Traveler of the River of Time and Space-Chapter 525 - 9: Empress Isabella

At the edge of a dense, primeval forest.

"Who?"

As Su Ziyu and Jian approached, a wary voice immediately rang out in front, followed by a young man in a simplified version of power armor emerging.

From a distance, Su Ziyu had already sensed that there were people here, and upon getting closer, he indeed found many members of the Rebel Army.

"It’s me." Jian stepped forward and said.

Her status within the Rebel Army seemed not to be low either. The young man, upon seeing her, immediately saluted and said with delight, "It’s Captain Jian. You’re back safely."

"That’s great."

"Where are the others?"

Jian’s expression held a trace of sadness, and she shook her head, saying, "They all sacrificed."

"Now’s not the time to talk."

"We retreat first."

"We’ll talk back at the base."

The young man nodded, "Yes."

"Who is he?" A bald man with tattoos on his arm emerged from the darkness, his one arm modified into a mechanical arm, the other tattooed with a wolf. His gaze fell on Su Ziyu, eyeing with caution, "He’s not one of the Rebel Army!"

Jian met his gaze and said firmly, "Wood. Stand aside."

"He saved me from the Empire Knights."

"He single-handedly took down an Empire Knight. If not for him, I wouldn’t have brought the items back."

"Everyone would have died in vain."

At this, Jian sent a psychic message, "His name’s Wood. He used to be a mercenary for the Empire."

"But he was wanted for violating the Empire’s military orders."

This planet’s spiritual ability system is rather complete; even those with not very high spiritual enhancement levels can use the auxiliary chip to perform many special abilities.

Su Ziyu looked at him expressionlessly, as if not interested in speaking.

Inside the forest stood a peculiar metal frame, with a pale blue luminous body at its center, surrounded by a circle of people, next to an old flying pod. These people were equipped with some rather crude exoskeletons, and some had only simple metal engineering arms. The group in various exoskeleton outfits in the front appeared to be the elite of the Rebel Army.

"With this kind of equipment? How to fight the Empire?" Su Ziyu thought to himself.

The gap in equipment is too vast.

Because this planet already had a technological gap, the Rebel Army had even less scientific talent, and their equipment was mostly junk retrieved from the Empire, whereas the ordinary Empire soldiers had much more advanced gear than them.

Many of the Empire’s advanced equipment had genetic encoding, making it hard for them to crack and use even if acquired.

"Put away the Mind Counter-Barrier." Jian glanced at the others and said, "For now, we retreat back to the base."

Jian’s command was quickly executed.

The Rebel Army members curiously scrutinized Su Ziyu on the side and soon packed up their things and entered the flying pod.

"Did you really kill an Empire Knight on your own?" It was the young man they first met, seemingly named Bobbi, who spoke.

"Yes." Su Ziyu calmly nodded.

The nearby young man instantly grew excited, looked him up and down, and hesitated, "Then your spiritual energy must be strong?"

"Are you a level five Spiritualist?"

The spiritual ability level cap in this world is 10.

Generally speaking, ordinary people operate at spiritual Ability Level 1. Due to the past ’Spiritual Ascension’ plans, many people have some degree of spiritual talent in their genetics, but a Spiritual Ability Level 1 is of little use, a power basically negligible.

Jian’s ability level was LV3, already considered one of the stronger Spiritualists in the Rebel Army.

If she used a spiritual amplifier, she could probably unleash about a Level 5 strength.

Truly formidable Spiritualists are all within the Empire.

The ordinary citizens of the Empire have spiritual abilities typically between LV1-LV2, without developed techniques, mostly using some basic spiritual energy. Level 3 is a turning point, reached generally by those with decent talent and the noble class of the Empire, with lower nobles often between LV3-LV5.

And those at Count Level and above can, through special enhancements and equipment, reach Level 6 or higher.

Currently, the strongest Spiritualist in the Empire is Empress Isabella, said to be the world’s only level 9, and what kind of power she can unleash with a Spiritual Amplification Device remains unknown.

Empress Isabella rarely makes appearances and has no records of ever taking action.

For non-human creatures, it’s said that the overlord of the Insect Race can reach level 10, but on this planet, the highest insect Dominator is only the insect mother, and the overlords who command the swarms operate across interstellar ranges.

Su Ziyu pondered a bit, deciding to be somewhat conservative, and slowly uttered a single digit, "6."

Indicating he was a level six Spiritualist.

When they heard his words, the surrounding Rebel Army couldn’t help but be shocked. However, Jian looked calm, as if she had expected this.

Because without being a level five or above Spiritualist, one can’t possibly hold off an Empire Knight.

The flying pod soon reached a concealed underground construction.

Jian assigned someone to lead Su Ziyu to a place to rest while she hurriedly carried a box deeper underground.

At the same time.

In an exceedingly majestic underground city.

Under an artificial light source, like a miniature sun, the magnificent palace at the center reflected brilliantly in golden splendor. The palace seemed to be painted with gold on its exterior walls, giving off a dazzling aura of wealth from afar, not only displaying its luxuriousness but indicating the owner’s overt taste.

At this moment, a knight dressed in light blue armor was cautiously entering within.

On both sides of the palace were uniform silver-white exoskeleton-armored palace knights, and in the vast hall were over a dozen beautiful maids, while at the very center sat an enormous, nearly five-meter diameter, pure golden throne. A captivating woman in a striking red court gown with a crown perched atop sat on the throne. She appeared to be around thirty years old, stunningly beautiful, with long eyebrows, a tear mole at the corner of one eye, a prominent nose bridge, thin lips, and giving off a sharp aura as she sat silently contemplating, causing a slight chill to run down one’s spine. She seemed like a beauty prone to sudden changes in mood.

At the moment, she frowned, propping her face on her hand, fingers lightly pressing against her temple, showing a trace of irritation and pain in her expression.

"Your Majesty the Empress," the knight knelt on one knee and said, "Count John has been brought back."

The bewitching woman on the throne opened her eyes at the words, her gaze full of substantial light, and nodded expressionlessly, a bit impatient, saying, "Understood."

"Execute him."

.........