Chapter 47: Treasure Hunting Also Requires Intelligence
The World Core would form in two hours, at which point this World War would end.
Su Xiao currently had 3,835 Reincarnation Paradise Merits. This was already a considerable reward, and if tripled, the final reward would be unimaginably high.
However, Su Xiao noticed that as the rank of the World War increased, the difficulty of earning merits also rose.
Excluding the time he served as an Arbiter, including this one, Su Xiao had participated in three World Wars.
The first time, he earned 768 merits. The second time, 1,335 merits. The third time, 3,835 merits.
For the first two times, only a small portion of the merits came from killing Contractors; most came from killing important plot characters on the enemy side. That was the main source of merits: minor leaders/elite units gave 1 to 3 points, important officials 10 to 50 points, and leader-level enemies 50 to 130 points.
This World War was different. Merits could only be obtained by killing enemy Contractors. This showed that the first two times were likely low-rank war incentive measures provided by Reincarnation Paradise.
After all, participating in a World War at a low rank was a near-death experience. Once at a disadvantage, turning the tables was incredibly difficult, and a situation like the current one was simply impossible.
Su Xiao wasn't sure how generous the reward this time would be, but one thing was certain: the reward shouldn't be lower than the recruitment offers from the three Paradise alliances.
The rewards offered by the three Paradise alliances seemed tempting, but in reality, they wouldn't cause a qualitative leap in Su Xiao's combat power. The Soul Crystal (Complete) among them could indeed help Su Xiao improve his strength, while the rare ores and such would only make him relatively wealthy.
To improve his strength, True Attribute Points were essential, and the three-Paradise alliance didn't offer a single one.
Various reward permissions were also indispensable. What the three-Paradise alliance offered was an increase in Brand Rank, which was the most basic permission, just icing on the cake.
With two hours left, Su Xiao needed to explore the Sun Tribe's storage cave as quickly as possible.
Putting away the 251.3 kilograms of Fire Gold, Su Xiao's gaze swept around. Wooden shelves were built against the stone walls of the storage cave, now in complete disarray.
Bottles and jars were scattered all over the floor. The most conspicuous item was a wooden barrel hollowed out from a tree stump, filled with a pitch-black viscous liquid. A large amount of the liquid had overflowed, soaking various ores, animal teeth, crystals, and other items inside.
Clearly, after the Sun Tribe's people knew they were doomed, they began destroying the treasures their tribe had accumulated over centuries, unwilling to leave them for the enemy.
Aside from the large lump of Fire Gold, Su Xiao found nothing else of value. Indeed, after defeating an enemy head-on, the plot of looting their treasury simply couldn't exist. Few enemies were that stupid.
If the Fire Gold hadn't been immune to the erosion of that black liquid, this large lump would have been destroyed as well. The chopping marks on it showed that the Sun Tribe's people had tried to destroy it more than once.
After searching the storage cave thoroughly, Su Xiao felt something was missing. He hadn't found the source of the Sun Flame. Even if that technology had been destroyed by the Sun Tribe's people, there should have been some trace left.
Just as Su Xiao was puzzled, a message came from the Insect Race Mother Queen, Mage. The battle there was also over, with extremely heavy casualties.
Of the 340,000 insectoids Mage's faction had deployed, a full 210,000 had died. The reason for such heavy losses was that the Blazing Sun Warriors on her side were exceptionally fierce.
By the end, Mage's faction was no longer fighting ordinary Blazing Sun Warriors but their elite units, the Flame Dika.
Su Xiao had already broken through the Sun Tribe, and so had Mage, but the two sides hadn't met. The interior of the Blazing Fire Mountain wasn't connected.
What puzzled Su Xiao even more was that as soon as the war ended, Mage immediately withdrew, without even discussing the division of territory.
It felt like a child who had found a huge sum of money, overjoyed yet afraid someone would snatch it away.
The cave on the left side of Blazing Fire Mountain was clearly no longer worth exploring. So Su Xiao, leading a large number of Demon Beasts, headed for the two caves on the right side.
As soon as Su Xiao arrived at the right-side cave, he saw a large number of Blazing Sun Warrior corpses lying there. As for the corpses of Mage's insectoids, not a single one remained.
Entering the cave, the smell of burning hit him. After going several dozen meters deeper, he encountered a Y-shaped fork ahead, where two tunnels merged.
Continuing forward, Su Xiao soon reached the end of the cave. Ahead was a blazing red scene, with waves of heat rolling out.
This was a cavern covering an area of over ten thousand square meters. Entering it, Su Xiao found it was a magma lake. A four-meter-wide stone bridge spanned the lake, leading to the inner side of the cavern.
The surrounding rock walls showed obvious signs of impact. The stone bridge was also broken, scattered with a kind of golden-red liquid and basin-sized scales.
A crystal layer climbed up Su Xiao's right arm, making his entire arm look as if it were carved from blue crystal.
He dipped his fingertip into the golden-red liquid on the bridge, brought it to his nose, and after smelling it, determined it was blood.
Based on his combat experience from the ongoing battle, Su Xiao reconstructed the previous fight. A giant bird of immense size had been roosting in the magma. Mage's lower-rank insectoids had engaged it in battle, which had lasted at least five hours. In the end, the giant bird was overwhelmed and killed by the insectoid swarm.
Su Xiao leaped over the broken bridge and landed on a stone platform. The platform was covered in carved patterns, with magma flowing slowly within them.
Ahead was a pile of rubble. On the rock wall further behind were several very abstract murals.
First mural: Several primitives knelt before a giant bird. The giant bird also lowered its head, extending a wing wreathed in burning flames.
Second mural: The giant bird spread its wings, surrounded by a large number of primitives who were attacking it.
Third mural: The giant bird was killed. A primitive stood on its corpse, holding its own heart in his hand.
Fourth mural: The giant bird was reborn. Its wings were spread, and beneath it stood a large group of primitives. They seemed to be protecting the giant bird, and the giant bird seemed to be protecting them.
The murals ended there. Su Xiao pondered for a moment, then looked at the nearby magma lake.
"Amu, go search down there."
"Moo."
Amu switched to its Magma Form and jumped into the magma with a splash.
Time passed quickly. When there was only one hour left before the World Coordinate formed, Amu climbed out of the magma lake. It was holding three items: a half-meter-long feather, a round stone disc, and a charred black skull.
Su Xiao examined the three items. He discarded the feather first; it was worthless, just a feather from a supernatural creature.
As for the round stone disc and the charred skull, Su Xiao felt they should be useful. He stood there, deep in thought.
After about ten minutes, Su Xiao went to the left side of the stone platform and knocked on the ground with his crystal-wrapped fist. Solid. With this result, he went to the other side.
Thump, thump, thump...
Hollow. Su Xiao punched down hard and immediately leaped back.
Magma spurted up from the hole. When the eruption stopped, Su Xiao approached the hole, bent down to look inside. The hole led straight down to the magma lake below. Useless. He then looked at the inner wall of the opening.
There was a fist-sized recess in the rock wall, similar in size to the round stone disc in his hand. He tried to insert it, but some parts didn't match.
Su Xiao turned the stone disc in his hand, feeling its mechanism was similar to a Rubik's Cube.
He bent down to look at the recess in the inner wall of the hole. After examining it for a few seconds, he closed his eyes. The next moment, he began rapidly twisting the round stone disc in his hand.
Crack, click, click-click-click...
In just a few seconds, the intricate pattern on the stone disc changed, forming the shape of a bird.
Su Xiao inserted the stone disc into the slot.
Rumble...
The stone platform beneath his feet began to shake. The magma in the carved grooves receded.
Su Xiao crouched on the large carved pattern and thought for two minutes. Then he went back to the hole. This time, he pondered for about ten minutes before hooking his fingers onto the upper corner of the stone disc and slowly turning it.
Click, click, click...
After trying three positions, the stone platform rumbled and sank a large section, becoming level with the magma lake. Magma flowed back into the grooves on the platform.
Now, on the inner side of the platform, a stone door was revealed. The door was divided into three structures, upper, middle, and lower.
Su Xiao tossed the skull in his hand, went to the stone door, and looked it over for a few minutes. Then he pressed his ear against the door, closed his eyes, and turned the central carved groove of the door.
As soon as he turned it once, a spike shot out from inside the door. Su Xiao tilted his head to dodge it and continued turning the groove.
After trying six combinations, the stone door slowly rose. Su Xiao threw the skull into the magma lake; it was useless.
Compared to the puzzle games Su Xiao had been playing, the mechanisms of the Sun Tribe were at kindergarten difficulty.
The stone door fully opened. Su Xiao smiled. He found the Insect Race Mother Queen, Mage, very interesting. After besieging and killing the guardian, she had taken its corpse and run off without looking back.
Su Xiao looked inside the stone door. It was only a few square meters in size, overgrown with vines. A heart was connected to the center of the vines, beating slowly.
Golden flames rose from the heart, distorting the surrounding air with the heat. If Su Xiao guessed correctly, this was what the Sun Tribe had left for their surviving people, giving them the power for revenge.
Su Xiao took a gray-black metal box from his storage space. It was made of Sand Tungsten, not very strong or dense, but highly heat-resistant.
Su Xiao tossed the Sand Tungsten box to Amu. The temperature of the Sun Flame on that heart was too high for him to approach recklessly. Amu's heat resistance was over ten times stronger than his.
Even Amu had to tilt its head back when approaching the Sun Flame Heart.
Slap~
The Sun Flame Heart was snapped into the metal box, severing the vines connected to it.