Wace didn''t immediately return to Tanza City and remained in the vicinity of Bluefields City. He wanted to ensure that the infiltration he didst night wasn''t traced back to him.


    He instructed Avalon to closely monitor the electronicmunications in some ces while he studied the 2nd stage of AOTL, the Lightning Break. He was already on the verge ofpleting it and he had noticed that the quality of the surrounding mana in this city was actually quite different.


    He had asked Avalon so check any information rted to the surrounding mana here and after a few minutes of searching, he found out that the Royal Court Magician Julian Esmeria had his Mage Tower here in this city.


    It was called a tower but it is only a 10 story building and there were even a lot more of taller buildings within the heart of the city. Soon, Wace discovered that just like how the Maja Country spent almost all their military budget to their high-ss automatons, this country spent their money in building Mage Towers in every city.


    "So that was why they don''t have intricaterge barriers protecting their city, they were relying on the defensive power of the Mage Towers..."


    Not only that, due to the existence of the Mage Towers in almost every city within the ind country, the quality of mana was also better. Wace''s purity of mana had reached more than the standard of 93% based on thest test he had so he could immediately tell the difference.


    Although the value of having high-quality of mana in the surroundings can only be seen once the Arcane Baptism waspleted, ( since prior to this, everyone has the same purity of mana ) the existence of magicians with an Arcane Link was only increasing almost day by day. Once many magicians had reached this level, they will want to go to ces with a higher purity of mana to better their skills and affinity with their magic spells.


    The existence of Mage Towers that could help with that was something that this country was doing very well for the sake of the future.


    "I hope that Zairus will learn from this..."


    Wace had actually noticed that their country was focusing its finances on the advancement of magic and technology. After all, only their country has traces of Space Exploration pursuit, Magic Airships, and the creation of Steel Knights.


    Looking at it now, every country seems to have its own focus to implement its resources to their maximum potential.


    Anyway, he had advised the headmaster about his absence so it would be fine. Although this ce isn''t at the level of Mana Rejuvenation Spring, he felt that he willplete his Lightning Break technique if he stayed here just for a couple more days. If hepleted this, he will be able to return to Cloud Hawk Manor and take his Iron Knight with him.


    He might even ask Clyne or Lacus at the manor to help him find a trustworthy Mage Doctor.


    ''Right, there were Mage Doctors during the apprentice examination... Maybe I could really ask them... I should be able to use my status to have them work for me, right?''


    Wace thought for a while and approved this n after confirming that there seems to be no problem in this arrangement.


    Suddenly, he saw the floating metal ball beside him shing its red light. The A.I. would normally not disturb Wace and only sh its red light or vibrate if it has some message it wanted to convey.


    "Any news? Just tell me..."


    [ Game Updates for the Adventure Mode: Alien Invasion waspleted. ]


    "Oh! You alreadypleted the adjustments? Great... Can you tell me the changes?"


    [ Thirty Assistive NPCs were added on each stronghold. ]


    [ A Chain Quest was made to reward yers with Portable Device containing Freya''s Terminal. The mission was as the user instructed: Through salvaging metals at the Garbage Mountains, the yers will collect 24 Fragments of Metal to build the Portable Device. The Garbage Mountains was a ce where yers can get a disease or other debuffs making the task more difficult aside from the ce being constantly patrolled by the Dorssian Empire''s soldiers. ]


    "Good... How many Garbage Mountains are there?"


    [ Thirty-four. ]


    "Fine. Ensure that it won''t be too hard for the yers but also not too easy."


    [ ... ]


    [ Affirmative. ]


    ***


    Tanza City was a prosperous city although it wasn''t in the top three of the country.


    Due to the recent efforts of the City Mayor, it was at least recognized as a first-ss highly-urbanized city as it continuously developed itsnd to boost it''s resource production and opened more opportunities in trade.


    This afternoon, the peacefulnd was suddenly disturbed by the appearance of a red cloud covering the entire city.


    "W-what''s happening?"


    "This doesn''t look good..."


    "We are in a city protected by a strong magic barrier... Any destructive or harmful objects going into the city would have to pass through that. We should be safe."


    "B-but look at those Battle Mages..."


    Although they were non-magicians, they were well aware that a red cloud doesn''t seem to be a good omen.


    As they look at the nearby magicians and Battle Mages that were alerted by the sudden changes in the sky, they realized that this red cloud was really a problem. Their dreadful faces can be seen as their sweat was trickling down their faces.


    ''They are sensing something even more dangerous than we think.'' It is what they realized after doing a little observation.


    After all, magicians were more sensitive to this kind of phenomenon, unlike themoners who could only trust their instinct.


    It didn''t take long before a sound of rm jolted everyone in the city.


    The people were not aware of what''s happening until a sudden explosion happened at the Municipal Hall!


    It should have the strongest structure of defense since this is the centralmand and where the City Mayor stays.


    At the very least, an announcement was immediately made that resounded throughout the whole city.


    "The city is under attack by an unidentified group of magicians. They were heavily armed and dangerous. Everyone, please evacuate to the nearest shelter.


    "A few enemies had infiltrated the city but most of them were being taken care of by the soldiers just outside the city. Please, follow the police and authorities for the evacuation procedures.


    "I repeat, please evacuate to the nearest shelter and follow the authorities on the process."


    The voice was very familiar and the people didn''t have to ask who the person was. It was the City Mayor himself making an announcement.


    The people in the vicinity of the municipal hall, that was now caught on fire, sighed in relief after confirming that the mayor was safe.


    Soon, they saw many police cars and bikes on the streets as the police officers alighted and assisted people to proceed to the nearest evacuation shelter.


    All the works and sses stopped due to these sudden attacks from the unknown group of magicians.


    The scale of this city siege seems to berger than they realized since even the Mayor doesn''t seem to be confident of holding the enemies outside the city. They had to abandon whatever they were doing and get into the shelter.


    Suddenly, within the vicinity of the municipal hall, gunshots, magic spells, explosions, screams, and angry shouts can be heard.


    It was suddenly total chaos as an unknown group, or they can probably call a terrorist now, exchanged fires with the hall guards and the police.


    Thud! Boom! Boom!


    The four police officers who were guarding the surroundings of the municipal hall was suddenly assaulted by a group of terrorist.


    Luckily, the terrorist doesn''t to be interested in the fleeing civilians


    "W-we need to move out..."


    "No! We can''t leave this ce yet! We have to keep them here and ensure that the mayor wasn''t followed and had safely moved before we can leave here..."


    "Roger--"


    Boooom!


    Their conversation was cut off after being suddenly fired by a highly concentrated Fire Ball Magic Spell...


    This isn''t a rare event as other parts of the city were being razed to the ground.


    Most of the Adept Mages were fighting at the terrorist outside the city and only a few Battle Mages and magicians were left to defend therge city.


    On the other hand, the Leonhearts Academy was immediately informed about the situation. The headmaster even dispatched as few high-level instructors to help the people fleeing in the streets.


    "All of the students must remain in your ssrooms and follow the instructions of your teachers. The academy''s building is stronger than any other shelters made within the city. I would like everyone to remain calm in the situation and stay where you are. We will quickly settle this issue... I guarantee you that."


    Percival announced after getting a private message from the City Mayor. Their academy graduates have an almost 100% passing rate to Battle Mage''s license examination. This meant that the standard of their teaching was top notch and their instructors were simrly high-level.


    It was normal that they have enough people capable of protecting this ce and even spare some to help the people outside.


    "Headmaster! I would also like to be sent outside. You said that you gave some tasks to Wace and he had to stay at home. I''m worried that a student in our academy might be in serious danger. Please, as his current instructor, let me ensure his safety."