Chapter 38: Gerlaine
Up in the distance, two figures were floating in the sky. They were Gerlaine and Balaror, the same duo who had initially chased after Eddy. Instead of joining forces with him, they were fishing for benefits elsewhere.
“This is exhausting, let’s rest a bit,” Gerlaine swung her long hair about, her pretty face revealing a hint of weariness. Looking around at the lush green farm they were nearby, Balaror smiled and agreed. However, both their personal gadgets suddenly started beeping, prompting Gerlaine to look into the distance in surprise, “Huh, there’s another student here. 2100.”
“That low? Let’s check it out.” Balaror replied, and the two slowly headed for the farm.
Within the farm was a troubled Lu Yin. It had taken only a few star crystals for him to go from a new Seeker to the peak of that realm, but going from a starting Sentinel to the peak required hundreds of times that amount. He had absorbed about a cube of star crystals, but his combat level had only grown to a little past 2,000. A portion of the energy had been used to eliminate any impurities, which meant it would take many more cubes to become a peak Sentinel. He was no longer sure if he could get there even targeting school leaders.
“Looks like it’s impossible to max out for now, at least I’m over 2k,” Lu Yin mumbled as he recalled Parlie’s strength, but was suddenly distracted as he noticed Gerlaine and Balaror approaching. He was particularly intrigued by the latter; did a dryad manifest itself from the plant life here?
“You inside, come out,” Gerlaine charmingly ordered, flinging her hair back with pride. Lu Yin walked out as asked, but she was displeased when she realized that he barely even noticed her, “Hey, what are you doing staring there? I’m the one talking to you”
He pointed at Balaror, “Is that a nymph?”
“What? Such insolence!” Balaror grew furious in an instant, sending a kick towards Lu Yin. As an elite student of the Great Yu Empire’s Outerspace Academy, he was second only to Gerlaine here at over 2,900 battle power; he didn’t see someone at 2,100 as a threat.
Lu Yin dodged with Roving Step, appearing to the youth’s right as he pressed down on his abdomen. “Robbery,” he said with an icy tone as enormous force blasted out from his palm, the explosion blasting Balaror away as the Spacerender Palm split skin.
Gerlaine’s gaze focused as an unusual bow appeared in her hands, rumbling thunderously as she aimed an arrow at Lu Yin. He felt the approaching danger and immediately dodged with the Roving Step, barely in time as an arrow whizzed past his ear into the distance. It tore through the air and shook the earth in its wake, and moments later a thunderclap resounded in his ears accompanied by a violent shockwave.
Before he could even look back, the girl was already aiming another arrow at him. He clawed forward to stop her, but she dealt with that by forming lightning all over the surface of her body in a stormy armor. The appearance of the armor twisted the air and shook the ground, forcing Lu Yin to get serious as two stars appeared on his palm. Another loud explosion rang out, as his attack barely tore through the armor and struck her body.
Both literally and physically, Gerlaine was blown away. This armor had been a gift from her brother, and its defenses were something few Sentinels could break through. And yet, this random person had managed to do it.
“DON’T YOU TOUCH HER!” Balaror howled as she landed away from her bow, odd green stripes appearing on his skin and spreading across his body. The surrounding plants started to squirm the next moment, and the grass below Lu Yin jumped up like a living creature to grasp his feet. Lu Yin was surprised by the hostile aura all around him, but an eruption of star energy shattered the plants and let him charge straight forward with another palm attack. Balaror swung both of his weed-covered arms to counter, but despite a deafening impact that sent a cloud of debris into the air, the palm slapped him into the ground. Both of his arms were twisted at a strange angle, and he spat out blood.
“Oh, that’s where I remember you. Both of you were hidden in the capital once,” Lu Yin commented as he picked the man up, tossing him towards the girl and drawing closer.
“Gerlaine and Balaror have been defeated,” the network notified all gadgets on Earth.
“Even Gerlaine lost to him?” A distant Eddy was surprised.
Fallen prone on the grass, Gerlaine glared at Lu Yin, “You’re that planetary thief!”
Lu Yin frowned, “Don’t slander me; I’m a good person.”
“Bullshit!” she shouted.
“A diva cursing someone? Such a bad temper!” Lu Yin was taken aback.
Gerlaine just snorted, but Balaror spoke up, “Kid, I’m warning you not to touch her. Her brother is Gerbach, one of the strongest youths of the Great Yu Empire. If you hurt her, there’s no place you can get to to escape him.”
“I already said I’m a good person, I don’t hurt people,” Lu Yin pursed his lips, snatching Gerlaine’s cosmic ring as he spoke. Unlocking it with some blood from her mouth, he immediately started rifling through it for star crystals.
Gerlaine and Balaror were dumbfounded by this behavior; just how was he a good person? The ease and familiarity in his actions showed that he’d done this many times before. Gerlaine protested and started kicking at Lu Yin while yelling, “Hey! Don’t mess with that! I’ll give you whatever you want from there, but don’t go through a girl’s stuff!
“Useless crap,” Lu Yin rolled his eyes, but they suddenly gleamed and his breathing sped up. Astonished by a pile of star crystals that summed up to at least two cubes, he turned to her in surprise, “You’re rich!”
Gerlaine gritted her teeth and her face went red, “Bastard!”
Taking the crystals, Lu Yin threw her ring back and began to search through Balaror, whose reaction was much calmer once he realized that the two of them wouldn’t come to as much harm. While Balaror’s ring didn’t contain as much wealth as Gerlaine’s, it wasn’t far behind either. Lu Yin ended up with a bit over three cubes, something that made him feel rich. Satisfied, he turned to leave, “It’s been a pleasure meeting you two; if it is our fate, we’ll meet again.”
“At least give me your name, you bastard!” Gerlaine screamed.
“Call me Brother Seven,” Lu Yin waved goodbye, starting to rise into the sky.
The girl was extremely upset at this, but then an idea popped into her mind, “Wait! Do you want more star crystals?”
The thief that had just started to ascend shot back to the ground and looked at her, “What do you mean?”
Gerlaine smiled cunningly, “Come with us. I’ll lead you to rob others.”
Lu Yin was flabbergasted while Balaror grimaced; it had started again. Gerlaine never allowed herself to be at a disadvantage. She was normally decent, but if she ever lost out to someone, she’d do anything to not end up with the short end of the stick.
Lu Yin stared at her with a confused expression, “You want to lead me into more robberies? Do I look like an idiot?”
She snorted, “It’s your call to believe me, but you don’t even have a gadget to find other students with. There’s maybe a week before they start invading the capital, what kind of luck do you think you’ll need to meet any of them this week? But if I help you out, we can meet one every step of the way.”
Lu Yin sneered, “What if you set a trap for me?”
Gerlaine raised her head, “On my name, I’d never do such a thing. Go ask anyone, they’ll vouch for the character and trustworthiness of Gerlaine from the Outerspace Academy. I’m Gerbach’s sister, what could I gain from harming you?”
Balaror was speechless, but Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed as he considered the proposal. He was confident that with his current increased strength, he could escape even if trapped and surrounded. “Alright, you lead the way, but I’m going to keep your cosmic ring until we’re done.”
Gerlaine clenched her jaw, “Alright.”
After the two students recovered for half a day, the three people flew north. On the way, Lu Yin asked, “I wanted to know, is this guy a nymph?”
“I was born on Planet Botany,” Balaror grunted, “Everyone there looks like this; do you have a problem?”
“Oh, no. The universe is really vast, there are all sorts of creatures.”
A furious Balaror turned away, feeling like Lu Yin had insulted his people.
Gerlaine rolled her eyes, “So what? You’ve also seen Parlie. Those of Planet Third Gravitas are 1.6 meters tall at the most. He can be considered Mr. Average with his height of 1.2 meters. There are also planets where the people have scales, or four arms, or are even ten meters tall. There are also all kinds of grotesquely shaped ones.”
“Aren’t you a student from the Empire too?” Balaror suddenly asked as he looked at Lu Yin suspiciously.
“Of course not, I’m from Earth,” Lu Yin replied, leaving both of them wide-eyed and humiliated.
Half an hour later, Gerlaine informed them excitedly, “Two students are coming.”
Lu Yin was thrilled, but he glanced at the girl who seemed even more eager than himself. She turned back to him, “Hey bastard, how are we going to do this?”