Star Source Awakening

Holy crap! That presence!

You're the challenger. Damn, Old Tian, you're that confident?

Can you win, Old Tian?

As they watched Tiandao deliver his declaration of victory on the screen,

the audience at Station 13 in the real world not only did not question him,

but instead felt that those words suited Tiandao's temperament perfectly.

After all, ever since the first episode of "Stellaris Prequel: Ember," Tiandao had left them with a deep impression as a Natural Strongman.

And that fixed impression meant Tiandao could die, but he absolutely could not lose.

Especially not lose like some clown.

Because if Tiandao lost, his character setting would collapse as well.

In the Stellaris World, the expression beneath the Coral Knight's helmet gradually turned grave as he looked at the arrogant Tiandao.

"So I'm the challenger?"

He reached behind his back and slowly removed the Shell-shaped Heavy Shield he had been carrying all along, a full two meters tall.

Bang!

The heavy shield struck the ground, and the hard concrete floor of the parking lot instantly split with countless cracks. It was clearly struggling to bear the shield's astonishing weight.

Yet the Coral Knight had kept such a heavy shield on his back the entire time and still moved with ease.

This showed just how monstrous his physique truly was.

Holding the shield with both hands, the Coral Knight calmly looked toward Tiandao in the distance.

".Child, then let this challenger see what you can do."

As his words fell, the Coral Knight raised his heavy shield and smashed it down with all his strength.

Boom!

With that fierce blow, several sharp coral spikes instantly sank into the ground and spread rapidly toward Tiandao like vines.

Facing the ferocious coral spikes rushing toward him,

Tiandao showed no intention of dodging. Instead, he stood completely still.

Finally, when the spreading coral spikes reached within five meters of Tiandao,

Tiandao stepped forward with his right foot.

Bang!

The hard concrete ground instantly shattered beneath Tiandao's stomp, spraying countless pieces of rubble in every direction.

Amid the flying debris, three intact stone slabs, each a full meter tall, rose from the ground.

The suddenly raised stone slabs stood like walls between the Coral Knight's coral spikes and Tiandao.

Ordinary concrete slabs naturally could not stop the Star Energy Coral condensed by the Rank 2 Star Envoy Coral Knight.

In the blink of an eye, those raised black concrete walls were sliced through by the Coral Knight's Star Energy Coral as easily as tofu, which then continued toward Tiandao behind them.

But unexpectedly, those swift, razor-sharp Star Energy Corals struck nothing at the very last moment.

Because Tiandao, who had been standing behind the stone walls all along, vanished the instant the Star Energy Coral broke through them.

"Hey, mister, what era is this? You're still playing these little probing games?"

"Get serious, or you're going to lose badly."

In midair, Tiandao's vanished figure appeared above the Coral Knight's head like a ghost.

The Coral Knight's pupils contracted sharply. He clearly had not noticed when Tiandao had vanished, nor when he had reappeared.

But his battle instincts still made the Coral Knight respond instantly.

He raised the massive shell shield high and hid his entire body behind it, assuming a full defensive stance.

In response, Tiandao whipped out a roundhouse kick that tore through the air and smashed heavily into the Coral Knight's shield.

Boom!

Tiandao's kick was heavier than anyone had imagined.

Not only did it create a visible ring of air upon striking the shell shield,

it also forced the two-meter-tall Coral Knight, a strength-type Rank 2 Star Envoy clad head to toe in heavy Coral Armor, to retreat three or four steps in order to bleed off the force.

And with every step the Coral Knight took back, the concrete beneath his feet immediately cracked into a small crater.

After leaving behind four small pits in succession, the Coral Knight finally dispelled the force and steadied himself completely.

At the same time, Tiandao did not rush to attack after delivering that kick.

He landed lightly, then dusted the rubble from his shoulders, as if he had not been fighting at all, but merely playing with the Coral Knight.

On one side was Tiandao, calm as drifting clouds and utterly unhurried.

On the other was the Coral Knight, repeatedly forced back with a solemn expression.

There was no doubt that in this first exchange, the Rank 2 Coral Knight had fallen completely into a disadvantage.

Both in terms of results and momentum.

And this outcome deeply shocked the audience outside the Dimensional Screen.

Good lord, they've already switched to a new map, so why is Old Tian still this domineering?

A Rank 1 kicking back a Rank 2—is that even scientific???

Neither side has gotten serious yet, but judging from the scene, this uncle really is the challenger.

At the same time, seeing the Coral Knight suffer a small loss in their very first clash, Yun Meng, who had been smiling as she watched from afar, finally could not help teasing him. "Coral, I told you Tiandao is different from the others."

"If you still intend to hold back and refuse to get serious, then the result of this test may really turn out just as Little Tian Dao said—you'll lose both face and substance."

Faced with Yun Meng's teasing, the Coral Knight showed no emotional reaction.

He slowly straightened up and effortlessly lifted the massive shell shield that had sunk half a meter into the ground.

Unlike before, when he had held the shield with both hands, the Coral Knight now held it with only one.

As for his freed right hand, he pulled out a one-meter-tall Cross-hook Harpoon from behind his back and aimed it at Tiandao in the distance.

"Child, be careful. I'm going to get serious now."

Tiandao merely shrugged. "You should've done that from the start."

Although Tiandao had just suppressed him,

the Coral Knight was in a better mood than ever.

Because he knew that the stronger Tiandao proved himself to be, the safer the young lady's life at the academy would be.

And if Tiandao could truly defeat him while he was giving it his all,

then it meant he would no longer need to worry about the young lady's days at the academy.

Therefore, the Coral Knight was never afraid of Tiandao being strong. He was only afraid that Tiandao was not strong enough.

Sincerity was always the greatest killing move.

Faced with the honest and simple Coral Knight,

even though his opponent was Tiandao Siming, the current Popularity King of Stellaris,

the audience not only did not develop any dislike for him, but were even somewhat won over by him.

Gotta say, aside from the protagonist, every supporting character in this Stellaris anime has their own distinct charm. I really like this uncle.

This is the character a true knight should have!

Why do I suddenly feel like Tiandao is the villain?

At the same time, as the Coral Knight finally became completely serious,

the Star Energy value on his body began rising at a visible rate.

It did not stop until it reached a full 2,100 points.

Moreover, the small, sharp coral spikes on the Coral Knight's body turned an eerie purple in the process.

They were clearly laced with a potent toxin.

"Oh? You're finally willing to use the awakened ability of a Rank 2 Star Envoy?"

Looking at the Coral Knight, who had finally gotten serious, Tiandao shed his earlier laziness and showed a little interest.

After all, if he still did not get serious, this so-called "test" would truly end in a boring one-sided crush.

And through her words, the audience outside the Dimensional Screen finally understood what separated a "Rank 2 Star Envoy" from a "Rank 1 Star Envoy."

It turned out that the so-called 1,000-point Base Star Energy Value of a Rank 2 Star Envoy was merely one of the thresholds for becoming a Rank 2 Star Envoy.

If a Rank 1 Star Envoy wished to truly cross the boundary into Rank 2,

then in addition to meeting the requirement of a 1,000-point Base Star Energy Value,

they also had to fulfill another condition: the "awakening" of their Star Source.

One awakening made one a Rank 2 Star Envoy.

Secondary Awakening made one a Rank 3 Star Envoy.

Three awakenings made one a Rank 4 Star Envoy.

Thus, although the rank divisions between Star Envoys seemed simple,

the gap between each rank was far greater than ordinary people imagined.

As a Rank 2 Star Envoy, the Coral Knight's first awakened trait of his Star Source, Sea Thorn Coral, was poison.