Chapter 188: I Am Seven

“Friend, this is just a misunderstanding,” the middle-aged captain said. Behind him, the frightened ruffian licked his lips.

Lu Yin laughed. “There are no misunderstandings here.”

“Friend, we were in the wrong in this matter. Conducting operations in the dark will result in accidental mistakes sometimes. Your humble servant is willing to serve some wine and give you a toast to allow this matter to pass. How about that?” the captain spoke as he looked pleadingly into Lu Yin’s eyes.

Lu Yin smirked; this bastard was probably probing him. If Lu Yin really did not pursue the matter, then the captain would definitely think that Lu Yin was an arrogant pushover and might even poison the wine. “I’ve already said it; there are no misunderstandings here. This is a robbery, so hand over all of your assets and I can spare your lives.”

This sentence stunned the middle-aged captain and the ruffian. Robbery? Isn’t that our line?

“You’re also a pirate?” the captain spoke in equal parts shock and disbelief as he studied Lu Yin’s face.

Lu Yin sneered darkly. “The strong prey on the weak in this universe. Since you can’t rob me, then it’s my turn to rob you. Your money or your life. Make your choice.”

“Kid, since we’re all in the same profession, you shouldn’t go overboard. Otherwise, it’ll be awkward when we meet again.”

“You can try and see if you have the means to embarrass me.” After Lu Yin finished speaking, a beast howled through the void as a Skybeast Claw clawed out at the captain’s face.

The Skybeast Claw was not a powerful technique in the eyes of Uro or the other elites from the Astral Combat Academy, but it was still a battle technique passed down within the Yu Academy by the Great Yu Empire. When the captain’s sidekicked saw the 96th form of the Skybeast Claw, he was nearly frightened to death. Although the captain was a Limiteer, he had just become one, and he did not know how to defend against Lu Yin’s Skybeast Claw. The claw mercilessly slammed into the pirate captain, throwing him against the wall and leaving him in a sorry state.

Lu Yin retracted his hands in astonishment; this man was so weak that he could barely be considered a Limiteer.

The reality was, after entering the Astral Combat Academy, Lu Yin’s perception had changed drastically. Before, even when he was a Realmbreaker, the Skybeast Claw had been one of his more powerful attacks. Now, his Skybeast Claw had reached the 96th form, which was more than anyone else in Yu Academy. How could these mere pirates even begin to withstand this top-notch battle technique of Yu Academy?

Lu Yin immediately realized this, and his face held a complex look. He now understood why Wendy Yushan could not even be bothered to look at the Great Yu Empire’s younger generation, as they were just too lousy compared to her. Even though Schutz had already trained at the Astral Combat Academy for a time, he was still only second-rate in Lu Yin’s eyes, let alone Gerbach and the rest of them back in the Great Yu Empire, where the difference was even bigger.

Countless youths in the Outerverse had thought that Astral-10 would be a stepping stone that would propel them to power. Their beliefs weren’t without merit. For example, Schutz, if he returned to the Great Yu Empire, would be able to make even Bazeer take notice of him now. Schutz had surpassed the Outerverse’s standard during his time at Astral-10 and could compare to those of his level in the Innerverse.

Of course, not everyone from the Outerverse was like Gerbach and the others; there were bound to be some monsters, like Darkvoid. Although they had not entered the Astral Combat Academy, their innate gifts allowed them to roam unhindered and for others to take note of their strength as well.

The ruffian was stunned when he saw Lu Yin injure his captain with just one blow. He fell to the ground in shock, depressed, From the moment he joined the pirates, he knew that he would not have a good death. He had thought he could at least enjoy life for some time, but damn, how long had it been? They had only robbed others five times. Just five, but now they were caught between a rock and a hard place. What rotten luck.

Lu Yin walked behind the ruffian, towering over him.

The ruffian looked up at Lu Yin with a fearful expression. “Friend, no, Boss- Big Boss, this is a misunderstanding. Please, let us off. We are a newly established pirate group and we haven’t killed anyone yet.”

“Hand over all of the loot that you’ve plundered.”

The ruffian immediately agreed, taking the cosmic ring from the captain with a swipe of his hands. He then used the unconscious captain’s blood to open the ring before pouring out a pile of items. The majority was a messy assortment of medicines, furs, ores, along with a few bank cards from the other weaves. The star crystals that Lu Yin cared about the most only totaled to around 2,000.

He frowned. Are pirates this poor? They must have hidden it. His eyes swept over the ruffian with an unkind expression.

The ruffian was very smart, and he immediately said, “Boss, we’ve only plundered others five times, and this is all we have. Oh, right-” He seemed to remember something and quickly flipped up the captain’s collar to reveal a hidden Mavis Bank crystal card. Lu Yin’s eyes brightened as he recognized the black card; the card that he had Pilfered with “Yao Gu” embossed on it had yielded 10,000 star crystals. This type of card used star crystals as its medium and not universal currency.

“This was plundered from a merchant ship. Apparently, there’s 10,000 star crystals in it with no need for a genetic password,” the ruffian introduced as if it were a priceless treasure.

Lu Yin was delighted as he took it, beaming. “Really? 10,000?”

“Yes, definitely,” the seedy pirate assured.

Lu Yin nodded and swept through the messy pile of items on the floor, but found nothing useful. He stood there with his flickering eyes as he considered his situation. He had looted the pirates and had made much more money than he would working. They were pirates, after all, and he had no qualms about robbing them.

The ruffian waited for Lu Yin, not daring to move and only occasionally glancing at him nervously with a pained expression. If the captain woke up now and saw this scene where he was being robbed, the thug did not know how Lu Yin would handle it. The ruffian’s thoughts stopped at that point as he felt like the sky was falling down around him. In the end, nothing mattered until this monster was persuaded to leave.

“You,” Lu Yin said as he turned to the ruffian. “What’s your name?”

The goon smiled accommodatingly. “I’m Little Seven, boss.”

Lu Yin frowned. “No, that name’s no good. From now on, you are Little Eight.”

The ruffian stared at Lu Yin blankly, seemingly at a loss for what to say.

Lu Yin coldly asked, “Why? You’re not willing?”

“No no no, I’m Little Eight. Thank you, boss, for giving me a new name. I’ll be called Little Eight from now on,” he hurriedly said after Lu Yin’s expression gave him a bad premonition.

Lu Yin nodded. “I am Seven. From now on, this ship will be under my command.”

The goon was stunned. “Your command?”

“This pirating profession doesn’t seem to be that bad, and I believe that it has a bright future. I like it. So, take me to meet some other pirates.”

The ruffian opened his mouth to protest, but then he saw Lu Yin’s dazzling smile and he looked back at the floor. He suddenly understood that this brat wasn’t satisfied after robbing them and now wanted to plunder other pirates. No, he couldn’t do this. Pirates had their own principles, and they would not betray their brothers in the same profession. While a pirate could long for the death of their “colleagues,” acting on that longing would mean being excommunicated from the pirate circles. If their actions went too far, they might even incite the wrath of the pirate king.

“Boss, please don’t joke anymore. Us pirates are a bunch of vulgar scoundrels without any culture or manners. We smell bad, and our word is worthless. We can barely even be called people. You shouldn’t seek us pirates out,” he pleaded.

Lu Yin’s eyes turned cold as he stared at the ruffian. “I’ll only repeat myself once. Take me to meet the other pirates. If you don’t comply, I’ll just get someone else to take me. There are several hundred people on this ship, so I’m sure that there are a few who would definitely be more than willing to guide me.”

The ruffian’s face turned bitter as he cried without letting any tears out. There were only two options before him. The first was to choose life, betray his fellow pirates, accept being exiled from the pirate circles, and risk being chased down by any pirate crew he encountered in the future. The other was to choose death and be a valiant pirate who died in the line of duty. Of course, like he had just said, pirates were not really people, and he had no wish to die as a pirate. No one would choose death when life was an option, so the ruffian yielded.

The middle-aged captain was locked up, and from that point on, the thug Little Eight wielded the most power on the pirate ship. At the very least, he had satisfied his dream of becoming a captain. He even abused his authority and imprisoned the pirates who had offended him before this.

Lu Yin had no interest in these petty feuds and was instead staring at his gadget incredulously. Big Pao and Little Pao joined forces to challenge the Dao of Heaven’s Realm Master? That’s outrageous!

Astral-10 had definitely become known throughout the Astral Combat Academy after this news broke. First, everyone had heard of the five new Melder students who had joined forces to defeat Area Master Uro and snatch away a training ground. Then, two Astral-10 students had challenged the Dao of Heaven’s Realm Master and even forced him to expose his three-lined battle force, shocking the entire academy.

Not long ago, Astral-10 had been considered to be a banished academy that no one cared about; it had even been on the verge of collapsing. With the arrival of the new students from the Outerverse, Astral-10’s reputation had started rising once again. Then, Astral-10’s students had gone on to complete the highest difficulty Sentinel mission, defeat members of the other academies, become Lockbreakers, defeat an Area Master, challenge a Realm Master, and more. This shocking series of events forced the other academies to take Astral-10 seriously, especially the final exploit, which had caused Big Pao and Little Pao’s prestige to definitely shoot up through the roof.

The Dao of Heaven’s Realm Master, Kuang Wang, had said that the two possessed the power of a top-notch Area Master, and this appraisal was quoted by Wu Da in the Astral Combat Academy Journal, greatly increasing the sales volume once again. At this critical juncture, right before the Astral Combat Tournament, Astral-10 seemed to be working on catching up to the other academies.

In contrast to Astral-10’s meteoric rise, the Blaze Realm seemed to be sinking into a swamp of embarrassment; someone had leaked that Jared from the Blaze Realm had entered the Dao of Purgatory to help Uro, but had been cast out in a pathetic manner. This news caused his region’s reputation to drop greatly.

Lu Yin raised his head and seemed to have an excited gaze. As expected, those two seniors of his were not simple at all—they were actually as strong as Area Masters! They had even forced a Realm Master to reveal his true strength. Very powerful.

But the two of them had still been defeated despite them joining forces, which made Lu Yin’s heart sink. Is a Realm Master really unconquerable?

Five students had joined forces to defeat Uro, and that team could probably defeat any Area Master. But if they tried to fight against a Realm Master, even with Big Pao and Little Pao helping them, it would probably be impossible for them to emerge victorious. The freakish nature of these Realm Masters was not just idle boasts.

The Astral Combat Tournament was approaching, and even though there was still no concrete date, everybody knew that it was going to take place within half a year. The Realm Masters were also students of the Astral Combat Academy, and they would be opponents just like the other students.