Chapter 55: A Rare Trait
A light drizzle fell, shallow red droplets gathering on the blades of grass, gradually bending the slender tips until they dripped into puddles below.
Walking across the vast grassland, Su Xiao couldn't understand why, after being verified, this place was still called the Sand World. He had arrived three days ago, and it had rained for two of them.
After resolving the strange noise incident at Yongwang Town, Su Xiao immediately headed for the Sun Church headquarters. Aside from there, nowhere else was particularly safe, let alone now when his sanity value was only 172 points. With his sanity below 200, he felt uneasy.
The geographical environment of the Sand World was quite dangerous, broadly divided into two major regions: the "Old Dynasty Lands" and the "Beastification Zone."
The "Old Dynasty Lands" were larger in area, while the "Beastification Zone" was tucked away in the southeastern corner, at the edge of the map. Only the Sun Church occasionally ventured deep into that area to reduce the number of beastified individuals. Over so many years, the number of 'beasts' within the Beastification Zone hadn't seemed to decrease.
The Sun Church, along with the new kingdom of the Blazing Sun King, were both located in the "Old Dynasty Lands." Besides these two major powers, there was also the Trace King Hall. Apart from these three major forces, there were numerous other medium and small factions, gangs, and so on, making this place even more chaotic and lawless.
The Sun Church, the New Kingdom, and the Trace King Hall were not in a mutual check-and-balance relationship. Among them, the Trace King Hall was the most peculiar. It had the fewest members, only a few dozen. If you asked whether they were strong, not particularly so. The Sun Church could send out a few squads and wipe out the Trace King Hall.
Even so, no one dared to provoke the Trace King Hall. Whoever went to mess with them would either be dealt with by the Sun Church or interfered with by the New Kingdom. The stance of both sides was very clear: whoever dares to provoke the Trace King Hall gets killed. As for the reason, no one knew except the high-ranking members of the Sun Church and the New Kingdom.
The Trace King Hall itself was also very strange. All of its few dozen members wore tattered clothes and carried a large cylindrical iron basket on their backs, weighing over a thousand jin.
These dozens of Trace King Hall members were perpetually homeless, lacking food and drink, wandering the continent. It was said they were searching for the Trace King. Over so many years, many of these king-seekers had died, but not a single trace of the Trace King had been found. Perhaps there was no longer a Trace King in this world, at least not in the Sand World.
This information came from Kaisa, and Su Xiao had paid for it with a bottle of shampoo. That was Kaisa's nature; friendship was friendship, but information had to be paid for, even if it was just a bottle of shampoo.
As for why Su Xiao paid with shampoo, it was a helpless matter. From the 1st to 7th ranks, he had killed many contractors from his own side. Some unlucky bastard had apparently been selling shampoo in the trade market for years. Contractors, to avoid enriching their enemies after death, would stuff shampoo, socks, underwear, and the like into their storage spaces, to lower the chance of the enemy getting good loot.
Imagine killing ten contractors from your own side, opening their Scarlet Cards, and getting half a truckload of shampoo. Your blood pressure would skyrocket.
To this day, Su Xiao still hadn't used up all the shampoo he'd gotten from Scarlet Cards back in the 1st rank. No matter how you looked at it, since it came from Scarlet Cards, throwing it away felt like a loss.
The storage spaces of low-rank contractors in Reincarnation Paradise had three major staples: shampoo, socks, and underwear.
The light rain continued to drizzle. By the afternoon, Su Xiao returned to the Sun Church headquarters.
Hanging his still-dripping feather cloak on the rack by the door, he went to the commission office on the first floor and briefed the receptionist girl on the general situation. The receptionist girl had elegant manners, a breath of fresh air in the Sun Church. Plus, she didn't wear a head bucket, allowing people to see her sweet smile.
The receptionist girl was the face of the Sun Church, responsible for dealing with outsiders. Imagine a commoner walking into the first floor of the Grand Cathedral, seeing all the passing believers wearing iron-black head buckets that didn't even reveal their necks, with only two eye holes and a dozen small air holes for the mouth. Wouldn't the commoner panic?
"You've worked hard. If you need anything, you can go to the logistics supply office and ask Mr. Kaisa to collect it. Your share has been recorded in the files."
The receptionist girl smiled sweetly. Su Xiao left the office and headed for the logistics office managed by Kaisa. He needed a place to stay.
After completing commissions, members of the Sun Church received 'shares.' This 'share' was an internal currency, its effect not much different from reputation.
Su Xiao wouldn't receive 'shares.' What he gained was reputation. If he needed any items, he could just go and exchange them himself.
Pushing open the door to the logistics supply office, Su Xiao saw Kaisa behind the wooden counter. This guy was wearing a loupe, observing a piece of black stone in his hand with one eye.
Calling it a black stone wasn't quite accurate. The thing looked soft in texture, like a lump of gelatinous material, but Su Xiao felt it was more like some kind of pigment, perhaps a block formed from solidified ink.
Bubu Wang silently arrived at the counter. The ability of the [Sacred Traveler] pendant activated, and Bubu Wang phased through the counter, squatting on the chair beside Kaisa, fully blending into the environment the whole time.
Kaisa was too absorbed in studying the ink block in his hand to notice Su Xiao pushing the door open and walking in, let alone discover Bubu Wang.
"This thing has very strong supernatural traits. Maybe it could reach the World rank?"
Su Xiao spoke, observing the ink block in Kaisa's hand through the wooden counter window.
Kaisa shuddered and instinctively tried to pull his hand back, stuffing the ink block into his chest. But Baha suddenly appeared beside him, his eagle claws grabbing Kaisa's arm. A faint cracking sound could be heard. Kaisa's arm bone had fractured.
"Kaisa, didn't you notice we came in?"
Baha released Kaisa's arm as he spoke.
"This has nothing to do with..."
Kaisa's words cut off abruptly. A heavily cracked wooden box appeared in his other hand. Gritting his teeth until blood vessels bulged in his eyes, Kaisa slapped the ink block into the wooden box. This simple action required immense determination.
With a *smack*, Kaisa closed the wooden box. He was so drained he nearly slid off the stool, breaking out in a cold sweat. It would take at least half a month of drinking 'Graham's Thick Soup' to recover.
"I almost got taken down."
Kaisa's expression was grim. The ink block he had just put away possessed an extremely powerful allure. Ever since obtaining this thing, Kaisa had had one thought: to eat it.
Let alone an ordinary person, even if an Eighth Rank contractor obtained that ink block, within half an hour, they would be unable to resist the temptation and would eat it.
Was Kaisa's willpower strong enough to completely surpass an Eighth Rank contractor? Of course not. The reason this guy hadn't eaten the ink block had nothing to do with that. He simply couldn't bear to part with it. Eating it would hurt his heart.
"Kaisa, it might be better for us to keep that ink block safe."
"Huh? What ink block?"
Kaisa took out a bottle of potion, *glug glug glug* drank it down, and even let out a burp. The fracture in his arm healed instantly.
"Baha, thanks for this time."
Kaisa tossed a bottle of potion to Baha. Baha didn't pay it much attention at first, but after checking its properties, he was quite surprised and immediately handed it to Su Xiao.
[War · Recovery Potion (Eighth Rank)]
Origin: Reincarnation Paradise
Type: Recovery Item
Effect: After use, immediately restore 100% Health Points and 35% Mana Points.
Note: This potion has a good recovery effect on organ damage, nervous system damage, and bone damage. It has a certain degree of recovery effect on brain damage and mental damage.
Note: This potion can be drunk or injected. Before injection, the user's mental energy can be infused into this potion. After injection, under the integration of the user's mental energy, the potion will not take effect immediately but can be activated with a delay (delay 1 to 30 minutes). After the user withdraws their mental energy from this potion, the potion will take effect within the user's body.
...
The thank-you gift Kaisa had taken out had a very rare effect. Not to mention its astonishing recovery amount, its injection effect greatly enhanced its value.
Before injection, you mix your own mental energy into the potion, activating a specific component within it. When this potion is injected into the user's body, it won't take effect immediately, nor will it circulate throughout the body with the bloodstream. Instead, it will only gather in one area within the body.
When the user needs it, they withdraw the mental energy from this potion. The potion immediately reverts to its original properties, flowing throughout the body with the bloodstream, quickly healing injuries.
Imagine, before a life-or-death battle with a powerful enemy, you inject one of these potions. When the fight is at its most intense, just as you're about to decide life or death, you activate the potion within your body. Your health points will recover rapidly. You can fully imagine how crushed the enemy's morale would be at that moment.
This is far faster than drinking a potion or having it absorbed through the skin. It's equivalent to a high-level self-healing ability.
Su Xiao wasn't just interested in the potion itself. He was more concerned with this characteristic of being able to fuse with mental energy to achieve a delayed effect.
As an alchemist, if he could reverse-engineer the preparation method and technique, he could completely use this 'potion fuses with mental energy' characteristic to grant this powerful trait to the recovery potions he concocted.
If improved properly, Su Xiao might even be able to create a drinkable version. Drink the potion before a battle, it doesn't take effect immediately, but you can activate the potion's effect at any time during the fight.
Su Xiao put away the [War · Recovery Potion (Eighth Rank)], planning to study it later when he had time. For now, the priority was still to accumulate reputation.
"Kaisa, I need a place to stay."
"No problem. The building complex behind the Grand Cathedral has plenty of residences, and the environment is good too."
Kaisa pulled open a drawer, rummaged through it, and took out a key with a wooden tag attached, handing it to Su Xiao.
Taking the key, Su Xiao glanced at the wooden tag. It read 'Ⅳ-305,' indicating Apartment 4, 3rd Floor, Room 5.
Before leaving the supply office, Su Xiao had Baha stay behind, which would be more convenient. He took Bubu Wang out of the Grand Cathedral, walked along the stone path to the right of the cathedral, and arrived at the building complex in the back.
Soon, Su Xiao found Apartment 4. He went up the stairs to the third floor, opened the door, and found the air inside the room was relatively fresh. Someone regularly came to clean and open the windows for ventilation. The wooden floor in the room was a wine-red color, and a small head bucket decoration hung from the chandelier, probably left by the previous occupant.
One living room, one bedroom. All kinds of furniture were available, just a bit old. Su Xiao headed straight for the bedroom. He really needed some rest now.
When Su Xiao woke up, it was around eight in the evening. This sleep left him feeling completely relaxed and refreshed. He pulled his leg free from Bubu Wang's embrace and walked towards the living room. Judging by Bubu's sleeping posture, this dog was probably dreaming of watching a horror movie. As the saying goes, what you fear by day, you dream of by night.
Sitting on the living room sofa to clear his head for a moment, Su Xiao took out the [Covenant Emblem · White Dragon]. It was time to implement the probability-based Matryoshka Reputation Accumulation Plan.
PS: (Fei Wen has activated the Reincarnation Reversal Technique! The update time is a bit earlier. There are two more chapters to follow.)