novelraw Chapter 29 : Awakening
Chapter 29 : Awakening
The small wooden stump hopped forward, looking up at Chen Sui. Chen Sui opened the cockpit and stepped out, retracting the mecha. The girl's figure emerged from the mechanical enclosure.
Everyone finally saw her condition.
The vines on her head were sticking up, and without her noticing, a small flower had bloomed at the tip. The leaves overlapped, swaying with the wind. The ends of her hanging hair were all tiny vine buds, protruding outward, but not bothering her.
Chen Sui instinctively touched her head, pulling at the flower's stem, tugging slightly.
"Ouch," she gasped softly. The stem seemed connected to her head, and when pulled, her brain throbbed painfully.
"Ow-yo."
The small wooden stump also cried out, twisting its body, looking somewhat embarrassed, "Master~"
"You can't pinch me."
Chen Sui was stunned.
Suddenly thinking of something, she flicked the flower branch on her head.
"Ow!"
The small wooden stump immediately cried out again, whimpering, its palm scratching the tree trunk's surface, eyes watery, "Yeen."
Chen Sui understood.
The flower on top of her head was also this wooden stump.
"Master, hug me."
The small wooden stump, noticing Chen Sui stop moving, immediately looked up, reaching out to her.
Its face, extremely similar to Chen Sui's childhood appearance, wore a bright smile, identical green eyes full of obvious longing.
Chen Sui's heart softened, and she reached out to stroke the grass on its head.
"Good."
Looking at the stump's tender appearance, a strange murmur involuntarily sounded in her mind.
"Wood gives birth to flowers..."
The little flower excitedly jumped in her palm, extending its hand toward her, making a flower-sprinkling gesture.
"Master!"
Then withdrawing its hand, hugging itself.
"Flower!"
It was delighted, twisting its body affectionately.
Chen Sui suddenly came to her senses, looking carefully at it. The enormous virtual image of wood-born flower and the adorable little cutie before her could not be connected in any way.
Chen Sui lightly coughed, following the spiritual body affinity tutorial, placing the tree stump on her left shoulder.
It immediately hugged Chen Sui's neck, pressing close intimately, the flower bud on its head nuzzling against the small flower on Chen Sui's head, stickily calling her "master" repeatedly.
Chen Sui patiently nodded in response.
"Is this Suisui's spiritual body?"
After wood-born flower appeared and forcefully killed the Earth Scorpion.
Everyone who had been stunned, watching the entire exchange between Chen Sui and her spiritual body, finally recovered from the stark contrast between the ferocious vines and the docile little wooden stump.
The Star Academy Seven members were particularly curious about Chen Sui's spiritual body.
Tong Wei, seeing her walk back, immediately retracted her mecha, bringing Linglingcat to greet the little flower.
"Hello there, little one~"
She tentatively reached out to the little flower, but the little flower just hugged Chen Sui's neck with both hands, its trunk pressed against Chen Sui's body, its large eyes blinking at Chen Sui.
"Master, I'm hungry."
When she said she was hungry, Tong Wei remembered.
"When a spiritual body first appears, it needs to replenish a lot of energy, and I happen to have brought nourishing agent."
Spiritual bodies are born after the spiritual threshold expands, with a large amount of energy used for spiritual threshold expansion, causing newly born spiritual bodies to feel extremely hungry, especially analysts' spiritual bodies.
Tong Wei took out Linglingcat's small dried fish and handed it to the little flower.
"Would you like to eat this?"
The little flower looked at the small dried fish extended to its mouth, a fishy smell coming over, making it somewhat uncomfortable, leaning closer to Chen Sui and burying itself in Chen Sui's neck.
"Sister, can I not eat it?"
Little flower didn't want to eat fishy fish.
Tong Wei saw her resistance and returned the small dried fish to Linglingcat. Seeing the little companion not accepting its gift, Linglingcat drooped its tail sadly, being comforted by Tong Wei a few times.
"That's fine! Let's try something else."
Tong Wei turned, and Gu Qinxue passed over a carrot, with Xuebai holding one in its hands, looking expectantly at the little flower.
"Eat this."
Chen Sui glanced at the little flower, indicating, "Would you eat this?"
Seeing plant material being offered, the little flower lowered its head in horror, watching Xuebai devouring the carrot, its eyes shaking, then hugging Chen Sui tightly, sobbing with a "wah."
"Wah-wuwu, no, don't eat little flower... little flower doesn't taste good..."
Gu Qinxue quickly, whoosh, hid the carrot behind her, then blocked the carrot-eating Xuebai.
She had forgotten that the little flower was also a plant.
Xuebai guiltily stopped eating, peeping out one red eye from behind its master to look at the little flower.
"Okay, okay, we won't eat you, no one will eat you," Chen Sui comforted, hugging the wood-born flower.
All kinds of nourishing agents were tried for the little flower, even Fourth Ring Sixth Academy contributed some, but the little flower didn't like any of them.
Rather starve than compromise.
Holding its hungry belly, still shaking its head at the nourishing agents.
It made Chen Sui laugh, pointing at its head: "Why are you such a picky eater?"
She'd heard that spiritual bodies' forms synchronized with energy bodies, but their personalities were similar to their master's childhood, with higher resonance leading to a more unified state with the master.
But Chen Sui felt that neither in her childhood nor now had she ever been picky about food. In the apocalypse, having anything to eat was already quite good!
Not to mention, nourishing agents had similar components, just simulating different flavors and textures, such small differences, yet the little flower was unwilling to accept.
The little flower nuzzled against her, and Chen Sui sighed helplessly: "Then won't you be hungry? We'll buy something you like when we get out, okay?"
The little flower nodded obediently.
The group headed back to the energy monitoring equipment placement location.
The original location was already nearby, but because of the energy body with concealment attribute, the energy fluctuation in this area was suppressed, misleading the analysts.
Without the concealment attribute, the analysts quickly determined another target location.
Chen Sui had given up on urgently procuring nourishing agent for the little flower, but when the school team met with the Team Leader, Xie Chunshi walked over, walking alongside her.
The Team Leader glanced at the wood-born flower from the corner of his eye, his cold gaze flickering with a hint of a smile. He produced a small blue water droplet from his fingertip, extending his finger toward the little flower.
The little flower's eyes followed, moving with him, its gaze incredibly longing. But looking at the water droplet within reach, no matter how much it wanted it, it first looked at Chen Sui, softly and tenderly asking in a small voice: "Master, little flower wants to eat, may I?"
Chen Sui stroked the little flower on her shoulder, then turned her head, seeing this scene, instinctively looking toward Xie Chunshi.
The young man's calm face carried a slight smile, his black pupils lifting quietly to look at her, hooking up the corners of his eyes in a smile, then asking in a deep voice: "Is this okay?"
He was asking Chen Sui.
Chen Sui looked at the water droplet, then at the little flower perched eagerly on her palm, looking over, feeling somewhat helplessly holding her forehead.
"It should be fine," she said helplessly.
So Xie Chunshi tapped his finger, several water droplets floating in the air, large enough that the little flower needed both hands to hold one.
Seeing Chen Sui's tacit approval, the little flower hugged one of them, first sprinkling it on its head, letting the grass clumps be soaked with energy from the water droplets.
Then hugging another, it began smacking its lips, sending them into its mouth.
"Commander Xie," Chen Sui watched the little flower finish one after another, looking somewhat concernedly at Xie Chunshi, "isn't this a bit too much?"
Could Xie Chunshi's energy sustain this?
"It's fine," the Team Leader quietly pointed forward, producing another water droplet, refilling the little flower's cup, "you've just awakened, you'll gradually learn about spiritual body nurturing. Raising a spiritual body is like raising a child, you need to teach it many things gradually, increasing resonance during these processes, and the connection between you and your spiritual body will become increasingly close."
Chen Sui nodded somewhat understandingly, silently noting in her mind. Behind her, she watched the little flower hugging Xie Chunshi's finger, continuously eating until the energy monitoring equipment was successfully placed. It still looked longingly at Xie Chunshi, who had stopped producing water droplets, sweetly calling him: "Thank you, brother~"
Chen Sui concealed a smile.
Xie Chunshi looked at the little flower with a smiling gaze, his slender five fingers stroking its hair, a blue energy flowing in, but he didn't continue to produce water droplets.
"You can eat more when we get out."
The little flower obediently didn't ask for more.
Star Academy Seven set up the energy field in advance, gaining a slight edge.
Making Cang Jing deeply regretful, sighing immensely, stating as they left.
"Fortunately, you're not participating in the Star Ring selection, I really give up, who can compete? Can't you give others a chance?"
He felt extremely frustrated.
Star Academy Seven already had several violent outputs, and now this later-arriving infantry was also a violent output type. When placing the energy monitoring equipment, they still had to dodge stray shots.
The key was, Chen Sui's stray shots weren't just for intimidation. That cannon energy, Cang Jing had no doubt, could destroy his mecha.
Who dared to place it? That cannon muzzle was directly facing the equipment placement point. He wanted to win, but not at the cost of his comfort.
[Western Wood Crater - Training Match Ended, Please All Students, Exit Orderly.]
[Repeat, Please All Students, Exit Orderly.]
The system broadcast issued urging voices, the isolation device at the energy field's perimeter opened, and in mid-air, rescue teams operating flying vessels came to assist.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Yan Mingyu waited at the exit, seeing them come out, earnestly thanking them.
"You worked hard too, Teacher Yan," Xie Chunshi responded on behalf of the team.
"We've booked a jump flight for tomorrow morning. I heard there's a materials exhibition on Karma Star today, you can go explore. Be back by 10 PM, otherwise, you're free to move about."
Yan Mingyu smiled at them.
Karma Star's material market was vast, with half the city district filled with merchants from various star rings.
Tong Wei, concerned about Puluo, went to the medical center with Yan Mingyu and Xie Chunshi as soon as they left the training match battlefield. Chen Sui and the other two, plus the Sixth Academy school team, went to explore the material market.
Cang Jing was particularly talkative, even Zhou Chen, who was somewhat chatty, sometimes couldn't stand his constant talking.
The entire way down, he was by Chen Sui's ear, asking what content she'd learned, if she still accepted repair orders, even what she ate to grow up, why she was so fierce. Chen Sui pretended not to hear.
When they reached the material market, she finally grabbed Gu Qinxue's hand, waving to Sixth Academy: "Sorry, we're not going the same way, we'll go ahead."
Zhou Chen was left behind, his face immediately changing as he quickly caught up: "Hey hey hey, you dropped someone!"
Cang Jing was puzzled, looking at his teammates: "But I haven't told you where we're going yet?"
He blinked innocently.
The other Sixth Academy team members exchanged glances, silently thinking, because you're too noisy, can't someone shut him up.
The analyst communicated with his eyes: he's had a shock today, just let him be.
Free from the noise source, Chen Sui could finally quietly sort out what things to buy. She looked at the material market's distribution map, drawing a trajectory route according to what she needed to buy.
Then looking at Gu Qinxue and Zhou Chen: "You two, want to buy anything? Or just browse with me."
Gu Qinxue crossed her arms and walked to her side, the answer obvious.
Zhou Chen rolled his eyes, silently following behind Gu Qinxue.
Chen Sui understood, "Then let's first buy Liujin Sand, then Taisui Sand, not sure if we can get it."
Chen Sui muttered to herself.
Simple materials were easily acquired, items on the checklist were crossed off one by one, soon leaving few.
Only when buying Taisui Sand did a slight issue arise.
Chen Sui quoted the market price, but the merchant suddenly changed his mind, saying he needed to add ten percent. Chen Sui immediately put down the Taisui Sand, "Do you think I don't understand the market, using mining and polishing as excuses to fool me?"
She leaned on the metal display stand, her cold gaze making the boss inwardly nervous.
"I'm not fooling you, our Taisui Sand has been like this for years, maybe you're remembering the old price. Think about it, before, Corris Star still had star mines for excavation, but since the Corris Star energy field descended, this thing has become rare in the market, so the price naturally has to increase."
Saying this, the boss looked disapprovingly at Chen Sui: "This is only ten percent, there are those who raise the price by fifty percent for Taisui Sand of my quality."
Chen Sui had determined Taisui Sand as the most cost-effective choice, but it wasn't absolutely necessary. She put the item back in its place, saying indifferently: "Then you can sell it at fifty percent more, wishing you good business."
The boss's expression changed.
Seeing her turn to leave, he hurriedly stopped her: "Hey hey hey, you really don't want it? Only I have Taisui Sand here, nowhere else has it. Hey, how about eight percent? Five percent, is that okay?"
Chen Sui waved her hand: "I don't want it anymore."
The boss had never seen someone so decisive, saying no and meaning it, when clearly she had been very happy just moments ago.
He held a piece of Taisui Sand, trembling with anger.
Chen Sui thought, there were substitutes for Taisui Sand, though a bit more expensive, but in this life, she might only have this one custom mecha, so why not use something a bit pricier?
Thinking this way, she immediately felt relieved, passing by a bargain stall nearby, she stopped to pick through it.
Holding a black stone, feeling its heat, Chen Sui made a somewhat strange exclamation of surprise.
The boss, seeing business coming, quickly stood up to greet her: "This material, we call it Black Crystal, it's brought out from the S-class energy field [Iron Beast], it's a special quality produced by minerals transformed through the energy field."
The boss briefly introduced it, and Chen Sui, feeling the data of this metal was quite good, became somewhat interested and stayed, looking around his stall.
Seeing he could make a sale, the boss more enthusiastically introduced: "Everything here is special material collected from various energy fields. Look at this crystal, it has a special expansion effect, and it's temperature-sensitive, emitting strong heat in extremely cold conditions. This is a specialty from the 2S-class energy field [Volcano Furnace]."
Chen Sui stayed with some interest, and the boss continued introducing.
When her gaze moved to the innermost section, among a cluster of unremarkable cyan dried branches.
Her eyes suddenly stopped.
A black chain was wrapped around one branch of the dried twigs, passing through the center of the branch, then winding around several times.
Chen Sui's mind suddenly ached, a strange image flashing in her memory.
On a starship, a tree vine tightening around her neck from behind.
She tugging at the necklace at her neck.
Violently piercing through its roots.
The energy body behind letting out a piercing scream.
Chen Sui woke from her daze.
The boss was still eloquently introducing another material.
Gu Qinxue sensed Chen Sui's abnormality, lowering her head to look at her expression: "What's wrong?"
Chen Sui's lips pressed into a straight line, her face unprecedentedly solemn.
For the first time, she actively reached out, her palm gripping Gu Qinxue's arm, as if seeking to draw some strength from her.
This gesture made Gu Qinxue look at her with even more concern, seeing her fingers trembling, her expression immediately became grave.
The shock in Chen Sui's heart rolled like a river.
Looking at the black chain, no one was more familiar with it than she was.
Her eyes, unknowingly, had reddened.
Zhou Chen saw her hand gripping Gu Qinxue's arm trembling. His arms, originally crossed, instinctively lowered, his eyes concernedly examining Chen Sui.
Chen Sui struggled to make her voice steady and strong: "I want that wood material at the very back too."
Hearing this, the boss was delighted, finding the bundle of dried branches at the back.
"This one, what a coincidence, this material is a rare item, it's a special plant growing in one of the ten major energy fields, [Flower Cloud Dream]."
The boss spoke somewhat nervously. This wood material was extremely fragile, and even its birth in the Flower Cloud Dream energy field was something the boss made up to increase its value.
He guessed these few people, with somewhat youthful faces, were probably students, who in any case had never been to the ten major energy fields.
Moreover, Flower Cloud Dream contained all types of plants in the interstellar world, so saying this wasn't entirely wrong.
Thus, the boss became more confident in his boasting.
Chen Sui took the gradually fusing dried branches, touching the cold metal chain inside the enclosure.
She had no heart to look at materials anymore, hurriedly completing the payment, finding a rest area.
Gu Qinxue and Zhou Chen looked at her with concern, but Chen Sui just remained silent, her eyes slightly red as she took out the dried branches.
She broke off the edge branches.
"Eh?"
Seeing her having just paid a huge sum, now unhesitatingly discarding it, Zhou Chen wanted to advise her to calm down, but as soon as he spoke, he saw Gu Qinxue shake her head.
Chen Sui finally cleared away the surrounding branches, revealing the central vine that still had some green.
She picked up the vine, the black chain hanging down, a cross-shaped pendant dangling.
The black + symbol, with four sharp edges at the top, bottom, left, and right, inscribed with four small characters.
"Suisui Peace and Safety."
Chen Sui's nose stung.
"I'm sorry."
Chen Sui composed her emotions, her fingers crushing the dried branches, taking out the stuck chain.
Gu Qinxue didn't understand what this chain meant to her.
But seeing Chen Sui's rare emotional fluctuation, she remained silent for the moment.
After extracting the necklace from the branch, Chen Sui held the stuck section, her mind continuously replaying the scene that had just appeared.
But she only remembered a vine reaching out, not feeling anything about the energy body's appearance behind her.
The energy field scene seemed to be on a starship, everything else as if blurred by an invisible hand.
This feeling reminded Chen Sui of a special variant, the brain-eating worm.
They parasitized the human brain, able to alter consciousness, thinking, and memory.
The interstellar world had no brain-eating worms.
But Chen Sui became incredibly certain that there was a problem with her memory.
She said in a hoarse voice: "This is something a senior of mine gave me."
Gu Qinxue guessed the necklace was important to Chen Sui, and she had just nodded understandingly.
Suddenly remembering Chen Sui's identity, her movement paused: "She......"
Chen Sui pulled at the corner of her mouth, forcing a smile: "She was very skilled, though it's hard to meet again, she's definitely still alive."
"The boss just now said this material is a specialty from the Flower Cloud Dream energy field, I don't think it's entirely trustworthy."
Gu Qinxue didn't know what Chen Sui was doubting, but she had been born on the main star and had heard of the so-called ten major energy fields, so she reminded her.
Flower Cloud Dream had many special plants, but this type of tree, without any distinctive features, was hard to determine exactly which energy field it came from.
Chen Sui nodded, the image of the starship firmly imprinted in her mind.
The material market excursion hastily concluded. Back at her lodging, Chen Sui began searching the StarNet for various energy fields containing starship scenes.
She added this information to her notes. Among her memories after transmigration, there was only the scene that suddenly flashed today and the Talo Star medical center she saw upon waking.
Chen Sui suddenly suspected that when old Mr. Peter found her on the mining star, those injuries were related to this energy body that suddenly appeared in her memory.
After a sleepless night recording a full page of energy fields, Chen Sui, sporting huge dark circles under her eyes, boarded the jump flight's passenger cabin.
Surrounded by the warm passenger cabin, Chen Sui belatedly felt the fatigue. Her palm involuntarily clenched the + symbol, her floating heart and irritable emotions relieved in this moment.
"By the way, since Student Chen Sui has awakened, she can try activating the awakening mode in the holographic pod for a richer experience."
Yan Mingyu was discussing the school team's training plan, mentioning this, thinking of the newly awakened Chen Sui, but receiving no response, everyone looked in Chen Sui's direction.
Her black short hair, now reaching her shoulders, hung down completely covering her face.
Gu Qinxue, since yesterday, had sensed Chen Sui's low spirits, and seeing this, responded to Yan Mingyu: "She's asleep, maybe the awakening these past few days has been quite draining."
Yan Mingyu nodded, "When she wakes up, remember to remind her to get her awakening value tested as soon as possible, to update her information."
After being busy with analyst matters for several days, Yan Mingyu finally remembered what she had been forgetting yesterday.
Gu Qinxue nodded: "Yes, teacher."
During the jump journey, Gu Qinxue was also researching energy field information, knowing that Chen Sui attached great importance to the pendant.
Thinking of her previous mention of being rescued by Talo Star residents after being injured, and the mechanical artificial eyes replacing her green pupils, Gu Qinxue formed a bold guess.
She photographed that section of plant, transmitting it to a strange account on the StarNet communication.
A person labeled as "Garbled" slowly typed a question mark.
Garbled: ?
Garbled: Two years without responding, and the first thing you say is this?
Gu Qinxue: You know more about energy fields, help me see what energy body these dried branches are from, roughly which energy field they can be located to.
At this moment, on the main star, in a high-rise building, in a room with clear floor-to-ceiling windows, a girl with wavy curly hair was typing on her light brain, surrounded by scattered materials, most with the words "energy field."
The other person, seeing Gu Qinxue's reply, opened the picture and looked carefully.
Garbled: This looks a bit like an elm blossom tree, but also has some characteristics of a face orchid, hard to tell the original form, but the energy field can be roughly located.
After saying this, she sent a picture, showing the predicted energy field names.
Gu Qinxue: Thank you, big help.
Garbled: Since I've helped with the big thing, might as well help with a small one too
Garbled: Your main family's new princess wasn't selected for First Academy's school team, finally went to First Ring Fourth Academy, they say your main family was very angry
Gu Qinxue: Don't involve me, already expelled from the Gu family, currently independent
Garbled: [
Smile
] Don't believe you won't fight her
Garbled: If you don't fight her, I'll have to fight you
Gu Qinxue heard two pieces of good news from her, her face immediately looking much better.
Garbled: Isn't this fate? The Gu family has always wanted to elevate First Ring Fourth Academy, bringing down Zhu Jing Fu, now their heir has gone to First Ring Fourth Academy, but they don't feel good about it
Gu Qinxue replied with an emoticon, leaving their chat interface.
She certainly knew that whichever school the Gu family supported, it was to bring down Star Academy Seven, and bringing down Star Academy Seven was to consolidate the Gu family's, or rather the main star's, absolute control over the council.
Born of the old aristocracy, they just loved playing with status and hierarchy.
The biggest mistake Gold Master and Chairman Song made back then was leaving this remnant of the old aristocracy.
Gu Qinxue thought maliciously.
But looking at the energy body image that Chen Sui might use, her mood quickly shifted.
The information was transmitted through the StarNet to Chen Sui's end.
Only when the starship docked above the Flashing Golden Sea did Chen Sui wake up and see it.
"Ah Xue, thanks," Chen Sui, having checked the information, walked behind Gu Qinxue to thank her. Her cold eyes relaxed for a moment, "Remember to fertilize for me."
"Sure," Chen Sui readily agreed.
When preparing to return to Star Academy Seven, Tong Wei reminded Chen Sui of Yan Mingyu's instruction to promptly get a check-up.
"Okay, thank you Teacher Yan, and thank you too," Chen Sui said, "I've already applied for a re-examination, going directly to the medical center now."
Tong Wei and Gu Qinxue nodded, "It's a pity Commander Xie said he had to go back to review the training match, we can't accompany you."
Gu Qinxue's emotions were more internalized, but she still stared at Chen Sui, "Remember to send a message when you get the results."
Chen Sui nodded, "Got it."
Yan Mingyu didn't return with the school team; she received an analyst's message as soon as she saw the starport and was on her way to another jump.
Chen Sui separated from the school team, taking the intercity bus to the medical center from last time.
The duty doctor was still the familiar one from before. Seeing Chen Sui, she first found her familiar, then remembering who she was, immediately asked: "Re-examination? Have you awakened or...?"
Chen Sui nodded, her tired face having regained its color during the jump process.
Hearing this, the doctor finally smiled: "That's good, a blessing in disguise. Your situation was really too dangerous. Earlier when you came for the examination, I couldn't guarantee you'd definitely awaken."
The doctor chatted casually with Chen Sui, and after preparing the instruments for her, looking at Chen Sui lying down, she gave a preemptive warning: "Student, I need to remind you of something."
"First, in your situation, you've missed the optimal awakening period. Generally in such cases, the awakened spiritual body's value won't be very high. Second, the energy spillover still affects you; even if the spiritual threshold forms, the energy storage might be insufficient, affecting the spiritual body's value, so you should be mentally prepared."
Chen Sui was repeatedly cautioned by her, and responded solemnly.
"I understand, thank you for your trouble."
The doctor sighed: "No need for thanks, I'm starting the instrument now."
After she finished speaking, the barrier closed, and Chen Sui felt the familiar energy scanning over her.