Star Odyssey

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Lu Yin opened his mouth, but he actually did not know what to say. He had had a hunch that his 50 million-plus star essence would be unable to upgrade his formcast model to the level that he desired, but now, it seemed that he would not be able to upgrade the froststone either.

The first upgrade alone required a million star essence, which was the highest cost he had ever seen for an initial upgrade.

However, since he had started, he did not want to stop before finishing. Thus, he continued to throw out more star essence.

Eventually, the froststone fell through, but it had only been upgraded once.

After being upgraded, the froststone had changed slightly. Its color was a bit whiter, and it looked a bit colder as the void around it had started to freeze over.

When Lu Yin picked the stone up, he only felt that his palm was cold with the cold being biting and a little painful.

This cold was actually enough to cause him pain, which was a bit much. He estimated that this cold could freeze Enlighters with power levels of more than 300,000.

Still, it was far from freezing time.

Lu Yin put the froststone back on the upper light screen and upgraded it again.

The second upgrade for the froststone cost him five million star essence.

Lu Yin felt his heart ache.

As he looked at the froststone, he saw that it had changed once again, becoming even whiter. Strangely, this color actually seemed to not belong to the universe.

Black holes were able to absorb light, and the white of this stone also seemed capable of absorbing light as well. Besides white, all other colors were absorbed and could no longer be seen.

Lu Yin gently touched the stone, and the tips of his fingers froze like when an ordinary person suffered an electric shock.

He was pleasantly surprised. Even if the froststone was still unable to freeze time, it could definitely be used as a weapon, and whoever touched it would definitely suffer.

Lu Yin wanted to upgrade it a third time, but after considering it for a moment, he gave up on that idea.

Time was an illusory concept, and even if he could upgrade the froststone to the point where it could freeze time, he had no idea of just how much star essence that would cost. If he did not consider the hundreds of millions of star essence that he had used to place bets on himself, he still had more than thirty six million star essence left, but he could not afford to use it all.

Lu Yin thought for a moment and put the froststone away before checking all of the various items that he owned. In the end, the item that he felt was best suited for being upgraded at this point was his universal armor.

He had no clue just how far this set of universal armor could be upgraded. It had been made from materials that had been fabricated in the Technocracy, and Lu Yin expected that, even if the armor could not be upgraded to the point where its runes matched up to the mechanical monsters that the Technocracy had sent after Brother Hui Kong, it should still be close.

After thinking about it, he put the cosmic armor on the upper light curtain, and then started to throw in star essence.

He had already upgraded this universal armor nine times, and the ninth upgrade had taken more than six million star essence. Thus, Lu Yin estimated that the next upgrade might possibly require tens of millions of star essence.

It turned out that the next upgrade took fourteen million star essence.

Lu Yin's heart ached as he stared at his upgraded universal armor.

The further he went, the more star essence he needed for everything. Based on the ratio of the recent cost increases, Lu Yin's current income was completely insufficient.

He wanted to upgrade the universal armor once more, but after considering it, Lu Yin decided not to.

His remaining twenty two million star essence might not be enough to finish!

He let out a long sigh, hoping that he would be able to gain a little more from ZENITH. Otherwise, he would really be out of money, and all the money that he had gained from the Blaze Realm would be gone.

Actually, the least valuable thing in the Blaze Realm's treasury had been the star essence, and there had been many other items that could be sold. After a bit of thought, Lu Yin had had everything sent over to Bei Qing.

With the rise of Lu Yin's status and his obscene use of star essence, the income from Lu's Grand Auction was no longer enough to support him. However, if the auction opened a branch in the Innerverse, then it would be able to sell off the Blaze Realm's treasures, and it should also be able to attract a crowd of buyers who could afford decent prices. Also, if Lu Yin was not able to sell the items for a decent price, then he could just use them himself.

As he thought about ways to earn more money, Lu Yin recited the full Stonewall Scriptures. In this manner, time quickly passed by.

The scenery changed before his eyes, and he reappeared in the secure training room that he had been using in the Blaze Realm.

His gadget beeped with a notification. When Lu Yin glanced down, he was overjoyed at what he saw and rushed off to the space station.

The Champions' Stage had been sent from the Neoverse two days ago. Yuan Shi was quick and efficient in what he did.

Lu Yin had originally thought that the large stage might not be delivered until after ZENITH, and he certainly didn't expect it to arrive so soon.

The Champions' Stage had been towed here from the Neoverse by a blackhole grade Aurora, according to a surprised Ku Wei. "Seventh Bro, what is that thing? It's so big that it can't even be stored in a cosmic ring."

Lu Yin himself had only just learned that the Champions' Stage could not be stored in a cosmic ring, which explained why the Sixth Mainland had not done that when they had first stolen it. Otherwise, it might have been impossible to retrieve even if the Chief Justice himself had moved out.

Lu Yin stared at the huge platform before him and jumped onto it. Suddenly, he felt something familiar. He seemed to hear some sound. Roaring? Wailing? Howling? Despair?

There was a thud as Ku Wei punched the stage next to Lu Yin, rousing Lu Yin. "Is it that hard?"

"You can head out," Lu Yin said.

Ku Wei quickly spoke up, "By the way, Seventh Bro, I've already placed your bets, and they were done in batches."

"What was the bookie's reaction?" Lu Yin asked.

Ku Wei showed a strange smile. "Due to the large wagers, the bookie actually panicked and sent someone to investigate, but they couldn't find us."

Lu Yin casually said, "Let them investigate and make sure that things are traced back to either the Neoverse or Leon's Armada."

Ku Wei was confused for a moment, but then he figured it out. Lu Yin was doing this because he was afraid that the bookie would default on the bets. With the bookie accepting such large wagers, the power behind the betting site could not be underestimated. Thus, Lu Yin wanted to make sure that they would not dare to default on payouts.

"In that case, they'll know that it's Seventh Bro. By the way, will doing this change your odds?" Ku Wei asked.

Lu Yin said, "It doesn't matter since the bets are based off of the odds when we placed the bets."

Ku Wei nodded and quickly left.

If the bookie discovered that the bets were placed by Leon's Armada, then they would absolutely think of Lu Yin. However, even if they realized what the situation was, it did not matter; the bets had already been placed and could no longer be changed.

All Lu Yin had to do at this time was keep an eye on the bookie and prepare for ZENITH.

…

Half a month passed, after which a large, radiant-grade Aurora set off from the Blaze Realm, headed towards Chaos Flowzone.

Lu Yin, Ku Wei, Zhuo Daynight, Zhanlong Daynight, and Cool Sis were all aboard the vessel, as they were all participating in ZENITH.

Cool Sis had already become the captain of the Great Yu Empire's Fifth Imperial Squadron. She had been ranked tenth on the Top 100 Rankings, but with nowhere to go, she had followed Lu Yin back to the Great Yu Empire.

Ku Wei did not even need to be mentioned.

Zhuo and Zhanlong Daynight both intended to participate in ZENITH as well.

Lu Yin had finally met Zhuo Daynight for the first time after they had parted ways back in Daynight Flowzone.

The two had a very complicated relationship. Calling them friends did not seem to be quite appropriate as they had both risked their lives for each other, bgut calling them lovers was also wrong as those emotions did not exist between the two.

Even Ling Gong could be thought of as being closer to Lu Yin's lover than Zhuo Daynight.

Lu Yin himself did not know exactly what his relationship with Zhuo Daynight was, but when he looked at her, the woman's face remained indifferent.

Looking out at the stars shooting by, Lu Yin remembered the markings that he had seen on the Champions' Stage. There had been images of both astral beasts and people. If that Champions' Stage was the same as his second innate gift that had the same name, then those images should be the champions who had been anointed to that stage.

Despite studying the Champions' Stage for half a month, Lu Yin was still unable to summon any of the champions. It had been useless even when he had tried to use his own blood.

Could an innate gift last forever? Perhaps the owner was not actually dead.

Lu Yin's thoughts on the matter were complicated. The Champions' Stage had to be connected to him. If it was actually someone else's innate gift, then that person was almost definitely related to Lu Yin by blood. However, he had no idea who that person might be.

"Seventh Bro, have you heard of this? In the western region of Chaos Flowzone, the place that used to be called the Floating Realm has been renamed as the Upper Realm. The people living there are all from the Sixth Mainland, and now, the entire Innerverse and Outerverse know about it," Ku Wei walked over and spoke in a low tone like a thief.

Lu Yin had actually not known anything about this matter. "How did the people of the Innerverse and Outerverse react to this?"

"It's messed up. Although the Upper Realm has been sealed off by the Hall of Honor, many people from the Innerverse have still gathered nearby. I've also heard that several very fierce fights have broken out," Ku Wei said.

Lu Yin did not respond, and he just quietly considered the situation. The Sixth Mainland would gradually move into the Fifth Mainland, and no one could change that fact. Their future lay in the Outerverse, and the Outerverse was his territory. Sooner or later, he would clash with the Sixth Mainland, and it was possible that things would erupt right after ZENITH ended.

Lu Yin did not know how many powerhouses the Sixth Mainland had, but any random Imprinter would be powerful enough to deal with Lu Yin. No matter who was supporting Lu Yin, they could not match up to the entire Sixth Mainland. Yuan Shi had been the guardian of the Outerverse for his lifetime, but even he was left powerless in this situation.

The Sixth Mainland was not the various Innerverse powers who had masterminded the Purge. Any thoughts of resisting the Sixth Mainland was nothing more than a dream. Lu Yin's only way out of the matter was to gradually move the entire Great Eastern Alliance into the Innerverse.

This was also one of the reasons why Lu Yin had been so eager to occupy the Blaze Realm. Frostwave Weave had to have an escape route.

Still, if there was an option, Lu Yin would prefer not to leave the Outerverse.

Also, if a place could be found for the Sixth Mainland to settle, then they might not take over the Outerverse.

Lu Yin thought about it and opened a star chart, only to quickly shake his head. It was easier said than done to find another place for the Sixth Mainland to settle.

His eyes were then drawn to the Technocracy on the star chart. He remembered the moment when he had rolled a six on his die and Possessed that mechanical ant. Even thinking back to that time gave Lu Yin chills; where were those mechanical ants? Who had created them?

Humans were always fearful of the unknown, but Lu Yin hoped to have the Sixth Mainland explore the unknown regions of the Technocracy. It would definitely be better if those mechanical ants could be forced out.

After thinking about this, Lu Yin sent a message to Wang Wen, roughly sharing his thoughts. He hoped that Wang Wen could come up with some way to redirect the Sixth Mainland into the Technocracy. Not only would this challenge the Technocracy, but it would also save the Outerverse.

ZENITH would start in two more months, and Lu Yin and his party would reach Chaos Flowzone in half a month at most.

At this time, a series of videos appeared on the network that drew the attention of countless people. These videos featured the highlights of battles of the various talented youths participating in ZENITH, and CyNet was behind the appearance of these videos.

CyNet controlled the entire Fifth Mainland's network, and they had access to everything that had ever been recorded.

Appearing alongside these videos was the most publicly accepted list of the predicted ten finalists, and the list was accompanied by a collection of videos featuring each of the ten favored youths.

"This is so unreasonable! I'm furious at myself!" Ku Wei shouted loudly, his voice spreading throughout the entire spacecraft.

Zhanlong Daynight and others all looked over at him.

Ku Wei brought up a screen and shared it with Lu Yin. "Seventh Bro, these people are so tricky! They actually ranked you thirteenth! They aren't showing you any respect at all!"

Lu Yin glanced at the screen, and Zhuo Daynight and others all looked at it as well.

The list predicting the ten finalists was not a list of just ten people, but rather of fifteen youths.