บท 43: No Sleep

On the next day, Aire headed back to the Stellar Smith 17th Branch. Thanks to the approaching team mission, all other regular teaching classes were canceled, giving the various groups time to prepare themselves. With that being said, Aire could now focus entirely on the materials he had to create.

"Alright, let's start with the easiest one, the Gallot Alloy." Cala didn't mind as she began to help him. However, it turned out that her help was unnecessary since Aire had already memorized the process. As long as he could at least forge it, the rest would become easier as long as he added his power into it...or so he thought.

'Aire, I think your own ability as a Stellar Smith is also a factor,' Stella could not help but say as Aire finished the Gallot Alloy with only 57% SMA.

'What do you mean?' Obviously, Aire did not understand what she was trying to say.

Only then did Stella explain, 'You can definitely make high SMA alloys with your power. However, the problem is within how good your work is during the process.'

With that, Aire understood what Stella meant. 'I see...because the Gatom Blue Alloy was already at 42% SMA when I forged it, my power helped fix the issues until an SMA of 80%+ was achieved. However, because the Galot Alloy that I can forge without my power was only at 15% SMA, my power was only able to boost it to 57%. If I want to reach 80%, I first need to improve my own ability to forge this alloy to around 40%.'

Stella nodded in satisfaction after hearing that. 'Exactly. However, I believe you can do it even with only five days to work with, Aire.'

'How?' Aire couldn't help but ask with a hint of curiosity.

Stella smiled before saying, 'That's simple. Since you're only practicing to improve your skills as a Stellar Smith, you don't need to use your power. That being said, you don't need to worry about running out of Stellar Energy. The Energy Blood Flow Assistance can provide you with enough energy for you to practice it as many times as you want.' Stella then pointed to the Pinpoint Furnace. 'These pieces of equipment are set for Risers at the Stellar Bones stage, but this skill puts you at the same level as someone at the Stellar Organs Stage, a very talented one at that.'

Aire nodded in excitement as he responded, 'I understand. I don't have regular classes to take part in anymore either, so I just need to try more with the extra time available.' Well, Aire didn't look very excited about the idea. After all, it was even more work. With that, he let out a sigh as he muttered, 'Sigh...but I guess that's the only way.'

Cala, who noticed the several changes in Aire's expression, couldn't help but ask, "Why does it look like you think it's lacking? You just created a 57% SMA Galot Alloy, you know?! Shouldn't you be happy?"

Aire bitterly smiled as he nodded, replying, "Yeah...kinda. I feel like I missed a lot of things." Aire then looked at Cala before asking, "Cala, I need to train more on these materials. I'll return to the basics of their forging steps, so you'll see my SMA drop a lot. However, it's all according to my plan. Make sure to tell me where I'm lacking from now on."

Cala didn't quite understand what Aire meant since he already had a huge SMA. Even she would have a very hard time reaching 57%, while it looked like Aire could repeat it anytime he wanted to. 'Supervisor Due told me that Aire had some special talent that even he can't understand. Perhaps this is what helps Aire reach those insane numbers.'

In the end, Cala nodded as she offered her help. "Alright, let's start from the basics once again."

During the next two days, Aire and Cala spent almost all their time in the Stellar Smith 17th Branch. That surprised everyone there since it looked like Aire's Stellar Energy Reserves never dried out. Nevertheless, Due gave orders that no one should bother him or Cala.

On the morning of the third day, Aire forged some Latsil Powder to test its SMA level.

-Latsil Powder, 36.8% SMA.-

"That's it!" Obviously, Aire was delighted to see such a number. With such a number, he could increase it by around 40% with his power added. "I finally know where my mistakes were. Cala, I'm starting on the other materials now. This time, I'm going to forge them for real."

Cala didn't see anything different in Aire's process other than his quick improvement. Other than that, he followed the same process as everyone else when they trained their forging abilities. To improve their average SMA by 20% in just two to three days was extremely good. Unfortunately, she couldn't tell what Aire saw during this time that gave him so much confidence for the next attempts.

Aire once again started with the Galot Alloy, which he could now reach 38% to 41% SMA without his power. During the process, Cala saw how Aire's Stellar Energy Reserves were exhausted much faster than normal. 'He's at it again. It's only when he uses this much Stellar Energy that he reaches those crazy numbers.'

Sure enough, the results came out three hours later.

-Galot Alloy, 80.4% SMA.-

Once again, his results caught supervisor Due's attention, who had been monitoring his improvement from far away. 'Just how does he do that? What exactly can he spend his Stellar Energy so much on that he can force the SMA to reach this level?' Nevertheless, he was happy. Whatever the method may be, it was good news for his 17th branch. Word of Aire's ability had already begun to reach the other branches, especially the main one. Little by little, the Stellar Smith Faction was turning some of their eyes in the direction of their branch.

'Just wait until the rookies' creation contest starts. This time, we won't be ranking at the bottom,' Due thought to himself with a smile.

Aire didn't know what Due was thinking. Instead, he immediately gave away the school's portion of his work before sending the rest to Sera and Kymei as he called them on his communicator. "It worked. I'm sending some Galot Alloy. Which materials do you want me to work on first?"

Kymei was the first one to reply, saying, "I need the Latsil Powder."

Sera agreed with Kymei as she said, "Yes. You can do the Galot Alloy and Tempered Viran Iron after the Latsil Powder. After all, my designs will have no use without Kymei's runes."

"Very well," Aire said as he nodded and immediately went back to work. Well, in fact, he had to sit down somewhere and recover his Stellar Energy first. Nevertheless, he didn't intend to even sleep anymore during the next three days.