Wallace was startled after hearing Miss Chamber speak.

'That's not fair...'

He was definitely feeling some sort of attraction towards this lady. It was a weird sensation since part of his mind was trying to deny it.

"I was told to come here. May I ask the reason why?" Wallace reigned in his thoughts as he asked the instructor.

"Are you not aware?"

"No... Uhmm... I have to get home early, Instructor. Can I leave now?" He wanted to leave as fast as possible as he sensed something was not right.

Wallace thought for a moment, the lady had called him "5th Apprentice" just now. Since she was aware of his identity, she must be aware of her limitations.

Although he felt that this lady was powerful than him in terms of unusual method of domination, she shouldn't be thinking of harming him.

After reaching this thought, Wallace relaxed for a little.

"Not yet. Can you show me what Mana Artifacts you have with you?"

"I didn't bring any. Also, it's not allowed to bring one in the academy. We only use artifacts provided by the school if necessary."

"Is that so? Then, how did you do it?" Miss Chamber's tone changed for a bit. Wallace noticed that she was getting more serious.

"Did what?"

"Well, someone peeked at the Special Training Room this morning. I wonder who that is?"

After Miss Chamber said these words, her iris became completely black turning into a void as if sucking Wallace's soul.

"..."

For some inexplicable reason, Wallace couldn't say his readied words of lie.

The instructor continued...

"That Special Training Room has three layers of defense against any probing related skills. Even someone who had achieved a high attainment at Soul Carnage would not be capable of doing that in a swift manner... You don't have to hide anything from me... Tell me, who did it?... Tell me everything you know..."

Miss Chamber's last words kept repeating in his head. It feels like she wasn't asking the physical Wallace but his soul. It was an absurd feeling. Unfortunately, Wallace was helpless at this.

There's nothing he can do to stop this act of interrogation. Obviously, his Fervor Timepiece was not enough to protect him this time.

It was really an accident, his Divine Sense was like an activation of a powerful radar that could cover his surroundings. Even if he focus to a certain direction, it doesn't mean that his Divine Sense was disappearing in other places, it was only weakening in some part.

What happened this morning was a mistake. He instead strengthened the intensity of his Divine Sense and it lacked some control. It normally wouldn't cause some problem to him until this unholy Soul Art users came in.

As he was about to spill everything he knew, a cold breeze brushed away the feeling of getting sucked into the void.

They immediately looked at the door's direction.

There was now another person within the room without their notice, or at least without Wallace's knowledge.

"Headmaster..." Wallace felt relieved seeing Percival. He was a kind but cunning man who was sure to help him if he followed his orders. He had given him an advice prior to TMAC and he even arranged Yumi together with two bodyguards, Max and Lucian, to accompany him at Montego.

"Miss Chamber... I thought that we already agreed on this. It's prohibited to use Soul Arts to students other than those under your curriculum..."

"Sir Percival..." Miss Chamber felt a bit embarrassed being caught by surprise. The headmaster was her superior and more than that, Percival was stronger than her. He called Wallace here at the Tier 1 Training Room since it has a stronger defense system than the Special Training Room where Wallace peeked at. This was to make sure that their conversation today would not leak out.

First, she doesn't want other trainees or students learn that a young man, a student at that, was capable of peeking at them anywhere within the academy. It would question the academy's integrity and power.

Next, it would cause panic as their privacy would be in shambles.

The idol trainees were trained to deal with the people in media, fans, supporters, and alike. In regards with this, they were taught about the consequences of being popular and one of them was having a little privacy in life as many eyes would be on them. But this act of peeking at them without their knowledge would be a huge impact in their morale.

The Soul Art wasn't just taught to them to add some charms on their performances, it was also taught to protect themselves from any probing-related magic skills.

There is a level of attainment where any type of that skills would not take effect on them. Unfortunately, practicing this magic also has a lot of requirements and Combat Magicians or Magic Engineers who had a chance of encountering Arcane Baptism should not be capable of practicing this.

Lastly, she wanted to avoid being detected by the Headmaster. Unfortunately, it seems that her preparations were futile.

"Sigh~ I'm just asking him about his usage of Soul Probe a while ago. I'm sure that he used it this morning at the Special Training Room."

"He's not practicing Soul Arts. You said that it happened at that Special Training Room? That's impossible, he's not even at the level of Soul Origin. Only Soul Carnage can have a chance at that. I personally checked it's defenses before."

"Then how could you explain what I felt a while ago?"

This time, Percival didn't answer and only looked at Wallace. The latter felt that he had to say something.

"I... don't know." Wallace decided to stand with his act.

"You hear that... We'll leave now."

Percival smiled at Wallace's words and forcefully ended the conversation as he brought Wallace outside the building.

"Thank you, headmaster."

"You owe me one." The headmaster smiled mysteriously.

Wallace felt grateful and asked what favor he could do for him. He ultimately felt that something was amiss at the headmaster's act of saving him this time.

The man doesn't even show interest in his "Soul Probe" skill.

After deliberating for a moment, the headmaster said.

"You're the 5th apprentice now... We will be publicizing your identity and be the mascot of our academy."

"Eh?"

"Yes! We will have to increase our enrollment rates for the next semester by 200%!"

Wallace hadn't expected this at all and could only nod with a blank expression. The two chatted while they walk to the headmaster's office. Percival invited Wallace to have a tea and the latter agreed since he wanted to ask some questions to fill his curiosity.

"So, what are your questions?"

"I heard you talking about Soul Origin, Soul Carnage, and Soul Probe with Miss Chamber. I could only guess based on the context of conversation but can you tell me more about it?"

"Hmmm... Soul Art's study was a bit secretive because it was prohibited to use magic that control or affects human minds... But since you are using something similar to it, I don't mind telling you a bit so you can understand how dangerous that is."

Wallace kept his silence as he waited for Percival to explain.

"The Celebrity Idols has another name in the magician's circle. They were called Certified Soul Arts Magician. They were only allowed to study Soul Arts to protect themselves in any probing magic or technology and slightly charm people. Using this to harm people is only valid if there's a justified reason. There are other limitations I won't mention now. Alright?"

"Mhm..."

"Just like the other path, it has levels of attainment. Trainee, the beginner soul arts user. After completing the requirements, they can choose two paths, either Soul Origin or Soul Carnage.

"The Soul Origin relies on their soul energy from within to draw out their power and affect their surroundings. The Soul Carnage on the other hand is an art where the user uses external soul energy to use their soul magic. They collect souls from the living using their blood and use those energy as consumables. In a sense, it can be more powerful than Soul Origin since the soul energy from the others can be used recklessly than your own which you had to carefully use to avoid permanent damages in your soul.

"But one good thing about the Soul Origin magic is that it can't be easily affected by an external mana force compared to Soul Carnage's magic..."

The headmaster explained a lot of things to Wallace which made the latter very grateful. He even unconsciously drank four cups of tea during their informative chat.

He excitedly returned home and immediately went in his workshop to study the Celestial Fragment. He was inspired by the headmaster's lecture.

He had only tried to understand the Celestial Fragment through the feedback he receives from his Divine Sense, reactions to other elements, and whenever he used it as a battery.

Now that he returned from the academy, he decided to bravely absorb its power through mixing it with his life force, his blood. He was inspired by the Soul Carnage method of absorbing soul energy. Through his pleading, the headmaster briefly informed him some tricks used by the Soul Carnage in collecting souls.

After a couple of hours, Wallace heard a sound that he had been waiting for a while.

[ Mission Progress: 100/100 ]