Chapter 2: Becoming a Contractor/Hunter
Not wanting to bind the mark, meaning not wanting to lose a certain degree of freedom, that was also fine—just keep dying. The Reincarnation Mark was a very rare thing.
Initially, Su Xiao thought the mark was ordinary, a cheap commodity, even mass-producible cheap goods, since every contractor had one. But now, Su Xiao realized that all his assets combined weren't worth as much as his own Reincarnation Mark.
If a Paradise faction had many contractors, it meant that Paradise was prosperous. Take Reincarnation Paradise for example: due to the penalties of mainline missions, 99% of cases resulted in forced execution, causing the death rate of contractors to skyrocket, yet Reincarnation Paradise still had many contractors.
As for the current Dawn Paradise, counting Huishenshi, there were only two contractors. This was only because of Huishenshi's strong personal ability; otherwise, Dawn Paradise would only have Bee as a lone seedling.
That meant, even though Dawn Paradise could reduce the power of [Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo], this was based on the situation where Su Xiao only threw one Apollo into Dawn Paradise.
While contemplating, Su Xiao sprinted at full speed. When the white fog ahead gradually thinned, he rushed out from a gap in the fog wall on the south side of the ancient capital and soon left the range of the Death Domain.
Su Xiao checked his current Soul Coins, totaling 81,396. This huge sum was the result of his efforts in one world, with the secondary little rich girl, A Duo'er, "contributing" 25,000 of them.
After spending the hundreds-digit surplus, Su Xiao used his temporary authority to exchange for quite a few materials and began setting up a teleportation array.
After setting up the teleportation array diagram in a concealed location, Su Xiao took out the ancient divine statue and activated it. He was going back to Mushroom Village.
As the saying goes, only magic can defeat magic. In the current situation, only a "temporary cheat" could defeat a "temporary cheat." Going in head-on wouldn't work; what followed was not only technical work but also physical labor.
The thick fog generated by the teleportation around him dissipated, and Su Xiao arrived in the single-room cabin of the Mushroom Prophet. A faint aroma of wine permeated the air; below was the Mushroom Prophet's wine cellar.
Su Xiao exited the cabin and saw the Mushroom Prophet calculating something. Seeing Su Xiao arrive, the Mushroom Prophet pointed to an empty glass on the table, asking if Su Xiao wanted a drink.
Declining the Mushroom Prophet's kindness, Su Xiao left the treehouse. As soon as he stepped out, he saw a familiar face—A Duo'er.
Beside A Duo'er was a little fangirl with eyes full of admiration. The fangirl had twin ponytails and a slightly chubby face, and her gaze at A Duo'er was so worshipful it almost sparkled with little stars.
"Just now I told you I was amazing, and you didn't believe me. Now you believe it, right?"
A Duo'er held a group photo of herself with Su Xiao, Wude, Zuiyasi, Solomon, You'er, Bubu Wang, and Baha.
Although the fangirl didn't recognize Wude or Zuiyasi, she knew Su Xiao, Solomon, and Bubu Wang.
"Didn't go to Bei City today? So free?"
Baha spoke. Although it often insulted people, it never exposed others' weaknesses. Who didn't like to brag a little in front of friends? There was no need to call them out.
Hearing Baha's voice, A Duo'er panicked inwardly but steadied herself. She turned around and said, "Ahem~, I wasn't feeling well today, so I didn't go."
"Maybe next time we can go together?"
"Sure."
A Duo'er gave a thumbs-up with one hand. Seeing this, Baha made an OK gesture with its claw.
After greeting them, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha left. A Duo'er's expression turned serious. After a moment of thought, she said to her fangirl, "Don't go mining near the central area recently."
"But~"
"No buts. Just don't go."
"Okay."
The fangirl lowered her head, a bit disappointed.
……
Inside the temporary residence, Su Xiao took off his shirt and began modifying the place. It was a race against time now; whoever was faster would gain the upper hand.
Operating at full efficiency, Su Xiao set up the temporary residence as an alchemy laboratory. Due to the rush, the setup was incomplete—mixing potions would be terrible—but manufacturing explosives was fully covered.
Su Xiao did this intentionally. He wanted to take advantage of the ability to exchange unlimited materials, trading for a massive amount and turning them into [Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo].
This material exchange was quite special: it wasn't free, nor was there a discount, but there was no exchange limit. As long as he had enough Soul Coins, he could exchange as much as he wanted. Even better, the Soul Coins spent this time would be reimbursed at 200% upon returning to Reincarnation Paradise.
Spend 10,000 Soul Coins, and after returning to Reincarnation Paradise, get reimbursed 20,000.
Su Xiao estimated that, without using his own Fire Gold, exchanging materials for one [Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo] would cost about 50 Soul Coins. Previously, the cost was lower because he provided his own Soul Crystal (Large) and Fire Gold. Now, both were obtained through exchange, using Soul Solidification as a substitute for Soul Crystal (Large) while keeping Fire Gold unchanged.
Su Xiao currently had 80,032 Soul Coins. Each set of materials for [Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo] cost 50 Soul Coins, meaning he could exchange for 1,600 sets.
Under normal circumstances, this would be impossible. As an Eighth Rank Hunter, his material exchange quota for an entire world progress would only allow 1–2 sets of [Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo] materials. After all, this was a fair-price exchange.
What was a fair-price exchange? It meant exchanging at the selling price listed in the material data. From this, one could imagine how cheap it was, plus the quality was top-notch. This was a benefit for high-rank Hunters, but naturally, there was an exchange limit.
Su Xiao didn't start manufacturing Apollo immediately. Leaving the temporary residence, he sought out Kaisa and got straight to the point:
"Want to invest? If I die, you lose everything. If I don't die, you get a 100% return."
Hearing this, Kaisa, usually talkative, fell silent for a few seconds. Then, rubbing his hands together, he grinned slyly and said, "Alright, my dear friend, I'll invest."
[Prompt: You have received a trade request.]
[You have obtained 50,000 Soul Coins.]
Without another word, Su Xiao turned and went back to the temporary residence. The door closed and locked.
With 50,000 Soul Coins added, another 1,000 sets of materials were exchanged and stored in the team storage space.
A total of 2,600 sets of materials meant manufacturing 2,600 [Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo]. No sane person would be this demonic.
Since he was already being inhumane, Su Xiao decided to go even further. Previously, in the World of Paintings, after killing the Sunbird with his [Demon Blade] ability, he used the [Plunder · Demon Blade] trait to seize one of the Sunbird's abilities, temporarily sealing it in a [Sealing Scroll]. That ability was:
[Sunlight Amplification (Active, Lv.72): Consume 4,200 points of Solar Energy to grant yourself a buff. For the next 50 seconds, the power of any Sun Miracles or Sun-type items/abilities you use will be increased by an additional 50% to 52.7%.]
Su Xiao's plan was to manufacture a large number of [Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo], then use the [Sunlight Amplification] buff to enhance their power before activating them.
He wasn't going to throw Apollo one by one. He planned to group 100 Apollo into a single container, then activate all 100 simultaneously. In other words, he would throw 100 [Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo] into Dawn Paradise at once.
The scene of 100 [Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo] exploding simultaneously was enough to make anyone gasp just thinking about it.
Moreover, if one blast wasn't enough, he would do it again. Su Xiao would prepare a total of 26 groups of [Blazing Sun's Wrath · Apollo].
As for how to activate [Sunlight Amplification], although Su Xiao currently had no Solar Energy, he had a better substitute: Faith Power · Sun. Using this to activate [Sunlight Amplification] would result in an even stronger buff effect.
Don't forget, this was the ability of the Sunbird · Tai Hakak. That thing shouldn't have appeared in an Eighth Rank world at all. Su Xiao only killed it at the bottom of the deep sea, which showed how formidable the Sunbird · Tai Hakak was.
The task was arduous; he couldn't make them one by one. Su Xiao decided to use a compression method, manufacturing 10 at a time, speeding up the process tenfold.
In the past, Su Xiao wouldn't have been confident, but with his current level of alchemy, he could manage it.
Su Xiao began processing the materials, entering the manufacturing process.
Five minutes later, at the small market in Mushroom Village.
Solomon sat behind a stall displaying various materials he had obtained in Bei City. Just as he was calculating his gains and losses in this world, his expression changed, and he looked toward the wooden cabin where Su Xiao was.
Without a second thought, Solomon rolled up his stall and stood up to leave. This always-aloof Undead Great Mage quickened his pace, eventually mounting an undead beast and speeding out of Mushroom Village.
Mushroom Village was a safe zone, but that only meant attackers would suffer penalties, not that attacks were impossible.
Manufacturing Apollo in batches of 10, the terrifying fluctuations emitted during the process were unimaginably eerie.
Su Xiao's neighbor, Gulu's temporary residence. Gulu, who was catching up on sleep, suddenly opened her eyes. She sat up with a start, shivered, and then bolted out the door.
A hilarious scene unfolded: the contractors in Mushroom Village fled toward the outskirts as if escaping a disaster. The Mushroom Prophet, who usually moved slower than Kingsley's aunt, was now sprinting briskly, outpacing some contractors.
Within 20 seconds, Mushroom Village was empty, with debris everywhere. A wooden door had fallen off its frame and slapped onto the ground, where a nest of large ants was frantically moving house.
Soon after, the wooden cabin Su Xiao was in turned to charcoal. Looking around, he saw that Mushroom Village was deserted, and given the semi-enclosed environment, he decided to switch to manufacturing in batches of 100.
At the outskirts of Mushroom Village, the contractors who had just stopped suddenly turned pale. As the second brother of the National Football Team described it, the sense of crisis was like having an ice pick shoved into one's rear.
Without even catching their breath, the contractors continued fleeing farther away. As for what was happening in Mushroom Village, they didn't want to know. A safe zone? Screw the safe zone.
A few hours later, shirtless, Su Xiao let out a long, hot breath. He loaded the last Apollo into a glass cylinder half a meter thick and one meter tall.
This glass cylinder was reinforced with alloy for durability, filled with a semi-transparent solution. Each cylinder contained 100 Apollo, which floated inside the container, releasing countless fine bubbles.
This was the "gift" Su Xiao prepared for Huishenshi. Su Xiao didn't know the specifics of Huishenshi's subsequent plans, but he intended to first let Huishenshi praise the sun.