed in detention and your parents will have to pay a fine."

The three of them looked around to see whether anyone heard them talking, then they rushed to their house lounges.

'It seems that the problem of discrimination has increased instead of being solved,' thought Edward before connecting to Skynet and accessing the latest research.

He was not aware of any problem regarding insatiable core before leaving. So, after getting the research, he understood what these kids were talking about.

After mana returned to the environment, mages have to absorb this mana to increase their own reserve. However, a problem that was not detected by Hermione during the trials was that many Magic Cores of mages became unstable and even collapsed.

After research, she discovered that the mana in the environment is more aggressive in nature compared to the well-regulated and controlled mana she used in a lab. This aggressive nature led to the instability of the Mages' Magic Core.

Because of the difference in the environment, this problem was not detected beforehand. However, a temporary solution was quickly developed. A potion was quickly created to stabilize the core.

Unfortunately, this potion is very expensive and requires constant use. Adding to that the limitation of all mages is 20x mana, their situation is not looking good in the Empire.

After looking at the data, Edward was not worried. He could think of a few dozens of magic circles that could fix this problem by stabilizing and even reinforcing the magic cores of Mages.

Plus, with Extension Charm Magic Circle, they can also grow their mana to the same height as wizards.

However, he knew that doing this would not fix the problem, just merely manage it. So, he was pondering on how to solve the problem and further unit all the people of the Empire.