《Star Odyssey》Chapter 162: Lockbreaking Genius
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Such a pity... Lu Yin thought that he would have been able to wrestle a gift out of Master Wusheng, but it wasn’t that important. Even Master Wusheng had said that the price of one would be heavy. Either way, there was no chance that the current him could afford one. It was better for him to return to Astral-10 since he had been away for so long.
He exited out of the Lockbreaker network and suddenly realized that he still had an unopened message. It had actually come from Old Cai of Astral-10.
“Impromptu mission: head to the Umbral Butterfly Weave and obtain the third eye of the Giant Emperor. Immediately return to the academy after completing the mission.”
“Giant Emperor? Third eye?” Lu Yin was puzzled by the mission details and immediately looked around the net for any additional information.
He found that the Umbral Butterfly Weave was rather distant from the Frostwave Weave. Specifically, there were another seven weaves between the two of them. This weave was composed of less than a hundred regions and was one size smaller than Frostwave Weave.
And the giant tribe was a primitive race from the Umbral Butterfly Weave. They had powerful members, and had birthed many powerhouses that had freely roamed the universe.
Every member of the giant tribe stood at least a hundred meters tall. All of them had sharp teeth, chubby monkey cheeks, bald heads, and drooping shoulders. Their bodies were shaded green, their eyes were filled with black threads, and a forest grew on their backs. There were nearly ten million of these creatures and they were all ruled by the Giant Emperor.
Lu Yin continued researching their tribe for a long time, but he could not find any mention of the Giant Emperor’s third eye, despite scouring his resources for anything about the emperor. He even examined images of previous Giant Emperors, but none of them had ever had a third eye. Could Old Cai be wrong?
He wanted to contact Old Cai to ask, but then thought that it would be best to take a look first.
The journey from the Frostwave Weave to the Umbral Butterfly Weave would take a month, and Lu Yin planned on spending this time studying his star charts. Besides that, all he could do was roll his die.
Only a few days had passed since he had last rolled the die, and Lu Yin had calculated that not enough time had passed yet for the die to recover. Thus, he simply retrieved a star chart and began studying it while floundering around for that sensation he had felt when the crazy director had simulated the ninth star for him.
After a few days passed, Lu Yin took out the die. It was time to test his luck.
He tapped the die with a finger, and Lu Yin’s environment changed after it stopped spinning. He had entered the Time Stop space.
He was rather dejected about this outcome since he was already rather fatigued from the unstimulating, never-changing background of space, but he just couldn’t bring himself to use star crystals to change the scenery. Forget it. Three days will pass quickly.
At the end of the third day, Lu Yin exited the space and rolled his die again.
This time he rolled Pilfer and received a bank card, but it wasn’t from the Mavis Bank. Lu Yin’s lips curled in disdain. Another useless roll.
When Pilfer turned up yet again, Lu Yin sighed, but then he saw a pink female article of clothing land before him. He was stunned. It can do this too?! He gave it no further thought and immediately burned the clothing to ash. If someone saw it, his reputation would be ruined.
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So it can even grab women’s clothing. Lu Yin sighed and realized that he would truly never be able to roll the die in front of anyone else. He could already imagine the scene that would take place if a female’s underwear suddenly appeared in front of him. It would truly cause an uproar
.
He breathed in deeply and tapped on the die again. It stopped spinning and revealed six pips.
Possession. What a mysterious ability. Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed as he became incomparably excited; this was a roll that suited him.
Everything changed before Lu Yin’s eyes as he transformed into a ball of light that was in the middle of a pitch-black space. There were light balls surrounding him; some were glowing mildly, but others were burning fiercely. Some were big, and some were small. Lu Yin’s light ball flew further and further into the darkness. His cosmic ring contained 200,000 crystals, which was more than enough for him to go a long distance.
This time, Lu Yin was not anxious. He wanted to see if he could pick the most suitable person for himself.
As he continued traveling farther out, Lu Yin found that, of the countless light balls surrounding him, some seemed to reject him, while others seemed drawn towards him. He was thinking about the differences when a force suddenly started dragging him in. His face changed drastically. No way! I’ve already gone through 200,000 crystals? But there was no more time to think, and he instantly charged towards the most attractive light ball by him.
This light ball was much bigger than his own, and it was also bigger than Da Lei’s from last time. This should be a Limiteer’s light ball, and not a weak one, either.
As Lu Yin charged into the ball of light, his consciousness faded. When he came to his senses, he had become another person—Charon, a genius Lockbreaker.
Lu Yin looked at his hands and then at the mirror in front of him. A handsome man with sharp brows and bright eyes looked back. He was now Charon, a Lockbreaker from the Timor Weave. He had already accumulated five stars of contributions as a Junior Lockbreaker and was just a single step away from becoming an Intermediate Lockbreaker. He was a true genius, and more importantly, he was a student of Astral-6 and was one of the Area Masters of the Dao of Purgatory. In other words, he was someone at the same level as Frankfurt, Spear Mountain’s Area Master.
Lu Yin knew that he had won the lottery with this person. Charon was definitely very well suited for him, and he was even a Lockbreaker. It was no wonder why Charon’s light had been drawn towards Lu Yin so strongly; there was a certain degree of connection between the two. Even better, Lu Yin now knew how to select the best choice during Possession in the future. He would find the light ball with the greatest attraction for himself, as the person represented by that light would definitely share a key aspect with Lu Yin.
Suddenly, Lu Yin thought of something and quickly checked a star chart. He found that while the Timor Weave wasn’t as distant from the Frostwave Weave as the Umbral Butterfly Weave, there was still a substantial distance between the two. Specifically, there were two weaves between Lu Yin’s original location and the Possessed Charon. There was no way that his star crystals would last for much longer, so Lu Yin quickly focused on making the best use of his time by reviewing Charon’s lockbreaking experiences.
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Charon deserved to be a five-starred Lockbreaker genius. He had already unlocked more than twenty sourceboxes. The lockbreaking attempt that had pushed him to five stars had been with a sword-shaped sourcebox.
It had been a Limiteer mission issued by Astral-6, and the issuer had not given very clear instructions. However, the mission to unlock this sword-shaped sourcebox was infamous in Astral-6 as two other Lockbreakers had already perished from trying to unlock this sourcebox. In both cases, those students had been slain by a single strand of a sword aura. This sourcebox had even attracted the attention of an Intermediate Lockbreaker, who had confirmed that it was truly a sourcebox that was within the lockbreaking capabilities of a Junior Lockbreaker, but it was extremely difficult to do so, and success should be rewarded with five stars of contribution.
Charon had spent three days working on the sourcebox before finally succeeding. In fact, he had nearly collapsed at the final juncture before the sourcebox was ultimately unlocked. He then obtained the sword, Unveiled, and shook Astral-6 to its core. He also became the school’s number two genius Lockbreaker who was only behind Dao Bo.
Lu Yin reviewed the process of how Charon had unlocked Unveiled and was shocked at Charon’s supremely precise control of his star energy. Although this person could not see the tangled energies as clearly as Lu Yin with his Cosmic Art, he instead relied on his familiarity with star energy to forcibly unlock the sourcebox. This was the most common method used among Lockbreakers, and to a certain extent, Lu Yin’s Cosmic Art could even be considered cheating. Charon, on the other hand, was a true genius Lockbreaker.
Even just reviewing this process left Lu Yin exhausted and his forehead covered with beads of sweat. He had profited tremendously from Possessing Charon’s body and gaining access to his Lockbreaking experience, which was considered valuable in any form.
Lu Yin unsheathed Unveiled with a clang. The blade seemed to come to life. Its main color was silvery-white, but its tip was vibrantly colored with special indistinct patterns that ran down the length of the blade. He casually swung it and left a huge slash across Charon’s secret room. Lu Yin was stunned—a Limiteer’s private training room would definitely not be made from normal materials, but it had been easily sliced through by this sword. It’s too sharp.
The patterns flickering at the sword tip were not simple, either. This was a weapon that had been sealed for quite some time, and it obviously carried a mysterious might with it.
Lu Yin was greedy and he desperately wanted the blade as well as the rest of the riches in Charon’s cosmic ring, but in the end, he restrained himself. He had already obtained Charon’s lockbreaking experience, and if he completely robbed Charon blind, then Lu Yin’s karma would be too heavily tainted. The universe worked in mysterious ways, and while Lu Yin didn’t believe in karma, he would not be able to answer to his conscience if he did this, which was also a karma of sorts.
Although Lu Yin no longer desired to plunder Charon’s riches, it did not mean that this Possession had run its course in terms of usefulness. Charon, after all, was still a powerhouse of Astral-6 and an Area Master of the Dao of Purgatory who was on the same level as Frankfurt. He could provide Lu Yin with a ready-made backer. Lu Yin pawed through Charon’s memories until a strange smile crept across his face. This person was definitely a genius, but he was terrible with managing his emotions. However, this was precisely the sort of person that perfectly suited Lu Yin’s current needs.
Lu Yin took out a dozen letters from the corner of his cosmic ring and blinked. “Charon, don’t blame me. Your brother doesn’t wish to do this, but I have no choice. Bear with this little injustice this time.”
After uttering those words, a dragging force appeared and Lu Yin closed his eyes. He then reappeared in that dark space and traversed through a vast, unknown distance to return to King Zishan’s palace. He opened his eyes, took out some paper, and immediately began to write.
At the same time, back in the distant Timor Weave, Charon got up from the floor and rubbed his head. What just happened? He had just been lying there a moment ago, but his memory cut off there. Suddenly, Charon’s pupils shrank and his face paled; there were dozens of letters scattered on the ground, the sight of which threw his mind into disarray. His secret had been discovered!
To Charon, he would rather die than have this secret known by someone else. And yet, the letters on the ground clearly showed that his secret had been ruthlessly uncovered.
Charon was covered in sweat, and he started trembling as he picked up the letters. Who could have done this? Who could possibly knock me unconscious without even leaving a trace? This was his most secretive training room, and not a single soul knew anything about it.
At this point, a series of numbers appeared before Charon. It was a gadget number. Charon’s face changed as he realized that it could have only been left by the person who had violated his privacy. Is this so that I can contact him? Charon hesitantly activated his gadget.
Back in King Zishan’s residence, Lu Yin checked his cosmic ring, and to his dismay, found that there were only around five hundred star crystals left. This one encounter had consumed 200,000 crystals, which was just way too terrifying a rate. However, he had no regrets as Possessing Charon had been completely worth every single one of the 200,000 crystals. These crystals had allowed him to venture all the way into the Timor Weave. Possession had given him a huge surprise, and had also turned him penniless. Lu Yin was simultaneously in pain and euphoria.
It was now time to earn some money. The matter with Xi Yue had gradually quieted down as time passed, and there were no more fools looking for Lu Yin to give them a beating. He was considering how to best find another way to extort money from somewhere when his gadget suddenly beeped. His lips curled up in joy and he happily activated it. A display appeared before him, showing Charon staring at Lu Yin with bloodshot eyes.
Charon was taken aback when he saw Lu Yin. He had originally thought that the person who had pried into his secrets would be at least an Explorer—how could it be this youth who seemed to only be around twenty years old? It was impossible for someone of his age to best Charon.
“Who are you?”
Lu Yin smiled. “You must be the Charon that my uncle spoke about.”
Uncle? Charon’s eyes grew bigger and his expression turned vicious even as a trace of fear crept in. “Where’s your uncle? I want to see him.”
Lu Yin shrugged casually. “Sorry, but my Uncle’s busy and won’t meet you. But he told me about some of your matters. How interesting. Haha!”
Charon felt a shiver run down his spine as he stared furiously at Lu Yin. “Who are you?! What do you know?! What do you want?!”
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