Chapter 67: Scheming (Happy New Year Everyone)
A nearly three-meter-long, finger-thick transparent tentacle fell to the ground with a wet slap. Watching the squirming semi-transparent appendage on the floor, Su Xiao furrowed his brow. He could sense that this thing was of a very high rank, but it was not something beneficial to him.
【Writhing Tentacle】
Origin: Void Gap.
Type: Part of the body of a newborn aberrant entity, the Fallen Apostle.
Note: This unit transformed into an aberrant entity 376 years ago. It is a weak individual among aberrant entities, currently in the drifting phase.
Effect: ???
Introduction: All detrimental effects have been stripped from this item. This is a precious material.
...
Not all aberrant entities within the Void are friendly. For instance, this aberrant entity named the Fallen Apostle harbored no good intentions. It directly used a part of its body to exchange for the Treeborn Leaf.
The purpose of doing so was undoubtedly for positioning. However, due to its lack of understanding of this kind of 'exchange,' the aberrant entity, the Fallen Apostle, failed in its positioning and even lost a part of its body in the process.
The Fallen Apostle was different from those ancient aberrant entities. For example, the aberrant entity that traded the Alchemy Codex with Su Xiao, although it had no goodwill, still chose an item Su Xiao needed to reach a fair transaction.
This aberrant entity called the Fallen Apostle had the 'title' of a newborn. It should still be in a stage full of malice, completely incomparable to those ancient aberrant entities. To 'outbid,' it had to sacrifice a part of its body.
For such a malicious creature, Su Xiao naturally wouldn't be polite. This 【Writhing Tentacle】 seemed quite good to him—no, it was very good.
As a newborn aberrant entity, if it were a regenerable body part, it likely couldn't be used to exchange for the Treeborn Leaf. But a non-regenerable body part? Its value was self-evident.
Su Xiao could analyze the structure of this thing, or use it to cultivate a one-time combat creature. Both were possible, given his high level of alchemy.
"Boss, this is a provocation. We need to take it down," Baha said, looking at the writhing tentacle on the ground with some anger in his eyes. Someone had suddenly disrupted the exchange.
Just as Su Xiao was pondering how to utilize this 【Writhing Tentacle】, and whether to find an opportunity to send it to Doom Star so this newborn aberrant entity could have a chat with the Underworld God, a notification from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
【Notification: Detected 'Newborn Aberrant Entity · Fallen Apostle' attempting to locate Reincarnation Paradise. Locking on...】
【Lock-on complete.】
【Forcibly executing 'Newborn Aberrant Entity · Fallen Apostle'.】
【Execution complete.】
【As the Hunter is the primary participant in this incidental event, you have received 'World Key × 1'.】
...
"Uh..."
Baha was speechless. Before it could even think of a way to retaliate, the newborn aberrant entity, the Fallen Apostle, was already dead, forcibly executed by Reincarnation Paradise.
Su Xiao caught a key in mid-air. A 【World Key】 wasn't used to open a world, but to open a World-Class Treasure Chest. Unfortunately, he had the key but no World-Class Treasure Chest.
Su Xiao was fairly satisfied with this exchange through the Book of the Door. The fact that the newborn aberrant entity, the Fallen Apostle, was willing to use a part of its body to exchange for the Treeborn Leaf indicated one thing: the ancient aberrant entities had begun to take a wait-and-see attitude toward the Book of the Door exchanges.
Su Xiao only exchanged once every few worlds, but in the perception of those ancient aberrant entities, this time interval was just a brief moment.
Exchanging too 'frequently' had caused the price of the Book of the Door to drop significantly. There was no way around it. Now that one aberrant entity had been executed, it served as a warning to the others, more or less. Although Reincarnation Paradise wouldn't warn them, they would see it as a warning.
Su Xiao placed the 【Writhing Tentacle】 into a glass pillar filled with solution and sealed it for preservation.
With this little incident, the next time he used the Book of the Door to exchange, Su Xiao planned to go all out. He would offer three pages of Treeborn Leaves at once. He didn't believe he couldn't get something good in return.
Entering the Alchemy Laboratory, Su Xiao set the glass pillar containing the 【Writhing Tentacle】 aside and began concocting potions.
First, five bottles of 【Oceanic Essence】, each netting 25 Soul Coins, with Perfect Grade netting 50 Soul Coins. Then, fifteen bottles of 【Life Trait · No. 01】, each earning around 10 to 25 Soul Coins.
After finishing these two, Su Xiao checked his remaining Mana Points. When he had been improving his Blade Technique earlier, he had entered a meditative state. That state of meditation had nearly fully restored his Mana Points. He now had about 17,000 Mana Points left, enough to concoct the recovery potion 【Vitality Essence】.
With his own concocted recovery potions, Su Xiao would have recovery capabilities in battle. He could use 【Vitality Essence】 however he wanted, even through skin absorption, though the recovery amount would be reduced.
An hour and a half later, ten bottles of 【Vitality Essence】 were laid out on the table. Five of them were Perfect Grade. He still wasn't proficient enough. Once he became skilled at concocting a certain potion, Su Xiao could produce Perfect Grade more than eighty percent of the time.
He stored the 【Vitality Essence】 on the table into his Storage Space. In total, there were thirteen bottles: six Perfect Grade and seven Normal Grade. With this supply of recovery items, he dared to enter any Seventh Rank world.
Leaving his Exclusive Room and heading toward the Trial Grounds, Su Xiao hesitated about whether to challenge the Tree Arena. Given his current strength and the opponents matched to him in the Tree Arena's 'Unranked Ranking,' challenging it now would be nothing short of demonic behavior.
He checked his remaining stay time and decided to do it later. If he didn't die in the next world, when he returned to Reincarnation Paradise, he would attempt to clear the Tree Arena. He had accumulated so much time; he might as well be ruthless and get even stronger for one more world before challenging it.
Arriving at the Arena, Su Xiao directly entered the Land of All Beings · Fifth Layer.
Snowflakes drifted in the sky. Su Xiao had plenty of Soul Coins now. He wanted to continue perfecting 'Blade Path Sword: Flow' and attempt to break the limits of 'Blade Path Sword: Azure Demon.' Azure Demon was very practical. When first engaging an enemy, he often used Azure Demon to 'greet' them.
Time passed quickly during his arduous training. Though he was exhausted to the point of aching all over, when his stay time was nearly up, Su Xiao still felt a bit unsatisfied.
【Notification: The Hunter is about to return to the Real World.】
【Teleportation begins.】
On the second floor of the Accessory Shop, Su Xiao recovered from the teleportation. He pulled open the curtains. It was dusk, and the hazy yellow sunset streamed in, giving a drowsy feeling.
Going down to the first floor, he opened the shop for business and then began working on the puzzle game. This puzzle game had reached its final level, on the verge of being completed.
Earlier, when Su Xiao had contacted Fatty, Fatty was a bit flustered. He had once said that no one could successfully clear this puzzle game.
Fatty promised that if Su Xiao cleared this puzzle game, he would send him a game for free. It was said that this game was connected to a real existing world. Su Xiao wouldn't enter that world himself, but through his tablet, he would control a monster in battle.
That game was called Deathmatch. The world it connected to had coordinates unknown to anyone. The rules of the 'Deathmatch' game were quite simple. A person would only have one account in their lifetime. When creating that account, Su Xiao could model a monster according to his preferences.
The monster's weight and height were within a certain range. Height was 2 to 5 meters. The weight range was unclear, but there was a rule: height and weight determined the monster's speed, strength, and so on.
Monsters with too large a body could only generate blunt weapons, without claws, sharp tails, etc. Various balance mechanisms were nearly perfect.
After Su Xiao completed the monster model, some force in the unknown world would cultivate that monster, exactly matching his model.
Once the monster was successfully cultivated, Su Xiao could control it through the tablet, engaging in 1v1 arena-style duels with other monsters.
At that time, in that world, the natives would go to the scene to watch the duels. It was a real monster duel, not data in a game. Flesh and blood would fly, life and death would be decided, and the audience's shouts and excited roars would also be real.
The monsters on both sides were controlled by 'game players' behind the scenes. The scene could be imagined.
After winning a monster duel, according to Fatty, Su Xiao himself would also gain something. The organizers would send the prize to Reincarnation Paradise.
If the controlled monster died in the duel, Su Xiao's account would be scrapped. He couldn't create a new account, nor could he buy an account from others.
Each person only had one chance. If the account-bound monster died, Su Xiao would be completely unrelated to that game.
Fatty had spent a considerable price to get the qualification for this game. Moreover, this game qualification wasn't something you could get with just money; you also needed a referral from someone in the know.
Although Su Xiao hadn't interacted much with Fatty, Fatty was willing to offer this qualification, most likely because Su Xiao had cleared the puzzle game. This was Fatty's creation, and he had invested his heart into it.
Although Fatty publicly claimed that no one could clear it, when someone did, Fatty was in a good mood. After all, having his carefully developed creation beaten had a special meaning for a game developer.
A peaceful real-life period began. Su Xiao sat on the sofa, working on the puzzle game. He was very interested in the game Fatty mentioned, called 'Deathmatch.'
Su Xiao lightly tapped the screen. The character he had been controlling stood on a mountain peak. This character was skinny to the bone, but its body stood straight. Its tattered clothes fluttered in the wind. Every time it died in the game, the character became a bit thinner.
'You have died 325,472 times. You have solved 15,001 puzzles. You have defeated 12,760 enemies. Your final level is 999. Your final score is 15,620,000 points (All-Time Record High).'
As soon as Su Xiao cleared the game, the leaderboard appeared. His character name was ranked first, and fireworks effects appeared.
Just then, Su Xiao noticed that something resembling a bullet screen appeared on his tablet screen. He had always thought this game was a single-player mode.
'Holy crap!! Someone actually cleared it. Fatty, come out and face your death.'
'Worshiping the clearing big shot. Photo for memory.'
'Stab Fatty with a spear.'
'This game? Isn't it only the first three levels? Everything after is a black-and-white movie, right? Right?! (Weak chicken crying, begging for a guide)'
'I remember Fatty said that if anyone cleared this game, he would... (This user has been muted for 300 minutes).'
'Clearing big shot, can you write a guide? I'm almost going insane from the torture. This game is poisonous, very addictive, and even more intoxicating.'
...
Su Xiao suddenly realized that this game actually had a leaderboard and allowed communication with other players. He only discovered this feature after clearing the game. Before, he had just opened the game, started playing, died, respawned, passed levels, and closed the game.
Soon, a private message from Fatty arrived. The content was that the game called Deathmatch could only be received after Su Xiao returned to Reincarnation Paradise.
Fatty meant that he wanted to help Su Xiao provide the equipment. It would be the most professional equipment, built specifically for that game. It could be reduced to the size of a handheld console, directly connected to his hands through intercepted bioelectricity, allowing for lag-free control of the monster in battle.
That thing cost 1,200,000 Paradise Coins. Fatty promised to provide the game qualification, and he was willing to pay half of the equipment cost. Su Xiao would pay the other half. The purchase invoice could be checked afterward. The game organizers were very professional. Fatty said this to clarify that he wasn't trying to take advantage of Su Xiao's Paradise Coins.
Su Xiao agreed to Fatty's proposal. He put away the tablet. His stay time in the Real World was almost up.
When he had participated in the Empty Seat Banquet earlier, after learning that Tuanzhang and the others had gone to seize the Void Tree Fruit, Su Xiao had asked about its function.
Tuanzhang's original words were that the thing had a great allure for him, and even if he got it, he would have to entrust Su Xiao to handle it. The World Tree Fruit couldn't be eaten directly; eating it would kill you. It needed to be transformed through a certain formula.
For Tuanzhang, the Undying Old Man, and White Bull to be willing to risk their lives to seize it, its value was self-evident. From what they said, they all intended to use it themselves. More importantly, the final concoction had to go through Su Xiao.
Among the members of the Starry Sky Seat, three had gone to seize it. The chances of success were high.
Once they got it, Su Xiao would receive the corresponding formula and help that person process the Void Tree Fruit. But what if Su Xiao also had a Void Tree Fruit?
This wasn't Su Xiao's delusion. He knew the whereabouts of a Void Tree Fruit, and he could enter that world.