Chapter Two: The Blazing Starship

“Attention everyone: those who have successfully awakened are to follow their class advisors to the Ember Tower. Those who have not awakened must leave the school within one hour.”

A deep, resonant voice echoed from the side of the teachers’ office building. The gathered students turned to look and saw a figure soaring upward from the rooftop of the office. Dark, ethereal energy visibly burst around him, and in the next moment, a ring of black flames sprang from beneath his feet. With a flash, the figure vanished above the building.

When he reappeared, he was hovering right above all the students.

This was Zhu Yaokui, the principal of Jiangyuan’s premier Ember Academy. It was said that he commanded a high-level Ember starship and had ascended to the third tier of life form. He had held the position as principal for a century and a half, his authority immense.

Feeling the faint yet undeniable pressure emanating from above, Song Chi felt as if he bore a hundred-pound burden. Though mastering Guide Technique at level four made it manageable, he knew this was the result of Zhu Yaokui deliberately restraining his aura.

If the third-tier lifeform were to release his full presence, everyone present would likely collapse in unison, their bones possibly shattering from the overwhelming force.

Song Chi’s breathing grew heavier, but instead of discomfort, his eyes burned with a fiery gleam.

Feng Xu soared gracefully, stepping upon empty air. This was the transcendent being that every Blue Star inhabitant of his past life had fantasized about. Even after witnessing it multiple times, his heart remained stirred.

...

With the principal’s personal supervision, the efficiency of students and teachers was remarkable. Nearly two hundred people swiftly made their way toward the Ember Tower.

Glancing around, Song Chi saw that only sixteen students from Class Five had successfully awakened their Ember Seeds. Among them, only two bore white Ember Seeds—Sun Hao and another named Wang Yuan—the rest were colorless.

On the second floor of the Ember Tower, in the No. 5 Ethereal Energy Modification Room, under the guidance of the class advisor Yang Minghui, the sixteen students lay down one by one inside individual ethereal energy modification pods.

Once everyone was ready, Yang Minghui pressed the activation button. The pods slowly closed, sealing completely. At the same time, a surge of dark ethereal energy quickly filled the interior space.

Seeing this, Song Chi remained calm. He had studied this extensively before. This ethereal energy modification was a necessary step after awakening the Ember Seed.

Once awakened, the Ember Seed granted the bearer—and the Ember starship bound to them—the ability to control ethereal energy.

Among the many energies scattered across the shattered star seas, ethereal energy was unique for its inclusivity. It could convert nearly all known energies into its own kind, ethereal energy.

Thanks to this, Ember humans could transform vast star sea resources into usable power, rapidly strengthening themselves. This was the fundamental reason their civilization had surged forward, constantly expanding its dominion.

However, at the initial awakening stage, although the bearer could wield ethereal energy, their body could not yet adapt quickly to this new power, often causing rejection reactions.

Only through prolonged immersion in ethereal energy, transforming the body entirely into an ethereal form, could this problem be resolved perfectly. The ethereal modification pods existed precisely to accelerate this process.

With eyes closed and palms open, Song Chi circulated the well-practiced Guide Technique within himself.

After an unknown span of time, a pressure began to build at his brow. A thrill stirred in his heart—this meant the ethereal modification was nearing completion.

Only when the body had fully transformed into an ethereal form could the “Ember Ancestral Aperture” be born at the brow. This was the seat of the Ember Seed within the body and the future repository of the Ember starship.

Minutes later, all sixteen of Class Five completed their modifications, successfully opening their Ember Ancestral Apertures.

“All done. Follow me—there’s one last step: starship fusion.”

“Only by successfully fusing the Ember Seed with an ordinary starship to transform it into an Ember starship can one be considered a truly qualified Ember successor.”

...

Behind the Ember Tower lay a vast base of conventional starships. Every student who had successfully awakened their Ember Seed at Jiangyuan’s advanced Ember Academy needed to fuse their initial Ember starship here.

In the scout-class starship hangar, nearly two hundred gathered in an orderly fashion for the fusion process. There was no selection; all Ember Seeds could only fuse with one model—the Scout-class starship.

The Ember—Ethereal Energy Shuttle was the shared initial model for all Ember starships.

“Song Chi!”

Called out, Song Chi stepped forward.

Before a standard scout shuttle, he awkwardly maneuvered the ethereal energy circulating within him, focusing it at his brow. Soon, a spectral glow shot from his forehead straight into the shuttle.

In the next moment, a powerful pulling force emanated from the Ember Ancestral Aperture at his brow. Under this force, the shuttle in front of him began to shrink, eventually becoming the size of a fingernail before diving into Song Chi’s Ember Ancestral Aperture.

At the same time, Song Chi closed his eyes rapidly and began sensing the conditions within the aperture.

At the center of a chaotic space floated a wisp of black flame. Above it, the scout-class shuttle was being continuously scorched by the black flames.

Minutes passed, and a radiant light flashed before Song Chi’s eyes. An attribute panel appeared beside the miniature shuttle.

[Name: None (Please name as soon as possible)]

[Model: Ember - Ethereal Energy Shuttle]

[Level: lv0]

[Basic Components: Colorless Ember Hull lv0, Ethereal Energy Main Cannon lv0, Ethereal Energy Secondary Cannon lv0, Hull Armor lv0, Ethereal Energy Engine lv0, Ethereal Energy Shield lv0, Air Patrol Radar lv0, Ethereal Energy Cultivation Chamber lv0 (8/8)]

[Additional Components: None (0/2)]

[Ethereal Energy Pool: 100/1000]

[Supplies: None]

Scanning this attribute panel, Song Chi skipped the first three lines and focused on the Basic Components section.

As the name implies, basic components were the standard structure present in all newly fused ethereal shuttles—standard issue equipment.

First, the colorless Ember hull needed no explanation; it linked to the Ember Seed within the ancestral aperture. As the seed improved, so would the hull.

To level up the Ember Seed from level zero to one required five strands of floating land essence and 200 points of ethereal energy.

Just as Song Chi prepared to scroll down for more details, Yang Minghui’s urging arrived at the perfect moment. Resigned, Song Chi withdrew his consciousness from the Ember Ancestral Aperture, making way for the next student.

Soon, all awakened students completed their fusion without any failures, much to the relief of all academy teachers.

Though the chance of fusion failure was minuscule, it did exist.

If fusion failed, the Ember Seed required a month’s buffering period before attempting fusion again.

This was a significant issue because the first three days after awakening the Ember Seed was a special protection period. During this time, exploring alien star domains carried greatly reduced dangers.

It was effectively a special benefit for newcomers: as long as they did not recklessly provoke danger, life-threatening risks were minimal. They could gain alien star domain exploration experience for free and acquire additional resources—a chance no rookie captain should miss.

But if fusion failed, the month-long buffer could not be bypassed, wasting this precious opportunity and leaving one with a sigh of regret.