Star Odyssey

Lu Yin smiled. There was a clear business opportunity before him, which he was desperate to take advantage of. Lu Yin desperately needed more money as he barely had over five-hundred cubes of star crystals left. This wasn’t even close to meeting his needs; at this level, he couldn’t even roll his die, which was a waste of his Innate Gift.

The swampy region grew darker and darker the deeper one ventured into it. Occasionally, the muddy soil would burst open, revealing some kind of disgusting creature wriggling around in it. Flocks of massive, strange black birds also flew across the sky, and whenever they passed by overhead, their formation would cover the sky, making the marsh seem even darker.

Zhuo Daynight was a girl, but she showed no fear towards the bizarre landscape.

While it was true that all of the Daynight clan members were crazy, every one of them was also the cream of the crop. Between their innate talents and the Daynight clan’s powerful battle techniques, it made sense that they were able to stand tall even in the Innerverse.

Zhuo Daynight entered the swamp and tried to follow the trail of footsteps, but they vanished after just a couple steps. Thus, her only option to move forward was to randomly slash out and hope that her attacks would force the Giant Emperor out.

There was a chance of this method working, but the swamp was just too big and she couldn’t keep sending out haphazard slashes forever. So while her method might have been effective, it was not efficient.

Zhuo Daynight continued searching through the swamp for three consecutive days. However, if her progress was tracked from a bird’s eye view, then it would be apparent that she had not even searched through 0.1% of the swamp, much less the whole place. If she were to continue searching through the swamp in this manner, it would take her months to finish. After finally realizing the futility of her efforts, Zhuo Daynight walked out and quietly sat down about a hundred meters away from Lu Yin and Amu.

Lu Yin chuckled. The reason why he had told Amu to publicly reveal the Giant Emperor’s tracks was twofold. He could conduct “business” while also getting others to search for the Giant Emperor for him. The fact that the Giant Emperor had decided to run was proof that it was highly intelligent and that it would not be easily discovered. This meant that they needed more manpower to uncover its hiding spot, and for that to happen, they needed to preserve the footprints as proof that the Giant Emperor was nearby.

If the Giant Emperor knew about Lu Yin’s thoughts, it would have definitely been annoyed. The moment a spacecraft landed in front of it, the creature had understood the severity of its situation. There had been Giant Emperors who had become Explorers before, so the creatures were not completely ignorant of the larger universe. It was for this reason that the Giant Emperor had fled as soon as it saw the spacecraft. It wanted to buy itself some more time and push the trial takers to leave. However, now that Lu Yin had publicized the Giant Emperor’s whereabouts, it was now doomed.

Seven days later, Lu Yin and Amu were idly grilling some meat while feeling incredibly bored when suddenly, far off in the distance, a group of trial takers appeared.

Lu Yin’s eyes lit up. It’s starting!

People would start coming one by one, which meant that he was open for business.

The trial takers immediately saw Lu Yin and the others, and they all focused on Amu as he had been the one who released the Giant Emperor’s whereabouts.

“Where’s the Giant Emperor, Amu?” someone rudely asked.

Amu pointed towards the marshes. “He’s in there, but I don’t know exactly where.”

That person obviously did not believe Amu and was about to say something else, but one of his companions stopped him and gestured in another direction. A few of the other trial takers were staring blankly at Zhuo Daynight, who was quietly standing a little ways away. Everybody from her clan was terrifying, and nobody dared to make a sound.

These trial takers were the elites of the Umbral Butterfly Tribe’s younger generation and were all peak Melders. Since they were the first batch to reach the swamp, they were definitely the cream of the crop in this group of trial takers and were about as strong as the hall leaders of the Great Yu Empire’s Yu Academy. But in front of the Daynight clan, these students did not not dare to act brashly. They knew that the difference between them was just too large.

“The Giant Emperor has already entered the marshes. We don’t know his exact location, which is why we made his whereabouts public. I’m well aware that I am incapable of completing the mission anyways,” Amu explained.

The thought, He knows himself pretty well, went through all of the trial takers’ minds at the same time. They said nothing further and headed deeper into the swamp after checking the footprints.

They were the first group to arrive, but they were certainly not the last. Before much time passed, the next batch arrived and they too quickly entered the swamp to search for the Giant Emperor.

Over the next few days, at least forty trial takers arrived, and all of them promptly rushed into the swamp to search for the Giant Emperor.

To Lu Yin’s surprise, the trial takers were all quite strong, at least when compared to the others from the Outerverse. He had seen quite a few Melders who were as powerful as Gerbach, and one of them was even more powerful than Schutz when he had just entered Astral-10. That person was clearly one of the strongest Melders within the Umbral Butterfly Region.

However, these geniuses’ strength was ultimately nothing to Lu Yin. His time in Astral-10 had shown him that he was more than strong enough to completely disregard these people.

The swamp started to get lively. There were trial takers everywhere, and the battles never stopped. Most of the fights were between the trial takers and the swamp creatures, but there were some instances of internal strife as well.

At this time, another group of people arrived. This group stood out to Lu Yin because it included two gorgeous girls. They were both very enchanting and had amazing figures that drew the attention of many males.

Amu saw them as well, but he quickly looked down. A bone-deep hatred flashed in his eyes before he suppressed it deep into his heart. 

These people went straight to the swamp. The two girls glanced at Amu in disdain, but they did not say a word as they passed by without stopping. Lu Yin noticed Amu’s strange behavior, but chose not to bring it up.

The battles between the trial takers and the swamp creatures never ceased. Some time later, the Giant Emperor appeared with a huge roar. He was quite unlucky, as there had been two trial takers battling right above him, and their battle had forced him out.

The swamp trembled, and all the trial takers rushed over to the Giant Emperor.

Zhuo Daynight’s eyes lit up and she moved to rush over as well, but she was quickly stopped by Lu Yin. “You can’t attack yet.”

Zhuo Daynight had a cold look in her eyes. “Are you trying to stop me?”

“Yes.” Lu Yin looked up.

Zhuo Daynight was furious and brandished her sword, but a miserable cry at that moment caught Lu Yin’s attention, and he immediately rushed into the marshes, completely disregarding Zhuo.

At that moment, about ten trial takers were battling with the Giant Emperor. This was the first time Lu Yin was seeing the Giant Emperor in the flesh. Compared to a regular giant, the Giant Emperor was clearly much larger. More importantly, it had clothes—no, not clothes, but rather a rough leather covering. However, this indicated that the Giant Emperor could feel embarrassment, which was a sign of intelligence.

The Giant Emperor was far more terrifying than a regular giant, and with just one casual smack from its hand, it caused devastation among the swamp. The terrifying shockwaves caused many trial takers to fall into the murky waters. Among the affected trial takers was an unlucky fellow who fell into the swamp headfirst, his feet flailing wildly in the air.

The others immediately retreated when they saw that their attacks had no effect on the Giant Emperor.

The Giant Emperor was furious and had no idea how it had been discovered. It grabbed the poor cultivator who was stuck in the swamp upside down with one of its hands, lifted the man to its head, and then opened its mouth. Such a terrifying scene left many frozen in fear. The man was about to be eaten alive.

“Want a hand, bro?” Lu Yin called out.

No one else reacted, but the poor guy continued screaming for help.

“I can help you, but you need to give me everything in your cosmic ring,” Lu Yin shouted out.

This time, quite a few people looked at him oddly and even Zhuo Daynight shot him a questioning glance. Is this guy asking for a bribe?

“Sure, sure, I’ll give you everything! HELP ME!” The man was close enough that he could count the Giant Emperor’s teeth, and he was so scared that he was about to piss himself.

Lu Yin used Flash to appear right in front of the Giant Emperor. He channeled the power of NIne Stacks through his leg, and with a single kick, he pushed the Giant Emperor’s arm away as nine explosions rang out. The unfortunate trial taker was tossed back into the mud and was even unlucky enough to land headfirst once more.

The Giant Emperor glared at Lu Yin and threw a fist at him. Lu Yin had no interest in going head to head against the Giant Emperor and quickly used Flash to get away. But before he left, he snatched the poor guy from the mud as well. When he used Flash with his entire body, his speed was unbelievable. The Giant Emperor’s attack missed, and the force of his strike left a massive crater in the ground.

Lu Yin tossed the poor guy to the ground. Even now, the man had yet to regain his wits; his eyes were still filled with fear, and he had nearly died from the shock of the experience. His reaction was quite normal as no one wished to die.

Lu Yin crouched in front of the unfortunate fellow and patted his face with a smile. “Alright, I’ve fulfilled my side of the deal. You can give me your cosmic ring now.”

When he finally regained his wits, still huffing and sopping wet, he looked at Lu Yin, gritted his teeth, removed his cosmic ring, and then poured out everything inside. “This is everything I have. Take whatever you want. Take it all.”

He didn’t try to wiggle his way out, as regardless of the fact that he was being blackmailed, Lu Yin had indeed saved his life. A deal was a deal, and the man felt that he had to honor it no matter what.

Lu Yin was quite happy with the contents of the cosmic ring as his haul wasn’t that bad. Those who dared to take part in the weave’s trials were not ordinary elites, and the thousand plus cubes of star crystals was proof that this fellow wasn’t poor. Lu Yin also discovered a Mavis Bank card among the items. “How much does this have?”

The extorted man grew embarrassed. “There’s no money inside. I used everything from that account to prepare for the trials to buy a Melder ring armor and a few-” 

“Enough, I don’t have time for this.” Lu Yin did not care for what the man had to say. After going through all of the items, he ended up only taking a few rare metals before finishing the deal.

Back on Earth, Raas and the other trial takers had possessed less than a thousand cubes of star crystals between them, but that was because the grades of the trials were different. The trial on Earth was supposed to have posed no danger to the trial takers at all. Lu Yin was confident that, if Raas were to participate in a weave’s trial, then Sicar would absolutely give his son a cosmic ring stuffed with at least ten-thousand cubes of star crystals.

After one person took the initiative, more would surely follow in their footsteps. Lu Yin soon saved another poor guy who was nearly pulverized by the Giant Emperor. After Lu Yin saved him, the man couldn’t move most of his body, and Lu Yin even gave him treatment. That fool ended up giving more than two thousand cubes of star crystals to Lu Yin, which wasn’t a bad profit at all.

One, two, three… Lu Yin was like a combat medic and kept saving people from the Giant Emperor. However, he never saved the same person twice since he knew they had nothing of value left. Additionally, those who were saved no longer possessed the courage to attack the Giant Emperor again.

More and more trial takers rushed over from all parts of the swamp to participate in the attack. The two beautiful girls had also arrived and were attacking together. Their combined attack was enough for the Giant Emperor to exhibit some fear.

Lu Yin was surprised to see that the two weren’t weak.

“Can I ask something of you, Seven?” Amu asked quietly.

Lu Yin grunted in reply. “Go on.”

“D-don’t save those two women.” Amu sounded depressed.

Lu Yin was confused. “Why not? I need money and they look rich.”

Amu gritted his teeth, gave Lu Yin a pleading look, took out his cosmic ring, and then passed it to Lu Yin. “This is everything I have. It’s not much, but… Please.”

The corner of Lu Yin’s lips curled up. “Are they from the Umbral Butterfly Tribe?”

Amu nodded.

Lu Yin nodded as he looked over at the battlefield. “Fine. I won’t save them.”

“Thank you,” Amu answered gratefully.

The Giant Emperor’s strength left many of the trial takers quivering. It had the raw power of a peak Limiteer, and it also seemed to be using a battle technique. The reason why it only “seemed” to be using a battle technique was because nobody was sure that it actually had one, but the pattern in his attacks gave off the impression of a battle technique.

Lu Yin stared at the Giant Emperor. He was certain that it knew a battle technique, but was keeping it hidden. Why?

Lu Yin looked up. Is it because of the beings that are watching the battle? This was the tragedy that befell a civilization when they lagged behind; they may gain power, but they would be terrified of displaying it. Earth had been stuck in a similar situation during the trial that Lu Yin had participated in. If he had not gained the title of King Zishan, then everyone on Earth would have long since been turned to dust.

The universe was cruel, and once again, Lu Yin was reminded of how far this saying went.