Chapter 30: The Dream Source Weapon
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Yun Yingzhi was a little surprised. He had no idea why Yu Feiwen was so excited, and he said, “Could you let go of my leg first?”
But Yu Feiwen didn’t let go of Yun Yingzhi’s thigh. Instead, he hugged it even tighter, his voice trembling with excitement. “I’m serious—believe me! That source weapon feels like it was tailor-made for me. I love it, I really love it.”
Three passive skills—especially the third one—were practically life-saving miracles. No one could ever be sure they wouldn’t face danger, especially not as military academy students. And even putting those three passive skills aside, the engraved “energy reservoir” alone was enough to make anyone’s heart race.
The concept of an energy reservoir was similar to that of a battery. An esper’s body itself functioned as a reservoir for source energy. Each person could hold a different amount of source. Having an additional energy reservoir meant that an esper soldier could transfer source from his own body into that reservoir at any time—essentially allowing him to store more energy than others.
Of course, storing source in a reservoir wasn’t as simple as swapping out a battery. The user had to consciously control the transfer every moment—even while sleeping. Still, that was never considered a bad thing. It was said that this kind of control helped train an esper soldier’s source manipulation ability.
If, one day, true interchangeable source batteries were ever invented, that would be ideal. But since such things didn’t exist yet, manually controlled energy reservoirs remained rare and highly sought-after source weapons.
Yu Feiwen had heard that engraving an energy reservoir was extremely difficult, and designing passive skills was even harder. He believed that the source weapon maker Yun Yingzhi knew must have been incredibly talented. Ji Xiaobo and Jing Haomiao both looked at Yu Feiwen with open envy.
Yun Yingzhi said again, “Could you please let go of my leg?” He tried to pull his leg free but couldn’t.
“Not until you promise me!” Yu Feiwen said firmly.
Yun Yingzhi paused, then replied, “If you think it’s suitable, then sure—let’s go with what you said.”
Yu Feiwen nodded vigorously and finally released Yun Yingzhi’s thigh. Yun Yingzhi continued explaining Unadorned’s other skills. Besides the two paired passive skills, there were five main abilities. Among the five, one was something Yun Yingzhi had copied from Elvis’s esper ability—Lightning Arc Wall—a maze-like wall of electricity.
At first glance, it looked like an area-of-effect skill, but it could instantly shift into a single-target strike. It was one of the most powerful abilities of that source weapon. When activated, the maze of lightning arcs descended, trapping enemies within its range. The lightning wall could move with its controller, and when reaching specific nodes, all the currents converged at once—then, in the same instant, struck a single target together.
Every time Yun Yingzhi described one of Unadorned’s skills, the commentator on the other end didn’t even need Yu Feiwen to repeat it. They quickly organized the words and broadcasted them to the public.
The livestream chat exploded. Many people typed furiously—it was their literal dream source weapon. The more details they learned, the more eager they became to see its actual test data. Some were already fantasizing that if such source weapons ever appeared in the military—if every soldier could be equipped with one—then, based on those passive skills alone, the casualty rate could drop dramatically.
But that was something destined never to happen. One long comment appeared in the stream chat:
—Just like seven years ago.
Seven years ago, Grandmaster Alvin’s mysterious apprentice, Stellar, had developed numerous special engravings.
Before Stellar, most engravings were amplification types meant to boost existing attack skills. Stellar was different—he preferred independent attack engravings, and he also invented many unusual ones, like the energy reservoir and even utility-based ones such as cooking engravings.
Some of the simpler engravings spread like wildfire across the Imperial Star. But the more complex ones—like the energy reservoir—were far harder to reproduce. To this day, only highly gifted source weapon makers have successfully engraved one.
That alone showed how difficult it was for the Blazing Divine Rabbit’s engraved passive skills to be mass-produced.
Meanwhile, inside a metallic military base, at the center of the room, a massive projection screen glowed, surrounded by soldiers in uniform. A cold-faced man stood among them, listening carefully to the commentator’s words while watching the projected image of Unadorned—a source weapon that looked almost identical to the standardized models, except for one thing: the vividly lifelike, adorably cute little rabbit on it.
A soldier beside him said, “I wonder who this Blazing Divine Rabbit is.”
Yun Yinghui said nothing. The man sighed softly. “If we could have that kind of source weapon, casualties would drop to the lowest possible level.”
Yun Yinghui gave him a brief glance, then looked back toward the projection. Compared to other corps, the two under General Yun’s command received source weapons of significantly lower quality due to the general’s long-standing prejudice against them. For instance, weapons engraved with the energy reservoir mark came only from Alvin’s workshop for their divisions.
But for various reasons, Grandmaster Alvin and General Yun had an extremely strained relationship. Rumor had it that in the past, Madam Yun once said that although Alvin held the title of Grandmaster, he could barely make a level-ten source weapon anymore—and didn’t deserve the title.
Although that rumor was never confirmed, the relationship between Alvin and General Yun’s two corps had indeed grown worse ever since. Fortunately, Alvin and Yun Yinghui were personally close. Even after the rumors, Alvin’s workshop continued to supply the Yun family’s forces with high-end source weapons—but in far smaller quantities.
The soldier beside him spoke again. “I really hope more skilled source weapon makers keep emerging.”
Another soldier replied, “True, but General Yun wasn’t wrong. Instead of always relying on outside tools, it’s more practical to focus on strengthening ourselves.”
Almost the moment he finished speaking, the live broadcast’s commentator had already finished explaining all seven of Unadorned’s skills.
Next came the source weapon’s attack value testing phase. According to the weapon’s creator, it was best suited for an esper soldier proficient in both lightning and wind elements. Unfortunately, Warrior Wang Rong didn’t meet the compatibility requirements.
So, the Source Weapon Association had arranged to replace the test esper soldier. The esper soldier with dual wind and thunder attributes soon appeared in the video projection. He was also a level-five esper soldier and looked to be around forty years old.
To better test the effectiveness of the source weapon, the commentator first asked him to use his own single-attack ability against the testing dummy before using the source weapon’s skill. The test began quickly. The testing dummy entered level-five mode, its attack value set to sixty-nine.
With a minimum of one point and a maximum of ninety-nine, an attack value of sixty-nine was fairly average—not particularly strong, but definitely not weak either.
Next, under everyone’s watchful eyes, the esper soldier responsible for evaluating the source weapon activated its strongest skill. It began with an area attack. Arcs of lightning fell in a maze-like formation, covering all of the testing dummies within range.
Eighteen dummies registered damage values one after another.
-12
-21
-7
-23
The highest damage value was twenty-three, and the lowest was seven, showing that the area damage was quite low. The moment those numbers appeared, many people’s first reaction was scorn.
In the hall, someone even said, “No way. That source weapon looks so powerful, but even for an area attack, the damage is way too low.”
Almost instantly, a soldier in uniform rolled his eyes at him, while another said, “Are you stupid? Look closely. Does that look like a one-time attack? The attack covers a huge area, and those test dummies are taking continuous damage. The output numbers haven’t stopped at all.”
The first soldier blinked, turned to the live feed, and sure enough—just as his companion said—each of the eighteen test dummies was still reporting damage numbers. Then… it happened in an instant. The arcs of lightning on the screen suddenly converged toward a single point. A blinding white light burst forth, searing the viewers’ eyes. The testing dummy’s system then prompted:
—Output exceeded the level-five limit. Proceed to the next level for retesting?
When the lightning finally faded, the whitewashed screen regained color. On-screen, the esper soldier holding the source weapon stared blankly at the dummy.
At that moment, many people watching the live stream fell silent. No one knew how long the silence lasted. Scenes like this had happened often.
A uniformed esper soldier glanced at the person beside him and said, “Sure, personal strength matters. But sometimes, having powerful gear really shows a different kind of result, doesn’t it?”
The other esper soldier—who had only moments ago claimed that relying on external power was inferior to relying on oneself—paused, genuinely realizing how reasonable that sounded.
Not every esper soldier could break their own limits through effort alone. Yet when they encountered a source weapon that truly suited them, surpassing their limits could suddenly become simple and brutal.
In the live feed, the soldier holding the source weapon confirmed the prompt. All test dummies entered level-six testing mode. Once again, the lightning maze descended. At first, no damage values appeared—the attack wasn’t strong enough to break level-six defense.
Finally, after a long wait, the arcs of lightning chose their targets and released a final burst. Under another blinding flash of white, everyone heard the dummy’s announcement.
-66.
The central hall went silent. No one spoke. It wasn’t rare for an esper soldier to launch an attack across levels, but without question, the one currently being tested was just an ordinary level-five esper soldier. They began to wonder—if even a random level-five esper could reach this, what kind of results would those with purer wind-and-thunder attributes achieve with the same weapon?
On the live feed, the tester from the Source Weapon Association explained, “According to the design of this source weapon, the lightning maze stores power. The longer the lightning persists, the more energy it gathers. When released, its destructive power reaches the limit.” He paused, then added, “What I mean is, when we triggered the lightning just now, it hadn’t stored much power. If we’d waited longer, I think…”
The live chat froze.
“…it might even exceed level seven.” After another pause, he continued firmly, “At the very least, I’m certain that with more stored energy, the attack would definitely surpass level-seven output.” The chat exploded.
Almost as if to prove his theory, the next test featured another level-five esper soldier. This time, the lightning lasted much longer. The test dummy remained in level-five mode. The structure of the source weapon was ingenious—continuous damage, the longer it lasted, the more lightning gathered. The dummy’s system reported increasingly higher numbers.
At the tester’s request, the dummy then skipped straight to level-seven mode. Next, the tester selected a target dummy and initiated the final strike. The white light engulfed the entire screen.
Only the mechanical broadcast of the dummy could be heard:
—76.
At that moment, time itself seemed to stop. Then, the chat erupted again. It was only a level-five source weapon—yet it had unleashed a level-seven attack!
A uniformed man exclaimed in envy, “I’m a wind-and-thunder esper too… I really want a source weapon like that.”
Exclamations filled the air. The live broadcast continued, pushing forward into the second phase of testing. Soon, the second phase concluded, and the test entered its third stage.
In the third evaluation—a one-on-one battle—the esper soldier wielding Unadorned won with overwhelming skill power. From the display in the upper right corner of the live feed, the audience could tell whether each tested source weapon would advance to the fourth evaluation: multi-user combat.
It was clear that Unadorned’s owner hadn’t chosen to participate in that stage. Comments flew rapidly across the screen as countless viewers pleaded for the Source Weapon Association to make an exception and allow Unadorned to be tested in a group battle.
They were disappointed that in the earlier evaluations, they had only seen Unadorned’s active skills and not its three passive abilities. They were deeply curious—were Unadorned’s passive skills really as stable as the creator had claimed? Did it truly possess all three?
Responding to the flood of requests, the commentator smiled and said, “I’m just as eager as everyone else to see Unadorned’s performance in a group battle. I’ve already contacted the Source Weapon Association, and they’re willing to provide a fourth test for free—but of course, we need the owner’s consent first.”
The commentator reached out to Yu Feiwen again, asking whether he would permit Unadorned to undergo the fourth evaluation. Unsurprisingly, the answer was yes.
The Association acted swiftly. The next test was set as a 20-versus-20 battle. Just as described earlier in the stream, Unadorned demonstrated remarkable stability. In this test, both its first and second passive skills were successfully activated.
The first remained active until the end of the battle. The second triggered automatically when facing imminent danger. As for the third passive skill… It was too dangerous to test casually.
To further verify Unadorned’s stability, several additional tests followed. Without exception, its two main passive skills never failed once. By the end, the live chat was filled with just two words—two names.
—Unadorned!
—Blazing Divine Rabbit!
When the final evaluation ended, the live broadcast switched back to the commentator.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her eyes sparkled as she gazed at Unadorned, now resting in a velvet-lined box. “As everyone can see,” she said excitedly, “Unadorned absolutely stands among the finest of all level-five source weapons. In many aspects, it even surpassed some level-seven ones…”
She spared no words in praising Unadorned, using every glowing term she could think of. After nearly ten minutes of admiration, she finally said, “Although it’s unfortunate, the evaluation for Unadorned will now—”
Suddenly, her personal terminal buzzed with a notification. Viewers flooded the chat, asking if she could share a contact for Blazing Divine Rabbit. Within moments, the entire chat was filled with the same request.
Ignoring the questions, the commentator said, “Well, this is unexpected. The owner of Unadorned is calling me. Considering it might be about the weapon—perhaps some hidden feature—let’s go ahead and answer this call.”
She accepted the call.
On the other end, Yu Feiwen’s cheeks were slightly red. “Hello, um, it’s like this, just… uh…” He stumbled over his words.
“Yes?” the commentator prompted curiously, wondering what could possibly make him so embarrassed.
Yu Feiwen took a deep breath and blurted out quickly, “It’s like this. When I mailed Unadorned to the Source Weapon Association, I forgot to add insurance. I—I want to insure it now!”
Yun Yingzhi stared at him in confusion, not understanding why Yu Feiwen wanted to pay for insurance. He had mailed plenty of valuable things before and had never once bought insurance. In his mind, it was a waste of money—he never saw the point.
At that same moment, both the commentator and Yun Yingzhi spoke—but said opposite things.
The commentator exclaimed, “You sent such a valuable source weapon without insurance?”
While Yun Yingzhi said flatly, “Don’t buy insurance—it’s a waste of money.”
Their voices overlapped.
“…” Yun Yingzhi.
“…” the commentator.
“…” Yu Feiwen.
The commentator thought privately, What kind of bizarre person would even say something like that?
Meanwhile, the chat exploded again. Countless viewers typed messages, wondering how someone could send such a powerful source weapon without insurance. Were they not afraid of losing it in transit?
Yu Feiwen shook his head at Yun Yingzhi. “No, I want to insure it for five hundred—no, three thousand! Actually, ten thousand! Ten thousand should be enough, right?” he said, sounding far too emotional.
Yun Yingzhi could only stare. He honestly thought Yu Feiwen was wasting his money.
After hanging up, Yu Feiwen noticed Ji Xiaobo and Jing Haomiao looking at Yun Yingzhi with bright, starry eyes. Their stares made Yun Yingzhi feel uneasy. Then, Jing Haomiao suddenly rushed forward and gave him a huge hug.
Feeling suffocated, Yun Yingzhi immediately pushed him away. Caught off guard, Jing Haomiao stumbled back and looked at him with wide, hurt eyes, thinking, So it’s true… Yun Yingzhi really is the Cute Little Battle Rabbit from the Yaoming Battle Arena. That strength gives it away.
Realizing what he had done, Yun Yingzhi stepped forward apologetically, helping him up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to,” he said, genuinely concerned.
Jing Haomiao shook his head. “It’s fine,” he said softly, then added with shining eyes, “Yingzhi, that source weapon maker you know is really amazing!”
Joy bloomed all around Yun Yingzhi like invisible flowers. His brows curved happily; he loved hearing that kind of unfiltered praise. “Right? I told you before—he’s really amazing!”
The three roommates took turns complimenting him, each one more enthusiastic than the last. Then Ji Xiaobo asked carefully, “So, Yingzhi… when do you think my source weapon will be finished?” He looked nervous, afraid that the source weapon maker might refuse his request.
Yun Yingzhi paused. He thought of the spatial-limitation engravings he had just begun designing and frowned slightly. Seeing his expression, Ji Xiaobo and Jing Haomiao both tensed, worrying that the brilliant maker might have said something troubling to him.
At that moment, both of them regretted saying earlier that they were “in no rush.”
Yun Yingzhi truly was conflicted. It was already mid-November, with less than half a month left before the Starshine Competition. In that short time, after completing his spatial engraving research, he wanted to optimize the design further and produce a prototype source weapon to send to Yun Yinghui.
Once Yun Yinghui tested it and gave feedback, he could refine the engravings again. On top of that, he needed to prepare for the Starshine Competition starting December first. If he also crafted weapons for his two roommates during that period—it wasn’t impossible, but… He worried the results would be disappointing if rushed.
After a long pause, Yun Yingzhi said, “Xiaobo, Haomiao—the source weapon maker said he’s been pretty busy lately. If it’s okay with you, could you wait about a month?” He figured a month would be enough.
At his words, both of their eyes lit up instantly. For esper soldiers, waiting in line was normal. A month? That was nothing. Some people waited years—three, five, even ten—for a master’s custom weapon.
Before either could respond, Yun Yingzhi added, “He’s mostly worried that if he rushes it now, the result won’t be very good.”
They answered at the same time, “I can wait!”
“Okay,” Yun Yingzhi said. “Use the time to think about what kind of abilities you want, and I’ll tell him.”
Ji Xiaobo said dreamily, “I want a source weapon with an energy reservoir!”
Jing Haomiao pushed him aside, his eyes sparkling. “I want one too—but with passive skills, too!”
Yun Yingzhi thought to himself that nearly every source weapon he had ever built already included those engravings. To him, those requests were just standard.
Ji Xiaobo shoved Jing Haomiao back. “Also—”
Before he could finish, Jing Haomiao pushed him again, scowling. The two started bickering—then fighting. Yun Yingzhi stared, bewildered, having no idea how things had escalated so fast. He thought for a moment about stepping in, but then his ears twitched slightly, and he looked toward Yu Feiwen.
Yu Feiwen said, “You mean… you want me to tell you the true identity of Blazing Divine Rabbit?”
At that, Ji Xiaobo and Jing Haomiao froze, both turning toward Yun Yingzhi. Yun Yingzhi grew tense and quickly shook his head.
Yu Feiwen understood at once and said into the terminal, “Apologies. The source weapon maker asked me to keep his identity secret. I can’t reveal any information about him.”
He ended the call.
The three had wanted to ask Yun Yingzhi more about that mysterious maker, but seeing his reaction, they decided not to press him. They didn’t want to risk offending the master.
Before they knew it, morning had come again. During training, it seemed every student had watched yesterday’s live broadcast. Everyone was talking about the level-five source weapon, Unadorned.
“I’m so jealous of its owner.”
“I wonder which master made Unadorned?”
“Blazing Divine Rabbit—I’d bet anything it’s some white-haired old master, maybe even a grandmaster!”
Hearing the speculation, Yu Feiwen and the others couldn’t help sneaking glances at Yun Yingzhi. Yun Yingzhi felt awkward. He thought to himself that he was still a very long way from being white-haired.
After morning drills, the four went to eat together. Suddenly, Yu Feiwen set down his chopsticks and looked at Yun Yingzhi with a puzzled expression. Ji Xiaobo and Jing Haomiao followed suit, staring curiously at him.
Yun Yingzhi’s eyelid twitched. “What is it?” he asked.
Yu Feiwen said, “Yingzhi, have you noticed?”
Yun Yingzhi said, “Ah?” He felt a little nervous under their gaze, thinking he might have messed something up again. Lately, he had done far too many socially embarrassing things.
Ji Xiaobo asked, “Have you noticed… you’ve been eating an awful lot recently?”
Yun Yingzhi’s cheeks involuntarily flushed red. Hesitating, he said, “You know… I’ve always had a bit of a big appetite.”
Jing Haomiao added, “No, I know you’ve always eaten a lot before…”
Seeing Yun Yingzhi’s exposed skin flush bright red, he realized he had said the wrong thing. He quickly corrected himself: “I know your appetite has always been good in the past, but these past couple of days… haven’t you noticed it’s been especially…?” He swallowed the word “excessive” and replaced it with a more polite phrasing. “These past couple of days, haven’t you been eating even more than usual?”
Yu Feiwen nodded.
Ji Xiaobo chimed in, “Yeah, I noticed it too.”
At first, Yun Yingzhi hadn’t thought much of it. Hearing them speak, he suddenly realized it might indeed be true. “Really? I… does that mean something’s wrong with me?” He rubbed his stomach and continued, “Now that I think about it, it feels like something in my stomach has been secretly eating my food. I always feel so hungry.”
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