270 Space Race Part 1

Aaron hurried to the address given by Wallace and was surprised to see that the place he was at seemed like a hidden fortress. 

He can recognize the various defensive spells set around the place and right now, due to the current incident, he saw several automatons patrolling within the vicinity. 

"This place seems to be hiding many secrets... No wonder they were interested..." 

Hawk suddenly said as his eyes glowed with a green light. He wasn't simply using a mana spell to enhance his vision but he was using a Secret Art to scout the surroundings. 

Aaron was again surprised to hear this from him. This man with a code name Hawk probably has the finest appraisal skill in the country and he had seen many incredible things in his life.

It wasn't easy to impress this man.

"Haa~ If you say so... Anyway, I'll explain things to Wallace. I hope that he won't do anything on the group..."

"Hmmm... With his ability to set up this formation and use those automatons, Falcon would have a hard time if he didn't bring his mana artifacts."

"You really think so?" 

"Yes... I don't think that he could handle the young man's Traceless Oscillation without his artifact. It would be a disaster for him if they fought..."

"That spell, huh..."

Aaron had seen this being used during the TMAC when he watched the recordings. They learned that Wallace was the creator of that spell which could easily destroy anyone's mana shell or any defense to leave the magicians unprotected. 

"It has been a while since that spell was developed. I'm sure that Wallace improved that thing even more. Especially now that he can get resources from his master..."

"Mhm... That's what I'm afraid of. So we have to hurry." 

Hawk muttered as they drove at the road going up the mountain. They alighted near the formation they could sense as they easily noticed that the defenses were currently active. It would be better to wait for Wallace to receive them as they might trigger the automatons patrolling or those who were observing them secretly. 

It didn't take long before a flying automaton that came from deeper within the forest arrived and welcomed them. 

"Sir Aaron and his companion, Sir Wallace was waiting for your arrival. Please, follow me... You can also bring your car in."

Aaron nodded as they went back to the car and followed the automaton. 

After a couple of minutes, they saw their guide stopped in the middle of the road so they also stopped the car and went out to know the situation. 

"Is it here?"

"We are close... We have to walk from here."

"I understand. Right, can you also answer questions aside from guiding us?"

"Yes." 

"Then first, what is that tower being constructed?"

Aaron pointed at the Mass Driver that was still not finished building. 

Aaron was also sure that the thing he was seeing right now wasn't there before they entered Wallace's property so he knows that there was some kind of spell that was used to deceive their vision. Aaron was impressed with that.

He thinks that the man beside him was probably the only one capable of seeing through Wallace's formation using his Secret Art. 

"It's classified information." 

"Then, can you tell me whether Wallace harmed the members of the Lucent he put into custody?"

"Yes, I can answer that. He didn't harm the visitors claiming to be part of the Lucent Force until he was sure about their identities He first wanted to learn their true reason for intruding this place."

"Is that so? Right, are you using the Float Drive System?" Aaron suddenly asked as he observes the automaton floating stably while guiding them.

The automaton didn't answer immediately.

It was probably processing whether it was fine to answer the question. 

"Yes. It's the Float Drive System..."

"Haa... Impressive. I can see that it has gotten more stable than before."

Aaron complimented the incredible mana artifact. After all, many companies have tried creating flight-capable spells and mana artifacts that would help anyone to fly but nothing came close to the stability and flight speed capability of Traceless Hand's Float Drive System.

Although only a few magic structure crystals were made, it didn't change the fact that it was still one of the best flight-capable systems that have been built. 

He would like to get more information from the automaton but he realized that they already arrived near a cabin surrounded by many Automatons holding powerful weapons

"We are here. Sir Wallace was waiting inside." 

"Alright..."

Aaron focused on the current situation as he also wanted to find out what could possibly attract that family to act against Wallace. 

As he entered the cabin, he quickly noticed the absence of Mana and nodded in realization. 

'So this was why he managed to put the group into his custody...' 

Soon he saw a familiar figure beside a full-body armored being. 

In front of them was a group of twelve Adepts who wore the same style of clothes that makes them look like a group of assassins. 

"Yumi, so you're here and you must be Wallace..."

"That's right..."

Ace answered and confirmed Aaron's guess. 

Yumi, on the other hand, seemed to be surprised that the young master of the Lucent Force was already here. 

Falcon glanced at the new visitor and as soon as their eyes met, he can only nod to the two to acknowledge their presence. 

He terribly failed to the mission given to him. He should be secretly investigating this place and not like this. He may be getting too old to be a leader of the Lucent Force's Scout Team...

"Wallace, I do not mind if you'll just keep them here... However, you'll be dealing with more people like them if you will not resolve the main issue."

"Main issue? My possession of dangerous materials? But I acquired them with the legal process..." 

"I know, but..."

Aaron looked at the surroundings before he paused for a moment. Ace understood that he was about to discuss confidential information. 

He offered to go outside which the other agreed to do so. On the other hand, Hawk remained within the cabin to probably speak with Falcon. 

"So, what's truly happening here?"

"Haaa~ It seems that your creations attracted a certain Clan and they wanted to acquire your technologies in a pretense that it should be given to the government..."

"What?! Haha... That's absurd... I'll enlist whatever technology I want to give to the public."

Aaron smile wryly upon hearing this. This man truly has a lot of technologies being kept to the public if he says it like that. 

"Right, which clan was it?"

"Sigh~ It's the Vermont Clan..." 

Ace has heard of this familiar clan. Avalon also reminded him politely.

[ Vermont Clan. It started with a small military family until they grew in power due to their possessions of a powerful original mana spell called Red Frost. ] 

That's right, it was Sheryl's family... She was previously studying at Leonhearts Academy but decided to transfer to the Mystic Gate Academy in her second year. They already met in TMAC as well as in the international competition at Montego so he was quite familiar to her. 

"What did I do to get their attention like this?"

"The Vermont Clan and the Skywalker Clan partnered together to be the first people to get into the outer space..."

Wallace knows about this since he even gets assistance from his master to learn about their first attempt in Space Exploration, their Flyby Mission. **

He didn't know that they value this project a lot and they even wanted to sabotage his plans for that.

However, they were too late... They probably didn't expect the might of Avalon's workforce. 

"I'm not sure how they managed to learn that you're competing with them..." Aaron added in concern.

Ace was not competing with them. He was sure that the two clans have a different purpose in their minds when they started their project... 

"Aaron, do you know something about their current plans for this Space Exploration?"