# Chapter 10: The Uses of Origin Stones
The contact with the Sun Church went smoothly. Originally, they had agreed to meet at noon at the "Palm Tree Grand Hotel," but by morning, that place had been sealed off, and it closed before noon even arrived.
Seeing this, Baha could only change the meeting place to a nearby restaurant with the other party. As for why the venue for their first face-to-face discussion wasn't at the Madhouse or the Sun Church's cathedral, discussing things at a restaurant versus those two locations represented two completely different concepts.
The result was that, still before noon, that restaurant was also sealed off. It was almost as if they were directly telling the Sun Church not to get involved in this confrontation.
In the past, the Sun Church wouldn't easily offend Vice Dean Yesinger or the Dawn Church. Although these sun-crazed fanatics had long been annoyed by those pious frauds, there was no need to make enemies of them.
But this time was different. The bishop who fully represented the Sun Church immediately stated that tonight, he would head to the Twilight Madhouse to discuss with Dean Bai Ye the matter of replacing the Monastery as the new correctional and reformation department for criminals.
The Sun Bishop's statement wasn't fabricated nonsense. The members of the Monastery were, in fact, ascetics. They genuinely wanted criminals to turn over a new leaf, though their methods were somewhat terrifying. Currently, these ascetics wanted to go to remote places to continue their ascetic practices. If not for the old dean's repeated pleas for them to stay, they would have left long ago.
With the change in dean, the Monastery brought up this matter again, meaning that their membership was too small and they could no longer adequately fulfill the function of correcting and reforming criminals.
Neither Su Xiao nor those Sun Bishops would cooperate without reason. The Council Chamber wasn't just for show. This reason was the most suitable at the moment.
Su Xiao checked the time. It was now noon, with a few hours left until the agreed-upon 8 PM meeting. He looked at the prompt that had appeared earlier, which was about the mission situation.
[Prompt: Your Main Mission: Begin the Hunt - First Ring (Completed).]
[You have obtained an Origin Stone (Common).]
[You have triggered Main Mission: Second Ring.]
[Main Mission: Bounty (Second Ring)]
Difficulty Level: Lv.80 ~ Lv.85
Mission Briefing: Successfully hunt two or more enemies (limited to enemies on the Hunt List's bounty).
Mission Time Limit: 10 natural days.
Mission Reward: Origin Stone × 2.
Prompt: After advancing to the Ninth Rank, the first world's main mission reward will definitely be Origin Stones. The specific quantity will be determined comprehensively based on factors such as mission difficulty and mission completion.
Mission Penalty: Forced Execution.
...
After seeing the prompt below the mission reward, Su Xiao suddenly had a bad feeling. He tried checking the attributes of this common Origin Stone and found that it was similar to the common Origin Stone he had obtained before. He then checked whether Origin Stones had any other uses besides being curiosities. The answer he got made him understand why he had that bad feeling.
Besides carrying it on one's person to enjoy its attached effects, common Origin Stones had another use: strengthening Origin-grade weapons.
Su Xiao suddenly remembered why, when he had obtained a common Origin Stone before, he could put it on his stall for 5,000 Soul Coins and it would sell within a short time. So this thing, once reaching the Ninth Rank, was actually a rare consumable.
After checking the relevant information, Su Xiao found that the situation wasn't as bad as he had imagined. Strengthening weapons in Paradise wasn't like in games, where only the materials became more advanced while the strengthening method remained the same.
Compared to strengthening Immortal-grade weapons, strengthening Origin-grade weapons operated on a different principle. Immortal-grade weapon strengthening involved forcibly stacking Immortal Power, which meant that +1 required 1 Immortal Stone, +2 required 2 Immortal Stones, and so on.
When it came to Origin-grade, the method of forcibly stacking was no longer feasible. The strengthening method for Origin-grade weapons was a transformative increment. A certain amount of Origin Force was used to trigger the Origin Force within the equipment, thereby completing the quantitative change with the assistance of the Equipment Enhancement Pod.
In simpler terms, from +1 to +10 for Origin-grade weapons, each strengthening required one Origin Stone. The corresponding risk was that the base success probability was lower. For example, the success rate for Immortal-grade +8 was around 30%, but for Origin-grade, it might only be around 17%. This was the risk corresponding to the transformative increment.
Su Xiao felt that this strengthening method was inexplicably unfriendly to him. Although theoretically, going from +1 to +10 only required 10 common Origin Stones, this remained purely theoretical.
Su Xiao was well aware of his own luck. To put it in a high emotional intelligence way, his luck had allowed him to undergo more trials along the way, giving him a firmer resolve.
Countless formidable individuals had fallen on the path of strengthening Origin-grade weapons. However, the comforting thing was that most Origin-grade equipment and armor could still be strengthened in the Equipment Enhancement Hall using Soul Coins, though the cost was somewhat high.
Compared to using common Origin Stones to raise an Origin-grade weapon from +1 to +10, strengthening an Origin-grade weapon above +10 was a fatal blow to one's wallet.
If one was satisfied with getting an Origin-grade weapon to +10, that was fine. But if not, then one would need to seek out or purchase rare Origin Stones with suffixes, such as "Origin Stone: Residual Fracture," "Origin Stone: Silver Queen," "Origin Stone: Chaos Flame," and so on.
The higher quality the rare Origin Stone used, the higher the success rate for that strengthening attempt.
Of course, if Su Xiao was willing, fragments of the Origin Stone: World could also be used as strengthening materials for +10 and above, and it would guarantee a 100% success rate, even if it was just a fragment.
Whenever Su Xiao thought about the Origin Stone: World, he also remembered that fellow who had embedded the Origin Stone: World into his mining shovel.
Although this matter had "honorably" topped the "Apocalypse Paradise Annual Top Ten Brain Congestion Incident List," to be fair, that fellow was actually quite clever. No matter how great a supreme treasure, being coveted by others was a root of disaster. So that fellow used the Origin Stone: World as a gemstone. Additionally, the embedding characteristics of Origin Stones were different from gemstones; there was no operation to remove the embedding. The embedding of an Origin Stone essentially meant it was fused into the embedded part.
In this way, no one would covet it for robbery. First, there was the cost of investigation and tracking. Second, even if someone managed to steal it, it would be useless. Finally, no one wanted to lose face over it. If someone actually succeeded, they would almost certainly be honored on the "Apocalypse Paradise Annual Top Ten Ridiculous Incident List."
Su Xiao closed the mission list. The second ring of the main mission gave a time limit of ten days, which made his subsequent plans more flexible.
However, there was a matter to deal with right now: whether he should immediately go to rescue the old dean and his family who had been kidnapped.
On the surface, since the old dean had ceded his position to Su Xiao, he should naturally go to rescue him. The question was, was the old dean's abdication truly out of goodwill?
From multiple clues, the answer was no. First, regarding the Monastery, those ascetics seemed to want to retreat into the mountains. The problem was, why hadn't they retreated all these years, but suddenly wanted to go into seclusion at this critical moment when the old dean stepped down and the new dean took over? Wasn't this giving the new dean a hard time?
The Monastery, a force not recognized by the Alliance, wouldn't do something so suicidal. That left only another possibility: the Monastery was wary of someone, and that person was Vice Dean Yesinger.
More precisely, the old dean didn't step down because he wanted to, but because he truly couldn't contend with Vice Dean Yesinger anymore. These two old fellows had been fighting each other for most of their lives. In their later years, there was no mutual recognition or an enemy-friend relationship. Instead, whoever stepped down from their position would be dealt with immediately.
Due to the Dawn Church incident, the old dean had strained relations with the Council Chamber. Having lost the Council Chamber's support, the old dean was almost powerless. Under these circumstances, his retirement was inevitable.
But this old fellow was very clever. He knew that once he stepped down, Vice Dean Yesinger would kill him. So, using his remaining connections and authority, he ceded the dean position to a powerful but well-connected strongman, which was the identity Su Xiao had assumed upon entering this world.
In this way, Vice Dean Yesinger would have to choose between dealing with the newly ascended Su Xiao or the recently retired old dean. Given Vice Dean Yesinger's steady yet ruthless style, he wouldn't deal with both simultaneously, which might force Su Xiao and the old dean into an alliance. Worse still, Su Xiao might end up with both his own formidable strength and the old dean's network of connections. In that case, Su Xiao would become Vice Dean Yesinger's formidable enemy.
Vice Dean Yesinger chose to deal with the fleeing old dean first. After taking care of the old dean, he would naturally come for Su Xiao, planning to use underhanded methods to seize the dean position from Su Xiao, who was strong in combat but mediocre in strategy.
Vice Dean Yesinger's process of dealing with the old dean went smoothly. But when he was about to deal with Su Xiao, he suddenly found that something was off. Before he could make a move, Su Xiao had actually allied with Tessa, the leader of the Hunter Unit, to eliminate the Abyss Spawn that had been imprisoned in the third level of the dungeon for years.
Vice Dean Yesinger certainly knew Tessa. He was well aware that Tessa didn't have such methods; otherwise, Tessa, who wanted to ascend to the position of Grand Councilor, would have done this long ago.
In Vice Dean Yesinger's view, Su Xiao must have eliminated the Abyss Spawn and then credited the achievement to Tessa, thereby forming an alliance with her.
For this reason, in Vice Dean Yesinger's speculation, the Madhouse and the Hunter Unit had likely reached a cooperation that had never been attempted before. This was undoubtedly a provocation to the Council Chamber.
In the past, Vice Dean Yesinger wouldn't have thought Tessa would make such a choice, but the current situation was too delicate.
This involved why the Council Chamber, which had always supported the old dean, suddenly stopped supporting him. The cause of this matter was the Dawn Church's plan to expand within the Alliance.
As one of the four recognized churches in this world, the Dawn Church's headquarters was in the Holy Orchid Kingdom, and over 80% of its followers were commoners, nobles, and royalty of the Holy Orchid Kingdom.
In the past, if the Dawn Church dared to develop toward the Alliance, it would be purely asking for a beating. This was the territory of the Golden Church.
In this world, the Alliance, the Holy Orchid Kingdom, and the Desert Kingdom each had their prevalent churches. Only the Northern Empire didn't, as the people there were fierce and bold, making missionary work quite risky.
Within the Alliance's territory, the Golden Church was the strongest. The Holy Orchid Kingdom was inseparable from the Dawn Church. The Desert Kingdom was dominated by the Sun Church, which was determined by geography and climate.
As for the Dark Church, its members roamed the Alliance, the Holy Orchid Kingdom, and the Northern Empire, but they never went to the Desert Kingdom. Mainly, the sun-crazed fanatics were generally more capable fighters, and they wouldn't get any advantage there.
The members of the Golden Church within the Alliance's territory didn't believe in a deity per se, but rather a concept: constantly breaking through one's limits to generate Golden Power, which was asceticism—no, it should be called the Body-Training Church. The Monastery was actually one of the oldest branches of the Golden Church.
These body-training enthusiasts often did things that left people dumbfounded. Over time, the Council Chamber became increasingly headaches. They found that the faith factions within the Alliance's territory were either body-training madmen or sun-crazed fanatics, or members of the Dark Church scurrying around everywhere. Look at the Dawn Church—wasn't it good to just peacefully believe in a deity?
Interestingly, among the four churches, only the Dawn Church truly believed in a deity. The other three—the Golden Church believed in Golden Power, the Sun Church believed in the Sun, and the Dark Church believed in the Abyss.
This time, the Alliance allowed the Dawn Church to come and preach, but they had ulterior motives. The Alliance's high-ranking officials had never intended for the Dawn Church to develop within the Alliance. Instead, they planned to let it clash with the Golden Church and the Sun Church, thereby consuming the power of the Golden Church and the Sun Church within the Alliance's territory.
Directly attacking the Golden Church would violate the Four Churches Covenant established long ago. Therefore, they adopted this method, which seemed like inviting a wolf into the house, but there was more than just the Dawn Church as a wolf in this room.
The old dean of the Madhouse had too close a relationship with the Golden Church. This meant that if the Council Chamber wanted to suppress the Golden Church and support the Dawn Church, they had to first strip the old dean of his power and let someone who could represent the Dawn Church within the Alliance ascend to a high position.
This high position couldn't be in the Council Chamber. The Alliance's high-ranking officials had never intended to let the Dawn Church touch the Alliance's governance. Allowing the Dawn Church to preach within the Alliance's territory was solely because the Dawn Church's members were normal.
The Hunter Unit was also out of the question; it was the most combat-capable department within the Alliance. Finally, they chose the Madhouse. Just as they were about to make a move, the old dean struck first.
Originally, the Alliance hadn't paid much attention to the old dean's move. But when they were about to act, they were "pleasantly" surprised to find that the newly appointed dean of the Madhouse seemed to be even more capable in combat than the Hunter Unit's leader.
Therefore, on the surface, it was Su Xiao + Sun Church versus Vice Dean Yesinger + Dawn Church. But beneath the surface, there were undercurrents and complex interests.
Su Xiao had always had an idea. Compared to dealing with the Dawn Church's members and bishops, he would rather go after the Dawn Church's deity, the "Radiance God," and take care of that deity, thereby solving the problem at its root.
Dealing with a Ninth Rank divine system, Su Xiao had a significant advantage. The nine-star combat-type title [Hunter] was not just for show. With a maximum of 30% additional true damage bonus, combined with Su Xiao's Azure Steel Shadow ability's high true damage, even deities couldn't withstand it.
Su Xiao had been in great need of divine source blood recently. He estimated that this Radiance God wouldn't have a small amount of divine source blood.
Compared to these open and covert struggles, Su Xiao had one matter to deal with first: whether to rescue the old dean. This old fellow had ceded his position and then fled, definitely with ill intentions. He was clearly trying to make Su Xiao a scapegoat. However, in return, before leaving, the old fellow had left a key to a storage box from the Merchant Alliance Bank in the office safe, obviously leaving behind some benefits.
Su Xiao's idea was this: if the benefits were substantial enough, he would rescue the old dean and demand mental anguish compensation for being used as a scapegoat.
Rescuing the old dean wasn't difficult. There was no need to think too much about it. Although the kidnapping of the old dean and his family was done at Vice Dean Yesinger's behest, the actual perpetrators would have absolutely no connection to Vice Dean Yesinger. Such a handle, Vice Dean Yesinger would certainly not leave behind.
Arriving at the bedroom, Su Xiao looked at the Holy Serpent floating above the [Doom Statue]. The Holy Serpent had already absorbed quite a bit of doom energy. Su Xiao didn't intend to let the Holy Serpent continue absorbing doom. It was time to let this [Doom Statue] play its intended role, which was to be given to an enemy.
Directly sending the [Doom Statue] to Vice Dean Yesinger would have a negligible chance of reaching his hands. But that didn't matter. Su Xiao had a way to make Vice Dean Yesinger's people actively take the [Doom Statue].
Leaving Amu to watch the house, Su Xiao took Bubu Wang and Baha and went out. Bubu Wang drove. After the vehicle drove out of the Madhouse, it headed straight for the commercial district in the city center.
When Su Xiao arrived near the Merchant Alliance Bank in the commercial district, he found several other banks there, such as the Holy Capital Bank and the Golden Bank.
The gold in this world was not the same thing as gold in other worlds. Due to the prevalence of the Golden Church in this world, what they called gold was a rare metal with excellent activity. Whether for the Golden Church or other forces, this was a rare resource. The catalytic fluid for gravity alloy was made from this active metal.
Su Xiao looked at a couple at the entrance of the Golden Bank. These two seemed intimate, but they were actually observing their surroundings, which was very suspicious.
Su Xiao had been an Iron Hand, a Vice Commander of the Execution Agency, a Divine Hunter, and a Vice Commander of the Containment Institution. Therefore, he had some confidence in judging such matters. He guessed blindly that these two were lookouts, and a group of stupid thieves had their eyes on the Golden Bank.
The reason he said they were stupid thieves was that smart people really wouldn't do such a thing. The Golden Bank was directly under the Alliance's financial institution, and the financial institution was the Council Chamber's money bag. Anyone with a bit of brains wouldn't choose the Golden Bank as a target. Even robbing the Holy Capital Bank next door would be better than robbing the Golden Bank.
But this had nothing to do with Su Xiao. His current duty was to ensure criminals were imprisoned in the Madhouse's dungeon. He didn't need to deal with such petty thieves.
Su Xiao led Bubu Wang and Baha into the Merchant Alliance Bank across the street. After showing the bank clerk the storage box key, the bank manager came to personally receive him within moments.
Over ten minutes later, Su Xiao stood before a built-in metal cabinet. He used the key in his hand to open the storage cabinet. As the cabinet opened, the first things that caught his eye were 15 Soul Crystals and some artworks with unique charm. He picked up one of the oddly shaped metal cups.
[Holy Light Chalice]
Origin: Shadow World.
Quality: Valuables.
Item Effect: Appreciation (Passive), an item full of historical significance, left behind by the first civilization of this world, existing for a long time. Due to being enshrined under a divine statue for a long time, centuries of sedimentation have made this item unique. Appreciating this item can slightly calm the mood and has a certain effect of seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster.
Prompt: As the corresponding deity has already fallen, this item can only be sold as a valuable.
Price: 2680 Soul Coins (valuable purchase price, sold to Reincarnation Paradise or Void Tree, in most cases achieving maximum profit).
...
Seeing this item, Su Xiao was quite surprised. He had seen "Valuables" before, but this was the first time he had seen one so valuable.
There were two other valuables in the storage cabinet. Including the Holy Light Chalice, the total value was over 8000 Soul Coins. Plus the 15 Soul Crystals, this was a considerable gain.
Just as Su Xiao was putting away all the valuables, he found a note at the bottom of the storage cabinet. It was in the old dean's handwriting, which read:
'Come rescue me and my family. I have deposited wealth worth five times this amount in the safe deposit box of the Golden Bank across the street.'
Multiplying the current gain by five would be 75 Soul Crystals + over 40,000 Soul Coins. Clearly, the old fellow had already prepared a backup plan.
"Baha, go tell Silver Face to find out within five hours which force kidnapped the old dean."
Su Xiao crushed the note between his fingers into powder. Then he placed the [Doom Statue] into the storage cabinet, locked it, took the key, and went to the counter to handle the deposit business, finally paying a considerable amount of Gulang.
Everything Su Xiao did was observed by a man behind the curtain on the third floor across the street. Beside him floated an open notebook and a quill pen. The quill pen was writing on its own, recording the matter of Su Xiao depositing something in the Merchant Alliance Bank's storage cabinet.
If he actively sent the [Doom Statue] to Vice Dean Yesinger's side, the other party would certainly be suspicious. But if Su Xiao deposited the [Doom Statue] in a bank storage cabinet, Vice Dean Yesinger's men responsible for monitoring Su Xiao would definitely try every means to steal the [Doom Statue], confirm that there was nothing wrong with it, and then send it to Vice Dean Yesinger.
As for whether Vice Dean Yesinger's men would discover the doom effect carried by the [Doom Statue], the probability was very low. This item was a product of the Soul Crown. If not for checking its attributes through the imprint's notarization, Su Xiao himself hadn't felt anything wrong with it.
Moreover, who would suspect that a treasure painstakingly stolen was dangerous? People generally tend to trust their own subconscious judgments more.
Su Xiao led Bubu Wang and Baha out of the Merchant Alliance Bank. He had the gold medal bodyguard, Dray, escort the storage cabinet key to hand it over to a Sun Bishop.
The result was that within 20 minutes, the storage cabinet key escorted by gold medal bodyguard Dray was stolen. This was actually what Su Xiao wanted to see. If he truly wanted the storage cabinet key to arrive safely, he wouldn't have had Dray deliver it.
Half an hour later, the Merchant Alliance Bank caught fire, but it was quickly extinguished. It seemed like just an accident, but in reality, a certain storage cabinet in the bank had already been opened.
Two hours later, in the luxurious villa of a manor, the [Doom Statue] was placed on a small table. An old man with deep-set eyes and a serious, somewhat gloomy aura was examining the [Doom Statue]. This person was Vice Dean Yesinger.
Yesinger glanced at his trusted subordinate. The subordinate nodded, indicating that he had inspected the [Doom Statue]. There was no poison on it, nor was it possible for it to explode, etc. It was a very safe rare item.
Seeing this, Yesinger picked up the [Doom Statue] and waved his hand, signaling his men to withdraw. Yesinger scrutinized the [Doom Statue]. He could already tell that this item was extraordinary, but he couldn't understand why Su Xiao would secretly gift this item to a Sun Bishop, and to cover his tracks, he had deposited it in the Merchant Alliance Bank's storage cabinet as an intermediate step.
"Strange."
Yesinger, wearing a dark-colored robe as pajamas, furrowed his brows. This matter was filled with behavior he couldn't understand.
Yesinger subconsciously picked up his teacup. Just as he took a sip, he felt a breath catch in his throat and choked severely. This caused him to cough repeatedly. His hand subconsciously reached for the small table, but instead knocked over the medicinal oil on it onto the floor.
Choking and coughing, Yesinger stepped back two paces to avoid stepping on the medicinal oil on the floor and slipping. Born without any supernatural power, he only had a slightly better physique than ordinary people. But this step back was unfortunate; he tripped over the leg of a stool. This caused him to fall backward. That wasn't all. Because he was holding the [Doom Statue], this thing was sent flying, spun a few times to stabilize, and then fell straight toward Yesinger's face.
Yesinger raised his hand to block. Thump, thump—two sounds. The first was the [Doom Statue] hitting his right forearm. The second was his subordinate crashing through the door.
"Don't move. It's broken."
Yesinger spoke, and his subordinate immediately stopped.
After a moment of easing, Yesinger sat up from the ground on his own. He narrowed his eyes, and the ruthlessness in them sent chills down the spines of his several powerful subordinates.
"A doom ornament that brings bad luck, huh. You really have your ways, Bai Ye. But, is your method only at this level?"
Yesinger looked at his slightly deformed right forearm, not paying it much attention. But at that moment, he suddenly heard the sound of wind—his several trusted subordinates had already surrounded him, protecting him in the center.
"What..."
Boom!
A loud noise came. The villa's glass shattered, and the walls were cracked inch by inch by the shockwave. Just as Yesinger thought a powerful assassin had arrived, everything gradually subsided.
In the dust-filled ruins of the villa, Yesinger's expression was gloomy. He asked, "Was it someone sent by Bai Ye?"
"No... it's not, sir."
The masked subordinate spoke. Seeing him hesitate, Yesinger became suspicious.
The masked subordinate thought for a moment and then said, "Sir, it was a not-so-large meteorite that fell into the manor."
"What?"
Yesinger suddenly realized that the situation might be more serious than he had guessed.