Chapter 35: Starshine Competition
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Yun Yingzhi saw the “typing…” indicator in the chat window with Yun Yinghui, but after waiting for a long time, there was still no reply. He climbed down from the clock tower. Coincidentally, his three roommates contacted him, saying they had already packed their meals and would eat in the dorm today.
Yun Yingzhi understood that their gesture was purely because, after he had rejected Your Highness Elvis yesterday, he had become a celebrity in the academy. Normally, people already paid a lot of attention to him, but now it was even more.
Yun Yingzhi closed his personal terminal and quickened his pace toward the dorm. The second-form Little Bun in his belly was probably hungry, wriggling around as if protesting that he wasn’t giving it a chance to steal some food. A small smile curved Yun Yingzhi’s lips. With such a little thief inside him, it was no wonder he constantly felt hungry. It wasn’t him eating—it was the Little Bun.
Back in the dorm, Yun Yingzhi ate together with his three roommates. To accommodate him, they had ordered a massive amount of sumptuous dishes from the cafeteria, thinking there was no way he could finish it all.
To their astonishment… The three of them ate normal amounts, but Yun Yingzhi, with his tiny, frail frame, polished off everything on the table. The three of them stared at him in shock.
It was at that moment that Yun Yingzhi’s personal terminal pinged. He quickly opened it—it was a communication request from Yun Yinghui. Yun Yingzhi glanced at his three roommates and answered the call. The moment the connection opened, he saw Yun Yinghui on the other end of the video projection.
Yun Yinghui’s brows were slightly furrowed, his gaze cold and sharp, his aura cutting. Around him floated dozens of enormous ice-forged greatswords. But when their eyes met, all the ice swords vanished.
Yun Yinghui’s gaze softened as he looked at Yun Yingzhi. His voice was gentle. “Zhizhi, I respect your choice.”
Yun Yingzhi’s eyelid twitched. For a moment, he even doubted whether what he had just seen was real. After a pause, he tentatively said, “Th-thank you, Brother?” He added, “Brother… you’re not upset, are you?”
Yun Yinghui shook his head. “How could I be upset? But Zhizhi, do you really not remember what happened before?”
Yun Yingzhi’s eyelid twitched violently.
Yun Yinghui’s voice grew even gentler. “Zhizhi, do you remember things from when you were little?”
Yun Yingzhi nodded obediently.
Yun Yinghui continued, “Zhizhi, if you ever suffer any grievances, you can tell Brother. Maybe in the past, I couldn’t protect you properly, but now I can, okay?”
Yun Yingzhi nodded obediently again.
Yun Yinghui’s gaze softened further. “So… is there anything you want to tell Brother?”
Yun Yingzhi shook his head.
After a pause, Yun Yinghui said, “Zhizhi, do you understand what raising babies will involve?”
Yun Yingzhi thought for a moment, shaking his head, then nodding. Raising two little ones would cost money. Lots and lots of money: formula, diapers, tuition… Suddenly, he realized that before, he had wanted to earn money to impress Huai Boshe. Now, he had to earn money—he had no choice. Raising two little ones would require a fortune.
His thoughts immediately went to the Starshine Competition tomorrow. He had to place well in the Starshine Competition. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have the money to raise the two little ones and give them the best life.
Yun Yingzhi had a premonition. General Yun and Madam Yun would provide him no financial support; they might even… Expel him from the Yun family. Yun Yinghui would certainly help him—but he didn’t want to be a burden to his brother. As much as possible, even if he couldn’t assist his brother, he refused to become a burden.
In the video projection, Yun Yinghui said, “Zhizhi, you have to understand that if you want to keep them, you will need to take a leave of absence from school.”
Yun Yingzhi thought of what the doctor had said: the second-form Little Bun in his stomach might suddenly be born at any time, while the other Little Bun would take forty weeks to arrive.
Yun Yinghui continued, “Zhizhi, if you keep these two children, you’re going to give a lot for them. Can you do that?”
Yun Yingzhi thought of the little one—he didn’t know which one—who had jumped through space with him when Madam Yun was about to hit him. He said, “I think… I can!”
Yun Yinghui didn’t force Yun Yingzhi to give up the two little lives, but Yun Yingzhi could feel through their interaction that he hoped he would.
In the end, Yun Yinghui compromised, “Alright, then for this period, let your brother take care of you.”
Yun Yingzhi’s eyes lit up. Thinking that in just half a month, Yun Yinghui would return, he felt extremely happy. Suddenly, he realized something very important. Every participant in the Starshine Competition could invite several esper soldiers to help test the weapons they created for the contest.
Earlier, Yun Yingzhi had been thinking about whom he should ask for help. Compared to those esper soldiers he didn’t know at all, the ones he knew were much more trustworthy. Yun Yingzhi’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Yun Yinghui.
Seeing Yun Yingzhi like this, Yun Yinghui felt a very subtle emotion. He had always known that Yun Yingzhi had excellent self-regulation skills, but generally speaking, a normal person who suddenly became pregnant would feel low, anxious, and uneasy—not, like Yun Yingzhi, just move past it in an instant. Still, no matter what, as long as Yun Yingzhi was happy, that was good.
Yun Yingzhi thought to himself that Yun Yinghui would return in mid-December. The Starshine Competition would begin tomorrow. Yun Yinghui would come back a little late, so he wouldn’t be able to test the source weapon Yun Yingzhi made for the preliminary round. But that was fine; the preliminaries were relatively simple and easy to pass.
Yun Yingzhi felt that with Yun Yinghui’s talent, he would be able to perfectly maximize the source weapon he created. Yun Yingzhi started to dream. Suppose he was lucky enough to create an eighth-level source weapon in the finals. The eighth-level source weapon he made, combined with Yun Yinghui’s strength… maybe it could reach tenth-level combat power. If that happened…
Did it mean… He might actually win the Starshine Competition? Yun Yingzhi began to imagine. He was just a second-year student at Fansa Academy, and still a combat track student, yet he could win first place in the Starshine Competition. Besides the trophy, the competition would also award an honorary certificate to Fansa Academy.
His fame would spread across the empire, and even casually producing a source weapon would fetch a fortune. From then on, he would never worry about being unable to support two little ones. With endless imagination, Yun Yingzhi began to bubble with happiness.
Seeing Yun Yingzhi like this, Yun Yinghui twitched at the corner of his mouth, then couldn’t help but smile. As long as Yun Yingzhi was happy, that was enough.
Yun Yinghui softly asked, “Zhizhi, what made you so happy?” He now seriously suspected that Yun Yingzhi might have strong feelings for the father of those two little ones.
If he didn’t like him, why would Yun Yingzhi insist on giving birth to both children? So that person had wronged Yun Yingzhi?
Yun Yinghui narrowed his eyes, his gaze dangerous, but the next moment, when he looked at Yun Yingzhi, his expression softened completely.
Yun Yingzhi said, “Brother, when you come back, there’s something I want you to help me with.”
Yun Yinghui asked, “What is it?”
Yun Yingzhi slightly parted his lips, thinking his three roommates could hear, and said, “I’ll tell you later, brother.”
Yun Yinghui nodded.
After ending the call, Yun Yingzhi sent Yun Yinghui a private message.
Yun Yingzhi: Brother, I signed up for this year’s Starshine Competition.
Yun Yinghui: This year’s Starshine Competition? The preliminaries start tomorrow, right?
Yun Yingzhi: Yes!
Yun Yingzhi continued messaging: Brother, most participants have several esper soldiers helping them test their source weapons. Could you be my tester?
Yun Yinghui: …I could, but it has to be anonymous.
Yun Yingzhi: Okay!
After thinking a bit, Yun Yingzhi asked again: Brother, according to the competition rules, the source weapon I might make might not suit you. Do you have any other strong espers you could recommend?
After his earlier daydreaming, and considering the two little gold-devouring beasts in his stomach, Yun Yingzhi really wanted first place now. First place would earn him a lot of money.
Yun Yinghui: Alright, I’ll recommend some fighters to you then.
Yun Yingzhi: Thank you, brother!
Yun Yingzhi: Brother, I love you!
After a pause, Yun Yinghui messaged him back: But they also have to stay anonymous.
Yun Yingzhi: Got it!
Yun Yingzhi messaged Yun Yinghui for a while longer, then started looking up information about His Highness Elvis on the StarNet. He searched keywords, trying to find information about Elvis’s second form, but couldn’t find anything. Yun Yingzhi thought for a moment, then continued researching relevant information, checking the second forms of royal family members.
Second forms had a certain genetic probability. General Yun and Madam Yun were both ice-type. With their genes, Yun Yinghui and Yun Yingyao were also ice-type. Thinking of this, Yun Yingzhi’s gaze dimmed. Not only did he not have a powerful second form, he was even naturally attuned to fire type. Shaking his head, he refused to dwell on unhappy thoughts and continued searching the royal family’s second forms.
They were truly diverse, with all kinds of forms. White peacock, firebird, black dragon… No pattern. However, almost all direct royal members had awakened space espers, with a small portion awakening dual space-thunder types, like His Highness Elvis.
Yun Yingzhi searched for a long time but still couldn’t find Elvis’s second form. Interestingly, he found some popular science information about dragons. Then he found another mythical beast, a rather strange one.He thought dragons were already formidable, but this beast could fight dragons, specialized in eating them—super powerful.
In the East Sea, there was a beast called Hou, shaped like a rabbit. Though small, it could battle dragons.
Shaped like a rabbit.
Shaped like a rabbit.
Yun Yingzhi thought of his own second form. He felt a pang of sadness and realized how huge the differences between species really were. Rubbing his stomach, Yun Yingzhi felt a wave of drowsiness. He yawned and set his alarm. He had to sleep early to conserve energy. When he woke up, he would have to participate in the Starshine Competition, and he needed to keep himself in good mental and physical condition.
December 1st, 5:00 a.m. It was a day off, with no morning training. All three of his roommates were still asleep. Yun Yingzhi went into the bathroom, washed up, and put on casual clothes. He spent a hefty amount of money to sneak out of Fansa Academy.
To avoid being recognized, Yun Yingzhi, taking advantage of the darkness before heading to the Starshine Competition venue, deliberately took a detour and rented a small inn, then started online shopping for clothes that would make it easier to disguise himself. He couldn’t let anyone recognize him.
Opening the shopping platform, he noticed clothing favored by middle-aged and elderly people: padded jackets, pants, and shoes. Logically, he did need to keep warm during pregnancy. The weather was extremely cold. After hesitating a bit, Yun Yingzhi bought a set of padded clothes with a black base and red peony patterns.
After picking the clothes, he also bought a hat and a mask. The shopping platform delivered very quickly. Within half an hour, everything arrived at the inn. Yun Yingzhi received the package and went into the bathroom to change into the padded clothes and pants.
Once changed, he looked in the mirror and felt certain that under these circumstances, no one could recognize him. Satisfied, he left the inn and headed toward the Starshine Competition venue.
Early December, early winter. The morning air was cold, and the padded clothes were just right. Looking at the people on the streets, he noticed many elderly people out for morning exercise, dressed in clothing very similar to his own. Yun Yingzhi’s steps faltered. He felt subtly that something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Whatever. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that the clothes were comfortable.
At 8:15 a.m., Yun Yingzhi arrived at the Starshine Competition hall. Finally, he realized what was wrong. The participants in the Starshine Competition were generally young. One of the competition rules was that every match was livestreamed, and fans could tip the contestants based on performance. To get large tips, all contestants tried to appear their best. In comparison… Someone like Yun Yingzhi, wearing padded clothes, pants, shoes, hat, and mask, was the only one dressed that way.
Yun Yingzhi scanned the crowd and spotted students wearing the Ten Great Military Academies uniforms, including students from Fansa Academy’s source weapon manufacturing track. Military uniforms might not have been as flashy or custom-made as some of the other outfits, but being from one of the Ten Great Military Academies carried its own aura of prestige, drawing a lot of attention.
Ambition was a natural human trait. Yun Yingzhi secretly glanced at the Fansa Academy students and noticed several familiar faces. The source weapon manufacturing students had arrived at the venue surrounded by combat track students. It was easy to guess that these combat students had been invited as weapon testers.
In contrast… Yun Yingzhi had snuck out of the academy and entered the competition secretly. He felt nervous, worried that the Fansa Academy students might recognize him. The source weapon students were fine—he had interacted with the combat students before and even participated in team matches. If they recognized him, it would be bad.
Yun Yingzhi moved cautiously, trying to stay as far away as possible from the Fansa Academy students. But just as he put distance between himself and them, he stumbled into a group of Zangfeng Academy students. Several Fansa Academy students in combat uniforms looked at Yun Yingzhi curiously.
Feeling their gaze, Yun Yingzhi moved again, putting distance between himself and the Zangfeng Academy students. His cheeks flushed beneath the mask. On one hand, he didn’t want anyone to know he was a child of General Yun; on the other hand, he thought about how angry General Yun and Madam Yun would be if someone discovered him. And… This outfit, favored by middle-aged and elderly people, felt ridiculously embarrassing.
With a hundred eyes on him, he kept moving—only to find himself in a female school, among Eiffel Academy students. Suddenly, he became the only green leaf in a sea of red. Yun Yingzhi continued moving. Finally, he escaped the Ten Great Military Academies groups and merged into the crowd of ordinary people.
The Starshine Competition preliminaries were divided into 99 venues. There were no entry restrictions for the preliminaries, so the participants were numerous, and all contestants competed in batches. Yun Yingzhi’s luck was both good and bad. His match was scheduled at the first venue—the most high-profile one. He sincerely hoped that he wouldn’t be placed in the same venue as the Fansa Academy students. But, of course, the thing you fear most always happens.
As the other participants moved, Yun Yingzhi noticed that he was following the same route as the Ten Great Military Academies students—all headed toward the first venue. At first, Yun Yingzhi thought it was a coincidence, but then he realized… It didn’t seem like a coincidence at all.
Yun Yingzhi was competing anonymously. The organizers were keeping his identity secret according to the rules, but he was still a Fansa Academy student. The system had assigned him to the first venue. What relieved Yun Yingzhi was that the first venue was huge. Besides the Ten Great Military Academies students, there were plenty of… students from other academies as well.
Without exception, most of them were under twenty-five. Among this sea of young faces, Yun Yingzhi’s black-and-red peony padded outfit, favored by middle-aged and elderly people, stood out like a sore thumb. From time to time, students glanced at him with curiosity. Yun Yingzhi blushed and forced himself to stay calm, doing his best to ignore their stares.
By around 8:30 a.m., almost all participants had taken their places at their respective workstations according to their numbers. The venue was spacious, with some equipment shared among multiple people. Cameras monitored from above, and black little demon-like live-streaming drones flitted around.
At regular intervals in all directions, there were vending machines stocked with source weapon materials, ranging from level four to eight. Notes on the machines said that rare materials and level-nine or above materials could be requested from the organizers.
Yun Yingzhi’s gaze roamed the venue, and he felt a little uneasy. Surrounding him were Ten Great Military Academies students, frequently glancing his way with curiosity. Thanks to his keen hearing, Yun Yingzhi also caught fragments of whispered conversations.
“He’s from our ranks, right? Must be a military academy student?”
“Which academy is he from?”
“Not ours, I think. Haven’t seen him before.”
“Such a unique outfit.” After a pause, someone added, “Does he have something to hide?”
Yun Yingzhi kept his eyes straight ahead, pretending not to hear them, while subtly scanning with his peripheral vision. To his left were Fansa Academy students, to his right Eiffel Academy students, behind him Zangfeng Academy students, and in front, students from Soffy Academy. He thought to himself that he was surrounded. But the students had only expressed a passing curiosity before averting their gaze. For them, caring about Yun Yingzhi wasn’t as important as focusing on other matters.
Yun Yingzhi exhaled in relief and continued to observe the venue. It was his first time at the Starshine Competition, and the scale was bigger than he imagined. No wonder—the competition was extremely tough. In the previous Starshine Competition, only one Fansa Academy source weapon manufacturing student had reached the finals.
Even reaching the finals was difficult; aiming for the top ten was almost impossible. And it wasn’t just Fansa Academy—other academies had similarly grim results. By comparison, only Eiffel Academy had performed a little better. But it was because of last year’s Starshine Competition that many people wondered whether the older generation of source weapon makers was aging, while the newcomers lacked talent. Was source weapon production destined for decline?
Suddenly, Yun Yingzhi heard a familiar name. “Unadorned!”
Yun Yingzhi’s eyelid twitched. This was the fifth-level source weapon he had created for Yu Feiwen. He instinctively looked toward the speaker. It was a Fansa Academy student.
The student said, “I heard that the creator of Unadorned is a student from our academy’s source weapon manufacturing track!”
Immediately, another student said, “No way?”
“If it’s true, he might even get first place in the Starshine Competition, right?”
“Definitely. He’s really skilled.”
“If he really is from our track, he’ll bring honor to our academy.”
“Three years ago, Eiffel Academy took first place—they’ve been proud of it ever since.”
Yun Yingzhi felt a little happy hearing their confident words. He quietly clenched his fists and thought, when Yun Yinghui returns and becomes his assigned tester, even if he couldn’t get first place, they would achieve a great result. He could definitely bring an honorary award to Fansa Academy. As a Fansa Academy student, he particularly wanted to bring honor to the academy.
Yun Yingzhi’s ears twitched as he heard other participants talking. Some contestants had already gone to the vending machines to check materials. From what they said, Yun Yingzhi heard prices so low it made him bubble with excitement. The source weapon materials in the vending machines were priced at a quarter of the market value.
Alvin’s Studio worked directly with the military, and even then, their material costs were half the market price—already cheaper than what most academies offered students. It was almost the lowest possible price.
This time, the Starshine Competition cut that in half again—essentially giving the materials away for free. So cheap. Yun Yingzhi’s eyes fixed on the vending machine materials, wanting to grab everything. More and more people noticed the vending machine prices, and discussions started.
“Years ago, Stellar created a source weapon that brought a new perspective to the field, but it was extremely difficult to make and never widely adopted. To encourage source weapon makers, the Yaoming Group is really investing heavily this time.”
“With prices this low, the number of Starshine Competition participants will surely rise.”
More participants meant fiercer competition, which naturally meant higher-quality source weapons in the arena.
At 8:40 a.m., a broadcast instructed everyone to return to their positions and stand still. The competition would begin in twenty minutes. In the quiet venue, the entrance to the first arena opened, and someone stood at the very front.
Though a little far from Yun Yingzhi’s position, his excellent eyesight allowed him to clearly see the person. The person wore the Source Weapon Association uniform, appeared in his forties or fifties, and had a familiar face—likely someone frequently on StarNet or news programs.
As Yun Yingzhi thought this, a nearby Fansa Academy student asked in confusion, “Who’s that?”
“I don’t know… too far away to see clearly.”
Yun Yingzhi, “….”
He was used to this—his eyesight was far better than an ordinary person’s. The combat track students had decent vision, but ordinary students’ eyesight was generally poor. Yun Yingzhi thought that despite his weak physical test results, his eyesight was better than most, even better than most combat track students, and his hearing was excellent too.
He felt a little proud. Soon, even the students with poor eyesight figured out who the person at the front was. The venue was huge, with massive projection screens on all sides showing the person at the front.
Someone whispered, “Wow! It’s Master Tang from the Source Weapon Association!”
Yun Yingzhi thought: as expected, a big shot. Anyone with a “Master” title could produce a tenth-level source weapon, and those with a “Grandmaster” title could make above tenth-level weapons, like Alvin in his prime. In the entire Loos Empire, including Alvin, there were only eight people with the Grandmaster title.
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