Star Odyssey

“This is for you,” the Rainmaster threw Lu Yin a chip, and he accepted it with gleaming eyes. This had to be the same thing Michelle and the others had gotten, and now he had one too. It was probably something for him to keep his mouth shut, or just compensation of sorts for the near-death experience. He was about to ask more questions, but the Rainmaster just disappeared. Slightly disappointed, he inserted the chip into his gadget. It contained an introduction to star energy and its different variations, which showed him the way forward.

“Every student should have gotten one of these,” he muttered to himself. There really was a problem with Astral-10’s teaching methods.

According to the information on the chip, one’s control of star energy was dictated by a process of removing its impurities, physically manifesting it, and then achieving the realm of infinite change. Many cultivators needed the help of elemental crystals for their battle techniques, but those at infinite change could imitate those kinds of energy on their own.

He lifted his hand and condensed some star energy in his palm. Without the Cosmic Art, it barely formed a single strand that was far from physical manifestation, forget the stage of infinite change. Besides, infinite change wasn’t even the end of it; there was a brief note about forming one’s own power system afterwards which attracted his attention, but there was no further explanation. Star energy was the foundation of all cultivation, and his understanding of it was currently far too crude. It was no wonder that all students who passed the assessment had appeared at the Rain Observatory. Astral-10 hoped for them all to start their training here, but they had all chosen to focus on other places instead.

The screen disappeared and the chip cracked into pieces. Lu Yin truly wanted to train in the Rain Observatory in order to improve on his star energy, but that would take too long. His primary goal now was to get another batch of star crystals and use his die; he hoped to unlock the yet-unseen roll of three, and figure out what the roll of six actually did outside of consuming enormous amounts of star crystals. He determined the direction of the teleporter and flew away.

Meanwhile, the Rainmaster was staring at him from the distance while deep in thought, “Strange… I’ve never seen that seal before. It’s too complicated for the Outerverse, even most of the Innerverse. Could it be…”

Outside of the three major landscapes in Astral-10 was the treasury. Big Pao had introduced it as a place with a dual purpose; it housed the school’s countless treasures, but also put up training missions with rewards for completion. Desperately in need of star crystals, Lu Yin had decided to go there and try his luck.

The Astral-10 treasury was an enormous place that looked grand and magnificent from the outside. Hui Daynight was leaving just as Lu Yin walked in, and he glanced over arrogantly before leaving a growl behind, “Get lost.”

A cold glint of annoyance flashed across Lu Yin’s eyes.

“Hey, another newcomer! You're the seventh one, what do you need?” A short and skinny old man cackled from within.

Lu Yin looked over and was stunned. The old man had an interesting beard that moved when he smiled, and the cunning look in his eyes made it clear that this wasn’t a nice person. “Are you the Treasuremaster?”

The old man nodded and stroked his beard, “Are you here for treasure or missions?”

“Can I go in and take a look?” Lu Yin asked.

The old man waved his hand to summon a screen that displayed various objects, “Everything in the treasury is here if you want to look, but you can’t enter.”

Lu Yin went through the enormous catalog with some surprise. There were all sorts of items here, from weapons and armor to books, potions, and even spaceships. However, the screen disappeared soon and the old man waved again to summon a different one that showed a list of missions, “Anything you want from the treasury has to be redeemed with mission points. Interested?”

“Mm, but they’re all Sentinel missions,” Lu Yin mused.

The old man pinched his beard, “Only powerful forces in the universe dare to issue missions to Astral-10, their missions aren’t easy. Don’t think about exceeding your realm; it wouldn’t be bad if you can complete even these. Look at the top one. 

“Hmm… Five wins?” Lu Yin asked in shock as he looked through it. Mission: Get five consecutive wins in battle. Reward: one Aurora spaceship and 10,000 cubes of star crystals.

The old man nodded, “Read it properly, it’s five consecutive wins, not five wins in general. The difference is enormous, but the reward is obviously quite attractive as well. That brat from the Daynight Clan is trying to do this right now.”

Lu Yin laughed at that. It was far too difficult for any of the new students to get to five wins total right now, forget five consecutive. It was no wonder that Hui was in such a bad mood. He shelved the mission immediately, scrolling through the list to find something suitable.

“Find the rumored Zhilan Muya on the Muya Planet.”

“Complete a weave trial.”

“Lockbreaker needed.”

“Lockbreaker needed.”

“Lockbreaker needed.”

“Don’t talk for one year.”

“Lockbreaker needed.”

“Recycle unwanted materials for Iltoco. Reward: a third of the value of the recycled materials.”

There were many types of missions, including something as crazy as not speaking for a year; they truly broadened Lu Yin’s horizons. He asked, “Treasuremaster, what does lockbreaker mean?”

“You haven’t heard of lockbreakers?” the old man glanced at him, continuing when he shook his head, “Kids these days are really blind to the world. You’ve never even heard of lockbreakers, huh? I’m too lazy to explain, you can find out on your own.”

Lu Yin ignored the berating and pointed to a mission, “I want this, please.”

The old man looked over, “Iltoco is an old friend of Astral-10, don’t embarrass us when you go there or I’ll punish you.”

Embarrass them? Lu Yin smiled. This was a joke; breaking things down was extremely simple with his die, he was confident that he would recycle enough to stun the company.

“Alright, I’ve assigned it to you. The mission details on your gadget include the location of their recycling plants, you can go over on your own,” the old man said.

Lu Yin looked at the location. Iltoco’s nearest location was two days away from Astral-10, and he would need to take a wormhole on the journey. He followed the instructions and borrowed a personal spaceship from the treasury, but the old man commented on that as well, “I want it back in perfect shape once you’re done. You’ll have to pay if you lose it.”

He registered with his fingerprint and teleported to Astral-10’s space station. Finding hundreds of personal spaceships around, he got on a random one and flew out. He wanted to figure out where the school was when he left, but there was nothing in sight all around when he was warped out of the station. The Academy was completely hidden despite its enormous size, something that flabbergasted him.

After nearly a month in this new school, Lu Yin was finally traveling out in space as a student of Astral-10. On the other hand, Coco was at the teleporter in the Sand Ocean, looking at the desert timidly, “Senior Little Pao, I don’t like it here.”

Little Pao laughed, “This is a really good place for training, it can unleash anyone’s potential.”

“I’m not in a rush, really!” she answered anxiously.

“Well, then I hope you’ll win in the new student competition,” Little Pao said.

“New student competition? What’s that?”

“A contest for students to determine their ranking in the school. First place gets great rewards,” Little Pao explained.

Coco pouted, “When will it be?”

Little Pao shrugged, “I’m not sure. Maybe a couple days, maybe a couple months. Everything about it depends on the tutors, even the rewards, but there’s one guarantee; the person in last place will definitely get punished.

Coco thought about the other new students and realized that she probably was the weakest one, “What? Why would they do this?”

Little Pao laughed, “Get back to training.”