The Ascension Age

Sometime later, Aire's group got into another fight. "Kymei, the shooter is yours!"

"On it!" Kymei then took out something that looked like a rifle from his back. However, instead of bullets, the magazine looked more like a battery. Of course, it wasn't filled with electricity, but Stellar Energy. It's not like firearms didn't work. After all, Kymei, Sera, and Aire are still in the Stellar Body Transformation Level. At their level, Stellar Ammunition was several times more effective.

First, things like air resistance were useless to it. Only proper barriers like the swamp trees or the enemies' protection devices would be of any use. Second, Stellar Ammo could be recharged anytime, anywhere. Just like the Pinpoint Furnace Aire used in the Stellar Smith Faction, the rifle could also absorb Kymei's Stellar Energy. 

*Bang, bang, bang!*

Kymei and the enemy shooter immediately started to jump everywhere while shooting at each other. Of course, they also provided support for their team members when necessary. Sadly, the equilibrium didn't last for more than a few seconds.

Kymei's rifle suddenly changed color as he passed behind a tree. At the same time, Kymei's communicator, which was in front of one of his eyes, showed several data nonstop as he thought to himself, 'Gotcha!'

The moment Kymei passed behind that tree, he shot at the sky once. He didn't even need to slow down. To the enemy shooter, this move made it seem like he simply passed behind the tree to make himself harder to be hit. Not to mention that Kymei's weapon had aimed directly at him afterward to keep shooting. 

However, at the very moment the guy jumped to the side to hide behind a tree, his own bracelet shone with silver light. In a fraction of a second, his entire body was covered by the gel, hardening straight away. The enemy shooter couldn't understand why that happened as he became encased in the gel. However, his doubts also only lasted a moment. That's because a red ray of light hit the gel on his head, which was dispersed by the gel's strength.

"Nice shot, Kymei!" Sera said from the side.

"Hahaha! Don't look down on a Stellar Rune Master. Calculations of paths and many others are things I do during my breakfast," Kymei said with an air of confidence as he aimed at the next target. His Stellar Weapon was equipped with a redirection shot. However, it didn't work automatically. Such ability was deactivated for the purpose of training. That being said, the shooters had to calculate the trajectories in real-time while predicting their enemy's movements. It was definitely easier said than done.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Following that, Kymei began his barrage of shots, putting the enemies on the defensive. 

Sometime later, out of nowhere, Aire's arm shone with silver light once again as he and the enemy ahead traded blows. In an instant, it changed into an armored arm that accelerated towards the enemy's weak point. In fact, it wasn't supposed to be a weak point considering Aire's speed. However, with the Stellar Suit Arm's support, a weakness that shouldn't have existed had appeared.

*Boom!*

*Arrgh!*

A body was soon sent flying as the enemy's bracelet shone as well, also encasing him in gel. The guy couldn't help but curse inside. After all, how could he imagine meeting a group with a Stellar Suit ready to use? 'Weren't the top teams the only ones supposed to have something like that?'

Of course, if he knew that Aire knew almost nothing about battles one hour ago, he wouldn't have paid attention to the Stellar Suit but towards Aire's unbelievable adaptability. Without the guy knowing, Aire used him to get used to fighting others head-on!

*Crack! Shatter!*

The guy didn't even hit the ground before someone else was sent flying in the same direction. Altina had just broken the enemy's weapon with her own Stellar Suit Arm before hitting his body. Naturally, he was also protected by the defensive bracelet and encased by the gel. He was just like Altina, someone at the Stellar Manipulation Level. However, not only was he worse at combat, but Altina also kept her Stellar Suit Arm hidden until the very last moment. She used it to land a decisive blow while spending the least amount of Stellar Energy possible. 

And just like that, the last ones remaining were Sera and her opponent. Seeing that the other three were defeated, the guy turned around and tried to flee. However, how could he beat Altina in speed when he couldn't even defeat Sera? Besides, there was another guy faster than him in this terrain, Aire!

*Bang, bang, bang...*

With Kymei's long-ranged support, Aire and Altina quickly caught up to him. Naturally, all that was left was another body encased in gel.

"Alright, let's get out of here! Quickly!" Altina said as the four of them immediately disappeared amidst the trees.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for another team to appear there, guided by the ruckus created by Aire's team a few moments ago. They quickly looked around and saw the four bodies encased in gel. "They're gone. As for whether they got a Stellar Bubble or not, there's no way to tell."

"Should we follow their track?" a girl asked in that team.

"No," another person replied. " They defeated this group quite quickly. Although they should have spent quite some energy, they're still a dangerous bunch if they're able to do something like this. Even more so actually since it doesn't seem they lost any of their own members."

Their leader then nodded his head, saying, "He's right. Let's get out of here. I doubt we were the only ones who noticed what happened. Let's focus on heading towards the main area."

That group then turned around and disappeared in another direction.

Back at Aire's team, Kymei used his communicator to connect to his defensive bracelet, the same one used to capture the Stellar Bubble's energy. "Wow...those were some fat sheep. The Stellar Energy in their bracelets is equivalent to at least three Stellar Bubbles!"

Altina and the others smiled after hearing that. Soon, one of them asked, "This is just the start. Sera, what's the best route?"

Sera immediately opened the map as she analyzed the data, soon responding, "Which one do you want? The hard but probably more bountiful, or the easy but long roundabout?"

Aire was just about to say the easy one when Altina answered. "The bountiful one, of course!"

Poor Aire could only bitterly smile in response and follow Sera's guidance.