The Ascension Age

Due could see how tired Aire was after the process, so he patted his shoulders and said, "Alright, that's enough for now. Go sit down and relax."

He then smiled as he continued, "Aire, it'll be quite complicated to hide your achievements from others, so I recommend not trying to do so. To be honest, I would like you to give up on everything else and focus on just the occupation."

Aire immediately shook his head as he said in response, "Thank you, supervisor Due. However, I don't want to give up becoming a Riser." Of course, that was a lie. It's all because it would be the fastest way to get the resources he needed, so he couldn't stop, nor would Stella let him.

Due already expected that answer, though. "Well, it was worth a shot. In any case, I want you to make the occupation your main focus. I told the clerk not to reveal this information, but it will be in the system sooner or later," Due said. "If you do so, it'll be easier to gather the Stellar Energy Resouces you need for your training since higher ranked teams will request your services."

"If it's just that, I can work around it." Nevertheless, Aire had his conditions. "However, it's way too early for me to take any assignments. So far, I have only worked with this Latom Blue Alloy. Supervisor Due, I want to learn how to forge other materials as well. After all, my own dormitory team is also working on making a Stellar Suit. I intend to prioritize them over any others who come around."

Due didn't see a problem with that as he said with a smile, "That's great! As long as you make it your main focus, I can work everything else out. I will have one of our Stellar Smiths work with you from now on, teaching you everything you need. If you have any specific material you want to work on, we can arrange that. Of course, don't get ahead of yourself. You're only in the Stellar Bones Stage, so your Stellar Energy Reserves are very limited to work on anything too complicated."

Aire smiled as he nodded in response. With everything arranged, Aire left the Stellar Smith Faction and went to his classes. Thanks to Due, he wasn't given any punishment for his early absence and was able to catch up with the lessons later.

Later that night, Aire headed back to his teammates' dormitory and told them about the news.

"What?!" Sera couldn't help but hold Aire's arms as she looked at him with her eyes open wide. "Over 80% SMA?! Are you serious?! For real?!"

Sera wasn't the only one. Kymei put his arm around Aire's shoulder as he laughed out loud, saying, "Hahahaha! 80%+ SMA! 80%+ SMA! Hahaha! Great! That's simply great! As expected of the man I recognize. Aire has actually done it."

Aire glanced at Kymei in response and asked, "Recognize? Since when were you doing that? As far as I can see, you just started to recognize."

"Minor details, minor details..." Kymei answered as he waved his hands. "Leaving this aside, Aire, you need to prioritize Sera and I from now on, understood?"

Sera couldn't agree more, saying, "Exactly! With some high SMA material to work with, our plans to build our own Stellar Suits will come to fruition!"

Altina, who didn't understand much about their jobs, couldn't help but ask, "Is this really such a big deal?"

Kymei and Sera nodded vigorously as one of them replied, "Of course it is! Not only are high SMA materials much easier to work with, but they're also a lot more resistant. Both Kymei and I will be able to jump several steps ahead in the Stellar Suit project we have in our hands."

Sera's eyes suddenly lit up as an idea popped into her head. "Hey, Kymei! Suppose we get the Galot Alloy, Tempered Viran Iron, and the Latsil Powder with this level of SMA. Couldn't we skip the stress processing calculation? We could jump straight to Arm Composition!"

Kymei immediately agreed as he responded, "Definitely! I have all the runes ready, or, to be more specific, all their blueprints. They're all based on the Arm design you made. If Aire brings us those materials with a similar SMA, we can bring them to life."

Aire and Altina were puzzled as one of them asked, "What are you even talking about?"

Sera then responded with an ecstatic expression, "Simple. We might be able to use a real Stellar Suit during our first team mission!"

She then clarified herself, continuing, "Well, not an entire Stellar Suit, but only an Arm. Nevertheless, that would give us a huge advantage!"

Altina, who was part of the Warriors' Faction, immediately gave a green light! "Do it! You'll need someone to do stress testing on the prototype, right? Count me in!"

Aire raised his hand, saying, "But I haven't even tried forging any other material yet. It'll take some time for me to learn even if I start working them straight away."

Sera and Kymei didn't mind as one of them replied, "It's fine. Just see what you can do. Even if we can't get it for the first team mission, we would still get it at some point if you pull this off. Just try your best!"

Aire sighed and nodded in response. Team Missions were part of the Resource War. If they could get an advantage and end up with good results, that would give Aire's team more resources than any other tasks they could do alone. Even the Stellar Smith Faction orders couldn't compare. That's why Due wasn't surprised when Aire refused to give up everything else for the Stellar Smith occupation.

As good as Aire might be, he was only one of the genius Stellar Smiths of the school. Being a Stellar Smith might be a shunned profession, but that did not mean no one was doing it. Other branches of the Stellar Smith Faction also had their stars.

"Alright. However, I won't promise anything." It was then that Aire thought about something else. "By the way. Will I be able to forge those materials you requested while only in the Stellar Bones Stage?"

Sera and Kymei nodded as one of them replied, "Kymei and I can work on Stellar Suits, but we're relatively new to it. That being said, we also can't work with difficult materials. Simply put, everything we will ask you will be on par with your and our levels."

And just like that, the plans to build a part of a Stellar Suit started.