The Ascension Age

The next morning, when Aire opened his eyes, he noticed that Kymei, Altina, and Sera were all looking at him as if they were there all this time. With that, he could not help but ask while scratching his cheek, "Errr...is there anything on my face?"

"Who cares about your face?" Kymei rebuked. "Spit it out. How did you enter the Stellar Organs Stage in just two months? Anyone who tried doing something like that would have definitely suffered some damage in the process. It's just too fast!" 

"Oh, that!" Aire smiled in response as he answered, "I traded a low-grade Stellar Crystal for one hour in the Refraction Room. It turns out that the room was suitable for me, so I took the chance to make a breakthrough."

Altina's group was taken aback after that. Following that, Sera immediately asked, "But the Stellar Energy of the Refraction Room is impure, right? It shouldn't have been this easy for you to breakthrough. Besides, how can one hour give you enough energy for that?"

"Answering your first question, it is indeed impure. However, as long as you're careful, you can deal with it. At the very least, it wasn't that hard for me." Of course, he wouldn't talk about how it actually went. "As for the second question, you should know that my Stellar Energy Absorption Aptitude is much higher than others would think. I have gathered energy ever since the test day, so I don't see any reason to be this shocked."

Altina shook her head as she could not help but say, "Even if your aptitude is amazing, that's still too fast. Aire, it's good that you succeeded in your breakthrough. However, it's too risky to use the impure energy of the Refraction Room for that. If it was just to train for one hour, that would be fine. But breakthroughs are too dangerous. If you fail, you might receive a backlash much worse than the one I had."

Sera and Kymei nodded in agreement as they looked seriously at Aire.

Aire couldn't help but scratch the back of his head, though. 'If only you three knew that such a risk doesn't exist in my case, what would you say? Sigh...well, let's just agree with their words and keep using the Refraction Room. Trying to insist on it would just be a waste of time since they worry too much.'

"Alright then. I'll be careful," Aire responded with a smile.

Sera and the others smiled back as one of them said in response, "Great! In any case, the fact still stands that you entered the Stellar Organs Stage of the Stellar Body Transformation Level. Congratulations!"

"Errr...thanks." Aire felt a little out of place after receiving those compliments. "Anyways, I have to go to the Stellar Smith Faction since there's a lot of work for me. Besides, you guys need to leave as well, right?"

Altina was the first one to agree with Aire's words, saying, "Yes. I have to heads to the warriors' faction to attend the post-mission class. See you guys later tonight."

Sera and Kymei, on the other hand, sent a list of materials for Aire to work on as one of them told him, "These are the metals, powders, and alloys we need you to make for us. If everything goes well, we should be able to use a few Stellar Suit pieces in our next mission."

Aire looked at the list and couldn't help but let out cold sweat.

-Carmiwa Enhanced Alloy, 30kg. Strusen Powder, 12.3kg. Naril Rings, 235 units. Stellar Rubidium, 5kg.-

"This...isn't this a bit too much? Also...do you need all of them with an SMA of 70% or more?" Aire asked, his face the epitome of gloom.

Sera and Kymei pretended to not notice this as Sera replied, "Of course! Otherwise, we'll need a lot more than that since there would be a lot of waste. Not to mention that the quality would become a lot worse. In any case, we're counting on you."

Aire was just about to complain when suddenly, Kymei looked at his communicator, telling her, "Oh no! Sera, look at the time! We're late! Let's go!"

Aire's mouth twitched after hearing that. All he could do was watch as those two disappeared from the room in a flash. "Aren't you even faster than you were back in the mission?" Of course, Sera and Kymei weren't there to answer that question anymore.

'Aire, it's fine. The more you work, the better for your training. It's a good thing!' Stella tried to comfort Aire in the mind world.

"Sigh...since when is work a good thing?" Nevertheless, Aire could only swallow his frustration and go to the Stellar Smith Faction.

There, he took the list of materials and showed it to Cala, telling her, "I need to learn how to work on these things."

Cala was quite surprised by that as she could not help but say out of concern, "They're all materials only producible at the Stellar Organs Stage if you want to have a good chance of success. Aren't you getting a bit too ahead of yourself?"

Aire's frustration increased even more as he inwardly cursed, 'Those fuckers! They acted all worried about my breakthrough. But before I even woke up, they've already taken into consideration my new level to ask for the metals. Do they really care at all?!' Of course, he only said that in his mind. Telling Cala that wouldn't be of any use since she didn't even know Kymei and Sera.

"Don't worry, I'll learn it slowly. I'll also work on the jobs you offered me. Here, this is the first one." Aire then showed Cala which job he wanted.

-Stellar Miridium, 12kg. SMA, 70% or higher.-

"This..." Cala was taken aback after seeing what Aire gave her. With that, she could not help but ask in clarification, "Are you sure about that?" 

Aire nodded in response as he replied, "Of course! Look at the payment! Three low-grade Stellar Crystals! How can I let something like that pass?"

"Idiot! That's because producing it is super hard that they're paying this much. Trust me, you wouldn't want to select this one. At the very least, wait until you reach the Stellar Paths Stage," Cala advised, trying to stop Aire.

"Alright!" And...Aire agreed.

"Wait, really?" Cala didn't understand how Aire could give up so easily.

Well, the reason was simple. 'Super hard? Well, fuck it! Let's wait for the Stellar Paths Stage as she suggests me to do.'

Such were the thoughts of Aire, the embodiment of avoiding hard work.

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Author's note: Book paused due to time issues.