261 Ace in the Academy

Ace woke up early in the morning and confirmed that Avalon was still working non-stop on the construction site.

Well, it was not really Avalon itself but it was the automatons controlled by the A.I.

It only had to supervise them since those automatons were already programmed on what it had to do. Even Veda helped in placing independent artificial intelligence to help the construction.

After all, Avalon's processing speed would be consumed by so much if Veda just watched everything on the sideline.

Anyway, if Ace found any unacceptable deterioration in any parts of the automaton, he had to immediately repair them to avoid causing trouble.

These automatons were working not only in the construction of the site but they are also exposed to a massive amount of mana that can deteriorate some parts of their internal system.

'It looks fine here... How about those working on Mech Frames...'

Ace confirmed after checking the status of some automatons.

The source of the massive amount of mana in this place was the mana stones he had to gather or purchase for the sake of strengthening the spaceships and Mech Frames.

He couldn't gather enough mana just by waiting for it naturally or by using a mana gathering formation. If he did that, the amount of mana within the place will continuously be eaten up until it became unstable in the mountain.

He didn't want that to happen as he wanted to use this place for a longer time.

In fact, the automatons weren't just powered by electricity as some of them were using Mana Stones as the battery.

This was the main reason why he always had to check these automatons. They require maintenance to ensure their effectiveness.

He also confirmed that some of the printers were working fine and continuously creating the important parts for the VR Pods.

The other printers were, of course, creating the outer parts of the combat ships he needed to assemble.

He didn't want to overly rely on the energy shields or mana shields for the protection of the spaceships.

He wanted to make sure that the outer layer of the warship was tough enough to bear the lasers and missiles from the empire. This would only be possible if the metals he was using was imbued with mana formation and array.

"Alright... Everything seems to be fine... Avalon, take care of this place in the meantime."

After Ace cleaned himself and ate his breakfast, he quickly went to the Academy to attend his classes.

"Eh? Is that you, Wallace?"

The question was asked by Gilbert, it was his close friend and classmate. Because Wallace had been so busy with a lot of things, he had been unable to get in touch with them.

It was a perfect cover for the changes that have happened in his body.

But this question made Ace a bit alerted.

'Haaa~ I must calm down. Miya didn't mind my changes, then it should be fine with the others.'

After getting to this point, he answered confidently.

"Hey! I've only been away for a few weeks. Why do you have to ask that?"

"Oh? You definitely have the same voice, but..."

"But?"

"You looked better, I guess. Haha!"

It was Ace's first meeting with Wallace's classmate.

They were just outside the Academy so the two went in together and just barely made it in time before the class started.

"Wallace... I heard from our instructor that you'll be out for a longer time. But here you are attending classes? What's going on?"

It was asked by Ericka after one of the subjects was finished. His other classmates were also curious about this celebrity's life. He was instantly popular because of him being an apprentice and there was even a rumor that he was working for Traceless Hands, a mysterious magic engineer who created many magic spells and magic technology available for the public.

Instructor Elaine was not present at the moment and the one supervising their class was another instructor of the academy.

It was Garen, their homeroom instructor during their second-year. In truth, he was also curious about what truly happened to him since their headmaster already advised them to excuse him for the classes.

After his class ended, he immediately left and went to the headmaster's room to report the situation.

"Eh? Who told you that I'll be out for a long time?"

Ace asked his curious classmates.

"Isn't that what the headmaster decided?"

"I'm not too sure but we were told to expect that you'll not be present in these coming days."

"We were told that you will be excused to classes due to some project you had to complete."

"Is that so?"

'Miya didn't tell the headmaster about my 'return'?' Ugh... That made sense, it only happened a day ago. She must've forgotten or probably didn't bother to tell since they will surely found out as well. But because of this, I have to explain to the others about my story again... Fine...'

"Haha... I settled my things already so I had the time to attend classes. Don't mind it!"

Wallace answered.

'Haa... Good thing my body didn't garner too much attention...'

While Wallace was thinking this, his classmates started to talk about his new look.

"You seem to have worked out a lot, huh."

"Oh? You also noticed? He looks different and I like it!"

"What are you saying? He just gained a bit more muscle... That's all. He didn't change much."

"Working out, huh... I don't have time for that. My schedule was already full just because of those new mana formations and arrays I have to learn..."

"That's right! I also learned some new Magic Technology inside this virtual game... I wanted to study and show it as my thesis project!"

"Thesis? Haha... That's probably fine. Anyway, you're referring to that game right?"

"Yes! It's the Alien Invasion game! I've been playing it for a couple of weeks now!"

"Whoa! You're lucky! I just bought my VR Pod because their stocks were always running out. The company producing them should really work harder..."

"Haha! It only shows how good it is."

Ace sighed in relief after their conversation shifted to the game.

'Anyway, it seems that the next instructor was late...'

***

Instructor Garen announced his presence outside the Headmaster's room.

After a few seconds, he was given permission to enter.

He was surprised to see that there were several people inside the room aside from Miss Chamber.

"Err... Did I come at the wrong time?"

In front of him were the previous headmaster, Percival, his fellow instructor, Elaine, and some other people he didn't know.

"It's fine. It is rare for you to visit me here, is there something wrong?"

"Well... It's like this. I was told that Wallace would be out due to some project but he just attended my class. I just want to make sure that the instruction you gave us wasn't misinformation. That's all."

They went silent for a moment after hearing his statement. But after processing his words, the people inside the room had different expressions. Some were shocked, some were doubtful, and some had a frowning look.

"What did you say?! Where is he? Did he really attend your class?!"

A young girl, probably 13 or 14 years old suddenly exclaimed after hearing his words.

Garen didn't mind being shouted as he realized that the young girl must be a friend of Wallace or she might even be his relative.

Anyway, he nodded in confirmation and mentioned his room's location.

"He should be in Building E, room three..."

The lady glanced at him seriously before she immediately left the room to confirm his words.

Garen felt that he would probably die if he was lying. Her stare made him feel threatened for a moment there.

On the other hand, Percival and the others only kept their silence and had their eyes closed.

'Oh, detection magic...' Garen realized what the others were doing.

They were trying to sense Wallace's presence using their own techniques.

They obviously didn't bother using it before since they must be expecting that Wallace would also not be attending classes as what they were told.

After a few moments, he saw that they opened their eyes with shock and excitement as they disappeared in front of him.

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