Star Odyssey

Chapter 138: A Powerful Innate Gift

Coco’s eyes flashed brightly and she hurriedly dodged the attack, leaving Zhao Yilong’s sword slashing through the empty air. His attack did manage to slice off a piece of clothing, but Coco herself was untouched.

“How many times are you going to dodge?” Zhao Yilong growled. Dazzling attacks rained down one after the other. Every single one of his attacks was actually the Ten Swords in One technique; this battle technique that had stunned so many people was casually and smoothly executed by Zhao Yilong with exceptional skill. Coco could only dodge so many of the attacks, and it was growing increasingly difficult for her to evade them. 

Lu Yin had a grave expression on his face as he spectated this battle. Back when the Rain Observatory had been giving out gifts, Zhao Yilong had snatched most of them away. During that time, Lu Yin had witnessed Zhao Yilong’s sword skills, and he knew that the Ten Swords in One technique was definitely not his limit. Zhao Yilong had already reached that stage as a Sentinel, so now that he was a Melder, he was bound to be stronger. 

Coco was panting heavily. She was constantly dodging and evading, and whenever there was an attack that she couldn’t dodge, she would use her syringe to defend herself. During Astral-10’s entrance examination, Coco had used her syringe to defend against the three aerial attacks without it suffering a single scratch. It was clearly extremely sturdy and was proving to be quite effective against Zhao Yilong’s attacks. 

Before long, Zhao Yilong upped his power by changing from the Ten Swords in One technique to the Twenty Swords in One technique, and eventually, even the Fifty Swords in One technique. Finally, one hundred swords united in one, shaking the entire space and causing Coco to lose her footing. The sharp sword edge slashed through the syringe and violently shoved Coco back. Her face paled and her syringe fell to the ground by her side. 

“That’s enough! Coco, admit defeat!” Zora yelled as she sprinted in front of Zhao Yilong to protect Coco.

Zhao Yilong sheathed his long sword, his eyes calm.

No one was surprised by the outcome, but they were surprised that she had forced Zhao Yilong to use his Hundred Swords in One technique. He lived up to the reputation of Ten Thousand Swords Peak, and the power of the Hundred Swords in One technique was enough to leave everyone in awe.

Whenever Lu Yin saw Zhao Yilong, he was reminded of his fiancée, who was also a disciple of Ten Thousand Swords Peak. If Zhao Yilong was able to use Hundred Swords in One, then she could probably merge a thousand swords together!

“Victor of the fourth match, Zhao Yilong,” Big Pao announced emotionlessly.

Coco hugged her syringe and left the battlegrounds with her head hung low, as if she couldn’t accept the results. Lulu hugged the small girl and tried to cheer her up. “Little brat, you moved pretty quickly in there! Later, when you’re free, why don’t we see if you or your big sister is faster.”

Coco mumbled, “I won’t compete with you. What if you decide to beat me up after you lose?”

Lulu was unhappy with her response. “What the- Your sister isn’t like that.”

“The fifth match. Begin.”

Lu Yin walked out and looked straight at Zora, who was standing in the middle of the battlefield with gleaming eyes. She was initially despondent when she first discovered that she would be facing Lu Yin in the first round, but after watching the first four matches, she wasn’t as upset anymore. Not a single one of the fighters so far would have been easier to deal with than Lu Yin. For example, she would never have been able to withstand Zhao Yilong’s Hundred Swords as One technique. Every single one of the students here was a freak. Even though everyone assumed that Astral-10 wouldn’t be able to recruit many strong students after being exiled to the Outerverse, reality seemed to be the exact opposite.

It was rumored that the difficulty of Astral-10’s entrance exam wasn’t the same as the other academies. If that was true, then anyone who could pass the exam would be strong and at least comparable to any genius from the Innerverse.

At this time, Coco coincidentally saw Schutz and politely approached him. “That, that injury of yours seems pretty serious. Would you like me to treat you?” As she talked, she brought out her syringe.

Schutz wisely declined.

Windrift Hall was known for its healing techniques, but no organization would be able to last for long without also having the means to defend itself. Coco’s display of extreme speed had piqued Lu Yin’s curiosity over what level Zora’s strength had reached. 

“I know that I can’t beat you,” Zora suddenly said while staring at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin was astonished. “What?”

“I will use my strongest battle technique to attack you, and ask for your mercy,” Zora said seriously.

“Brother Lu, please show mercy!” Coco shouted.

Lu Yin laughed wryly before responding, “Alright, I’ll do my best.”

Zora took a deep breath and then took out a giant silver needle. The needle flashed with a cold sheen that caused Lu Yin’s scalp to feel numb. That’ll definitely hurt like hell if that even pricks me.

In the next instant, Zora rushed towards Lu Yin, the silver needle stabbing directly at his forehead. He easily evaded the attack, but Zora followed up with a finger attack at his stomach. Before the finger even connected, a gale washed over Lu Yin, numbing his body. He reflexively retreated, but Zora grunted quietly and pointed at him, causing her silver needle to shatter and spew shrapnel toward Lu Yin.

Coco’s eyes flashed when she saw this battle technique from Windrift Hall—Pulse Severing Finger. The attack targeted the opponent’s vital points and focused on sealing the opponent’s star energy and paralyzing their body. It was one of the highest ranked battle techniques of Windrift Hall.

Lu Yin could clearly feel that each finger strike from Zora was a purposeful attack. Since he didn’t want to lose like an idiot, he raised his hand and caused the air to vibrate. With a boom, the ground was sundered, the void trembled, and Zora was forced back more than ten steps. She exhaled bitterly; she had lost.

Lu Yin pulled his hand back. He hadn’t used Spacerender Palm in quite some time, but he had controlled his six-stacks Spacerender Palm quite well. Zora had been successfully repelled without any injuries.

“I admit defeat,” Zora readily acknowledged.

Everyone looked at Lu Yin with a strange impression. While he hadn’t shown any particularly strong skills, it was precisely this aspect of him that was the most terrifying. Like Xia Luo, who hadn’t used a single battle technique, Lu Yin’s strength was unfathomable.

“The fifth match’s victor is Lu Yin,” Big Pao announced.

Lu Yin acknowledged Zora with a nod and then walked to join the rest of the students. He held a hand against his stomach; there was still a bit of pain and numbness left after Zora’s attack. The Windrift Hall was not a simple power and there was a reason why they prospered in the Innerverse. Even though there had been a large gap between Zora’s strength and his own, she had still been able to affect Lu Yin.

“The sixth match, begin.”

Everyone grew somber. There were twelve new students, so the remaining two who had not yet battled were about to go: Michelle and Darkvoid.

Of Astral-10’s new students, these two were in a entire league of their own. One had joined the Ten Arbiters Council as a Melder while the other possessed a strange innate gift. They were both unfathomable individuals, and this battle was bound to be the most interesting of the first round.

“Everyone, move back,” Little Pao warned.

The students retreated further back, leaving Michelle and Darkvoid standing in front, both of whom’s faces showed nothing.

Neither spoke or exchanged any pleasantries. They immediately started battling. Michelle pulled out a red shortbow from her cosmic ring and condensed her star energy into arrows. As the arrows flew toward Darkvoid, they distorted the space around them, compressed the air into liquid, and blasted the clouds away. Against this attack, Darkvoid didn’t even move as a strange explosion burst out in front of him, completely blocking Michelle’s star energy arrows.

The onlookers were stunned and pressured by the shockwaves. The duo’s strength was already astonishing in the first exchange.

Each one of Michelle’s arrows could rival Zhao Yilong’s Hundred Swords as One and had the power to shake the void and sunder the earth. And yet, these overpowering attacks had been easily blocked by Darkvoid, giving the audience quite a thrill.

Zhao Yilong’s face turned ugly. He had thought that it was rare for a Melder to be able to unite a hundred swords as one, but even though the sixth battle had barely started, he knew that he would have already lost to Michelle’s relentless attacks.

The tremendous impacts from the unending bombardment released huge shockwaves that caused the ground to collapse wherever it spread. The affected area spread so far that Coco was pressured to the point of barely being able to breathe.

Lu Yin was stunned. He knew that Michelle was powerful since she had been able to join the Ten Arbiters Council, but Darkvoid’s strength was the true surprise. After all, he was someone who originated from the Outerverse, but he had still managed to reach such a level at his age.

The ground trembled as Michelle’s attacks grew in ferocity. Each attack was coated in a terrifying sharpness, and even the surrounding space was sealed off from the distortion forces. Darkvoid’s expression remained as calm as ever even though the ground that he stood on was the only bit that had not been blasted away. There was a circle a hundred meters in radius, centered around Darkvoid where the ground was hollowed out and ruined.

Michelle’s explosive barrage continued for two full minutes. At the end, she was slightly out of breath as she stared at Darkvoid in disbelief. He hadn’t taken a single step from his original stance. 

Xia Luo also stared at Darkvoid in amazement. If what he had seen was true, then this person’s innate gift was terrifying.

Silver’s originally beaming face had grown a bit stiff.

Lu Yin’s eyes were sparkling.

“Are you going to keep defending just like this?” Michelle asked coldly.

Darkvoid looked at her with the same indifference as before. He slowly raised his hand, revealing a black fingernail.

A chill ran down Michelle’s spine when she saw Darkvoid raise his hand. She instinctively dodged to the side as a black smear of color flashed through where she had been standing just now. A terrifying explosion erupted at the spear’s impact point, shattering the void. Before their very eyes, the scene cracked as if it were a reflection in a giant lake. The violent shockwave pushed Michelle back a dozen meters.

Everyone’s eyes widened even further. This was an attack that had damaged space itself. Impossible! It was practically impossible for a Melder to shatter space, especially within Astral-10, but it had still happened. Darkvoid had shattered the void. 

Everyone was stunned and gaped at Darkvoid.

Lu Yin’s eyes twitched. That attack was a little too horrifying!

Little Pao gravely said, “This is why I had everyone pull back. Darkvoid’s innate gift causes explosions in the void. You would be easily injured if you were even the slightest bit careless.”

It took a while for his words to register within everyone’s minds. Void explosions?! Just the name of the gift sounded troublesome. Typically, the void was extremely difficult to shatter and even an unstable space could only be shattered by someone at the Limiteer realm. It took a freakishly strong Melder to crack the void, but Darkvoid’s innate gift actually allowed him to cause an explosion to ring out in the void. To put it simply, when he awakened his innate gift, he had stepped ahead of countless others.

Michelle looked at Darkvoid with some fear in her face. She knew he was terrifying, but not to this extent. Why had he not gone to the Innerverse? He should have been discovered when he had asked to join the Ten Arbiters Council long ago.

Darkvoid remained silent and only continued to wave his finger. Michelle’s face fell and she dodged again. The place where she had been standing once again became distorted before exploding, sending shockwaves rippling in every direction. The ground crumbled like paper, and the destruction spread almost a kilometer out, and maybe even further.

The students pulled back again. No one wanted to feel the aftershocks of an attack that could sunder the void itself.

Dark smoke swirled about, and Michelle emerged from the ruined area with a back slick with sweat. She closely watched Darkvoid since she had to dodge whenever his fingers so much as twitched. Darkvoid was still standing in his original location while Michelle was now forced to scurry around like a mouse. She had never been toyed with by an opponent before.

In the sky above the battle, the Rainmaster exclaimed, “Such a powerful innate gift! It’s a pity that this child’s personality is too dark and that his experiences have caused him to close his heart to everyone else. Such a pity.”

The Sandmaster quietly replied, “This innate gift would be absolutely terrifying even in the first three academies. Very few can match him while in the same realm, but it’s not like he can’t be defeated. He only knows how to unleash his innate gift on an instinctual level, but he doesn’t know how to truly use it. It’s still immature.”

“Give him to me,” the Rainmaster said, and no one raised any objections.

Boom! 

Again, the void exploded, and Michelle’s face paled. She gasped for breath as her clothes were ripped apart, revealing some of her snow white skin and catching the eyes of the audience.