Chapter 2: Saint Descendant King
The streets were filled with an endless stream of pedestrians. Judging by the expressions of those passing by, their standard of living was not dire.
In front of some buildings, small groups of men and women gathered, discussing the corruption and incompetence of the Sera Empire's officials. A patrol of militiamen happened to pass by. Upon hearing this, not only did they not reprimand them, but one drunken militiaman even joined in, reeking of alcohol and spouting nonsense.
Su Xiao had already experienced the extent of the Sera Empire's corruption while in prison. As the hegemon of the Eastern Continent, its power structure had decayed to this level without being overthrown—there had to be something unique about it.
The Sera Empire's troubles were not just internal. The Northern Alliance, located on the Northern Continent, had been at war with the Sera Empire for years.
With two behemoths at war, the smaller nations on the two continents naturally suffered. Since the conflict erupted between the two countries 107 years ago, their naval battles had lasted at least 70 years. After that, the Sera Empire, unable to withstand the pressure on the front lines, retreated to land. Fortunately, the empire's land forces were strong enough to push the Northern Alliance back.
Su Xiao looked at the medal in his hand. With this, he could be granted an official position in the Sera Empire. As for how much power that would entail, he held no high expectations.
Su Xiao checked his task list, and a prompt appeared.
[Hunter has accepted dual main quests.]
[Due to the Death Paradise's "Space-Time Hub Device" within this world being extremely well-hidden, resulting in limited intelligence, Main Quest 1 will be issued in a guided format. The Hunter must follow the quest guidance to find clues on their own.]
[Tip: Main Quest 1 has seven rings in total. The first three rings have lower risk.]
[Main Quest: High Position (First Ring)]
Difficulty Level: Lv.48
Quest Info: The Hunter must go to the Holy Court to receive a title, and within 10 natural days, obtain a military rank of Thousand-Man Commander or higher.
Quest Time Limit: 10 days.
Quest Reward: 1 True Attribute Point.
Quest Penalty: Forced Execution.
...
[Main Quest 2: Purge (Single Ring, Final Stage)]
Quest Brief: Eliminate Unnumbered Contractor·Xi.
Quest Time Limit: Before leaving this world.
Quest Reward: Determined by quest completion.
Quest Penalty: Forced Execution.
...
Su Xiao temporarily ignored Main Quest 1, as it had a full seven rings. Just by looking at the quest content, he could already see a swarm of old schemers lurking ahead.
As for Main Quest 2, it seemed simple and straightforward on the surface, but that was far from the truth. The quest reward would be determined by completion, which was quite interesting.
Based on Su Xiao's speculation, the reward for killing Xi was fixed. The key was whether he could drag out the existence behind her—that would be the main source of the reward.
Main Quest 2 had plenty of time, and since Su Xiao was still unfamiliar with the situation in this world, he continued to study Main Quest 1.
Simply put, Main Quest 1 required Su Xiao to secure an official position in the Sera Empire, then find a way to get close to the empire's high-ranking officials.
The goal was to locate the Death Paradise's Space-Time Hub Device within this world, thereby monopolizing the cake (Apocalypse Paradise).
What truly mattered was where the "Space-Time Hub Device" was. Since it was a destructible device, it would certainly be protected—perhaps with a barrier, sealed away in some dangerous location, or directly entrusted to a major figure in this world.
For example, the "Space-Time Hub Device" could be disguised as a sacrificial item. The major figure holding it could then sacrifice resources from this world to obtain items that did not exist within it.
This would achieve two goals at once. That major figure would use their own power to protect the "Space-Time Hub Device" and gather resources, "sacrificing" them to the Death Paradise. In return, the Death Paradise would only need to give some trivial benefits that didn't exist in this world.
After all, without a contract with the Paradise, there was no fair trade. The Paradise would maximize its interests according to the rules.
Of course, disguising the "Space-Time Hub Device" as a sacrificial item was just Su Xiao's speculation. From a security standpoint, entrusting it to a major figure was far more reliable than placing it in a dangerous location. It would also be harder to discover, as everyone would do their utmost to protect their own interests.
Following this line of thought, the quest process in Su Xiao's mind gradually became clear. First, he needed to get in touch with the rulers of the Sera Empire to determine whether the "Space-Time Hub Device" was within the empire.
If it wasn't in Sera, the remaining locations were limited: the Northern Alliance or the Abyss. Forces weaker than these three might have lost the "Space-Time Hub Device" through inheritance.
When Su Xiao met the female contractor/worker Sewei, the ultimate goal of her main quest was to obtain the Sera Empire's First-Class Medal, thereby helping Su Xiao, who had just arrived in the Abyss World, gain status.
Su Xiao sat on a stone step by the street. Following the rules and completing the quests ring by ring was clearly not his style. Moreover, Main Quest 1 had seven rings—completing them one by one was too troublesome. Without even looking at the subsequent tasks, he could guess that the first few rings were simply about climbing the power structure of the Sera Empire.
Su Xiao completely retracted his aura. A gold coin appeared in his hand. He seemed to be casually tossing it, but in reality, he was sensing the gazes of the passersby.
The looks from the pedestrians varied—some were puzzled, some envious, some carried well-meaning concern, and the last one was greed.
Sensing the final gaze, Su Xiao stood up and walked into a narrow alley, appearing completely defenseless.
A man in his late twenties with a lazy expression glanced at Su Xiao out of the corner of his eye and naturally followed him into the alley.
Across the street, a boy of about fifteen, with a faint fuzz of a mustache just growing in, saw this. His heartbeat quickened—he was both nervous and scared, yet also a bit excited. After hesitating for a few seconds, he grabbed a wooden stick, ready to be a righteous companion.
A heavy weight suddenly landed on the boy's shoulder, startling him. He immediately tried to shake it off.
"Little brat, you're planning to uphold justice with that thing? The stone by your foot is more reliable than that."
Baha's mischievous voice reached the boy's ears. Meanwhile, in the alley where Su Xiao was.
"Hmm, hmm, so it's like this. A Thousand-Man Commander at least..."
The previously lazy man was now sitting on a wooden crate, rubbing a few gold coins in his hands. The crisp sound put him in a good mood.
"So, a Thousand-Man Commander is a military rank. Noble titles are hereditary, and permanent imperial officials are appointed through exams and bribes."
As Su Xiao spoke, he tossed a gold coin to the lazy man.
"That's right, that's right. Unlike your hometown of Anu on the border, Arrans, as the empire's holy capital, is full of opportunities, gold, and women. This is a good place—even the whores are prettier."
The lazy man fumbled to catch the gold coin, his smile growing even more sycophantic.
"Your name is..."
"Hyena. You can call me that, sir. If there's nothing else..."
The lazy man, calling himself Hyena, had a flicker of cunning in his eyes. Su Xiao pointed toward the entrance of the alley. Seeing this, Hyena bowed and scraped as he backed away, seemingly respectful but actually unwilling to turn his back on Su Xiao. Though he was just a thug, he had enough brains for that.
This kind of thug wasn't even worth eliminating. In fact, this was also a safety measure Su Xiao had set up. Once he became hostile to the Sera Empire's high-ranking officials, this thug named Hyena wouldn't escape either. At that point, he would feed false information to Su Xiao's enemies.
Through his conversation with Hyena, Su Xiao learned a lot of intelligence. The Sera Empire's power structure could be divided into three parts: the military, hereditary noble titles, and permanent officials.
If Su Xiao obtained an official position with his First-Class Medal, he would become a military officer. There were two ways to climb the ranks: go to the front lines to fight or bribe high-ranking imperial officials.
As for permanent officials, they were appointed through selection and exams, a lifelong system. Of course, connections could also be bought with gold pounds.
Hereditary noble titles were the most special and hardest to obtain.
Becoming a military officer and climbing step by step was indeed a good option, but it was too slow.
"Adrian Alfer, the old duke on his sickbed—that's a good choice."
Su Xiao muttered to himself. He certainly wasn't going to climb step by step—that was too slow. He planned to start as a duke. Above the duke's rank was the king of the Sera Empire, or rather, the one who should be called the Saint Descendant King.
Since the founding of the Sera Empire, there had been an unbreakable iron rule hidden in the shadows: only a Saint Descendant was qualified to become king. Sera was an empire ruled by Saint Descendants.