Chapter 476 – Life Source Ore

The black dual axes tore through the air, accompanied by a thunderous sound as they smashed into the chest of the struggling Werewolf Mecha beneath.

“Boom-“

A muffled thud echoed as a translucent layer of white light surfaced on the Werewolf Mecha’s exterior.

The white light caved in deeply, sending out intense ripples that absorbed and neutralized most of the power from the dual axes.

With a loud “crash,” the tremendous force drove the Werewolf Mecha into the ground, forming a massive crater around it. However, aside from a slight dent, the exterior sustained no major damage.

Lu Yuan frowned slightly at the outcome.

He had already noticed this while battling Sonis before.

The performance of level 7 mechas was far superior to what he had anticipated, with a vast difference compared to level 6 mechas.

It seemed like a qualitative improvement.

At this stage, his standard attacks almost failed to break the defense of a level 7 mecha.

“Whether it’s a level 7 mecha or a level 7 pilot, they are considered high-level.

They mark an important dividing line.

Currently, both the strength of my mecha body and my mental power are somewhat lacking.

Crushing level 7 opponents with sheer force is still beyond my reach…”

While Lu Yuan was contemplating, the Werewolf Mecha beneath seemed to recover from his earlier seamless onslaught.

The mecha’s body trembled, its limbs lifted, and a tremendous force of struggle surged from the machine, trying to break free from his grip.

Lu Yuan’s eyes flashed, and his dual axes slammed down again.

This time, the target was the arms of the Werewolf Mecha.

“Bang! Bang!”

Two loud booms echoed as the Werewolf Mecha’s arms, which had just begun to resist, were pinned down by the giant axes on either side.

Simultaneously, Lu Yuan shifted his foot slightly.

“Thud!”

He stomped firmly on the restless lower body of the Werewolf Mecha.

“Damn it!”

The triangular-eyed man’s voice emanated angrily from within the Werewolf Mecha as it was forcibly pinned down once more.

The man’s mouth spewed foul language nonstop, continuously cursing Lu Yuan. Within the Werewolf Mecha, there were faint fluctuations of immense energy and mental power, possibly preparing for a countering Resonance Technique.

However, Lu Yuan remained unfazed.

Breaking through the defense of a level 7 mecha was a bit cumbersome for him, unless he used the Demon Wind Triple Flurry just like he did against Sonis earlier, stacking his Strength to a terrifying height to break through the level 7 mecha’s defense threshold.

But Lu Yuan didn’t want to bother with that.

He had a simpler solution.

“Whoosh-“

Lu Yuan looked down, firmly stepping on the chest of the Werewolf Mecha, and abruptly spread his five fingers towards the opponent.

The Werewolf Mecha, which had been incessantly cursing, was momentarily stunned by Lu Yuan’s strange gesture, and the curses suddenly halted.

Before he could react, a darkness deeper than night surged from Lu Yuan’s palm.

In an instant, it blocked all of his vision.

“Damn it! What is this?!”

“Get off!”

The viscous black liquid, like a living entity, engulfed the entire Werewolf Mecha. The Triangular-eyed man’s voice shifted from shock to horror, then panic, finally culminating in a curse with, “Sea Wolf won’t spare you.”

“Glug glug-“

As the black liquid rapidly devoured the Werewolf Mecha, large, disgusting bubbles rose to its surface from time to time.

Standing amidst the enveloping black liquid, Lu Yuan closed his eyes, continuously reabsorbing the flowing black liquid back into his body.

The eerie and unsettling scene made Sonis, not far away, shiver.

After a brief shock, Sonis finally reacted, almost without any hesitation, she controlled her magenta mecha to turn around and flee.

As the silhouette of the magenta mecha disappeared from the black hall.

Blending seamlessly with the vast swathes of viscous black liquid, like the darkest shadow itself, Lu Yuan silently opened his eyes.

“Can you escape?”

…

“Go! Have everyone leave here immediately!”

Sonis, inside the mecha cockpit, almost gritted her teeth as she issued this order to her subordinates.

She had decided to completely abandon this temporary supply base.

The magenta mecha soared into the sky, leaving a trail of bright red afterimages in the air, speeding away like a streak of light.

As a woman leading another large group of women, Sonis’s abilities and tactics speak for themselves within the space pirate community, achieving the strength and status they have today.

She had encountered countless powerhouses and experts of all kinds.

Ruthless, violent, cold-hearted, twisted…

But none had ever instilled in her the deeply chilling horror that this dark blue mecha did today, as if resonating with her very soul.

Years of living on the edge had granted Sonis an extraordinary instinct for sensing danger, far beyond the ordinary.

And now, that instinct screamed at her-

Stay away from that dark blue mecha, at all costs… as far as possible!

Sonis flew in a single direction for a full twenty minutes, retreating an unknown distance from her starting point.

Then she disembarked from the mecha, her body disappearing into the dense forest, swiftly navigating through the woods.

Finally, she came to a stop in an area where the natural magnetic field caused disrupted signals.

“Huff-huff-“

Sonis was slightly out of breath, slowly calming her racing heart.

She walked towards a moss-covered rock ahead, hoping to rest for a moment.

The sequence of battles and rushing had drained her energy substantially, and as a seasoned space pirate, maintaining her peak condition was instinctual.

“Pat, pat-“

Her footsteps made soft sounds against the damp forest floor as she moved.

Just as she was approaching her intended resting spot by the rock-

“Whoosh-“

A light breeze unexpectedly brushed past her from behind.

Sonis turned swiftly, like a startled bird, thinking it was just a false alarm. But when her gaze fell on the point behind her, her eyes froze.

In the dim depths of the primordial forest, a familiar humanoid mecha emerged silently like a ghost.

Its imposing frame blocked the already scarce daylight filtering through the canopy.

A dense darkness seemed to emanate from the deep blue, nearly black hull of the dark blue mecha, devouring all surrounding light and casting a vast shadow that completely enveloped Sonis.

The dark blue mecha approached within a few meters of Sonis, bowed its head, and silently watched her.

An immense, voiceless pressure filled every corner of the forest, causing the sounds of insects and birds to vanish completely, leaving the air silent as death.

At that moment, Sonis felt as if she were at the bottom of a ten-thousand-meter-deep ocean, the heavy oppression nearly suffocating her.

Her body was entirely rigid, as if the blood in her veins had ceased flowing, and she stood frozen in place.

“Click-“

A soft sound suddenly broke the deathly silence.

It was the dark blue mecha slightly moving its arm.

The silent Sonis, startled by the faint sound, abruptly stepped back and quickly began to speak:

“I can compensate you! I apologize for the previous offenses of my demon grease pirate crew! There’s been some misunderstanding between us; it doesn’t have to end in total destruction for either side…”

Lu Yuan blinked, somewhat surprised by Sonis’s admission of submission.

He noticed one of Sonis’s hands behind her back, tension in her eyes mingling with a barely perceptible glint of determination and desperation.

Perhaps she still had some kind of trump card up her sleeve.

As a level 7 pilot, it would be strange indeed if she didn’t have some means of self-preservation.

Lu Yuan wasn’t in a rush to strike; he was still digesting the Triangular-eyed man and his level 7 mecha he had recently devoured.

Every second time dragged on, his power would increase slightly, which was advantageous for him.

“Oh.”

Lu Yuan responded casually, crossing his sturdy alloy arms over his chest as he looked at Sonis nonchalantly.

“How do you plan to compensate me?”

Lu Yuan’s response visibly relaxed Sonis’s tense gaze, sensing a chance for negotiation, she spoke in a low voice, “What do you want?”

“What do I want?”

Lu Yuan thought for a moment, then casually sent Sonis a list of materials needed to build his [Breath of Evil. Wind-Eating Demon God Mech].

Sonis looked down at the information Lu Yuan had sent.

After a moment, she looked up, her rose-like, radiant face wearing an unsettled expression.

“If that’s not possible, then there’s nothing left to discuss.”

Lu Yuan was already thinking through his next words, but to his surprise, Sonis, with her uneasy expression, spoke up, “The items you want are highly valuable. But… it’s not entirely out of the question.”

“What?!”

Now it was Lu Yuan’s turn to be surprised.

“Are all you space pirates this wealthy?”

The materials on Lu Yuan’s list, if purchased in full, would cost at least several billion Duoling Coins.

Yes, he had multiplied the quantities of each Forging Material several times beyond what was originally required.

Several billion Duoling Coins is almost enough to buy a decent level 8 Mecha.

The fact that Sonis could accept this was totally unexpected for Lu Yuan.

“I don’t have that kind of money, of course.”

Sonis shook her head and calmly said, “But I know a way to quickly earn that amount of wealth. If we’re lucky, it might even be several times that number, or even tens of times more.”

Lu Yuan frowned.

He stared coldly at Sonis for a few seconds and then said, “Speak.”

He noticed the hand Sonis had hidden behind her back moved slightly before she brought it out and tossed something toward him.

Lu Yuan raised a hand and caught the item Sonis had thrown.

His gaze shifted slightly downward.

Half a second later, Lu Yuan’s eyes suddenly sparkled with intense interest.

“What is this?!”

He spoke in a deep voice, his tone growing serious.

The item Sonis had thrown now lay quietly in the palm of his hand.

It was a crystal with a vibrant emerald green hue, somewhat reminiscent of jade, yet distinctly different.

Upon closer inspection, one could see fine, deep green fibrous materials slowly moving within the emerald crystal, almost as if alive.

What truly moved Lu Yuan, however, was the immense and pure Life Energy contained within this small piece of green crystal, which was no larger than half a grown man’s fist. It rivaled the energy content of hundreds of tons of bismuth metal waste ore.

“Life Source Ore.”

Sonis articulated each word carefully.

“Life Source Ore?”

Hearing this answer, Lu Yuan’s expression shifted slightly.

He casually accessed his Light Brain to look it up, only to find information that was clearly mismatched and irrelevant.

“Yes.”

Sonis explained, “That’s the name we’ve given it privately. It’s also called ‘Life Source Crystal.’ Once you leave Planet Lirva, you probably won’t find anything else like it.”

“A unique ore from Planet Lirva?”

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the crystal in his hand. “Why have I never heard of it before?”

“Because it was only recently discovered.”

“This thing naturally contains an extremely high purity and an exaggerated amount of Life Energy material… I don’t need to tell you how precious Life Energy is.

Overall, the value of this is extremely high. Although it hasn’t been sold publicly, the estimate is that even a small piece of Life Source Ore like the one in your hand is worth at least a hundred thousand Duoling Coins…”

“Get to the point.”

Lu Yuan, becoming impatient, said coldly, “Where did this come from, and how much is there?”

Sonis’s eyes flickered slightly before she answered, “Gem Lord. The exact quantity is unclear, but there should be a lot… a very, very large amount…”

“Gem Lord…”

Lu Yuan regarded the Life Source Ore in his hand and said calmly, “So, this is something you got from Gem Lord?”

“Yes.”

Sonis nodded and replied, “Sea Wolf hijacked a transport ship belonging to Gem Lord and found this inside the spaceship.

Not only that, but they also got information from one of Gem Lord’s subordinates that Gem Lord discovered an ancient ruin where this Life Source Ore was found.

In that ruin, there’s an entire vein of Life Source Ore… as vast as a whole mine!”

At this point, Sonis paused, then continued, “The exact location of the ruins is known only to Gem Lord and Sea Wolf.

Sea Wolf, fearing he couldn’t handle such a fortune alone, reached out to other pirate groups like ours to plan an attack on the ruins and plunder its treasures… The man you killed earlier was one of Sea Wolf’s men.”

After listening to Sonis’s story, Lu Yuan remained silent and simply stared quietly at the crystal in his hand.

A moment later, he spoke calmly, “It does sound like a good deal. But… these pie-in-the-sky promises can’t compare to the appeal of something with tangible value.”

With that, Lu Yuan casually tossed the Life Source Ore into the mouth of his Mecha, as if eating a snack.

Then, he began walking steadily toward Sonis, an icy killing intent slowly emanating from him.

“If you can’t offer any real benefits, you won’t be leaving today.”

Lu Yuan advanced toward Sonis with an air of calm, yet his presence was menacing.

Sonis’s expression changed drastically. She hadn’t expected Lu Yuan to be so difficult to deal with, showing no interest in the bait she had thrown.

Under the heavy pressure from Lu Yuan, Sonis kept retreating until she found herself against the wall with nowhere left to go.

Finally, she gritted her teeth and threw a small black card towards Lu Yuan.

“There’s over nine hundred million Duoling Coins on this card… It’s my entire fortune. If you’re still not satisfied, then we’ll have to fight to the death!”

Sonis glared at Lu Yuan with gritted teeth, her expression one of helpless defiance.

Lu Yuan casually caught the card that Sonis threw, glanced at it, then looked back at Sonis and said coolly, “Fight to the death? Are you even qualified?”

“You?!”

Sonis’s face turned green with anger.