The Ascension Age

Although the other materials were still considered to be on Aire's level, they were definitely harder to work with than Latom Blue Alloy. In the end, Aire now began to fail in the process, having to do multiple attempts to achieve the minimal SMA necessary for a material to be used, 15%.

Aire didn't head straight into using his power after that, though. Instead, he practiced some more so that he could learn how to save more energy. After all, his power alone would be a huge draw to his reserves.

Cala, of course, was the one guiding him during this time. Every day Aire dropped in, she would be there to take care of him. Of course, it wasn't as if Aire appeared in the Stellar Smith Faction every day. After all, Aire was adamant to not use his weekends to work. Even Stella's nagging and emotional changes weren't enough to make him move his ass.

Cala didn't teach Aire just those three materials, though. Stellar Smiths had to be aware of all materials and tasks in the Faction. Naturally, she also forced him to work on other projects so that he could learn. In fact, if Aire wasn't that talented, he would have already received several other tasks to work with as part of his curriculum. After all, the Faction didn't teach for free, so many of the Stellar Smiths had to work on other materials that they didn't want to as a way of paying the Faction back. For Aire, his high SMA was the payback that Due needed.

Time passed in a flash, and soon, two weeks went by. Back at Aire's dormitory, Sera couldn't help but ask, "How is it? Can you forge the materials?" She obviously wanted to know if he could do it since she and Kymei had already finished the theoretical part.

"Yes. Just today, I finally succeeded in processing the Latsil Powder. Believe me, it was quite hard to create that one since you have to work on such tiny particles all the time," Aire answered with a tired expression.

Nevertheless, Sera, Kymei, and even Altina got excited. "Really?! How's your SMA on them at the moment?"

Aire shook his head with a light sigh as he replied, "At the moment, they're far from the 80% average you need. However, that's because I haven't applied my own methods yet. I'll try working on it from tomorrow onwards." Aire then warned his group, saying, "However, I can't guarantee it will work. Perhaps I'm just very good with Latom Blue Alloy and not with other materials. So, if I fail, I don't want to hear complaints. I just started this work as a Stellar Smith, after all."

Sera and Kymei nodded after hearing that. As part of those that helped in the building of Stellar Suits, they knew that things weren't that simple. "No problem. Let us know tomorrow."

*Plin!*

Suddenly, everyone's communicators flashed at the same time. Sera, who just so happened to be looking at it, immediately checked to see what it was, only to blurt out, "Holy shit! The first team mission is out!"

Naturally, Aire and the others immediately took out their communicators to give it a look.

-Dormitories 151 to 200's team mission.-

-Location: Samuria Swamp.-

-Objective: Collect as many Stellar Energy Bubbles as possible.-

-Each team's initial starting position will be based on their positions on the ranks.-

-The mission will start in 240 hours.-

Sera, Kymei, and Altina's eyes lit up as they simultaneously said, "Stellar Energy Bubbles!"

"What is that?" Obviously, Aire didn't know what those were.

Altina grabbed Aire's arms as she explained with an excited expression, "Those are some of the best Stellar Resource Rewards you can get outside of Stellar Crystals. These bubbles are made of pure Stellar Energy. The energy accumulates at the bottom of the Samuria Swamp all year long until it reaches a critical mass. After that happens, the Stellar Energy bursts at some random points for an entire week. Nevertheless, because it's happening under a swamp, it ends up forming many bubbles of Stellar Energy instead of simply dissipating in the air."

Aire understood what Altina was getting at, so he asked, "So...we can use these bubbles to increase our level, right?"

Sera and the others nodded as one of them replied, "Exactly! That's why it's such good news for us. There are over a thousand dormitories in the Ascension Age School, so it's hard to get a mission in such a good place. Not to mention that there are still Stellar Crystal Rewards given after the mission. It's like receiving two rewards at the same time!"

Aire couldn't help but ask, "That being said, we need to compete against the other teams to get the bubbles. Am I right?"

"Yes," Kymei responded. "However, we have Altina on our side, so I think we have a good chance of getting a lot of them. Although we won't be able to fight against the top-ranked teams, we won't fall that much behind."

Aire was already satisfied with that. He didn't like the mission nor the competition. Nevertheless, the extra help with Stellar Energy would definitely give him another boost. "Good! I'll give it my all on the forging tomorrow." Aire then looked at Sera and Kymei and asked, "How long do you think you need to finish those Stellar Suit Arms?"

Sera and Kymei exchanged a few words before saying, "Five days! We'd need at least five days to build something stable enough."

Aire nodded, saying in response, "That means I have five days to deliver you those materials since we only have ten days before the mission starts." Aire then pretended to ponder over the issue as he talked with Stella in the mind world, asking, 'Stella, do you think it is feasible?'

'Sure!' Stella seemed quite confident. 'It'll be tight. Nevertheless, with your ability, you should be able to reach the SMA level they need in the next five days. The worst part, which is to learn how to create those materials, is already complete. You just need to apply your power on them from now on.'

Aire smiled as he looked back at everyone in the room and said, "I think I can do it."