The Ascension Age - Chapter 24: Lab Rat

Following that, Stellar Energy flowed into the capsule, being extracted directly from the school reserves. There was so much of the stuff inside the capsule that Aire felt overwhelmed. After all, such levels of concentration would be impossible on the outside.

‘Focus, Aire. You need to absorb it!’ Stella hastily said, snapping Aire back to reality.

Aire then took a deep breath in response and began to absorb it. As mentioned before, only at the Stellar Path Stage would one be able to create Stellar Paths for better use of Stellar Energy. Before that, Stellar Energy had to be transported through the cells, which was slower when compared to the Stellar Paths. However, Aire had the Energy Blood Flow Assistance, which increased the speed that it flowed.

Zule examined everyone from outside as he glanced at the display that showed what was happening. ‘The minimum score for Stellar Energy Absorption Rate is 100, or you won’t be selected to enter the Ascension Age School. The average score was around 313 according to last year’s tests.’

Zule then got closer to Aire’s chamber as he paid close attention to him. ‘Each Stellar Level and their stages have the same score, so the score won’t improve if you simply enter the next stage and have the ability to absorb more Stellar Energy because of that. The Baulmu Alliance has already accounted for the improvement, making sure that the score would only change if you’ve really turned out better or worse after your breakthrough.’

Zule then noticed how the Stellar Energy in the capsule entered Aire’s body at a very high speed. It couldn’t be compared to Altina, who was at the Stellar Path Stage and had opened all Stellar Paths already. However, it was definitely not something you would easily see in a Stellar Riser at the Stellar Blood Stage. ‘Come on, boy. I’m counting on you to help her. Don’t let me down.’

*Beep, Beep, Beep…*

Zule soon heard the display nearby beep, making him focus his attention onto it. Surprisingly, the first one to obtain their results was Sera, with a score of 423 points. Just as Sera mentioned in the past, they were above average, but they weren’t that impressive. 423 points just proved that conjecture. ‘Altina and Kymei shouldn’t be too far away from it.’

Soon after, that point was automatically added to the school’s ranking lists. The first one was the Team Score, which would be the sum of all four members. The second one was the individual score. Obviously, the latter was for oneself.

-Sera Lakamine, 432 Points, 1856th position.-

Considering that there were more than seven hundred thousand students, Sera should be grateful that she appeared there. However, not even a second later, her position began to decline.

‘Not surprising. After all, everyone’s still going through their tests, so her position will keep falling in the next three days. If she does as she did last year, Sera should end up at around the 7000th position,’ Zule thought.

*Beep, Beep, Beep…*

-Kymei Foliu, 451 Points, 1632nd position.-

Sure enough, as soon as Kymei’s position appeared, it began to drop as well as more and more students went through their tests.

*Beep, Beep, Beep…*

Altina was the next one after Kymei. Zule wasn’t surprised that Aire was the last one to finish. After all, he had never taken this test before, so he would need a few more seconds to adapt before he could absorb Stellar Energy efficiently.

-Altina Larael, 512 Points, 1175th position.-

Naturally, Altina’s rank began to drop as the other two did. Nevertheless, Zule couldn’t help but show a surprised expression. ‘This girl really doesn’t know when to give up. Compared to last year’s result, she was able to improve by more than 50 points. As always, hard work will never betray you.’

While Zule was thinking of something else, Aire felt really comfortable at the moment. The Stellar Energy running through his body was moving naturally. Without a doubt, that was the result of the Energy Blood Flow Assistance skill from Stella’s system. However, it was then that Stella’s voice echoed in his mind, telling him, ‘Aire! We’re super lucky! Go, breakthrough now!’

Aire was taken aback after hearing that, responding, ‘What?! Breakthrough? You mean I should try entering the Stellar Bones Stage?’

He then continued with his words, not thinking it was possible, ‘You’re crazy! The capsule will only work for a minute, and I used more than 20 seconds already. If I run out of time, I might suffer a backlash due to the lack of Stellar Energy for the breakthrough!’

Stella laughed in response, saying, ‘Hahaha! Are you looking down on a body modified by the Ascension Age Soul Assistance? Trust me, Aire! No, trust your sister’s face! You will succeed for sure!’

‘Fuck you! I already said not to bring my sister into this!’ However, Aire understood that if he could really enter the Second Stage of the Stellar Body Transformation Level, Stellar Bones, it would be of tremendous help. After all, he only had a year to reach the Stellar Manipulation Level.

‘Alright, I’ll try that now!’ Aire decided to believe in Stella and immediately tried to attempt a breakthrough…or so he wanted to. ‘Errr…how exactly do I do it?’

Stella felt like crying! ‘You don’t know?! No, forget it. We don’t have time. Just do what I say.’

Outside, Altina, Kymei, and Sera had already exited their capsules. After all, they didn’t need more than 15 to 20 seconds to finish their test. Together with Zule, they all looked at Aire as he continued with his test. However…

“Is it me, or is there way too much Stellar Energy entering his body?” Kymei asked, confused as he looked at the display representing Aire’s capsule.

“Hahaha! This boy is quite crazy. He’s attempting a breakthrough!” Zule, on the other hand, noticed what Aire was doing straight away.

“What?! Did he lose his mind?! What if the supply of Stellar Energy stops?” Sera and Altina asked at the same time.

Zule shook his head, replying, “There’s nothing we can do about it. The capsule will only work for one minute for each student. Even I can’t change that. However, I don’t think he would try it if he wasn’t confident.” Zule’s eyes shone as he looked at Aire. Somehow, he felt that Aire would definitely succeed.

Suddenly, the amount of Stellar Energy being used by the capsule skyrocketed on the display. Following that, Sera, Kymei, Altina, and Zule felt a burst of Stellar Energy coming from the capsule. After that, the Stellar Energy around Aire stabilized just in time for the capsule to stop working after one minute was gone.

“This…” Altina’s group couldn’t believe what they had witnessed.

Aire took a step outside and stretched his arms as he said, “Phew… I was afraid for a moment that it wouldn’t work. Fortunately, it went well.”

He couldn’t help but laugh after that, continuing, “Hey guys! I’m now at the Stellar Bones Stage!”

Kymei was the first one to recover after hearing that, asking in shock, “What the hell?! Since when did a breakthrough happen this quickly?! That’s impossible!”

Sera and Altina quickly recovered before nodding vigorously as one of them asked Aire, “Yeah, yeah! How did you do that? Everyone takes an hour at the very least, and those are the really top-ranked geniuses. Not to mention that they use a lot of Stellar Resources to do so! Are you even human?!”

Aire was taken aback as he asked Stella, ‘Stella, is what they said true?’

‘Well, they don’t have the perfect breakthrough method like you do. Consider it a free perk I’m giving you. Hahaha!’ Stella said all of that while feeling very proud of herself.

However, Aire was already sweating as he asked Zule, “Wh-What if others find about it?”

Zule playfully smiled in response as he replied, “It seems…we have a new lab rat.”