Chapter 109: Rain Observatory
Moments after Michelle’s success, Xia Luo smiled and stretched his hand out as well. Star energy spread out and allowed him to pluck a chip out of the rain. Hui Daynight frowned coldly in response.
A desolate gaze swept past Michelle and Xia Luo from the depths of the rain, a faint trace of approval within, “Star energy is the foundation of cultivation, and the same battle technique can have vastly different capabilities depending on the user’s star energy. Normal people focus on quantity while true powerhouses focus on quality. Even people who have focused on training in this cannot easily materialize star energy within three days; these children are quite smart. But the next step is the realm of infinite change; they will need to be geniuses to achieve that quickly.”
A day later, Hui Daynight suddenly opened his eyes and his hand grabbed at the rain, tearing it apart brashly. He then retrieved a chip arrogantly, matching gazes with Lulu who also got one near the same time. She glared at him provocatively; prompting a brow-rise out of annoyance. How dare an ant from the Outerverse glare at him?
Lulu raised her fists out of her dislike for the Daynight Clan, and Hui Daynight’s eyes narrowed, “You’re looking for trouble, woman.”
“Just someone from the Daynight Clan,” Lulu sneered.
“Who are you?” Hui was surprised by her indifference.
“Lulu Mavis,” she answered proudly.
He was stunned and didn’t continue talking, knowing how terrifying the Mavis Family was.
Michelle and the rest had already gotten four of the presents, but they continued standing in the rain and observed the scenery around them. This was a magical place that brought peace to the soul.
Lu Yin had been using the Cosmic Art to comb through the star energy while watching the rain. He tried imitating the raindrops in order to liquify the star energy, but that failed. An attempt to evaporate his star energy wasn’t successful either, requiring vast skill that he did not possess.
Hang on… He was STUPID! He recalled that the Cosmic Art was based on the movement of the stars, objects that were physical manifestations of star energy. He had been training with physical star energy from the start, but he hadn’t realized it until now. He opened his eyes and stretched a hand out, a star appearing on his palm to tear the rain apart. He saw the fifth chip and was about to grab it, but three swords suddenly pierced towards him from afar.
The star in Lu Yin’s palm erupted and crashed against the three swords. Unfortunately, this had happened too abruptly and he had only formed one star in his palm, which wasn’t enough to abate the pressure. His hand recoiled immediately, and Zhao Yilong stole the chip away.
Lu Yin looked at the youth from the Myriad Swords Peak, but Zhao Yilong ignored him and focused on the chip. He said coldly, “It’s not very nice to attack me, Friend.”
Zhao Yilong glanced over, “You can come get it from me.”
Lu Yin was just about to attack when a shadow suddenly landed on a mound north of the platform. Everyone looked over at the new arrival, who let loose a wave of star energy that astounded them; this was a Limiteer. They all fell silent, watching his longish hair waving in the rain. This was someone with the aura of a master.
“Congratulations, ju—” the man blinked as he turned around, looking at them dazedly, “Wait… Where are all the students who passed the assessment?”
Coco immediately answered like a good girl, “We are them.”
The man was stunned and smiled reluctantly, “Don’t joke with me, little girl. There are so few of you, we normally recruit a thousand students.”
Zora lifted her head, “We’re the only ones, are you a senior here?”
“Rainmaster, is something wrong?” the man suddenly shouted, “Why are there so few people? Where are all the cute juniors I was promised? Where are they?”
“Shut up, only twelve people passed the assessment this time,” the voice bellowed from the rain.
The man’s expression sank, “How did this happen? Has Astral-10 really become that abject that only twelve people passed the assessment? What a shame.”
Michelle frowned, “Senior, please talk about official business.”
The man sighed, looking as if he had been dealt a huge blow. His gaze swept past all of them and landed on Michelle, his eyes gleaming as he appeared in front of her in an instant. He bowed her politely, “My name is Big Pao, may I know your name, Junior?”
Michelle was annoyed, “Senior, please talk about official business.”
The raindrops suddenly grew larger and the whole sky turned gray, “Big Pao, do anything embarrassing again and you can go to the Sand Ocean for a year.”
The man was shocked and immediately retreated to the mound, coughing a few times and turning serious, “Hello, juniors. My name is Big Pao, and I’m a student of Astral-10. Let me introduce all of you,” he winked at Michelle, “As you already know, the Astral Combat Academy is the best land of learning in the universe, with a rich history that makes it a treasure of civilization. This is a place countless powerhouses dream to enter…”
“Senior, please don’t talk nonsense,” Hui Daynight said coldly.
Big Pao glared at him irritably, “Don’t interrupt when your senior is talking. You should be more polite.”
Hui Daynight ignored him, while Michelle repeated a third time impatiently, “Senior, please talk about official business.”
Big Pao coughed again and continued awkwardly, “Alright, Astral-10 doesn’t have tutors to teach you personally and you can learn on your own. There are three renowned training spots here: the Rain Observatory, the Stargazing Deck, and the Sand Ocean. This is the Rain Observatory, where it has rained continuously for countless years; it is a great boon to training in your star energy. You’ll understand the other two places when you visit them…”
After some introductions, Big Pao suddenly thought of something, “A friendly reminder that you should use the teleporters if you want to leave the Rain Observatory. If you don’t, I can’t guarantee how long you will need to reach the other two places.”
“Senior, is the academy very big?” Coco asked obediently with a face full of curiosity.
Big Pao looked at Coco’s adorable face and beamed, “Yes, it’s very big. You only see one small corner of the entire Rain Observatory; the place is made of tens of thousands of enormous trees.”
“Tens of thousands? That’s not a lot.”
Big Pao laughed, “Not a lot? What if I told you that the platform you’re on right now is just the crown of a tree, and the endless greenery that you can see in the distance is just a single branch?”
Everyone was stunned, and Coco covered her mouth while looking at the distance in shock. Those trees were just a single branch? So they were only looking at one tree? That big? They were cultivators and had quite the field of view, but they couldn’t even see the next tree.
“Given your speed, it will take at least a day to cross the Rain Observatory,” Big Pao explained.
Lu Yin was surprised, a day is enough for him to fly from Asia to the westernmost part of Europe, so that meant that the Rain Observatory was equivalent to the size of Asia and Europe on Earth. How could it be so huge? And that was just the Rain Observatory, could the entire Astral-10 be as big as Zenyu Star? Was that still an academy?
“There are a few things that you have to pay attention to in Astral-10, you won’t understand it if I just tell you. Let me send you the information now; remember, you can’t contact the outside world when you’re in the academy, and can only contact each other. Come, let’s exchange numbers.”
Michelle and the others didn’t even move, ignoring Big Pao completely. The situation grew a little awkward, and the man was left speechless. This was completely different from what he had imagined. Where were the cute juniors that were promised? Only that one adorable small girl? This was a tragedy!
“Senior, where are the tutors?” Schutz asked.
Big Pao had already lost his enthusiasm and replied listlessly, “Look at the information yourself.”
Lu Yin and the others looked at their gadgets promptly, seeing a new message about Astral-10. There wasn’t much new there; only some tidbits about the treasury and the trial zones.
Something in the information caught Lu Yin’s attention; as long as one obtained the approval of the Rain Observatory and the Sand Ocean, one could become the student of the tutors there.
There were tutors in Astral-10, but if one wanted to be taught by them, they needed approval. Lu Yin didn’t know whether it was the same situation in the other academies, but he felt that this method was quite weird. Michelle frowned while looking through the information and looked at Big Pao, “Is this the teaching method of Astral-10? The other nine academies all have tutors to help the students, why doesn't Astral-10 have that?”