"Timely rescue?" Duanmu Bai sneered. "I say he was hiding nearby all along—waiting until we were nearly torn apart before showing up. If we hadn't already depleted our mechs' energy, would we have even needed his help?"
Endymion's brows furrowed in anger. He had never thought of himself as some savior—what Duanmu Bai said wasn't entirely wrong. If Lin Yun and the others hadn't already killed the majority of the monsters, he alone would've been helpless. But accusing him of deliberately waiting to swoop in? That was going too far.
The truth was simple: his mech was too slow, and it had taken him time to track them down. In the end, he had saved Duanmu Bai. Gratitude wasn't required—but a verbal slap in the face was too much.
"If I had been lurking nearby," Endymion retorted coldly, "I'd have waited until you were already dead before showing myself. Don't assume everyone shares your dark, scheming mind."
"Enough!" Lin Yun's voice was sharp with irritation. "If none of you want to die, we need to focus on what comes next."
"Yun-jie, I think from now on we shouldn't split up anymore," Duanmu Xiaoya suggested. "We're stronger together."
"Agreed." Lin Yun nodded.
"Our mechs are running dangerously low on energy," Duanmu Xiaopang added, worry creasing his face. "If we run into those monsters again, what then?"
"And we're out of water. We've only got a day's worth of rations left," Duanmu Xiaozhuang chimed in. "Where will we even find food or water in this place?"
"We'll have to take our chances," Lin Yun said, sighing. "Let's not search in the same directions we already tried. We'll head somewhere new."
"Maybe it's not all chance," Duanmu Bai said, voice low and meaningful. "Haven't you all considered... this might have been planned?"
"You mean someone knew what was in this region and deliberately sent us here, hoping we wouldn't make it out alive?" Lin Yun's expression darkened.
"Not necessarily to kill us," Duanmu Bai said, shaking his head. "At least, not you. You're the most likely candidate to become a Seven-Star Mech Knight. If you died here, they'd be the ones in trouble. No, they just want to ruin your trial. Sabotage your chance."
"Which means… they'd leave us a way out." Lin Yun's voice grew thoughtful. "If we can't reach Zone Seven and pass the trial, they still wouldn't want us dead. So they'd… plant supplies. A lifeline."
Suddenly, she whipped out the trial map. Her eyes lit up.
"I get it. If we keep going this direction, it's impossible to reach Zone Seven. But if we go this way—there! I bet that's where they left the supplies."
Endymion listened with confusion. This trial… was more than just a test? Was there a deeper conspiracy? And Lin Yun's team—were they just pawns in a bigger scheme?
"Who wants to harm you?" he asked, unable to hold back. Perhaps because she was the only one who'd treated him kindly, he genuinely cared about her fate. As for the others, Duanmu Bai seemed to loathe him for no reason, and the rest looked at him with silent judgment, never truly accepting him.
Lin Yun looked at him strangely. "You really don't know?"
"I haven't paid much attention to family matters," Endymion admitted honestly.
She thought for a moment, then decided to explain.
The trial wasn't just about proving strength—it was tied to the succession of the Duanmu clan's leadership. Their patriarch was not chosen by birthright but by merit. Every child of the clan had the right to compete.
As one of the strongest among her generation, Lin Yun was a top contender. But she had rivals—rivals who feared her and would rather see her fail. If she couldn't perform well in the trial, she'd lose her claim.
Now Endymion understood. But his thoughts shifted to Duanmu Bai—he seemed too well-informed. Could he be in on it?
"Are we going or not?" Duanmu Bai snapped. "If we wait any longer, we'll starve to death."
"We move," Lin Yun said as she rose to her feet. "It doesn't matter if we pass or fail the trial—what matters now is survival."
She turned toward her mech.
But Endymion didn't move.
The energy crystals inside the monsters were far too valuable to leave behind, and he hadn't even started collecting most of them.
"You all go ahead," he said to Lin Yun. "I'll catch up."
"What are you staying for?" she frowned.
"Nothing important. Just something I need to finish. Besides, I'm slower than you anyway—it's better if you find the supplies first. I'll follow."
Lin Yun hesitated but eventually nodded. "Fine. Head this direction when you're done. We'll wait for you."
The group departed, and Endymion wasted no time. He dove into the grisly work of harvesting crystals from monster corpses. It was a monumental task—hundreds of bodies, and each core hidden deep.
The first ten crystals took him an entire hour.
But as time went on, he began to notice patterns in where the cores were located, and the pace picked up. By the next hour, he had collected thirty more. The process grew faster still, and by nightfall, Endymion had harvested over three hundred crystals. Every corpse had been dismantled.
"Whew… exhausted," he muttered, loading the crystals into his mech. Though individually light, the sheer volume took up considerable space.
But he wasn't done.
He had to test whether he could absorb the magical energy from the crystals.
He sat cross-legged in the sand, a crystal in hand, and began to channel his mana. The moment the rich, dense mana surged into his body, he broke into a wide smile. It was intoxicating.
He forgot entirely about catching up with the group—he was completely absorbed in the energy flow.
Mana was energy—and these cores were unique. The mech energy and magical energy were fused together. After draining the mana, the leftover became pure mech energy, which could directly refuel his machine.
So, with every crystal he used, he was both advancing his magical training and producing high-grade mech batteries—two birds with one stone.
After absorbing three crystals, he stopped—not out of reluctance, but necessity. His body couldn't take in any more magic just yet.
Still, his mana reserves had grown drastically. He was now only a step away from the Advanced Mage rank. And it had only taken an hour.
That was the true value of magic crystals.
On the Auro Continent, mages used them the same way—but the difference was, they were prohibitively expensive. Even the wealthiest mages could rarely afford to train this way.
But here?
Endymion had hundreds.