The Empire's Exploration Era: Jean-Claude's First Clash

Claude looked at the screen in front of him and spoke loudly. "First observation: humanoid life-forms, blue skin, average height comparable to humans. Their clothing and weapons indicate a highly developed civilization."

The witch and the others in the room recorded his words. "What are the preliminary environmental readings?"

"Temperature: 46 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity: 62%. Gravity: five times Earth's. Energy detected: magic."

"Hm?" Claude focused on the last two readings. Such a harsh environment meant the average native of this plane was stronger than humans on Earth before the Empire Era. However, Claude was most interested in the fact that this world had magic.

"A world with magic? Are we really this lucky?" Claude laughed. The Astral Realm contained all kinds of worlds, and according to the Empire's classification, worlds with magic and magical systems were the most valuable. First, they contained magical resources such as ores, plants, and new life-forms. Second, the Empire was eager to study new magical civilizations and incorporate them into the Arcane system.

"The enemy has spotted us," a commander reported.

"Activate the Wizard's Eye's defensive measures. These things are cheap, but we can't afford to burn through our money," Claude ordered. His actions saved several monitoring systems, but the enemy's arrows still managed to destroy most of them.

"Deploy long-range monitoring."

The tower had a long-range detection method, but using the Wizard's Eye conserved more energy. However, now that this civilization was advanced enough to detect their surveillance methods, Claude had no choice but to use it.

The team then saw an army of blue-skinned people. Most wore armor, while some carried staves—possibly indicating that they were spellcasters.

Claude calmly watched the approaching enemy. "Any suggestions?"

"First, we must deploy the Time-Space Locking Shield," the first commander suggested. "This is a Tier 8 plane,