Treading the Plasma Rain

Makara, the Nine-Knot Sovereign of the Dust-Walkers, died expecting eternal rest. Instead, he wakes up wedged inside the exhaust thruster of an active star-dreadnought. Using his ancient Lightness Skill to surf the thermal ignition wave to safety, he crashes into the Aegis-Kraal Officer Academy - a hyper-futuristic school where physical martial arts are mocked as low-level underground gutter-brawling. Exhausted and aggressively sarcastic, Makara just wants a nap. But the academy's brutal Star Network forces him into live-fire virtual mecha trials. When he easily dodges a barrage of heavy laser fire on foot, running across the plasma beams themselves, the galaxy's understanding of physics shatters. Meanwhile, Praetor Nysa is hunting a catastrophic AI virus infecting the academy's network. As Makara casually dismantles towering war-machines with his bare hands to protect his loud-mouthed, snack-obsessed roommate Jib, Makara's survival trials and Nysa's investigation violently collide. Why does this futuristic AI virus recognize Makara's ancient Qi? And what happens when the galaxy realizes their greatest weapon isn't a mecha, but the tired old soul walking among them?