Chapter 51: The Strongest Worker Comes Online
The promotion mission had a total time limit of five days, which indicated one thing: the scope of ‘Holy Land·Chiliad’ was not small. Just reaching the central area alone was given a five-day deadline.
Su Xiao took a metal rod as thick as an arm from his storage space. After pulling it apart, mechanical bees flew out one after another.
A total of 36 mechanical bees flew toward the desolate village. Through the images relayed back by these mechanical bees, Su Xiao found that the desolate village seemed to have no danger, at least on the surface.
Retrieving the mechanical bees, Su Xiao walked toward the desolate village. The dirt path leading to the village was overgrown with weeds, indicating no one had entered or left this place for a long time.
He stopped in front of a stone house at the very edge of the desolate village. Although the stone house was dilapidated, the walls made of stacked, uneven rocks were quite flat, with decorative patterns traced in molten iron, showing that this place had once been prosperous.
Pushing open the wooden door of the stone house, sunlight streamed into the room. A withered corpse was sitting propped up against the head of the bed.
Entering the stone house, Su Xiao observed near the withered corpse. Judging by the drawing board nearby and the decayed oil paintings on the wall, this was most likely a painter.
A yellowed booklet was placed on the bedside table, on which a line of text was written in red oil paint. It was in the ancient script of the Ganglu Dynasty.
‘Do not touch my remains, or you will be burned by the sun. We do not regret following the king. He, like us, only yearned for the sun. If you are an outsider, stay away from the Holy Seal School. The Healing Church is trustworthy. Also, remember to appreciate my paintings, provided they are still intact.’
Su Xiao picked up the yellowed booklet from the table. It was a picture album. Opening it, Su Xiao found it was actually an adult picture album, unsigned. Clearly, the painter had drawn this to make a living.
Su Xiao tossed the album toward the painter’s corpse. As soon as the album touched the corpse, it burst into flames with a whoosh, and then the entire bed caught fire. Su Xiao quickly stepped back. The floating embers around him caused the consumption rate of the Sun Potion within his body to increase more than tenfold.
Leaving the stone house, Su Xiao began exploring other houses. When he entered a blacksmith’s shop, he saw a long sword stuck into the forging table, piercing through the iron-black, grime-covered surface.
Su Xiao wrapped his hand in a crystal layer and touched the sword with his fingertip.
[You have obtained: Ganglu Cavalry Sword (Holy Spirit Rank).]
A flicker of surprise crossed Su Xiao’s face. He had just been casually wandering around and had obtained a Holy Spirit rank weapon with a rating of 829.
This weapon was fire-attributed. When attacking, it could consume physical energy to ignite flames on its surface, dealing an additional 85 points of true fire damage per strike.
Although the damage intensity was not high, the armor-piercing and defense-breaking properties of true damage gave this weapon considerable value.
Putting away the [Ganglu Cavalry Sword], this item could be used to enhance the rank of Dragon-Slaying Flash. Since the Supreme Blade had broken its limits, long swords, short swords, short blades, long blades, etc., could all be used to increase the Edge Value of Dragon-Slaying Flash.
Continuing the exploration, Su Xiao soon found a Legendary rank armor piece. Unfortunately, it was severely damaged and had no value for repair.
Half an hour later, Su Xiao stopped in front of the largest stone house. This stone house was built against the city wall, located in a shaded area.
[Tip: You have entered a safe building. While inside this building, you can avoid the burning rays of the ‘Sun’.]
The furnishings inside the large stone house were mostly decayed, leaving only a metal strip table against the wall still intact.
A reclining chair was placed at the inner side of the large stone house. On it lay a figure wrapped tightly from head to toe, looking very bloated. He held a long wooden stick, thick at the top and thin at the bottom, pointing toward a wall on the left.
“Outsider, if you throw me outside, I can… tell you… a secret.”
The villager, whose body was wrapped in various colored cloth strips that had weathered and hardened, spoke.
“Damn, he wasn’t dead after all.”
Baha was startled into flight. It had thought that thing was already dead.
“I am… the scholar of the desolate village, Rimans. Have you… taken the secret medicine of the Healing Church? They… finally succeeded.”
Scholar Rimans’ consciousness was somewhat unclear. His voice was hoarse and intermittent, but basic communication was possible. Moreover, due to his state, he directly ignored the effects of negative charm.
“Too late, we… no longer need to be saved. This is what we wanted. When you throw me out, don’t touch me, you’ll be burned. Throw me out with the chair.”
Hearing this, Su Xiao signaled Baha to carry the scholar outside, along with the reclining chair.
Baha grabbed the reclining chair and flew outward.
“There is… a door.”
Scholar Rimans pointed his wooden stick toward the left wall. After leaving these words, he was carried out of the large stone house and exposed to the sunlight.
Hiss~
White smoke rose from his body surface. The tattered cloth strips on him quickly burned to ashes, revealing a withered, sunken face.
“I hope… you can… survive, you sun chasers.”
With a whoosh, flames ignited, and Scholar Rimans turned to ashes and disappeared, leaving only a wooden stick behind. No one knew his story, but he needed neither sympathy nor rescue. He had only yearned for the sun, and this was the price.
Su Xiao stood inside the large stone house, frowning deeply. He felt that these people had likely had their thinking solidified by the burning rays, commonly known as being mentally degraded. All of this was due to the so-called ‘Sun’ in the sky.
Su Xiao was certain that the thing in the sky was definitely not the real sun. That object hung motionless in the high sky. There was probably no concept of night here.
This large stone house was a rare safe point. Su Xiao had Baha clean it up while he went to other houses outside to find chairs, tables, and anything else still usable.
More than ten minutes later, the effect of the Sun Potion wore off. The large stone house became a true sanctuary. Once Su Xiao stepped outside, he would be burned by the ‘Sun’ and would die quickly.
Sitting at the metal strip table against the wall, Su Xiao took out various tools from his storage space and set up the place as a makeshift alchemy laboratory.
There were still 2 bottles of Sun Potion left. Earlier, Bubu Wang had tracked the leader Rogash and taken away 1 bottle, which would keep Bubu Wang safe for the next 5 hours.
After a moment of thought, Su Xiao picked up a bottle of Sun Potion, divided it into six portions, and poured them into six test tubes. He needed to analyze its composition.
The Priest was also in the large stone house. When he saw Su Xiao take out the Sun Potion, his eyes seemed to gleam.
“One meal to fill you up, or meals to fill you up forever. You choose.”
Baha stared at the Priest. Hearing its words, the Priest sat down in the inner part of the large stone house, closed his eyes, and rested. Up to now, the damage inflicted by the Sun Warriors was still affecting him, and he had already consumed more than two-thirds of his recovery items.
Su Xiao’s analysis went smoothly. The composition of the Sun Potion was too simple. If he weren’t unfamiliar with the materials of this world, he could have completed the analysis in at most an hour.
Ten hours later, Su Xiao completed the analysis. He had figured out the characteristics of the several materials needed for the Sun Potion, two of which were irreplaceable.
One was ‘Adaptive Substance,’ the reason the creatures here could withstand the burning of the ‘Sun.’ The other was ‘Homogenized Substance,’ which existed in places where the ‘Sun’ burned intensely. The nearby warm forest most likely contained both materials.
Being harmed by the creatures here came with a considerable cost. Unless necessary, Su Xiao would not go into the warm forest to fight the supernaturally mutated creatures caused by the ‘Sun.’ This made Su Xiao think of the Priest.
Whether Su Xiao could freeload in ‘Holy Land·Chiliad’ depended on whether the Priest could find the ‘Adaptive Substance’ and ‘Homogenized Substance’ in the warm forest. With these two materials, Su Xiao could concoct the Sun Potion.
Su Xiao’s gaze shifted to the Priest, and he said with a smile, “Priest, let’s make a deal.”