AutumnXd
patreon
Chapter 34: Strengthening Heatblast
🕑 Added 2025-06-11 10:10:03 +0000 UTCLily addressed Sarah’s hopeful expression with a dose of reality. "The official admission threshold for Pinnacle University is Rank Two, Level Five. With Ethan's current training speed, he can completely and utterly reach this rank before the college entrance exams."
Hearing this, Sarah was overjoyed. "Doesn't that mean he's all set then? He can get in!"
Lily shook her head gently. "How can it be that simple, sis? Pinnacle University only recruits three thousand students each year from across the entire nation. Just one major city like ours has over a million high school exam candidates, and that's just one of thousands of population centers. How many are there in all of the Global Concord? Millions upon millions of psionic students compete for just three thousand spots. How could you possibly get in just by reaching the bare minimum threshold? They definitely select from the absolute top down. Normally, the public admission threshold is basically the minimum rank a person can possibly have to even be considered a candidate."
Although humanity's living space had been squeezed by the appearance of monstrous beasts, the entire surface area of Earth had expanded by tens of times due to the Aura Resurgence. The Global Concord's territory had not decreased but had instead increased significantly, and its population had not decreased by much either, with a total population of over ten billion people.
Hearing these staggering numbers, Sarah started to get nervous again. "Then… then does Ethan still have a chance?"
Lily smiled reassuringly. "There is still a chance, but he needs to aim higher. The number of students who want to apply to the university each year is countless. Those who just barely reach the minimum threshold have no real hope at all. If he seriously wants to get in on his own merit, he has to at least reach Rank Two, Level Eight, or even Level Nine by the time of the exam. Of course," she added with a shrug, "if he can somehow advance to Rank Three, then it's a sure thing, no questions asked. But advancing through the major ranks is not that easy. I have little hope of him reaching Rank Three in just one year. Worst case scenario, I'll talk to my mentor at the university when the time comes; he should give me some face."
Of course, the unspoken premise was that he had to at least reach the Rank Two, Level Five minimum. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be qualified for her to go through the back door for him. If he could perform outstandingly in the college entrance exams, perhaps he wouldn't even need to use his connections.
Simon looked skeptical. "That's the most formidable university in all of the Global Concord. Can you really go through the back door just like that?"
Lily snorted, a flash of pride in her eyes. "Hmph, even Pinnacle has back doors. Who do you think I am, brother-in-law? I should be able to get some face. After all, in an era where the legendary Celestial-rank talents are absent, those with Legendary and Master-rank talents are the future peak power of humanity. Such a powerful innate talent is not some common cabbage you can find at the market. In my entire cohort at Pinnacle, there was only one with a Legendary-rank talent—me—and only three with Master-rank talents. The vast majority of the rest were Superior-rank. There are also a couple hundred with Earth-rank talents who have special, unique abilities and are willing to work incredibly hard who have a chance to get in. As for those with talents below Earth-rank… that's practically impossible."
Sarah looked a little worried. "The competition is so incredibly fierce? Ethan has you as a potential back door, but what about those two other kids, Marcus and Seraphina? Ethan has such a good relationship with them; I'm afraid this matter will affect their feelings. After all, having such close friends is not an easy thing to find these days."
Lily considered this. "Is it Marcus Vance and Seraphina Linley? I'm somewhat familiar with their families' reputations. Normally, with their innate talents, they would have no hope. After all, one's talent is Earth-rank, which is good, but his ability type, pure physical enhancement, is quite common. The other one has a good support-type ability, but her innate talent is too weak to stand out on a national stage. If things were the same as in previous years, they would have absolutely no hope of getting into Pinnacle University."
Hearing this, Sarah looked a little disappointed, but Simon keenly caught the specific words she used. "Lily, what do you mean, 'same as before'? Could it be that next year's entrance exam will be different?"
"Yes, sister-in-law," Lily confirmed. "Next year's college entrance exam will indeed be different, but I can't tell you how it will be different. This information is highly confidential. I came back to New Veridia this time not just to see you all, but also to discuss the specific details of the new exam format with the local officials. After all," she said with a proud smile, "I will be appearing at the examination venue next year as an official examiner."
Simon and Sarah were very surprised. "You're going to be an examiner? That's so impressive! I remember in previous years, the college entrance exams, besides the theory test, were just about having the students fight each other in a tournament to decide who was stronger. Will next year be different?"
"I can't say," Lily remained very tight-lipped. No matter how they asked, she would absolutely not reveal a single word. Sarah could also understand the need for secrecy.
"Never mind then," Sarah said. "As long as there's hope for them, that’s fine. Aiya, we've been chatting for so long without even realizing it. I have to hurry up and cook! You guys just wait here." Sarah ran into the kitchen and began to prepare a grand meal for their family reunion.
Meanwhile, in his room, Ethan was still wrestling with his unpredictable Omnitrix. "Forget it," he thought, frustrated, "I can't figure anything out just by looking at it. I'll transform and test it out. I just hope it doesn't disappoint me after eating that valuable Skill Aura Core."
Ethan turned the dial to Heatblast and pressed the watch face. In the living room, Lily sensed this fluctuation of psionic energy, glanced briefly towards his room, then turned her head back to silently drink her tea with a faint, knowing smile.
After completing his transformation, Ethan looked at his current Heatblast form in the mirror and found that it was indeed different from before. Visibly, Heatblast was now a bit taller and sturdier, especially his shoulders, which were slightly bulging with what looked like condensed rock plates.
"Is this… growing up?" he wondered aloud, his voice a chorus of crackling flames. "From a youth form to an adolescent one?" He knew that the watch's transformations were related to the user's own age. A youth like him now, the transformed alien hero was also in its youth form. But after the watch absorbed the energy from the Skill Aura Core specifically for Heatblast, it had actually allowed this one form to advance towards its adolescent or young adult stage.
"Does it just need to be any Aura Core, or does it have to be a fire-attribute one? Or must it have a skill inside?" Ethan still had two attribute-less, normal Aura Cores in his possession. He was originally planning to use them after reaching the peak of Level Nine to help him break through the final bottlenecks to Level Ten and then into Rank Two. Just now, that Skill Aura Core had been fed entirely to Heatblast. Although that psionic energy had also pushed his own progress from forty percent to about fifty percent of the way through Level Eight… After thinking about it, he decided not to use his remaining cores for now. After all, if attribute-less Aura Cores worked, why would the Omnitrix only feed Heatblast and not any of his other unlocked alien heroes? It seemed to be a specific interaction.
He sensed the fire element within his transformed body and found that it was indeed a bit stronger, a bit hotter, than before. Heatblast's flame strength was heavily influenced and controlled by one's emotions, but for him, his emotional state was also limited. The consumption of psionic energy and the intensity of the flame he could produce were directly proportional. This normally required him to constantly replenish his psionic energy to maintain the flame's highest strength.
However, this new upgrade was not without its significant benefits. After Heatblast was strengthened, not only was his initial flame strength limit increased, but the base power of the flames he could now release was enhanced by about thirty percent. That is to say, even if he was not affected by his emotions, the flames he now wielded would still be significantly stronger than before, while the consumption of his psionic energy to produce them would remain unchanged.
"Not bad," Ethan said to himself with satisfaction. "Although I didn't get a new discrete skill from the core, Heatblast itself is a powerful skill. Its own strengthening is like giving a tiger wings for me, which can greatly enhance my firepower output." Ethan was very satisfied with this result, and he even hoped that there could be more such enhancements in the future. He deeply understood how much this thirty percent base strengthening would improve his actual combat power. This meant that his baseline attack power in any battle was now greatly enhanced. At the same time, it also made him more confident in facing the various challenges that lay ahead. Next, he looked forward to continuing to explore more possibilities, pushing his own strength to an even higher level.
