Chapter 282: The Second Aether Resonance
Chapter 282: The Second Aether Resonance
"Haa..."
Amidst the howling gale, Ji Xinghuo soared through the skies at high speed, his body shielded from the biting cold wind by the flux-form barrier.
Looking down upon the earth, everything seemed diminished in size.
Ahead, the towering snow-capped peaks that reached into the clouds seemed within arm's reach.
Weaving through the clouds and snowflakes, he truly felt the taste of "freedom," his heart elated, prompting him to let out a loud shout.
"This is amazing!"
"Now this is what I call flying; what I did before was just floating."
Ji Xinghuo watched as the wind and mist sped by in his field of vision, left behind as he changed directions at will, accelerating and decelerating, climbing and diving, reveling in the joy of flight.
Sometimes he skimmed the ground, startling beasts from their winter slumber; other times, he darted through tall forests, agile as a swallow and swift as the wind, yet never touching a single branch. Suddenly, he would accelerate and surge into the sky, stirring up a whirlwind.
He even experimented with flying upside down and lying down, trying out various flight postures and seeking the trajectory that best conformed to aerodynamics.
Whoosh!
Ji Xinghuo, who had been flying at high speed, suddenly came to a halt, transitioning from extreme movement to absolute stillness. He adjusted his posture from a horizontal orientation to a standing position, hovering in mid-air.
He glanced at the interface of the Myriad Star Pupils and noticed that his stellar power was almost depleted.
"So fast!"
Ji Xinghuo was a bit surprised. In less than half an hour of flight, his stellar power had dropped to just over 400 points, less than a tenth of its original amount.
If each flight consumed this much stellar power, endurance would be a significant issue.
"I must be flying too fast."
Earlier, he had felt that the faster he flew, the more stellar power he consumed, and this consumption increased not gradually but exponentially.
Slowing down his flight speed should allow him to sustain it for longer.
However, he had not yet grasped the numerical relationship between specific flight speeds and stellar power consumption and needed to experiment further.
Ji Xinghuo scanned his surroundings and realized he had flown about ten kilometers away from Peach Blossom Gorge.
He found a random spot to land and waited for over two hours for his stellar power to fully recover, reaching a total of 3,440 points.
"Recovering by 20 points of stellar power per minute."
This was the recovery efficiency after advancing from Aether Affinity to Aether Resonance, an absurdly fast rate compared to other Superhumans or Fourth Stage Evolvers.
"Let's try a full-speed flight first." Ji Xinghuo roared as he soared into the sky once more, reaching a height of five to six hundred meters in just a few seconds. He arced through the sky and then flew parallel to the ground, using both magnetic fields and shockwave turbulence to fly at top speed.
His body parted the air, emitting a thunderous roar.
His stellar power diminished rapidly.
Ji Xinghuo fixed his gaze on the numbers in the interface, and just as his stellar power was about to run out, he lowered his altitude and landed on the ground, the very last bit of stellar power expended.
He raised his left wrist to check the time on his mechanical watch.
"Exactly five minutes."
Ji Xinghuo shook his head; the stellar power consumption at full speed was enormous, averaging nearly 700 points per minute, while the amount recovered during that time could be negligible.
He turned to look back at the direction from which he had come, estimating the distance to be about 35 kilometers.
He quickly calculated that his maximum speed during the full-speed flight was approximately 115 meters per second, equivalent to a speed of 415 kilometers per hour.
This was much slower than he had imagined.
Forget about breaking the sound barrier in the Star Realm; even on Earth, he was far from achieving supersonic speeds.
And it would take nearly three hours to recover all his stellar power.
Ji Xinghuo clicked his tongue; this truly was a case of "charging for three hours for five minutes of use."
Then, he waited at the spot for his stellar power to refill before taking off again. This time, he slowed down his flight speed, maintaining different velocities for several minutes at a time and recording the data. He then increased his speed slightly and calculated the stellar power consumption, repeating this process to refine his understanding of the relationship between speed and power consumption.
Just before nightfall, Ji Xinghuo finally obtained the results he sought.
When he reduced his flight speed to around 35 meters per second, or 125 kilometers per hour, and maintained this cruising speed, he only consumed 40 points of stellar power per minute.
Factoring in the constant recovery of stellar power, he could achieve an endurance of 170 minutes!
This duration matched the time it took for his stellar power to recover to its maximum level without any other activities.
If he flew faster, the endurance would plummet, and while flying slower would extend the duration, a speed lower than 125 kilometers per hour would be slower than many flying mounts, rendering it inefficient for long-distance travel. It would be better to just buy a mount instead.
Ji Xinghuo turned back toward the direction of Peach Blossom Gorge and continued flying while pondering.
"There are only two ways to increase endurance: one is to increase the total amount of stellar power, which means cultivating and accelerating the evolution process to reach the Legendary stage sooner; the other is to speed up the recovery of stellar power so that it regenerates faster during flight, naturally extending the duration."
"The first method won't yield results in a short period."
Previously, Ji Xinghuo had estimated that by fusing with two or three exotic species and reaching the upper limit of Superhumans, his stellar power could break through to 12,000 points.
If he focused solely on cultivation and utilized the "Aether Refining Solvent," based on his previous experience at Skyfall Cliff, he could increase his stellar power by an average of 12 points per Star Realm day. A simple calculation indicated that it would take him over 700 Star Realm days to reach the bottleneck, which equated to four Earth years.
"It'll take that long!"
Ji Xinghuo hadn't calculated it seriously before, but now that he did, he was startled by the result.
Four years to go from a newly advanced Superhuman to reaching the bottleneck was actually an incredibly rapid pace, a feat achievable by only a handful of people throughout global history.
By then, he would still be in his twenties.
Having several times the number of exotic species as others gave him a significant boost in strength but also slowed down his advancement speed.
In the long run, the benefits would far outweigh the drawbacks.
It was a fortunate dilemma.
"Since I can't increase my stellar power in a short period, I can only consider the second method." Ji Xinghuo halted his flight and took out an irregularly shaped crystal from his dimensional pouch.
Information about the exotic species appeared before his eyes.
[Exotic Species: Aether Affinity]
[Grade: Superlimit]
[Fusion Success Rate: 100%]
[Upgradable: Yes]
The effects of Aether-related abilities could be superimposed, which had been confirmed by countless Superhumans. Some profession templates even intentionally fused multiple "Aether Sensitivities" and coveted "Aether Affinity" to increase stellar power and enhance evolution speed.
"I still have one more fusion opportunity."
Ji Xinghuo thought, "If I fuse another Aether Affinity and invest spiritual source power to upgrade it, I can get a second 'Aether Resonance' and solve both problems at once."
Not only would it accelerate his cultivation speed and enable him to reach the Legendary stage sooner, but it would also benefit him for life.
Moreover, his stellar power recovery would be even faster.
If his stellar power recovery could be doubled, he could maintain his cruising speed and fly for tens of thousands of kilometers without stopping!
He glanced at the Myriad Star Pupils interface and saw that he had over 38,000 points of spiritual source power left.
"That's almost enough."
Without hesitation, Ji Xinghuo changed his flight direction, moving further and further away from Peach Blossom Gorge. He landed on the waist of a mountain over a hundred kilometers away.
By then, the sky had darkened.
"Perfect." He looked up at the night sky. "The night can conceal part of the star-falling phenomenon, making it less startling."
Ji Xinghuo spread out his electromagnetic induction, sensing only some monster beasts in the area, most of which were hibernating and posed no threat.
There was also little human activity in this highland region.
Ji Xinghuo found a narrow ice cave and flew into it, taking out the Aether Affinity exotic species and popping it into his mouth, swallowing it whole.
Soon, he felt changes occurring within his body.
This fusion process was similar to when he had fused "Aether Sensitivity," but it was even more intense, with a vast amount of Aether energy surging into his body and initiating a profound transformation.
As time passed, his perception of Aether energy became increasingly acute.
Moments later, Ji Xinghuo saw additional information appear on the interface: [Ability: Aether Affinity (Level 5 1/35759)].
"It's directly at Level 5!"
He was pleasantly surprised.
At the same time, after fusing this Aether Affinity, his stellar power increased by more than 300, reaching 3,755 points! Even without upgrading the Aether Affinity, his stellar power recovery speed had increased significantly.
Without delay, Ji Xinghuo invested spiritual source power into the Aether Affinity.
In the blink of an eye, the upgrade progress of Aether Affinity reached its peak, and at the moment it became (Level 5 35759/35759), he perceived a change in the outside world.
The already pitch-black night sky transformed into a dazzling spectacle, with countless stars and the Milky Way reflected in the distant depths of the universe.
"Starfall phenomenon!"
Ji Xinghuo walked out of the ice cave and looked up at the sky.
This was the third time he had witnessed the starfall phenomenon, and each time it had been triggered by himself.
In the reflection of the Milky Way, a bright star wobbled a few times, transforming into a falling star that rushed in his direction. Many of the wild beasts and monsters in this area were startled awake, some fleeing in terror while others roared at the sky.
Ji Xinghuo paid them no heed and silently waited for more than ten minutes.
When the phenomenon subsided, the ability upgrade was also complete.
[Ability: Aether Resonance (Level 6 1/182111)], he looked at the daunting requirement of 180,000 points of spiritual source power for the next upgrade and shook his head helplessly. With two Aether Resonances, both of which were starfall abilities, he didn't know how long it would take to upgrade them.
Ji Xinghuo carefully sensed the changes in his stellar power.
The superimposition of the two Aether Resonances made his perception of Aether energy extremely acute, to the point where he could directly see Aether energy with his naked eye by focusing slightly.
Moreover, he vaguely felt that he could directly manipulate the surrounding Aether energy!
But he lacked that crucial last step to make it happen.
"Never mind, I'll research it later."
Ji Xinghuo took to the sky once more, his body shooting up like a cannonball amid a loud rumble and disappearing into the night in the blink of an eye.
After flying for just two or three minutes, he was already delighted.
When he maintained a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, the consumption of stellar power decreased while the recovery increased simultaneously.
The stellar power value on the interface kept fluctuating but eventually stabilized at around 3,750 points, indicating that he could maintain his current speed until his physical strength or mental energy was exhausted.
"With my physical fitness, I can fly continuously for ten days and nights in the Star Realm, even without eating, drinking, or sleeping!"
"In fact, I can go even faster."
Ji Xinghuo's thoughts stirred, and he immediately accelerated, resembling a fighter jet streaking across the dark night sky, swift as lightning. Before long, he returned to Peach Blossom Gorge.
As he decelerated and descended, passing through the spatial ripples and entering the secret realm, he saw Ren Mian sitting in the courtyard, waiting for him.
There was a hint of uncertainty in Ren Mian's eyes as she asked, "Xinghuo, where did you go?"
(End of Chapter)
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