Magical Academy: Rise of the Supreme Magic Craftsman

Wallace without his armor touched the bio-armor that was protecting his previous body. He placed his hands on the armor's chest and after a few seconds of no response, the armor shuddered and bit by bit, it started to shrink.

It slowly unattached itself from the old body and take a form of a suitcase.

Wallace hadn't noticed the form that the bio-armor took because he was gaping at the body he was seeing in front of him. It was an intact, unblemished, and perfect body of his that is identical to his current body. 

"What's the meaning of this?" Wallace couldn't help but question this miraculous event. He hadn't expected that his body that was left here for about three decades remained as it is. Although there seems to be no life being detected at all, it is still very amazing to find the body without any signs of deterioration. He took a deep breath and tried to communicate with the Pathfinder about this phenomenon.

Unfortunately, Pathfinder seems to have no intention of answering his question. He tried touching the body to see what would happen. 

'Maybe it will crumble to dust after touching or it will shatter into bits of lights until it vanishes?' Wallace lampooned as his thought process was now being influenced by the everyday magic he was dealing with within this world. Unexpectedly, he got a response from his system that it could be stored in his dimensional storage space. 

"This should be enough for today. I should leave this place now." He finally decided as he stored the body within the remaining space of his storage. He felt that a lot of things had occurred and changed in these past few days due to his mission, so he wanted to escape this place and explore the knowledge and things he could do together with his A.I. and improved Pathfinder. 

He focused on using his improved Divine Sense and confirmed that several magicians were still closely monitoring his spaceship as if afraid of missing any movements from it.

After all, they know for a fact that there is an existing living being inside the spacecraft. Unlike their assumptions before, that it was left alone by a foreign being. Some even believed that the owner of this aircraft was the humanoid figure that was clutching its chest on the ground and only fossilized due to the passage of time.

Wallace also had to commend the strong individual who has been guarding the front of his spaceship without any rest. He only left once to accommodate the helpers he called that probably came from their headquarters.

Due to this, Wallace noticed that with the new spherical glass that was placed, there was a specially made transparent door made of glass that can be seen floating whenever controlled by Mana to use as entrance or exit within the spherical glass.

This new spherical glass was placed to cover the strange aura leaking from the spaceship which as Wallace understood was due to the uniqueness of the Aether Force that was stored within. This unique type of energy that could only be found in space was making a strange reaction from the Mana that was ever-present in this world. 

He doesn't have that much time to explore this topic but would surely look thoroughly into this in the near future.

  After observing the current situation, he

changed from wearing his Amplified Assault Armor and instead wore one of the bio-armor he has from the stocks. This bio-armor was similar to what he wore when he descended on this planet since there's only this one version of bio-armor that was stocked in his spaceship. 

It was the same full black bio-armor and currently in a mode where its smooth surface was activated. There was a mode where the rough and sharp blade can protrude on this armor to increase its defense but since he was carrying the unconscious Yumi in his left arm, he had to modify the bio-armor's form. 

Wallace closed his eyes and with the help of his Divine Sense, visualized the targeted location for his Void Phasing skill. 

As soon as he touched the core activation of the skill that was structured within his body, the surroundings turned black and white aside from himself and Yumi. 

He took a single step and felt that he had gone closer to his target. Of course, he also felt the huge chunk of Mana that was consumed in his Mana Pool. That chunk of Mana might be enough to cast 50 Traceless Oscillation. Now that his Mana Affinity was maximized, he should have enough Mana that could contend with a Battle Mage in terms of their pool size. He was now only lacking in various combat magic spells and experience.

Another three steps were made as he kept getting closer to the target until his fifth and last Void Phasing step where he landed at a safe location hidden by a cover of a large tree and leaves from its branches. 

The distance he covered reached 180 meters. Although he could reach more, he limited himself in case things go south.

He also wanted to avoid touching the ground itself as he noticed that the helpers called by the strong magicians had set up a strange Mana Formation on the whole island. It was probably to avoid any more sneak attacks from the unknown enemies which seem to be very effective if the enemy is unaware of the Mana Formation.

Unfortunately for them, his Divine Sense was powerful enough to detect the strange formation they placed while he was within the spaceship. For flight options as an escape, his bio-armor doesn't have any flight capabilities but he doesn't require them at the moment since a very strong Aerial Defense was also established by the Z-Company.

They have learned their lesson and do not plan to repeat the same mistakes.

"Right! I wonder if the competition had already started. Haaa~ I want to know how the other three countries faired in terms of Magic Study."  Wallace said. This has been one of his thoughts during his practice of Artifact Forging for the competition. Although he was occupied before for his mission to find the spaceship, he had plenty of time to study Artifact Forging to improve himself. As he learned how amazing his creation in the eyes of other people, he was curious to see how the top Magicians of other countries faired.

It must be remembered that Sheryl Vermont places 99th in the magazine titled "The Fortune of Magic" where it features the top 100 Magicians of the younger generation.

The magazine doesn't just cover the magicians in Zairus but covered the whole allied countries.

Due to Sheryl changing course from a combat magician to a mana technician, there isn't enough record of achievement to retain her status as one of the top 100. Kyla Rogers placed at 89th and some third years in Zairus's lineup was also placed in the rankings. They were Avery Marshall from Isolde Academy placed at 49th and Hector Newman from Stoneheimer Academy at 67th rank. The other third years weren't that active before in combat competitions that would highlight their skills so there wasn't enough data to rank them. The ranking was only made based on the local, regional, national, and international competitions being held so the Magicians that were hiding their skills from the public may still appear and destroy those placed in ranks. 

But of course, having a rank would still tell a lot of things about the person's achievement and ability.

Wallace was thinking of various things as he rested for a while and after passing some time and made sure that his Mana Pool was fully recovered, he initiated another Void Phasing step. 

***

Today is the start of the competition for the international competition being participated by the four allied countries, Maja, Virgan, Zairus, and the host country, Montego. 

The arena where the event was being held was full of people from different countries to give supports to their fellow countrymen. 

The event for this morning would be for the Combat Magicians to test their foundational skills in Magic. There wouldn't be any fight towards any other competitor but they will be tested using several pieces of equipment prepared and will be scored depending on their performance. 

Within the room designated for the participants from Zairus, the six combat magicians were all prepared in the upcoming warm-up segment of the competition.

The powerful duo from Skywalker Academy, Vanessa White, and Aria Scott can be seen relaxing in music with their headphones. They seem to be unaffected by the upcoming game.

"Everyone! Let's do our best. The first part only requires us to demonstrate our strength without using any Mana Artifacts. Everyone is prepared for that so I believe everyone will provide good results. There may be a larger audience compared to TMAC but don't get nervous. We can do it!"

Hector tried to be the leader and said words of encouragement.

Avery ignored him, Vanessa and Aria weren't listening, Nyla Lawson from Odrexelt Academy observed, and since none of the other third years responded, she ignored him as well.

Kyla Rogers, the 2nd year from Mystic Gate nodded her head and clenched his fist as she quietly made a sound of approval.