Chapter 131: Conditions of Battle
“Above Melder? Limiteers? They’re not Explorers, right?” Lu Yin was stunned.
Little Pao shook his head as he responded, “There probably won’t be any Explorers among them, as most people graduate once they become Explorers and thus can’t battle anyone they want to. However, I’m sure there will be a fair amount of Limiteers, and you can’t underestimate those Limiteers. They are powerhouses who have participated in countless ported battles and have also trained in the Three Realms Six Daos. For them, battling above their realm is normal! You’re still a Melder, so it’ll be very difficult for you to battle against these people. You should just try to avoid them.”
Lu Yin pondered Little Pao’s words for a moment. His training had just started to yield some results. With his newly acquired battle force, he should be able to do even better in ported battles, and his current goal was to achieve a hundred victories. Then, the next step for him would be the Three Realms Six Daos, so he didn’t want to leave just yet. Moreover, Xi Yue had told him that battling could further hone one’s battle force. Since she had attracted so many powerhouses here, then he should naturally just battle!
“Senior, I don’t want to leave yet, and I’ll continue to train at Sand Ocean. If anyone comes here looking for trouble, then tell them to come to me directly. I won’t hide from them,” Lu Yin said firmly.
Big Pao’s eyes gleamed and he patted Lu Yin’s shoulder. “That’s good. I also don’t think that you should flee from them. Astral-10 isn’t cowardly—how can we fight against other people in the Nine Trial Zones if we can’t even get past this small hurdle? Fine, go and train.”
Little Pao nodded as well. This was the first time that he had ever treated this junior of his seriously. Maybe this incident wouldn’t be a bad thing, and he might even be able to use it to gain an advantage.
At this moment, Big Pao received a notification on his gadget and his expression suddenly changed. “This fast?”
Lu Yin and Little Pao both looked at him questioningly.
He said solemnly, “Someone’s here, a powerhouse from Astral-8. Craynor.”
“Who’s that?” Lu Yin asked.
Big Pao seriously replied, “He’s a Melder powerhouse from Astral-8 who’s comparable to Xi Yue. He’s also ranked second in the Blaze Rankings, just below Jared who’s first.”
“The Blaze Realm,” Lu Yin repeated grimly as his face sank. This wasn’t the first time that he had encountered them. The person who had blocked his path during Astral-10’s assessment was from the Blaze Realm as well, but he had been defeated by Lulu. This time, he planned on trying to fight this guy himself.
“Go to the Sand Ocean. If he’s here to look for trouble, then we’ll direct him to you,” Little Pao said.
Lu Yin nodded and stepped into the transportation equipment, which was directly connected to the Sand Ocean.
Back at the entrance of Astral-10’s space station, the door of a spaceship opened and a line of people from the Blaze Realm walked out. Craynor looked at his surroundings after leaving the spaceship. In his mind, this place would belong to the Blaze Realm soon.
Little Pao arrived at the space station and greeted Craynor.
Craynor glanced at Little Pao disparagingly. “You’re a student from Astral-10? Where’s Lu Yin? Tell him to come out.”
Little Pao frowned, paused for a moment, and then used star energy to write on a nearby wall, ‘Lu Yin is at the Sand Ocean.’ He then glanced at Craynor contemptuously before leaving, having never said a word.
Craynor was furious. How dare this person dismiss him like that? “The Sand Ocean, huh. Great. I hope that the mentors of Astral-10 won’t interfere in a battle between students.”
Little Pao left slowly.
Craynor snorted and briskly walked towards the teleporter. The people from the Blaze Realm were about to follow him in when they were suddenly stopped by Craynor. Only other students could enter Astral-10, and non-students were not allowed to enter.
The ten Combat Academies were all branches of Astral Combat Academy, and were called as such when they were taken as a whole. However, due to the sheer vastness of the universe, a single branch would be unable to accommodate everyone. Thus, it had been split into ten academies instead. So although Craynor was a student of Astral-8, he was also technically a student of Astral-10 as well.
Even if he looked down on Astral-10, it was still Astral-10, and the non-students from the Blaze Realm were not allowed to enter. If they dared to do so, he would be defying the entire Astral Combat Academy, which would bring a scary set of consequences down upon his head.
Craynor’s gaze was serious when he stepped into the transportation equipment. That person had told him to bring one of Lu Yin’s hands back as proof that Lu Yin wouldn’t be able to continue training here. Hence, he had decided to break Lu Yin’s limbs, but he had to ensure that the mentors of Astral-10 wouldn’t interfere.
At this moment, in the desert, Lu Yin had been thinking about this same exact situation. With Xi Yue’s status, she would definitely be able to call upon many powerful opponents. If he just straightforwardly battled them, it would be a waste of his time. He suddenly recalled what had happened during Earth’s trial and smiled—that was a better idea.
Craynor looked at the boundless desert in front of him; this was Astral-10’s Sand Ocean that was renowned throughout the universe. It was rumoured to be the best place to develop and hone one’s battle force, but the Sand Ocean had undergone a huge change when Astral-10’s headmaster went crazy, and it was no longer the place that it used to be.
“I’m Craynor, a student of Astral-8, and I would like to meet the Sandmaster,” Craynor shouted out.
Lu Yin lifted his head and looked into the distance. They had finally arrived.
“What do you want? Speak,” the Sandmaster’s voice reverberated.
Craynor obediently answered, “I would like to battle with Lu Yin from Astral-10. I hope that you will approve.”
“I won’t interfere.”
Craynor smiled as he added on, “I hope that the Sandmaster won’t interfere before a party admits defeat.”
“I already said that I won’t interfere. Stop speaking nonsense. If not, you can leave.” The Sandmaster’s temper was much worse than the Rainmaster’s. Despite that, Craynor wasn’t angry after being scolded. Rather, he was delighted as those were the exact words that he needed to hear, and he had already recorded it down. Now, as long as he could heavily injure Lu Yin before he admitted defeat, then no one would be able to blame him.
Lu Yin stood up and looked at the man who was slowly walking over. This was the person who was ranked second on the Blaze Realm Rankings, Craynor.
Craynor’s eyes gleamed when he saw Lu Yin and icily greeted, “Junior Lu Yin, we finally meet.”
Lu Yin casually replied, “You’re trying to stir up trouble?”
Craynor smirked. “Of course not. I just wanted to do battle with you. As an elite student of Astral-10, you aren’t scared right?”
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t have to provoke me. I’ll battle with you, but I have some conditions.”
Craynor was bewildered. “Conditions?”
Lu Yin smiled confidently as he replied, “I’m in the middle of training, but you’re interrupting me to have some battle. You’re wasting my time, so I must get something out of it in return.”
Craynor laughed and condescendingly asked, “Sure, what do you want?”
Lu Yin raised up two fingers. “Twenty thousand star crystals and I’ll battle with you.”
Craynor’s expression changed. “Twenty thousand?! You’re crazy! Do you know how much twenty thousand is?”
“You don’t have that amount?” Lu Yin sneered contemptuously.
Craynor coldly answered, “Of course I do, but you’re not worth that price.”
“I can give you another choice as well. If you lose, give me your cosmic ring; if you win, I won’t take a single cent. How about that?” Lu Yin suggested temptingly.
Craynor beamed. “Fine, we’ll do that.”
Lu Yin’s sharp eyes gleamed. “Great, you’re truly a powerhouse from the Blaze Realm. You can attack at any time.”
Craynor smirked again as he arrogantly said, “Be careful Junior. I might not be able to control my strength.” Then, he rushed towards Lu Yin, the star energy surrounding his body bursting into flames that distorted the air with its high temperature as he aimed a palm at Lu Yin.
It was as if a glaring sun had appeared above the desert, causing a blistering heat to sweep towards Lu Yin.
Lu Yin’s gaze turned serious; Craynor was truly an elite student from Astral-8. His control over star energy was comparable to the genius, Da Lei, and might even be slightly stronger. His attack that combusted star energy into flames was far stronger than Archino’s, who Lu Yin had met during Astral-10’s assessment. Archino had relied on the actual sun in the sky to fuel his attack, while Craynor could power his attack with just his own star energy. He truly deserved the title of being second in the rankings.
Lu Yin still remembered his battle with Gerbach, where Gerbach had relied on Lightning Fruits to use Lightning Arrow. There was an insurmountable difference between the two of them.
The person in front of him was as powerful as Xi Yue’s musical battle technique, but it was a shame that he had met Lu Yin. Lu Yin disappeared using Flash and tore the star energy surrounding Craynor apart before appearing right in front of him. He then lifted his palm and used his Nine Stacks Shockwave Palm.
Craynor narrowed his eyes. He felt threatened by this attack and instinctively dodged. There was a loud bang at the spot where he had originally been standing, and the aftershock of the attack radiated in all directions, blowing Craynor’s star energy apart. He whirled around as he finally realized that this person definitely wasn’t a common Melder. He had assumed that Xi Yue was just joking when she had said that someone had teased her, as he didn’t think that there was anyone from Astral-10 who was strong enough to defeat Xi Yue. But clearly, he had been wrong. From what he could tell, this person far exceeded his expectations.
Lu Yin didn’t stop his offense and continued to hurl more attacks at Craynor. Craynor roared and equipped his ring armour even as his star energy continued to combust into flames that surged everywhere. He seemed like he was about to erupt.
Lu Yin ignored him and smashed another Nine Stacks Shockwave Palm onto Craynor’s body, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood as his ring armour completely shattered. After this shocking blow, his body even began sinking into the desert.
Lu Yin’s Nine Stacks Shockwave Palm was powerful enough to battle against Invincible Palm, a Limiteer, let alone Craynor. Although Craynor was powerful in his own right, he was definitely easier to defeat than Xi Yue, as Xi Yue’s musical battle technique had posed a greater threat to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin grabbed Craynor, who was heavily injured, and removed his cosmic ring. He then unceremoniously tossed him on the ground.
“Stop, stop!” Craynor yelled hoarsely as he continued to glare at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin bent down and shot him a cold look. “Are you trying to break your promise?”
Craynor gritted his teeth as he replied, “There are battle techniques from the Blaze Realm inside. You’ll definitely become an enemy of the entire Blaze Realm.”
Lu Yin scornfully replied, “I never planned on taking the battle techniques from the Blaze Realm, but since you have told me about them, I would seem cowardly if I didn’t take them.
Craynor’s gaze changed. “What are you going to do?”
Lu Yin poured everything out of Craynor’s cosmic ring. Most of it was star crystals, for a total of ten thousand. There were also some Mavis Bank cards, medicines, ring armor, and even hot weapons. There were also some items that he couldn't recognise. The unidentified objects all emitted heat and were probably related to his battle techniques.
Lu Yin didn’t bother asking Craynor what the items were. He first took the star crystals, the Mavis Bank cards, and a vial of blood meant for gene recognition. Finally, he also grabbed a red card that had the symbol of the Blaze Realm—this was probably a battle technique from the Blaze Realm.
Craynor’s face was pale as he stared at Lu Yin in disbelief.
Once Lu Yin learned the battle technique, the Blaze Realm would go after Lu Yin, and Craynor would be implicated as well.
“I’m not interested in the battle techniques from the Blaze Realm, but I should be able to get a good amount of money if I sell it, right?” Lu Yin said with an evil smile.
Craynor asked in a low voice, “What do you want?”
Lu Yin looked at him with a frosty gaze. “I want to know about the elites in Astral-8 as well as the person you serve.”
Craynor was relieved, as this request wasn’t too much. “Fine, I’ll tell you.” He then paused and saw Lu Yin staring at him, so he arranged his thoughts and quickly continued, saying, “There’s a Realm Master and three Area Masters in Astral-8. I serve one of the Area Masters, the first on the Blaze Rankings. Jared.”