"I'm laughing because you'll never get the chance to kill me again," Endymion said, genuinely elated—for he had spotted a familiar mech speeding toward them from afar.
"You think you can escape now?" Duanmu Bai sneered.
"Why not take a look above you?" Endymion replied lazily, his grin widening. He had completely relaxed—because that mech was now hovering diagonally above Duanmu Bai.
Bai paused for a few seconds, then suddenly shot into the sky. Endymion was briefly startled, but soon realized that Bai wasn't coming for him—he was fleeing. His mech accelerated into the distance, vanishing from sight within moments.
Endymion blinked, momentarily puzzled. Bai's retreat wasn't what he had expected.
"Are you alright?" came a familiar voice—it was Lin Yun.
"I'm fine," Endymion replied, shaking his head. "Luckily you showed up. Otherwise, I might've really died at Bai's hands."
He silently thanked fate. Had he not bought those precious seconds by escaping his wrecked mech, Lin Yun wouldn't have arrived in time.
"Is your mech still usable?" Lin Yun had exited her cockpit and walked toward the battered frame of Endymion's machine.
Endymion inspected the damage. "I can fix it, but I'll need some time."
Both the propulsion system and cockpit had taken damage, though not beyond repair. Anticipating this kind of situation before the trial began, he had brought along a toolkit for field repairs. It wouldn't be easy, but it was definitely doable.
"Then hurry. Once it's working, let's go meet up with Xiaoya," Lin Yun said.
Endymion nodded silently and climbed back into the cockpit, pulling out his toolkit and getting to work.
He was intimately familiar with his machine—every joint, every circuit, every part—and worked with practiced efficiency. Within half an hour, the mech was operational again. If not for the poor lighting at night, he might've finished even faster.
"All done!" he exhaled and stretched, then glanced at Lin Yun—only to find her staring at him strangely.
Indeed, Lin Yun was shocked. Most mech pilots knew basic repairs, but his precision and speed were something else entirely. She herself wasn't capable of such deft work. While Endymion might not be an outstanding warrior, she now realized—he was at the very least a top-tier mechanic.
But mechanics, while necessary, were considered the lowest caste among mech professions—far beneath warriors and designers.
Suddenly, her comms unit blared.
"Beep—beep—beep!"
Startled, Lin Yun dove back into her cockpit and answered the short-range transmission. On this undeveloped planet, the Interstellar Alliance's communication networks didn't reach. Only short-range mech communicators could be used.
"Yun-sis, bad news! Duanmu Bai just attacked us and stole all our water!" Xiaoya's panicked voice crackled over the line.
"What?" Lin Yun's expression darkened. In this desert, food might be optional for a few days—but without water, they wouldn't last even one.
"You'd better get back here fast!" Xiaoya cried. "If he takes our food next, we're really finished!"
"Understood. I'm on my way!" Lin Yun cut the transmission and turned to Endymion. "Something's happened. We need to go—now!"
"Wait!" Endymion called out as she prepared to launch.
"What is it?" she asked, clearly annoyed. "You have something more important than this?"
"Even if you get there in time, the water won't come back," Endymion said calmly. "And if you go that way, we'll never reach Sector Seven. Which means we're guaranteed to fail this trial."
He'd heard Xiaoya's message as well. And now, he made a decision: to help Lin Yun—not out of obligation, but because he wanted to.
"So what?" Lin Yun frowned, uncertain where he was going with this.
"If you trust me," Endymion said, "have Xiaoya and the others come here. I can help you complete the trial."
She looked at him with suspicion. "It's not that I don't want to believe you—but you'll have to give me a reason. Something real."
While Lin Yun had never looked down on Endymion like the others, believing that the Duanmu family's infamous "waste" could help her pass the trial was… a stretch.
"Come out of your mech. I'll show you two things," Endymion said with confidence. He wasn't upset by her doubt—it was understandable.
Lin Yun hesitated, but stepped out of her cockpit and approached him.
Endymion raised his palm and chanted strange, arcane syllables. Slowly, a droplet of water formed in his hand—growing larger and larger until it became a floating sphere of shimmering liquid, suspended in midair.
To Lin Yun, it was miraculous. But to Endymion, it was a simple water-element spell—basic element condensation. Even in a desert, there was still moisture in the air to draw from.
"How… how did you do that?" she asked in stunned amazement.
"Grab a water pouch," he said. "Don't let it go to waste. That cost a lot of mana."
She rushed back and fetched a container without hesitation.
Once the water was secured, Endymion pulled out a crystal and handed it to her. "Here's the second thing I wanted to show you."
"What is this?" she asked, frowning curiously.
"Your mech's low on energy, right? Try inserting this into your recharge port," he said with a grin.
Lin Yun complied—and gasped.
"A power crystal? But… this doesn't look like any I've seen before!"
"Doesn't matter what it looks like," Endymion said. "What matters is it works."
He glanced at her—at the softness returning to her eyes, at her graceful figure—and felt a warmth stir in his chest.
"I've got plenty more where that came from," he added. "That means we don't need to worry about energy. And now, not about water either. If Bai only took the water, there's probably still food left. So tell me—shouldn't we just cross this desert and head straight to Sector Seven?"
Lin Yun stared at him. She knew he was right. With water, energy, and some food, they could cut straight through the desert and complete the trial on their terms.
"How did you get all this?" she asked, her voice softer now, eyes filled with a new kind of wonder.
"I'll tell you after the trial is over," Endymion replied after a pause. "But I want you to promise me one thing."
"What is it?" she asked immediately.
"When Xiaoya and the others get here, don't tell them where the water and crystals really came from. Just say… you stumbled across them."
Lin Yun looked at him strangely. "That's your secret?"