Magical Academy: Rise of the Supreme Magic Craftsman

Wallace sent a bit of his Divine Sense towards the lake to investigate it a little.

As soon as it reaches the surface of the water, Wallace had a cold sweat in his body as he sensed a human figure with a familiar form of energy bathing under the lake...

He remembered his conversation with his master when he was accepted as an apprentice. The man gave him an opportunity to ask any two questions and he'll answer it to the best of his ability. The first question he asked was related to Space Exploration while the second question was about the northern continent. 

His master, Slaine Allusia, mentioned that the most interesting existence within the northern continent was the Celestial Beings. During that day, it was Wallace's first time to hear such a name. 

He wanted to learn more about them but his master only gave him a vague explanation...

"Is there a problem?"

Clint suddenly asked Wallace. The former had been very curious about this young man invited by Yumi.

As he observed him closely, he noticed that the young man had a solemn expression looking at the lake's direction. 

The thickness of mana hampers their senses so it couldn't extend more than 50 meters, unlike Wallace who can do so without any problems. 

Even the ladies noticed his unusual reaction after glancing in that direction. 

"Nothing... It seems that it is a good decision to avoid that place..."

"What did you saw out there?"

"Someone we can't possibly outfight at the moment..." 

"A stronger monster? Is it the rumored mythical beast?" Elaine asked suddenly after hearing Wallace's grave tone.

"Mythical beasts? I believe they're Dragons, Phoenix, Gryphons, or something?" Hannah wasn't so sure about their existence and only rumors were made. 

Aside from these rumors, there were also some rumors related to the existence of a group of natives here in the northern continent who had the power to easily destroy a whole plateau without too much commotion. That's right, it was the plateau that contains the Lamat Stone deposit that disappeared at the center of the country of Maja. 

Wallace shook his head before answering...

"It's not a mythical beast...That should be a native in this continent..."

"Someone was here?" Yumi asked doubtfully.

As she understood, the native that Wallace was referring to was a Celestial Being. But based on the intelligence that she gathered, these being would be somewhere deeper in the continent. The lake they were at was still close to the edge of the mainland. 

"Mhmm... That's why I'm surprised as well... Anyway, it doesn't look like they noticed us... Or they probably did but wasn't too bothered to deal with our small group. 

"Is that so? Then let's continue... Keep your pace as it is..."

Yumi announced as he let Wallace led the way as they went around the lake to reach the mountain range...

However, it was already about to get dark when they reach the edge of the mountain. 

"Wallace, can you look for a safer place?"

Yumi said to Wallace after noticing that there were several small beasts around them. If they couldn't find a proper place to build their tent, she planned to rest at the top of a large tree

Although there seem to be monkey-like creatures around them, they only number about a hundred and they could easily eliminate them if they dared to attack their group.

"There's a small cave where a giant bear was currently living... We can take it for ourselves..."

Wallace answered after surveying the area.

"Hmm... Alright... Do you think we can handle that bear swiftly? It would be the best if it didn't attract too much attention to nearby monsters."

"I understand... How about this, wait for me here..."

"Eh? Alright... I trust you..." Yumi could only say after seeing Wallace's confident smile.

The young man quickly engaged with the bear about four times his current size. The bear wasn't overweight and it even looks very agile with its balanced muscles. 

"Rooaa--"

Whooszzh!

The bear was about to release a loud roar after seeing a person suddenly appear within his abode. Unfortunately, the young man quickly fired his laser gun to its mouth killing the large monster instantly. 

The other members quickly noticed the disappearance of a life force from where Wallace disappeared to...

"That's faster than I thought..." Yumi suddenly said, she was already at the entrance of the cave and behind her was Clint, Hannah, and Elaine.

Everyone saw the blasted head but Wallace was still observing the giant bear for some reason...

They also observed the bear and noticed that its head was actually healing very slowly...

"No way..."

The bear was definitely not normal since its arm and back were like wearing a stone armor and its claw even seem like it was made of the finest steel. But to think that it also has the regenerative ability... This was definitely a tough beast. 

"Should we burn it?" Clint asked as he noticed that the bear was about to complete its regeneration.

"No... I think we can finish it by crushing its four hearts..." 

Wallace said which dumbfounded the other four.

"Four hearts?"

They quickly sent their scanning abilities to the body of the beast and realized that Wallace was telling the truth...

"Alright, I'll do it..."

Yumi said as she conjured four ice spears and thrust it the location of the hearts. She also conveniently cleaned the place as the stench of the beast was removed.

The cave now smells better and looks cleaner making it a bit more comfortable to take a rest.

On that night, Yumi showed her map to everyone and mentioned the changes to their plans because of Wallace's suggestion. Instead of going directly to the headmaster's location using Elaine's blood tracking ability, they plan to utilize Wallace's scouting skills to avoid places that would perhaps endanger them. 

Wallace suggested this and agreed by everyone because they noticed that the closer they get, the larger number of remnants from the recent group of adventurers were showing up.

The remnants they saw weren't even looking better as they have seen many clues that a lof of the Cloud Hawk's Manor's people had perished on their current path. 

The first group of adventurers might've even lessened the dangers on their current path but they would not like to take chances... The monster which they have trouble dealing with might still be around following the trails of the first group. 

As they thought the night would pass without any more problems, a snowstorm surprised everyone...

"What kind of environment is this? How could a snowstorm just suddenly appear here?!"

Hannah was exasperated as she wasn't good at dealing with the cold environment without her mana artifacts activated. It would cause her some mana and she won't get a proper rest at this rate. 

"Don't worry, I'll deal with it.."

Clint said as he activated one of his one-time mana artifacts to create a wall of energy film protecting not just the entrance but the whole cave for extreme coldness. 

Elaine used this chance to find a small stone to cast a spell on it. The stone lit up and became like a molten stone and brought them some heat and more light. 

They had been using Yumi's ice crystals the whole time for the light inside the cave and now that a snowstorm appeared outside, it would not be appropriate to continuously use this ice light. 

On the other hand, Wallace was secretly communicating with Avalon. 

[ We've lost connection to the mainframe. ] 

Wallace heard Avalon reporting the news. However, before they lost the connection, they were warned by Veda that the layer of protection around the whole planet lost a huge chunk of energy. 

"What happened?"

It was definitely not a piece of good news. They haven't even finished creating a single spaceship... 

Sigh~

Wallace can only hope that it wasn't an external intervention causing that problem.