Veda's plan to involve the non-magicians in its project is quite concerning.

First of all, the Cryptic Link Serum is a method created by a certain organization that Wallace had to fight against with before.

This serum is meant to be used by Magicians who were unable to advance to Adept or people who's unable to undergo Arcane Baptism. Its purpose was to forcibly increase the magician's purity of mana.

However, how can a non-practitioner of mana be allowed to take the serum? Although they were born in this world where Mana exists everywhere, they are unable to feel or control it even after years of living here.

The people of this world accepted that there are only a selected few that can utilize or practice the mana.

"Veda... Are you telling the truth? You are fully aware that the company called Seed Holdings is trying to use an object similar to a memory crystal to make normal humans a mana practitioner. It was said that it will still take quite some time to complete this project... However, are you telling me that you're trying to do something similar?"

Ace asked in confusion.

[ No. It's different. ]

"Then why are you planning to let them consume that serum?"

[ Although it would be difficult for them to become a genuine Mana Practitioner, this serum would make them sensitive to mana... ]

Ace wanted to ask more questions but he waited until Veda finished explaining.

[ Although they would be incapable of controlling mana, allowing them to feel its presence would help us increase our workforce and let them handle dangerous experiments that our automatons couldn't handle. ]

"What kind of experiments are you talking about?" Ace couldn't immediately think of one.

Veda sounded like he was someone from the Z Company that is trying to create chaos in the world.

[ The 7th Generation Mana Artifact. Wallace has recently told us about Aeolia's method of creating the 7th Gen and it's not something pleasant. That may also be the reason why he stayed in the northern continent... ]

Veda answered which confused Ace even more. He didn't hear anything about the method of creating a 7th Gen yet!

In truth, he thought that the 6th Gen should be something they needed to work on with since it was still not being spread around even after learning it from the Grand Arcanist.

As far as he knows, the number of people who have the method of creating the 6th Gen wouldn't exceed a hundred within his country with millions of population.

"Haaa~ 7th Gen, huh... Very well. I don't know what's that all about but I can't involve myself in that matter anyway... Just make sure you coordinate with Wallace about this."

[ Of course. He's the one who instructed me about this. You should talk to your other self more, you know? ]

"Alright, alright... Go busy yourself." Ace finally said before ending their conversation.

It seems that Wallace was not just idling around after returning from the northern continent…

Anyway, it's not like Wallace was aware of his plans in outer space as well… It was normal that there are things that they are not bothering to report especially if they think that it's not as important.

***

[ Empire's Fleet ETA: 14 days ]

Only two weeks were left before their peaceful days will be over.

Ace brought Avalon, in the form of a floating metal ball, to inspect or patrol within the Moon Base…

He walked on the hallway connecting the headquarters and the main dome and noticed that there are Mech Knights outside doing some mock battles…

"Avalon… What are they doing right now?"

[ Some test flights and combat trials. We have recently acquired brand new Mech Knights so I have tasked the second Mech Knight Division to conduct some exercise. ]

"I see… What designs am I seeing?"

Ace found the Mech Knight's design unfamiliar…

[ Their main armors were removed but they are based on Radiant Knight that you've designed. It appears that Chief Engineer Zhilina decided to realize some of her fantasies about Steel Knights. ]

'Pfftt—'

Ace couldn't help but be amused by Avalon's words. He didn't mind if the Chief decided to utilize some of the unused parts and make them into a working automaton.

He would even like to encourage them to do this in order to control their waste materials…

'Impressive…'

There are three new designs of Mech Knights that Zhilina has made and one of them caught his attention. It is a Mech Knight with a humanoid body but has a total of six arms…

Ace shook his head at this as he continued his way to the main facilities.

He's always being greeted by the magicians that would come in his way so he decided to communicate with them to know any of their concerns.

He already announced to the whole crew of the Moon Base and the Omen IV about the upcoming battle. A lot of them got worried but many of the adventurous Magicians were feeling excited.

After all, they wanted to prove that this will not be a repeat of the Dorssia Empire who humiliated them within the Alien Invasion game…

Within that difficult games, they died numerous times because they barely possess any advanced Mana Artifacts or weapons for themselves. Their spaceship was also just scrapped from the Empire's trash mountain.

They do not have the power to dominate them completely. However, it is different now.

Of course, they all know that it could similarly happen in reality if they did not take this seriously.

That was why they were so eager in mastering their weapons and Mech Knights…

'Mhmm...'

As Ace understood this, he was quite happy seeing the hardworking magicians around.

"Right, Avalon… How was the Linear Catapult installed within the Moon Base? Do we have enough? With the increase of pilots and mech knights, we must consider increasing them just in case.

[ We have six operating Linear Catapult and three more under construction. ]

"I see… That's good." Ace was quite happy with this arrangement. If they have more of this catapult, sending reinforcement or moving around would be easier for them.