Chapter 251: Two-stars (2/2)

Lu Yin had gone through planetary trials and multiple near-death situations. Even after going through all those trials and tribulations, he was still shocked by this path to wealth. After a moment, he sighed and calmed down. It had been about half a year since he’d successfully completed his first lockbreaking attempt, and in the past half a year, the video had only been viewed thirty seven times. If he looked at the amount of time that had passed, this process was far too slow to gain any significant wealth.

His heart sank.

Within the universe, there were very few Lockbreakers. However, there were still hundreds of thousands of them registered in the network. Although this number might be relatively low compared to other organizations, there were still at least a hundred thousand Lockbreakers with achievements to their names. Why had his video attracted any attention at all? It was very difficult for one Lockbreaker to stand out amongst a hundred thousand. Why had these people all viewed his video? With this money, they could have chosen an Intermediate or even an Advanced Lockbreaker’s video. Those people had also started out from the very bottom, so their videos should theoretically be the most valuable.

Things took time. After half a year, his video had only been purchased thirty seven times, which was just too few. This meant that nobody knew about him. What he needed to do was to make himself known. If he became somewhat famous, then more people would be willing to spend money and buy the rights to view his videos.

“Take it slow,” Lu Yin muttered to himself. He scanned the list of available missions that were nearby. The next one that he decided to take on was a sourcebox owned by someone with the handle “Lost.” The sourcebox had been verified to be at the two-star Discerning Elementary grade, so it was suitable for him to attempt.

Lu Yin accepted the mission, but just as he was about to ask the person to come to Astral-10, the mission was cancelled. Lu Yin froze for a second and was rather annoyed that this person did not trust him, but he couldn’t do anything about it. A mission went both ways, and the requestor could choose another Lockbreaker if he so desired. End Of The Road had been in too much of a hurry and his offered payment wasn’t very high, which was why he had agreed to let Lu Yin make the lockbreaking attempt. To him, the matter was like a gamble. Many people were willing to pay a hefty premium to have Lockbreakers with achievements unlock their sourcebox.

Lu Yin accepted three missions, but he was rejected from all of them. He was merely a one-star Discerning Elementary Lockbreaker, and it made more sense for him to go after one-star Discerning Elementary grade sourceboxes. When he tried to accept a mission with a two-star grade sourcebox, most requestors would not trust him. Besides, he only had one video which meant that he had only unlocked a single sourcebox so far. He simply wasn’t trustworthy enough.

Two hours later, the second video that Lu Yin had uploaded was verified. He did not hesitate to upload this second video of him unlocking a sourcebox and immediately made it available at the lowest price.

All of a sudden, Lu Yin remembered something vital. Had he exposed his Cosmic Art in the video? He hastily reviewed the video and then heaved a sigh of relief; thankfully, he hadn’t. The angle in the video from his gadget had not captured his body. All that could be seen was a pair of hands unlocking the sourcebox, and not much of the surroundings could be made out. The only recognizable things in the video were his hands and the sourcebox.

Lu Yin was rather disappointed that his achievements weren’t enough for him to reach two-stars. It wasn’t easy for a Lockbreaker to increase their rank unless they unlocked a very difficult sourcebox. Lu Yin thus had no choice but to take things slow. Even if he managed to unlock two two-star Discerning Elementary grade sourceboxes, it would not be enough. He still needed to unlock at least one or two more of these before he even had a chance of becoming a two-star Discerning Elementary Lockbreaker.

The only other possibility of advancing was if he straight up unlocked a three, four, five-star, or even an intermediate-grade sourcebox. That would be a huge achievement, and it was what Charon had done. Charon had unlocked the Unveiled Sword and had become a five-star Discerning Elementary Lockbreaker right away.

Now that he had been verified as being able to unlock a two-star Discerning Elementary grade sourcebox, Lu Yin quickly found a second mission. It was also a two-star Discerning Elementary grade sourcebox and the reward was 70,000-star crystals—even more than what End Of The Road had offered.

For the next ten days, Lu Yin spent his days unlocking sourceboxes. After every unlocking session, he also needed to rest for a day. Over ten days, he unlocked four sourceboxes. Of those four, his slowest lockbreaking session went on for nineteen hours, and his shortest only took him seven hours. Two of the sourceboxes had been empty while the other two had actually contained something. One was a small bottle that appeared to be ancient, but he had no idea what was inside of it. The other one was a tattered book that should contain a technique within it. However, for the sake of professionalism, he did not look inside.

The reward for successfully unlocking those four sourceboxes raised his achievements to two-stars and also earned him 400,000 star crystals. On the Lockbreaker’s network, there was now an additional star attached to Seven’s name; he’d officially become a two-star Discerning Elementary Lockbreaker.

The process of lockbreaking was very complicated and painful. After Lu Yin completed his fourth lockbreaking attempt, he slept for three full days.

“Lockbreaking is very difficult. Even when there’s no danger, your body still might not be able to handle it. Do you want to keep going?” the Trialmaster asked as he looked at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin shook his head. “No, my head hurts.”

The Trialmaster burst out laughing. “That’s a smart answer. If you keep going, then you’ll either go crazy or faint. Did you think that lockbreaking was an easy thing to do? Did you think that you’d be able to unlock as many sourceboxes as you wanted? If that were the case, then Lockbreakers would have become invincible long ago. The unlocking process wears down on a Lockbreaker’s mind. It’s the same with those scholars—nobody can continue with such a draining task for a long period of time.”

Lu Yin bowed towards the mentor. “Thank you, sir.”

“You’re not too bad. Two, three, or even four-star Discerning Elementary grade sourceboxes won’t be a threat to you. If you come across the opportunity, then you can try a four-star sourcebox. Don’t waste your time, but also don’t be in too much of a rush. A five-star sourcebox can still pose a threat to you,” the Trialmaster warned.