Chapter 38: See?!
Aire paid attention to Stella in the mind world when he heard that. Soon, he asked, 'Idea? What kind of idea?'
'That power of yours...I don't think it's exactly heading...' Stella muttered with a pensive expression.
'Not healing?' Aire was slightly puzzled to hear that. 'What do you mean by that?'
Stella continued with her train of thought, saying, 'What we do know is that no cultivator has the same power as you. We asked Zule, who seemed quite knowledgeable about the affinities out there, but neither Water nor Light seems to be related to it, right?'
Aire nodded, responding, 'That's correct. However, it could also be just because he has never seen any other affinity, not that there isn't any.'
Stella didn't deny that. 'That might be true. However, what I think you have there isn't a healing power, but some kind of repair ability. Simply put, your power has the ability to make things right.'
Aire was taken aback for a moment. However, he quickly understood what Stella wanted him to try. 'Wait! Are you telling me to try and use this power of mine during the alloy creation process?'
Stella nodded in agreement as Aire immediately refused. 'Out of the question! Did you forget? I'm trying to hide it! What if someone finds about my ability, huh? I don't have time to be a lab rat while we need to increase my level.'
'Don't worry.' Stella shook her head in response as she eased Aire's worries. 'I told you I have an idea, didn't I?' Aire nodded and waited for Stella to continue talking. 'All the equipment used by you during the forging process uses your Stellar Energy to fuel it. What you need to do is just focus this power of yours on the cable connecting you to the machine itself. Just so you know, I already checked the equipment you're using here. No one will be able to use its data to find out your ability.'
Stella became more excited as she continued with a grin, 'First of all, no one will think that you can control any kind of power since it's only possible at the Stellar Manipulation Level. You're far away from that. Also, although that power is definitely connected with Stellar Energy, the fact remains that you can't control Stellar Energy itself yet, only the repair power.'
Soon, her mind was made up as she said, 'This is the perfect cover! The right way for you to show your abilities without anyone learning your secret.'
Even though what Stella said made sense, Aire was still concerned that he might be caught. 'I don't think it's a good idea. I've barely gotten used to making the Latom Blue Alloy. Besides, Cala already said that I'm doing very well as it is.'
Stella scolded Aire after that as she got angry. 'Stop being such a scaredy-cat! The better you do here, the higher our chances of getting Stellar Energy Resources for your training. Don't forget, none of your secrets will have any meaning if you die in the end.'
As always, Aire also felt angry because of her. 'Right! What's the point if I die in the end! Let's do this!'
'As expected of my Aire!' Stella, obviously, was very happy to hear that.
As for the poor Aire, he quickly recovered after Stella's emotions got back to normal. 'I'm telling you, this emotion sharing of yours is truly annoying.'
Nevertheless, Aire knew that Stella was right, so he decided to give it a try. He headed to the Pinpoint Furnace after making the preparations and collecting the materials necessary. After he put on the belt once again, he looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to him. 'Oh well. Let's see how this will turn out.'
The furnace was turned on as Aire controlled the display keys, working with his absorbed Stellar Energy to melt the materials. During that time, Aire focused on his abdomen and let his power surface under it. Sure enough, Aire could feel his power being absorbed by the Pinpoint Furnace as it was being added to the Stellar Fire and other components that utilized his Stellar Energy. 'Alright, alright...easy and steady. No need to rush, Aire...'
This time, Aire took twice the time to finish using the Pinpoint Furnace. In fact, he wanted to take even longer. Sadly, his energy ran almost dry there. In the end, others could only see Aire kneeling on the ground, gasping for air. 'Holy shit, this power of mine uses too much Stellar Energy. If I didn't pick up the speed at the end, I think I would have passed out due to exhaustion.'
Fortunately, no one thought it to be strange. People gasping for air and feeling completely dry was a common occurrence in the Stellar Smith Faction. It's just that Aire had only experienced it for the first time.
Aire then sat down and rested for an hour before getting up again. 'Stella, I won't use the power on the next equipment. I simply don't have enough Stellar Energy to do that.'
'No problem,' Stella said as she looked at Aire's condition. 'This should be at least enough to see if my theory was right or not. Just finish the Clearcut and Stellar Internal Structure Harmonization like usual.'
Aire nodded and moved onto the next steps of the Latom Blue Alloy forging. Because he wasn't using his power this time, the rest of the process went smoothly, just like last time. In the end, Aire forged a total of 2.46 kilograms. 'Weird... I used the same amount of materials this time, but I got so much more waste products.'
Stella didn't find it strange. 'If the quality of your work really increased, then it makes sense. After all, that would mean your power helped eliminate most of the unnecessary properties of the alloy.'
Aire nodded and went to the clerk on the counter once again. "Hi, could you check the SMA of these alloys for me, please?"
"Right away." The clerk quickly took it and put it inside the chamber once again. However, this time, the equipment took quite a few extra minutes to finish, which surprised the clerk. "You must have forged quite a good alloy. It only takes this long when the results surpass 60% SMA."
Eventually, the display showed the result on the monitor.
-Latom Blue Alloy, 84.3%.-
The clerk opened his eyes wide. "This..."
As for Aire, he let out cold sweat as Stella puffed her chest in pride and said with glee, 'See?! I knew I was right!'