n

n

nOwl was cleaning a mug using a towel when several people arrived at their coffee shop.

nIt was him who greeted the group of people as he recognized the one leading them since he's not using anything to disguise himself.

nHe was about to offer a seat to these people but he heard heavy footsteps coming from the stairs on the upper floor. It was the three other members of the Lucent Force who had reached an early stage of Battle Mage.

n

"It's been a while.

" Aaron smiled at the guy who seems to be enjoying his job in this shop and nodded at the three newly arrived Battle Mages.

nHe observed Owl who was currently wearing a waiter's uniform and seems ready to assist any customer who will pass by.

n

"Should we close the shop for the day? We don't have any customers anyway.

" Owl asked as he believed that Aaron had some important request to make.

n

"No need. Should we head upstairs?

"

n

"Alright. But not upstairs, these three will lead you to a more secure place. Eagle should be there waiting for you, young master.

" After Owl finished saying this, the three moved forward and present themselves to Aaron.

n

"This way, young master.

" One of the three said as he was pointing to a door that would lead downstairs.

nAaron was together with three members of Lucent Force he brought with him from Zairus. One of them was left on the ground floor to guard the place.

nAaron did not waste his time as he went to meet Eagle, one of the leading figures within this branch.

nHe especially went to this place as he was worried about the situation of one of his juniors in the academy. He went missing for several days and now, he even received a report that one of the NMTI's special agents was left in the enemy's base while Wallace's location was still unknown.

n***

nWallace checked each of the descriptions. of the skill. The five of them probably require a hundred pages of a book just to provide all the information about the skills, including its limitation, method of execution, requirements to sustain, and full description of the ability. He then read a part of the introduction in each skill.

n1. Void Phase - Once fully mastered, the user will have the ability to become liberated from the existential principles and constraints of both time and space.

n2. Matter Disassembly - Once fully mastered, the user will receive five skills to freely use. Matter Redistribution, Matter Melding, Density Manipulation, Vector Control, and Fluid Manipulation.

n3. Essence Reconstruction - Once fully mastered, the user can restore anything living or non-living to either their optimum state, including high-speed healing

/regeneration of themselves or others like restoring life in an environment.

n4. Astral Core Formulation - The user can generate their own energy instead of always depending on the energy around them.

n5. Chasm Trample - Once fully mastered, the user will be free from the chasm of human and transcendent physiology, a state of being free from the constraints of the material world.

nWallace deliberated for a while before selecting the first option. Truthfully, he would like to select Matter Disassembly for various reasons but his current situation made him select the first one.

nAs soon as he made the decision, acute pain was felt in his brain as if something was trying to incorporate within his body.

nThe pain lasted for a few minutes before his body could adapt to its pain. The pain then lessened in a while up until it disappears.

n

"It's a bit difficult even if I already know how it works.

" Wallace commented after analyzing the information he received. Although he learned the skill, executing it can prove to be difficult especially in his case where only a Beginner level of knowledge was acquired.

nHe then summarized the ability that he could also execute probably in the near future. One of those was to move into any location with just a single step regardless of distance or obstacle as long as his energy could. It will make him remain unaffected by the distance or proximity of things in existence. Due to this, he will be in absolute exemption from any type of temporal and spatial ability whether offensive, defensive, or manipulative.

nFor now, as a beginner, his Void Phase will allow him to move unhindered within 300 meters. Unfortunately at that point, it would exhaust all his reserved Mana pool. To be safe, it would be better to move sparingly.

n

"Too bad, the spaceship wouldn't fit within the dimensional storage space that the Cube provided me. I can only barely fit the Mech Frame by removing some parts on it.

"

nWallace disappointingly said. Due to this situation, he was now planning to leave the spaceship here as he doesn't have an option to take it with him.

nBut because of the 5-meter cubic storage space, he gained as a reward, he could at least store all the important items within the spaceship.

nWallace took out an armed guard that was stored below the controls panel of the spaceship.

nHe then glances at the widescreen where Avalon showed approval remarks.

n

"The arm guard contains 60% copy of the stored database in this A.I. but as long as we don't lose signal in this main database, I can utilize 100% of the stored data.

"

nIt is what it says on the widescreen. Now that he's here, he doesn't have any plans to leave his A.I. anymore.

nWallace removed his armor and wore Avalon's Arm Guard. Then a holographic image of himself appeared even showing his body status, weapons equipped, and others like his personal data. But some of it still remained blank.

n

"Well, I'll let you connect to the internet of this world soon.

" Wallace softly said and grinned as if he was planning something. He was already thinking of making a room for his A.I. filled with computers to make it its main database in the future.

nBut for now, he checked the A.I.'s function and didn't notice anything wrong.

nNow that he settled every item within the spaceship. Except for the current energy or Aether within the spaceship that protects it from any intrusion and a part of the A.I. to maintain its function, he now only had to deal with his previous body.

nAs the Pathfinder could now be used, he planned to check this body covered by bio-armor. He may be overacting a bit but he just wanted to make sure that there's no danger in checking out his previous body.

n***

n

"Are you thinking of him?

" A man's voice was heard as a sudden question made the girl being asked startled a bit.

n

"Huh?

" The girl recognized the man's voice as she didn't bother to look at him and remained to observe a Mana Artifact in her possession.

n

"I mean, you were in the same year in your previous Academy. You should have an impression of him.

" The man explained vaguely.

n

"I still don't understand.

"

n

"Well, I heard that they sent people to find him so I hope he could join the competition tomorrow.

" These words made her realized what he was referring to.

n

"Haaa~ I'm not thinking of him. I'm probably thinking about how this would affect our overall performance tomorrow. Although they sent a substitute in a hurry, he doesn't look that competent, unlike Wallace.

"

nThe two were Jun Richardson and Sheryl Vermont of Mystic Gate Academy.

nThe international competition relies more on the individual's skills instead of a team. Unlike the Twelve Magic Academies Competition, the Mana Technician's segment doesn't have any relation with the Combat Magicians at all. The competition will only be based on the student's foundational skills but would still give them a chance to showcase their expertise in the field.

n

"Well, that's true. Even I would acknowledge his unique perspective in Mana Artifacts creation. I also learned a thing or two with all the Magic Structure he made before. Especially his absurd ability to identify materials. I practiced a lot due to that.

" Jun commented as he agreed with Sheryl.

nThe two of them had witnessed the attack that has occurred within the hotel where they saw Yumi fought against the enemy's Adept. They were both aware of the danger that coincides with Wallace's disappearance. As fellow students and countrymen, they were still worried for him even though they had been opponents in the competition.

n

"It would probably be horrific if he disappeared here. Even if he can't participate, let's just hope that he could return.

"

n

"Let's just hope now that he would return on time, okay? I still wanted to see what surprises he could offer to us. Who knows, maybe another eye-opener Mana Artifact will be released once he participated?

" Jun smiled and commented as if he really knows Wallace. He was actually looking forward to Wallace's new creation especially within this competition where they would be allowed to create their best Mana Artifacts.

nThe manner that Wallace created those magic structures like Ultrasonic Burst and Traceless Oscillation made a deep impression not only on the young students but also on the many Mana Engineers who were tired of following the same practice of creating Mana Artifacts.

nAlthough it was only within a small part of the younger generation, he was slowly building up his reputation.

n