At the same time, in the Rain Observatory, the Rainmaster opened his eyes, sighed, and stepped into the void.
In the treasury, Silver was flipping through the mission list in boredom. Old Cai waved his hand and disappeared, leaving Silver staring blankly ahead. Where did he go?
At the trial zone entrance, Coco was determined to challenge the academy again. She gritted her teeth and wanted to step into the teleportation stone's range, but she was blocked by an invisible force. In the distance, the Trialmaster had disappeared.
In the endless skies of Astral-10, there was a depression filled with black fossils. The crazy headmaster had his hands clasped behind his back as he stared at the stars with a complicated expression.
Beside him, the Sandmaster and the others appeared one after another. There were five of them in total, and they surrounded the crazy headmaster.
The crazy headmaster retracted his gaze from the stars and looked at them. He slowly bowed with a solemn expression. "It's been hard on you all for so many years."
The five retreated at the same time.
"Headmaster, there's no need to be like this. We can't afford it," the Rainmaster said in a low voice.
The crazy headmaster sighed, and his gaze dimmed. "My academy has experienced endless glory, but it's on the verge of collapse because of me. I've let down my ancestors, and I've let down all of you who have watched over me for a thousand years."
The Sandmaster's gaze was heavy. "Imprisonment is imprisonment. We old farts are just jailers. This is our mission. If you have something to say, say it while you're not crazy."
The crazy headmaster's gaze changed from cloudy to abnormally bright. "In the name of the headmaster, I would like to request that all of you fulfill your duties as mentors and help my academy regain its former glory."
Old Cai rolled his eyes. "Don't joke around. We're not real mentors, so we don't have time to help you."
The Trialmaster's eyes widened. "I'm powerless."
The Sandmaster snorted, but he did not say anything.
The Starmaster's expression did not change.
The Rainmaster shook his head.
The crazy headmaster bowed again. "A thousand years ago, because of my mistake, the academy's library was burned. More than half of the academy collapsed, and the mentors either left or died. More than half of the students were lost. This is my mistake, and I will make up for it. But please, for Wujiang's sake, help me this once. Help Wujiang this once."
The five people's bodies trembled. The two words' Boundless' made them cautious, as well as – respect.
"The five of you have been here for a thousand years, and what you've seen, felt, and heard is no less than what I have. You should know that the Boundless Border is a place where the blood of our seniors was forged into heroic souls, and their legacy has been passed down through the ages. I hope that you can forgive them, even if it's just one chance. We cannot allow the Boundless Border to be shamed. The Boundless Border was once a leading ship, and its pride is enough to transcend history and be passed down to these children."
The Trialmaster sighed and raised his head. His eyes were completely open, and he no longer looked as old as he had in the beginning. "For Wu Jiang's sake, I can fulfill my duties as a mentor."
The Rainmaster nodded. "Yes."
The Sandmaster looked at the crazy dean, and after a while, he said, "Alright."
Old Cai rolled his eyes. "It's a losing deal. Forget it, I'll just treat it as a game. I'll make it clear that it's only once."
The Starmaster nodded. "Wu Jiang? Sure."
The crazy headmaster was very grateful. "Thank you, all five of you. There's still half a month before the Freshmen Tournament. After that, the five of you can choose some talents to nurture in order to prepare for the upcoming Astral Combat Tournament. Thank you all."
The five of them disappeared one after another.
The crazy dean sighed and looked down at the entire Astral-10. He saw all of the students with pained expressions. To him, being awake was far worse than being crazy. He had been the one who had destroyed Astral-10, and he had reduced it to the point where it was being forced into a corner by a bunch of rascals. However, this would not last forever. He would recover, and that day would be the day that the Boundless Border would shine.
Not long after, the crazy dean's eyes turned murky, and his hair flew in the wind. He had gone mad again. He raised his head and shouted, "You started this war, and now you're reaping what you sowed. Hahahaha, the war you started …"
Above the Desert Sea, the Sandmaster looked at the crazy dean running through the endless sky and shook his head. "He touched something he shouldn't have. What a pity." He then looked across the desert and saw Lu Yin, who was comprehending something. His eyes lit up. "This kid has some talent. Although he's not the most talented of all the youths, he's much better than the others. He might be able to compete with the monsters on the Top 100 Rankings. Wu Jiang has some hope."
A day later, Lu Yin opened his eyes and stood up. He used Flash, and his body fell into the desert. He had used too much force, but his speed was much faster than before. "As long as my body can handle it, I can go even faster," he muttered to himself. After trying a few more times, he thought of his die and decided that it was time to roll it again. He then left the Sand Ocean.
As he walked through the teleportation device, Lu Yin suddenly remembered that he hadn't been to any other places in Astral-10. He had only been to the Rain Observatory, the Sand Ocean, the Treasury, the trial zone entrance, Stargazing Deck, and the space station. Astral-10 had more than just these few places.
He now wanted to go to the barren area outside the Treasury. If he wanted to roll his die, he should go to such a remote place. The other barren areas were too far away, just like the Rain Observatory. It would take at least a day to get there, and he didn't have that much time to waste. The Treasury was the closest.
Not long after, Lu Yin passed through the Treasury and arrived at a barren grassland. There were many remains of buildings around him that stretched far into the distance. There were even cracks in the ground that emitted hot air.
Although he didn't know what this place used to be, it should have been glorious in the past. The ruins covered a large area.
He randomly found an abandoned attic and spread out his star energy. There was no one around, so he raised his hand and took out his die.
It had been some time since he last rolled the die. Last time, he had rolled six pips and experienced Da Lei's life. This time, he hoped to roll six pips again.
He reached out and tapped it, his gaze fixed on the die.
Soon enough, the die stopped spinning with one pip.
Unsurprisingly, one pip was the easiest to roll. If he was lucky, he could change his fate. If he was unlucky … Lu Yin paused for a moment, just like now. He picked up a bottle of medicine with a retro packaging. Pip had brought him this.
He looked at the bottle and sighed. Although the packaging was retro, it didn't mean that the item was ancient. There were many civilizations in the universe, and some of them didn't even touch technology. This bottle of medicine clearly came from one of those civilizations. They were willing to interact with other civilizations in the universe, but they weren't willing to change their style.
He opened the bottle and took a sniff. It was a very ordinary medicine.
He casually put it away, crushed a cube of star crystals, and tried again.
The second time, he rolled five pips. He stood up and thought about it for a moment before sitting down. It was impossible to find someone with an innate gift in ten seconds. Where would he find one in ten seconds? He had wasted another chance, so he tried again.
The third time, the die slowly stopped spinning and finally stopped at four pips. Time Stop Space.
Lu Yin's vision changed and he appeared in a grey-white space. The three-day countdown had begun.
This pip wasn't bad, and it gave him three days. He thought about it for a moment and decided to look at his star chart. He wanted to activate his seventh star, and it would be best if he could activate his eighth as well. That way, he would be able to absorb star energy eight times faster and reach the peak of the Melder realm as soon as possible.
There was still a huge gap between a peak Melder and a novice Melder. The biggest difference was the amount of star energy, which could be described as an ocean.
Craynor was ranked second on the Blaze Realm's rankings and an elite student of Astral-8. He was a peak Melder, and Lu Yin had felt the pressure of his star energy when they had fought. However, Lu Yin had used his powerful physical strength to counteract the pressure. If the two of them were evenly matched, then that pressure would be the deciding factor for victory. Lu Yin didn't want to lose in this aspect.
With that in mind, Lu Yin took out six hundred star crystals and tossed them out. The time instantly increased, but it wasn't the thirty-three days he had expected. Instead, it was only sixteen days, which was almost half of the time he had expected. This meant that he would need to consume more star crystals in the future, and not just eighteen per day.
Lu Yin sighed; he knew that it wouldn't be that easy. If it had always been eighteen per day, then he would have enough to last him for almost three years.
Whatever, he couldn't change it no matter what. He took out another fifty star crystals and increased the gravity by fifty times. He also took out his star chart to look at it.
Nineteen days didn't pass quickly, and Lu Yin wasn't in a rush. He looked at his star chart, occasionally practiced his battle techniques, and rested every once in a while. Ten days later, his seventh star had been perfectly activated.
A seven-star Sirius Palm was far more powerful than a six-star one. If he had been able to use it as a Sentinel, then he would have been able to fight Schutz. With Flash and other battle techniques, he might have been able to win. As a Melder, he could use the Sirius Palm to defeat an elite student like Craynor without using the Nine Stacks Shockwave Palm.
Right now, his strongest attack was the Nine Stacks combined with the Multiple Shockwave Palm. The power of the Nine Stacks, Nine Stacks, Nine Times Shockwave Palm was even stronger than the Seven Stars Cosmic Palm. Seven stars were not enough to be his trump card, so he had to increase it further.
Lu Yin immersed himself in his star chart for the next nine days. As he counted down, he tossed out another hundred star crystals, increasing the time by another eight days.
After seventeen days, the eighth star disappeared without a trace. Lu Yin frowned and looked around; he had had enough of this place and was about to throw up. No one would be able to stand staying in one place for almost a month.
He rested for a few hours until the time was up, but he didn't increase the time. He had to go out.
The scenery in front of him changed. A month had passed, but only a second had passed in reality.
He raised his hand and seven stars revolved around his palm. If not for the Nine Stacks Shockwave Palm, the Sirius Palm would have been his strongest attack.
The stars dissipated, and the die appeared in his hand once more. He rolled it three times, so he still had one more chance.
When the die stopped spinning, another Pip appeared.
Lu Yin was speechless. He wanted to see three Pips the most, but he just couldn't roll them. Fate or luck, there was nothing he could do about it.
This time, Roll One gave him something different. It was a tough piece of skin that he couldn't tell what kind of creature it was. There were long, strange words carved into it, and when he saw the words, his brain felt as if it had been struck hard. His eyes, ears, mouth, and nose all began to bleed. He hurriedly put the skin away, his pupils dilating and narrowing.