Star Odyssey

The selected Explorer had a pained expression. He first peeled off the other Explorer’s star essence skin, then Kayze’s, and finally, his own. 

After that, Lu Yin forced the trio into one personal spacecraft and had them to take off and leave the planet. If they spent any more time on the planet, then they might have breathed in too much of the ambient pyrolyte and exploded. Lu Yin didn’t want to kill these three Explorers since it might cause other Explorers to be unwilling to face him. 

Lu Yin looked at the three star essence skins that possessed a sparkling lustre and grew incomparably excited. These star essence skins had been made at a great price, but unfortunately, they would not fetch the same amount of star essence even if he sold them. 

For example, it would be decent for one star essence skin that was made from 1,000 star essence to sell for 500 star essence. After all, these toys could only be used on Planet Pyrolyte, and even the next buyer would not be able to recover that many star essence. 

This was unacceptable, as it meant that things were disadvantageous for him!

Lu Yin pondered over his situation for a while.

At this time, Xi Yue and the others arrived from a distance.

When he saw them, his eyes lit up, and he stored the three star essence skins in his cosmic ring.

Xi Yue came over to Lu Yin and looked at him with a complex expression. Her eyes carried a grateful yet shameful expression, as well as an indecipherable emotion. “Thank you.” 

Lu Yin casually waved his hand. “You’re welcome, washboard.”

Xi Yue’s brows rose, and she glared furiously at Lu Yin. “I’m no washboard!”

Lu Yin reflexively glanced at Xi Yue’s chest. “It has gotten a little bigger.”

“Thug.” Xi Yue’s face flushed red, while many of the Souldream Tribe members’ faces behind her became strange.

“Where’s the trio?” Xi Yue asked.

Lu Yin pointed to the sky. “Threw them out.”

He then leaned closer to Xi Yue. “Do you want to make a trade?”

Xi Yue backed away as her face flushed red. “You… you get away from me!”

Lu Yin pursed his lips and retrieved one of the star essence skins. “I’ll sell this to you for 1,000 star essence.”

Xi Yue’s eyes went wide, and many of the Souldream Tribe members stared at the skin, dumbfounded. “You peeled the star essence skins off of their bodies?”

Lu Yin nodded. “So how about it? 1,000 star essence is the price for your Souldream Tribe.”

Xi Yue stared at him, dumbfounded, but she didn’t refuse. Instead, her eyes flickered with a calculating glimmer. It took a great deal of time to manufacture a star essence skin. If they could really buy one straight from Lu Yin, then it would be much cheaper, and they would also save a lot of time that was needed to manufacture one.

“How about it? Do you want it? If not, I’ll sell it to Northline Flowzone,” Lu Yin urged.

Before she spoke, a voice rang out from afar, “Brother Lu, our Souldream Tribe wants it.”

Lan Yue was much slower than Lu Yin, and she had only arrived at the scene now. When she saw Lu Yin brandishing the star essence skin and hawking it, she immediately spoke up to buy it. 

Lu Yin very generously tossed the star essence skin to her. “Deal, 1,000 star essence. Thank you.” 

Lan Yue grabbed the skin and found that the star essence skin was smooth to the touch and completely made from star essence. It felt like it would be very comfortable to wear, and the Souldream Tribe would now be able to send an Explorer down to the surface of Planet Pyrolyte with this suit. 

“Brother Lu, you should have two more on you?” Lan Yue asked Lu Yin with high expectations.

Lu Yin nodded, and retrieved another two suits.

“Pass them all to us: 3,000 star essence,” Lan Yue offered excitedly.

Lu Yin sneered, “I recall that when I spoke to you in space, you tried to hoodwink me. Are you still trying to do the same now?”

Lan Yue’s face changed, and she awkwardly asked, “Brother Lu, what do you mean?”

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “Do you want me to state the obvious? You tried to entice me with a marriage proposal and conveniently offered the amazing condition of allowing the Great Yu Empire to enter the Innerverse. But the reality is that everything in that deal was aimed to have me help your Souldream Tribe get the advantage here on Planet Pyrolyte while also establishing a relationship with the Sea King’s Dome. Am I wrong?”

Lan Yue’s face went pale.

Xi Yue looked at Lan Yue, as she had not known about this matter since she had already arrived on Planet Pyrolyte when the conditions had been offered.

“Brother Lu, I think that you’re mistaken. Our Souldream Tribe is sincere about wanting to have marital relations with the Great Yu Empire. If you don’t believe me, then when we leave Planet Pyrolyte, we can immediately start arranging things while also providing you with financial support. We will also do our best to bring your Great Yu Empire into the Innerverse. How about that?” Lan Yue sincerely offered Lu Yin.

Lu Yin naturally did not believe her, as the Sea King's Dome had already announced that it would protect Frostwave Weave. As for the Souldream Tribe, they only wanted to establish marital relations now so that they could pull themselves closer to the Sea King's Dome. 

“There’s no need to say anything more. I understand your intentions. I still have two star essence skins left, and I’ll trade this one for 1,000 star essence.” Lu Yin handed Lan Yue another star essence skin, but he kept the one that he had obtained from Kayze. 

He was not stupid. Kayze had obviously been much stronger than the other two, so the price to manufacture his star essence skin was entirely different since it could be given to a different tier of experts. The other two star essence skins could be used by elite Explorers at best, while those who could rival the youths on the Top 100 Rankings would not be able to use them unless the skins were rebuilt. But Kayze’s skin was different, as it could be immediately used by experts in the Top 100 Rankings. 

In fact, Lan Yue really wanted Kayze’s suit. Although the Souldream Tribe had no one in the Top 100 Rankings, that list only took the younger generation into account, and there were still many older Explorers who could rival the youths on the ranking list. However, Lu Yin had not given her what she wanted. 

Helpless, Lan Yue could only accept the two suits, though she was not losing out either. The cost to manufacture these two suits definitely surpassed a mere 1,000 star essence each. 

“Brother Lu, how do you wish to conduct the transaction? Do we send the money to your Mavis Bank account, or shall we directly pass it to you?” Lan Yue asked. 

“Directly. You can send someone to the mountain range.”

Lan Yue nodded and then looked at Xi Yue, as she tried to send a message through her eyes. She wanted to obtain Kayze’s star essence skin, but Xi Yue pretended not to see the other woman. She had already admitted that she didn’t know Lu Yin that well.

Lu Yin left and returned to the mountain range. 

Above the planet, the various great powers had been unanimously shocked by this matter. They could not send anyone weaker than Lu Yin to challenge him, or else, not only might they fail to seize the pyrolyte mine, but they might also have their star essence skins stolen. 

The Dire Barbarian Clan, Blaze Realm, and Ross Empire had all suffered a great loss, and many of the other powers were secretly thrilled. Retribution had come for those three who had been the quickest to act! However, this bandit-like behavior by Lu Yin, where he had forced them to peel off their star essence skins, had created a huge dilemma for all of them. No one was willing to spend so much time and resources to manufacture a star essence skin only to lose it after just one round of battle on Planet Pyrolyte. The loss of star essence was acceptable, but the time needed to transport the star essence, as well as to manufacture the skins, was something irreplaceable. 

That was the greatest loss facing them.

The next day, Lu Yin sat atop the mountain range just like before, occasionally looking towards the sky as he waited for someone from the Souldream Tribe to deliver the money.

Hai Qiqi dashed out of the pyrolyte mine, bored. She sat down beside Lu Yin and asked, “Hey, if the pyrolyte ore hasn’t been completely mined, then does that mean that we’re stuck here?”

Lu Yin nodded. In the distance, he could see a spacecraft soaring into space. This was the method used to transport pyrolyte ore, and such a thing happened every few days. Over the past month, Northline Flowzone had brought out quite a bit of pyrolyte ore. 

“Is Father that confident? Does he really think that you can defend this place?” Hai Qiqi felt curious, and she cocked her head at Lu Yin. “But you’re just a Limiteer.” 

“Go and ask your Father.”

Hai Qiqi pursed her lips. “It wasn’t right of Father to scheme against you, but he also didn’t harm you in any way. He even promised to protect your home. Why are you upset?” 

Lu Yin did not bother answering Hai Qiqi, as she would not understand even if he tried to explain.

He would rather become a pirate than join the Sea King's Dome and lose his freedom.

In the sky, something with a red color crashed down towards the mountain range.

Lu Yin looked up and squinted as his eyes filled with star energy, allowing him to see the rune lines that comprised the spacecraft. He could see quite a few, but it was only enough to equal an elite Explorer. Also, he could see that there was a dark-blue music symbol on the hull of the vessel, indicating that it was from the Souldream Tribe.

With a rumble, the spacecraft crashed into the ground a bit away from the mountain range, creating a pit in the earth. 

From above, it was possible to see that, all across and all around the mountain range, there were numerous similar craters, all caused by spacecraft landing in the area.

Hai Qiqi stared curiously at the spacecraft.

A young lady walked out of the vessel. She was beautiful, but her eyes carried an experienced light that belied her age. She was evidently not someone from the younger generation.

The lady approached Lu Yin and waved her hand. The light of 2,000 star essence flickered before being quickly stored in Lu Yin’s cosmic ring.

“The Souldream Tribe thanks Brother Lu for his help.” The woman was courteous.

Lu Yin nodded his head, and the girl left soon after.

Hai Qiqi looked at Lu Yin. “Not bad. Everyone else is fighting for their lives, but here you are making money.”

Lu Yin’s lips perked up, as he was still rather proud of his abilities. He even admired himself for coming up with a way to make some money, and it had even been a rather considerable amount this time.

2,000 star essence was an amount that had been unimaginable to him before. Even when he had robbed the Blackbeard Pirates’ tribute, he had only gained 1,000 star essence. These were definitely major powers since they were able to bring out such a sum so easily. 

Right, there was also another 1,000 star essence, which was what he had received for selling Kayze’s star essence skin to Northline Flowzone. He had given them a lower price to show his gratitude towards them. 

“Eh, let me go somewhere else, and I’ll bring you back some more star essence skins. Relax, I don’t want a single coin. Everything will be yours.” Hai Qiqi looked at Lu Yin expectantly, as she felt that it was easier to talk to him when talking about profits. 

However, she was disappointed, as Lu Yin did not agree to her proposal.

“Why? Each one should be worth 1,000 star essence. That’s 1,000! Think about it carefully,” Hai Qiqi shouted.

Lu Yin sighed. “You won’t be able to do it.”

Hai Qiqi wasn’t convinced. “You’re underestimating Miss Qi! I’ll tell you seriously—if we actually had a proper fight, you wouldn’t be my opponent. Do you believe me?”

Lu Yin did not respond. 

Hai Qiqi ran over in front of him. “Do you believe what I said?”

Lu Yin was helpless. “Let’s put it this way. Do you have three feet of rope and a wooden stool?”

“What do you mean?” Hai Qiqi was baffled.

Lu Yin casually replied, “Hanging yourself is better than bragging.”

Hai Qiqi was furious since she had just received a verbal attack, which was the one area she was confident in being unparalleled. “Alright, idiot, just wait and see! Miss Qi will show you what happens when you criticize me. Just wait and see.”

Lu Yin regretted his words the moment he spoke them, but he had not been able to resist the impulse to tease her. He realized that the coming days might not be good for him.

The Ghost Monkey was pleased at Lu Yin’s misfortune. “Seventh Bro, I think that you’d best keep some distance from her.”

Over the next two days, Lu Yin received an endless number of merciless taunts that seemed to be omnipresent. He was almost pushed to the point of being unable to endure. He vowed that he would not criticize Hai Qiqi in the future. Instead, he would just pretend that he did not hear her. 

Above the planet, one spacecraft crashed outside the mountain range. Under Northline Flowzone’s watchful gazes, Northgate Lie walked out, which led to many cheers.