Chapter 5: The Key
After harvesting 2680 one-star unaffiliated titles, Su Xiao opened the title refinement disc certified by the Void Tree, gathered all these unaffiliated titles into it, and then selected synthesis.
The synthesis speed of unaffiliated titles was very fast, and results came out before long. Su Xiao obtained 4 five-star unaffiliated titles, 1 four-star unaffiliated title, 2 three-star unaffiliated titles, and 1 two-star unaffiliated title.
This was still a long way from gathering enough ten eight-star titles, but it was a decent start.
Moreover, as long as he could get 5 eight-star unaffiliated titles and upgrade War Lord to nine stars, the foundation for the mid-stage of this world would be basically secure. In the mid-to-late stage, he could then consider how to upgrade the combat-type title [Deep Blue Shadow] to nine stars.
Originally, the limit of the [Deep Blue Shadow] title was to be refined to eight stars, but this title had a special method of advancing to seven stars, achieved through a title called [Holy Feast]. This greatly increased the potential of [Deep Blue Shadow].
At its current stage, [Deep Blue Shadow] performed decently, with three types of bonuses: +1 rank to damage dealt by blade-type weapons, +30% total health, and a speed boost.
However, the +30% total health bonus began to gradually weaken when Su Xiao's health reached 500,000 points. Even though this bonus had priority, it was relative. As an eight-star title, it theoretically corresponded to the eighth rank, so its priority was only within the scope of the eighth rank.
When Su Xiao's health completely exceeded the upper limit of the eighth rank, the title's enhancement to health began to continuously diminish, and by now, it had been reduced to a very low level.
But this wasn't a problem. Titles from one star to eight stars correspond to ranks one to eight respectively. However, once a title advances to nine stars, it enters a different tier, because nine-star titles don't just correspond to the ninth rank, but to the ninth rank up to the Supreme rank. Therefore, the gap between nine-star titles is particularly large.
Once reaching nine stars, the rules for title refinement change. A nine-star title can also be refined using 5 nine-star sub-titles, but this only increases the title's strength, not its star rating. Additionally, after a nine-star title completes one refinement, the success rate for the next refinement, even if all five sub-title slots on the refinement disc are filled with nine-star titles, will not be 100%, but will drop to 80%.
After completing the second limit refinement, the success rate for the third limit refinement will fall to only 20%. The fourth is even more absurd, with less than 5% success rate. As for the fifth limit refinement, there might not even be 0.1% success rate.
The reason for this is related to the structure of the titles. What determines a title's strength is something called title energy, a miraculous energy that can only be realized under the certification of the Paradise faction.
Each limit refinement of a nine-star title infuses more title energy into it, while the nine-star title's body itself acts as a container. The success rate of each subsequent refinement is actually the probability of this container breaking. That's right, if it fails, the painstakingly synthesized nine-star title will shatter instantly.
The Paradise faction has always been high risk, high reward. The enhancement from a second limit refinement of a nine-star title is already very exaggerated. As for a nine-star title that has undergone five limit refinements, it seems none have appeared so far.
There's an interesting saying that in the later stages, upgrading a title to nine stars is actually just the beginning. The subsequent upgrades are more thrilling, even more heart-pounding than enhancing equipment.
Due to Su Xiao's -19 points, no, after arriving in the Eternal Light World, it had become -20 points of Charm attribute, he didn't have many ways to obtain titles. He generally obtained them through world shops or title shops certified by the Void Tree.
This gave Su Xiao an idea. Because the danger level of this world was absurdly high, the title chests in the world shop had a temporary permission: there was a 15% chance to open a tradeable title. So buying titles from other contractors was not a bad option.
The problem was, what to use to buy them? Soul Coins? Su Xiao was particularly short on these himself, especially now that he had mastered [Skill Sublimation: Supreme Blade] and unlocked a large number of [Universal Passives] on the Awakening Stele.
There was one thing that could be used to buy titles: Space-Time Power. If he completed all the bounties on this [Hunt List: Blood Pact], he would gain a total of 26,000 ounces of Space-Time Power. He planned to reserve 10,000 ounces for buying things in the Honor Shop, and the remaining 16,000 ounces of Space-Time Power could all be used to buy titles.
Among the bounties on the [Hunt List: Blood Pact], the Molten Giant and the Origin Stone: World Fragment must be found. The former was related to upgrading his armor, and the latter was the last missing fragment.
The bounty for the Molten Giant was 2,500 ounces of Space-Time Power, and the bounty for the Origin Stone: World was 7,500 ounces of Space-Time Power. Excluding these two bounties, the Space-Time Power obtained from other bounties could all be used to buy titles.
Another important point was that whether it was the Apocalypse Paradise, Holy Light Paradise, or Sanctuary Paradise, none of them were very rich in Space-Time Power. The Death Paradise was okay, but it couldn't compare to the Reincarnation Paradise.
The specialty of the Death Paradise was [Death Saint Emblem], the specialty of the Apocalypse Paradise was [Starfall Furnace], and as for the specialty of the Reincarnation Paradise, in the early and mid-stages, Su Xiao had thought for a long time that its specialty was Space-Time Power. Later, he discovered that wasn't the case. Space-Time Power was a resource at the Paradise level.
This also meant that contractors of the Reincarnation Paradise had an easier time obtaining Space-Time Power than contractors of other Paradises. Consequently, in the perception of other Paradises, Space-Time Power was more precious. Additionally, before the brand level reached Lv.85, there were various restrictions on Space-Time Power transactions between contractors.
Even after the brand level exceeded Lv.85, there were still restrictions, just not as strict as before. Before the brand level reached Lv.90, the transaction limit for Space-Time Power in one world progress was within 20,000 ounces. This was still the restriction situation for the Reincarnation Paradise's brand; the restrictions for other Paradises' brands should be even greater.
Moreover, after obtaining the [Hunt List: Blood Pact], Su Xiao already had a stable way to obtain Space-Time Power.
These matters weren't urgent for now. Su Xiao's current priority was to quickly complete the breakthrough of the 300-point attribute barrier. Because in his view, successfully advancing to Absolute Strength was the true beginning of this world's journey. Otherwise, forget about searching for the Monarch's Treasure or preventing the world-destroying beings from escaping this world; even encountering 'wild monsters' in this world could lead to his sudden death.
Originally, Su Xiao's plan was to immediately find an opportunity to develop the insect race after entering this world, using them to get through the most difficult early stage. However, after entering the Eternal Light World, he found the situation was much better than expected. Because of the appearance of the Monarch's Treasure, the entire Lightless Divine Temple was fixated on this matter.
Powerful beings like the Eternal Dark Lord, the Archbishop of the Abyss, the Ancestor, and the Star Devourer were almost driven mad by their imprisonment. Among them, the Ancestor had been imprisoned here for over a hundred thousand years. The Eternal Light World had been a prison for not long before the Ancestor was locked in.
The Star Devourer was second, having been imprisoned for over ninety thousand years. The Archbishop of the Abyss was about fifty thousand years, and the Eternal Dark Lord had the shortest time, having been imprisoned for a few thousand years.
It was precisely because of this that the Eternal Dark Lord had the strongest determination to escape. He established the Sanctuary City, created the Lightless Divine Temple faction, and when he used the divine throne of the Lightless Divine Temple to recruit the Archbishop of the Abyss, the Ancestor, and the Star Devourer, the attitudes of the three parties were quite interesting.
The attitudes of the Archbishop of the Abyss and the Star Devourer were: whatever, since we can't get out anyway. The Ancestor was the least interested. It must be known that when it was sealed, its range of activity wasn't as large as a world, but a place the size of a single building, sealed for over a hundred thousand years.
At first, it was angry and proud, but after a hundred thousand years passed, it began to repent for its past evils, regretting having devoured all living beings from nearly a hundred worlds. Then, the Ancestor became numb from imprisonment, and finally, this world-destroying being went a bit crazy.
Because of this, among the four giants of the Lightless Divine Temple, the Ancestor hated the Shadow of Law Destruction the most and was the most insane. If given a choice between escaping this world and killing Su Xiao, the Ancestor would unhesitatingly choose the latter.
The good news was that these world-destroying beings currently didn't know Su Xiao had arrived here.
This advantage must be maintained. Therefore, Su Xiao decided to postpone summoning Jila here. Moreover, to truly deal with the Eternal Dark Lord, the Archbishop of the Abyss, the Ancestor, and the Star Devourer, he couldn't rely on Jila. These world-destroying beings were least afraid of swarm tactics. For example, the Archbishop of the Abyss's Abyss Aura: any target that approached within a certain range of it, once their life force fell below a certain threshold, would be instantly drained by it.
But this didn't mean he shouldn't develop Jila. This world had many enemies that Jila needed to deal with, such as the Star-Craving Crab and the World-Eroding Worm. These were enemies that Su Xiao, even after advancing to Absolute Strength, couldn't handle.
Simply put, the enemies in the Eternal Light World were of two types.
One type was invincible in group battles. These needed Jila to deal with. Su Xiao had absolutely no chance of winning against them; in fact, engaging them in battle would mean certain death.
The other type were powerful individuals that countered group battles. These strong enemies needed Su Xiao to kill after he advanced to Absolute Strength. Jila couldn't handle them at all. It could be said that these were Jila's nemeses, but such beings were particularly rare, with only a few existing within the Eternal Light World.
After making up his mind, Su Xiao decided to go to the Corrosion Rain Land first, where the Watcher's Tower was located. The problem was, going to the Corrosion Rain Land alone was somewhat uncertain. If he could trick his two 'good teammates' into coming along, having those two fellows accompany him to the Corrosion Rain Land would make things much safer.
As long as he found his 'good teammates', the survival rate when encountering danger would increase by at least two-thirds. Because when encountering an enemy they couldn't handle, Su Xiao, Wood, and Zuiyasi would all turn and flee at the same time. If there was only one enemy, it could only choose one of the three to pursue.
If he teamed up with others, this effect wouldn't exist. The reason was Su Xiao's Charm attribute of -20 points, making him the most likely to be chased. But when standing together with his two 'good teammates', this was no problem at all.
Zuiyasi's arrogance was ingrained in his aura and even his soul. When an enemy saw this guy for the first time, they would subconsciously feel: 'Damn, this guy is so arrogant. The more I look at him, the angrier I get.'
As for Wood, the triple passive taunt buff of Demon Race + Trickster + Contract Master stacked together.
-20 points of Charm, Arrogance ingrained in the soul, Triple passive taunt. When these three stood side by side, an enemy's train of thought would stutter, and they would really have a hard time deciding which one to chase first.
Just as Su Xiao was thinking about this, the teleportation array on the outer side of the Sanctuary lit up, and two figures walked down from it. One of them was Sornes, and the other was a woman in a black dress with a soft figure. This was the Dark Maiden.
The Dark Maiden's eyes were pitch black. Although her temperament was gentle, when she stared at someone with her dark eyes, it would make those with weak wills feel an inexplicable creepiness.
Besides her pitch-black eyes, the Dark Maiden's arms were dark-blue crystal prosthetics. The crystal near the shoulders of these two arms was completely black, becoming more transparent blue towards the hands, with a beautiful light blue feeling remaining at the fingertips. All the details of these arms were very fine, but the damage was also considerable, especially the left arm, where the wrist under the sleeve was already half damaged.
After the Dark Maiden stepped down from the teleportation platform, she thrust a sheathed sharp sword into a groove on a sculpture. This sculpture had over a dozen sheathed swords on it, including a large sword resembling a wolf sword and the mechanical swords used by the Eternal Light Watchers.
After placing the weapon, the Dark Maiden came before Su Xiao and said softly, "Law-Destroying Lord, have you come to fulfill your duty as a Law Destroyer?"
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He looked at the pair of skulls near the teleportation array that had been burned to white bones by the darkness. Conservatively estimated, these skulls, when alive, were at the Absolute Strength level. The Dark Maiden, who had turned them into this state and piled them here, had combat power that could be imagined.
Sornes, a few meters away, had already started frantically winking. Because after the Eternal Light World had fallen into such a situation, the existence of the Dark Maiden was different from before.
In the past, the Dark Maiden's duty was to provide the [Sanctuary] buff to Law Destroyers and Abyss Defenders, and to ensure the safety of the Watcher's Tower when needed.
But later, after most of the Watcher's Towers were destroyed and one Dark Maiden after another died, the last Dark Maiden came to the Gray Sanctuary, activating this final sanctuary. After that, the Old Tree Clan, Sornes, and the Scroll Master came here. From then on, the Dark Maiden's duty changed to cleaning up the world-destroying beings in this world as much as possible.
The Dark Maiden had been fulfilling this duty. And today, a Shadow of Law Destruction had arrived. If Su Xiao agreed to the Dark Maiden's [Oath], then the Dark Maiden's duty would revert to the original: ensuring the safety of the Gray Sanctuary and bestowing the [Sanctuary] state on the Shadow of Law Destruction, allowing him to be completely unafraid of the Eternal Light World's polar daylight.
Although Su Xiao didn't answer the Dark Maiden's [Oath], she just waited quietly. After a while, he asked, "What is the duty of the Law Destroyers here?"
"To slay the prisoners who have escaped their cages."
"Is that so? Then I should have no problem."
"I wish you success, Law-Destroying Lord."
After saying this, the Dark Maiden came to a seat by the wall and sat down quietly. In front of her was a small round stone table, and opposite was another stone chair with a backrest. After the Dark Maiden sat down, she made a gesture of invitation, meaning for Su Xiao to sit opposite her.
As soon as Su Xiao sat down, the Dark Maiden opposite him raised her hands, holding them as if grasping something. Black energy surged from her transparent blue crystal fingers, forming a black energy ball between her cupped hands.
The excessive concentration of darkness caused a faint white light to appear in the center. A thread extended from within this faint light, reaching Su Xiao's arm. Then, a surge of protective energy was bestowed upon him.
Not only that, this protective energy continued to spread, extending in the form of threads to Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha.
[You have received the [Sanctuary] buff from the Dark Maiden. For the next 10 natural days, you will be unafraid of the scorching of the polar daylight.]
Su Xiao finally understood why, when Sornes had given him the Sanctuary Stone earlier, he had said he probably wouldn't need it. One application of the [Sanctuary] state by the Dark Maiden lasted for 10 days, and this state wasn't limited to a single application. When it was about to expire, he could come back to the Dark Maiden for another application.
"Law-Destroying Lord, my arms are damaged. Can you help me repair them?"
The Dark Maiden raised her left arm, pulled up her sleeve a bit, and placed her crystal prosthetic on the stone table.
Su Xiao's index finger touched the damaged part of the Dark Maiden's wrist. He then discovered that these two crystal arms were probably made by a previous Law Destroyer using the Proud Song ability to crystallize the Azure Steel Shadow ability. After so many years, the structure of these two crystal arms was still so stable, showing how powerful that previous Shadow of Law Destruction's Azure Steel Shadow ability was.
Su Xiao used 9,500 points of Azure Steel Shadow energy to form crystals, the highest intensity Proud Song crystals he could generate. He then used these still-liquid Proud Song crystals to repair the Dark Maiden's crystal arms. Not just the left arm, he had the Dark Maiden place both crystal arms on the stone table.
Before long, the damaged parts of both of the Dark Maiden's crystal arms were repaired. Not only that, Su Xiao formed dozens of Spirit Shadow Threads, letting these highly active Spirit Shadow Threads sink into the Dark Maiden's arms to act as nerves for these two arms, connecting them to the nerves at the severed ends of her shoulders.
The Dark Maiden's shoulder twitched unnaturally, then returned to stillness. It could be said that the Dark Maiden was always very quiet, quiet and gentle, but powerful.
If it came to forming prosthetic limbs with Proud Song crystals, Su Xiao's current Azure Steel Shadow ability level was indeed inferior to the previous Law Destroyers. But if it came to the perfection of the crystal arms, Su Xiao was not inferior to any previous Law Destroyer. This had been acknowledged by the unscrupulous Law-Destroying mentor and the old Law Destroyer.
When the repair of the crystal arms was complete, the Dark Maiden raised her hand and touched her cheek with her finger. The tactile sensation from her fingertip caused a hint of surprise in her pitch-black eyes. This was the first time since they had met that she had shown any emotion besides quietness.
The Dark Maiden slowly moved her ten fingers. After a moment, she slightly bowed her head to Su Xiao and said, "Thank you, Law-Destroying Lord."
After saying this, the Dark Maiden took a piece of parchment map from the drawer of the stone table and placed it on the table.
[Prompt: You have received a side mission: Treasure.]
[Side Mission: Treasure.]
Difficulty Level: Lv.???
Mission Brief: When you complete a specific event, or slay one of the Eternal Dark Lord, Archbishop of the Abyss, Ancestor, or Star Devourer, the Dark Maiden will hand over the location of the Law-Destroying Treasure Vault she has found to you in the form of a treasure vault map.
Warning: Do not attempt to forcibly seize the treasure vault map from the Dark Maiden. Otherwise, she will take corresponding measures, giving you a counterattack that is definitely not fatal but will require several days of recuperation.
Mission Deadline: Before leaving this world.
Mission Reward: -- (Determined based on actual situation).
Mission Penalty: None.
...
The mission content was simple. If Su Xiao activated the [Super-World-Level Sealing Technique] left by the Law Destruction faction, or slew one of the four giants of the Lightless Divine Temple, he could obtain a treasure vault map from the Dark Maiden, thereby finding the treasure vault left by the previous Law Destroyers.
There were many Law-Destroying treasure vaults in this world. However, these were the personal assets of the Law Destroyers. The truly astonishing resource wealth was all in the faction treasure vault of the Law Destruction faction.
There was only one faction treasure vault, but the problem was whether it had already been discovered by the world-destroying beings.
Su Xiao took out the map Sornes had given him and used it as a reference. He quickly found that the treasure vault map in his hand was located in the area of the Corrosion Rain Land. This shouldn't be a coincidence. The Dark Maiden knew that the last Watcher's Tower was deep in the Corrosion Rain Land.
"Law-Destroying Lord, the Lightless Divine Temple is already searching for the location of the Monarch's Treasure. It is necessary for you to find this treasure before them. This treasure contains the method to open the Eternal Light Seal, but this is not as important as activating the [World-Level Technique]."
The information provided by the Dark Maiden was quite important, but Su Xiao had already learned of this matter from his 'good teammates'.
"I know about this. From the current situation, we don't have much of an advantage in this matter."
"There is, Law-Destroying Lord."
As the Dark Maiden spoke, she placed an ancient, heavy-feeling key on the stone table. Su Xiao picked it up and checked its attributes. It was indeed the key to the Monarch's Treasure Vault. Without this item, there was no way to enter the Monarch's Underground Palace. According to Zuiyasi, the entrance to the Monarch's Underground Palace and the palace itself were not in the same space. The underground palace was located in an independently existing space.
Because the Eternal Light World had an overall spatial seal, such independently existing medium and small spaces were particularly difficult to explore, or rather, basically impossible to explore. Even a space-type contractor would be useless. Therefore, the only way to find the Monarch's Treasure was to find the entrance and then use this key to open the sealed spatial gate, thereby entering the Monarch's Underground Palace.
Looking at the key in his hand, Su Xiao's subsequent plans began to take shape. He brought Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha, used the Eternal Light Watcher's Ring to leave the Gray Sanctuary, and headed straight for the Sanctuary City.
After arriving near the Sanctuary City, Su Xiao had Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha wait in a valley. He used the [Violator] title to disguise himself, randomly chose the appearance of a violator, and walked towards the Sanctuary City.
The guards at the entrance still had cold eyes, the same as last time. There was no inspection, and they let Su Xiao enter. Thinking about it, this Sanctuary City was not a safe area at all.
Going deep into the lower city, after wandering through dirty and winding alleys, Su Xiao stopped in front of a two-story building. He pushed the door and walked inside.
Beside a small round table, Zuiyasi and Wood were already seated. The light shining down from above flickered, and Su Xiao also sat down.
"Bai Ye, any good news?"
Zuiyasi spoke. He and Wood had rushed here in a hurry because Su Xiao had said in the team channel that there was good news to discuss in person.
Now, the cooperation of the 'good teammates' had officially begun. With a common goal, they could start appropriately tricking each other. On this point, whether it was Su Xiao, Zuiyasi, or Wood, it was all tacitly accepted. Among them, Wood had tricked Su Xiao and Zuiyasi the most times.
"I found the location of the Monarch's Underground Palace key."
Su Xiao spoke. Hearing this, Zuiyasi and Wood both perked up a bit. Wood asked, "Where is the key?"
"In the Corrosion Rain Land, inside the Watcher's Tower. Let's go find it together."
Su Xiao gave an exceptionally clear answer. As for whether this was tricking his 'good teammates'? It couldn't be considered a complete trick. The key was on him. By the time he himself arrived at the Watcher's Tower in the Corrosion Rain Land, this information of his would be true.
After hearing this news, Zuiyasi and Wood both seemed quite happy, but they were secretly speculating in their hearts, because they both suspected that the key was currently on Su Xiao.
"Oh, by the way, there are quite a few Soul Crystal Cores stored in that Watcher's Tower."
Su Xiao spoke again. This information was not a trick at all.
"How many cores?"
Zuiyasi was already tempted, and Wood felt the same.
"Not many, over a thousand. If you two feel it's too dangerous, we can actually go to that tower later..."
Su Xiao's words were only half spoken when Zuiyasi interrupted decisively, "No, we must go! That key is crucial to us! Let's move out now!"