Chapter 7: The Codex
Blood spread beneath Lucas. It had to be said, the physique of an Awakened was formidable; Lucas had taken over a dozen slashes from Su Xiao to his chest and abdomen before finally falling. The black mist around him could rapidly heal his injuries—after all, this was a world above level Lv.40, or rather, the Ghost World had already reached the difficulty of a fifth-stage derivative world.
As it turned out, taking a prisoner alive was no simple task. Unless his abilities countered the target's, Su Xiao had little chance of capturing Lucas alive—an Awakened with over 90% awakening rate.
*Pfft!*
The Dragon-Slashing Flash left his hand, piercing through Lucas's right arm. The black mist-formed spike in the latter's hand dissipated.
"Who are you?"
Lucas didn't beg for mercy. In fact, he hadn't planned on surviving today—even if he succeeded in assassinating Su Xiao, he couldn't live.
"Lucas, I paid for your move into Zul City and helped you acquire property. Turning on your benefactor isn't like you."
Su Xiao stepped on the hilt of the Dragon-Slashing Flash, the long blade slowly sinking into the ground. Hearing his words, confusion and surprise flickered in Lucas's eyes.
"Legion Commander, just give me a quick death. I won't—"
*Beep, beep, beep.*
Three crisp electronic tones sounded. The Endless Darkness collar in Su Xiao's hand lit up with three indicator lights, meaning he had set it to 3 seconds. Given Lucas's awakening rate, his mental state was unstable—it would be ridiculous if he demonized mid-interrogation.
Without any further words, Su Xiao tossed the metal collar. It clicked shut around Lucas's neck.
1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.
*Ding!*
The Endless Darkness collar snapped open. Lucas's mouth gaped wide as he took a deep breath, a gurgling sound escaping his throat.
"You have 20 seconds to think. 20 seconds, then the next round."
"Ghost... Ring."
Lucas's trembling lips spat out those two words. But at the same time, the pupil of his left eye began to change, turning pitch black, as if ink had stained that eyeball.
"Kill me... I don't want... to become that thing."
Lucas's left hand clawed at his own throat—he was trying to end himself, because... he was demonizing.
The process of an Awakened transforming into a demon was irreversible. Most Awakened chose to take their own lives during this process. The reason was simple: during the transformation into a demon, their consciousness died. When fully transformed, it meant the Awakened had died, and a new consciousness—inhuman—was born.
"Where are they?"
Su Xiao spoke urgently while gripping the hilt of the Dragon-Slashing Flash, ready to end Lucas with one strike at any moment.
"They're in Zul City... right among us..."
Lucas's left eye had turned completely black, the darkness spreading toward his right eye. He seemed to hear his own heartbeat, like thunder.
*Swish!*
The long blade sliced through Lucas's neck. A head flew up, its pitch-black eyes rapidly returning to normal, faint screams still echoing.
[You have killed the Traitor · Lucas.]
[Traitor · Lucas was an Awakened. Obtained World Source 0.7%. Current total World Source: 0.7%.]
[Your talent 'Soul Devourer' has been activated. Permanently increased Mana Points by 30.]
[You have obtained Codex: Smoke (Chest-type item, can be embedded into the Codex).]
[The Codex has been activated. It can be opened at any time.]
...
Seeing the amount of World Source gained from killing Lucas, Su Xiao frowned. The World Source was too little. Lucas was no small fry—he was at least a mini-boss level. An Awakened capable of demonizing had strength to match.
After all, demons were all major bosses, each with at least the combat power of a Ten-Eyed Ghost. A Ten-Eyed Ghost equaled a fourth-rank contractor. As for Ghosts with fifteen eyes or more, even if Su Xiao encountered one, he'd be thinking about how to escape. Even activating Demon Hunting Hour wouldn't make him a match for that kind of Ghost.
Undoubtedly, to get an S+ rating in the Ghost World, simply completing the promotion mission wasn't enough. Of course, Su Xiao wouldn't force it—he would only do his best to improve his rating. Although the 100-attribute Law-Destroying Shadow ability was tempting, the path to obtaining it was too difficult. Su Xiao had mentally prepared himself for the possibility of not getting that ability, or rather, his chances of obtaining it weren't actually high.
Compared to World Source, the chest-type item Lucas dropped was interesting. Called [Codex: Smoke], it was a pitch-black card. Su Xiao could choose to open it as a chest or embed it into the Codex.
A book appeared before Su Xiao, half a meter tall with black-gold patterns on its surface. It had a metal cover at least ten centimeters thick. This was the [Codex], entirely composed of unknown energy. All contractors entering the Ghost World could summon the Codex—this was one of the characteristics of reward worlds.
The Codex opened, its pages flipping rapidly. When the pages stopped, a notification from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Yes/No to embed 'Smoke' into the Codex. If embedding is completed, the Hunter will receive 30 Codex Merits.]
[Hunters can use 'Codex Merits' to exchange for other chest-type items on the Codex.]
...
Su Xiao understood the Codex's function. Just on the page he saw, there were over a dozen card-like patterns, labeled: Bite, Stillness, Death Serpent, Gaze, etc.
These card-like patterns were all chest-type items. Since they were on the same page, their exchange price was all 30 Codex Merits.
The Codex was definitely a good thing. The chest-type item [Smoke] that Su Xiao obtained was clearly leaning toward the spell-type chest, given that Lucas's abilities were eerie, manipulating that black smoke at close to mid-range.
A mage-type chest naturally had a higher chance of dropping spell-type items. For Su Xiao, who had no affinity with spell-type abilities, this chest's value was relatively low.
Through the Codex, Su Xiao could exchange for other types of chests. For example, 'Stillness' or 'Gaze'—these two chest-type items were more suitable for him than Smoke.
The Codex had an even greater function: accumulating Codex Merits to exchange for the ten chest-type items on the first page.