The Ascension Age

Sera headed back to the dormitory on the fifth night as always, preparing to sleep due to tiredness. It's just that she arrived earlier than usual. She had been revising her designs together with Kymei's runes time and time again, waiting for Aire to finish the materials they've asked for.

However, she noticed that she wasn't the only one in the room. At the corner of his bed, Sera could see Aire's ghastly expression. Somehow, it seemed like his soul had left his body, with only an empty vessel remaining. It was hard to imagine that he was a human anymore. "A-Aire...I haven't seen you in the last few days. Are you...alright?"

Aire's mummy-like face slightly lifted as he tried to curl his mouth into a smile. Well, Sera only found it creepy. He then looked back down after that, and only then did Sera notice that he was working on his communicator. After some time, Aire finished what he was doing and said, "I just arrived as well. If you don't mind...I'm going to sleep now."

*Thud...*

Without even waiting for an answer, Aire's body collapsed on the bed, and soon, only his soundly snores could be heard.

'I wonder if he died...' Sera thought for a moment. Not long after, her own communicator flashed, indicating that a message arrived. Sera quickly opened it to check, and soon enough, a smile appeared on her face. 'Hehe, no wonder you look like that.'

It turns out that Aire had finished forging the materials Sera and Kymei requested. Knowing that, she looked at the sorry state of Aire's body as an expression of determination appeared on her face, muttering to herself, "If he can go this far, then so can I."

Sera then sent a message to Kymei, telling him that she was going to the Stellar Runes Faction to help him now that the materials were about to be delivered. As she did that, Sera also told Altina about Aire's state through another message before finally leaving the room.

Around an hour later, Altina returned to their dormitory room, which was quite early for her as well. Obviously, she saw Sera's message and ran back to the dormitory to take a look at Aire out of concern. Well, all that was there for her to see was a mummy in its eternal sleep on the bed... or so what Aire currently looked like. Altina couldn't help but flash a smile as she thought back to the time when Aire defended her in the opening ceremony. 'You're lazy...but when it comes to your colleagues, you can still go all out, can't you?'

Altina then kneeled by the side of Aire's bed for a moment to check on his condition, confirming that he was quite feeble. It was obvious just how much he had pushed himself during the last few days just so that their team could have a chance at creating the Stellar Suit Arm.

After some time, Altina nodded and got up before heading to her wardrobe. She took a small box there, just like the one Zule brought in the past and opened it.

'I used most of its energy...' Altina thought to herself for a moment. As expected, there was another Stellar Crystal inside. It wasn't as good as the ones she used for her breakthrough since she spent a lot of its energy. Nevertheless, it still had its uses.

Altina headed straight to the kitchen and began to prepare an Energy Meal using the Crystal. She simply thought that Aire deserved that much even if such use was considered a waste of resources. Around an hour later, Altina finished preparing everything and was about to wake Aire up when her communicator flashed as well.

Surprisingly, t was Sera and Kymei calling her as one of them said, "Altina, we need to do the stress test. Can you come over? We're just about to complete the fingers of the arm."

Altina looked at Aire for a moment before nodding at Sera and Kymei, responding, "Alright, I'm heading there right now." After that, she closed her communicator and put the food by the side of Aire's bed in a way that its heat wouldn't dissipate that quickly. With that done, she then left the dormitory.

Aire slept like a rock, not waking up for the next twelve hours. Though, even for sleeping that long, none of his roommates were back yet.

Out of nowhere, Stella's voice echoed in Aire's mind, shouting, 'Aire, you already slept too much. Wake up!'

Aire, who completely ignored Stella's call, continued to snore.

Stella pondered for a bit when after some time, she smiled. Immediately, she accessed Aire's data on the internet, accessing anything that he used in the past. For her, such a low-level hack was very simple. Not long after, images of one of Aire's most loved 'movies' began to play in his mind.

'The hell?!' Sure enough, Aire got up in a flash! Aire might be a 'little' lazy, but he was still a very healthy boy. Obviously, he had his own sources of entertainment. 'What do you think you are doing?!'

Stella laughed as she answered, 'I thought you liked these kinds of things. Oh~! Look at that, how does his thing fit inside her? No wonder your browser history is full of this actress.'

'Who said I like those?' Aire rebuked straight away.

However, that only made Stella look at Aire with a weird expression as she muttered with a hint of a surprise, 'Wait! You don't like these? Aire, could it be that you...play on the other team?'

Aire almost vomited blood after hearing that! 'Like hell I do! I'm on the straight team, alright?! At the very forefront at that!'

'Then, you like these videos, right?' Stella asked once again, cornering Aire.

'I...do...' Aire was almost crying already. Stella acted like a kid most of the time, but it was at moments like these that Aire had his doubts whether she was only pretending.

Stella couldn't help but laugh as she cut the video off in his mind. 'Alright, alright. At least I got you up. Look beside now. Altina prepared a gift for you.'

Only then did Aire's attention focus on his sense of smell as he looked at the table. Altina's Energy Meal was still in perfect condition even after many hours, thanks to the conservation technology that existed nowadays. At the front of the table, there was also a small note. 'Thanks for the effort. -Altina.'

A smile appeared on Aire's face as he prepared to eat. "Well, thanks for the meal."