n

n

n

"Sealed Mana Artifacts were that powerful?

" Wallace asked to confirm his thoughts. Although he was aware of these artifacts, he wasn't aware of it's true capabilities.

nThe Mana Calamity could not be treated lightly based on his several sources. It really has to be taken seriously if this is the truth.

nThe 'Illusion of the Venarian Town' was one of the tragedy that has occurred during the time when exploration within the northern continent was still a hot subject.

nAfter more than 5 years of stabilizing the wide scale production of 5th generations of Mana artifact, people set their eyes on the northern continent feeling that they were strong enough to launch an expedition within the inner region. Unfortunately, this caused them thousands of lives and only the 24 known individuals survived.

nThe 24 survivors were investigated on what happened inside. They were brought to an island separating the northern and southern continent. They were detained at the Venarian Town within the same island and after a day of investigation, the 24 left the place including all their loots they have gathered. It was taken and safely kept within the town for proper evaluation and division of profits.

nThen the problem occured, it was rumored that it was the fault of those several loots they gained that the Mana Calamity happened in the island but no one could tell the truth as whatever happened there was tightly controlled by the joint countries that participated in the exploration.

nThen years had passed as the 24 survivors made a huge contribution in the southern continent just like how Dr. Mau Zed remained a prominent figure in the study of Mana and Detoxification.

nWallace could only sigh remembering all of this events in the past.

n

"Yes, that was why it was very important to seal them.

" Clarice answered as she smiled widely upon seeing this amazing younger brother of her being educated from the few knowledge she had learned in her service. Although her brother was showing a lot of amazing skills in terms of artifact forging, she felt that he still have a lot to learn about this world.

n

"Hehe... If you don't know some things related to these, you can always ask me.

" Clarice placed her hand on her waist as she proudly announced.

nA lot of things could not be learned within the 3 years of education in the academy, so she was confident that she would still be of help for Wallace.

n

"Sure, I'll remember that. Uhmm.. By the way, have you heard any rumors going around this city?

" Wallace suddenly asked in case his sister was actually involved in the brewing storm within the city as the lady seems to know a lot.

n

"Uh.. not really? What rumors?

"

n

"Ahh... nevermind about it. So, what do you think about my Combat Simulator Pod?

"

n

"Well, it will surely be the hottest commodity once it's released. This device that perfectly simulates Mana could never be found elsewhere... but there could be some problems.

"

n

"Problems?

" Wallace raised his brows upon hearing this.

n

"Yes... First of all, you will have to license this to NMTI, right?

"

n

"Err... yes. But there shouldn't be a problem since this is just improvement of my first version.

" He had licensed his first version. So honestly, he didnt think that there would be some problems.

n

"No, its not that simple. The first version could not simulate your connection to Mana. The realism in your work was probably 95 to 99% if not 100%, due to controlled pain. Once this was learned by the government, they might monopolize your creation.

" Clarice said worriedly. She knows that her little brother was weak in political drama of this country.

n

"Eh? Why would they do it in that extent? Its just a simulator. At most, it could avoid people from getting hurt during practices. They will surely be happy about this, right?

"

n

"That's the main point. Once this was learned, you may not have a chance to even sell this to the public and all the devices will be purchased in bulk by our government to use in the military.

" Clarice said as she shakes her head before continuing her words.

n

"In any case that you couldn't supply their number of request for this artifact. They will start asking for it's core magic structure or program and they will make it themselves.

"

n

"Hmm..

"

n

"Don't 'hmm' me, that's the truth. It happened before.

"

n

"Huh? What happened before?

"

n

"It's a long story but to make it short, a magician made an incredible progress in Mana Artifact usage. It was a huge contribution not only to our country but also to our continent. But our government don't want it to be released to the rest of the world just to maximize it's potential and gain an upperhand to other countries' advancement. Well, I couldn't blame them as it's warring era.

"

n

"So, what happened?

" Wallace was very curious about this familiar story.

n

"Of course, the magician or that magic engineer did not agree and released that discovery to the world for the sake of future and faster development of Mana Artifact.

" Clarice said smiling at Wallace.

n

"You're saying that it's not rumors?

" Wallace heard about this already and was convinced upon seeing his sister nodding at his question.

nShe was surely referring to Aeolia Schien, the man, the myth, the legend. He wanted to increase the pace of Mana Artifact development as he probably reached his limit. It was within his rights as it was all his own efforts. The government never provided him some funds.

nUnfortunately, the government wanted to monopolize this knowledge and did their best to stop Aeolia from spreading it. Luckily, the man succeeded and spread the 4th gen artifact. Then, several decades had passed as the same person discovered another method for advancement of Mana Artifact, the debut of the 5th generation.

nIt was all thanks to the clues from the other countries' Magic Engineers which had inspired him. The man released the discovery again to the rest of the world which garnered a lot of disagreement from the government during that time. They should have the ability to outdone their neighboring countries with this power but instead of contributing this to his home country, he betrayed them... as what they would describe.

n

"That's right. Why do you think the Schien Clan was declining? They should be a rich clan and pillar of this country but look at them now. The man even 'died' mysteriously. Also, remember that it all happened a century ago. These things didnt just happened to them. There were still some magicians you might have even heard before.

" The lady chuckled after saying this. Obviously, she doesn't really care whether the government or Aeolia or other magicians were right or wrong. After all, it happened all in the past, none of her concern and she only have to do her work as she doesn't have any grand ambition to uphold justice and punish all the evil.

nShe just wanted to have the best time of her life. This train of thought wasn't because she was weak but because of her brutal experience within the military.

nShe had a lot of realization as she noticed that everyone has fragile life. It can be extinguished by simple snap of the fingers by the powerful individuals. There was an unimaginable power she could never imagine that was actually existing unknowingly and hidden in the eyes of most people. She had also experienced a lot before getting the mysterious 'desk job'.

n

"Are you sure that you can tell me this?

" Wallace never doubted his sister's words as everything makes sense and it matches in all the information he had gathered and her knowledge surely didn't came from external source. It was definitely an information she had learned within her post.

n

"Of course, don't worry. Although it's a secret, those aristocrats were aware of the past events. It's an open secret as no one would question our government anyway. Only us, commoners, were not informed and even textbooks in our academy were being controlled by them so it's impossible to change the 'truth' that they made.

" Clarice said matter of factly.

n

"I understand. Well, I think that I can still try but I'll speak to someone I know within the NMTI first. I believe that she can be trusted.

"

n

"Oh? You know someone there? Who's the girl?

"

n

"Huh? Don't look to me like that. Anyway, thank you for informing me.

"

nWallace and his sister Clarice had talked a lot of things and bonded the whole day. His sister only have two weeks of vacation and would be back in service. They didn't know when could they meet again so they just can't help it.

nAs the evening approaches, Clarice left her bike at Wallace's house as the two rode a bus together going to the Red Star Town.

nWallace happily went away from his house as his sister seemingly forgot the metropolis she saw within the virtual world.

nHe didn't forgot to instruct his A.I. about the works to be done. Anyway, he was always connected to his A.I. so he wasn't worrying that his progress would be delayed significantly.

n