Chapter 24: Stellar Technique: “Dark Grey”

Chapter 24: Stellar Technique: “Dark Grey”

BOOM!

Inside one of Ember Organization’s single-person training chambers, Tendou hurled a black orb from his palm.

The pitch-dark sphere—no larger than a ping-pong ball—slammed into the specially reinforced alloy test pillar a few meters away.

The instant it struck, the air filled with a screeching, metallic shriek—like a beast howling in pain. The pillar, built to withstand the direct assault of a second-order Starbearer, warped under the impact, a massive crater blooming at its center.

The web of cracks spread outward like a spider’s web, five meters across.

Yet the orb didn’t stop there. Still spinning violently, it burrowed deeper, dragging metal and sparks in its wake.

Zzzzzzt—

The friction was so intense that the alloy began to melt, turning into glowing red liquid iron. Steam hissed from the impact zone, glittering with arcs of electric light.

When the smoke finally cleared, the damage was fully revealed—a conical pit, five meters wide and three meters deep, carved into the test pillar’s core.

Tendou stared at it silently, then exhaled through his nose.

“So… my current limit is only tenfold rotation speed?”

He muttered the words as if confirming a disappointment.

He’d already formed his own judgment of the attack’s power, but he preferred to rely on cold, objective data—

“Caroline,” he called, “you got the energy readings?”

The feline-eared Machina standing nearby looked up from her tactical tablet. Her emerald eyes shimmered as streams of data danced within them.

“Star Energy output—one thousand nine hundred,” she reported crisply. “Equivalent to an early stage second-order strike.”

Her long tail flicked, curling around the tablet as she continued,

“Your energy conversion efficiency is at ninety-five percent. Which means this is almost your current limit. Pushing for the last five percent wouldn’t be worth the time—it’s diminishing returns.”

“Only one thousand nine hundred, huh…”

Tendou’s brows drew together.

He wasn’t satisfied—not in the slightest.

According to the Starbearer Association’s classification, the 1,000-point mark was the threshold separating first and second order.

Anything above that counted as second-order territory.

But in truth, these numbers were only a guideline. Each Star Origin and technique could amplify power severalfold beyond baseline readings.

In practice, raw numbers meant little—what mattered was control, efficiency, and creativity.

Still, even by those standards, Tendou’s foundation was already monstrous.

After awakening his Star Origin, his innate star energy value had reached 200—solidly within first-order territory.

But that was nowhere near enough.

His future opponents wouldn’t be mere first-order Starbearers.

He’d be facing a group of first-orders—and one seasoned second-order veteran.

That was why he’d spent the past three days tearing apart and rebuilding his own signature Stellar Technique, “Azure,” until he’d pushed it into an entirely new form:

“Dark Grey.”

A composite, fusion-style Stellar Technique built from pure compression and rotation, reinforced by vector manipulation.

And yet—

Even after all that refinement, Tendou still wasn’t satisfied.

No—he couldn’t afford to be satisfied.

Because the power he needed wasn’t “one thousand nine hundred.”

It was eight thousand.

Only when “Dark Grey” reached that magnitude could he be eighty percent certain of victory.

That was the bar he’d set for himself—a level far beyond the reach of any ordinary Star Starbearer.

If he couldn’t achieve that… then in the future, he’d be nothing more than a clown—a stray mutt wandering the battlefield, waiting for someone to kick him to death.

[Stellar Technique—Dark Grey]

Effect: By using the Star-Eclipse Eyes to observe and control the flow of star energy at the microscopic level, and amplifying its rotational velocity through Vector Control, greatly increases the destructive power of the resulting star energy sphere.

Current maximum rotation: 10x

Dark Grey—Tendou’s original technique, born from merging his Vector Control Star Origin with his previous move, Azure.

Its underlying principle was surprisingly simple—akin to the Rasengan from his previous life’s “Naruto.”

He gathered star energy into his palm, compressing it while forcing it to flow chaotically in countless micro-directions, until it coalesced into a dense, attribute-less sphere of energy.

Before obtaining Vector Control, Tendou’s “Azure” could only reach threefold rotation.

But now, with Vector Control amplifying the rotational force, he had pushed that number up to tenfold.

And yet—this was still far from the true limit of Dark Grey.

Because the technique itself had no upper boundary.

As long as the rotation increased, as long as the compression deepened, its power would continue to rise—approaching, in theory, the density of a miniature black hole.

So when he said that Dark Grey has “no upper boundary,” it wasn’t arrogance—it was a statement of scientific fact.

Still, there was one reason no one else could replicate it.

Even if others fully understood its mechanism, they lacked the Star-Eclipse Eyes—a unique ocular technique that allowed its user to see and manipulate star energy with absolute precision.

Without that, the Dark Grey was nothing more than a fantasy.

A technique belonging to Tendou alone.

But regardless of its boundless potential, his current body imposed an inescapable ceiling.

Right now, tenfold rotation was his absolute limit.

To go beyond, he had only two options—either raise his innate star energy value, or further evolve his Vector Control.

Neither, however, would come easily.

With that heavy thought, Tendou turned his gaze toward his status screen—the digital reflection of his strength.

. . .

[Character Status Window]

Name: Masamune Tendou (Children of The Stars of Ember Organization)

Age: 12

Star Origin: Vector Control (10%)

Star Core: Star-Eclipse Eyes (Compatibility 100%)

Star Energy Value: 200

Attributes: Strength S / Agility S / Spirit S / Constitution S

Skills: Star Energy Manipulation (Master), Flash Step (Master), Starbeast Encyclopedia (Expert)—

Current Popularity Points: 150,000

Loaned Popularity Points: 1,000,000 (Maxed Out)

. . .

Staring at the glowing data panel floating before him, Tendou let out a quiet sigh.

‘Three whole days… and my star energy only went up this much?’

‘At this pace, if I don’t get my hands on that special item that boosts star energy cultivation soon, there’s no way I’ll reach the upper limit of 900 within half a year.’

‘And the opponent from the Four Great Houses isn’t just any second-order Starbearer. If my peak energy doesn’t break 900, I won’t even scratch that guy—much less take him down with me.’

He frowned, clenching his fist as a faint spark of frustration lit his palm.

‘No, I need to speed up my popularity gain—fast. Only then can I buy that thing.’

‘Otherwise… forget setting off a brilliant display of fireworks—I’ll be lucky not to end up as the clown standing beneath them.’

His eyes narrowed, scanning through the projections of upcoming broadcast schedules.

‘But the next five to eight episodes of Stellaris are all slice-of-life arcs.’

‘With pacing like that, there’s zero room for a big, attention-grabbing event. Unless… I can somehow create extra story content beyond the original script.’

‘Problem is… where exactly am I supposed to get that extra story from?’

Just as Tendou was mulling over the dilemma, the heavy training room doors slid open with a hiss.

Chen Xing and Chen Kong—siblings, both recognizable faces—stepped inside.

The moment Tendou saw them, his eyes lit up like twin supernovas.

“Oh-ho,” he muttered under his breath, a sly grin tugging at the corner of his lips.

‘Well, if that isn’t perfect timing.’

‘I was just wondering where to stir up some action… and the universe sent me a pair of volunteers.’

‘You two,’ he thought, suppressing a laugh, ‘are absolute lifesavers.’

No—better yet.

‘My lucky stars.’

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