Chapter 28: No Cosmic Adventure Is Complete Without a Lightsaber! [Please Continue Reading!]

Laser beams, laser cannons, laser swords, laser engraving pens, laser probe torches, overclocked laser exciters…

Lu Chen stood outside the showcase, dazzled by the sheer variety. It was just like the first time he’d stepped into a toy store as a child—so many choices, so much longing in his heart.

A man remains a boy at heart until his dying day.

You can’t have a space adventure without a lightsaber!

More than that, Lu Chen knew well that laser weapons were especially effective in the vacuum of space, where there was no atmospheric interference.

He stepped into the shop and glanced at the prices.

Even though all these laser weapons were second-hand, their prices were far from low—each easily costing thousands of spirit stones.

Lu Chen paced back and forth, hesitating as he browsed, yet still feeling the pinch in his wallet.

Suddenly, an idea struck him. He turned to the tall, thin middle-aged proprietor and said,

“Boss, although these laser weapons have been repaired, their tuning seems off. Do you have any defective items you could sell me? I’ll fix them myself.”

The shopkeeper’s face instantly turned cold.

“Are you just here to cause trouble?”

Lu Chen casually picked up a laser cannon exciter.

“Your level-twenty laser cannon is tuned even more aggressively than mine—too much focus on power, but the stabilizer is inadequate. It’s easily thrown off by defense formations’ interference.”

“And this laser sword—lightsabers are already outdated, but you’ve tuned it too conservatively. It’s a close-combat weapon; it needs to be aggressive, versatile, unpredictable, and as lethal as possible.”

“And this device…”

Lu Chen critiqued each item with the familiarity of an expert, leaving the shopkeeper dumbfounded and unable to argue back.

Because everything Lu Chen pointed out was true.

With few customers in the shop, the owner finally gestured,

“Enough, stop talking. I’ll take you to the warehouse.”

And so, in the warehouse, Lu Chen picked out a level-twenty battle-damaged lightsaber and a large overclocked exciter.

In his previous life, Lu Chen had been a star wars fanatic; the lightsaber was the ancient laser weapon he coveted above all!

As for the overclocked laser exciter, it could temporarily boost a laser weapon’s output to level thirty—

Albeit with considerable energy consumption.

Even though these were defective, Lu Chen, after much haggling, still had to spend five hundred spirit stones to acquire them.

After all, the repaired second-hand versions of these, with installation fees, would have cost fifteen hundred spirit stones together.

Especially the overclocked exciter—a brand-new level-thirty model cost more than Lu Chen’s spaceship!

Having found his treasures, Lu Chen was overjoyed. He brought them back to the shipyard to repair and install them himself.

Inside the ship modification bay,

The Leonine was still having its defense arrays installed.

Using the bay’s equipment, Lu Chen disassembled the lightsaber hilt and overclocked exciter, cleaned and re-engraved the short-circuited spirit circuits, and manufactured replacement parts with the spirit machine tools…

Once the repairs were complete, he integrated the two into his armor.

The overclocked exciter had to be mounted on the laser driver, taking up considerable space.

But for the sake of style… ahem, for greater offensive power, it was worth it!

To support this, Lu Chen spent an extra hundred spirit stones to add a second spirit battery, wiring them in parallel to give the laser driver longer endurance.

As a result, his scavenger armor lost a third of its cargo space.

Excited, Lu Chen climbed into the armor.

He activated the overclocked mode, extended his right hand, and fired at a chunk of level-thirty titanium alloy.

A crimson laser beam screamed forth, piercing the titanium in an instant.

“Now that’s power!”

Next, he gripped the restored lightsaber hilt.

Energized, the blade issued a resonant hum. He swung it casually—it sliced through metal like butter.

Lu Chen had tuned his lightsaber for maximum aggression; he could adjust its length, width, and thickness at will, adapting to various environments. Its destructive power even surpassed that of the laser cannon.

With that, Lu Chen had completed all his armor modifications.

Level-ten armor, dual spirit batteries for power, a level-twenty laser cannon and lightsaber, level-thirty exciter, and level-thirty plating.

Apart from somewhat insufficient engine thrust, meaning low flight speed and less agility, its combat capability was on par with most standard battle armors.

Its fighting strength was just shy of a level-thirty combat suit or a fully armed level-thirty warship, but could easily overwhelm a civilian long-range vessel like the Leonine.

Once everything was in order, only the ship’s defensive arrays remained to be installed.

Lu Chen volunteered to help.

“I’m an artificer too. Let me lend a hand, free of charge.”

A level-twenty technician eyed him with disdain.

“You?”

A level-thirty technician nearby reminded him,

“Didn’t you see? This kid just repaired, tuned, and upgraded his own laser weapons—a little level-ten scavenger suit now has more firepower than a level-thirty combat suit!”

“Him?”

Lu Chen smiled modestly and joined the team installing the ship’s defensive arrays. With his assistance, the arrays were soon completed.

The shop foreman watched in astonishment, even considering on the spot whether to fire a couple of his lazier workers.

Lu Chen piloted his armor onto the newly modified Leonine.

He left the armor in the aft bay, then returned to the cockpit and called Golia and Sirius via the ship’s video comm.

He waited for quite a while before the call connected.

In front of a stadium,

Golia and Ellie were both dressed in white wolf-fleece outfits, complete with wolf ears on their heads.

One was tipsy, the other absent-minded.

The two of them wandered the parking lot, looking for their hover-bike.

Even through the video screen, Lu Chen could smell the mix of alcohol and perfume on Golia.

“We’re about to set off. Come back quickly.”

Golia tilted her head back and took another swig.

“I think my hover-bike was stolen. Come pick us up.”

Lu Chen had no choice but to drive to the stadium entrance.

Golia and Ellie wore matching white wolf-fleece outfits.

Lu Chen frowned, said nothing, and hurriedly brought them back to the ship, which quickly ascended and left the area.

Back in the cockpit,

Golia carried a large bag—few clothes, mostly expensive jewelry and cosmetics.

The short-sleeved wolf-fleece looked cute on Ellie, but on Golia it was simply too provocative.

Add to that her drunken state—the mingled scent of alcohol, perfume, and musk was nearly overwhelming.

Fortunately, she wore a sword at her waist, and her gaze shimmered with a dangerous, chaotic aura—clearly not someone to trifle with.

Ellie wore silver-rimmed student glasses, clutched an ice cream cone, and had a backpack slung over her shoulders.

Lu Chen had to admit—a white-haired girl, with silver glasses and blue eyes—was a truly stunning combination.

When she saw Lu Chen, Ellie instinctively hid her hands behind her back, trying to conceal the ice cream.

“There’s no need to hide it. Ice cream is allowed on this ship,” Lu Chen reassured her.

Even so, Ellie kept her hands behind her, her icy blue eyes dulled beneath her glasses.

Lu Chen used his item identification skill to check her backpack.

Aside from a few apples, it was filled with advanced spirit-tamer study materials—ancient paper texts and jade slips.

After all, spirit-tamers were the profession closest to the ancient cultivators, and most advanced learning materials were old tomes.

This showed that Ellie had an excellent eye.

But her expression was more vacant than ever.

The little vitality she’d regained had been sapped away by Golia.

Furious, Lu Chen pinched Golia’s flushed face.

“Are you out of your mind? Ellie is a werewolf, and you bought her wolf-fleece clothes—are you pouring salt in her wounds?”

Golia waved her hand drunkenly.

“No, no, she really likes these clothes. They give her a sense of security.”

“This is a stadium. Why’d you bring her here?”

“We went to a concert. I wanted to cheer her up, so we listened to the Galactic New Four Kings’ live show.”

Lu Chen had heard of the Galactic New Four Kings—a wildly popular, avant-garde music and dance group made up of Hua Wuyu, Old Ghost, and two others.

Their style was indescribable, but they were so famous, even someone like Lu Chen, who usually listened only to classical music, knew their name.

“Couldn’t you have taken her to something more normal? For a werewolf, that kind of music is way too avant-garde.”

Golia defensively replied,

“I thought it was wild enough to wake her up. I didn’t expect this result.”

Lu Chen pinched Ellie’s little cheek.

It was hopeless—she didn’t even shift into wolf form.

“Nothing to be done,” Lu Chen sighed, giving her a healing pill and telling her to rest.

Returning to the cockpit, Lu Chen—knowing full well that Golia had spent all her spirit stones—deliberately asked,

“What about ship supplies?”

Golia froze, her eyes suddenly unfocused.

“Supplies?”

Lu Chen rummaged through her bag. As expected, the spirit stones were all gone.

“Classic you,” he muttered.

But Golia insisted stubbornly, “What supplies? If we run out of fuel, I can pilot the ship—and recharge your magic while I’m at it.”

Fortunately, Lu Chen had foreseen this and set aside six hundred spirit stones.

Adventuring as a team is much like marriage.

If you’ve chosen to adventure with Golia, you have to accept her flaws; only then will her creativity shine, and you’ll make even more money.

Try to force a woman to change, and the team will only fall apart.

“You said it. I’ll be waiting for you to pilot the ship and top up my magic.”

With that, Lu Chen piloted the ship to the supply zone and used his last spirit stones to purchase water, food, spirit batteries, and spirit fuel.

He also bought some professional fishing and barbecue gear.

If the women could enjoy themselves, why shouldn’t he?

In the end, he kept a hundred spirit stones in reserve for emergencies.

That should be enough.

With everything ready,

Lu Chen requested clearance to depart.

“Departure approved. Have a wonderful adventure!”

“Launch!”

A blood-orange plume roared from the engines.

The Leonine slowly lifted off, leaving Ocean Hero Port from the center of the star ring and flying into the storm-laden canyon nebula.