Ian teleported and came to the largest asteroid among Solar System - Ceres.
In the center of the planet, there stands a towering tower with several eye-catching characters written on it:
"Dimension Research Institute."
The entire asteroid is blocked by an enchanted barrier, and outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering. Therefore, Ian is just suspended in the barrier Beyond Realm, waiting for someone to pick it up.
Although he has the right and strength to force his way in, he knows that he must give those strong and capable Arcanist due respect.
Wanton display of power and privilege will only arouse the resentment of others. As a ruler, he knows when and how to win people's hearts, or at least, maintain their stability.
A few minutes after he sent out the notice of his arrival, a spacecraft rushed over and stopped at the edge of the asteroid to greet him.
"Aivoro Tower Master, long time no see."
"Your Majesty the Consul, I haven't seen you for a long time. If I knew you were coming, I would definitely prepare a more grand welcome ceremony."
"Sorry for visiting so rashly. I just heard about your research institute and came here out of curiosity."
After some pleasantries, the two flew back to the tower. Then, Aivoro gave a brief introduction to Ian.
"In the past three years, we have discovered a total of three new dimensions. Because of this, the institute was established to allow several tower owners involved in dimensional research to better share their results."
"I was recruited into this project because I proposed the theory of 'Lemurian Civilization and its Elemental Dimension application'."
Aivoro Tower Master led Ian to the first floor of the tower.
Although it is only one floor, the area of this space is probably larger than Australia.
Countless researchers wearing white coats or white robes shuttled through it.
Various machines can be seen everywhere, some are magical devices, and some are technological products.
Everyone was so focused on the work at hand that no one even noticed the arrival of Ian.
Aivoro took him to a room full of surveillance screens, where an old man with silver hair was staring at a pile of data in a trance.
Although this old man looks frail, anyone with a keen sense can detect the terrifying magic power surging in his body - this is a Fifth Tier Arcanist.
"Your Majesty," the old man said hello after seeing Ian.
"No need to be polite, Gordon Tower Master."
The old man nodded and looked back at the screen again.
"Fascinating, isn't it? A world made entirely of food. Whatever goes in, is quickly infected and turned into food."
"Is this the Food Dimension?" Ian asked, while also starting to review the relevant data. This is indeed a magical place.
According to the data collected, no matter what matter or energy enters this dimension, it will become food--even people are no exception.
If necessary protective measures are not taken, even Fifth Tier Arcanist will turn into a dish if left in for a long time.
"With this dimension, Empire's food problem will become a thing of the past."
"Although there is no problem in this regard. However, the food there should contain many unknown benefits, and of course there may be side effects."
"It's best to conduct thorough research before making a full rollout."
After checking the data and having a brief conversation with the tower owner Gordon, Ian was taken to the second floor.
The tower owner in charge of this floor is named Kim Ji-hoon, who is also Fifth Tier Arcanist.
Unlike Gordon, he is more sociable and enthusiastically introduces his research results to Ian.
"This dimension is currently named Inert Region," Kim Ji-hoon Tower Master said, showing Ian an image of a dark, dead place.
The image shows that some kind of aircraft is flying over the area to record the video, and then the thing appears to fall from the sky and the video ends abruptly.
"In this dimension, all energy will become inert or invalid. Whether it is magic, Divine Power, Psychic Energy or other energy, once it enters here, it will immediately stop functioning."
"The only exception is kinetic energy."
Ian reviewed the records of experiments conducted in this dimension. Countless samples such as puppets, clones, animals (whether magical or not), plants, ores, etc. were sent in for observation, and finally came to this conclusion.
"So, what do you think this place can be used for?" Ian asked.
"Based on the current situation, it is probably most suitable to be used as a prison," the Golden Tower Master replied. "In addition, if we encounter an enemy that we cannot defeat, exiling them to this dimension is also a way to deal with it."
"Your idea is correct. However, if we want to use it as a prison, we have to solve a problem first: anything that enters this dimension will die."
The soul is also regarded as a form of energy, so once a person enters the inert dimension, he will die soon.
The stronger the person, the longer it will last, but this cannot change the final outcome.
"This is indeed a difficult problem. Our research on this dimension has just started, we know very little about it, and we don't even have a research direction."
"Then I'll give you a direction."
After saying that, Ian passed on the new magic system information he brought back from another world to the other party - this is an improved version of Hermione, which is more suitable for Arcane Warlock's practice.
In this magic system, everything can be turned into energy. Therefore, this dimension itself should also have its own unique form of energy.
As long as this energy can be detected and studied, it can eventually be harnessed.
By then, this place will be more than just a prison.
The Master of the Golden Tower was fascinated by this new magic system and took a cursory glance at the overview.
Just when he was about to study in depth, he received a notification: Please pay the corresponding Arcane Merit (Arcane Merit).
He glanced at Ian with resentment and reluctantly paid. Then, he entered in-depth research mode and turned his back on what was going on outside the window.
Ian turned around and headed to the third floor.
On the way, he considered the possibility of placing Quantum Prison in this inert dimension.
As for what is Quantum Prison?
That is Empire a maximum security prison where the most vicious and dangerous criminals are held.
As the name suggests, this is a place that has been shrunk to a size smaller than a quark.
All prisoners will be reduced to this size before being transported in.
Furthermore, the prison is located in a separate Subspace pocket, filled with enchantments that monitor any slight changes within.
The security level of this prison exceeds the so-called "maximum" level, and no one can escape from there.
When Ian designed this prison, some people said he had gone too far.
On the third floor, Ian saw Elemental Dimension discovered jointly by the Aivoro tower master and Ibrahimovic tower master: a Flame Dimension.
Unlike other dimensions, some creatures have been detected here - fire element creatures.
Unfortunately, the captured samples were of low intelligence and did not provide much valuable information.
However, it is known from the memories deep in their bloodline that the most powerful creature in this dimension is called Elemental Lord.
"According to my research on Lemurian Civilization, it is only a matter of time before I find water, wind and earth Elemental Dimension," the owner of the Aivoro tower said confidently.
Shortly after the inspection, Ian convened a meeting with all tower owners of the institute.
Sitting at a white round table, Ian looked around the crowd and spoke slowly:
"You know what, I'm a little disappointed."
The room fell silent instantly, and the tower owners looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Finally, Gordon asked:
"Your Majesty the Consul, are you dissatisfied with our results or our progress?"
After all, it has only been more than a year since these dimensions were discovered, so it is normal that the results are not many.
"I'm not that unreasonable," Ian said, "Do you still remember what I said to everyone when you became the tower master?"
Everyone immediately remembered the Archon's famous saying that has become the motto of all Arcanist:
"Always pursue Truth with absolute caution."
Then, everyone showed horrified expressions and realized what mistake they had made.
Is studying dimensions such a simple matter? Of course not.
What if there are some extremely powerful dimensional creatures there and use the channels they opened during research to invade Empire?
After all, the existence of fire elemental creatures has proved that there are life forms in other dimensions.
Since it exists here, why can't it exist in other dimensions?
Thinking of this, everyone was at a loss and the atmosphere became awkward.
"We realize our mistake, Your Majesty the Consul," Aivoro Tower Master was the first to apologize, and others also agreed.
"This is not entirely your fault. People from the Research Safety Bureau should have warned you; it seems I should cleanse a group of people," Ian said.
"Transfer your research to a Subspace pocket. The enchantment is set to automatically destroy in an emergency. Additionally, I will allocate a Eighth Tier weapon as an additional safety measure."
"The Eighth Tier weapon is something that can level the entire Solar System in an instant."
"Although I have known for a long time that the Archon hides many dangerous things, who would have thought that it would be so terrifying?" Ibrahimovic Tower Master thought to himself.
When he thought that his small Fifth Tier body would be instantly wiped out in front of that kind of weapon, he couldn't help but shake his head secretly; that was simply not a force he could contend with now.
Maybe in the future, but definitely not now. As for taking that Eighth Tier weapon as his own, he couldn't even think about it.
That kind of weapon would certainly have numerous restrictions and regulatory procedures in place before it can be used.
There is a high probability that, unless an emergency occurs, none of the tower owners present will be able to see the true appearance of that weapon.