Magical Academy: Rise of the Supreme Magic Craftsman

[ Congratulations on reaching here. This facility still has a working machine underground powered by the same energy being used by Celestial Beings. It is extremely outdated but I can still connect with it so it's better than nothing. ] 

Veda informed Wallace as they reached the vicinity of the old building. Wallace was curious how the A.I. manages to connect here but it's not the time to be curious about its framework. 

"Is this place dangerous?"

[ No, but be careful of some chimeras that visits around this place during the night. ] 

"Tsk... Are they failed experiments?"

[ Well, it can be considered as successful considering they lived up until today. They can still be used as living weapons. ]

"If they can be controlled... Right?"

[ Yes. ]

"I assume that the Prince has methods to control them. But those methods failed... Sigh~ Not just those Celestials, these chimeras, and monsters were also his failed experiments, right? So he had to escape at the southern continent..."

[ Not quite right. Only the Celestial Beings and Chimeras were made in several facilities on this land. The others were just mutations from radiation after this place was left without control. ] 

"There are many facilities? How did the prince manage them? Was he using automatons or something similar?"

[ No, he found natives living in this continent to work for him. ] 

"Natives? Oh, right... That was mentioned in the logbook... Do you know where are they? Wait, did they even survived through the years?"

[ Yes. There were traces found that they were living at the northernmost of this land. I can no longer reach there. ] 

"I understand. Anyway, how were the projects?"

[ They are becoming quite faster. Now that Ace was doing the production full time, there were a lot of things completed in a few days. Your mountain was also being renovated very fast. ] 

"Hey? I haven't been away for a week and there's already a lot of things done?"

 [ Of course! Don't underestimate the full-time workers. You will be surprised once you returned. ]

"Alright... But I don't think I'll be able to return quickly."

Wallace had a bad feeling about their journey here... He even saw some traces of worry on Yumi's face.

'She must've sensed something that I missed.'

"What are you muttering there?"

Yumi asked seeing Wallace being silent. Now that they found a building and surveyed the surroundings, Yumi stopped using her cloak and approached the group.

"Nothing... I'm talking with Avalon..."

"Oh? You can still connect with your A.I.?"

"Ah no... What I have is a standalone A.I., it doesn't need to be connected to Avalon at the house."

Wallace said as he pointed on his left earpiece. 

"No enemies sighted... Wallace, use your ability to confirm any lifeforce inside again, just in case I missed something." 

Clint said as he glanced at the two.

"Alright..."

His Divine Sense activated fully and confirmed that aside from the small insects and some mutated animals living inside, there were no Mana Beasts or chimeras that Veda warned about...

"Should we enter ?" Clint asked as he glanced at Yumi after Wallace finished his investigation. 

In truth, Wallace was the one who suggested checking this building since this was noted in his map where Veda can still be reached. 

[ There is a small machine underground. If you want to be connected with me all the time, you can bring that with you. ] 

Veda reminded Wallace. The young man was already aware of this when the A.I. informed him about the places it could reach its connection. 

"Will there be any problems?"

[ Well, if you bring that with you, you'll be easily sighted by those Celestial Beings. But of course, you can use it as an indicator to inform them that you meant no harm and you were on their side. ]

Wallace listened and weighed its advantages...

"Is that really all?"

It was too good to be true when Wallace realized how important it was. 

[ Yes, that's all. You just have to avoid the problematic Celestials since they wouldn't care if you have that machine or not since they will still do what they want. ] 

"Huh? What do you mean problematic?"

[ It means what it means, they are problematic. Oh, your Avalon here needed me. Bye! ] 

Sigh~

They must be busy with something... 

'Wait, can't it just multitask while helping Avalon? Tsk...' 

Wallace shakes off this thought as he was still undecided about whether to take that machine with him. The problem was that it can be detected by Celestials making him unable to hide with them in case he encountered a problematic one. 

But he suddenly thought of a simple solution.

"That's right, I can just store that with my Spatial Bag... That way, I can even use it for experimentation once I returned... Even those Celestials should be incapable of detecting objects inside my dimensional storage space.'

As he thought of this, he voiced out his opinion to everyone.

"Wait, I can just enter by myself... There is no danger inside. I will just look for something..."

"Look for something? Have you been to this place before?"

"Eh? No... I just sensed something. Don't worry, I'll be quick..."

Wallace quickly entered the building leaving the group behind to guard the surface. 

The building was three-story on the surface but it has underground floors. The lower floors seem to have collapsed already so it was impossible to reach the lowest floor where Veda's machine was located. 

It means that he can only use his Void Phase to reach that place without troubles. 

The place was extremely dark so Wallace had to use his Divine Sense to survey the surroundings. 

"Lowest floor, huh..." 

Now that Wallace entered the building, he realized that although no Mana beasts living in the surroundings, there was some sort of poison leaking from the floors below...

Unfortunately, Wallace didn't have tools to detect it and he only realized it using his improved Divine Sense. 

But Wallace couldn't entirely determine what type of poison it was and even Avalon was helpless if it doesn't have any equipment to use. 

"Is it some kind radiation?" 

He was unsure what it was but it was not important anymore. He activated his Astral Core and covered himself with a unique energy. He had a bad feeling about the poison and he felt that his Mana Shell would not be good enough. 

As soon as he reached the lowest floor using his Void Phasing Steps, he noticed that the place has thicker of that poisonous gas.

'Veda didn't mention that the machine has this side effects. It must have come from different source...'

It didn't take long for Wallace to see a small oval shaped machine with a size of an adult's head carefully placed in a glass case. 

It was pulsating!

The object was glowing with a white light from time to time like it has a life.

"This..."

Wallace was about to approach the object but he suddenly realized that even his Astral Energy was starting to be corroded by the "radiation" in the surroundings. He had to quickly take away that machine!

He swiftly vanished and touched the glass case before it disappeared on his hands. 

Now that it was stored properly, he had to quickly leave the place. 

On the other hand, as soon as he took the machine with him, a nearby existence sensed its sudden disappearance and now hurrying to reach the place.