n

n

nYumi was curious about what's happening in this mountain. She can sense that there were several powerful sources of energy scattered around this place.

nA while ago, she was unable to sense them as they were still out of the mountain's perimeter but as soon as their car entered, especially when they arrived inside the villa, she can sense the powerful energy coming from somewhere and she believes that it was even being suppressed by several Arrays or Formations.

n'It hasn't been long since my last visit here... Just how efficient is this guy?'

nNot only her curiosity was triggered but she was also impressed by the changes that have occurred within this place in such a very short time.

nIt means that the Wallace here was capable of creating many useful things before the invasion takes place.

n'It seems that if he gets serious, he can truly accomplish many works...'

nYumi rested at the living room while Ace was arranging several things with Avalon. As soon as he was ready, he called for Yumi and leads her inside the hangar.

nThis was the first time that someone else had visited this place so Ace made sure that aside from the things he wanted her to see, there would be nothing else inside the hangar.

n

"What is this place? Wait, that's-

"

nAs Yumi entered the hangar, she was a bit blinded by the bright light coming from the ceiling.

nBut as soon as her eyes get used to the place, she was shocked to see a huge vessel or probably the one of the aircraft that Wallace was saying. It was such a magnificent view and this was her first time seeing such majestic ship. It could not be compared to the works of the Veritas Group at all!

n

"This is huge...

"

nIn front of her was the complete Transatmospheric Battleship, the Excellence. She couldn't properly describe what she was feeling right now.

nThis vessel she was seeing had an unimaginable power coming from within. It was probably its source of energy or there may be a powerful shield covering the entire vessel. She wasn't exactly sure.

nShe can see that there were several automatons working on one part of the aircraft so she immediately asked Wallace.

n

"What is this thing? What are those automatons trying to do?

"

n

"This battleship is called Excellence... It is a mid-size transatmospheric battleship.

"

nAce dutifully answered.

n

"Transatmospheric?

"

n

"Well, you can say that it is a spacecraft capable of flight within the atmosphere similar to a normal aircraft.

"

n

"This? How confident are you to say that this is a spacecraft if no one has even successfully used it in outer space... I bet that this thing hadn't even flown once...

"

n

"Haha... Don't worry about that... Avalon is a top-class artificial intelligence, you can just imagine that the Virtual World was more complicated than this... All simulation was alright so it shouldn't be a problem if we really need to do a test flight here... Right, you also asked what are they doing up there... Let's see...

"

nAce checked the automatons working and realized that they were making adjustments to a part of the spaceship.

n

"That's a Linear Catapult... It seems that adjustments were necessary as there were several Mech Frame's designs that were only finished now...

"

n

"Mech Frame?

"

n

"Oh, I mean Steel Knights...

"

n

"You mean, you have several designs of a Steel Knight? Are you also using a Molten Core? Where did you get them? Oh wait, is it from your master?

"

n

"Ah, right... Anyway... Do you want to see what's inside?

" Ace shifted the topic as he was still not ready to discuss how his Mech Frames works. After all, it has a completely different concept of how it works internally compared to a Steel Knight.

n

"Sure thing...

"

nYumi answered as she was also curious to see what was inside.

n

"So, I guess that this Linear Catapult thing is where your Steel Knights come out when launched...

" She muttered while observing appearance of this battleship.

nYumi was also thinking that she would stop being surprised to whatever she was about to see inside the battleship.

nAnyway, there was two Linear Catapult placed just behind the two Particle Beam Cannon of the battleship. The automatons were working on their adjustments due to the last minute's changes in the design of one of their Mech Frames.

n'This guy has some guts... Maybe that was why he aimed to have a Grand Arcanist as a master. So he can do this type of thing...'

nYumi realized this as she knows that Wallace should be fully aware that having this destructive force was strictly prohibited by the government. Not only for the safety of the public but also for the fact that they couldn't just let anyone accumulate this type of power without being tied to the government.

nAs soon as Yumi entered the bridge, she was stunned by the various tools, computers, equipment, arrangements of seats, multiple plasma screens, tables filled with various buttons, and unknown things she wasn't aware of.

nHowever, this looks similar...

n

"Where have I seen this before?... Wait-

"

nYumi was shocked as she remembered clearly now. From the huge aircraft itself made of thick metals and this command center, she was sure that she had seen something like this before...

nThe design of the battleship was only somewhat changed but it has the same presence as what she had seen before.

n

"This has semblance with the Dorssian Empire's warship... Now that I think about it... This whole Virtual World thing that you created---

"

nYumi suddenly paused as everything had truly made sense. This guy has been planning this for a long time even before he was made as an apprentice.

nAce didn't interrupt the silent Yumi as she was surely trying to understand everything that was suddenly revealed to her. It was understandable even to anyone who would take her position.

n

"Haaa~

"

nYumi let out a breath after she completely grasp the situation.

n

"Is this one of your test projects? Didn't you mentioned that you'll build an aircraft with a size of a few kilometers in length?

"

n

"Oh, don't worry about that. This is only the beginning of the project. I have plans for it... So, what do you say? Do you think that you can help me peacefully create these things.

"

n

"Mhmm... I'll tell everything to my superior. I believe that she'll be able to do something.

"

nAce sighed in relief after hearing this. It is only a matter of time before his construction here would be discovered by the authorities. Although he placed many concealing formations on the mountain, it was still bound to be discovered after some time.

nAfter Yumi agreed to help him, she toured the battleship for sometime until she was satisfied. She checked all the armaments that was equipped and even had a quick look at the Mech Frames that they were building.

nThese Mech Frames were all humanoid machines as Ace has been planning to let humans pilot them.

nAnyway, he'll probably find their pilots at the Fourth Phase of the VR Pod Project so he wasn't in hurry...

nWhile Yumi was still watching the automatons works, Ace suddenly received a message from Avalon.

n Twelve suspicious people were lurking just outside the perimeter. Veda confirmed that they all possessed the mana fluctuations similar to an Adept Mage. They have an unknown intention at this time.

n

"Huh... What's wrong this time?

"

nAce frowned at this. Since they haven't entered the perimeter of his defenses yet, he couldn't do anything about them at the moment. But he have to be careful for possible attempts to trespass his place.

n

"Is there something wrong?

"

nYumi asked as she noticed the sudden change of his expression.

n

"Oh... It seems that we have some visitors. I'll just welcome them really quick... You can stay here for now...

" Ace smiled before he left the hangar.

n