Magical Academy: Rise of the Supreme Magic Craftsman

"This morning, we have witnessed the student's outstanding battle performance. Of course, we've also seen their prowess in their Mana Affinity. They really deserved to be called our younger generation's top combat magicians." One of the female announcers said as she started to introduce the match that was about to happen.

"They gave us an exciting match a while ago against the modified Automaton made by Sir Julian himself. This time, let's call up our young and future Magic Engineers. Right! On this afternoon, they will be battling using their wisdom with 'Creator's Fist' segment in this competition."

"You don't have to mind the title of our event for now. Haha! To let everyone know of the rules, all the 12 Mana Technicians of each country would have to compete at the same time for the top rank. Each of them has to complete a self-sustained automaton of their own. Correct, this automaton should not be controlled by a Magician once in the field. It has to be capable of battling on it's own. Why? Because at the end of this match, a battle against these automatons would come." One of male announcer said to explain the basic rules to the audience.

***

Wallace and his team had only learned the rules 30 mins before the competition. Creating self-sustained automatons would normally be tackled at 3rd year classes. Anyway, in normal cases, it was really those 3rd year students who were being selected to participate here.

Both Sheryl and Wallace was just special exception due to their unique abilities. Luckily they have studied enough to learn this method of artifact forging. Sheryl learned it due to her family background and Wallace learned it just a while ago. He only had some superficial knowledge before due to his interest in the Automatons he had seen at Cavalen City during the Twelve Magical Academies Competition. 

Also with his knowledge prior to power source, he already improvised an existing one and made a Compact Mananuclear Reactor for an armor tech. All of these will be useful to the current competition.

With the remaining time as well, he collected all the information he could get about the topic and kept everything in his mind.

After all, it is not allowed bring any device or Mana Artifact on the stage.

"Good luck to the three of us. I hope any one of us could at least reach the top 3. That would already be an honor once we returned." Jun said as he said to his two companions. Since he was the only third year hear, he felt that he has to act as leader for the two.

The personnel from the Ministry of Magic of Education only assisted them thru providing some information about their opponents and also about the previous competition that has occurred so they would have some reference. Aside from that, they can also request some information regarding a Magic Structure or Mana Artifact as long as it is within acceptable limits. 

The other Combat Magicians from Zairus had also cheered for the three as the young Mana Technicians step out of the waiting room and went to the prepared stage. 

"Good luck! You can do it!" 

"Please, don't rank at the bottom. At least aim for the 11th place."

"Show us what you got!" 

It was Kyla, Hector, and Vanessa respectively.

Sheryl thanked and smiled at them. Wallace also did the same and nodded to acknowledge their support. 

Wallace stepped on his stage as he looked around the neatly arranged materials that they will be using to create an automaton.

He glanced at the other participantz and noticed that the teams were arranged in 4 rows and 3 columns. 

The 1st row was Montego's team, followed by Maja, Zairus, and Virgan's team. 

Wallace noticed that the sound coming from the audience was silenced and they could only here now the reminders of the rules for this competition.

***

"The aim for this round was to create an automaton that was capable of combat. All participants would be given the same selection of materials for fairness.

You can take look at your front to see a specially made Artifact Forging Device for an automaton. At your left, various parts of automatons can used. You can just use those parts or limbs that was pre-made for your automaton or if you would like to create your own, there's several raw materials that can be found as well.

At your right, you'll see various materials you can use for your core, the Magic Structure. And again, keep in mind that after evaluating the automatons that you've made, a battle amongst them would ensue. You only have two hour and a half for the first part. Good luck!" This voice was heard by the 12 participants and ended without a fanfare. 

They were not given time to familiarize with their workplace and just introduced the things around them. 

"Oh well, let's see..."

Wallace turned his eyes to the pre-made parts of the automatons that could later be used for forming a body. The parts or limbs that he saw weren't just for humanoid automatons as he could also see parts that was inspired from animal figures. There were falcon wings, bull's legs, huge arms which resembles that from a gorilla, four legs from a horse, crocodile's tail and others. Aside from that, they could also use the torso of these animals. Yes, it was not required to use a complete body of certain animal or complete human body for an automaton, it was alright to combine different type of limbs to any torso they find suitable depending on their magic structure. 

This arrangement would allow them endless possibilities to avoid any resembling creations.

The time-limit provided to them wasn't a long time and was actually quite short. But considering their talents and provided parts there, they should be able to barely make one working combat automation.

Wallace thought carefully as he realized that the hardest part would probably from creating the Magic Structure that would later be self sufficient for a fight. After all, there's a lot to consider when making a core for an artifact that is capable of fighting on it's own. 

Wallace closed his eyes as he wanted to clear his mind and concentrate. He also wanted to avoid viewing his opponent's creations as it may affect his decision. After a few moments as he visualize the automaton that he wanted, he started to create a Magic Structure. He picked up a standard Magic Crystal, Basilisk Stone and a Jax Stone.

"This should be the best option for me." Wallace smirked as he started to organize his thoughts in order to start making his magic structures. 

Sheryl had also finished familiarizing herself on her working station or stage as she started picking up a vessel that she would use for her core Magic Structure. 

'Sigh... I'm not confident in making my automaton an expert in combat. I'd rather arrange it with a high defense and powerful counterskills. As long as it saw an opportunity to retaliate, it should be enough for me to have more chances of winning.' Sheryl said in her mind before finding a suitable materials.

On the other hand, Jun Richardson who was a third year student had instead started building up the automaton's figure first. It seems that he'll make the creation of Magic Structure as a last step for his method.

***

"Very interesting... What a coincidence, the three students from our Montego's team seems to be creating similar automatons or something that resembles each other." The female announcer said. But it was rebuked by the other male announcer.

"Its not really a coincidence, after all, each one of them studied in the same academy. They surely learned from the same Magic Engineer assigned to teach them Automaton's Inner Working. So it's normal that they have similar methods."

"Ahh... That makes sense."  The female nodded as they turned their views on other participant's work.

"Look at Maja's team. They started choosing the parts they wanted to use. They seems to be dedicated to make it resemble a humanoid figure."

"They must be someone who was well-versed in this type of competition. Although a humanoid automaton was common to see, their core Magic Structure was actually complicated. Most automatons that can be purchased would use the 'Cold Heart' Magic Structure as a base and only beng modified to some extent... But this time, they can't use any outside resources and could only start from the scratch. So if they selected a humanoid automaton, creating it's magic structure would surely consume a lot of time." The male announcer analyzed as he then changed his viewing perspective to Virgan's team. 

"Let's see, Virgan's team had previously dominated competitions related to Artifact Forging. Now, the most capable participant in their team was Olga. I wonder what type of automaton will they make."

"They all seem to focus on creating Magic Structure for the automaton. They weren't pausing at all, they really know what they're doing."

Looking at the students from Zairus, they seems to have no semblance in their individual work at all. Their method of creation doesn't have any similarities unlike the other partcipants.