The Ascension Age

Chapter 34: Speaking of the devil

Altina and the others eventually got back from their tests by the time it was night. In fact, it was supposed to take even longer than that, but with Zule's assistance in the Stellar Energy Aptitude Test, they saved quite a few hours.

At this point, Aire stopped his training as the four of them gathered on the table. "Alright, Aire. How was your Stellar Smith Test? Was it any good?"

"You bet," Aire responded with a smile on his face. "I got a total of 782 points from my Stellar Smith test alone. In the end, my total score jumped straight to 911 after combining it with my score from the Stellar Energy Aptitude test."

Altina, Sera, and Kymei were surprised to hear that. "Really?! That's great!" Aire had really gotten a lot more than they expected.

Sera then connected her communicator to one of the room's displays, showing her results. "Alright, here's my score in the Stellar Designer occupation." Soon after, a score of 1167 points was displayed for all of them to see.

"That's great, Sera," Altina said, excitement visible on her face. "You've improved more than 150 points since the last time!"

Aire was shocked by her results, though. He thought he had done an excellent job, but he soon noticed that it wasn't as much as he initially thought.

Kymei was the second one to show results, showing a total of 1024 points in his occupational score.

Aire couldn't help but lament, "Aren't you guys way too overpowered? I thought I did great with the score I got, but you guys are just humiliating me."

"Hahaha!" Kymei couldn't hold his laughter. "That's because I, your grandfather, am just too good."

*Pah!*

*Ouch!*

"Cut the crap!" Unfortunately, Altina didn't like the joke. "Aire, there's nothing wrong with your score. That was your very first time trying an occupation you've never heard of before. So yeah, you did surpass our expectations."

Sera agreed with Altina. "She's right. Now it's all up to your own dedication to the job. Don't give up. We really need a Stellar Smith for our Stellar Suits."

Aire sighed after hearing that but nodded in the end. Following that, his eyes rested on Altina as he asked, "By the way, how did you do in the combat test?"

Altina smiled before connecting her communicator in the display. In the end, Aire's mouth went agape as the number 1582 was displayed there. "Oh, come on! You did more than double than what I got."

Altina laughed as she said, "I wouldn't have gotten a fight against the pompous young masters of the school if I wasn't that good." Altina then changed the display, which showed their team's total score considering all the tests they've taken.

-Dormitory 174, Room 863-

-6074 Points Total-

-3981st Position.-

"Well, not that amazing, but we're definitely far above the majority," Kymei said as he nodded.

Altina was quite satisfied with their current position, saying, "Thankfully, Aire recuperated losses in the Stellar Smith test. Otherwise, we wouldn't have made it to the top 5000. Of course, there are still three more days ahead of us, so we're probably gonna fall in rank."

Sera agreed with Altina. "That's true. However, I don't think we're going to fall below 5000 anymore. Even if we do, it'll be by a small margin."

"By the way, what should we do now?" Aire asked with a hint of confusion. He was the only new guy here, after all.

Sera then sent a link to Aire's communicator in response, telling him, "Open the link. That's the official website you can use to check everyone's tasks during the resource war. Once a group event comes out, it'll appear there. Also, your individual task can be found in the same place. Just use your student ID, and the list should appear to you."

Aire immediately followed Sera's instructions and found his own schedule. As for the group schedule, that would be decided after the ranking was established.

"Hmm..." Aire soon found several classes to take. That was to be expected since he was still only sixteen. There were a lot of studies for him to attend. After that, there were other types of classes directed to Stellar Risers. Obviously, they had a lot to do with combat, Stellar Energy usage, space, knowledge about races, and so on.

"So, leaving my studies aside, my first Stellar Riser-related task will be this Stellar Energy Absorption Training," Aire said with a hint of uncertainty as he looked at the others.

Sera took a quick look and nodded. "That's pretty much it. However, we all know your Stellar Energy Absorption ability is definitely insanely high. That being said, you better put on a good show during it, pretending to not do that much better than what your result shows."

Kymei shook his head, saying instead, "No, he should take this training to reveal his ability instead."

Unsurprisingly, everyone looked at Kymei as they waited for him to continue explaining. And so, Kymei took the chance to continue. "Can't you see? Aire can simply say that he didn't know how the Stellar Energy Aptitude test worked before doing it the first time. That's why his result was low. We can use this class for Aire to slowly pretend to get used to it and increase his score without anyone paying much mind."

Aire and the others had to admit that it was a good plan. "That's definitely a good idea. By then, the fact that Aire is in the Stellar Bones Stage won't matter much anymore. He can simply say he had a breakthrough recently or whatever."

"It's decided, then." Aire nodded. "I won't go all out from the start but will gradually increase my Stellar Energy Aptitude Score as time passes."

Everyone agreed with him. "That's good."

With that decided, Altina changed the topic, saying, "Alright. Now, let's use the next few days to focus on absorbing Stellar Energy. After all, the factions won't be open before the tests are over."

It was then that Aire remembered something. Soon, he asked, "Altina, weren't you trying to enter the Stellar Manipulation Level when that problem with the Roaming Stellar Light happened? Aren't you going to try anymore?"

Altina laughed in response, saying, "Of course, I'll try again. In fact, I'm just waiting for Zule to arrive to give it another shot."

Coincidentally, someone knocked on their door.

"Speaking of the devil..."