After Hilda and her fellow magicians managed to escape from their enemy's clutches, their surroundings suddenly turned bright.

"N-no!"

They thought that they were in a line of fire!

With this in mind, they tried to summon their strongest defense to defend from whatever attack was coming to them.

This happened while they run swiftly and they even changed their movement patterns in hopes of avoiding the attack.

"I... I can't use my spells..."

"Is this a Magic Jammer?!"

They could no longer activate their spells! They couldn't sense any mana in the surroundings as they almost panicked at the situation.

Luckily, this only lasted for a moment as they suddenly realized that they were still safely seated inside their Steel Knights.

"It's really a simulation?"

Hilda muttered as she took a deep breath after realizing what had just happened.

She immediately tried sensing the mana in the surroundings and she was truly inside the Steel Knight and her hands were still touching the sphere glass.

[ That's correct. Congratulations. You completed the simulation test. ]

"Oh... Avalon, you're here... What kind of test was that?"

[ The standard Iron Knight and Steel Knights requires a high sync rate to operate it swiftly. You can consider this simulation test made by Traceless Hands as a substitute for it. ]

"Huh? Substitute? You mean that the sync rate is no longer important with this Radiant?"

[ That's correct. I could no longer provide information aside from this unless you will be selected and you'll agree with the contract that would be offered to the lucky individuals. ]

Hilda smiled after hearing Avalon as she got curious about the secrets of these new Steel Knights.

Their designs were truly different, its combat ability was top-notch, and its compatibility with mana spells was also amazing.

[ Lastly, if people asked you what's the content of the test, tell them that it would be different for every individual. ]

"Sure... I will..."

She believes that everyone would have the same test and even if Avalon didn't tell her, she would keep quiet about it. She wanted her friends to experience the same challenge she had.

As soon as she got out of Radiant, she quickly asked her friends about the span of time she spent inside the Knight.

"Just more than a minute..."

Escanor answered as his eyes questioned her about the time she truly spent inside.

"I see... So it's really really like that... How impressive..."

Hilda muttered as it confirmed everyone's theory. The little doubt remaining in their hearts were completely removed as they deeply trusted their friend.

"Very well... It seems that he's truly an enigma..."

"That's right... Those impressive magic structures during TMAC, the magic spells that he licensed to NMTI, the virtual world, and now... this time magic."

"Revealing this magic spell should catch the attention of the government. It may even cause some trouble..."

"That makes sense... But it only shows how important this test was for him..."

"Mhmm... In any case, good luck with your test later on... You can do it."

Shirley, Ray, Escanor, Lina, and Hilda were the few people who had seen Wallace's achievements from the Academy to the point of affecting the society or even the countries. It must be said that his VR Pod had truly become a hot topic everywhere.

It's secret couldn't easily be uncovered as the small device had many safeties or protection.

Any attempt to open up the VR Pod without permission would actually activate its system file burst.

It will destroy the important parts of the VR Pod and the system that operates it. There was no way to salvage the machine at all.

Wallace didn't want his technology to be used in some shady deals so he can only do this as a precaution.

***

Ace continued his conversation with the ladies as they planned on how to reveal some of the information to the public.

In the end, they decided to let Veda handle the spreading of information.

They just had to let the right people see those pieces of information through their recommendations. They'll use this chance as leverage to gain assistance from the government.

[ The simulation test has now reached 90% completion rate. ]

Avalon suddenly reminded Ace as he didn't realize the time.

"Alright... That's it for now... I trust you senior Lacus and Miss Yumi... and you too Erza..."

He then glanced at Miya who was looking somehow daze at the corner.

"Miya... Miya Linus..."

"Oh... Yes, Wallace... What were you saying?" Miya asked politely as she was not listening to him a few moments ago.

Anyway, he has different concerns now. Once the tests reached 100%... It would be Miya's turn...

"It's almost time for you to perform... They all think that this event was just part of the virtual game's event. Sigh~ The gamers must be thinking a lot of things by now. They witnessed many surprises today. I hope that you could help them to calm down and think effectively."

"Should I really use my Soul Arts to affect them?"

"That would be for the best. They already experienced the time magic I pulled, they witnessed the space launch, the unique automatons I have, and even that floating battleship that silently guards the mountain would surely affect their judgment and be overly excited."

"Fine... I will do my best... But there are few Adepts among them. Don't you think that they'll have stronger resistance?"

"It should be fine... Don't worry... I trust your abilities, you weren't at the top of your class for nothing..."

Miya smiled and shakes her head as she prepared herself to meet the gamers.

***

Ace immediately checked the results of the test from Avalon as he walks towards the plaza.

"Hmm... How's the simulation test, Avalon? What's the probability of success?"

[ All life-saving magic spells were perfectly simulated. We have reached a 97% success rate. ]

"That's very good..."

It has been a while since the VR Project was created and in operation.

When it just started, many spells were unusable, many secret techniques were unknown, and many magic formations or arrays were not working.

However, throughout the months of operation, the numbers of players kept increasing and at the same time, Avalon's database keeps expanding.

More and more data shows up and the simulations were slowly being perfected.

That was also why there was a huge maintenance today and many changes will happen aside from the Moon Project inside the game.

"The last step is almost done... We can do this, Avalon."

[ Yes. ]

The A.I. dutifully answered.

Ace had one final adjustment with the Mech Frames which he needed to accomplish in some point, that was why he wasn't building too many of them aside from creating vessels for the 10 QBCS that he got as a reward.

He desired for the Mech Frames to be capable of executing the magic spells of any magicians piloting them.

That's right. He considered having a magician pilot that was fully knowledgeable in a certain field, like fire magic, to be capable of casting them without any issues using the Mech Frame he made as a medium.

It would be like a huge substitute for a Mana Artifact.

This would be impossible if they don't have a record of all types of magic spells that were being used.

This is where the virtual world and this simulation test came in.

The hardest spell to analyze were those being used as a life-saving spell or something that would only be used in dire situations.

The simulation for today was meant for the players here to use their life-saving spell to save themselves from danger.

It also means that those gamers who let themselves be captured and be brought to the enemy base would not have a chance to be selected at all.

It wasn't his intention to steal those spells but it will help him refine his Mech Frames...

He wanted his creations to be 10 times or even 100 times better than the empire's Mechs.