Chapter 173: Promise   Lu Yin had long since noticed that his Cosmic Art’s simulation of the stars’ orbits had become much faster, and the ninth star was already distinctly visible. With just a bit more effort and time, he would be able to stabilize the ninth star. A month seemed about right, and that was coincidentally how long it would take him to travel back to Astral-10.

He didn’t know how far his fellow students back in Astral-10 had progressed in their cultivation, as he had been absent for about four months in total. They should have all experienced a rather huge jump in improvement, and some of them had perhaps already entered the trial zones. When he thought of what the other Astral-10 students’ experiences in the trial zones would be, Lu Yin felt a hint of schadenfreude surface in his heart. He had suffered so badly as the top student—the others would definitely have it much worse.

Not two days later, while Lu Yin was cultivating his Cosmic Art, alarms suddenly rang throughout his spacecraft. “Warning, a spacecraft is obstructing the route ahead. Warning, a spacecraft is obstructing the route ahead.”

Lu Yin looked out and saw a warship standing in his path. His heart sank, as he had previously witnessed the terror of a warship; it had destroyed a planet along with all the Explorers on it in a single strike. Generally, warships were the strategic weapons that belonged to the various great powers, so why would one appear here? And it was even obstructing his path as well!

A sound emitted from his spacecraft, indicating that the other party wanted to communicate. Lu Yin frowned, but still pressed the button to receive the call.

“Hand over the Giant Emperor’s third eye,” said a calm female voice through the communication device. Lu Yin was furious. So it was the woman from the Daynight clan! She had somehow gotten a warship and was using it to block Lu Yin’s path and rob him of the third eye.

“Zhuo Daynight, don’t you think that it’s a bit too shameful to use a warship to threaten me?”

“I repeat, hand over the Giant Emperor’s third eye, and I’ll let you go. If not, you can turn into a pile of space trash.” Zhuo Daynight’s tone remained cold. When she finished speaking, Lu Yin felt a rising sense of danger from the opposing warship, and his heart rate spiked. The warship had locked onto his spacecraft; it’s attack would obliterate him if he didn’t agree.

Lu Yin had no choice. “Zhuo Daynight, if you kill a Lockbreaker that has no animosity towards you, will you be able to bear the consequences?”

“Lockbreaker?” Zhuo Daynight was shocked by Lu Yin revealing his status. “You’re a Lockbreaker?”

Lu Yin smiled. “That’s right. And not just any Lockbreaker, but a one star Junior Lockbreaker at that. I’ve already made some contributions. The Lockbreaker Society will definitely not let you off if you murder me.”

Back on the warship, Zhuo Daynight fell silent. Beside her, the soldiers were all shocked. They were troops from a nearby weave’s empire. They had lent their warship to her because of the Daynight clan’s reputation as they thought that it would be used for some trivial matter. They never imagined that this woman actually wanted to use it to deal with an Astral-10 student. Discovering that had made them afraid, but not terrified since the Daynight clan would bear the responsibility. However, attacking a student who was also a Lockbreaker was something unimaginable.

This was a Lockbreaker, a treasured talent among the entire human race. It could be said that a Lockbreaker represented how deeply the human race had explored the universe. No one dared to kill a Lockbreaker, especially one who had made contributions. There weren’t many of them in the entire universe, and killing one would doom the soldiers’ empire. They were sure that the other party was already recording a video; it was already too late to hide this matter from the Lockbreaker Society.

“Confirm your status.” Zhuo Daynight stubbornly refused to give in.

Lu Yin smiled. The Lockbreaker Network let outsiders browse through the network as guests, and they could also message the Lockbreakers. He sent a message to Zhuo Daynight through the Lockbreaker Network to prove his identity and to force her to drop her demands. “Alright, let me go now. This farce has gone on for long enough.”

She clenched her fists and spoke in a low tone. “That’s not possible. Hand over the Giant Emperor’s third eye, or I’ll bury you here in outer space.”

Lu Yin raised his brows. “You’re crazy if you want to kill a Lockbreaker.”

“That Lockbreaker identity isn’t enough to protect you. I’m from the Daynight clan, and the Lockbreaker Society will not cause my Daynight clan that much trouble for just a tiny little one star Junior Lockbreaker like you.”

“You’re right. They won’t go after the Daynight clan… but what about the owner of that warship? Can they withstand the Lockbreaker Society’s vengeance? Don’t even try to spout any nonsense about controlling such a large warship by yourself.”

Zhuo Daynight’s eyes narrowed and she looked to the side at a middle-aged man in a military uniform with a gloomy expression. When he saw Zhuo Daynight look over, he shook his head.

She was helpless as Lu Yin was right. The Daynight clan might not fear the Lockbreaker Society since he was only a Junior Lockbreaker, but the commander of the warship was different. There was no Outerverse power that could withstand the wrath of the Lockbreaker Society. Once they killed a Lockbreaker, the society would definitely investigate. They could not trivialize the death of a Lockbreaker, as that would affect their reputation of overprotecting all their Lockbreakers. Even the Daynight clan would have to bear some responsibility to fully settle this matter, and it was too steep a price to pay for the Giant Emperor’s third eye. Zhuo Daynight could not afford the risk.

The conversation fell silent.

Lu Yin was certain that Zhuo Daynight would not dare to act; the Giant Emperor’s third eye could not possibly be so valuable that it could offset the price that her clan would need to pay to suppress the Lockbreaker Society’s wrath. He was in no rush and was willing to wait.

But this matter was also a sufficient wake-up call for him. He was powerful, but that was only within the Melder realm. He had not become an Explorer yet and could not wander the universe freely. Once he entered outer space, any random second-rate traveler could use any number of methods to eliminate him if they truly wished to.

Just like Zhuo Daynight. She had clearly left Gigastar Planet after him, but she had still been able to overtake him and block his path with the warship. The reason was that his spacecraft was just too slow as it had not been upgraded, and this oversight had ultimately endangered his life. An Aurora spacecraft without any upgrades was barely different from just an ordinary spacecraft.

Lu Yin secretly decided that, after he got back to Astral-10, he would immediately upgrade his spacecraft and focus on improving its speed as much as he could. He could not afford to allow himself to fall into such a precarious situation again since not everyone would be cowed by the Lockbreaker Society’s reputation. Furthermore, this region of the universe held many lunatics, and Lu Yin held no desire to gamble with his life.

“You must be lacking money.” Zhuo Daynight’s voice came over the intercom again.

Lu Yin rolled his eyes. “You’ve already tried this back on Gigastar Planet. I’m not selling.”

“You can keep the third eye, but I want to make a deal.”

“What’s the deal?”

“I have 50,000 star crystals. I’ll give it all to you in exchange for a single Lockbreaking attempt by you. This will take whenever and wherever I demand it.”

Lu Yin sneered. “Lady, you must be crazy. 50,000 is an appropriate payment for the lowest level Junior Lockbreaker to attempt to unlock a Sourcebox. But to demand it whenever and wherever, that’s just impossible. Even 100,000 star crystals would not be worth it. A Lockbreaker is not a servant that you can call upon at will.”

“Then I’ll waste both of our times here. I won’t kill you, but I can keep you here for quite a while. One, two, maybe even three years. I seem to recall that the Astral Combat Academy has its Astral Combat Tournament coming up soon. I don’t know if you can afford to wait for long.”

Lu Yin was angered by Zhuo Daynight’s threat. “I will report this matter to the society and have them step in.”

“It won’t matter. My Daynight clan has elders who are members of the society and their statuses are much higher than yours. As long as I don’t kill you, restraining you in this manner is quite easy.”

“I can agree to your deal, but I have some conditions of my own.”

“Speak.” Her voice betrayed a trace of expectation.

“You must give me six months of forewarning.”

“No more than one month.”

“No, five months.”

“Two.”

“The universe is so big that even getting to your location could take more than two months. How about four.”

“Three, and that’s all I’ll concede. We just keep waiting here until you agree.”

Lu Yin finally agreed. “Fine, three months then. But I won’t go to a dangerous place that’s beyond my abilities.”

“You’re stronger than me. If I can go, then you’ll be able to go there too,” Zhuo Daynight said. After these final words, she disconnected the call.

Lu Yin had a sullen expression; he had been threatened for no reason and had even been forced to make a promise. He may have gained 50,000 star crystals today, but he would rather not have them. A promise to the Daynight clan was definitely not going to be easily fulfilled.

Back aboard the warship, Zhuo Daynight looked at Lu Yin’s profile on the Lockbreaker network. She had a curious expression on her face, as he was clearly a genius who had succeeded in his first Lockbreaking attempt. In fact, the Lockbreaker Society had only approved of his qualifications a month ago, and before that, he had not had any connections to the society or Lockbreaking in general. He was an absolute genius, and he was worth far more than the Giant Emperor’s third eye. What a profit.

Soon after, Lu Yin received a transfer of Zhuo Daynight’s 50,000 crystals. It was his first time realizing that money could burn him as well.

Lu Yin ground his teeth as the warship moved aside. Girl, it’s a small universe. We’ll meet again someday.

Zhuo Daynight’s cold eyes held a trace of anticipation as she watched the Aurora spacecraft disappear into the darkness.

Ever since Earth’s trial, Lu Yin had always been suppressed by one person or another. Most had done so through their own overwhelming personal strength, but Zhuo Daynight had suppressed him while being weaker than him. The situation even caused Lu Yin to pout over the situation as this seldom happened. There was only one other time when he had felt like this. It had been when he had first arrived at Earth, and it was a vivid memory that still bothered him to this day.

In the end, this had only happened because his spacecraft was too slow. Otherwise, Zhuo Daynight would have never caught up to him.

“Open the material conversion equipment.”

Soon after he gave the command, a silver vortex half a meter in diameter appeared behind Lu Yin. This was the sole energy source that the Aurora spacecraft relied on for protection while it flew and jumped through space. Other spacecraft required a remodelling for its upgrades, but the Aurora spacecraft was able to take uncommon materials and disassemble, absorb, and integrate them into the spacecraft’s composition, allowing the spacecraft to continuously upgrade on its own. This was also the foundation that had popularized the Aurora Company in the first place.

No one knew even the exact theory behind this material conversion device, not even the Aurora spacecraft technicians themselves. This technology actually hailed from the ancient ages, and the Aurora Company had only coincidentally stumbled upon it. They were merely distributors and disseminators of the technology and were not its manufacturers. Even so, this unique technology had allowed them to become a powerful organization that could rival the Mavis Bank.

Lu Yin placed the materials that he had previously disassembled into the device. There were some he recognized and some he didn’t, but they all went into the material conversion device. He even included the grey metal that he had received from his first Lockbreaking attempt.

Rather than upgrading the spacecraft, it felt more like he was venting his anger.

The material entered the device and disappeared. There was no sound as it happened; it was as if he had just thrown it all into the void through a hole in the spacecraft.

There was a strange sensation as Lu Yin felt the spacecraft slowly decelerate before entering an idle state in the middle of outer space. It remained motionless as the blinking control panel displayed, “Processing material conversion.”