The Excellence has already reached the exosphere and it continuously flew up and went to the direction of the moon.

Ace was constantly receiving reports from Avalon so he was fully aware that everything went smoothly just like the simulation they had.

The A.I.'s ability to calculate these things was irreplaceable for Ace.

After all, he may not have thought of placing the Radiant Wave Spectrum Tech in this whole battleship without Avalon's analysis of how it affects the violent mana up there.

Ace even thought that yesterday's explosion of the space shuttle had something to do with this violent mana similar to mana calamity.

If not for the Lotus Mech's Technology, then he would really have to worry about today's space launch.

Ashe confirmed that the flight was stable and there was nothing wrong with the battleship, Ace started the second part of this event.

"Everyone... The Excellence managed to breakthrough and was now on its way to the moon."

As soon as he announced this, everyone was stunned and couldn't help but express their confusion with the sudden event.

'On its way to the moon?!'

'That'sinsane!'

'If I'm not wrong, the two clans were only planning an orbital spaceflight, right?'

'Yeah... But this guy wanted to reach the moon...'

'This is absurd... How can anyone just reach the moon...'

'He's not just anyone. He made the virtual world that almost seems impossible.'

'Haa~ I'm impressed... This is big news... Do you think that there are foreign species living on the moon?'

'Haha! You wish...'

They all had different reactions but deep inside, they were all impressed by Wallace's move.

***

A group of five people at one corner of the plaza was having the same conversation. "Aaron... This guy is the real deal... So what you're saying was true..."

"I wish that I could join the next space launch... Do you think that he'll be sending more spaceship up there?"

It was Gary and Humphrey, the two previous members of the student council, and now a licensed Combat Magicians. They were together with Aaron and two more members of the Lucent Force who luckily reached the top 400 of the game so they were invited.

"Yes... He obviously has more of those spaceships..."

Aaron said as he glanced at the other floating battleship. He took a deep breath before continuing.

"There should be something more but I'm not sure what he plans on doing with that..."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you see those five pillars?"

"Yes... I'm thinking that they're Steel Knights..."

Gary answered but Humphrey was doubtful as he told them the information he found out...

"Hmm~ I'm also thinking the same... However, we all know that the Molten Core's blueprint was strictly controlled and even if you received some leaked information about it, no one would dare to openly create them. I checked the records of the organizations that were allowed to use the Molten Core, and Traceless Hands or Wallace Ravencroft was not included."

"If that's that case, then if what's behind that fabric were Steel Knights, then its either just an empty model or..."

"He has his own method of creating Core..."

The three of them said at the same time. They were all combat magicians but they were fully aware of how difficult it was to create those cores as they were normally being managed by old mana practitioners tinkering day and night to create a perfect core for Steel Knights.

They were knowledgeable about this because they have their own Steel Knights and Aaron even has his own Iron Knight aside from that.

His status as the young master of the Lucent Force wasn't just an empty status, after all.

While they were still expressing their excitement about Wallace's plan to send the Excellence to the moon, he continued to announce the second part of the event.

"Now, I'll be needing everyone's expertise in piloting a Steel Knight... This time, there will no longer be assistance coming from Freya..."

***

While Ace was busy about his event on Earth, Avalon was doing its best to reach the moon safely.

The Excellence was honestly too heavy this time because it was filled with various materials and workers. Luckily, the Mass Driver wasn't just created using advanced technology but there were also mana formation and array that was added to help with the catapult.

Anyway, it may probably be the same weight for the three or four spaceships that will be sent up here since they'll need a lot more materials. Apparently, the materials they brought was only enough to create a kilometer wide headquarters. There will not be any defense structures at all or even enough air supply. The environment was only good for the automatons who only require energy to function.

Of course, Ace planned to make the base livable but it would only happen after the third spaceship with supplies was sent out. The plan was to make the Moon Base the last outer space defense line if possible. After all, they may not have time to create a base in a Lagrange Point.

[ Scanning... ]

[ Looking for traces of the space shuttle... ]

[ No traces of the space shuttle detected within 22 AU. ]

It seems that the range was no longer being hindered by mana after leaving the Earth. The previous maximum range or 19 AU was now 22 AU. However, as it cost a huge chunk of energy to scan with a range like that, Avalon wasn't doing it unless instructed.

Ace instructed Avalon to look for the space shuttle once it reached a stable flight. Unfortunately, it seems that the space shuttle had truly exploded or perhaps, it has a powerful stealth system that even Avalon couldn't detect.

It wasn't surprising if there's magic involved so Avalon couldn't find it with normal means.

Beep!

Apparently, instead of finding a space shuttle, Avalon detected something different. The A.I. runs a simulation to confirm everything before immediately reporting it to Wallace to get an instruction.

[ An Asteroid, approximately 13 kilometers wide, is projected to hit Earth 12 days from now. ]