Chapter 40: Rewards and Tracking
The gunfire gradually faded into the distance as Su Xiao moved through the night.
Half an hour later, in a desolate wilderness, Su Xiao stopped. He was already far from the battlefield behind him. When the Saint Limen Fortress collapsed, he had received a flood of notifications, but only now did he have time to check them.
[Notification: The Hunter has destroyed the Saint Limen Fortress. Destruction rate: 86%. Front trench destruction rate: only 0.6%.]
[Verification: The Hunter played a crucial role in the destruction of the Saint Limen Fortress.]
[You have received 800 Reincarnation Paradise Merits.]
[Your authority level has been increased by Lv.1. Current authority level: Lv.??]
[You have received: Gift of War (Legendary Chest item. Rewards are random. Common rewards: Equipment, Gems, True Attribute Points, Soul Crystals. Rare rewards: Awakening Book (Second), Rare Bloodline/Class, Black Abyss Invitation, etc.)]
...
A rectangular wooden box appeared in Su Xiao's hand. The box was not large, with a mark on its front that closely resembled his Reincarnation Imprint.
Although Su Xiao had failed to kill the formidable enemy Buck, his infiltration of the fortress had yielded substantial benefits: a 5-level increase in his Azure Steel Shadow ability and the rare item [Gift of War]. With luck, he could become instantly wealthy.
Equipment, gems, and soul crystals were merely common rewards within the [Gift of War]. As for the rare rewards, they were simply unobtainable through normal means.
Furthermore, Su Xiao had gained 800 Reincarnation Paradise Merits. In his last War World, he had only earned a little over 700 Merits in total, which highlighted the significance of these 800 Merits.
Following the direction indicated by the tracker, Su Xiao began to venture deeper into the Sun Kingdom. He knew little about this place, but his personal mainline war mission had progressed to this point; there was no reason to give up now.
Compared to the mission target hiding within a war fortress, having him located within the Sun Kingdom was actually easier to deal with.
The immediate problem was that Su Xiao had no detailed map of the Sun Kingdom. He had a few civilian maps, but they were inaccurate, only marking the general locations of major cities.
Based on his judgment, Dubois was unlikely to fly directly to the Sun Kingdom's capital, Dawnlight City. Given the world's technology, a single flight to that destination was simply impractical.
Now, stranded in the wilderness, Su Xiao's top priority was finding transportation. While running on foot was a decent method of travel and faster, he needed to conserve his stamina for safety. He had to be wary of one person: a troublesome man named Buck.
Two hours later, Su Xiao arrived at a small town near the war zone.
Three hours later, he left the town in an old clunker of a car, carrying a large amount of fuel and having "recruited" a driver.
On a bumpy dirt road, a middle-aged man in a peaked cap was driving through the night. The car was caked in mud; half an hour ago, it had nearly plunged into a river.
The man's face was covered in sweat. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, eyes fixed on the road ahead.
"Sir, I'm just a driver..." the man began.
Before he could finish, a gun was pointed at him.
"Get me to the destination, and you won't be killed," Su Xiao said.
Though the man was an ordinary civilian, decades of life experience told him exactly what situation he was in.
Su Xiao pulled a pocket watch from his coat and tossed it to the driver. If the man insisted on talking, he would have to be silenced.
Unexpectedly, the middle-aged man took the watch and remained silent. This was the wisdom life had taught him; only a fool would keep asking questions now.
Su Xiao leaned back in the passenger seat to rest, recovering his stamina and healing his injuries as best he could. With nothing else to do, he opened his skill list to check the improvement of his Azure Steel Shadow ability.
[Azure Steel Shadow (Active Skill)]
Activation Condition: When [Azure Steel Shadow] is activated, the Hunter consumes 130 Mana Points per minute (increased by 10). Automatically deactivates when Mana Points fall below 1%.
Skill Effect: When [Azure Steel Shadow] is activated, each melee attack burns 255 Mana Points from the enemy (increased by 25), dealing True Damage equal to 1.6 times the burned Mana Points (408 True Damage). The enemy will suffer intense pain from the mana burn. While enduring this agony, the enemy has a 20% chance to trigger one of three abnormal statuses: Paralysis, Immobilization, or Stun (chance increased by 2%). Abnormal status duration: 0.2 to 3 seconds.
Defensive Form: Proud Song (Active). Can generate energy shields of any shape to defend against enemy attacks. Shield strength is proportional to Mana Points consumed. Maximum Mana Points consumed per use: 800 (increased by 100).
External Form: Energy Interruption (Active). Azure Steel Shadow energy intensity is insufficient. This ability is currently unavailable.
Note: This ability can be awakened when Azure Steel Shadow reaches Lv.40. It can be used after reaching Lv.50.
...
The overall attributes of Azure Steel Shadow had improved. After long-term accumulation, the True Damage per hit had reached 408 points, which was terrifyingly lethal.
When Azure Steel Shadow reached Lv.50, a new ability would be activated: Energy Interruption (Active). This ability had significant origins. It was awakened at Lv.40 but could not be used until Lv.50.
Closing the skill list, Su Xiao sensed the situation within the Devouring Core. The Blade Demon energy was still dormant. He didn't know when it would become active again. In truth, even if it did, he wasn't too concerned. With his current Azure Steel Shadow level, he could easily suppress it.
The good news was that with the Blade Demon energy dormant, Su Xiao could use the Devouring Core almost without limit. This would greatly accelerate the improvement of Azure Steel Shadow, but high-level biological energy was rare and required a bit of luck.
Su Xiao then checked the status of his Demon Hunter Set. It would be some time before he could use Demon Hunting Hour. This ability not only had a 10-natural-day cooldown but also required storing 6000 Mana Points within the Demon Hunting King.
This wasn't about injecting Mana Points into the Demon Hunting King; it required specific conditions.
Passive Effect: When not in combat, after the holder's internal energy recovers to its maximum, overflow recovery will begin. The energy from overflow recovery will be stored within the Demon Hunting King.
The cooldown for the Demon Hunting King had recovered, but accumulating 6000 Mana Points would take time. In this War World, Su Xiao's combat frequency was high. When he was in Reincarnation Paradise, he often fought in the arena, which slowed the storage rate. Otherwise, he would have already activated Demon Hunting Hour to kill Buck.
Demon Hunting Hour was incredibly powerful, but this ability could only be used once per world, unless the world's stay was very long and the battles were not too intense, allowing for a second use.
After riding for 10 hours and refueling the old car six times, Su Xiao arrived at a major city within the Sun Kingdom: Ambera City.
Su Xiao raised his hand to signal a stop. The middle-aged driver placed his hands on the steering wheel, staring straight ahead.
Su Xiao looked at the man for a few seconds, then opened the passenger door. As soon as Su Xiao left, the driver began to gasp heavily. The "mustached man" in the passenger seat had given him nothing but chills. A moment later, he started laughing, because the watch Su Xiao had given him was quite valuable. Reporting this to the authorities might get him nothing. Taking his family and leaving the area was the best choice.
A large city like Ambera City had no walls, making entry simple.
Su Xiao adjusted his disguise props and changed to a new face. He then took out the tracker. His little helper was about 3 kilometers away from him.