Wallace finished off the chimera that was causing them some troubles because of its ability to remain invisible for a long time.

It also has the corrupted form of mana so they were unable to pinpoint its location just by using the mana fluctuation around the place and target the beast.

Luckily, after leading the beast to a narrower path, Wallace managed to use his sword to strike the beast on its head.

'This looks sharper than I thought it would be...'

Wallace thought after he realized that even without much force, the sword easily penetrated the head of the chimera.

The sword he has looks like a simple black long sword but it was made from one of the best alloys he could gather in the continent, it was the Ancient Abyssal alloy.

He didn't acquire the alloy through purchasing on the market or bidding in an auction but it was supplied by Veda after they made arrangements to create a space fleet.

After all, Veda was the one supplying him to create the space fleet and in truth, the alloy it contains was supposedly meant to be studied for the benefit of the fleet.

In short, although he didn't make the sword itself and only received it from the A.I, it was still good enough to be used in a battle like this since he never really fancied creating swords as weapons.

He would rather create armors, guns, explosives, and mana artifacts capable of wide-scale destruction spells.

"I'm Wallace, the fifth apprentice of Sir Slaine Allusia. Are you one of his subordinates?"

He approached the old man that has been observing them for a while now.

"Hoho~ So I'm not wrong... Yes, You can call me Doctor Mao and I'm a resident doctor at the Cloud Hawk Manor."

The doctor smiled after seeing Wallace introduce himself as an apprentice.

The young man also introduced the other members as they continued their way deeper.

"Are you here to rescue your master?"

"Eh? No, not really... I don't think he needed it with his strength..."

"That made sense, so why are you here?"

"The headmaster of our academy was captured and brought in this dungeon."

"Leonheart's?"

"Yes..."

"I understand now... But calling this place a dungeon, huh. You may be right... Well, I'm looking for a way out of this place but since you're here to rescue someone, I can't just leave you guys alone especially with your identity as the 5th apprentice. I would get scolded by Sir Slaine if anything happens to you here."

He wasn't asking the complete detail of their cause so it saves them the trouble of explaining it to him.

"You don't really have to... We can just give you the path we've used to get out of this place..."

"It is fine... I was also a bit curious about this place. Now that I have some people together with me, I can try to satisfy my curiosity. Oh, if you are worried about me getting in your way, then don't be. If it is truly an emergency, I can get out of this place though it would cause too much stress on my body. After all, I still mastered my Spirit Arts..."

Wallace wasn't sure what kind of trump card this old man possesses but this Spirit Art seems to be more mysterious than he thought.

Anyway, since the old man already said this much and considering that he was his master's subordinate as recognized by Avalon, he decided to let him join.

Thinking about it, having a doctor in their midst was also beneficial. They might find the headmaster injured and in would be the best to have someone check him up.

With that set in stone, Wallace decided to ask some things about the purpose of their expedition and why are they even here.

It was such a coincidence to have their target in the same tower.

Soon, Wallace heard about the thing about Arcana and about his master's desire to meet Aeolia for the sake of the future.

It seems that the three Grand Arcanists of the country had learned something about the possible future as Lacus mentioned and they realized that the burden was too heavy to be carried by only three people.

"Why didn't you asked some help with the government or with the Grand Sage we have?"

"We did, but even the government doesn't possess the power to save us from the ominous future. Just managing the vast land with millions of people living on it was already an arduous job."

Wallace remained silent as he continued listening. He was somewhat aware of how difficult it was to manage people with different minds.

"The government you spoke of just don't have the manpower to spare and find all the required materials for the Arcana that the three Grand Arcanist was trying to make..."

'So that was why they have to work alone...'

"Not only that, but there were also some powerful clans or organizations that do not believe in their words."

"Is that so?"

Wallace frowned at this although he already expected such a thing. In any case, that was why he created the Virtual World. Even if they believe it or not, they would at least have the knowledge and power to improve themselves so once the real deal came here, they wouldn't be too helpless just like what happened in his dream.

"That's correct… It was unfortunate but many clans like the Ravencroft and Mavis Clan don't support their idea to strengthen the mankind. They believe that the balance will be destroyed if that happens..."

The old man explains as he looks at Wallace's expression while saying this. He specifically mentioned the name of the two clans because he was aware of the young man's background.

Wallace was surprised to hear about such news but he has a lot of things going on his mind now so he set that aside in the meantime and he will validate that information with Veda later on.

In the meantime, he sensed another presence of a chimera so they have to engage in another battle.

***

Percival plans to stay within their place for a longer time and only move once he sensed the presence of his rescuer but due to some unexpected turn of events, they had to quickly vacate the place.

"Is this place... about to be destroyed?"

Percival was unsure because based on Slaine's story, they were in a tall tower that had existed in this continent for a very long time.

Why would it get suddenly destroyed?

"Avery, hurry up! We have to quickly move.."

***

Slaine Allusia has already gone deeper in just a few hours after he met with Percival.

"What's happening here?"

He noticed that the shaking of the floor happens more frequently like it was hinting that the place was truly about to collapse.

It was unexpected but he believes that he was getting closer to the man he wanted to meet so he persevered and eliminated all the mutated insects or chimeras that comes in his way.

It didn't take long before he entered the deepest part of the tower.

There was now a metal door in front of him and based on his estimation, its thickness should be about half a meter.

Slaine glanced at the glowing screen beside the door as he studied it carefully.

It was a flat-screen device that has an image of a rotating circle.

Slaine was a bit unsure about its purpose so he decided to observe it closely.

As soon as he gets in front of it, there was a sudden green laser light that traces his face.

It wasn't harmful but it seems to be looking for something.

[ Retinal scan complete. ]

[ Result: Unrecognized identity. ]