Nine Star Burden

“It’s okay, Commander. If my younger brother were in the team, I’d take care of you subconsciously too,” Li Weiyi said, trying to break the tension of the atmosphere. “Not to mention, he’s still young and only arrived yesterday. You don’t have to feel guilty.”

Jiang Xiao looked at Li Weiyi’s nonchalant face and secretly admired his teammate’s generosity.

“Which level of Awakened is Teacher Hai?” Jiang Xiao asked.

Right from the beginning, Hai Tianqing had never exhibited his Star Map before and Jiang Xiao could tell that he barely put in any effort.

However, even then, Hai Tianqing still managed to effortlessly shatter Li Weiyi’s Black Shield.

The attributes of Green Glow were the same, but why was Hai Tianqing able to shatter the Black Shield easily while Jiang Xiao could not?

The difference between Star Power levels was the reason for that.

Jiang Xiao felt that Hai Tianqing’s Star Power level was definitely beyond the Nebula Stage.

Even without the Star Technique, he would probably be able to shatter Li Weiyi’s shield with just one strike.

It seemed…

Jiang Xiao overemphasized the importance of Star Techniques and overlooked the importance of quality and Star Power level.

However, it could not be helped since Jiang Xiao and the other students who had just become Awakened all had low-level Star Power, and the differences between one another were all rather insignificant.

Hence, the importance of Star Techniques was emphasized.

When the Awakened continue to advance, their miscellaneous Star Techniques may help them win, but their foundation and lower limit would forever be determined by the level of Star Power.

Jiang Xiao suddenly remembered something.

When he felt that 10 of him would never be enough to beat one Han Jiangxue, he thought of Han Jiangxue’s Barren Wind and Sky Smasher, which were way too overpowering.

At this moment, Jiang Xiao completely understood that he would never be able to beat Han Jiangxue even if she didn’t use her Star Techniques and there were 10 of himself.

“He claims to be at the peak of the Nebula Stage. However, no one can confirm that because we have never seen his Star Map before. Hence, we can’t deduce his Star Power level just from the number of Star Techniques he has.”

Yes, one only had four Star Techniques during the Stardust Stage.

During the Nebula Stage, one would be able to acquire four additional Star Techniques.

If one had nine Star Techniques and all nine star slots lit up, he must definitely be in the Galaxy Stage.

During the Galaxy Stage, one would be able to acquire eight more Star Techniques, which also meant that a person who had 17 Star Techniques would definitely be an Awakened in the Galaxy Stage.

“Nebula Stage? Is the difference that drastic?”Jiang Xiao asked in shock.

Li Weiyi shook his head and sighed. “You only saw the difference between physiques and a basic battle of Star Power. I never had the chance to win in the first place.”

Jiang Xiao did not explain that he had identified the problem to be amongst the basic physiques of the two of them. He glanced at Han Jiangxue to see that she had turned around and nodded at Li Weiyi. “I’m very sorry.”

Li Weiyi smiled and revealed his pearly whites. Although he looked rather dejected, his smile was still cheery. “It’s alright, we’ll get used to each other.”

Xia Yan walked towards them and looked much less arrogant than she did before Hai Tianqing taught her a lesson. “Helping Xiaopi find a Star Technique that will help him escape and enter the battlefield would be a good solution.”

Han Jiangxue shook her head and said, “No, the real solution is to get over my emotional barrier. I didn’t need to take care of him at all just now.”

“This is indeed the case, but Xia Yan is also right. We will participate in various competitions in the future, all of which are at master levels. Xiaopi really needs to have the ability to protect himself. Otherwise, our team will be handicapped.” Li Weiyi thought about it for a while and then continued, “Everyone knows that the healer of the opponents’ team should be eliminated first during the battle, and we also know that we should be protecting our healer.”

“Jiang Xiaopi has the powerful Star Technique, Bell, which is enough for him to be seen as a target. If…” Li Weiyi looked at Jiang Xiao and said, “If we can stop worrying about Jiang Xiaopi, we’ll be able to form a truly brilliant cooperation and fight fearlessly.”

Jiang Xiao knew that no matter how well he did in Year One, he would undoubtedly become a burden to the Year Three students despite his intelligence.

Hmm…

Burden.

Jiang Xiao thought about it and realized that his Star Power had come to the bottleneck of the Stardust Stage. He was currently at Level 5.

Based on the four levels of Awakened that were known to all, the beginning of a stage should be levels 0 to 2 in Jiang Xiaopi’s internal Star Map, while Level 3 was the middle stage, Level 6 was the later stage, and Levels 8 to 9 were the pinnacle.

After advancing from Level 5 to 6, one would be considered to have entered the later stage of the Stardust Stage.

Jiang Xiao felt that his Skill Points should be used where it was needed.

Staring at his six Skill Points, Jiang Xiao felt that he was particularly wealthy and didn’t want to waste time at this level. Hence, he decided to go straight up.

–

Star Power Upgrade! Stardust Stage Level 6.

–

Jiang Xiao nodded in satisfaction and thought, Does this mean I can continue advancing smoothly?

I’ll continue surging when I’m at Level 8!

One is bound to face plenty of obstacles when they’re young? 

Nah. 

I’ll lead a smooth and stable house. 

“Are you glad to have been defeated in this battle?” asked a cold voice that came from Jiang Xiao’s side. Han Jiangxue was staring at him coldly.

Xia Yan also felt that Han Jiangxue was in low spirits and so decided to stop gloating. She hurriedly changed the subject and said, “By the way, Xiaopi, when your team came in the first place, the principal gave you a Star Bead. Which Star Bead was it?”

Jiang Xiao replied, “I heard that it’s the Long-tailed Scorpion Star Bead from the Gan Province.”

“Long-tailed scorpion?” Xia Yan’s eyes lit up and she asked, “Did you absorb it successfully? It has a life-saving skill, but…”

Xia Yan was a little stuck in a dilemma. Suddenly remembering that Jiang Xiao had only nine star slots, she quickly said, “That Star Technique is not suitable for you. It has too much restriction on the terrain and takes up too much Star Power. There’ll be better defensive Star Techniques in the future. You have too few star slots, you shouldn’t be wasting them on this Star Technique. Hmm… did you absorb it?”

Jiang Xiao shook his head awkwardly and answered, “No, I gave it away to a classmate.”

“Huh?” Xia Yan froze for a moment, before scratching her chestnut-colored wavy hair. “Did you give it to that Eurasian girl?”

“Ahem…” Jiang Xiao explained, “After I entered Class 2, I joined the team that consisted of the Zhu brothers and replaced a girl named Liu Ke. Later on, when we gathered, I told them about my goals, and since I received their help, I ought to pay them back.

“It’s a good thing for me to be in Year Three and join your team, but to the Zhu brothers’ team, I’ve walked out on them. I gave the Star Bead to their team hoping that they can continue leading,” said Jiang Xiao.

“Hmph.” Xia Yan humphed and her face turned slightly more mellow.

Jiang Xiao shook his head and said, “Before obtaining the reward, we already agreed on that, so I couldn’t go back on my word.”

Han Jiangxue nodded in agreement and said, “Yeah, well done.”

Li Weiyi also nodded and said, “Seems like Han Jiangxue has taught you very well.”

Jiang Xiao looked at Han Jiangxue and said, “Besides, I wasn’t slacking off just now, I just… entered the late stage of the Stardust Stage.”

“Huh?”

“What? So soon?” Han Jiangxue and Xia Yan looked at Jiang Xiao in shock.

“Of course, men have to be quick… um… wait, that doesn’t seem right,” Jiang Xiao said with a frown.