In an abandoned house not too far from Tanza City.

"We have failed, Sir Avarice."

As Wallace had suspected, there weren't just the twelve thieves who planned to break into his house. There was a lookout left outside the property to make sure that there wouldn't be a third party messing with their plans.

A cloaked man was currently reporting to his superior, Avarice, who was shrouded by a stronger and thicker black miasma.

The report was about the failure of his group to steal the core materials of the golden automatons. Their group was trained and had even received special mana artifacts just to steal all the cores. Unfortunately, the leader of the twelve had gotten too greedy as he didn't stop his subordinates to retreat after retrieving the cores.

They paid with their lives in exchange.

Now, he was the only remaining agent in their group. Their team was supposedly aiming to steal a total of 100 cores that was being used by the golden automatons scattered around the city. Their location and movement patterns were all recorded and studied by their team for months.

Their very first target that was supposedly easy was in reality, the hardest of them all. They had learned it the hard way.

He was regretting their action as he thinks that if they have chosen a different target first, they could've successfully stolen most of the cores before bumping to this wall. Unfortunately, he could no longer turn back the time. All the time they spent to train and master the usage of the gauntlet was all wasted by that fortress.

'Tsk. How could the government allowed someone to build that kind of firepower in the city?'

He had witnessed the struggle of his companions as they tried to retreat but to no avail. He could only watch them get pulverized by that freakish beam of light.

He then sent the video of their attempt to his superior and waited for his instructions.

"Those greedy fools. The cores were already on their hands but they just have to provoke someone out of their caliber."

The survivor's superior watched the whole incident until the twelve perished. He noticed the style of the defense system where it didn't bother to activate even if the turrets and automaton were destroyed until they set their eyes on the house.

'Just what kind of secret that house possesses...' The superior thought for a while before instructing the survivor.

"I'll send another team to gather those materials. In the meantime, investigate the owner of that house. Dig deeper in your investigation, the initial investigation might be false information. Make sure you find the origin of those magic spells. Dismissed."

"Yes, Sir."

The survivor immediately went away after hearing the instruction and dismissal. He was happy for not being punished for their failure.

Although he was still a bit terrified thinking that he'll investigate the owner of that fortress, he still found it acceptable as long as he wouldn't enter the place itself.

Avarice could only try to salvage the situation. It might actually be harder to gather the cores now that they have learned that it was being targeted by an unknown group.

The Golden Trident Group might even have to pull out all their automatons that they've provided to their clients.

'No, they won't do that. They would pay massive contract breakage fees if they just retrieved them without any good reason. But they might replace them instead. Tsk. We have to act fast.' He thought for a while as he sent a dialed a call to one of his investors.

***

Wallace was unaware of the new organization targetting him. The A.I. and the police's investigation about the identity of the burglars might still take some time since they were just relying on the images and 3D copy provided by the Avalon.

The automaton's battle video that was sent to the database of the security company was actually a bit useless as it had not been able to pierce through the cloak of the burglars unlike the powerful scanning ability of Avalon.

Unfortunately, even if they have photos of those people, they couldn't find any matches of their faces that quickly. It would be terrible if they even get to the point of changing their faces.

"Should we retrieve the remaining automatons outside?" One of the old directors of the Golden Trident Group asked.

"What?! Then that would affect our reputation."

"Maybe they would stop now that 12 of their men were killed." Another mad suggested. It will be difficult for them to forcefully take the automatons. Instead of saving money, they might spend more.

"Didn't you see that black miasma?"

"Sigh... It seems that the Sealed Artifact was really in the hands of that syndicate."

"Then what should we do?"

"That's Hallowed Eye, the user can just train other servants and return with greater force. We must cooperate with the military. We can only defeat them if we joined forces. They're targeting our assets. We can't just do nothing."

"Then what do you suggest, Zach?" President Eun asked the young director at the meeting. He was the calmest about the situation.

"I suggest that we retain those automatons in their places and make them as bait. If we captured even one of the members of that group. It will lead us to their queen." Zach replied confidently. The black miasma says it all. If they hadn't identified that, they will not make a fuss about this single incident thinking that it would not happen again. But they all know what the Sealed Mana Artifact - Hallowed Eye can do.

"That's too risky. You know how expensive those materials are." One of the older directors said just to object.

"We can only sacrifice. Even if it was stolen successfully, we still have a chance to get it back. It is better than being vaporized by that house."

"Urgh..."

They couldn't argue with that.

***

"Dad!"

"Oh! Claire! You've grown up! I've only been away for a couple of weeks!" Chase said as he placed his hand on top of Clarice's head. He was also carrying a bag on the other.

"Haha! That is Clarice, dad! I'm Claire." Claire chimed in after hearing her father. She immediately ran to her father asking to have a hug or probably be carried.

Clarice laughed as she also hugged her father as she truly missed him. After all, it was because of her father that she decided to serve in the military.

"Oh... is that souvenir?"

Wallace on the other hand focused on what his father has brought from his workplace. He stopped seeping his tea as he asked to open the paper bag.

He already sensed that the bag contains a memory crystal but after opening it up, he noticed that it was a blank or empty memory crystals.

It was easy to identify whether a memory crystal was empty or filled. There would just be some changes in the density of color.

Right now, the memory crystal was almost transparent with a small amount of pale blue color. If there's content, the blue color will gradually turn rich depending on the content.

"Ah... That's just a gift from the company leaders. After all, we're creating a very innovative project right now." Chase said referring to the 10 empty memory crystals. It was already very difficult to chance upon a memory crystal. Although only the magicians that have learned the Arcane Link could transfer information to memory crystals, the demand was still high. After all, memory crystals help a lot in nurturing the younger generation.

"What project are you working on?"

"Err... Due to the disclosure policy, I couldn't really say. But I can tell you that it would cause massive changes especially to the large clans or organizations once we've completed it."

"Ohh... That's sounds interesting."

"It really is. Anyway, once the project was a success. The product would also be available to the public."

"That's generous. When can your group finish it?"

"Probably a week or two more. We have several prominent figures in the field working on the same project. It's really amazing just seeing those individuals gather to work in a single project."

"Then you're also not so simple since you could join them… Right, dad?" Clarice said proudly as she went to assist her mother in cooking their dinner.

"Haha... Of course..." Chase replied to his daughter.

Elaine had only watched everything as she warmly smiles at her complete and happy family. It has been a while ever since they gathered like this.

***

On the fifth night of Wallace's stay at the Red Star Town, he had received an update about the burglars. They were members of a syndicate that was connected to Z-Company, The Silent Enigmas.

Officer Ray had also made some updates about his security system. It was all repaired and they even provided some upgrades at no cost.

The video they captured was clearly told that they were targeting the core materials of the automatons.

The Golden Trident Group didn't deny the claim and instead acknowledged it telling that because their automatons were very amazing, there were people targeting their core so other competitors would benefit.

But Wallace knows the truth even without being told. He had already sensed the peculiarity of those cores before. He knows that it was a very valuable material.

It seems that the security company still wanted to hide the fact that they were using an overqualified material as a core of an average automaton.

"Sigh~ That's not my problem anymore. Although I really like to stay here, I couldn't start making my projects with my family here... Right, I should start with my fabricator..."