Chapter 118: Experimenting with the Black Starfall

Professors talked.

And somehow, Professor Evie learned about Kai’s recent meeting with Professor Kimberly about making a group. That alone made it absolutely clear why Kai even asked her about Iris in the first place.

"Are you sure about this?" Kai looked up at her. "Is this not going to put you in trouble?"

"I don’t care," Professor Evie replied; her voice flat but unshaken. "I’m a new professor. I know this will anger some of the others and make my life here harder. But I don’t care. Iris was with me through the darkest moments of my student years. I would give up everything for her."

Kai was surprised by her answer.

But thinking back to everything that had happened, it made sense.

Going through the initiation ceremonies to become a Blooded Angel is extremely difficult and also mentally draining. Having Iris there to accompany her through those dark moments must have been an immeasurable comfort.

An anchor that kept her going.

And considering Professor Evie was now alone, who knows?

Maybe along the way, she made a mistake and had her entire family slaughtered.

For her, Iris must be her only family.

"I will never forget your kindness, professor." Kai bowed in respect.

"Considering that you’re a Lesser Angel—that doesn’t matter at all. Just focus on surviving," She stepped back and slowly closed the door. "In my time, every Lesser Angel died way before they became a Blooded Angel—but that doesn’t mean you’re special and can survive as long as a normal Angel would."

Kai straightened his back when the door was closed on him.

A smile crept to his lips.

Even though Professor Evie’s words were harsh, he knew it came from a good place.

She still acted like this simply because she learned not to have expectations.

But Kai promised inside that he would make this mean something.

He’s going to survive and show his gratitude for Professor Evie’s help through real impact.

Kai spent the entire day mining on the Grassland Grey and Maple Red to make it easier for him to gather enough mana ores for the next weekly quota. He mined alone, completed the daily limit in a few hours, and then stopped at a clearing on the outskirts of the Maple Red.

A lot of students were mining on Maple Red.

This was his first time mining before nightfall, and it was as bad as he expected.

Unlike during the night, a shuttle ship now ran regular trips every few hours or so to the four cultivated clouds. Kai used it to reach Grassland Grey and Maple Red, keeping Nigh-phantom active the entire way.

But with his current mana pool, that’s not a problem at all.

He could probably keep the imprint on for almost half a day before exhausting his mana.

And if it’s during the night or under shade, he could keep using it for double that time.

It was uneventful throughout the entire mining session.

Kai appreciated it, especially after what happened earlier this morning. But then again, he did act extra carefully so that he wouldn’t run into problems. Fortunately, Chester and his group were still focused on the Fire Swamp.

From what he overheard from the students’ banter, they were trying to kill a Star Beast.

The same goes for the Auric Cabal.

Just as he saw the landing area ahead, Kai stopped as a thought came to mind.

"I wonder whether there was a limit."

Kai had already tested the Black Starfall last night, using it to sense both Talitha and Iris even through the partition. But he still wanted to experiment with the new imprint further. According to the description, it allowed him to detect entities within a fixed radius.

Though it said nothing about how wide that radius was—or how many targets he could sense at once. Deciding to find out, he turned and pressed his back against the maple tree, facing away from the landing area.

"Black Starfall..."

A small whisper escaped his lips, and a lump of pure darkness bloomed above his palm.

It hovered there like a patient void.

Kai then lifted his hand and sent it drifting upward into the sky.

Just as the unassuming black star flew past the tip of the maple tree, Kai felt a strain. He could feel his connection to it was in jeopardy, signaling that it was nearing its height limit. About eighty feet is the limit.

Once he stopped its ascent, the black star pulsed.

A translucent black energy seeped from the orb, expanding outward in a gradual wave.

It expanded at the pace of a moderate jog.

And soon, Kai sensed five distinct presences caught within the expanding radius. He tried to pinpoint their exact locations—without turning to look, but it was difficult. The Black Starfall successfully highlighted them, yet he couldn’t quite lock their precise positions.

It was like a sound whose source he couldn’t place.

He could sense the general direction it came from, but the exact location eluded him.

Not yet... I need to use it more.

Kai concluded that he would need to get used to the new imprint more in order to do what he wanted to do. He turned around and saw five highlighted figures through the bark. Five students were grouped together.

He poked his head out from behind the tree to check them.

"Just under a quarter of a mile in radius, and I can only pick up five presences," Kai muttered, seeing that the group actually has seven students, but the Black Starfall only picked up five of them. "Not too bad, and I reckoned it could be trained."

Now that he knew the limitations, he turned to another maple tree nearby.

Both his brows dropped in focus as he made the black star target it.

And when it was highlighted with the silvery hue, Kai commanded the black star to attack it.

Swish—!

Kai saw a zip of darkness.

He blinked and turned to the tree and saw a small needle sticking into its bark.

Once again, he commanded the black star to attack, but this time, instead of a mere flicker of mana, he poured a decent amount into it. The orb flared with dark light, and before his eyes, a barrage of black needles erupted from its core, raining down upon the bark.

Kai approached and inspected the black needles once the barrage ended.

Each one was as big as a pinky finger, sizzling with mana, and sunk about half an inch deep.

"So weak..." he frowned, genuinely surprised by how feeble the attack had turned out. "If the needles can only pierce this far into the bark, they’ll never go through an Awakened Monster’s hide. Even that snake in Ixos would shrug these off. Fast, but weak."

Refusing to believe this, Kai poured more mana into the black star.

But instead of releasing it immediately, he held it steady, letting the power build, charge, and swell. Only after a full ten seconds did he finally let it go. And when he did, his pupils dilated at a flicker of darkness.

Swoosh—!

Kai tilted his head in time—a black needle whistled past his ear, close enough to stir his hair.

Behind him, a crack resounded, followed by a dull, heavy thud like a boot stomping the soil.

Slowly, he turned to look over his shoulder.

And to his surprise, he saw a hole at the center of the maple tree, and on the other side was the black needle the size of his index finger. "Huh..." Kai exhaled through his mouth in disbelief. "So that’s how it works."

It seemed he had the free rein to manipulate the black needles.

Release it instantly to make a barrage, and charge it to make a very strong needle.

Kai tried again, but this time, he charged it only for five seconds, and the result was three black needles that dug deep into the bark. A few inches at least, and that’s more than enough power to stab through an Awakened Monster or even Angels.

Just then, he heard the rumbling sound of an engine.

It was the shuttle ship arriving.

Kai quickly ran towards the shuttle ship as it’d only wait for ten minutes.

He came across Dorian, who was only going to mine.

They spoke briefly, laying plans for tonight—the first mining session toward the ten thousand mana ores required to form a group. Kai boarded the shuttle ship to return to the academy. And the moment he arrived, he searched for Matilda and Bryan and told them about the plan for tonight.

As for Bree, he couldn’t find her, so he’ll inform her later.

Later, as night neared, Kai was already in his room, sitting cross-legged on his bed.

Now that he possessed two Primordial Locks, he found himself wondering whether he would need to reinforce it properly. He recalled that after the Blood Rite, every student had been sent into seclusion to not only familiarize themselves with their newly obtained Halos, but also to properly stabilize their second Divine Lock.

After opening the second Divine Lock, it was still rough.

Still leaking with mana uncontrollably.

One would need to reinforce it first before the second Divine Lock could work properly.

Kai wanted to see whether he needed to do that.

And to his surprise, as he focused on feeling the second Primordial Lock in his stomach, he could see that it was also still leaking with mana. So, he began circulating his mana, hoping to mend it until it’s solid.

He was waiting for the night to fall to use the Deep Slumber.

Above all, he wanted to know exactly what had happened that night. Wanted to know exactly what the Night Elevation really was. And Noxian was the only one who could give him all the answers he wanted.

Not to mention, he also wanted to see what the second floor of the House of Night looked like.

Once night swept the world, Kai opened his eyes.

His second Primordial Lock is still far from being stable, but he made good progress.

"Let’s see how my stats look."

...

[Status]

Name: Kai #####

Rank: Grade 2 Awakened

Bloodline: First Son of the Primordial Night

Primordial Lock: 2 (0%)

Legacy Skill: Deep Slumber

Legacy Imprint(s): Nigh-Phantom, Dark Discharge, Black Starfall

Ending: Perfect Slash, Stone

Path: -

Ending Fragment: -

Useable Exp: 895

Quest: Night Elevation

...

[Physical Stats]

Strength: 30 (+25)

Speed: 31 (+50)

Dexterity: 45

Constitution: 39

Mana: 399 (+15)

...

Kai nodded inwardly as he managed to amass quite a number of usable exp.

He was wondering whether he could meet a new Nightborn now with his second Primordial Lock—or whether he would need to reach the Aspirant rank. But before he could even finish the thought, his eyes bulged at his mana section.

"It... It quadrupled??!"