Chapter 53: Rankings
With 3 million Soul Coins in hand, this was undoubtedly a huge sum, but considering the cost to upgrade the high-tier passive [Technique Sublimation: Supreme Blade], he immediately knew how these Soul Coins would be spent.
Not only that, but a previous idea of Su Xiao's could also be realized thanks to this sum of Soul Coins: mastering the high-tier passives corresponding to [Melee Grandmaster] and [Blood Spear Grandmaster] respectively. This would surely accumulate into even stronger combat power.
As it turned out, among the known Ancestral Law Destroyers, Star-Swallowing Akas was the most reliable, whether in the design of this treasure vault or the resources stored within.
Being able to come to the Eternal Light World to open this vault meant one had at least the strength of an Absolute Strong rank. Therefore, Akas didn't leave behind basic resources. The 3 million Soul Coins + 12 Primordial Fragments + 3 portions of Demon Spirit Source Matter + exclusive Awakening Stone — these items were both hard to obtain and practical.
Besides these items, Su Xiao also saw a scroll at the bottom of the sealed box. After opening it, he saw the following Void Script text:
100 Soul: 20 Demon Spirits.
200 Soul: 40 Demon Spirits.
300 Soul: 70 Demon Spirits.
400 Soul: 140 Demon Spirits.
500 Soul: 260 Demon Spirits (Qualitative Change Period, can control Demon Spirits more stably).
600 Soul: 300 Demon Spirits.
700 Soul: 350 Demon Spirits.
800 Soul: 400 Demon Spirits.
900 Soul: 450 Demon Spirits.
1000 Soul: 500 Demon Spirits.
…
At first glance, the records above were puzzling, but considering that Star-Swallowing Akas had no semi-dataization, did this ratio represent how many points of Soul Strength could suppress how many points of Demon Spirit Strength?
Understood this way, once Soul Strength exceeded 500 points, it passed the qualitative change period. Subsequently, 600 points of Soul Strength could suppress a Blade Demon Spirit with 300 points of Demon Spirit Strength, preventing backlash.
Su Xiao's current Soul Strength was 860 points. He had always believed that controlling a Blade Demon Spirit with 300 points of Demon Spirit Strength was his limit. Now, it was clearly not the case; he could suppress a Blade Demon Spirit with over 400 points of Demon Spirit Strength.
Currently, his Blade Demon Spirit had a Demon Spirit Strength of 190 points, leaving plenty of room for improvement. The records on this scroll seemed to be just a few dozen values, but they were immensely helpful to Su Xiao. However, in this regard, it wasn't that the old Law Destroyer and Mawen Hua'erzi didn't teach him; those two old fellows belonged to the faction that devoured Demon Spirits. Their understanding of this aspect might be even less than Su Xiao's own.
As for Green Gillian, her method of controlling Demon Spirits was something others couldn't learn. This guy had the strongest Demon Spirit, and she particularly enjoyed the thrilling sensation of the Demon Spirit being on the verge of semi-loss of control, reveling in it. Due to this long-term practice, her suppression of the Demon Spirit was terrifyingly strong.
Su Xiao looked at the [Demon Spirit Source Matter] in his hand. He didn't need to think to know that this thing could increase Demon Spirit Strength. Star-Swallowing Akas was somewhat worried that the junior who came here might get too excited and absorb the [Demon Spirit Source Matter], causing the Demon Spirit to go out of control. Hence, he provided the most intuitive reference, which was very reliable.
After confirming there was nothing else in the vault, Su Xiao turned and walked to the exit. After unlocking the mechanism, he left the place via the Demon Spirit.
The scene before him changed. Su Xiao returned to the main hall. After retracting the Demon Spirit, he saw Bubu Wang looking up at the statue of the Moon Wolf, then trying to strike the same pose. For no other reason, the pose looked cool.
"Let's go."
Su Xiao, the Dark Girl, Amu, and Baha walked towards the exit of the main hall, but Bubu Wang remained there, maintaining the pose. It wasn't until Su Xiao reached the door and found Bubu Wang still beside the Moon Wolf's stone statue, striking the same pose, that he noticed Bubu's expression had changed. It wasn't fierce and imposing, but panicked. Its little eyes clearly said: 'Come save me, help!'
Seeing this, Su Xiao turned back. After observing around Bubu Wang for a moment, he found nothing unusual. But at that moment, the Moon Wolf's stone statue gradually rose a bit, revealing a hidden compartment in the base below, containing a silver necklace shaped like a full moon.
[You have obtained Silver Moon Necklace (Unidentified).]
At this point, Bubu Wang could finally move. It quickly ran outside, peeking around from beside the main door. Judging by its expression, it wouldn't dare to be mischievous for a while.
After leaving the main hall, the spatial seal around them disappeared. Su Xiao and the others first used the Watcher's Ring to return to the Gray Holy Sanctuary, then used the teleportation array in the Gray Holy Sanctuary to reach their base camp.
The Dark Girl didn't come along; she stayed in the Gray Holy Sanctuary, waiting for Su Xiao to prepare everything before taking him to the Skeleton Island again to fight the Scarlet Monarch.
Su Xiao wouldn't engage in this decisive battle until everything was ready. Looking around, their base camp was now extremely spectacular, covering an area the size of a city. Various insectoid buildings stood tall. Millions of Demon Beasts and hundreds of thousands of Demon Flame Dragons were dormant on the fungal carpet to reduce bio-energy consumption. Only a small number, about a thousand Demon Flame Dragons, occasionally flew overhead.
One kilometer away from the Mother Nest stood the Star Giant Tree. Within a few kilometers around this giant tree, over ten thousand Brutal Cannon Towers had been built. If the next Star Devourer was still fierce and violent, it wouldn't be able to leave this place; it could just wait for the next Star Devourer after that.
Su Xiao arrived under the Star Giant Tree. It was exceptionally cool here, and with the elemental concentration, it was the perfect place to brew Elemental Brew. Later, when he returned to his exclusive room, he would definitely move the large wooden barrel specifically for brewing Elemental Brew here. This would at least elevate the quality of the Elemental Brew by one tier.
Sitting in the cool shade under the giant tree, Su Xiao checked his current World Prestige, totaling 489,500 points. He planned to exchange all these prestige points for Title Chests. The benefits of opening Prestige Chests now were incomparable to before. Previously, his Void Tree Reputation was -???, which meant that opening Prestige Chests only yielded one-star attribute-less titles.
Now, Su Xiao's Void Tree Reputation had reached 0 points. If the current Void Tree Reputation could be stabilized and bring high returns, he could consider maintaining it.
[You have exchanged 489,500 Title Chests.]
[Title Chest: Upon opening, you can obtain ★~★★★★★★★★★ titles.]
[You have opened 489,500 Title Chests.]
[You have obtained 6,510 two-star attribute-less titles.]
[You have obtained 482,990 one-star attribute-less titles.]
…
Seeing these opening results, Su Xiao checked his current Void Tree Reputation again. Confirming it was 0 points, he suddenly felt that this thing wasn't much different from -???. If nothing else, if a three-star title had appeared, he would have considered whether to maintain the current Void Tree Reputation and not proceed with subsequent operations.
Now it seemed that if he didn't make a big move, it wouldn't be worthy of the reward from the legendary mission. Su Xiao took out a Soul Coin, flicked it with his thumb, and with a *ding*, it flew into the air. As the Soul Coin spun and fell, a hand caught it.
"My dear friend, have you made your decision?"
Kaisa, covered in various jewelry and holding a large cloth bag, spoke. This guy had been busy lately, either looting long-standing treasure vaults or on his way to find them.
"Mm."
Receiving Su Xiao's reply, Kaisa looked around. Feeling the environment was suitable, he put the Abyssal Jar on his head, first formed a team, then took out various props and started using them on himself.
After using at least dozens of bizarre props, Kaisa stopped, calmed his breath, and took out the [Deceiver's Headwrap], putting it on his head. This caused Kaisa's aura to change drastically, giving him a bit of a member of the Lightless Temple.
The result was that the millions of Demon Beasts, hundreds of thousands of Demon Flame Dragons, and tens of thousands of Titan Giant Beasts at their base camp all woke from their slumber. All insectoid buildings were highly activated, and the Brutal Cannon Towers were ready to fire living missiles at any moment.
An extremely terrifying aura spread throughout their base camp. Especially the hundreds of thousands of Demon Flame Dragons that had dealt with the World Devourer. These were all level 3 max-level Demon Flame Dragons, and their combat power was unimaginable. Now, more than half of them took flight, circling at low altitude.
Kaisa had already vanished without a trace, but Su Xiao was sure Kaisa was still nearby. It was just that this concealment technique was beyond common sense and couldn't be sensed.
At that moment, Su Xiao received a team recruitment message. It was Kaisa inviting him to join the Lightless Temple faction's team. There was only one person in this team, Kaisa himself.
[You have joined Kaisa's team.]
[Due to Kaisa's 'Unique Ability: Faction Bully, X', your current faction affiliation has been completely suppressed and reduced. You have temporarily lost your faction identity as the leader of the Demon Insect Race. You have become a factionless member.]
[Your current team has various survival day count bonus effects.]
[Note: This Survival Ranking will be based on survival days. Staying within Sanctuary City or Black Iron City will increase survival days at a 1:1 time flow rate. Staying in dangerous environments outside Sanctuary City will increase survival days at a 1:1.5 to 50 time flow rate.]
[Your current team has the following bonuses:]
[Worn Resin Badge (Effect after use): Extra increase of 15% to the upper limit of survival day gain (from the maximum of 50 times to a maximum of 57.5 times).]
[Void Tree Badge: Exemption (Effect after use): Extra increase of 300% to the upper limit of survival day gain (from the maximum of 57.5 times to a maximum of 230 times).]
[Void Tree Badge: Limit Medium (Effect after use): Extra increase of 500% to the upper limit of survival day gain (from the maximum of 230 times to a maximum of 1380 times).]
[Void Tree Badge: Ultimate Amplification (Effect after use): Extra increase of 650% to the upper limit of survival day gain (from the maximum of 1380 times to a maximum of 5000 times, this is the absolute upper limit!).]
…
Su Xiao had no idea where Kaisa got these strange badges. Presumably, he had completed tasks issued by the Void Tree and done exceptionally well, so the Void Tree gave him these rewards. It seemed that in the Void Tree's judgment, Kaisa was definitely under special scrutiny. This guy's efficiency was truly top-notch, yet he didn't care how low his Void Tree Reputation dropped.
As for why Kaisa obtained such absurd badge-type items, it wasn't hard to understand. After completing extremely difficult Void Tree tasks, the rewards given by the Void Tree would be highly tailored to the recipient.
Items highly tailored to Kaisa's characteristics were exactly this kind: useless in one aspect and absurdly powerful in another.
Su Xiao didn't know how long Kaisa had been saving up to gather so many ranking-boosting props. But the problem was that the team's bonuses were in place, yet Su Xiao had previously cleared out all the dangerous areas in this world. This meant that no matter how high the survival day multiplier was, it was meaningless.
But could this problem stump Kaisa? Of course not. This guy had already prepared. As Kaisa continued his operations, Su Xiao received the following prompts.
[Prompt: Due to Kaisa's 'Unique Ability: Join the Fray, X', you have been forcibly pulled into the current team's lineup. Your current faction is now judged as: Lightless Temple.]
[Warning: Your current faction is a mortal enemy of the Demon Insect Race!]
[Warning: You are currently in the core area of the enemy's base camp.]
[Warning: You are attempting to approach the Insect Race Dominator Jila of the Demon Insect Race faction. This is an extremely high-risk behavior.]
[Prompt: You have successfully captured the Insect Race Dominator Jila of the Demon Insect Race faction alive in the core area of the enemy's base camp.]
…
After these judgments, the Demon Flame Dragons in their base camp went berserk. They all felt that their Dominator was under a fatal threat. But whether in sight or perception, Jila was standing right next to the controller of the Demon Insect Race. The brains of the Demon Flame Dragons, born for slaughter, fell into chaos. Plus, Jila didn't issue any mental commands to calm them down.
Su Xiao didn't care how berserk the Demon Flame Dragons became. What he cared about at the moment was his rapidly increasing survival days and his continuously dropping Void Tree Reputation. The current Survival Ranking was:
First: Moon Witch (Holy Light Paradise), Survival 1150 Natural Days.
Second: Shenfu (Sanctuary Paradise), Survival 1136 Natural Days.
Third: Fierce Brother (Reincarnation Paradise), Survival 1025 Natural Days.
Fourth: Demon Scythe Tailed (Holy Light Paradise), Survival 995 Natural Days.
Fifth: Solomon (Reincarnation Paradise), Survival 950 Natural Days.
Sixth: Puppeteer (Reincarnation Paradise), Survival 920 Natural Days.
Seventh: Xi'er (Reincarnation Paradise), Survival 916 Natural Days.
Eighth: Antler Man (Death Paradise), Survival 723 Natural Days.
Ninth: Undead Girl (Reincarnation Paradise), Survival 698 Natural Days.
Tenth: Aige (Apocalypse Paradise), Survival 529 Natural Days.
…
In the blink of an eye, a few hours passed. Su Xiao's ranking, starting from over fifty, gradually broke into the top thirty, then headed straight for the top ten. Once he officially entered the top ten, the world channel became very lively.
Thunder Mage Aige (Apocalypse Paradise): "What's going on? My tenth place is about to disappear?"
Thunder Mage Aige (Apocalypse Paradise): "Well, in the time it took to speak, it's already gone."
Undead Girl (Reincarnation Paradise): "My ninth place! 30 Soul Crystals are going to become 20. Bai Ye, give me back my Soul Crystals! How can you increase so much?"
Antler Man (Death Paradise): "Uh~, my eighth place is gone too. Now I'm ninth."
Undead Girl (Reincarnation Paradise): "Damn it, I'm down to tenth."
Puppeteer (Reincarnation Paradise): "I, in sixth place, didn't even have time to speak before losing my sixth-place throne."
Fierce Brother (Reincarnation Paradise): "It's over. I'm fourth now. It just rolled right over my face, too fast to even see clearly."
Moon Witch (Holy Light Paradise): "Painfully lost the first place, but no complaints. How... was this done?"
Wind Wolf (Apocalypse Paradise): "Look, this big shot has disappeared from the rankings."
Witch Lilya (Holy Light Paradise): "Haha, cheating gets you banned."
Antler Man (Death Paradise): "I'm very curious, how was this done?"
…
Did Su Xiao and Kaisa do all this for nothing? Of course not. At this moment, Su Xiao was receiving a flood of Void Tree warnings, almost spamming his interface. But the problem was, these warnings had no actual punishment, because from start to finish, he hadn't violated any Void Tree rules.
Kaisa's props were all from the Void Tree. Those abilities were also notarized, highly personalized abilities. None of these operations exceeded the Void Tree's notarization scope, but when combined, they directly shot to the top of the Survival Ranking.
This was the strange aspect of Kaisa's operations. It was both surprising and confusing, yet somewhat reasonable. If Kaisa's methods were broken down, each step was within acceptable limits, but when combined, it made people's heads spin.
Therefore, Su Xiao's current state wasn't being removed from the rankings, but his rank was locked, becoming rank ???. Before the final settlement, he would still be reincorporated into the rankings.
[Prompt: It has been detected that the Hunter's ranking growth is too rapid and the growth method exceeds the normal scope. You may choose one of the following options before proceeding with subsequent judgment.]