Chapter 51: Commission
As Su Xiao activated his brand, a series of notifications regarding the Void appeared.
[Verifying Hunter Rank and Permissions...]
[Verification Complete. With your current permissions, you may convert your stay time in the Real World into stay time in the Void, allowing you to remain in the Void without an active mission.]
[Remaining Void Transmissions: 3/3 times (Transmission quota is replenished only when you receive a comprehensive evaluation of S- or above during World Settlement. The replenishment amount depends on the specifics of the evaluation).]
[Current Void Coordinates recorded by Reincarnation Paradise: 7539.]
[You may select most of the above spatial coordinates for teleportation, thereby arriving at designated locations within the Void.]
[Coordinates for locations such as Arcane Eternal Star, Void Platform, Abyssal Dragon Depths, Black Abyss Floor, and Mammon Mord Fortress require corresponding permissions to activate.]
[Warning: Aside from teleportation devices, Hunters must not attempt any form of interstellar travel between planets within the Void. This behavior is highly dangerous. For long-distance travel, use the interconnected teleportation devices between planets in the Void.]
...
Seeing the last notification, Su Xiao felt a slight confusion. When he was still at mid-to-low ranks, he had heard that within the Void, not only could one travel between planets using spaceships, but the powerful could even undertake such journeys on their own.
However, by the time he reached mid-to-high ranks, the intelligence he heard changed. It became known that within the Void, one must absolutely not use spaceships or space vessels for interstellar travel. It was extremely dangerous. In the vacuum zone, there were chaotic magnetic storms that would shred all spaceships, space vessels, and the like.
As for forcing one's way through the magnetic storms between planets on one's own, that was simply suicide. Only the extremely powerful had any chance of that.
Moreover, between the various planets or regions of the Void, there were interconnected teleportation devices. Even if one wanted to go to a remote area of the Void, it would only require a few transfers, or at most a dozen or so teleportation device uses, to reach the destination.
Traveling this way was not only cheap but also very safe. For this reason, ownership of these teleportation devices has always been a primary target of contention among the major Void powers. This not only brought in huge profits, but once two factions went to war, these teleportation devices would become critically important.
Now, through the notification from Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao learned one thing: within the Void, the extraterritorial regions between planets were absolutely forbidden places, extremely dangerous.
From low rank to high rank, Su Xiao had heard three different versions of this. The first impression this gave was that the previous information was all rumors.
Su Xiao also had another conjecture: that all three versions were actually true, just with different timeliness.
In the past, one really could use spaceships to travel between planets in the Void. But later, this kind of travel became dangerous. A space environment called "Magnetic Storm" appeared, rendering spaceships obsolete within a few years. More convenient and safer teleportation devices spread to every corner of the Void.
By that era, the magnetic storms, which were invisible to the naked eye, did not block sunlight, and did not interfere with the environment within planets, had become increasingly powerful.
This change, no matter how one looked at it, indicated that something was changing within the Void. A bolder conjecture: was it because the Spellcasters had devoured too much elemental power, causing the Abyss Passages to appear repeatedly within the Void?
Even if Arcane Eternal Star had mastered the method of closing the Abyss Passages, each time an Abyss Passage opened, it would inevitably release a massive amount of Abyss Force.
If this Abyss Force surged into a planet within the Void, it could still be remedied. After the Abyss Passage was closed, the Abyss Energy, now a source-less water, would not have as great an impact as imagined.
The problem was, if the Abyss Passage did not appear within a planet, but opened in the space environment, and if Arcane Eternal Star lacked the corresponding detection devices, by the time someone discovered it, a large amount of Abyss Energy would have already flooded into the space environment between planets.
The reason Abyss Energy was terrifying was never its corrosive power, but its extreme augmentative nature.
No matter how one looked at it, the "Magnetic Storms" within the Void were a space environment augmented by Abyss Energy. This was why, after arriving in the Void, there were three completely different versions of how to travel between planets.
Thinking about it this way, Arcane Eternal Star's methods for dealing with Abyss Passages were more sophisticated than imagined. Not only could they close the Abyss Passages, but they could also quickly and accurately detect the location where an Abyss Passage would open.
Only in this way could they stabilize the situation to its current state. As for the "Magnetic Storms," this was likely a mistake by Arcane Eternal Star at some point, where they failed to handle a wave of Abyss Passage openings properly, causing a massive amount of Abyss Energy to surge into the space environment, extremely augmenting the already somewhat dangerous "Magnetic Storms" to their current level.
This was also why Arcane Eternal Star, as the overlord of the Void, only controlled teleportation devices in a small number of areas. It wasn't a lack of strength to compete, but a concession made to other major Void races due to that incident back then.
As of now, aside from the "Magnetic Storms," the Void had not experienced any other environmental changes due to the occasional opening of Abyss Passages. The only "Magnetic Storms" that appeared were imperceptible to most races, and even observation devices could not see the invisible storm fields.
Furthermore, since everyone now used teleportation devices to travel between the various regions of the Void, some planets that were close to each other and had tightly connected teleportation devices were considered a single large area, facilitating the territorial division among Void factions.
This resulted in only a small number of people within the Void knowing the power of the "Magnetic Storms," and even fewer knowing its approximate origin.
Those who knew the intelligence about the Abyss Passages were limited to the highest echelons of the major Void races and the heirs they cultivated. For small and medium races, the entire clan was unaware that Abyss Passages occasionally appeared randomly somewhere within the Void.
The Crow Woman, who had been persistently trying to assassinate Su Xiao but had never succeeded, had her main job previously: silencing anyone who detected that Abyss Passages would occasionally open within the Void.
This was also why, even though the Crow Woman had failed to assassinate Su Xiao three times in a row, she did not receive severe punishment.
Someone like her, who had strength, could do dirty work, knew many secrets, but never talked too much, was very difficult to cultivate. Unless absolutely necessary, Arcane Eternal Star would not dispose of the Crow Woman.
This time, Su Xiao was going to the Void, but naturally not through the conventional entry method. He had previously obtained a special permission called "Realm Passage Qualification."
[Realm Passage Qualification x2: You may enter the Void using your real identity or a disguised identity. Each entry into the Void consumes Lv.7 Brand Permission (You may use additional permissions to replace this brand permission consumption. Current additional permissions: Lv.17).]
[When a Hunter uses this permission to enter the Void, 3 to 5 Void missions will be activated. The Hunter may choose one or abandon all. If all are abandoned, the stay time in the Void for this entry will be reduced by 60%.]
[Hint: If the Hunter chooses to enter the Void with a disguised identity, this disguise is of ??? rank. Void factions such as the Demon Race, Feather Race, Star Clan, and Arcane Eternal Star cannot see through this disguise. This is a high-level permission secret. If the Hunter reveals this information to a Void faction, they will be subject to forced execution.]
...
Each time a world settlement occurred, Su Xiao's brand level and permission upgrades had a single-use cap. For example, at the Eighth Rank, the maximum increase per time was Lv.3. However, sometimes after obtaining a very high comprehensive evaluation, the excess permission level increase became additional permission levels.
These were usually useless, especially after advancing to the Ninth Rank. Unless consumed, they could only be stored.
To be safe, Su Xiao paid Lv.7 of additional permissions, then added an extra Lv.3 of additional permission consumption, using a total of Lv.10 of additional permissions to complete this disguise. This was the maximum additional permission that could be consumed for a single use of "Realm Passage Qualification." Since he was going to disguise himself, he might as well maximize the effect.
[Realm Passage Qualification activated. You may disguise your appearance, fingerprints, iris, life wavelength, small amplitude change cycle of body temperature, aura, body energy, soul fluctuation, and all other aspects. You may also customize this disguise yourself.]
[After successful customization, this disguise plan can be stored by paying Lv.1 of additional permissions, thereby significantly reducing the cost of disguising as this identity next time.]
[After successful customization, you may choose whether this identity belongs to a Paradise faction. If you choose this identity as a Paradise faction, you may construct a Reincarnation Brand for free.]
[Warning: This brand has normal trading permissions, storage permissions, etc. When detected, there are no abnormal data. However, this Reincarnation Brand cannot undergo rank advancement, etc.]
...
Seeing this notification, Su Xiao felt it was an unexpected bonus. He originally thought that "Realm Passage Qualification" was just a one-time permission. Now it seemed, it was two additional "alternate identities."
This effect seemed exaggerated, but one must not forget that "Realm Passage Qualification" was the mission reward Su Xiao obtained for completing the major mission [Sky-Sweeping Surge].
The current situation was that by consuming a total of Lv.11 of additional permissions, he could construct and store the alternate identity of Holy Flame Alchemist. When he needed to use it again in the future, he wouldn't need to consume additional permission levels; he could just pay Soul Coins to Reincarnation Paradise.
Not only that, aside from the "alternate identity" of Holy Flame Alchemist, if Su Xiao saved up another Lv.11 of additional permission levels, he could create another "alternate identity."
Regarding the choice for this alternate identity, there were currently several identity disguises to consider: