Chapter 2: Entry
The hatch of the realm-class spacecraft closed and locked. As a sensation of weightlessness appeared, the vessel began long-distance spatial transit.
After the initial few minutes of turbulence, the ship entered the space-hopping phase. Su Xiao's safety restraints released and retracted into the bulkhead behind him. Nearby, Bubu Wang, who had been "hanging" from his own restraint, finally freed himself. The dog had been bored earlier and played with the safety buckle before launch, only for it to suddenly tighten.
"You think if I applied to disembark now, it'd still be in time?"
Saint Poem muttered to herself, almost in a daze. Once upon a time, she had possessed a temperament like a kind elder sister, serving as a leader-level figure for the Holy Light Paradise faction during the Eighth Rank World Conquest War.
But now, Saint Poem often questioned her life. Her eyes, still beautiful but frequently losing their luster, gave her a melancholic air, as if constantly expressing: 'Don't bother me, I already have plenty of worries.'
In truth, Saint Poem didn't need to doubt herself. If she entered a world through conventional means, her strength would still place her in the top tier of that world.
"Saint Poem, you gotta look on the bright side. The more dangerous the world, the higher the rewards. Risk and reward go hand in hand."
Baha rarely offered words of comfort, but his unscrupulous grin didn't exactly inspire solace.
"I can accept entering a dangerous world, but not one where gods and immortals are having a free-for-all."
Saint Poem's words made Baha look around at the divine-level lineup on the ship. For a moment, he was speechless. Her point was undeniable—this lineup was indeed too much of a chaotic clash of gods.
Reincarnation Paradise's four Technique Grandmasters, the Death Paradise ranger squad of four, and Holy Light Paradise's Demon Scythe·Tylid—all possessed unfathomable strength.
And of course, there was Apocalypse Paradise's Thunder Law God·Aig. This man was formidable, but if Su Xiao fought him, he was confident of victory. After all, this was a Thunder-type mage lord.
Su Xiao's 544 points of lightning resistance alone was enough to counter a lightning user. Plus, the opponent was a magic-type, which meant massive damage reduction.
His Absolute Magic Constitution granted 60% damage immunity, followed by the Law Annihilation passive.
「Law Annihilation (Passive): When you take magic-type damage, the Azure Steel Shadow energy within you becomes further activated, continuously increasing your magic resistance (incremental increase).」
Think that's all? Of course not. On top of Law Annihilation (Passive), the Berg Heart provided additional magic resistance, leading to further damage reduction.
After all these reductions, the lightning magic damage from Thunder Law God·Aig against Su Xiao would still have to go through 544 points of lightning resistance before finally being able to damage Su Xiao, who had a health pool of 720,000 points.
Su Xiao turned his gaze to Holy Light Paradise's Demon Scythe·Tylid. She wore a dark purple-black robe with a hood. In the darkness beneath the hood were eyes cold enough to freeze the soul.
Demon Scythe·Tylid was both powerful and unfortunate. She had once been a contractor with a strong will but little opportunity, until she was betrayed by her teammates during a mission in the Void and fell into an endless abyss. Worse still, the Abyss Passage at the bottom of that pit was in a semi-open state, and Tylid fell into the Abyss itself.
For just an instant, her flesh cracked and shattered like ceramic. But her inner tenacity and desire for revenge allowed her soul to barely hold her broken body together. She climbed back from the Abyss to the bottom of the endless pit, then crawled out of that completely vertical pit, tens of thousands of meters deep, with all her might. When she finally stood on the surface and saw the rising sun, the contractor Tylid died. What survived was Demon Scythe·Tylid.
Having effortlessly completed her revenge, Demon Scythe·Tylid fell into confusion about the future. It wasn't until she entered a world ravaged by the Abyss and witnessed its misery and suffering that she understood what she should do—and why she had been able to crawl out of the Abyss in the first place.
Facing a female powerhouse like this as an opponent required utmost vigilance, or defeat was certain.
Su Xiao's gaze shifted to the ranger squad of four. These four were quadruplet brothers, their auras perfectly synchronized to the point where they knew each other's thoughts. Setting everything else aside, the fact that the ranger squad could fight the ruthless man to a stalemate was enough to warrant full caution.
As for the ruthless man himself, although he was a top-tier Ninth Rank combatant and not an "Absolute Strong," he was building up a big move. Once he gathered enough momentum, the moment he advanced to the "Absolute Strong" rank, he would be among the strongest few at that level.
Su Xiao glanced at the notification that had just appeared. This space transit would take over an hour before arriving at the outer reaches of the Wind Sea Continent. Unlike before, this world entry had no world introduction. Instead, he could view certain information about the Wind Sea Continent to a limited extent. Hidden events would have to be discovered on his own.
Just as Su Xiao was about to review the general history of the Wind Sea Continent, a notification from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Notification: Wild Hunt Night has been upgraded to Origin Rank.]
[Wild Hunt Night]
Origin: Crow World.
Quality: Origin Rank.
Category: Long Leather Coat.
Durability: 185/185 points (increased by 40 points).
Base Defense: 25 points.
Origin Rank Leather Armor Base Bonus: 10% physical/energy damage reduction.
Equipment Requirements: 260 True Stamina, 285 True Intelligence, hunted more than 5 divine units (achieved).
Equipment Effect 1: Spirit Attire (Passive): For every 1,000 mana points the wearer has, this equipment gains an additional 10 defense, 1 penetration resistance, 1 high-temperature resistance, and 1 erosion resistance.
Increased: 310 equipment defense (cap reached at 310).
Increased: 60 penetration resistance (cap reached at 60).
Increased: 60 high-temperature resistance (cap reached at 60).
Increased: 60 erosion resistance (cap reached at 60).
Equipment Effect 2: Soul Plating (Core·Passive): If not attacked within 24 hours, this equipment forms an invisible soul plating around the wearer. This plating only manifests when an attack is imminent and remains completely hidden under normal conditions.
Plating Durability: (10% of wearer's max health) + (wearer's soul strength × 10 × wearer's soul energy rank) = 140,240 durability points.
Note: Soul Plating has no defensive properties. Attacks will deal full damage, even exceeding the plating's capacity.
Note: After being attacked, Soul Plating will only persist for 60 seconds. After 60 seconds, regardless of its state, the plating will shatter.
Rating Determination Method: 1500–3000 points (rating determined by wearer's True Intelligence, mana cap, and soul strength).
Rating: 3000+++
Description: The most indestructible defense is the soul.
Price: Untradeable.
The characteristics of [Wild Hunt Night] were quite interesting. The stronger the wearer, the more powerful the equipment's capabilities.
Its base defense was only 25 points. Even for the same type of Origin Rank armor, let alone Holy Spirit Rank armor, this was lower. But if the wearer's energy cap was high enough, the equipment's defense could reach 335 points—higher than most Origin Rank heavy armor.
Additionally, Soul Plating was very practical. When facing a strong opponent, this ability could at least block one attack. Don't think that's insignificant. The strong opponents Su Xiao had to fight to the death were all terrifyingly powerful.
If facing someone of average strength, they might unleash a full combo and even their ultimate move, only to fail to break through the Soul Plating.
After equipping [Wild Hunt Night], Su Xiao immediately sensed a faint soul defense layer forming around him. This plating was similar to a shield, but once hidden, it was completely imperceptible. It would only manifest the instant before an attack landed.
[Notification: Estimated arrival at the outer reaches of the Wind Sea Continent in 45 minutes and 20 seconds.]
[You have temporarily mastered Wind Sea Continent·Beast Clan Language, Lv.50.]
[You have temporarily mastered Wind Sea Continent·Sea Clan Language, Lv.50.]
[You have temporarily mastered Wind Sea Continent·Tribal Language, Lv.50.]
Seeing these sudden notifications, Su Xiao began reviewing the history related to the Wind Sea Continent. As he activated the corresponding permissions, a deafening roar of a giant beast echoed in his ears.
It was a vast and resource-rich world, thousands of times more expansive than the Primordial Worlds Su Xiao had visited before.
The conflict between beasts and humans had ended. After an entire era of warfare, humanity ultimately lost. One by one, the splendid and powerful legacies of civilizations were left scattered across this continent, waiting for later generations to discover. Even glimpsing a fraction of them would leave one awestruck. This was the Eighth Era of the Wind Sea Continent, an era where humans and beasts were the protagonists.
The victorious beasts also paid a terrible price. Their civilization fell into silence. Forced to abandon all memories and preserve only partial knowledge, they fell into slumber, hoping for rebirth.
By the ancient era, what remained of this world were towering giant trees, a sky that was neither dark nor bright but a murky gray, and beasts dwelling in various places.
Among them, some spread wings that blotted out the sun. Some crouched on the ground, longer than mountains or rivers. Others could manipulate the weather, causing torrential rain to fall from the gray-black sky or stirring up towering waves in the calm, waveless ocean.
At first, the powerful beasts did not interfere with each other. Until one day, the sun rose from one horizon and set on the other. This gave the perpetually gray sky the distinction of day and night, gradually restoring it to its former state. The damage this world had suffered in the previous era was slowly healing and mending with the passage of time.
The sun's light brought warmth. Excessive warmth turned into heat. Heat gave rise to flames. When flames ignited, the rules of this vast world became clearer, accelerating its recovery. Day and night appeared, then cold and warmth. Following that came the distinction between life and death.
When the beasts suddenly realized that the World Tree, which had always stood between heaven and earth, had withered and fallen, they panicked.
Before this, even if they bit and fought each other, they could not kill one another. Temporary destruction and consumption were meaningless. The opponent would be reborn under their own World Tree. Without life and death, conflict was pointless.
When the world regained day and night, cold and heat, life and death, and the World Tree fell, the beasts were either enraged, ferocious, or terrified. Because this meant they too could die. One by one, their World Trees withered and fell, becoming nutrients for countless plants. The world became richer and more diverse—and more dangerous.
When the beasts could die, they began to suspect and guard against each other. The strong and weak among them became more pronounced. Especially after all the World Trees had rotted and fallen, the beasts were no longer eternal. To continue surviving, they had to devour massive amounts of resources, or they would slowly weaken and eventually die.
The struggle began. In the end, even the beasts that had hidden in remote places were forced into the conflict. Until the beasts realized that this struggle would only lead to their extinction.
Among the beasts were two leaders who despised each other. But due to the strong opposition of other beasts, the conflict had to be put on hold.
Until one day, a beast leader discovered that the beings living beneath the World Trees, which had originated only slightly later than the beasts themselves, might be suitable substitutes. They could enslave these weak beings, having them represent different beasts in conflict. This would determine the division of territory and precious resources among the beasts, preventing any beast from dying in battle.
This idea was unanimously agreed upon by the beasts. The two beast leaders each chose beings to represent them in battle. Those living on land were collectively called the Gurva Clan (Beast Clan) by the beasts, while those dwelling in the oceans and on islands were called the Garen Clan (Sea Clan).
The beasts called themselves gods and taught a small portion of their knowledge to the clans they ruled—the Beast Clan and the Sea Clan. The Beast Clan and Sea Clan worshipped these beasts as gods. For their respective gods, they engaged in brutal slaughter.
The beasts no longer died in conflict. The outcome of battles between the Beast Clan and Sea Clan determined the territory and resources of the beasts behind them. This went on for hundreds, even thousands of years. Though there were deviations, under the power of the beasts, the Beast Clan and Sea Clan had no choice but to continue fighting—until the Abyss invaded.
The beasts exhausted all their strength to repel this invasion. The Beast Clan and Sea Clan, treated as pawns, were forced to the front lines by the beasts during the Abyss invasion. Fewer than one in ten survived.
The world fell into temporary darkness. The beasts fell into slumber one after another. In this dark age, the Beast Clan and Sea Clan struggled to survive. They fought over limited food and water. This was a battle for survival and their clans, not as pawns of the beasts.
Thus, in this war of survival, both sides were exceptionally fierce, unleashing all their potential. As clans that had existed since ancient times, originating only slightly later than the beasts, they actually had immense potential.
During the Abyss invasion, both the Beast Clan and Sea Clan unknowingly absorbed a certain amount of Abyss energy. This didn't enhance their already formidable combat abilities but, based on their desires, increased their reproductive capacity.
The brutal war between the two sides, their powerful reproductive abilities, and the fact that after the Abyss invasion, the world gradually transcended and began producing massive amounts of supernatural resources—these factors combined gave rise to two dominant races.
When the darkness receded, the Beast Clan and Sea Clan rapidly expanded. But the hatred between them made peace impossible. The other intelligent races that had survived the dark age with them could only hide in remote places, afraid to provoke either the Beast Clan or the Sea Clan.
The darkness fully receded. The cycle of day and night returned. All things revived. Hundreds of races, large and small, gradually regained their former strength.
Of course, when facing the Beast Clan and Sea Clan, these races and tribes could only prostrate themselves on the ground. No one dared to challenge the Beast Clan and Sea Clan, who had been at war since the dark age. It was a span of tens of thousands of years, with nearly a hundred brutal battles fought intermittently. The main battlefield was stained red and emitted a rotting stench.
In their war against each other, the Beast Clan and Sea Clan established their own civilizations. Then, one day, the sleeping beasts finally awoke. Upon waking, they began to call their former servants.
The call was successful. The Beast Clan and Sea Clan each sought out their "gods." Then they placed massive shackles made from the withered wood of the World Tree on their respective "gods," using these beasts as war monsters. At that moment, the beasts regretted it, but it was too late. The protagonists of this era were no longer them, but the Beast Clan and Sea Clan.
The introduction to the Wind Sea Continent ended here. Though it seemed simple, based on Su Xiao's experience, both the Beast Clan and Sea Clan would have extremely complex internal structures. Aside from these two dominant powers, other medium and small factions were also quite strong, but they paled in comparison to the Beast Clan and Sea Clan.
In Su Xiao's view, the major powers of the Wind Sea Continent actually consisted of three parties: the Beast Clan, the Sea Clan, and the Tribes.
The Tribal faction appeared loose, but it was by no means weak. They mastered totems, poisons, witchcraft, and other powers—ancient and mysterious. However, they were too scattered.
The current situation was that the Beast Clan and Sea Clan were locked in a bloody conflict. Neither wanted to continue fighting, but the problem was their deep-seated grudges. Generations of ancestors had been mortal enemies. Additionally, both the Beast Clan and Sea Clan faced a dilemma: either wage external war or fight internally. Both sides were too large. The Sea Clan had at least a hundred billion members, and the Beast Clan was close to that. If the Wind Sea Continent weren't so vast, basic resources would be insufficient.
Given the current Beast King's style, there was no way he would agree to a truce. The current Sea King was even more ruthless, determined to wipe out the Beast Clan.
The Sea King wasn't arrogant. He had indeed secured the means to destroy the Beast Clan. First, he imprisoned the Dwarf King, one of the three legendary blacksmiths. The Dwarf King's elemental artifacts could, to some extent, promote the growth of natural elements, making them more abundant.
The Wind Sea Continent had no magic civilization, so it didn't lack natural elements and had little need for such artifacts. But the Void's Arcane Eternal Star needed them. The situation in the Void was deteriorating, with Abyss Passages appearing more frequently.
Elemental artifacts that could increase the total amount of natural elements were something Arcane Eternal Star couldn't refuse. A deal was struck.
As a result, the current situation was Arcane Eternal Star's strong reinforcements plus the Sea Clan beating down the Beast Clan.
Though the Beast Clan was powerful, after clashing with the spellcasters, this war-loving race was stunned. They finally understood the term "magic artillery battery." Just a few spellcasters could turn an entire battlefield into a lava hell, with fire-elemental meteors crashing down from the sky one after another.
Powerful elemental damage could easily burn through the Beast Clan's tough skin, causing intense pain before death.
The Beast Clan's original idea was that if the Sea Clan could find allies, so could they. They decisively sought out Doom Star.
Doom Star had long wanted to invade the Wind Sea Continent, so they naturally agreed to the alliance. Upon hearing they would be dealing with spellcasters, Doom Star still agreed. But when they learned they would be fighting the spellcasters on the battlefield, Doom Star looked at the Beast Clan with suspicion.
After reviewing this intelligence, Su Xiao's thoughts became clearer. Although he likely couldn't summon the insect race this time, he had another trump card: the Bloodthirsty Battle Armor, which had already absorbed five [Original Sin Buds].
He could clearly sense that if he let this armor cling to him, his group combat ability would see a massive boost. Plus, after the Black King Bracer's upgrade, the maximum blast radius of [Dead Silence Descent] reached 10,000 meters.
Think that's all? Of course not. When needed, Su Xiao could equip the [Inscription Base·Divine Sacrifice], crush an Apollo in one hand, and use it to kill enemies.
If that still wasn't enough, he could use his 544 points of lightning resistance to summon Realm Thunder with a massive area of effect.
Add to that his three Technique Grandmaster titles and his development style of stacking passives. In a melee, he could kill enemies with basic attacks, basically one slash per enemy. If enemies charged at him too fiercely, he'd use 'Blade Path Sword: Super·Ring Break.'
With these abilities, Su Xiao wasn't particularly afraid of the Sea Clan's human wave tactics. If tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Sea Clan members surrounded him, under the coverage of [Dead Silence Descent], the Sea Clan besieging him would likely be annihilated.
It was worth noting that, according to the information, the [Initial Mark] he was looking for was likely in the Sea King's hands. After all, a Sea Clan member had previously discovered the [Initial Mark] in the deep sea.
Just as Su Xiao was pondering this, he felt a slight tremor from the ship. The vibration quickly subsided, and a notification appeared.
[Arrived at the outer reaches of Transcendent Primordial World: Wind Sea Continent.]
[According to initial regulations, when entering a Transcendent Primordial World, the Paradise cannot provide identity disguise to ensure fairness in Void Tree's judgment. This authority is provided by the Void Tree.]
[Due to the consumption of this authority, you must pay the Void Tree 500–2,000 Soul Coins as the fee for this identity disguise (this is the fee you bear after a 90% reduction; the remaining 90% is paid by the Paradise you are contracted with).]
Entering the Wind Sea Continent with identity disguise came at a significant cost. The price range of 500–2,000 Soul Coins corresponded to different identity statuses.
Su Xiao chose to equip the [Sky-Plundering Shocking Title] to improve his initial identity in the world, and paid 2,000 Soul Coins.
The central area of the ship's cabin opened, revealing a patch of chaos below. Entering this chaos would allow one to enter the Wind Sea Continent.
Pfft~
A deployment pod opened. Water Brother stepped inside. The next second, the pod closed and was deployed into the chaos below.
This wasn't a physical deployment but a short-range teleportation to complete an identity swap. The native whose identity was replaced would sleep in the pod until the contractor replacing them left the Wind Sea Continent. Whether they were exposed during this time depended on the contractor's acting skills.
It was easy to imagine that the natives of the Wind Sea Continent certainly wouldn't welcome the troublemaking contractors of the Paradise factions. No, they should be hostile.
"Tch, the chance of this initial identity being exposed is too high. I don't need this thing at all."
The Undead Girl spoke. After saying this, she glanced at the chaos below. Jumping straight down would also allow entry into the Wind Sea Continent, but without an initial identity.
"Yeah, I feel the same way. The initial identity is completely useless."
The Antler Man strongly agreed with the Undead Girl.
"..."
Solomon walked over. Compared to the other two undead-type contractors, Solomon was the most direct. He simply leaped into the chaos below.
Seeing this, the Antler Man gritted his teeth and jumped into the chaos. The Undead Girl looked down for a while, even leaning over to listen for sounds from the chaos. Hearing nothing, she muttered to herself, turned around, spread her arms, and fell backward into the chaos.
"When you meet too many undead-type contractors, you have to queue up to jump off the ship."
The ruthless man, one of the four Technique Grandmasters, toppled into the chaos instead of spending Soul Coins on a deployment pod.
Su Xiao waited for a moment. The deployment pod corresponding to his seat number rose and opened. He stepped inside. As the pod closed and descended, several spatial fluctuations occurred in succession. First slow but gentle, then medium speed with moderate stability, and finally fast and accurate—though in terms of experience...
Bam!
The familiar teleportation sensation, like being hit on the back of the head with a club, struck Su Xiao. His vision went black.
After an unknown amount of time, the faint sound of dripping water made Su Xiao open his eyes. He sat up and found himself in a small room of about a few square meters, with only a bed and a toilet. In front of him was a transparent crystal layer at least half a meter thick. The surrounding walls were made of iron-black metal, extremely sturdy.
Su Xiao raised his hands and found shackles inscribed with soul runes on his wrists. He looked through the transparent crystal layer.
In the large room outside, dozens of Beast Clan members, some with fangs and some with horns, stood with serious expressions, watching Su Xiao warily. Just because he raised his hands to look at his shackles, the dozens of burly Beast Clan members outside, ranging from 2.5 to 4 meters tall, all stood up, their gazes both tense and nervous.