After consuming about half of her blue mana, the energy core on the Mechanical Apostle’s chest lit up. Although the green crystal emitting blue light was quite pretty… but, but… wasn’t this too conspicuous?

Wen Yuncheng suddenly regretted using Abyssal Crystal to create the Mechanical Apostle.

[You can paint it! If you paint it black, it won’t leak light!] 1947 suggested. [Besides, I think it looks pretty good this way. It even has a lighting effect.]

“No, that’s too flashy. It doesn’t suit my low-key style.”

[You mean it doesn’t suit your cheapskate style.]

Wen Yuncheng: …Aiya, it’s all the same~

She watched as the Mechanical Apostle slowly began to move. It looked at itself, and with a fluctuation of Star Power, Wen Yuncheng “heard” the Mechanical Apostle’s voice appear directly in her mind. It said, “At your service, Master.”

She had a bodyguard now. Wen Yuncheng smiled, “Your name is Number One.”

“Yes.”

Wen Yuncheng generously bought black paint and started to give Number One some “clothes.” Otherwise, its translucent body looked like it was running around naked, and the mechanical core on its chest was far too conspicuous. Wen Yuncheng meticulously painted Apostle Number One black, then added red to a few angular parts on its chest, painted the face white, and simply drew on robot-like eyes. With that, the work was complete.

[Congratulations, you’ve finally become a qualified Mechanical Master.] 1947 was genuinely relieved for Wen Yuncheng. With the Mechanical Apostle, a Mechanical Master’s survivability was greatly increased. The turrets were a lottery prize and didn’t count. Now that Wen Yuncheng could also craft the C-02 Enemy-Annihilator, she truly had the standard configuration of a Mechanical Master.

The C-02 Enemy-Annihilator was a mini fighter jet, only the size of a basketball, but it could fly and could automatically or manually evade attacks. It could fly up to a maximum height of 15 meters and had two attack modes: bullets and a Star Power cannon. The bullets had to be purchased from the shop; a set of 60 ordinary bullets cost 1 point. For 2 points, a set of ordinary bullets could be upgraded to Flame Rounds or Freeze Rounds.

Having two attack modes made assembling the Enemy-Annihilator even more complex. Wen Yuncheng carefully studied the blueprints, then looked at the concept art 1947 showed her, and gritted her teeth: Build it! No matter how hard, I have to build it! Once I build this, I’ll dominate the skies up to fifteen meters! Unfortunately, not much of the expensive Abyssal Crystal was left. Number One was only 1.7 meters tall, so it was completely unexpected that it would consume so much of it.

Wen Yuncheng weighed the remaining Abyssal Crystal and figured she could probably only make a pair of Mechanical Wings.

Speaking of Mechanical Wings, they were also part of the mechanical set. They were a deployable glider and could consume blue mana in exchange for a short period of hovering ability. To be honest, it wasn’t that powerful, but for someone at the Star Master level—it could fly! Even a short-term flight ability was enough to save one’s life at a critical moment.

Wen Yuncheng glanced at her Star Stone balance. These Star Stones wouldn’t earn any interest sitting in her card. She thought about the upcoming exchange tournament and Yan Ling’s words about things being “not so peaceful.” Steeling her resolve, she went straight to the auction house again and bought a million Star Stones’ worth of Abyssal Crystal. The Enemy-Annihilator’s interior didn’t require an energy core. If she made it with Abyssal Crystal… the transparent, crystal-like material would be difficult to spot in the air.

Because this was her second purchase, Wen Yuncheng managed to haggle the price down after some persuasion, closing the deal at two thousand eight hundred per kilogram. The Abyssal Crystal filled her ring, and she immediately put it into the crafting template to make the Mechanical Wings first.

After she successfully challenged Yao Mu, Yan Ling stopped urging her to go to the Dueling Arena, allowing Wen Yuncheng a period of free development. When Wen Yuncheng advanced to Star Master, she told Yan Ling about it. Yan Ling simply praised her and didn’t drag her back to the Dueling Arena for grueling training.

Thus, Wen Yuncheng had ample time to craft and assemble the Mechanical Wings and the Enemy-Annihilators.

Half a month later, Wen Yuncheng finally understood why Yan Ling hadn’t been pushing her to train. It was because… Yan Ling had broken through. Yan Ling had advanced to Star King.

How did Wen Yuncheng find out about this? Because the first thing Yan Ling did after successfully advancing was to mock Qiu Fei and drag her to the combat room for a satisfying fight. This audacious move stunned even Headmaster Tao. Just after she had reconciled the two, Qiu Fei turned around and went into seclusion as well, vowing to break through to Star King and get her revenge.

Headmaster Tao: …They’re not students anymore, so why are they still so childish?

However, Qiu Fei had only been in seclusion for a month before she was forced to come out. The Academy Exchange Tournament had arrived.

Host: Wen Yuncheng

Race: Human

Age: 16

Class: Mechanical Master

Level: 30

Experience: 6255/17000

Points: 734

[Mission Activated: Star Academy Championship]

[Mission Requirement: Lead Star Academy to the glory of first place!]

[Mission Reward: 15000 EXP, 500 Points]

Wen Yuncheng sucked in a sharp breath. This was definitely 1947’s most generous offer yet. Of course, it also represented… the difficulty of winning the exchange tournament.

Both the second-year and third-year groups had seven students participating, with the strongest drawn from S-Class and A-Class to compete. The second-year S-Class had Wen Yuncheng and Lin Jinyu, while A-Class had Li Kongyi, Xie Chengcheng, Jiang Siruo, Gu Yinan, and Zhang Xueyu.

The third-year S-Class representative was Yao Mu. Wen Yuncheng wasn’t too familiar with the A-Class students.

They departed in mid-December. By then, Wen Yuncheng had already crafted and become proficient with the Mechanical Wings. Although she couldn’t pull off any flashy acrobatic stunts, she also no longer suddenly took off, crashed into a wall, and fell in the combat room, nor did she wobble unsteadily, unable to control the flow of blue mana, causing the wings to move her up and down like a drop tower ride.

She had also made eleven Enemy-Annihilators. The first one had taken her a full five nights to assemble; both its parts and internal structure were incredibly complex. Wen Yuncheng had to meticulously compare it to the blueprints piece by piece to successfully put it together. However, she got the hang of it later, and it became much easier, though it still took a considerable amount of time.

Twenty-nine turrets, forty-seven Guardians, and eleven Enemy-Annihilators. These were all of Wen Yuncheng’s trump cards.

On the seventeenth, Lin Jinyu gave her a gift as usual—a small box. Inside were three Body-Tempering Fruits. There was also a familiar little note. The front read “Happy Birthday,” and the back said, “May your stars shine brightly in the sky.”

Of course, she was also treated to a meal by Zhou Xuan and the others, received Star Stones from Yao Mu and Cheng Jiangliu, and was gifted a fifty-square-meter storage ring full of Abyssal Crystal from Yan Ling. Wen Yuncheng silently committed all these kindnesses to memory. Sooner or later, she would repay them.

As for Lin Jinyu’s blessing, 1947 had thought Wen Yuncheng would be sad seeing the words “May your stars shine brightly in the sky.” It had even prepared to comfort her with the future prospects of a Mechanical Master, but unexpectedly, Wen Yuncheng just smiled and carefully put the card away.

1947 asked if she wasn’t sad.

Wen Yuncheng simply said, “I have no stars. Lin Jinyu is my star.”

On the morning of their departure for Liang City, a light snow began to fall, which then grew heavier. Lin Jinyu and Wen Yuncheng were on a Gugu Bird. Wen Yuncheng looked at Lin Jinyu, who was sitting in front of her, and said in a low voice, “Win first place for Star Academy’s second-years.”

“Okay.” Lin Jinyu agreed. Wen Yuncheng felt it was a bit of a pity that she couldn’t see the Little Ice Mountain’s expression. But then again, she figured Lin Jinyu probably didn’t have much of an expression anyway.

Wen Yuncheng gazed at the back of Lin Jinyu’s neck and the stray hairs behind her ear, suddenly recalling Lin Jinyu’s birthday wish—it had all come true.

Advance to Star Master together.

As for next year? Lin Jinyu’s birthday was approaching. Wen Yuncheng didn’t know how long this exchange tournament would last or if the Little Ice Mountain would spend her birthday at Breeze Academy, but one thing was certain: she would be there.

She would always be there.

The journey to Liang City was not smooth; they ran straight into a blizzard. They were forced to stop and rest in another town. Fortunately, they had departed early, so they avoided the embarrassment of being late. After arriving in Liang City, they were quickly received by Breeze Academy and checked into a hotel near the campus.

Liang City was crowded with people. Students wearing their academy emblems on their chests could be seen everywhere on the streets. Wen Yuncheng and the others also put on their Star Academy emblems. The emblem was made of Fire Crystal Stone, the same material as the statue at the academy’s main gate. Faint starlight flickered within the Fire Crystal Stone, forming the Star Academy crest. If one were to pry off the Fire Crystal Stone and sell it, it could be exchanged for a good number of Star Stones.

Of course, no one usually did such a thing.

“This competition is divided into two stages.” The fourteen participating students from Star Academy were gathered in a lounge, where Teacher Tan Qing was explaining the rules of the competition.

“In the first stage, academies will be paired up to fight in a ring-style tournament. The winning academy will advance to the next stage.”

“The second stage uses a point system, with rankings based on points. The competition is divided into three types: ring matches, team matches, and individual matches. For the ring matches, the winner is the academy with the last person standing on the stage. They will receive a base of 7 points, with an additional point for each team member who did not have to fight.”

“For the team matches, it will be a seven-person team battle. The winner gets 7 points, with an additional point for each team member still standing on the stage who has not lost their ability to fight.”

“The ring and team matches are between randomly selected academies. For the individual matches, each person can challenge a randomly drawn opponent from any academy other than their own. Everyone gets one chance to challenge. A loss costs 5 points, while a win earns 1 point. Winners can continue to challenge consecutively. You can also forfeit your chance to challenge.”

“Teacher, why is it so complicated!” Yao Mu couldn’t help but complain. “I can’t even remember it all… Forget it, as long as we win, it’ll be fine~”

“Yes, the format is indeed very complex this time. After all, it’s a test of an academy’s comprehensive strength.” Tan Qing smiled. “If you win everything, you’ll naturally get a good ranking. However, for now, our goal is to make it to the second stage. Over the next few days, I hope you all do your best to familiarize yourselves with the environment and adjust your condition to perform better in the competition.”

“By the way, Wen Yuncheng. In this competition, the machines you’ve crafted still cannot be used.” Tan Qing showed a helpless expression, but he quickly reassured her, “However, equipment like your mechanical armguard and hand cannon are not restricted.”