The Ascension Age

Time soon passed in a flash as the day when the mission would start eventually arrived. Everyone from Dormitories 151 to 200 gathered at the school's private station, where the airships would bring everyone to the Samuria Swamp. Aire's group, obviously, was there as well.

However, Altina noticed something different this time. The usual people who would talk about her out loud were almost nowhere to be found. There was one or another here and there, but they were nearly drowned out by the massive number of students present. "So weird...lately, all the fake news about me began to drop down more and more in rank. I'm sure the people I pissed off didn't let me off the hook, so it's kind of weird."

Sera and Kymei shrugged their shoulders in response as one of them said, "Well, who cares? As long as they aren't making trouble, that's enough for us."

Aire, who was just listening to the conversation, faintly smiled. As Atina mentioned, her enemies didn't give up at all. However, with Stella's help, they simply couldn't force their way up in the media news ranking. People usually forgot about things that weren't related to them quite quickly if they weren't reminded. Since news about Altina barely made it up the ranks, it naturally fell into oblivion quickly.

There were a total of twenty airships waiting for the Riser students. As for the number of participants, it was a little shy of ten thousand. Of course, this was only one of the missions occurring at the moment. All the other dormitory teams below 151 and above 200 had their own missions in other places. That being said, Aire and the others could see that the station was truly packed with much more than their own mission teams.

Sometime later, the communicators on Aire's group received a video call. Well, it was not only them, but all the other students and their groups as well.

-Hello, everyone. I'm Vaxo Luter, a teacher responsible for the combat program and the one in charge of the Stellar Bubble Hunting Mission. All students of dormitories 151 to 200 are required to take airships number 20 to 30. If you fail to board one of them, you and your team will be disqualified from the mission. Alright, once the airships take off, I'll talk to you again.-

Aire and the others looked at each other before focusing on the display showing the locations of the airships. "Gates 20 to 30 are quite close. Let's go."

They quickly made their way over, just to see that airship number 20 was already full. They kept moving through the various airships one by one when finally, they arrived at the last airship and got inside. Eventually, the enormous airships took flight around 30 minutes later, leaving the school behind.

This is a ridiculously big airship, "Aire said as he looked at it from inside.

Sera nodded in response, saying, "That's to be expected. After all, the Ascension Age School has over 700 thousand Riser students. To carry the students to the mission areas, they need to be at least this big. Each one of these can carry over a thousand people easily. However, it's far from being considered something big if you look at the spaceships outside Earth. In the end, this is just crude transportation."

Aire couldn't help but feel curious about the spaceships outside. "Well, maybe I'll be able to see those one day."

As Aire's group talked with one another, the other groups prepared for the mission. Eventually, their communicators received another call from Vaxo again.

-Alright, it seems that you've all made yourselves comfortable. As all of you know, the mission will be to capture as many Stellar Bubbles as possible. Whether you use them for your own training or not, that's up to you. All of you shall be given a bracelet, which can be used together with your own Stellar Energy to cast a special net that can capture those bubbles and store their Stellar Energy.-

Vaxo continued. -This device is necessary since anyone below the Stellar Manipulation level can't control Stellar Energy outside of their body on their own. Don't worry about the consumption of Stellar Energy, though. The energy necessary to capture the Stellar Bubbles is nothing compared to the amount you'll gain from obtaining them.-

-The rules are simple. Everything is valid! There's no need to worry about killing or gravely injuring someone since we have countermeasures in place. These same bracelets will cast a gel over your body that will protect you from anything that could possibly kill you. It will activate on its own as well. However, be aware that once that happens, you'll be considered out of the contest. Not to mention that any extra Stellar Energy you obtain from the Stellar Bubbles will automatically be transferred to the opponent who defeated you.-

Altina couldn't help but get excited. Nothing made her happier than being able to go all out.

-Another thing. As I mentioned, we don't care about what you will do with the Stellar Bubbles' Stellar Energy. However, you won't be able to use it before the mission is over. That being said, you better make sure you can protect it well.-

-The mission will last for three days, which are the days where the Stellar Bubbles will come out the most. Once the mission is over, all the Stellar Energy acquired by your team will be equally shared between all members. With that being said, even if some of your teammates are defeated, they can still gain something as long as at least one member survives. Of course, the remaining member would have to have enough Stellar Bubbles to share.-

The screen then changed to the Samuria Swamp. -The area of this mission is 50 kilometers in radius, which completely covers the swamp. You'll be able to see whether you're close to the borders or not through the maps in your communicators. Also, any team member that leaves this area will be disqualified. Remember, you're not the only ones there. The Stellar Beasts are also roaming around, so be careful to not be caught off guard.-

Vaxo's face appeared once again as he smiled. -I and the other instructors are looking forward to your performance. Alright, everyone should head to their designated platforms.-