Traced

Tracy changed her clothes before appearing in the guest room. She's now wearing a white dress that exudes noble simplicity. There aren't any accessories except for the plain silver bangle on her left hand.

Her previous cheerful eyes were now changed to a stern one as she approached a young man in the living room.

"I thought I've told you not to visit me here again?"

Tracy doesn't seem to welcome the young man as she coldly reminded him of what she had mentioned before.

"I have not agreed with that. Also, I'm only here now purely for cooperation."

It was Mark Halevey garbed with a formal suit. His blond hair accentuates with his gold accessories from his necklace to rings on his fingers. His expensive clothing was loudly telling that he was a son of a prime minister.

Tracy sighed at this and still seated on a couch in front of Mark. They made contact like this more than once.

"What do you need this time?"

"I received some information from my father that the 'Traceless Hands' who created the recent hot item magic jammer canceller isn't some kind of organization or group of magic engineers. It's an individual... a student at that."

Tracy raised her brows as she wants Mark to continue what he was saying. As Mark understood this he did not disappoint her.

"If you're still not interested, how about if I tell you that Traceless Hands is Wallace, our classmate?"

This time, he got her interest.

Apparently, in a week that the magic jammer canceller went to the hands of government and was used to finish off the spies who infiltrated Tanza City, multiple incidents were repeated in different parts of the country stirring the local powers as they tried to get a hold of the situation.

Only a couple of days ago that the news was leaked to the upper class and aristocrats about the cause of the disturbance. The authorities have acquired a mana artifact that was capable of canceling magic jammers. This news shocked them as even though magic jammers were rare, they always induce some headache to the government whenever they appear.

During the cleanup operation conducted by the government in 5 bases of the enemies, they have collected magic jammer artifacts but due to intense fight, 2 artifacts were destroyed and was only able to retrieve 3 complete artifact. It was such a big haul for the government since this operation has an element of surprise to the enemies.

All the disturbances that occurred during the fight were glossed over by the government and provided superficial excuses to the public. Of course, people in the upper class have sources of intelligence on their own and only took a couple of days to know the truth behind the skirmishes in several parts of the country.

Traceless Hands, it was the name that has appeared in the patent application and its real identity was deliberately hidden not just by the NMTI but the government itself to protect this young magic engineer. Right now, even though they know who created this structure, only the Zairus government holds the magic structure for this magic jammer canceller.

"Well, we can't fall behind our classmates, right?"

Mark added as Tracy was pondering carefully as she absorbs how this revelation implicates her.

"Was it confirmed?"

Tracy doubted a bit but then shook her head as she remembered that this guy is the son of an influential politician. Their source of intelligence would be better than their family who dabbled in business with regards to this kind of information.

Tracy was unaware of the real identity of that Traceless Hands and only learned it now. Although she was aware of their existence, she wasn't curious about their real identity and more interested in learning the magic structure for magic jammer cancellers. If it was easy to create that mana artifact, it has long been created by some other powerful countries and would not take 60 years after the appearance of magic jammer just to develop it.

Everyone was aware of its importance as no magician wants to experience a time where they weren't able to use their magic and never feel mana in their daily life. It would be a nightmare for them, fortunately, the magic jammer is already scarce and only top organizations, the country's government or other powerful entities possess such artifact with a very limited number.

"Yes, we got it from a very trusted source," Mark answered her question nevertheless.

"Then, what do you want me to do? Do you feel threatened that you won't be able to join the competition?" Tracy voiced her question to this top 2 students in their class.

"It's not that, I just want to make sure that Ross would be the one joining us in the competition. You know that he's my friend, right? It would be better for us if we'll compete with someone you are close with, won't you agree?"

"I don't care who would be participating. As long as they're qualified."

Tracy wasn't interested in whatever game Mark was brewing. She doesn't want to be involved and more concerned about how to improve herself in the remaining month before the selection of participants.

***

Wallace was now browsing the catalog given by the realtor for his new place and workshop. There are only 6 choices that match his criteria. These 6 houses with the included workshop was considered due to their size and location.

But if Wallace will add his budget in his criteria, there would be only 2 choices as the other four is located in the busiest location of the city and would cost an enormous sum.

After careful consideration, Wallace selected a 6,600 square foot modern house with three distinct living spaces. It's a two-story building with stunning copper and stone exterior that complements the multiple balconies. In the main structure, it uses radiant floor heat, there is also an enchanting wine grotto, a temperature-controlled wine cellar. Although Wallace doesn't need this wine cellar, he has other plans for it. There's also a private master balcony with an outdoor fireplace.

Wallace looked at the surrounding houses and structures and noticed that this place has a lot of spaces and trees unlike the center of the city which has a busy crowd all the time. Though he needs 30 minutes ride on a bus to attend class in the academy, it matters a little for him.

"I like this place."

Wallace smiled and immediately decided to purchase this new place once he saw a beautiful place and it's an acceptable price. If the owner doesn't need a quick cash, Wallace would not be able to purchase this at a small price.

Aside from that, the realtor liked it even more than Wallace and happily assisted him to purchase this place. 9.8 million credits immediately disappeared on his bank account.

Wallace moved to this place the second day after he purchased the house and a day after it, the materials he purchased a few days ago arrived in this newly provided address.

"Hmm... I'll first practice the hydraulic drive system." Wallace was not thinking of using just a fluid for this one but he was planning to have fluid mana replace it.

The memory crystal he absorbed inspired his plan for a bigger project and he needed to start or explore on quite a few things before tackling this.

Wallace laughed as he suddenly remembered his flawed Compact Mananuclear Reactor he provided to his seniors. It wasn't his intention.