Chapter 3: Faction Reputation
Inside the solitary cell, Su Xiao attempted to inquire about the details of his acquired identity, but the prompt indicated that this permission would only be unlocked once all contractors who had arrived here had entered the venue.
Since he couldn't learn about the identity he was replacing through permissions for now, he would have to observe on his own. Su Xiao looked at the dozens of beastmen outside the crystal wall in front of him, noticing that these beastmen had various forms. Some resembled bear-men, others were closer to serpent-men, and there were also minotaurs with bull horns and robust physiques.
However, among the beastmen, only some tribes were humanoid; many more had appearances vastly different from humans, such as the Tree-Mao Tribe, the Wild Beast Tribe, and others.
Furthermore, the dwarf race could also be included in the ranks of the beastmen. A more accurate standard was that in this era of the Wind Sea Continent, all intelligent land-dwelling races were collectively referred to as beastmen.
Compared to the Tree-Mao Tribe, Wild Beasts, Serpent-Men, etc., over eighty percent of beastmen had a bluish-green complexion, broad facial features, and sturdy builds. Rather than being a single race, "beastmen" seemed more like a designation for a faction.
Within the territory of the beastmen, there were also cities predominantly inhabited by humans. However, the humans of this era were vastly different from those of the previous era. One of the overlords of the last era was the pure-blooded humans, who used souls as their power source and nearly wiped out the aberrant beasts. It was easy to imagine how powerful the pure-blooded humans of that era were.
The current humans had declined, with soul secret arts completely lost and their talent in soul-related aspects severely degraded.
From the dozens of beastmen outside, who were staring intently into the prison cell with grave expressions, Su Xiao could confirm that the identity he had obtained this time was not low. However, hampered by his -17 Charm attribute, it was destined that when he started with a high-status identity, he would also have to bear the corresponding consequences.
The Charm attribute not only benefited summoning and charm-type abilities but also enhanced negotiation and trade capabilities. Moreover, if the Charm attribute was high enough, even without using any means, one could obtain a relatively good identity when first entering a mission world.
Thump, thump~
Su Xiao raised his hand and tapped the transparent crystal wall right in front of him with his index finger, causing the dozens of beastmen outside to become alert again. The captain of the Bear-Men Tribe among them asked in a deep voice:
"Mr. Gowen, there's still half an hour until lunchtime. Please don't make things difficult for us."
The Bear-Men captain spoke with both caution and politeness. Upon hearing this, Su Xiao remained calm on the surface but immediately noticed a difference from the past.
In previous mission worlds, after obtaining an identity, regardless of what it was, the name Kukulin Bai Ye would replace the original name of that identity. No matter what the replaced person was originally called, under the notarization effect of the Reincarnation Paradise, the cognition of all natives in that world would temporarily change until Su Xiao left the world, at which point this notarization effect would disappear.
This time was different. The Bear-Men captain outside the cell addressed Su Xiao as Mr. Gowen, indicating that the cognition of the natives in this world had not been altered by the notarization, or rather, such notarization had not been carried out at all.
Presumably, this was a unique aspect of the Transcendent Primordial World. After all, it was a world qualified to participate in the competition, so such differences were not surprising.
This meant that to continue using the current identity, he would have to impersonate a high-ranking beastman named Gowen. Thinking of this, Su Xiao frowned slightly. He felt that this identity disguise was unreliable. Or rather, this identity disguise was more like a starting advantage. Whether to use this advantage wisely or be exposed after being detected by the natives depended entirely on personal ability.
With this in mind, Su Xiao chose to remain silent. The more he spoke, the more mistakes he might make. Moreover, given his current situation of being imprisoned, maintaining a gloomy silence was the best response.
Unable to know what identity he had replaced for now, Su Xiao began to ponder the intelligence about this world. He had known of the fame of the Wind Sea Continent for a long time but never expected to enter this world today.
Through the world information previously provided by the Void Tree, Su Xiao had gained a certain understanding of this place. In this vast world embroiled in chaos, there were only two main protagonists: the beastmen and the sea race.
Initially, the two sides had no grievances and even maintained a friendly coexistence. It wasn't until the aberrant beasts, acting as gods, caused a rift between them that the two sides began to fight. The aberrant beasts would divide the spoils based on the outcome of the conflict between the two sides, much like an arena. The aberrant beasts, cloaked in the guise of gods, were like slave owners, while the beastmen and sea race were the fighting beasts in the arena. If they won, it was expected; if they lost, they would incur the wrath of the gods.
What made it even more hopeless was that when some beastmen and sea race tried to resist, they eventually discovered that the seemingly opposing gods were actually in cahoots behind the scenes.
That era could be called the Age of Aberrant Beasts, which was also their final moment of glory. After the invasion of the Abyss arrived, the beastmen and sea race, struggling to survive in the darkness, gradually became the two protagonists of the era.
The current problem was that these two protagonists both wanted to kill each other. Various interests made the possibility of a truce extremely slim. The sea race had a population of hundreds of billions, and the beastmen also had tens of billions. If the two sides ceased hostilities, civil war would immediately break out. Once one side started a civil war, the other would seize the opportunity to swallow it.
Taking the situation of the beastmen as an example, the one with the greatest power was naturally the Beast King, who was the monarch of the beastmen.
Although the Beast King possessed both wisdom and strength, even he was overwhelmed by the vast system of the entire beastmen race. Fortunately, the beastmen's power system had long had a strategy to deal with this: below the Beast King were two Grand Commanders.
Did the Grand Commanders hold military power? Not exactly. The two Grand Commanders didn't have that much energy. They controlled over a hundred beastmen lords across the vast territory of the beastmen.
So-called beastmen lords were actually a rank somewhere between a king and a duke. Each lord had a fiefdom and only needed to pay a small portion of the fiefdom's taxes as tribute to the Beast King. The rest belonged to the lord and his fiefdom. As long as it was used for the maintenance and construction of the fiefdom, the Grand Commander could not interfere; only the Beast King could intervene.
This was not because the Beast King wanted to delegate power, but because the population was too large. Once, a Beast King believed that this system was unstable and would eventually lead to internal problems, so he began to abolish the fiefdom system and subdued all opposing beastmen lords. As a result, that Beast King died of exhaustion before reaching the age of 200. Considering the average lifespan of over 900 years for previous Beast Kings, this was indeed a short life.
Su Xiao estimated that the identity he had replaced this time was most likely a beastmen lord. As for the Grand Commander below the Beast King, that was probably unlikely. There were only two Grand Commanders in the entire beastmen race. If his starting identity were a Grand Commander, that wouldn't just be a dream start; it would be outright cheating.
Furthermore, Su Xiao could conclude one thing: this beastmen lord identity of his had most likely not offended the Beast King. Otherwise, it wouldn't just be a matter of being imprisoned. This meant he had offended one of the two Grand Commanders, or had severely injured or killed another beastmen lord. He guessed it was probably the latter.
Through the team permission, Su Xiao sensed the positions of Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Beini. The first he sensed was Baha, who was imprisoned next door. Bubu Wang was on the upper level, no more than 20 meters away. Amu was also not far, probably next to Bubu Wang. As for Beini, she was beyond the range of his perception.
[Tip: The World Contact Platform has been notarized. You can speak freely on the World Contact Platform.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao tried to activate the World Contact Platform and found that the contact platform of the Transcendent Primordial World was different from before. There was an additional list showing the names or codenames of all contractors, hunters, battle angels, etc., who had entered this world. This was similar to the situation after the Void Tree's notarization during the competition.
[Tip (Void Tree): All first-batch contractors have entered. You can view the detailed information of your obtained identity.]
[Tip (Reincarnation Paradise): World mission has been released.]
[World Mission: Imprint (Single Ring Only)]
Difficulty Level: Lv.87 ~ Lv.???
Mission Briefing: Find and obtain the "Initial Imprint."
Mission Duration: 30 to 50 natural days (subject to actual circumstances).
Mission Reward: -- (Determined based on actual circumstances, with corresponding mission rewards given).
Mission Penalty: None.
...
[Because the world you are in is a Transcendent Primordial World, you can choose one of the following main missions.]
[Warning: Once a main mission is chosen, it cannot be changed.]
[Main Mission 1: Killer.]
[Main Mission 2: Commander.]
[Main Mission 3: Lord.]
[The final stages of all three main missions above are directly related to finding the "Initial Imprint" in the world mission.]
[You must choose one of the above main missions within 10 seconds; otherwise, one will be randomly selected.]
...
Choose one of the three main missions. The first one was immediately ruled out. It was clearly a lone-wolf type mission. If he were to execute such a main mission, there was no need to pay the cost of starting with a high status.
The second one was also ruled out. Although Su Xiao had the War Lord title, he had always been self-aware: he had no talent for battlefield command. The reason he could overwhelm opponents with a human wave tactic was twofold: first, the exaggerated boost from the War Lord title, and second, summoning the insect race. What he most often did was have the legion, boosted by the War Lord title, charge forward en masse.
Therefore, Su Xiao directly ignored Main Mission 2: Commander. He truly lacked this talent. His gaze turned to the third main mission, and he chose to accept it.
[You have accepted Main Mission: Lord.]
[The first ring of the main mission has been activated.]
[Main Mission: Fiefdom (First Ring)]
Difficulty Level: Lv.85
Mission Briefing: Retain your current position as a beastmen lord and regain your fiefdom.
Mission Duration: 12 natural days.
Mission Reward: Inscription Box (The quality of the Inscription Box depends on the fiefdom obtained. The Inscription Box can yield 2 to 5 Inscription Fragments.)
Mission Penalty: Forced Execution.
...
Seeing the mission information, Su Xiao gradually understood the current situation. The world mission was the ultimate goal, while the main mission served as guidance, allowing the contractors who entered this world to gradually approach the "Initial Imprint" based on their respective areas of expertise, thereby gaining a greater advantage in the final competition, rather than having the contractors search the entire world for the "Initial Imprint" as soon as they arrived, which would waste their various talents and be inefficient.
Su Xiao checked the existing identity information. This identity was called Nuze Gowen, a lord from the northern region. Like the Fierce Winter of the north, Lord Gowen had a tough and cold temper. Due to accumulated new and old grievances, he had cut off the head of Grand Commander Kane with a single sword stroke, thus officially beginning the feud between these two old brothers.
Logically, even for a beastman, having one's head cut off with a single sword stroke and without special emergency measures should result in instant death. And indeed, the person died on the spot. However, it was later discovered that this was not Grand Commander Kane but a sea demon from the Sea Race Council of Elders.
This discovery not only shocked the other Grand Commander investigating the matter and many beastmen lords but also surprised the Beast King. The sea race had infiltrated to such an extent silently. Fortunately, Lord Gowen had seen through it and killed the impostor on the spot.
In reality, Lord Gowen himself was the most shocked. He hated his enemy Kane so much that he couldn't sleep at night. When he learned that Kane had been trapped and rescued, Lord Gowen was so angry he couldn't eat.
Because this matter was significant and the beastmen were at a disadvantage on the front lines at the time, it was quickly resolved. Lord Gowen was rewarded, while Grand Commander Kane took a leave of absence, with the Beast King's attendant temporarily acting as Grand Commander.
The feud between Lord Gowen and Grand Commander Kane naturally did not end there. The two had fought for years using their respective powers, and basically, Grand Commander Kane had always outmaneuvered Lord Gowen. Therefore, Lord Gowen realized that in terms of political maneuvering, dozens of him couldn't match a single Kane. That's why he chose the most direct method: killing Kane with one sword stroke.
After Lord Gowen killed the impostor with one sword stroke, Grand Commander Kane's vigilance against Lord Gowen was maxed out. Grand Commander Kane firmly believed that the other party hadn't seen through the disguise but had intended to kill him all along, and it was only by coincidence that the impostor was killed instead.
The subsequent situation was predictable. Lord Gowen and his family were dealt with by Grand Commander Kane to the point of nearly being pushed out of the beastmen's upper class. It wasn't until a banquet that Lord Gowen encountered Grand Commander Kane's wife. Although this lord was not one to take out his anger on others, when he was being dealt with before, Kane was the main force, and his wife was the best partner. This couple were both Lord Gowen's enemies.
At the banquet, Lord Gowen, sitting in a corner, finished his glass of wine, stepped forward, and killed Grand Commander Kane's wife with a single blow. In her shocked and unwilling gaze, Lord Gowen made the person who had indirectly caused the death of his wife and child pay the price.
However, the situation didn't develop in that direction. More than ten seconds after her death, Kane's wife gradually reverted to her original form. She was a deep-sea siren of the sea race, the race most skilled in soul enchantment and disguise.
This familiar plot came rushing back. Lord Gowen was so angry he could barely stand. When he was imprisoned again and learned that Kane's wife had been rescued, Lord Gowen didn't eat dinner that day.
In fact, one party was even angrier than Lord Gowen: the Sea Race Council of Elders. They had painstakingly prepared for decades, paying an unimaginable price, to successfully have an impostor disguise themselves as Grand Commander Kane. Although the disguise could last at most a dozen hours, that was enough. But who would have thought they would encounter Lord Gowen, who had come to seek revenge.
It was said that after learning of this, the elders of the Sea Race Council became extremely wary of the Beast King, believing that this must have been arranged by the Beast King. Otherwise, how could such a coincidence occur?
None of this was a coincidence. Su Xiao removed the bone tooth pendant from his neck. This was Lord Gowen's family heirloom. At this moment, Su Xiao sensed an aura of misfortune on it. If he hadn't frequently come into contact with cursed objects in the previous world, he would have had no chance of detecting something wrong with it now.
This was also the reason why Lord Gowen had failed twice in his revenge. More accurately, he was affected by a causal-type ability, destined to be unable to kill Grand Commander Kane. This was why people feared causal-type abilities in the later stages.
In the early stages, this type of ability wasn't much different from ordinary people, just slightly luckier. In the middle stages, it was still unremarkable. But in the later stages, users of this ability became extremely terrifying, capable not only of killing enemies from a great distance but also of manipulating them at will.
Clearly, Lord Gowen had been thoroughly dealt with by Grand Commander Kane. Grand Commander Kane not only used this lord to eliminate hidden dangers lurking beside him but also sent Lord Gowen to prison.
Su Xiao was not interested in what Lord Gowen had experienced. What he needed now was this status. Unfortunately, although the status was high enough, the situation was extremely dire.
The cell was somewhat cold. Su Xiao looked at the bone tooth pendant in his hand, casually threw it into the toilet, and flushed it away. As a Law Destroyer, although he was not afraid of causal-type abilities, he also didn't understand this type of ability. Just because he was fearless didn't mean he should act recklessly. It was common to capsize in a ditch.
As for who had tampered with the bone tooth pendant, there was no need to think about it. Who was the biggest beneficiary of this matter? Naturally, it was Grand Commander Kane. By his side, there was a highly skilled causal-type ability user.
After weighing the options, Su Xiao decided not to use Lord Gowen's identity but to treat it as a stepping stone. From the beginning, he had suspected that this wasn't an initial identity at all, but more like a letter of recommendation. It would allow him to meet the highest levels of the beastmen faction as quickly as possible, with a certain degree of bargaining power.
This initial identity disguise was notarized by the Void Tree, which made Su Xiao wonder if obtaining this type of identity disguise was related to his ??? Void Tree Reputation.
[Tip: You will receive the "Reputation Rank" and "Reputation Value" of your current identity.]
[Current Reputation Rank: Lord Level (Except through identity disguise, it is nearly impossible for contractors of the Paradise faction to achieve this reputation rank in the beastmen faction).]
[Current Reputation Value: -38950 points.]
[Faction Reputation Store has been activated. You can exchange the following materials using your current faction reputation.]