Magical Academy: Rise of the Supreme Magic Craftsman

Several days had passed and there was still no further update about Percival's disappearance.

Yumi had even taken the job of finding clues about what really happened during the man's fight against the wielder of the Heart's Grimoire. 

The place they battled at was on the edge of the city where many abandoned buildings were still standing. The district was deserted when the fight between the two occurred having no witnesses at the scene.

The last time they had a contact with Percival was his report to Aaron about him dealing with a certain individual from the terrorist group. Then, after the Magic Barrier of the city was pierced by the Corrosive Blood Rain, Percival sent him a hidden communication that he was going to deal with the sealed mana artifact's wielder and advised them not to let anyone near their fight so they can avoid more casualties. 

In the end, the buildings collapsed and the whole place can no longer be distinguished from its previous state.

It was hard to find a piece of evidence in this torn and broken place.

They didn't have concrete evidence that the wielder was truly Avery Marshall from the Isolde Academy. They were about to get stuck on the investigation until they discovered something.

More than a week after the terrorist attack, they found the Heart's Grimoire, the Sealed Mana Artifact, that was about to burst with Mana Calamity. It was hidden or covered deep under the shambles of a collapsed building. 

It was a close call. If the Mana Calamity occurred here like what happened at the "Illusion of the Venarian Town", then this city was done for.

If Yumi was unable to absorb and release corruption it emits, then it would be a disaster. 

"Search around this area! Be careful about what you touch! This is most likely to be the last place they fought..."

Yumi shouted to her subordinate while she was wondering why did this thing ended up here unattended.

"Why would the two leave it here? Are they both injured? Did they escape? Perhaps, there was a third party? Did they somehow capture the old man? No way... That would be too difficult unless they send someone at the level of a Supreme---"

"Yumi! Look here!"

Yumi quickly glanced at the man who called her. He was one of the specialists working at NMTI but she could only bring him here as he specialized in Spirit Arts. He has very impressive magic that could scrutinize every detail that they could miss. It can be said that he was the company doctor of NMTI working overtime here. 

"Dr. Lao, what did you find?"

The doctor then showed a drop of blood on the stone. It emits a very distinctive fluctuation...

"Can you confirm it?"

"Wait a moment..." The doctor quickly brought out his equipment and tools using his spatial bag as he started analyzing the blood.

"You're always carrying that?"

"Oh? This? No, it just happened that I'm about to send this to my Artificer friend to get its monthly maintenance. Don't worry, there shouldn't be a problem for this small task."

Soon, they discovered that the blood matches Percival's records. Yumi was satisfied at this though she still instructed her subordinate to search the area. The night had passed and they didn't find any more piece of evidence as they ended the search.

Anyway, Yumi already knows what to do. 

*** 

"Uhmmm... Sorry, are you dissatisfied with the compensation?"

"What? No, do I look like someone who lacks money?"

"Then, why would you like to end the contract?" Wallace thought at first that she just wanted to get a better offer but it seems that the lady was truly adamant of getting out of the contract.

"Haaa~ It doesn't suit my image... I want to be a singer or an actress. I don't want to be recognized as a gamer girl!"

'What's wrong being a gamer girl?!' Wallace was about to exclaim but he stopped himself for voicing it out.

He first tried to put himself in her situation to at least sympathize with her. 

Due to that, he discovered that it was indeed hard to swallow if you are being told to do something you didn't want to. Well...

"Did you play the game?"

"How could I?" Miya said in exasperation. She only modeled at the commercial and everything was done in 3D effects. Thanks to Avalon.

"Oh, right... How about this, let's play the game today. At least for an hour and if you still found that it was something that could taint your image, then we'll end the contract right here... What do---"

"Really?!"

"Y-yes..." Wallace was surprised to see the enthusiastic lady in front of him.

"Don't go back on your words! Okay?!"

"Of course..."

Soon, Wallace brought Miya to his new workshop where a couple of VR Pods were quickly arranged by the New Elysiums. They left Miss Humeray, her manager, in the living room watching the news on the television and being served by an automaton. She was quite happy to have leisure time.

Miya had insisted to speak with Wallace personally about her contract, so even though it was weekend and time for a rest, Diana accompanied the celebrity here to satisfy her. 

"Hey... This place is big? Are you living alone here?"

"Eh? Yes. If you discounted the automatons..."

Miya had a blank expression after hearing this. She was using her skill as an idol to hide her pity on him.

'Poor Wallace... He was living alone in a large villa away from the bustling city like a hermit. He was probably treating those machines as his friends... I heard that he was skipping classes as well. Maybe, he has no friends at school?'

Miya was lost in her thought as Wallace was setting up the VR Pods. 

'Maybe the reason why he has no friends was that he was practicing that impressive peeking-- I mean, detection magic...'

"It's done... We can use it now. Which one do you like to use?" Wallace interrupted her thoughts...

"It doesn't matter. Let's end this... Right, even if we ended the contract, we can still be friends..."

"Eh, Oh... sure."

Miya smirked seeing the delighted face of the young man.

But suddenly, she noticed something different.

"The suit... Why does it look so different from when we filmed the advertisement. This suit looks more formal!" 

Miya remembered the sexy outfit she wore for the advertisement. 

"Really? Well, that's called marketing strategy... Don't mind the small details."

Miya shakes her head at this and stayed silent as she prepared to enter the virtual world.

Then, as per Wallace's request, she selected the Adventure Mode: Alien Invasion as she immersed herself at the cinematic introduction which can capture the heart of every person that was struggling to reach the apex of their path. 

She was amazed by the sheer imagination used to make this happen.

'Did he just make this up? This storyline can surely charm a lot of people and heavily invest in the game. He's probably very rich by now...'

As the introduction ended, she found herself standing in front of a statue of a man holding a spear and torch. 

Based on the information she got, she was now in one of the three remaining strongholds of the Sevens. They were in the middle of the desert several hundred feet underground. 

Soon, she met with Wallace as he helped her get used to the game. After all, she didn't try the tutorial mode. 

"W-we can really use magic here?!"

"Of course... It's amazing, right?"

"This technology can be used in a lot of things aside from this game... Just how many years did it take you to produce this?" Miya was truly admiring his intelligence now. This technology was so important that she bet that this guy had a firm connection to the government. He was becoming more and more mysterious the longer she gets to know him. 

Then, Miya didn't notice that they've been playing the game for more than four hours now.