Chapter 41: Absolute Strength
The wind howled past his ears, and above the clouds, Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the dragon's back, meditating. This time, Amu was left behind at the lord's estate to watch over things, both because it was more reassuring and because they were dealing with the Wolf God this time—if Amu went up to take a beating, he would actually die.
As the Storm Flame Dragon descended through the cloud layer, White Hoof Harbor came into view in the early morning light. The Fierce Winter Legion was currently stationed here, a territory temporarily belonging to the Beast Clan, guarded by Ergin.
As the Storm Flame Dragon landed, White Hoof Harbor's defensive formations temporarily shut down. Ergin, Harvey, and Viper, along with their respective subordinates, stepped forward to greet him.
"Lord, the ship will arrive soon."
Ergin spoke. Hearing this, Su Xiao paused mid-step, eyeing Ergin with a hint of suspicion, and asked, "It seems you don't want me to stay long at White Hoof Harbor."
"Lord, I have absolutely no such intention. Who have you been hearing secret reports from again?"
Ergin subtly nodded toward Harvey, implying that the Silent Beast Harvey had secretly tattled to the lord. Hearing this, Harvey was so angry he laughed.
"I haven't heard any rumors to that effect."
Su Xiao's words made Ergin breathe a long sigh of relief internally, but the next second, Su Xiao said, "Since that ship won't arrive for a while, bring me the accounts of the material seizures from White Hoof Harbor. I want to take a look."
At these words, both Ergin and Viper's hearts leaped into their throats. Could those accounts even be looked at? If they were, the two of them would basically be finished.
"Lord, it's my fault. I was in a hurry to attack Floating Light Island earlier, so the accounts of the material seizures from White Hoof Harbor were compiled in a very scattered manner."
Ergin tried to bluff his way through. Viper, kneeling on one knee beside him, didn't even dare to breathe, silently cheering Ergin on in his heart, hoping he could get away with it.
"Is that so?"
Su Xiao looked at Ergin with a hint of a smile. Ergin swore emphatically, "It's indeed the case."
"Then forget it. I rushed here before dawn; go get some food."
"Yes, yes, Lord. This way."
Under Ergin's guidance, Su Xiao arrived at the command post on the top floor of the central building. Not long after he sat down, various dishes were brought up. After he finished breakfast, a ledger of material seizures was finally presented.
Su Xiao glanced at it. The total value of various materials was several tens of millions of gold coins, comparable to several years of fiscal expenditure for the Fierce Winter fief. He set down the ledger, not believing that such a large harbor as White Hoof had only this much in seized materials.
"Is this all?"
"Of course not. It's just that you asked for it urgently, Lord. My incompetent subordinates hastily compiled this. There's more to come, more."
Ergin was almost breaking into a sweat. Seeing this, Su Xiao didn't say anything more.
Currently, the fief evaluation of the Fierce Winter territory was B-grade. It was estimated that after this windfall was added to the fief's finances, along with Twilight Winter City and the nine major cities under its command, they would surely become prosperous in a short time, raising the fief evaluation to at least B+.
If Ergin could capture the Crystal Forest, over a hundred kilometers away, then with the Crystal Resin output, the fief's prosperity might surpass the High Wall City of the Seven Great Families in a short time, second only to the main city.
In that case, the fief evaluation had a high probability of reaching A-grade. If the main mission was completed with this evaluation, it would certainly yield a high reward.
[Main Mission: Fierce Winter Lord (Final Stage).]
Difficulty Level: LV.87.
Mission Brief: Ensure the fief evaluation reaches B-grade or above.
Mission Duration: Before leaving this world.
Mission Reward: Determined by mission completion.
Mission Penalty: Forced execution.
If the fief evaluation could be raised to the highest S-grade, the mission reward would be far higher than A-grade. The rewards from the two were not on the same level at all, due to multiple factors.
When Su Xiao, a Hunter of Reincarnation Paradise, developed the Fierce Winter fief to S-grade, Reincarnation Paradise could act as a notary, temporarily ignoring the Void Tree's mechanisms, and notarize the Fierce Winter fief.
Who later became the lord of this fief didn't matter. The important point was that Reincarnation Paradise had fully notarized this territory, meaning it could ignore the spatial barriers of the Transcendent Primordial World and establish a spatial coordinate here.
A clearer distinction was that among the six Paradise factions, the other five had to arrive via space ships, while Reincarnation Paradise could, at the start of notarization, choose one identity among Contractors, Hunters, Arbiters, or Workers to grant a realm-notarization exemption, allowing them to be directly teleported into Wind Sea Continent.
Teleporting Contractors to Wind Sea Continent brought little gain, mostly just training for them. There were too few Ninth Rank or stronger Hunters to make it worthwhile, but if Workers could be teleported to Wind Sea Continent, that was different.
Workers had their own areas of expertise—resource gathering, processing, manufacturing, or trade. In the short term, the benefits to the trade market within Reincarnation Paradise weren't particularly high. But if Workers were strictly restricted from causing trouble and allowed to develop long-term, that changed things.
Moreover, Workers generally had low combat power and followed rules, especially in a super-dangerous world like Wind Sea Continent, where they wouldn't dare act recklessly. Under such circumstances, would the Beast Clan reject these highly skilled but combat-weak Workers?
Of course, all this depended on Su Xiao completing the Main Mission: Fierce Winter Lord with the highest fief evaluation. The problem was, it was very difficult. Capturing the Crystal Forest and its resource output would only raise the Fierce Winter fief to A-grade. To reach S-grade, the following conditions had to be met: