“How about you, Coco?” Lu Yin’s lips curved as he looked at the girl.
“I… I’m called Little Angel,” she said with a blush, leaving him speechless.
“I’m Silver Needle,” Zora walked over and volunteered.
Mend Yue headed over as well, staring at him, “I’m Desolation, remember that. If I meet you in a ported battle, I won’t show mercy.”
“There’s only one teleportation stone, we won’t meet,” Lu Yin replied.
At this point, Silver walked out with his trademark sly smile. They all thought he’d won for a moment, but the Trialmaster announced, “Silver, zero victories to one defeat.”
By this point, all twelve of them had tried their hand at the ported battles. Outside of Michelle and Darkvoid who had one victory each, the rest were all defeated. Their opponents weren’t just beyond their realm, but also absolute elites or geniuses with innate gifts. The universe was just so big, and Lu Yin now sensed acutely just how small the Great Yu Empire was. He could match up to Yu Academy’s Melders as a Sentinel, especially with his sixth star where he was now confident in facing a hall master like Gerbach, but he wasn’t even confident against opponents of the same level in these ported battles. Perhaps he might even meet another powerhouse who had learnt the Cosmic Art in these battles.
Hui Daynight stepped into the teleportation stone’s domain once more with a desire to continue battling, while most of the others got back in line. These battles were a fresh experience to them, and they all wanted to try again. After several rounds, Lu Yin got his second chance. He gave himself the codename of Seventh Brother; he did not know why, but he’d always felt like he was ranked seventh. However, his luck wasn’t too great over the next few rounds. He met two Limiteers, an Explorer, and a Melder, but even the Melder had defeated him easily.
As he walked out of the scope of the teleportation stone for the fifth time, Lu Yin heard the Trialmaster shout, “Lu Yin, zero victories to five defeats.” He minded his own business and walked away, deciding not to enter again in the short term. Fighting like that was useless; his opponents didn’t even give him time to react, so it wasn’t very helpful in practice. It was clear that he could only use the ported battles as a benchmark for his own strength.
“Want some food, Friend?” Silver smiled and raised a sausage in the distance, the aroma wafting out as he added seasoning. Coco, Zora, and Lulu were already eating there, so he didn’t bother with pleasantries and just grabbed one and dug in.
“Brother Silver, you’re a great chef!” Coco commended.
Silver smiled, “Eat more if you like it, I’m a gourmet.”
“How many matches have you fought?” Lu Yin asked.
Silver lifted up one finger.
“Just one?” Lu Yin was incredulous.
“You fought five matches, are you going to continue?” Silver flipped the meat and smiled back. When Lu Yin shook his head, he threw another sausage towards the Trialmaster.
The old man caught the meat and sniffed it, “Not bad, you have some sense. Good kid.”
“As long as you like it,” Silver smiled.
The old man’s face blossomed with a smile of his own, “I do.”
Fortunately Michelle did not see this scene. Silver had not spoken too loudly, but the Trialmaster clearly heard what he’d said. He’d clearly been acting deaf in front of her, a fact that would anger her to no end.
More people left as time passed, with Zhao Yilong, Schutz, Xia Luo, and Zora all leaving to find a more interesting place to train. Silver finished cooking and left as well, but Lu Yin stuck around near the teleportation stone to see how many victories Hui Daynight and Darkvoid could get. Those two were still going at it.
“Hui Daynight, one victory to 27 defeats,” the Trialmaster said.
Not long after, “Darkvoid, seven victories to 22 defeats.”
Lu Yin was shocked by Darkvoid’s win rate, while Hui Daynight was flabbergasted as well. This person was far stronger than himself.
“Seven victories, how powerful,” a male stranger appeared about ten metres away from Lu Yin and gazed at Darkvoid in wonder. Lu Yin looked at him with suspicion, but he smiled back, “Let me introduce myself. I’m Little Pao, you can call me Senior Little Pao.”
Lu Yin felt strange, “Little Pao? You’re with Big Pao?”
“That’s my older brother,” Little Pao replied.
Lu Yin nodded, as the two brothers had rather convenient names, “Senior Little Pao, there’s something I would like to ask. We’ve been here for three days, but why has not a single other senior appeared?”
Little Pao felt embarrassed, “They all left. Outside of the tutors themselves, we’re the only two remaining.”
“What? All of them left?” Lu Yin was stunned.
Little Pao nodded and sighed, “Astral-10 was once in the Innerverse, but we were sent to the Outerverse. All the other students tried to enter the other academies or just left. No one wants to come to the Outerverse.”
Lu Yin hadn’t imagined that Astral-10’s situation would be so poor. No wonder he couldn’t see a single other student. He bid farewell to Little Pao and left the trial zone entrance, heading for the Sand Ocean that Big Pao had introduced them to before. The others had all left over the past three days.
The Sand Ocean was one of three great landscapes of Astral-10 with the Rain Observatory and Stargazing Deck. Their specific uses were not really introduced to him, but given that the Rain Observatory could polish their star energy, he guessed that the Sand Ocean would help with the physical body or battle techniques. The teleporter only had a few options anyway, and the ripping force quickly left him in a wide expanse of yellow sand.
From Big Pao’s basic introduction, the Sand Ocean was far larger than the Rain Observatory. Dangerous sandstorms swept across the region on occasion, and after seeing the yellow desert that stretched as far as the eye could see, Lu Yin stepped back into the teleporter and headed for the Stargazing Deck. He wanted to look at all three major landscapes once, and the Stargazing Deck was the most mysterious of them all. This was the one landscape that all ten Astral Combat Academies possessed.
According to Big Pao’s introductory message, everyone saw something different on the Stargazing Deck. Some saw their past, some saw a smear of the heavens, and some saw powerful battle techniques. It was said that some even glimpsed a hint of the future; Lu Yin could not believe this, but those rumors did go to show how mystical this place was. It was actually just an octagonal wooden building with many layers, but it wasn’t more than a hundred meters tall and the top was a leveled terrace. The entire thing looked quite average, but there were just too many rumors about it.
Xia Luo walked out of the Stargazing Deck just as Lu Yin arrived, and the two bumped into one another.
“How many times have you tried the ported battles?” Xia Luo asked. He had left after his first defeat.
“Five.”
He smiled, “We’re in early stages still; we can’t challenge the Innerverse powerhouses just yet.”
Lu Yin nodded and pondered over it, changing topics, “You know Silver?”
Xia Luo was taken aback, “Why do you ask?”
Lu Yin laughed, “I’m not blind. You treat him completely differently with the way you treat others.”
Xia Luo shook his head, “I don’t know him, but I hate the smell on his body.”
Lu Yin thought of the Neohuman Alliance and their Corpse Kings from the planetary trial. Silver didn’t actually look like one, but he just let the conversation die. Xia Luo left for some other location, and he slowly stepped onto the Stargazing Deck. The place seemed just as normal on the inside as on the outside; even at the top, the scenery he saw and the sensations he felt were nothing out of the ordinary.
“Close your eyes, meditate, and feel,” a voice rang beside his ears. Lu Yin understood that this was a tutor, and he thought no further before slowly closing his eyes. A short while later, he entered a strange sleep where he felt like he was still awake. His gaze flitted past the Stargazing Deck into the starry heavens, entering a foriegn space that was flooded with a desolate aura. Further away, he saw titanic ancient battleships sailing through the stars, each one so large that their ends could not be seen. They almost seemed to embrace the galaxies they floated across, and an ancient warsong played in his ears. There was one word he saw in front of the frontmost vessel—Boundless.
Everything suddenly bubbled apart, and a jade finger tore through the skies to crush him. “How audacious!” Limitless wrath filled Lu Yin’s mind and soul, but when he opened his eyes, everything had returned to normal. He was still on the Stargazing Deck, with no heavens, warships, or jade fingers in sight. His eyes gleamed and he panted. It was that scene again, the scene of him being crushed. Was it reality or an illusion? If it was real, why was he still alive? If it was an illusion, how were his emotions so believable?