Chapter 153: Enhance (1/2)

The purple star was a spherical purple plant with an appearance as resplendent as the stars. Unfortunately, it was slightly shriveled from being improperly stored, which had caused the plant to lose some of its medicinal effectiveness.

Lu Yin could not help but marvel at the depths of Duke Yushan’s calculations. He had been preparing for this day for a hundred years, and his betrayal had been impeccably timed as well. How vicious.

Lu Yin didn’t know how many star energy crystals he would need to upgrade the purple star. All he had on him was 160,000 crystals, so he hoped that that would be enough. Otherwise, he would have to go back to Undying Yushan and ask for more.

He took the purple star and reserved the private lounge next door, but Jue Lang followed behind Lu Yin, staring at him the entire way. Lu Yin grimaced as he explained, “Captain Jue Lang, since the purple star’s efficacy has diminished for His Majesty, I’m going to do my best to restore its effectiveness. That won’t be possible if you continue staring at me.”

Jue Lang was shocked. “You can restore its effectiveness?”

Lu Yin nodded as he replied, “There’s a chance. Although it’s extremely unlikely, I must still try.”

Jue Lang gave Lu Yin a long look, turned around, and then closed the door without another word.

Lu Yin took a deep breath. As the proverb says, the prudent man foresees evil and hides himself. However, people could be swayed away from the prudent choice. Lu Yin had lost his memories and forgotten where he came from, but he had been saved and thus accepted his saviors as his family. Undying Yushan had cared for him like family, and thus similarly deserved to be treated like family, which meant that Lu Yin would take this risk for his sake.

Lu Yin retrieved his die which had not been touched for nearly twenty days. It had almost completely recovered to its peak luminescent state, and Lu Yin was pleased to discover that he could roll it four consecutive times today. He tapped the die lightly and it began to spin. It finally stopped at four pips: Time Stop.

Time Stop was a common roll. Lu Yin entered the Time Stop space and relaxed for three days while he continued trying to simulate the ninth star of his Cosmic Art.

When the three days were up, Lu Yin left the grey space. The ninth star was still nowhere to be seen, but he felt like he was pulling closer and closer to the sensation that he had felt when the crazy director had shown him the ninth star. He was in no hurry and could always try again.

The second roll was two pips.

Five minutes later, the Blackhole Disassembly vanished. Lu Yin rolled the die for a third time, hoping for success. It was a pity that fate seemed to be against him as he rolled five pips: Gift Copy.

He breathed in deeply; he was already at the fourth roll, and after the fifth, he would no longer be able to handle the die’s mental strain any longer and he would be forced to fall asleep. After that, it would take at least ten days before he could recover enough to roll the die again. This fourth roll was vitally important.

He watched the die grind to a halt and land—five pips. Another wasted roll.

Lu Yin clenched his fists, and his gaze hardened. Enhance and Possession were the rarest rolls from the six possible results. Again.

He tapped the die and his eyes never left it. Then, the scene changed before his eyes as he reappeared in the grey room. Time Stop again. He had failed to roll Enhance. He immediately began to grow dizzy and was seconds away from fainting. Right before he lost consciousness, he threw five hundred more star crystals towards the time to ensure that he would still be within the Time Stop space when he woke up. Then, he collapsed.

The excessive mental strain brought unconsciousness crashing down upon him, and Lu Yin ibce again saw the jade finger penetrating through the heavens to crush him. Just as before, he exploded in anger. “Outrageous! Audacious!” He awoke with a loud howl and his entire back drenched in sweat.

It had taken him two days to recover from his comatose state. He looked around and saw that he still had ten days of time left on the counter.

Lu Yin rested for a while, and then reached out his arm and brought out the lifeless die. He could use his innate gift even while in the Time Stop space, but its energy consumption was multiple times higher than what it would be in the real world. In other words, he could shake the die four times just like outside the Time Stop space, but he had to rest for ten days after every die roll. Otherwise, he would suffer even more drastic consequences than if he had rolled it five times in the outside world.

Fortunately, he was in the Time Stop space, which allowed him to be more extravagant. It all depended on whether or not he had enough star crystals. Hopefully, they would be enough!

Lu Yin lavishly spent nearly six thousand star crystals at once to increase the duration of Time Stop by thirty days. He now had over forty days of time in the ashen space, which gave him four more opportunities to roll the die. He refused to believe that he could not roll Enhance within these four rolls.

Ten days quickly passed, and then Lu Yin took out the die and tapped it. One dot: Pilfer. Useless. He was alone in the Time Stop space, so he couldn’t retrieve anything. Pilfer was completely useless. His solitude also made Gift Copy and Possession worthless. The only rolls that would mean anything were a two or three.

He still had more than thirty days to spend in this space. When he looked around at the dull surroundings, he really wanted to change it, but that would cost him a few crystals… Forget it. Who knows how many crystals it’ll take to enhance the purple star, so I’ll just leave it alone for now.

He tried to simulate the ninth star while waiting for ten more days to pass.

The die recovered. He tapped it. Pilfer again; useless. Lu Yin was left speechless by the outcome. It was truly difficult trying to roll Enhance.

Another ten days later, and Lu Yin tapped once again. While he didn’t hold much hope when he tapped the die, he became so emotional when three pips revealed themselves that he nearly kissed it. Finally, he had rolled Enhance.

He saw the two light screens, one above and one below, and let out a heavy sigh. Fortunately, Enhance could be used in this Time Stop space.