Born Gambler

"This is such garbage. If this were a high-level star block, there'd be a crowd of teachers from various mecha schools clamoring to recruit students during the talent test. It's one thing that our awakening pods are rented, but there isn't even a single teacher from a proper school here."

Qin An squeezed himself to Zhou Yi's side at some point, saying with a tut.

"It's a star block that's about to dissipate. It's abnormal if anyone shows up. Isn't your family quite wealthy? Why haven't you moved yet?"

Qin An's family hadn't moved in until after he was born; they weren't native residents, and there was a clear difference in their demeanor compared to the other natives.

Their living conditions were also exceptionally good. The original Zhou Yi had always liked to visit Qin An's house to mooch some dried insects since he was young.

"It's because I've grown attached to it. My dad said we'll move after my awakening test is done. When is your family moving? Will we still be neighbors then!"

Qin An said excitedly.

"Don't even think about it. If your family moves to a B-class or C-class star block, my family can't afford it. See you around, brother!"

Zhou Yi waved his hand at Qin An.

As they chatted and laughed, the line moved forward, and it was soon Zhou Yi's turn.

"Excuse me for cutting in, please understand. I can't help it; I'm so nervous I feel like I need to go to the bathroom."

Qin An pushed his way in front of Zhou Yi.

"Look at you, you can't even handle this. Don't go home and have to wash your pants."

Zhou Yi rolled his eyes and gave up his spot.

One person per minute; they'd finish the test today sooner or later, no need to rush.

When it was Qin An's turn, he jumped onto the platform like a monkey, in two or three quick movements, and got into the awakening machine.

Soon, a pattern appeared on the screen: a sun.

This was the first sun to appear today, or perhaps the only one.

Zhou Yi stood in the crowd, hearing gasps of shock.

She wasn't surprised at all. If someone like Qin An had a low-level talent, it would be inconsistent with his privileged family background.

It was worth noting that the genetic inheritance of talent had been confirmed by multiple large-scale data analyses from the Interstellar Research Institute.

People with low-level talents generally lived on low-level star blocks, and their children usually didn't have high talents either.

Over time, it had become a tacit understanding among humans that low-level star blocks were inhabited by the weak, and most of the inhabitants of high-level star blocks were the strong.

This was also why no mecha schools were willing to recruit at the awakening tests on low-level star blocks; they likely didn't want to waste unnecessary time.

Zhou Yi had been watching here all morning. The talent patterns of the children on D71 were almost all stars, with only two moons.

There was only Qin An, the sole sun.

Soon, the machine opened, and Qin An emerged again.

"Teacher, what pattern did I get?"

Those being awakened couldn't see their talent level inside the machine. Qin An rubbed the back of his neck and asked the teacher standing nearby excitedly.

There weren't many people on D71 star block to begin with, and with the impending dissipation, many had moved to other star blocks.

The teacher on the platform was an old acquaintance of both Qin An and Zhou Yi; it was their homeroom teacher who had wished them a happy graduation yesterday.

"Sun. Qin An, stay behind for a moment. Teacher has something to tell you."

Teacher Wu had been a teacher on D71 star block for most of his life. He knew that Qin An wasn't originally from this star block, and seeing his talent level now didn't surprise him much. He just asked him to go down and stay behind.

"Sun!! I'm actually a sun!"

Qin An only heard the first two words from the teacher; his mind went blank after that, and his smile stretched almost to his ears.

It was Zhou Yi who jumped onto the platform, kicked him off, and got into the machine herself.

The machine's lid slowly lowered. Sitting inside, Zhou Yi felt as if her entire body was enveloped in warmth, just like being in her mother's womb.

Rays of red light fell upon Zhou Yi, finally concentrating on her dantian.

Within her dantian, the chakras already contained the Star Power Zhou Yi had accumulated through her cultivation. At this moment, the usually obedient Star Power seemed to be drawn by something, spinning wildly within the chakras.

Zhou Yi closed her eyes, trying hard to control the Star Power, but her strength was too weak; she was completely unable to contend with those red linear forces.

Pain...

Zhou Yi gritted her teeth, knowing this was the awakening.

She had looked up the principle of the awakening machine on the star brain; it was divided into two steps: awakening and testing.

First, the talent power within the human body was awakened, using external energy to stimulate the body's innate talent.

After awakening came the testing, which determined the level of the stimulated talent.

The normal awakening process was very fast because the dantian of ordinary unawakened children was empty; awakening only served to stimulate the chakras, which contained no Star Power.

But Zhou Yi was different. Her Star Power was drawn by the external energy, causing a vortex to form in her chakras, with energy spinning at high speed.

The internal energy and external energy were pulling at each other, neither willing to yield.

Zhou Yi was already sweating profusely from the pain, her eyes tightly shut. In her heart, she repeatedly recited the Star Gathering Technique, trying hard to control her Star Power and prevent it from becoming too volatile.

She had known for a long time that the awakening today would be painful, but she had still come.

Her goal wasn't just to hide the fact that she had awakened. She had entered the awakening testing machine for an even more important reason.

As Zhou Yi silently recited the incantations of the Star Gathering Technique over and over, his Star Power gradually became more obedient. Not only that, but the vortex formed by his Star Power was circulating within his chakras, even pulling the red linear energy from the outside into Zhou Yi's dantian bit by bit.

Zhou Yi had not been self-awakened for long, and the capacity of his chakras was limited. As the red energy entered Zhou Yi's body bit by bit, his chakras were gradually filled.

The pain struck again. Zhou Yi felt as if he were about to explode. This time, even the Star Gathering Technique couldn't alleviate his pain one bit.

Fortunately, the period of pain did not last long. The red energy was originally meant to stimulate the generation of chakras. Now that it had entered the chakras, it naturally took on the role of expanding the chakra space.

All of Zhou Yi's consciousness was focused on his dantian. He could feel his Star Power and the red energy intertwining and merging into his own energy. He could also feel his chakras constantly expanding.

Increasing Star Power was difficult enough, and expanding chakras even by a fraction required immense time and effort.

But all of this was achieved in an instant.

This was the reason Zhou Yi had to enter the awakening machine this time. Since the energy inside could stimulate talent, why not try to make that energy work for him?

It had to be said, Zhou Yi's courage was immense. Perhaps it was because he was living a second life, or perhaps he was a natural gambler.