Chapter 8: Silver Moonlight Set (33-Piece Set)
Stock Quantity: 1 Set (Unique)
Category: Technique-Type Set
Exchange Prerequisite: None (This set was not crafted by the Beast Clan, and due to an ancient oath, all members of the Beast Clan have the opportunity to obtain this set.)
Exchange Price: 78,000 Reputation Points
...
The reputation list spanned over a dozen pages, each page filled with a long row of item names. After seeing the first few items, Su Xiao had already made up his mind—this time, he was definitely siding with the Beast Clan.
With over 2,000 Soul Crystals in stock, dozens of Overlord Essences, more than 20 Soul Crystal Cores, and all these items marked with "Replenished Irregularly," the Beast Clan was practically flaunting their wealth all over the faction shop.
Aside from supplies like Soul Crystals, Su Xiao was also quite interested in the [Silver Moonlight] Set. This was a Technique-Type Set. He had once had a chance to obtain a Technique-Type Set before, but unfortunately, with the Law-Destruction luck weighing on him, he failed to draw it. This time, he wouldn't have to rely on luck—it all came down to personal ability.
Although, due to his initial identity, Su Xiao's reputation points were at -30,000 or so, compared to the clearly defined ways to earn reputation points, "Reputation Rank" was far harder to improve.
Seeing the "Lord-Level Reputation Rank," Su Xiao finally understood why the initial identity he received this time was so troublesome. It turned out that the value of this identity was entirely concentrated in this "Lord-Level Reputation Rank." Even if he lost all real power, for a contractor from the Paradise faction, having this "Reputation Rank" was better than anything else.
Moreover, this identity, though seemingly disadvantageous, could serve as a stepping stone. If handled properly, Su Xiao had some confidence in adding the "Lord" suffix after the name Kukulin Bai Ye. As for the -30,000 reputation points, he could consider sharing the coordinates with Kaiser to prevent him from missing the second round of space shuttles.
As for how to earn a large amount of reputation, going to the main battlefield between the Beast Clan and the Sea Clan to fight seemed like the fastest method, but that wasn't the case. In Su Xiao's view, preserving his lord status, quickly restoring real power, and regaining his fiefdom were the fastest ways to earn faction reputation.
Where did the Beast Clan's legions on the main battlefield come from? The answer was: from the fiefdoms of various lords. Each lord could appoint up to five Beast Clan chieftains, and each chieftain could command a Beast Clan legion of 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers. In other words, every lord had five Beast Clan legions under their command.
This was the advantage of being a lord with a fiefdom. Based on Su Xiao's past experience with legion tactics, the drop rate of treasure chests from legion-style combat was astonishingly low, but the faction reputation gain was unmatched. So much so that Su Xiao could avoid personally going to the main battlefield and still earn a massive amount of faction reputation daily from the few legions dispatched from his fiefdom.
This time, in the Transcendent Primordial World, the world progress time limit could reach up to 50 days. With such ample time and the acquisition of a fiefdom, he could carry out some other operations, like summoning the Insect Clan.
Su Xiao was certain of one thing: as soon as he summoned the Insect Clan and started mass-producing troops, the Beast Clan and the Sea Clan would temporarily cease hostilities and join forces to crush him. Given the knowledge of these two factions, they would surely understand how unstoppable the Insect Clan could become once it developed.
Moreover, not only was the Void Tree certifying this world, but multiple Paradise factions were also certifying it. Using the Insect Clan to mass-produce troops might cause problems. Therefore, Su Xiao's idea was to summon the Insect Clan but not mass-produce troops—only develop.
After Jila advanced to the Queen level, the Fungal Carpet gained a terrifying new ability. While absorbing bio-energy, it could also capture the faint soul energy that drifted from the dead.
The absorption efficiency was low, but many small amounts added up. This soul energy was extremely impure, so impure that living beings couldn't absorb it.
The Mother Nest could deeply filter this soul energy, then convert it through the "Soul Core" at the center of the Mother Nest into a special energy with Insect Clan characteristics, allowing Insect Clan units to evolve.
In simple terms, Jila had imitated Su Xiao's "Talent Ability: Shadow Hunt," but only succeeded through multiple methods, resulting in different final characteristics.
Jila's ability seemed complicated, but to put it simply, she had given the Fungal Carpet the ability to weakly absorb soul energy, then used the Mother Nest to convert this soul energy into "Evolution Points."
Initially, "Evolution Points" was a metaphor, but later, after being certified by Reincarnation Paradise, it became a real "Evolution Point." Jila could use these "Evolution Points" to allocate points to Insect Clan units, Mother Nests, and even herself.
This point allocation wasn't temporary; it was a permanent enhancement. For example, allocating Evolution Points to Demon Beasts didn't just enhance one Demon Beast—it fundamentally improved the entire Demon Beast group.
If Jila allocated points to herself, she had two choices: one was to enhance her mental strength, and the other was to raise the Insect Clan's rank. The former had obvious effects—each point added showed clear results—while the latter required a large number of Evolution Points to be effective. Additionally, she needed to establish an Eighth-Rank Insect Nest and have Jila in a dormant, sealed Insect Nest to allocate points to herself to raise the Insect Clan's rank.
If Su Xiao had his own fiefdom, he could summon Jila and have her build an Insect Nest in a hidden part of the fiefdom. Throughout the entire world progress, the Insect Nest wouldn't need to cultivate even a single combat Insect Clan unit.
Given the situation on the main battlefield between the Beast Clan and the Sea Clan, as long as the Fungal Carpet was well-disguised, it could definitely absorb a massive amount of soul energy, thereby condensing a large number of Evolution Points. This way, Jila's Insect Clan could develop in secret. If Jila's Insect Clan developed well enough, it would make things more secure when they later went to the Eternal Light World.
Su Xiao's thoughts gradually became clearer, but there was one most urgent issue at hand: how to escape this prison.
Meanwhile, at the Great Gathering Place, Spaceship Docking Area.
The space shuttle was quietly docked here. Inside the shuttle, quite a few contractors had already taken their seats. Just then, three figures boarded the shuttle one after another.
The three had accepted a special mission from Apocalypse Paradise and were taking the space shuttle to Wind Sea Continent. Logically, the content of their mission wasn't dangerous, but the three were exceptionally vigilant. The reason was that in the Eighth-Rank World of Paintings, they had accepted a similar mission. During that mission, they had suffered heavy losses—more precisely, their wallets had suffered heavy losses.
"Haven't spotted that guy yet."
"Think about it—it's impossible to run into him. That guy should have just advanced to Ninth Rank not long ago. Hunters always get combat missions, so there's no way he'd be going to Wind Sea Continent at this stage."
Hao Mei spoke with a smile, one hand on her hip.
Time passed minute by minute, and people boarded the shuttle one after another. Molei, Hao Mei, and Yueshitu kept observing, but the more they observed, the stranger their expressions became. The expected god-tier lineup didn't appear. The subsequent boarders were weaker and weaker. The strongest among them were only in the upper-middle tier of Ninth Rank.
Logically, the two batches of contractors entering Wind Sea Continent were randomly assigned. However, when the first batch was randomly selected, Su Xiao, the Fierce Man, Shenfu, Demon Scythe Tailed, and Black Demon were all in this batch. These people's Void Tree Reputation scores were each more astonishing than the last.
Demon Scythe Tailed: -390 points.
Black Demon: -658 points.
Shenfu: -1901 points.
Fierce Man: -3820 points.
Su Xiao: -??? points.
Combat power could be randomly assigned, but when these few were drawn together, it caused the average reputation score of the first batch of contractors to plummet below the average, triggering the corresponding regulations. Subsequently, those randomly selected were all people with Void Tree Reputation scores below the average, such as the three from the Undead System, Nightmare Ghost Kain, Water Brother, and the four-man Ranger squad.
This also created two extremes. In the first batch, with a god-tier free-for-all lineup, even the upper-tier Ninth Rank contractors didn't dare to breathe too loudly. But in the second batch, upper-tier Ninth Rank strength was the top level.
"Wasn't it said that we'd be competing for the 'Initial Mark'? Although that has nothing to do with us three, isn't the lineup for this trip to Wind Sea Continent a bit off?"
Hao Mei spoke with a suspicious look. Hearing this, Yueshitu, who was wearing a pink-and-white bunny-eared pajama set and eating potato chips, said, "I heard there are two batches. Are we the second batch?"
"Who said that? A prompt or an announcement?"
"Neither. I heard it at the Great Gathering Place."
"Then it might just be a rumor."
Hearing Hao Mei's words, Yueshitu shrugged noncommittally.
"Let's assume there's only this batch. Although our mission isn't to grab the 'Initial Mark,' I feel that with the three of us working together, our strength seems decent among this batch of contractors?"
After saying this, Molei's gaze gradually became confident. She hadn't felt this way in a long time. Once upon a time, she was also Big Shot Molei, until she encountered the Hunter Bai Ye in the Sand Emperor World. From then on, the aura of a Battle Angel big shot left Molei, replaced by a broken-legged vibe.
"No, I can't keep being this foolish anymore."
As Molei spoke, her expression grew more serious, and she began her intermittent ambitious phase.
"Huh?"
Hao Mei and Yueshitu beside her were both stunned, looking at Molei with confusion. Molei glanced at the already-closed cabin door and said:
"This lineup for entry is a godsend. With this contractor lineup, if we three don't get an S-rank world settlement evaluation, we'd be letting this lineup down."
As Molei spoke, she felt quite pleased. Although she didn't quite understand why this lineup was so friendly, it didn't stop her from feeling good. Hao Mei and Yueshitu also felt that this contractor lineup was mysteriously friendly. Of course, this pleasant feeling would only last until the three entered Wind Sea Continent, activated the world contact platform, and saw the member list inside the contact platform.