n

n

nNineteen heard Wallace's mumble.

n'Try your spell? You plan to experiment on us?' The man quickly thought and reminded Wallace.

n

"Y-your promise!

"

n

"Put him to sleep.

" Wallace instructed as the Elysium grabbed the man's head making him unconscious in three seconds. It wasn't a magic spell but the Elysium's hand can emit a particular fragrance, an incapacitating agent that can put anyone to sleep without having other harmful effects.

nWallace looked at his messed up yard before glancing back at the four orbs that were made of smoke.

n

"Let me take those first...

"

nSuddenly, a small part of the force field protection shrunk and wrapped the four orbs as it went close to Wallace. The latter then touched the force field wrapper as it successfully vanished and transferred in his Spatial Bag.

nSoon, he heard the police's siren and hid all his installed defense systems including the automatons.

nWallace had also asked Avalon to remove the handcuffs for now. Anyway, only one was left and he had already fallen asleep.

n

"Wallace! It's good to see you safe.

" Officer Ray said after seeing Wallace unharmed.

nThe gate was partly destroyed so even though he hasn't completely left the car, he saw Wallace outside together with three lying bodies beside him. He suspected that it was one of the intruders.

n

"Mhm... I am. You guys are fast.

" Wallace said to the approaching officer of the security company. The police officers also noticed the situation and were now securing the perimeter to make sure that there are no longer any enemies lurking around.

n

"Of course. We are always alert in this kind of situation... Right, can I ask, did you kill the three of them?

"

n

"No, one is just unconscious, but the two died because they fought against the defense system I installed... Sigh~ I like to avoid killing someone if possible. I'm not used to it.

"

n

"Ahh... I know what you mean. Don't let it affect you. The death of the two and those previous intruders were not your accountability. It was the defense systems that you installed doing their job as how they should be.

"

nOfficer Ray kindly said as he thought that Wallace was still thinking about the previous intruders that he vaporized using his Laser Focus.

n

"By the way, where are the others? Before we lost our recordings, we saw that there were seven of them... Which direction did they escape?

"

n

"Eh? No, they just vanished on the spot after being shrouded by a black miasma.

"

n

"Mhm... I get it now. We'll take this man into custody.

"

nOfficer Ray wore a serious expression after Wallace explained what happened. It seems that he was not clueless about the Hallowed Eye's side effects.

n

"I apologize for the brittleness of our defense structures. It couldn't even last long against this bunch of Battle Mages. As an apology, we'll give you an additional defense structure and some changes on your current plan at no cost.

"

n

"Really? You don't have to... You can just repair all the current ones...

"

n

"I insist. Please allow us to better your security system. Although it will be costly, it would be fine as this is not a matter of money anymore. It's our reputation as the top security company in our region.

"

nWallace listened to Ray as he explained their side. Anyway, it wouldn't harm him more and he wouldn't need to make an additional payment for the improvements they were suggesting.

n

"Fine, do as you like. But you have to explain to me all the changes you'll place.

"

nHe accepted Ray's offer after hearing the latter's sincerity.

nRay happily complied and explained his plans to Wallace.

nIn the end, Officer Ray said...

n

"Rest assured, this attack won't happen again. Now that we captured one of their people, we'll find a way to end their whole organization.

"

n***

nOn the next day after the attempted robbery in his property, Wallace went to the academy as usual. None of his classmates learned about this at all, since he never told them and it wasn't in any news article as well. It was surprisingly suppressed either by the security company or the police themselves.

nRight now, the Cube's upgrade was still not finished. The security company was still adding some defense structures in his property. He was still studying the Celestial Fragment, Lightning Break, and others. He has many things to do but it's a good thing that he still has time to attend the class.

n

"Today we'll study a better way of creating 5h gen artifacts!

" Their instructor Elaine announced as she caught everyone's attention.

n

"Better way?

"

n

"Is it some kind of doing a shortcut?

"

n

"Well, I think that we are doing great with our 5th gen.

"

n

"That's right... Although we are slow, we are doing it correctly and if he always practices the method, it should be normal for us to get quicker.

"

n

"That's right, but since Miss Elaine said this... it should be something that we don't know yet...

"

nAs the students speculated momentarily, Elaine didn't bother to say more words. But this action just made them quickly quiet down as their instructor decided to bring out a machine instead.

nFew of them recognized the machine.

n

"Who can tell me the name of this device?

"

nSix hands were raised from the class.

n

"How about the others?

" Elaine asked.

n

"It looks like a scanning device...

"

n

"Probably an assistive device used when forging an artifact?

"

n

"Oh... That makes sense. After all, instructor Elaine first mentioned something about having a better way of creating the 5th gen artifact. It should be related.

"

nThe unaware students said as they tried to figure out the device being shown.

n

"Mhm... That's enough. Although it had gotten small and the external platings were changed, this is just a beta version of Holm's Artifact Forging Device.

" Elaine said after having enough of their speculations.

n

"T-that small?!

"

n

"How can we forge an artifact using that?

"

n

"This... Beta? There's nothing like that in the market... Is it an unreleased version?

"

nA student mumbled but it was enough for everyone to hear. As for the size, it was also surprising as their thought that the development of artifact forging device leans towards its enlargement to forge larger artifacts.

nElaine smirked and answered.

n

"No, this is even graded as a 'failed version' by the NMTI. It didn't garner enough attention as this small device with the size of the rice cooker in your house could only do half of the artifact forging process.

"

nElaine said and looked at everyone in the class.

n

"This forging device doesn't accept the 4th gen's brain-boosting magic structure and was only capable of helping in placing the blue orbs...

"

nWallace listened to Elaine as she explained the capabilities of this failed product that still possess some usefulness. This was something that could be found online so Wallace was somehow familiar with it. Avalon can even remind him through the earpiece he wore even if he forgot.

nThe blue orbs that Elaine was referring to were the contents of a magic structure crystal during the forging process.

nIn short, using the beta version would give a more stable forging process that helps the Mana Technicians to create 5th gen without worrying that the orbs of magic structure would dissipate. Unfortunately, it was with that cost of not accepting structure that affects the human mind or the brain-boosting structure. It was said that it would cause a conflict and the machine wouldn't work.

nAfter Elaine explained everything, she made a sample work. She used a simple ring as the vessel for the magic structure crystal she prepared.

nDuring the process, the crystal dissipated and turned to an orb of blue light. It was also slowly turning to be a smoke-like orb as the ring absorbed the magic structure through Elaine's guidance. Yes, the infusing process was so smooth that it looks like the ring was absorbing the magic structure.

n'Impressive, as expected to an instructor...'

nIt was also in the mind of everyone after seeing it once.

nEven Wallace was impressed for a bit and spread his Divine Sense in a very wide manner to see what was happening. The orb of blue smoke even seems familiar.

nApparently, as he tried to scrutinize the detail, his Divine Sense reached somewhere else as he lost focus in his class.

n'Thirty-three Soul Arts users, huh'

nHis Divine Sense had accidentally reached the Celebrity Idols Training room.

n'No, there's more of them... But only this thirty-three people emit a stronger fluctuation so it is easy to recognize their group and only one of them could---'

n

"Crap!

" Wallace had suddenly pulled out his Divine Sense.

nThere are five years on this curriculum so it was normal that many of them had practiced the soul art to an impressive degree. But he thought that only Miya could actually pinpoint the location of his Divine Sense because of her uniqueness.

nHe somehow forgot the news article he read when Headmaster Percival announced the addition of the curriculum.

nHe remembered that the headmaster said that there will be famous people in the industry that will spearhead the new curriculum.

n