It was announced early this morning, presumably when Chester turned the Null Gem in.

But there’s an achievement for the first student who killed a Star Beast called the Rising Dragon, and it also came with a reward—Nectar of Spring. From the announcement, Kai learned that this Nectar of Spring is the necessary item to upgrade a Supernal’s Halo.

An item that would make a Supernal’s Halo stronger.

Chester was aiming for this since it would help him endure a Star Beast’s presence better.

Battling Star Beasts would be easy with it.

Underneath the announcement, there’s also the recipe to create this Nectar of Spring.

It required a Blue Heart from a Pest-class Star Beast and ten Null Gems.

A Star Beast has a chance to have a Blue Heart—which meant its connection to the Blue Void was stronger—but it is rare. Only one out of twenty Star Beasts has a Blue Heart, making the Rising Star achievement really tantalizing.

Gathering ten Null Gems coupled with a Blue Heart meant a student would need to kill thirty Star Beasts, which was immense work. After fighting a Star Beast the first time, Kai knew how hard it was to take down one.

Defeating thirty of them would take months.

No wonder Chester was desperate to deal the final blow so he could claim the Null Gem.

Initially, I’m surprised he hadn’t killed a Star Beast. Now I know why.

Kai believed that since Chester and his Ichor Legion were hunting in the Fire Swamp, too, the group should at least take down a few Star Beasts by now. But he was wrong, as a Star Beast— even a Pest-class one is incredibly strong.

It took three High Angels plus himself to take it down.

And even then, they were lucky as Kai had the Dark Discharge imprint.

One that allowed him to bypass the Star Beast’s sturdy defense.

Any other Star Beast and that battle would continue until the professors returned.

"We’ve been too busy gathering mana ores," Dorian muttered.

"I’ve checked the factory, but I only saw the group ranks. Since we don’t have a group, I didn’t bother to learn the details," Kai massaged his forehead—not expecting to miss a crucial list of achievements. "Guess we should at least check first before mining later tonight."

Being a Lesser Angel is really hard, as he constantly needed to worry about survival.

On the contrary, as a High Angel, Chester has a lot of free time.

And that free time could be spent optimizing and increasing the efficiency of his growth.

Both are living in two different worlds.

A few hours later, the new class started.

The entire class was led beyond the academy grounds and assembled in an open area near the Aerial Stable. A handful of guard angels stood waiting—and beside them, several cages rattled with movement.

Inside, winged boots flopped and fluttered against their bars as if they possessed sentience.

Since being brought outside, Kai already expected the new class to be about winged boots.

Professor Hera had talked about the theories of using winged boots, and also the best methods to find balance using them. At this point, most of them had already adopted one method and used it to balance the winged boots comfortably.

It was about time the students intensified their flying ability.

"Now that theories are out of the way, all of you will start improving your practical skills. This will be a mandatory class at this time until every single one of you reaches acceptable levels in operating the winged-boots," Professor Hera explained, hovering fifteen feet in the air like a deity. "It’s the crucial skill for an Angel."

Almost instantly, the students glanced at Kai.

Most were worried that Kai would be the one holding their class behind.

"All of you have faced or seen the power of a Star Beast, especially after what happened in the hive," She continued and connected her hands behind. "And some of you might think how in Zeus’ name mankind survived the initial phase of the Blue Void."

Even though none has ever asked the question, they did wonder about that.

A Star Beast, even a Pest-class one, is extremely strong.

During the initial phase of the world retaliating against the Blue Void’s embrace with the help of the Gods, mankind had scarcely any Supernals at all. And those few who carried the power were weak, untrained, and utterly ignorant of how to wield what they possessed.

Compared to the Star beasts that naturally knew their powers on instinct, mankind is really at a severe disadvantage. It was very hard to believe that the Supernals back then could defeat stronger Star Beasts.

But since mankind still exists, they did defeat the Star Beasts in the past.

And that’s not a coincidence or purely luck.

"Mankind tried many things in order to survive," Professor Hera continued, gesturing toward the cages. "These winged-boots were one of them. Out of the factors that played in mankind’s survival, these winged-boots are crucial for our survival.

"You see them as ordinary now. Standard issue for every Supernal. But believe it or not, they are one of the reasons mankind is still standing."

Kai and the other students in the class learned about this in class.

Learned about the day the Blue Void appeared out of nowhere; the Azure Dawn.

Everything that happened that day and the next few years after that was completely classified by Lower Olympus. Normal people on the surface knew next to nothing about it—other than the fact the Blue Void appeared that day like a second sun but blue.

And from the classes, Kai learned that the initial phase is called the Apocalypse Phase.

It was when Star Beasts ransacked the entire world, forcing the survivors to live in hiding.

During that phase, Supernals also began to appear among mankind.

But to think that winged-boots were a big reason mankind survived was quite surprising.

"Professor," A student raised her hand. "How do winged-boots have—that big of an impact on our survival?"

"In the annals of evolution, mankind survived prehistoric time simply because of the ability to throw things and persistence hunting. Winged-boots are the equivalent of those factors—that shaped humans to what they are right now," Professor Hera answered, explaining the reason with genuine interest in teaching. "Star Beasts, as strong as they may be, are mostly mindless. Animalistic. Except for the stronger ones, they are directly controlled by the Blue Void.

"Our intelligence is our greatest weapon. And winged-boots are the product of that, helping us to move, dodge, and even attack Star Beasts."

Kai listened to her explanation attentively.

It made sense that winged-boots, a transportation invention, became a big winning factor.

Means of transportation like cars, planes, and trains are meaningless when one Star Beast could easily destroy them with a single hit. Logistics became a nightmare during the Apocalypse as the surface was crawling with Star Beasts.

But with winged-boots, that became manageable.

Direct transporting and scouting are possible because of winged-boots.

And that must’ve been monumentally game-changing for the people back then.

"For that reason—every single Supernal must be able to operate winged-boots. Dealing with the Star Beast that fell onto the hive would be far easier if you can operate winged-boots well," Professor Hera continued, sweeping her gaze across the class to make sure—they understood what she was saying. "After all, there are more Star Beasts that can’t fly than those that can."

Kai agreed with what she was saying one-hundred percent.

Had they had winged boots, defeating that monster would be easy.

All four of them could rain attacks from above, and the monster can’t do anything about it.

It has limited ranged attacks, so the battle would undoubtedly become easier.

"Okay, get a pair from the cages and wear them."

One by one, the students went inside the cage and grabbed a pair of winged boots.

Like birds being disturbed inside their own home, the winged-boots flapped around to avoid the students’ reaching hands. Kai was the last one, and he watched the other students chase around their pair of winged-boots.

"Why are they running around like this? Mine never did that before."

"Must be a stronger and better version of winged-boots compared to our usual ones."

"Hey, come back here!"

"I swear I’ll rip your wings out if you don’t stop!"

Most of the students who were chasing their winged-boots are Angels.

High Angels, on the other hand, got a completely different treatment.

A High Angel didn’t need to chase one; all he needed to do was point at a pair, and that pair flew over to him. Bree approached a pair, and they willingly went to her arms. And Matilda didn’t need to do anything, as a pair was already attracted to her radiating divine bloodline.

Any blood of an Olympian God would have perks everywhere.

And this was no exception.

Kai locked onto the pair of winged boots in the corner, far away from the others.

He lowered his stance, preparing to catch this pair like catching a rabbit.

But the moment his eyes were fixated on the pair of winged boots, their wings flopped down. And they dropped down to the ground. This caught him completely off guard. He approached the winged-boots.

Once he grabbed them, he could feel that they were trembling.

"Relax," Kai smiled sheepishly. His Primordial Bloodline normally doesn’t get detected, but the winged-boots must’ve detected it. Intuition or something. "As long as you don’t run away, I’m not going to hurt you."

Putting on the winged-boots was easy for Kai.

Neither moved at all, so he got it on quickly.

It took almost fifteen minutes for the entire class to finish wearing the winged-boots.

"As you might already realize, these winged-boots are different. They are grade one winged- boots," Professor Hera charged mana into her winged-boots, and the wings grew. "If you put more mana into them, they can expand like this, producing far more power than the ones you are accustomed to.

"Controlling these ones should remain the same, but they produced more power, so you have to keep that in mind."

"Professor," A student raised his hand. "At this point, we’re already more than adept in using winged boots. Sure, there’s a need to fine-tune our control with these new ones—but we have basically already mastered this. I don’t see any point other than applying the use of them in a battle."

For a second, Professor Hera stared at the student as a smirk bloomed behind her mask.

She was amused at the confidence this student had in saying what he said.

Seems like her students are getting too lax.

"Is that what you think?" Professor Hera asked, and then turned her gaze toward someone at the very back. "Lesser Angel Kai, come up here."

"Huh?" Kai pointed at himself. "Me?"