The Ascension Age

Aire didn't have many ambitions. Until Aire found out that he had the minimal aptitude to become a Stellar Riser, he always thought that he would inherit his mother's shop. It wasn't anything big, let alone something that could make him rich. His hometown didn't have more than twenty thousand inhabitants, so the business was basically a little better than being an employee for some other company.

The thing that made him feel more helpless was how his mother and father were excited after his aptitude test results came back. Even if he had barely reached the threshold, it wasn't anything easy to do so. It's said that you wouldn't have more than one or two Stellar Risers every ten thousand humans.

Of course, everyone could absorb Stellar Energy, but the level they could reach was different for each person. And with that came the aptitude test. Aire, carrying the hope of his parents, could only accept it and move to Star City.

Aire went out of the station and immediately felt lost. However, he didn't seem to be worried. Instead, he put on some kind of glasses, but that only covered one of his eyes while the other was free as he commanded, "Stellar AI, show me the path to the Ascencion Age School."

Immediately, Aire's eye shone with several lights. This was the device that replaced the worlds' smartphones. It could do basically anything that a smartphone could, but much better. Not only that, but it also worked on Stellar Energy. That being said, as long as the person charged it with their own Stellar Energy, it would work just fine. Electricity had already become quite an outdated type of energy nowadays.

In front of Aire's eye, a perfect map of the city, with every step he should take, presented itself. It even had the path mark on the ground for him to walk.

It looked incredible. Unfortunately, Aire's model was quite old already. The newest models weren't just good at common applications. They did much more than that. For example, they had all kinds of sensors that could track one's progress in Stellar Energy. That was only one of its functions. Then again, Aire didn't have money for that, nor did he intend to spend on such a thing.

'So far from home...'

Obvious, Star City's Stellar Path School wasn't the only one available on Earth. However, it was still the closest one to Aire's hometown... even though it was over two thousand kilometers away. There were two more schools, but they were even further than this one. For Aire, the shorter the duration of his travel, the better, so he came to Star City.

...

As Aire continued on his path, he passed by several boards that showed the news of the galaxy. On the screens, one could see several Stellar Scientists talking about some kind of change that was happening recently.

Aire got somewhat curious since everywhere he looked, people were talking about it, so he ordered his AI, "Stellar AI, show me news about the Roaming Stellar Light."

That's what the Stellar Scientists called it. Immediately, a small screen at the corner of Aire's eye appeared while the commentator's voice entered his head.

"Two months ago up till now, a phenomenon that is now called the Roaming Stellar Light has been happening all over the Baulmu Alliance's territory."

As mentioned before, the Baulmu Alliance was the one in control of the Milky Way Galaxy. It's just that Baulmu was how they called it, not Milky Way. Only the humans remembered that name.

"Several alliance ships are analyzing this phenomenon. Unfortunately, every time they get close to the light, it disappears. Thus, the word 'Roaming' in the name. So far, no one can tell what it is or what it can be used for. It doesn't seem to be following any specific path either, blinking in and out of existence in our galaxy."

"Scientists believe that it might be connected to the Ascension Age announcement made by Gigon thousands of years ago. However, nothing could guarantee that either."

The Ascension Age. Ever since Gigon talked with every race in the Universe, he hadn't appeared again. The intelligent races understood very well that they were nothing more than birds in a cage. Billions of years since the Big Bang was nothing more than a few days outside it. Of course, many proposed that Gigon was lying or that he existed in our Universe and was tricking everyone. He probably found some lost technology that allowed him to do what he did.

Unfortunately, no one had a way to prove it. By now, there were even those who doubted whether Gigon and also Gigan existed. After all, conspiracy theories always had a lot of success.

Aire continued to listen to the news as his AI continued, "Fortunately, it's possible to identify where the Roaming Stellar Light would appear every time it went away. It's as if it's telling the races of the Baulmu Galaxy where it wanted to be."

As Aire listened to that news, he couldn't help but think.

'Are they idiots? Isn't it obvious that the light is playing with them? First, it tells them where it is, then disappears as soon as they get close. The process repeats itself after that. If it was me, I would have given up a long time ago.'

"So far, Stellar Scientists were only able to tell that a ridiculous amount of Stellar Energy can be found inside the Roaming Stellar Light. No technology known by the Baulmu Alliance and the territories in its surroundings would be able to store such an amount. They're afraid that this Roaming Stellar Light might appear close to an inhabited planet. If that happens, it might turn catastrophic. On the other hand, nothing might happen either. The Stellar Scientists aren't sure which case is possible."

The commentator then continued, "The general consensus is that the Roaming Stellar Light is looking for something. However, no one can tell what it is. All the Stellar Scientists can do is follow it wherever it appears."

Aire then turned off the news as he focused on his path to the school as he thought, 'Looking for something, huh? Well, it has nothing to do with me anyway, so who the fuck cares.'

...

Around two thousand light years away from Earth, there was a point of bright light floating in space. The weird thing was that this light was very gentle, which didn't impact one's eyes even if one looked directly at it. Naturally, this was the so-called Roaming Stellar Light.

Just a few hours ago, it had been on the other side of the Baulmu Territory, up to eighty thousand light years away. However, light years ceased to be a problem for the races of the Universe a long time ago. Obviously, it was thanks to Stellar Energy. Because of that, the three main races of the Baulmu Territory discovered how to enter the fourth dimension. This technology allowed the spaceships to cover thousands of light years, in terms of distance, in just a few minutes.

That wasn't all. The fourth dimension was also used for communication. With that, sending and receiving information from all inhabited planets of the Baulmu Galaxy wasn't a problem at all. This was also the reason why it was possible to find the Roaming Stellar Light. It affected the fourth dimension, which allowed the Stellar Riser to pinpoint its location just a few hours after it disappeared.

What the Stellar Scientists didn't understand was how it traveled. If it used the Fourth Dimension, following the trace left behind by it should be possible. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single ripple in the Fourth Dimension every time it disappeared. Nonetheless, it affected the Fourth Dimension once it reappeared somewhere else. In their eyes, the Roaming Stellar Light had the secrets for the next breakthrough in Stellar Energy Technology.

Inside one of these spaceships was a group of Stellar Scientists led by a woman called Ramalia. She was part of the Ortan Race, one of the three main races of the Universe. The team she led had many other races making part, including a few humans. Though, the three main races were the majority in there.

"We found it again. How is it? Is the new reading equipment ready?"

One of the Stellar Scientists immediately replied, "Yes! All the spaceships are positioned in their places. We can start at any time."

"Good! We had to create this equipment in a hurry, but the pulses of Stellar Energy should be almost imperceptible. If this was the reason why the Roaming Stellar Light disappears every time, it shouldn't go anywhere now."

Following that, she quickly raised her hand and gave the order. "Start!"

Similar equipment activated inside over three hundred spaceships, all positioned far away from the Roaming Stellar Light. If they got any closer than it, then the light would disappear again.

Everyone felt nervous, thinking that the light might just disappear at any moment. However, as time passed, they felt more and more relaxed.

"Great! We're finally getting some readings. I just hope we weren't too slow compared to the other galaxies' powers."

Suddenly, the expression of the man controlling the equipment in Ramalia's ship changed.

"Not good! It's going to disappear again!"

"What?! Oh, come on!!!"

However, Ramalia quickly got ahold of herself before saying, "Check the Fourth Dimension. I want to know exactly where it's going to appear next time."

Eventually, the Roaming Stellar Light became much brighter than usual all of a sudden before disappearing completely.

Ramalia lamented, "Sigh, several hours until we find it again."

Or so she thought.

"Found it!"

"What?! Already? Could it be that it went somewhere close?"

...

Back on Earth, Aire had finally arrived in the Stellar Path School. As he looked at it from a distance, he couldn't help but twitch his eyes. 'This is ridiculously enormous!'

He wasn't exaggerating. There were only three Stellar Riser Schools on Earth, so they had to accommodate an enormous amount of students. The school's estate extended for several kilometers with buildings that looked more like skyscrapers. Such a magnificent sight left even a bored guy like Aire impressed.

Aire quickly got ahold of himself as he thought, 'So what? The best thing is to keep a low profile and pretend to not exist. Perhaps I'll be discharged by graduation.'

However, as soon as Aire took his first step forward, a feminine voice echoed in his mind, saying, 'I finally found you, Master!'

Following that, Earth's sky suddenly brightened with light. The entire world, including the side where it was night, was affected by it. Fortunately, the phenomenon didn't last long, though. A few seconds later, everything returned to normal. Of course, that event immediately caught everyone's attention as the whole world was in an uproar.

In the middle of all of this, no one noticed Aire's body on the ground.