Wallace was alarmed by the sudden voice he heard out of nowhere. He focused his mind to make sure he had not misheard.

Unsurprisingly, he heard it asking again after a minute without giving an answer.

[ Would you like to activate the Pathfinder tool? ]

A lot of things happened in his life and he had an advanced scientific knowledge imprinted in his mind. But he couldn't determine how or when did something assimilate with him. Yes, he could feel that the thing asking questions to him was something attached to his body but not really. He couldn't explain the connection it had with him.

At the very least, he could somehow feel that it would not threaten his life.

For now, he didn't know what would happen if he agreed. So he cautiously answered.

"I would like to open it later, is that possible?"

[ Affirmative. ]

That was what it said but Wallace had no idea how he would call it out again. He closed his eyes briefly and after he felt the connection to that unknown voice, he stopped dazing around as class was about to start.

He hurried to the building and headed to his classroom. He relaxed after noticing that there are still about 10 minutes before the class would start and he chatted a bit with his friends asking about their vacation.

There was 30 student in the classroom and 10 other classes that mainly studied Artifact Forging. They were all being groomed to be Magic Engineers in the future.

Wallace was a second-year student in the First Class - Moon, a gathering of talented rookies aspiring to be Magic Engineers. It could be said that Wallace was doing well in the class being an average performer. His less than average mana affinity did not affect his mana artifact processing in the least as they were mainly producing 2nd or 3rd gen artifact. Making the 4th gen artifact was done in a group and the 5th gen was a whole different story.

Artifact forging didn't consume a lot of mana in the process but you had to master mana manipulation due to the difficult way of embedding magic structure in the artifact. They were not only creating the artifact but also programming the device itself.

"Wallace, did you hear about what happened to Sheryl the Frost Queen?"

His friend Gilbert asked in a soft voice. He was one of his close friends in the academy. He adjusted his eyeglasses when he asked this, he was one of those dedicated students in magic structuring.

Although it was not a secret, Gilbert chose to be discreet when gossiping hence his low voice. Wallace remembered that Sheryl was a 2nd year student of First Class - Sun.

Their academy was offering 2 pathways for a magician. The Moon Class which had 10 classes that studied mana artifact forging and the Sun Class which had 30 classes that allowed students to focus on mana usage. This class mainly studied extreme mana control that could be used for combat with or even without the help of mana artifacts. They were being taught from the old way to the latest form of using mana.

After all, possessing a mana artifact didn't mean that you could utilize the embedded magic without proper training. Invoking magic wasn't as simple as triggering a gun. It needed calculating the power of the human brain. By studying in the academy, they would not only be taught how to use all the mainstream mana artifact but also a very stable foundation from using low gen to latest gen artifacts.

"I know her. She was featured in the top 100 rookie magicians after all. What happened to her?"

Wallace was a bit curious as well. He remembered the list of the top 100 that came from a magazine - "The Fortune in Magic" but this could easily be found on the internet as well.

Aside from that, Wallace remembered Sheryl not only as a student in the Sun Class but also because she was a school belle. She was an attractive teenager with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was a member of the illustrious Vermont Family, a military family who had adapted Red Frost VI Artifact as their main mana artifact weapon. They were popular in a way as their brilliance in using the artifact made them one of the powerful clan.

Unfortunately, this artifact was only available for the family. The Magic Engineer who made it only allowed members of Vermont lineage to utilize the artifact, which was commonly being done by the powerful family. And of course, they were able to license it without any problem from the government as their private magic structure. These powerful families or people with the connection in the higher up could easily have their artifact magic structure privatized. But the things that the government was tightly controlling was the magic structure or the main program of the artifact.

The component itself of the artifact didn't have too many stringent requirements as long as you didn't use dangerous materials in making it. Only the most sensitive part of the artifact, which was the magic structure had a rigorous requirement because the structure itself was the one connecting with the Magician's mind to control the mana. This very sensitive part of the artifact was being closely monitored by the government not only to control it but to protect the magicians themselves.

This was to safeguard the magicians from going crazy, out of control, and even from death in severe cases of unrefined magic structure.

Only mana artifact and magic structure that had passed the strict standard of National Magic Trade and Industry could be used by magicians. Of course, you could use those that didn't passe NMTI standards but if you used unlicensed magic structure in your mana artifact, you could only blame yourself if something uncanny happened to you. The government would not help you.

The standard process to register an artifact in NMTI was a long process and one even had to reveal everything. The Red Frost VI of Vermont Family was focused on ice element usage, the magic engineer who created it had quite an aesthetic as he forged the artifact to create crimson ice.

It had its uniqueness as the ice magic this artifact could create would not only freeze the victim but also burn them inside and most surprisingly, the people that had already been affected by Red Frost VI could be healed by the same user. It was such complicated magic that it would challenge any magic engineer.

"Yes, that is the Frost Queen. It seems like she'd like to transfer to our curriculum. And if that's true, do you think she will be in our class?"

You could hear the excitement in Gilbert's voice as he asked Wallace.

"Why would she even transfer?" Wallace instead asked back as he didn't have any idea of an answer.