A few days passed.

Kai had been doing his regular activities without anything interesting happening.

Morning exercises, classes, and then mining sessions during the night. He mostly went with Matilda to mine, but if she was too tired to go at night, he went alone with the help of the worker on the Aerial Stables.

Fortunately, his privilege of being transported to the cultivated clouds isn’t taken away.

It would be unreasonable if it were taken away.

During the day, there is a shuttle that transports students to their destinations.

But Kai didn’t want to mine during the day, so he relied on this Pegasus Tamer called Alan.

A guy around the same age as him.

He could ride a horse perfectly on the surface, which was why he was assigned this role.

Few of the families brought in by the new Angels knew how to ride a horse properly, so the Aerial Stables relied on a sparse workforce. Only a little more than Alan and the stable master. And fewer still could handle a Pegasus at the speeds Alan could.

A Pegasus or Griffin, for that matter, doesn’t respect normal people.

Only Supernals with mana in them could make them docile.

So, Alan is a special case.

And because of this shortage of workers in the Aerial Stable, the students are pushed to learn using the winged boots. Once they could ride winged boots, then they could go anywhere on their own.

No need for help anymore.

There hadn’t been a winged boots lesson yet.

Students are still focusing on establishing their foundations as a Supernal.

But there would be one very soon.

And today, other than doing his responsibilities, he decided to make a trip to the library. He is going to deal with a Star Beast sooner than expected, so he ought to learn more about the monsters that the Blue Void coughed out.

Kai sat down on the corner and placed a book on the table.

It’s titled Guide to Star Beasts.

Even though Professor Hera had explained about Star Beasts, due to how quickly the classes were in order to accommodate the Angels’ daily responsibilities, she couldn’t explain them in depth.

He needed to learn on his own.

Just as he was aware, the Star Beasts have five classes: Pest, Scourge, Calamity, Doom, and lastly Apocalypse. From what he read in the book, the class of a specific Star Beast could easily be identified.

Other than a few anomalies, the color of its Null Gem directly reflected their class.

A Null Gem acted as much like a Divine Lock but for Star Beasts.

Supernals knew their potential through the number of Divine Locks in them, while Star Beasts knew their power from the color of their Null Gem. In an ascending manner, the colors are white, green, red, purple, and blue.

Other than that, he also learned the Null Gem isn’t only for show.

It radiated corruption brought forth directly from the Blue Void.

According to the book, there are three phases of corruption. First was a loss of focus. Second was a feeling of tiredness and sleepiness. And lastly, the transformative phase, where the one who was corrupted would be turned into a minion of the Blue Void.

Because of that, normal people absolutely cannot be near a Star Beast without protection.

And hence the relentless vigilance from both Angels and Demons. Both are quick to seal any Ground Gates and Sky Gates at any time, and with good reason. Kai remembered a few major incidents that took tens of thousands of lives.

All because of a single overlooked Ground Gate.

Once the gates were fully formed, Star Beasts would come pouring out.

It was precisely why the surface was equipped with sensing, even the smallest trace of mana.

Kai remembered perfectly that the police departments on the surface have a list of mana levels for each block. Any deviation that exceeds the mana level would be investigated. People who hadn’t awakened their bloodlines caused negligible fluctuations, but they are still monitored.

One of the reasons why there are different schools for normal people and potential Supernals.

"Even Supernals aren’t immune, huh..." Kai murmured. "I suppose that’s why we all have our Halos." He closed the book and slid it back onto the shelf. Now, he wanted to find a book that contains the species of Star Beasts. A Star Beast Encyclopedia or something of the sort.

But his gaze snagged on a particular volume, one that stopped his hand mid-reach.

A book with a pristine white cover and sharp golden edges.

Kai took it and read the title: Realm of Gods.

I wonder whether there’s anything recorded about the Goddess of the Primordial Night.

He took the book and the Star Beast Encyclopedia and then sat down again.

Inside the Realm of Gods book, Kai learned that bloodlines could come from four sources. In an ascending manner, they are Heroes, Lesser Gods, Divine Beasts, and Olympian Gods. He knew about these sources, but never knew what they actually meant.

Lesser Gods are divine beings that are arm extensions of the Olympian Gods.

Divine Beasts are living manifestations of nature’s forces. Generally, they are about equal to Lesser Gods and stronger than Heroes due to their superior physique and their connection to the world, which makes it hard for them to be suppressed.

As for the Olympian Gods, they are the absolute rulers of the world.

Every living being, mortal or divine, is under their reign.

But what Kai was most interested in was how the book described Heroes.

"Mortals who walked the threshold between the lower realm and upper realm—and they are generally favoured by a Patron God or Gods, destined to become the living personification of the God’s power," Kai traced the paragraph and then fixed on the bottom. "Generally harder for Heroes to awaken their Patron God’s bloodline, but when they do, their connection with the Patron God is more profound.

"Some even confessed to having real-like dreams meeting their Patron Gods."

Kai leaned back.

"Huh..." He thought back about what had happened in the last two months. "Dream? I think I’ve met the Goddess face-to-face. And as for being favoured, the Goddess did personally give me divinity. Am I one of the Heroes?"

Based on the descriptions, he might as well be a Hero.

But it doesn’t make sense.

Heroes appeared in the past; there’s nothing like them in modern times.

It was precisely because of that that there are Supernals who inherited the bloodline of Heroes.

Kai shook his head, putting those thoughts at the back of his mind. He read through the list of all known Heroes, Lesser Gods, Divine Beasts, and Olympian Gods in the hope of finding even an inkling of information regarding the Goddess of the Primordial Night.

He found none.

He found the Goddess of Discord, the God of Doom, and the Furies

All fall under the Lesser Gods sources, but have ratings matching that of the Olympian Gods.

But no sign of the Goddess of the Primordial Night.

"What am I even doing?" Kai closed the book and pushed it aside before pulling the Star Beast Encyclopedia toward him instead. "If I really want to know more about her, I just need to ask her directly. Next time I see her—I’ll ask."

Just then, he remembered what the Goddess said.

That she was always watching.

Kai looked skyward and clasped his hands together apologetically, "Sorry for being curious."

For the next couple of hours, he absorbed as much information about the Star Beasts species and how to beat them. Even until now, the information about the new cultivated clouds hasn’t been released by the academy.

Many students were already making guesses and theories.

But there was no concrete information.

He did hear that the two new cultivated clouds had been claimed by the two strongest first-year groups: the Ichor Legion, who owned Stream Blue, and the Auric Cabal, who controlled High Gold.

On the day those clouds opened, no one outside those two groups was permitted to enter.

At least, that’s what Bree told him.

She and that Alex guy belonged to the Auric Cabal, a group led by a student named Barbara, a Supernal of Atalanta—the Huntress Hero renowned for unmatched speed. Rumor had it she won the Blood Rite not through direct combat, but by taming the Awakened Monster, using it to decimate the other teams.

Kai would need to sneak into the new cultivated clouds.

He already gave some thought to it and decided to follow Auric Cabal.

Other than having more information about them, he could also ask for help from Bree to help him sneak into the new cultivated cloud. Once he was there, he doubted he would encounter Auric Cabal while he was mining.

If the existing four clouds were really big, then he could expect the new ones to be as big.

Or even bigger.

Considering there’s a Star Beast or Star Beasts, the new cultivated clouds must be bigger.

Kai kept his head down and flipped page after page.

He remembered how Professor Hera’s notebook had tipped the scales during the Blood Rite. Information was the true weapon. Against Star Beasts that most likely outclassed any student in raw power, brain would beat brawn.

But his reading was disturbed.

"Lesser Angel Kai?"

Kai lifted his gaze and saw the person he didn’t want to see.

It was Ragnar.

Last time Ragnar showed his face, it was when he was called to the Chancellor’s office.

So, seeing him again made Kai’s heart pound inside his chest.

"Yes?"

"Follow me. You have some business to take care of."

"What business?"

Kai’s eyes narrowed behind his mask, clearly showing the wariness he was feeling right now.

And Ragnar wasn’t surprised.

Their last encounter had cost Kai his status, demoting him to a Lesser Ange. So, he understood the wariness. "No need to be tense," He said assuringly. "You claimed all three titles from the Blood Rite, didn’t you? The three Crystallized Teardrops of Argus have arrived. I’m bringing you to claim them."

Wait... It gets delivered? I thought I would need to go to the association to get it.

Kai clicked his tongue in displeasure. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

He has a reason to go to the Association of Angel Academies, but now that reason is gone.

Even though he was annoying, he placed the books back and followed Ragnar.

From what he had gathered, the Crystallized Teardrop of Argus was immensely beneficial for lower-ranked Supernals, capable of elevating their strength significantly. But he didn’t know specifically how, and frankly, his nerves hadn’t settled.

He was worried about this.

Am I really going to get these things? Is the Chancellor really going to let me get them?

Are the Blood Rites watched by the Demons so the Chancellor can’t do anything about it?

Kai stared at Ragnar’s back blankly, following him through the corridors.

Inside, he was hoping that everything would go smoothly.

But it didn’t.

"Sit down, we’re going to check your bloodline first."