After the incident of having his house damaged by a powerful explosive, Wace decided to find a better ce that was still within this city. It was due to his desire ofpleting his studies at the Leonhearts Academy to satisfy his family''s desire to have their only son graduate in a prestigious academy.


    There were hundreds of Magic Academy within this country and only 12 of them were affiliated to the government military. With this connection, even if the student had not passed the licensure examination, they won''t have to be factory workers of magic artifacts, working as guards for a securitypany, or adventuring in the wild to earn a living as a magician.


    The graduates in the twelve academies can easily be recruited in the military guaranteeing their stable ie and status. Being a magician in the military wasn''t stringent at all and they were normally being given a better treatment.


    A Magic Engineer or an Arcane Artificer in the military could even do their own research freely without worrying about a deadline. They will be given a certain budget they could use in their project and it doesn''t matter if it will be fruitful or not as they will still be supported by the government. It was probably an action so that Aeolia''s incident would not be repeated.


    Anyway, Wace was now together with a realtor.


    Finding a better ce was not just a matter of money but he had to consider the people living around him. In his previous ce, almost all people in the neighborhood were non-magicians, and every time they nce at the fortress-like house he has, they were feeling scared to get close at it.


    Hiding his turrets and such had not helped him since he had been attacked a couple of times already. Aside from that, the police had been constantly patrolling around his house. Probably to deter any more aggressors. Although it added to the security, this still made the people around worried about their safety.


    "This ce is not bad..."


    Wace muttered after considering not just the quality of the house being offered but also to the surrounding ce. It was arge vi located on a mountain. The ce was deserted as it is no longer under the city''s magic barrier protection.


    The vi wasrge and as per the realtor, it has been built 60 years ago by a powerful Adept Mage during that time. It was being maintained every month and the current owner had been looking for someone to purchase the ce for more than two years already.


    "This ce is perfect..." Wace already decided. It no longer matters if the academy was far away as he already had a Void Phase he can use. He can travel back and forth here just by a few seconds.


    The scenery was good as there was a garden outside though it was not being attended by a gardener by several months. Anyway, the realtor said that the vi itself was cleanedst before the incident in the city.


    The vi was elevated and although still far from the top of the mountain, Wace could see the high-rise buildings of the city further ahead.


    The explosion caused by the enemies who attacked his house had only destroyed the outer perimeter. Luckily, his Wave Ward had managed to block the explosion. The house only cracked for a bit though it still needs to be heavily repaired.


    "Oh, right. Is thisnd... or the mountain around for sale?"


    "Ahh... Well, it is. It can be purchased but it requires a certain status. It is not being sold just to anyone. Hmmm... Thend title that you can purchase was only for this vi but if you want to expand, you will have to file a case with the Magician''s Congress..."


    "Eh? Why are we going to involve them in thisnd acquisition?"


    Wace was curious since the Magician''s Congress only deals with magic-rted things.


    "Ahh... This mountain is a bit special. The forest here was previously a habitat for several powerful mana beasts. Although they were all killed by the Adept who built this vi 60 years ago, he filed a request to the Congress not to touch or make any more changes on this mountain."


    "Really? So that was why this ce was excluded from the City''s Magic Barrier Protection?"


    "Mhm... That''s correct."


    Wace thought as much. To include this ce within the protection, they had to ce Magic Nodes around this ce for the Magic Barrier to take effect. It will affect the structure of the mountain and it would be against the request of the Adept 60 years ago.


    ''I guess, the owner has some authority at the Congress, huh. Why would he leave this ce then? Haaa... Anyway, it''s all in the past.''


    "Alright, I purchase the ce and I''ll coordinate with the Congress for expansion..."


    The realtor was almost in tears afterpleting such a huge deal. Wace was also feeling delighted since he was nning to create his Mass Driver here.


    While thinking about it, he suddenly remembered Drake''s mercenary squad. They asked him to purchase a certainnd that requires some level of status in exchange for him acquiring the Zen coins.


    It must be something simr to this ce that was under the supervision of the Congress. However, they haven''t contacted Wace yet as most likely, they were still converting the treasures they found to some real money. After all, it wasn''t easy to find the best buyers for those treasures. They probably had to go to different cities to maximize their profit. They might even resort to an auction to ensure that all their items were sold to the right person or the richest.


    After a week, a lot of things happened. The vi was looking like a brand new building. The garden was well kept, the paints were changed, new furniture arrives, and new magic defenses were installed. This time, Wace no longer hired a securitypany for this setup and used his own style.


    Wace had also increased the number of automatons and all of them now possess a memory crystal that contains his Mental Wave or his Divine Sense. It was all thanks to his father who brought him another batch of empty memory crystals from hispany, the Seed Holdings at Ste Region.


    This will increase his productivity and increase the strength of his automatons. They can be considered now as mini-Ravencroft Printers.


    "Avalon, how was the sales?"


    The beta testing had ended early as Wace started to sell his VR Pod making a huge wave at the market. Many magicians and non-magicians had been talking about it online. Wace hired workers to promote his VR Pod and purchased the best locations for his ads and hired a Celebrity Idol formercial advertisement.


    Of course, he utilized his connection with his new friend to do this.


    "Miss Chamber! You really are so kind. You even convinced Senior Miya to do this..."


    "Hoho... Of course, I''m always here to help the students at our Academy. You can always ask me whenever you need help."


    A simple Mana Artifact was already given to Miss Chamber for her study. It was the mana artifact capable of warding off his Divine Sense.


    He called the ring artifact a Sentry Ward.


    Although it will be convenient for them, Wace was capable of bypassing that if ever he wanted to. It was just like changing the frequency of his Divine Sense and it will no longer stop his ability. Of course, he doesn''t have any ns of telling that to them.


    In return, he was now being taught personally by Miss Chamber about the specificities of the Soul Arts. It was a very fruitful deal he made with her.


    After that, Miss Chamber had be very attentive to him as she was nning to be the Headmaster of the academy as Percival was still missing. Well, since he was a popr 5th apprentice of ine Allusia, a Grand Arcanist, she wanted to be supported by him making her chance to be selected as a headmaster increased by arge margin.


    It doesn''t really matter to Wace as long as he graduated here and she even helped him convince the rising star, Miya Linus, to advertise his VR Pod.


    During themercial ad, Miya was wearing a ck skin-tight suit showing her impressive curves before she wore a helmet and be transported to the virtual world.


    Inside the game, she was wearing abat suit that was damaged here and there as she fought against arge number of Dorssian Empire''s soldiers. It looks a very exciting game that resulted in over 450,000 reservations for the VR Pod in a single day.


    After that, Wace had announced that the next VR Pod about to be sold can be used by non-magicians and it was less expensive. What was exciting was that the non-magicians can y together with the magicians in the Adventure Mode. They can y and learn the path of being a Mechanic, Doctor, Warrior, Chef, cksmith, and others...


    This announcement made another wave of reservations for the VR pod increasing it to more than a million reservations.


    "Urgh... It would take years for me toplete this order. I need to hire fabricators or divide the creation of some parts of these VR pods to some other manufacturingpanies..." Wace muttered as he sets his eyes to his trusted friends and senior apprentice.