1st Tower:

Edward walked inside with the council delegates following him. The first thing they saw was a breathtakingly beautiful woman dressed similar to Edward. Her magic robe shone with magical light, giving her both a regal and mighty presence.

Without caring about anyone else, Edward hugged her and kissed her. After lightly reciprocating, Hermione said: "You're in front of people, act more appropriately."

"Why do people keep telling me to behave? As a ruler, shouldn't I be able to do whatever I want," complained Edward.

"No, on the contrary, as an Emperor, you have a certain image and reputation to uphold," replied Hermione with a stern look.

"It's not like these people will say anything," added Edward as he looked at the Council members, who quickly looked away, pretending not to see anything. Of course, the exception was Amelia. After seeing how she was glaring at him, Edward knew that it was time to get back to business.

"Alright, you people always take the fun out of everything. Hermione, show us the result of your research."

She then led them to a room with a man in deep meditation. An image appeared in front of everyone with data from the experiment.

"After years of experiment and testing, Project Magician is finally completed."

Many people became excited after hearing this--especially the non-magical members of the council.

"Your highness, could you please elaborate further," asked one of the council members. However, he soon realized that he made a mistake by speaking before the Empire and hurriedly apologized.

However, Edward just waved his hand to motion him to relax.

Then, Hermione continued her explanation:

"Through experiment, we discovered that by gathering mana and condensing it on a specific spot, a core can be formed; it is similar to the Philosopher's Stone. The user's soul combined with the mana to form a small crystal containing a small dimensional space inside that can hold mana."

She then showed a video of two people slowly creating their cores. The person was in a specifically designed room that had mana in the environment.

"As you can see in the video, we have discovered three places that the core can be made: the heart, the brain, and the navel or dantian as the eastern cultures referred to it as. However, the best and most effective place seemed to be the heart like wizards."

"What are the qualifications needed to become a magician?" asked Edward. "Could anyone become one?"

All the excited people quickly calmed down, listening to the answer to that question.

"Unfortunately, no," replied Hermione. She showed them a different type of date.

"According to our experiments, two things are needed to become a mage: one is the ability to sense mana. After many studies, we discovered that many people do not have that talent. Without the ability to sense mana, it's impossible to gather or control it."

"Your highness, how do we sense mana?" asked one of the council.

"We have developed meditation techniques for that, and even potions to aid in the process. Nevertheless, depending on their talents, it is easier for some people than for others."

"Have you discovered any factors that decide talent to sense mana?" asked Edward/

"So far, we have discovered that people with more powerful souls are more sensitive to mana. People that are more spiritual by nature, and people with higher IQ tend to be more sensitive. Additionally, according to one of our studies, the optimal age for people to sense mana is between the ages of 8-11, however, children that age usually have a harder time focusing on meditation.

"It's similar to when young wizards and witches developed their magical abilities. Is there a certain age requirement to become a mage?" asked Edward.

"So far, we have not discovered any. Some subjects who are over the age of 100 years have managed to become mages. However, the process took longer than the others."

Edward pondered for a moment before saying: "Since deep meditation is the key, we can develop a set of basic meditation for children to prepare them beforehand. It can become a mandatory requirement of the curriculum for all the schools."

"That's indeed a good method. That way, when these children are detected to have magical talents, they could be prepared in advance," commented Amelia.

"Alright, you said that there were two requirements to become a mage; what's the second?"

"The second requirement is something that we referred to as Mana Body. According to our research, not all individuals' bodies can properly bear mana. For some of them, mana is like poison. After entering it, it makes them sick.

"The second step of becoming a mage is to create Magic Veins in the body like wizards. Unfortunately, not all of them can go through that process as a result of that."

While looking at the data, Amelia said: "This Mana Poison could be a great problem once the leyline nodes are activated and mana returned to the surrounding. In an environment with a high level of mana, it is foreseeable that it will enter people's bodies unknowingly. Many people could get sick as a result."

"That's true. Let's put it in the agenda of things to study and solve," replied Edward. He then looked at Hermione and asked: "What is the level of mana that the mage's core can hold?"

"The minimum is lower than even some young wizards, while the highest level so far is 20 units of mana."

"20 units of mana? That's 20 times that of an adult wizard. This amount is a little far from the amount before the First Limiter," commented one of the council members. "Is there any way for the amount to increase, just like it does for wizards after breaking the Limiters?"

"Unfortunately, no. As recently discovered, the Limiters are both a bloodline restriction of wizards and a restriction of the world. Since mages do not have bloodlines, they do not have such restrictions.

"So, if they want to increase the mana in their magic core, we have to find a way to expand the interior dimension of the core. Unfortunately, the research of the Empire has not had any result as of yet."

"What about the growth of mana? Can mages naturally produce mana as they grow up like wizards?"

"No. Wizard's mana is also a product of their bloodlines. If a mage wants to increase his or her mana, they would have to draw it from the environment, or potions."

"So far, mages sound like an inferior version of wizards," complained one person. "Are there any advantages that they have?"

"There are. Since mages have to begin their journey by sensing mana in the environment, controlling it, and entering their bodies, their general control over mana is much better than most wizards. Furthermore, in the future, when the leyline nodes are activated, using spells will require to control mana in the environment to increase their strength. Mages will have a way easier time doing so than wizards."

Many people finally felt relieved after hearing this. Meanwhile, Amelia was thinking to herself.

'Project Magician was supposed to decrease the discrimination and division between the magical and non-magical citizens of the empire. But now, It's more likely that it will further divide people into mages, wizards, and ordinary people. I need to prepare for this in advance.'

She was not the only one who discovered the issue. However, Edward did not place too much emphasis on this kind of thing since he had his aunt do it for him. So, he asked another question:

"You said that there were three places where a magic core could be made. Have you tried making three cores at once?"

"Yes, we have. However, the result was that as soon as the second core was made, it immediately resonated with the first one, resulting in both of them being destroyed. After that, the subject has lost its ability to wield magic forever."

Edward reviewed the data one last time, then said with a smile: "Since everything seemed fine, we can begin a worldwide test for people with talent to become mages. I can see another boom in the Empire's rise in strength."

Right now, the Empire had a total of 100 million wizards and another 15 million humanoid or intelligent magical races. That may sound a large number--especially compared to the measly 5 million wizards before Edward announced the existence of magic to the world.

However, compared to the 50 billion people in the Empire that spawn across the entire Solar System, it's nothing.

Of course, there is the issue of clones. Cloning wizards is possible. Unfortunately, only 1 out 100,000 clones will be born with magical abilities, while all the others turned out ordinary.

Still, with the Empire's ability to mass-produce clones, it's not a big problem. Unfortunately, the magical abilities of these clones are truly weak due to their weak souls. Even a 12-13-year-old young wizard could easily defeat them. As such, they are mostly used for cannon fodders or experimental subjects.

After finishing the inspection, Edward prepared to go to another Tower. However, he received a mental message from Hermione.

'If you secretly leave without saying anything, I will never forget you.'

'My love, you should know that I'm not that insensitive.'

'If that was the case, you would have taken us with you.'

'We discussed this long ago. Next time, you guys can accompany me.'