"What happened to you?"

Wallace heard a familiar gentle voice after opening his eyes. He also noticed the unfamiliar ceiling, it was surely not from his hotel room that their team rented so he immediately tried to have a better view of the place he was in.

'Hospital? Why would I be here?' Wallace knitted his brows as he couldn't understand why his healthy self would have to lie down on a bed for patients.

"Ma'am Yumi? I'm not sure as well... Ugh... How did I get here?" Wallace answered momentarily and asked. He was feeling a bit of pain in his head, probably due to lying on the bed for too long. He noticed that a nurse was also with Yumi and seems that she's about to call a doctor for help.

"We found you unconscious in your room. You're already sleeping here for 5 days. Right, the competition had long ended and Van participated on your behalf. What happened? Medical results doesn't show any injuries in your body." Yumi said amusedly and asked again, she doesn't seem to be so worried that Wallace had been unconscious for that long at all.

"What?" Wallace was surprised upon hearing this revelation, it didn't feel that long for him.

'Well, I'm unconscious after all.' He then tried to recall what happened before passing out. He was studying the Arcane Link flow and got an enlightment because of the help of the Pathfinder.

'I see, it seems that I succeeded after all.' Wallace grinned after feeling that mysterious connection in his body. He also noticed at the back of his mind about the notification from the Pathfinder. It probably contains the reward of the mission as well. It's not a good idea to check it now.

For the meantime, he tried to use his Divine Sense to have a grasp on his surroundings. It wasn't like he no longer feel very safe if he doesn't have a good understanding in his environment but it was habit he had when he was practicing his Divine Sense before.

But something went unexpected when he tried to activate his Divine Sense. Luckily, no one was harmed.

"You..." Yumi gaped upon sensing that Wallace already had an Arcane Link.

***

Wallace was helped by Yumi as they went back to the hotel. They were greeted by their team as they congratulated Wallace for being released from the hospital. It was like he had been fatally ill and had only survived after almost a week. He was speechless.

"Sigh... You shouldn't have stressed on it. Even though your automaton couldn't get out of the swamp, it was still powerful." Jun said after greeting Wallace which made the latter confused.

"I don't think thats the reason. Remember that he was away for a couple of days, so something must've happen." Sheryl said as she smiled at Wallace to help him defend.

Wallace then learned that the doctor told them that it was due to being stressed that his Mana had become unstable. This unstable Mana would cause incorrect Mana flow in magicians body which would normally result to fainting or being unconscious until their body was naturally healed by their natural connection to Mana. They were told that he was fine and only needed rest.

'Mage Doctor, you're not doing your job properly.' Wallace thought as he wasn't the least bit stressed. At the very least, they didn't tell that it was Mana Deviation. His parents would surely worry about his safety. It was an even more serious case after all.

Maybe because of his healthy body and perfectly concealed Arcane Link while asleep, the Mage Doctor had dismissed the possibility of him having a breakthrough.

Thinking up to this point, he wasn't sure himself whether learning Arcane Link would really make people unconscious for days. He should've asked Yumi a while ago.

"Haha.. Thank you for worrying about me. Who won the competition in the end?" Wallace asked Sheryl. He was interested to learn who had gained the chance to make a 'wish' as a reward.

"Ugh.. For the combat magician's competitions, our Avery won the 2nd place. She was so amazing in the following events. Unfortunately, none from the three of us reached the top 3 in Artifact Forging event. They were taken by Renzo, Khamir, and Zhilina." Sheryl said and further filled up Wallace about the competitions.

"That sounds amazing... I'll watch the recording once we've returned." Wallace amiably smiled as he appreciated Sheryl's effort to inform him all the events that has occurred while he was sleeping.

They already boarded the plane leading back to Zairus. Everybody except Wallace were tired as they slept the whole trip. The latter already slept for several days and he surely had enough.

Wallace brought out the memory crystal that was a reward for learning the Arcane Link, his mission.

[ Memory Crystal - Arcane Technology - Low Grade ]

[ Optical Phenomena Manipulation ]

[ The power to manipulate optical phenomena also called as Atmospheric Phenomena Manipulation. User can create, shape and manipulate optical phenomena, observable events resulting from the interaction of light and matter, including sun dogs, halos, rainbows, auroras, airglows, and mirages. ]

[ May be unable to create optical phenomena, being limited to manipulating only from already existing sources. The distance, energy, mass, and precision would depend upon the knowledge, skill, and strength of the user. May not be able to control optical phenomena in outer space. ]

'Lost technology is Arcane technology?' Wallace was surprised upon seeing the strange ability that he could learn once he consumed the memory crystal.

'Where would I use this?' A question that bugs his mind.

'Anyway, I didn't expect that a lost technology was something like this. I expected it to be something even more amazing. Right, it was Low-Grade. Maybe High-Grade ones would be something more interesting.' Wallace thought upon seeing the content.

Previously, there was only a name on the memory crystal that he was consuming but now, information about what it could do including it's limitation was included. He decided not to consume the memory crystal at the moment and will wait until he's at home.

***

It was already seven in the evening when their group arrived in the Zairus International Airport. Wallace went straight back to his house as he was offered to be driven back by Yumi's group.

He immediately informed his parents about his safe arrival in his house and after confirming that everything was fine within the property, he went to his most secured room protected by several layer of defense mechanisms.

Using his mental force to connect in his dimensional storage space, he brought out all the things inside except his 'body'. He have some plans on it but that would probably take some time.

Wallace checked all the contents and smiled satisfyingly. The contents were the remaining four perfect condition and one damaged Bio-Armor suits, several cases containing a total of 77 bombs with four different types, disassembled Mech Frame, Laser Blades, Enhanced Rifle Guns and it's ammunitions, some essential parts of computer for Avalon's later use, Amplified Assault Armor, Silver Orb, unused Berserk Potions, communication tools, mineral detectors, and some space suits that was neatly arranged within the room. His bio-armor, although can be used in outerspace, it was mostly used for combat. The space suit was still required or important for various reasons.

After he arranged all the things within his storage, he deemed that it was enough for today.

He took a seat in the balcony of his house to clear his mind. A lot of things happened in that country. Some things he didn't even want to recall.

He observed the stars, the constellation, it was familiar yet it's not.

He reminisce his previous life where he lived in the outer space and that he would view planets as something unsafe before due to the natural disasters that was so difficult to avoid if you were caught unprepared and would commonly pop out everywhere.

But he now got used living in the land where gravity always exist and only magic or technology could defy it.

'Haah... Still a long way to go.' Wallace muttered while looking at the stars.

He noticed a shooting star and remembered that there was a supertitious belief that people could have one wish after seeing it.

'Well, I hope it's not the Meredith Empire's forces looking for me.' Wallace was imagining that the Meredith Empire had actually destroyed a star after learning that he wasn't there. Then the starship would go to another nearest planet and look for him.

'There's no way that's happening. I probably needed a rest.' Wallace thought as he went to drink a milk before going to bed.

In case that the empire was really looking for him, as long as they gave him 2 or 3 more years, he would surely be prepared as he already had plans after learning the usefulness of having an Arcane Link with a Mana Body. He could do more together with his A.I.

Wallace doesn't have a grand ambition to create a Planetary Defense System plans that could protect the whole world but he wished to have something that was enough to protect him and his family. And he wanted to at least give some hope in case the dream he had before would ever come true. He can't accomplish all of this alone.

Three more months had passed as Wallace's 2nd year in the academy has come to an end.