"How was it? Did you enjoy the game?" Wallace asked the lady as she was getting out of the VR Pod. The two played for more than four hours as they met tons of players within the game. The place was lively and the missions were challenging.
Many players had even recognized Miya after a few minutes of looking around the place. Of course, Wallace didn"t dare to give their model a Novice clothes and he let her wore a custom design. It wasn"t just for her image but for his company.
Wallace let her interact with the players within the game so she can learn their experience. After all, he was expecting that her visit here would just be a quick one. He also did not expect that she would enjoy the game and play that long.
There, she learned how much joy this game was being given to the young magicians, the players weren"t quitting the game if they failed their quests but instead pus.h.i.+ng themselves to get rewarded in the end. The game community was also very friendly as they helped each other to achieve their goals and remove themselves from being called Sevens.
The realism of the game makes this Virtual World very popular in all ages.
"It was a good experience..."
"So, would you like to quit the being our advertiser?"
Miya remembered the friends she made within the game in just a short time. It felt like betraying them if she quit now.
"I"ll see to it in the end... But I hope that there"s no more filming like that..."
"That"s fine! Actually, if you noticed the game, most of the music was all instrumental... In truth, I"ve been I"m planning to add some music to some part of the game. Are you interested?"
"Well, if the lyrics are good, I don"t mind..."
"Great!"
The two talked about his idea for about an hour as they forgot Miss Humeray in the living room.
***
On the next day, Wallace was practicing the 2nd stage of AOTL outside his villa.
"Haa!"
He punches through the air and it created several lightning sparks as it reaches the huge rock that was 10 meters away from him.
Baaam!
The rock exploded to multiple pieces creating dust and messing the beautiful garden.
Wallace left the cleaning to his A.I. as he satisfyingly ended his practice.
"I"m good... Its time to return to the capital."
"Avalon, I"ll be out. Just tell me once you deciphered Veda or if you have any update..."
[ Affirmative. ]
Wallace possesses a Terminal that Lacus had given him the last time he was in the capital. This Terminal is the only way to get some insider information by connecting with Veda, a mysterious form of network connection similar to a cloud server, but recent investigation shows that it was being operated by mysticism instead of technology.
Thankfully, with the technology that the GH Drive possesses, they manage to bypa.s.s the mysterious energy protecting the Terminal and its private connection to Veda. It is only a matter of time until Avalon learned something from it. They even made some precautionary measures where they separated an Avalon to work on this case.
It was just an additional measure to ensure that they will not be counter hacked by Veda. After all, the two had theorized that Veda was also a form of artificial intelligence in this world but unlike Avalon, Veda had achieved a full integration to this world"s mana and probably evolved to something they weren"t aware of. It was something that Avalon wanted to learn.
How they came up with it? It was because of their discovery of the Zen Coins.
The coins were made by the Galactic Federation and during that time, almost every person has their own "guide" or Artificial Intelligence supporting them in their journey. If the Zen Coins were brought here by people from outer s.p.a.ce, where are their s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p? Where are their A.I.s? What happened to the first people from the s.p.a.ce?
With all those unanswered questions, Wallace can only guess until new clues were discovered.
In the meantime, Wallace had several goals by going to the capital. First, to get his Iron Knight since he already learned the Lightning Break. Next, to get some a.s.sistance with Lacus about finding him a Mage Doctor that could help him with the Secre Arts: Flowing Spirit. This is for the sake of his other body sealed somewhere in the villa.
Lastly, it was to get a.s.sistance for purchasing the whole mountain.
Unfortunately, he doesn"t have any connection to the Congress so he had to rely on his senior apprentice about this. This way, once Drake"s squad contacted him to purchase a restricted land as they agreed upon, then he could easily make an arrangement.
Wallace was now riding in a black sedan that was driven by his automaton that was specially made for this job. Wallace was not in a hurry so he didn"t use his Void Phase to travel to the Capital.
He was taking his time checking all the manufacturing companies suggested by Avalon to work together with him in creating some unimportant pieces of the VR Pods like its metal sh.e.l.ls, suits, and other small parts of the machine.
"Avalon, let"s arrange a meeting with the representatives of Cornerstone, Metworks, and Investya..."
Wallace decided after reviewing 30 Manufacturing Companies that could satisfy their demands. He decided to choose the three even though they were from different cities because he has been planning to expand his business to many places as well.
Soon, he received a call that he has been waiting for.
"Miss Yumi, it has been a while. I heard that you were busy. What made you call today?"
"Mhmm... I"m still busy. I still can"t find a trace of your headmaster."
"I"m sorry to hear that..."
"Hmph... Anyway, I just like to ask a few questions... Was that modified Steel Knight yours?"
"Huh?"
"The one that has appeared to kill those terrorists after bombing your house..."
"Eh? Why would you connect that to me?"
"Because I know you, Uncle Nortrom."
Wallace twitched his mouth hearing this from the lady-kid. He remembered how he got tricked by this woman by shapes.h.i.+fting. Right, how was she doing that anyway?
He shakes his head as that was not important for now.
"Alright, if that was really me. What would happen?"
"Well, although it"s not prohibited to make them as long as you have the blueprint and possess the Molten Core to run them, you still have to register that to NMTI...
"Do you even have a license to pilot that thing? What if you"ve been found out by the Congress? Steel Knights were still under strict compliance due to its destructive power.
"There are many regulation you have to follow by making that thing as under comprehensive firearms and ammunition regulation act, we have to stop the proliferation of illegal firearms or weapons and the illegal manufacture of firearms or weapons, ammunition and parts... Your Steel Knight will be under this law..."
"Oooh... So it"s really illegal..." Wallace muttered after hearing her lengthy explanation.
"Then how can I get a license or make it legal?"
"Just let me handle the paperwork and let me see the Steel Knights. How about that?"
So that was her aim. Yumi"s excitement could not be hidden in her voice. Although she was busy finding the missing old man, her hobby could not easily be hindered by such.
Apparently, although she was a high-ranking official at NMTI, she was not allowed to see the inner workings of the machine and could only see its beauty from the outside.
"I"ll think about it--- No, I mean, can we talk about something else. Can we meet next weekend?" Wallace said as his tone changed for a bit.
"Huh? Why so serious now?"
"Hahaha... Not really. I know that I can trust you so I would like to offer something else."
Yumi didn"t consider for long as she answered.
"Mhmm... Sure. I don"t mind. Will you come here?"
"No, can you visit my place instead? I"ll give you the address later."
They immediately made arrangements as Wallace was satisfied with their conversation. He felt that the lady was truly a person he could trust. It was worth saving her under the Z-Company"s grasp at that time.
It didn"t take long as he arrived at the capital. He didn"t forget to visit the New Era"s Magic Shop and met with Tristan White, the little brother of Vanessa who was also his apprentice examination mate, as he introduced Wallace to the new products of their shop.
The little guy didn"t waste the opportunity at all on selling products to the rich Wallace.
"Haha... Did you come here to visit my sister Vanessa? I"m sorry but she left already. She wanted to practice her combat skills with wild Mana Beasts so she went to the Wailing Gorge accompanied by several guards."
Wallace wasn"t asking, Tristan was just talkative. Anyway, Wallace likes to hear such news.
"So, there were Mana Beasts I can try catching there..."