Star Odyssey

Chapter 1951

If one observed the Seven Courts from a distance, the Xia clan’s sword-shaped mainland possessed a peerless energy, which reminded people of Progenitor Chen and his invincibility that the Sixth Mainland had removed from their historical records.

The mountains of Nature’s Manifestation were where the Roots of Intelligence were grown, and they were full of life and energy. Progenitor Hui had been able to calculate the future with such accuracy that he had hatched a scheme that had only been carried out after the passage of possibly hundreds of millions of years.

The Voidsoul Region glowed with glimmering lightning, but Progenitor Ku had been almost completely unknown even during his own time. He had stepped out to fight against the Aeternals by himself, only to never be seen again and forgotten. He did not need anyone to remember or praise him in his feats, all he wanted was to have a clear conscience and fight to his death.

Even a Progenitor could die in battle, let alone one facing multiple opponents.

Enemies, family, surrendering, struggling. Too many thoughts tumbled through Lu Yin’s mind in a single moment, until it was all released in a tremendous roar that he unleashed into the emptiness of outer space.

He was a child of the Lu family, as well as a part of the human race. He had risen up as a nameless person from Earth until he stood above all of his peers and was the leader of the Great Eastern Alliance. Lu Yin’s life defied what people could accept.

He would not place his life into anyone else’s hands, and he would not expect charity from anyone.

Only by seizing the initiative could he possibly hope to have a chance.

While Lu Yin was visiting the Seven Courts, the Xia family had been nervous, the Hui family had acted as a friend, and the Ku, Ce, Yōu, and even the Xie families had all placed their hopes in Lu Yin. Just judging by the Seven Courts’ attitudes, Lu Yin felt confident that they would support him in his fight against the Perennial World. However, how could he rally such support from more powers?

Lu Yin remained exactly where he was for two entire days.

During these two days, no one disturbed him, and he did not speak to anyone. He simply stood where he was and stared at the Seven Courts’ territories in the distance.

Finally, two days later, Lu Yin returned to his senses and let out a long breath. He then pulled up his gadget. "Wang Wen, let's start playing a game that includes the whole universe."

…

A spacecraft headed in Lu Yin’s direction from far away. It had come from the Xia family’s territory.

There was a young man on the vessel with his hands clasped behind his back as he stared out at the passing stars, watching as the Seven Courts territory grew smaller and smaller in the distance. He lifted a hand before him, as though hoping to grab the entire Seven Courts within his grasp.

"Young Master, you shouldn't do that." The voice of an old man spoke up from behind the young man. The old man was slightly stooped over, and he looked quite somber as he addressed the young man.

The young man lowered his hand and offered an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Uncle Jiang, I got carried away for a moment. It won’t happen again."

Uncle Jiang continued scolding in a solemn manner. "We‘ve only just taken our first step, and although we might possess high statuses, we are still nothing more than puppets. Young Master, you still have a long way to go."

The young man nodded. "I know that."

The young man was Xia Sheng, and he was one of the Xia family’s descendants. He was currently on his way to Mt. Microcosms to take Nan Yuan’s place as the overseer representing the Seven Courts.

One of the nine overseers’ seats was perpetually reserved for the Seven Courts, and more specifically, for someone sent by the Xia family. If the Xia family did not have a suitable candidate within their own numbers, then they would simply nominate a representative. Xia Sheng was the candidate that the Xia family had selected.

In fact, he was Xia Meng’s suggestion.

An alert sounded through the spacecraft, and there was soon a report. "Young Master, there are some people up ahead."

Uncle Jiang frowned. "Then go around them. Why bother reporting something like this?"

The crewmembers wiped some sweat from his forehead as he respectfully replied, "One of them looks like Lu Yin."

Uncle Jiang's expression instantly changed. "Lu Yin? The overseer and leader of the Great Eastern Alliance?"

The man nodded.

Xia Sheng's expression grew solemn as he instantly mentally reviewed everything that he knew about Lu Yin. Each of Lu Yin’s achievements had been extremely astonishing and were things Xia Sheng could only dream of doing.

Uncle Jiang looked at Xia Sheng. "Young Master, this is an opportunity before you."

Xia Sheng felt puzzled.

Uncle Jiang explained in a low voice, "Lu Yin is at odds with our patriarch, but he has close ties with the other families of the Seven Courts. I recently received word that he just left after visiting the Xie family two days ago. He recently visited all of the families in the Seven Courts, spending a noticeable amount of time with the Hui family in particular. Hui Kong, the family’s strongest elder, has some sort of inseparable relationship with Lu Yin. As long as you receive Lu Yin's support, you will be able to take the next step."

Xia Sheng took a deep breath and quickly straightened his clothes. "Then let’s go meet this legendary champion."

As their vessel moved closer and closer to Lu Yin, Xia Sheng grew more and more nervous. He had tremendous ambitions, but he lacked the necessary strength to see those ambitions fulfilled. The young man was very similar to Lu Yin, but a key difference was that Lu Yin had the strength needed to pursue his ambitions.

As he saw Lu Yin’s figure grow more and more clear in front of them, Xia Sheng’s breathing grew ragged even as the ambition started burning brighter and brighter in his eyes. One day, he would also reach that step—there was no question about it. At that time, he would return all of the oppression and unfairness that he had suffered to the Xia clan back to them.

Lu Yin was a crucial step in Xia Sheng’s plans.

"Young Master, let's go," Uncle Jiang spoke softly.

Xia Sheng nodded, but just as the two were about to exit their vessel to go speak to Lu Yin, the young man vanished.

Xia Sheng was left staring blankly at an empty stretch of outer space. Just where had his target gone?

Despite the chaotic emotions that had been warring within Xia Sheng as he approached Lu Yin, Lu Yin had noticed nothing at all.

Instead, Lu Yin had just received a message from Little R1O, so he started making his way straight to the Neoverse’s northern region in order to visit Aurora Fortress.

Lu Yin had once visited the Technocracy’s First Edition City while under disguise, and he had managed to form a friendship with Little R1O. Afterwards, even though Lu Yin’s true identity had been exposed, he had still managed to negotiate a cooperative relationship with First Edition City, as well as Little R1O. Thus, he had been in touch with the young researcher on multiple occasions.

Lu Yin had just received a call from Little R1O that stated that he had recently accidentally developed a new type of universal armor. Not only was this new style of armor able to keep someone safe and able to travel through the emptiness of outer space, but it was also able to accelerate a person’s movements.

Even a Limiteer would experience a substantial increase in their speed. If an ordinary human tried to wear the universal armor, the increased speed might be too much for them to handle. Without the innate protection of the universal armor, just its mere acceleration could crush an ordinary human to death.

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The Second Nightking led Lu Yin northwards while the young man studied the designs for the new universal armor.

Not only did this new universal armor design improve the wearer’s speed, but it also possessed the ability to launch its own attack, which was a completely new feature not found in any other model.

Little R1O focused on designing androids, and he was the most brilliant and innovative mind in First Edition City. Everything that he developed, even by accident, could be invaluable.

Lu Yin’s first thought when he saw this new design was one that he had had before: if this universal armor could be integrated with the white smoke from Smoke-Eater Peaks and the developing microarray technology, then even a single Limiteer could potentially challenge an Explorer. No, the destructive potential of the microarray technology could even be enough to kill Explorers.

The more he thought about the future prospects, the more excited Lu Yin became, and eventually, he could not resist urging the Second Nightking to speed up.

…

Aurora Fortress carried out an important function for Lu Yin: they were secretly developing the microarray technology that he so desperately desired.

He had provided them with the means to accelerate their research shortly after returning from the Perennial World. Now, after ignoring them for so long, Lu Yin felt that it was time to check on their progress.

Lu Yin did not give any advance notice of his arrival, so Director Zhi was startled when he was informed that Lu Yin was visiting. In a rush, he gathered some members of Aurora Enterprises’ senior management to greet Lu Yin.

Given Lu Yin’s current status, he was treated in this manner no matter where he went.

Director Zhi smiled and apologized as soon as he laid eyes on Lu Yin. "Alliance Leader Lu, why didn't you tell me that you were coming? I could have prepared better for your visit. We didn’t know that you were coming until you were already in sight, and we were unable to act as proper hosts."

Lu Yin smiled. "You’re being too polite, Director Zhi. I just happened to be passing by, so I thought that I’d stop in and rest here for a bit."

"Haha, there’s no need to even mention needing to rest! You’ll be fine living for another 800,000 years or so! Please, Alliance Leader Lu, follow me." Director Zhi was openly flattering Lu Yin this time.

Lu Yin followed the man and entered Aurora Fortress once again.

When he had last visited, Lu Yin had been escorted by Liu Ye and Fei Hua, but at the moment, the Second Nightking was accompanying Lu Yin, which was an even more overbearing display of power.

The Second Nightking’s presence put an incredible amount of stress on the people of Aurora Fortress, though a powerhouse at the Second Nightking’s level would exert this pressure wherever they went.

Director Zhi glanced at the Second Nightking several times, but Lu Yin made no sign of introducing the old man, so Director Zhi refrained from asking.

"They have an expert with a power level of over a million," the Second Nightking informed Lu Yin with a voice transmission.

Lu Yin glanced over in the direction that the Second Nightking was looking at. Even during his first visit, Lu Yin had felt danger from this fortress, and that feeling had most likely come from the super powerhouse the Second Nightking had just noticed.

Lu Yin was not surprised to learn that Aurora Enterprises had such an expert around. After all, they were the largest spaceship manufacturing company in the universe and had also made a place for themselves in the Neoverse.

In the past, Lu Yin would have been amazed by the existence of such an expert, but a power could no longer pressure him unless they were led by a Semi-Progenitor.

As long as the Second Nightking wanted to, Aurora Fortress could be easily erased from existence.

If one only considered those beneath the Semi-Progenitor realm in the Fifth Mainland, then the Second Nightking could easily rank among the top ten strongest, which meant that he was an absolute monster.

During this visit, Zhi Shao accompanied his father to greet Lu Yin. This young master from Aurora Enterprises had also participated in the Astral Tower competition, but unfortunately, he had not done anything noteworthy. It had been the same during ZENITH as well. The sight of the young man reminded Lu Yin of racing cars.

There were many engineers stationed on Aurora Fortress, and Director Zhi introduced Lu Yin to Biao Zi, who was the chief engineer at Aurora Fortress. The man seemed rather old, and he was a full three meters tall. His name was a bit odd, and it did not match his job at all, though it did fit his appearance.

"Alliance Leader Lu, I’m the one who built your bodysuit armor." The stout, three-meter tall engineer grinned, revealing a mouth full of black teeth as he spoke in a cheery tone.

Lu Yin was surprised by the man’s appearance. "Are you a lesser giant?"

Biao Zi nodded, which caused his mostly burnt meter-long beard to move. "That’s right."

Lu Yin smiled. "I didn't know that there were still lesser giants in the Fifth Mainland. What is your relationship with the lesser giants from the Sixth Mainland?"

Biao Zi became curious. “Are there also lesser giants from the Sixth Mainland?"

"Yes, they have congregated in the Arrow Sect," Lu Yin replied.

Biao Zi shook his head. "No idea, but we should have different origins."

It was common for people from different places to follow similar paths of development, so Lu Yin did not press the issue. The Sixth Mainland not only had lesser giants, but also colossal giants. This was perfectly normal.

"Director Zhi, aside from passing by, I did stop by for one other reason as well. Do you happen to remember our agreement from last time?" Lu Yin asked.

The man’s eyes lit up. "Are you referring to the cooperative relationship that was mentioned? If you provide us with rare materials, my Aurora Enterprises will design and build you a standard vessel for your forces."

Lu Yin smiled. "Let’s change that a bit. In addition to the design for a standard ship, I also need this to be made."

Lu Yin then pulled up and shared Little R1O's design for the new universal armor. After staring at it for a bit, Director Zhi’s eyes went wide. "Is this…?"

Biao Zi was much taller than Director Zhi, which let him see the designs even though he was standing behind the director. Almost immediately, the big man snatched the designs away. "A new design for universal armor? Interesting… This actually incorporates new equipment to provide substantial acceleration, and yet it doesn’t put much stress on the armor itself. The core components and the metal required to make them can be procured for around 10,000 star crystal, but it would be better to use material worth 20,000 as the extra cost will reduce battle damage even further. The metal for the rest of the armor would cost about 7,000 star crystals all together. I am honestly surprised to see that someone is still studying such a dead-end subject. This is really well done."

Director Zhi quickly apologized to Lu Yin. "I'm sorry, Alliance Leader Lu. Mr. Biao is obsessed with technology, so he was fascinated the moment he saw these new blueprints. Please don't mind him."