Chapter 2: Replicating the Script from the Last Trip to the Source: Dead Silence City
Last time, the rumor was forged that there was a Black Maple Tree sapling inside the Source: Dead Silence City, attracting a large number of strong individuals to share the risk. As it turned out, this was an extremely wise move. Otherwise, Su Xiao might have already been chopped to death by the Dead Silence City Sword Saint Group.
As for what script to use this time, that depends on Kaisa's performance. Although Kaisa is greedy, he is very reliable after receiving payment. He will definitely find Violent Rat and Toad, and the Three Rascals of the Arbiters will collaborate to create a very attractive script.
Not long after, Kaisa replied with a message. He accepted the commission, on the condition that Su Xiao temporarily lend him an item. There was no fear of Kaisa losing this item. Or rather, unless Su Xiao died, this item would ultimately belong only to him, and no one else could take it away.
Su Xiao activated the return permission. The next second, he returned to his Exclusive Room. He left the Exclusive Room and went to Xia's restaurant. After a hearty meal and packing a serving of seafood fried noodles, he got up and left the restaurant. He had only walked a few dozen meters when he stopped. He was used to eating without paying and had forgotten to settle the bill again.
Turning back to the restaurant, the door was already closed. After being recognized by the smart butler, he walked inside. Due to the cooking just now, Xia was already exhausted and had fallen asleep in the recliner. Seeing this, Su Xiao raised his hand and pushed Xia. Xia opened her eyes dazedly, sat up, and stared blankly, looking at Su Xiao with a confused gaze.
"..."
Su Xiao took out a money pouch and put 400 of the remaining 504 Soul Coins into it. The truth was, he had forgotten to pay for quite some time and couldn't remember exactly how much he owed.
"Uh~, this dream is so strange. Bai Ye, why are you still so quiet in the dream? I'm the protagonist of this dream~"
As she spoke, the sleepy Xia fell asleep again. It seemed that the culinary skills learned from the Gluttony Castle consumed a lot of stamina.
After Su Xiao left the restaurant, the shop door behind him closed. The smart butler inside the restaurant detected that the owner was fast asleep, so it automatically closed the shop. Speaking of which, this smart butler was a gift from Bubu Wang to Xia, not a gift in the usual sense. As the programmer of this smart butler, Bubu Wang always felt it was an artificial idiot, so after one dinner, it used this thing to pay for the meal.
After returning to his Exclusive Room, Su Xiao took out the Library Badge and used it to enter the Soul Library.
Half an hour later, on the top floor of the library, the acting administrator, the little elf Popoli, was fast asleep on the chair behind the wooden counter. It was understandable. In recent years, only Su Xiao could reach the top floor of the Soul Library. Apart from cleaning, Popoli spent his days sleeping.
Setting down the packed seafood fried noodles, the little elf Popoli's nose twitched twice. He rubbed his eyes and woke up. Sleepy-eyed, Popoli looked at Su Xiao, took a second to react, and greeted, "Bai Ye, you're here. What knowledge are you exchanging this time?"
The little elf Popoli wasn't polite. After waking up, he started enjoying the seafood noodles. Once he started eating, he couldn't stop. After finishing the large portion, he burped with lingering satisfaction and asked, "Which restaurant did you buy this from?"
"A restaurant in Reincarnation Paradise."
"What a pity. But I guess this restaurant must be doing booming business."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't say anything. Xia's restaurant was practically the exclusive kitchen for the Dawn Team. Given Xia's "amazing" choice of location, anyone who had been there once would praise the food. But when they wanted to go a second time, they would be dumbfounded to find: "Where was that restaurant last time? Wasn't it here? But why is this the Skill Upgrade Hall now?"
After suffering the blow of having no repeat customers, Xia gave up. It wasn't like she relied on the restaurant's income anyway. She was making recovery and buff foods that could be taken into mission worlds. She simply removed the restaurant's signboard altogether.
This time, when Su Xiao came to the Soul Library, he first went to the Ancient One and exchanged [Travel Notes of the Ancient One] for 2000 Library Silver Coins, and [Soul Secret Art (Inheritance/Profession Knowledge)] for 500 Library Silver Coins.
Previously, Su Xiao had wanted to use [Soul Secret Art (Inheritance/Profession Knowledge)] to self-study some Soul System passives. But after two hours of concentrated reading, he closed [Soul Secret Art]. He simply couldn't understand it, lacking the foundational knowledge related to the Soul System.
Now, Su Xiao had 4180 Library Silver Coins in hand. Since his total assets were only 1680 Library Silver Coins before, he had only bought less than half of the "Advanced Sealcraft." The total price for this item was 3800 Library Silver Coins.
With ample Library Silver Coins on hand, he naturally wanted to buy it all. Even if he mastered it later, he could still sell these "Advanced Sealcraft" ancient texts back to the Soul Library, still at the price of 3800 Library Silver Coins.
After fully mastering "Advanced Sealcraft," there was still the pinnacle of Sealcraft, "Master-level Sealcraft," which required a full 7000 Library Silver Coins. Just looking at this price, one could understand its value.
After paying the Library Silver Coins to acquire the complete "Advanced Sealcraft," Su Xiao went down to the largest floor of the library. A cup of Maple Tea, a Sealcraft ancient text, and he took out the "Abyss Contract."
The principle of this item was simple: pay a "Price" to gain an "Enhancement."
Su Xiao signed the name Kukulin Bai Ye on it. The enhancement he chose was a temporary "Massive" increase in learning ability. After 47 hours, this contract would be dissolved. The "Restrictions" and "Price" he set were:
Restrictions: Cannot use this item long-term. Cannot use it for more than 48 hours at a time. Cannot use this contract to directly pry into Abyss Force. Cannot crave easily obtained dark power. Cannot fall into the Abyss.
Price: Intense Misfortune, Moderate Weakness, Ten Thousandfold Pain, Intense Spiritual Vision.
The price Su Xiao set was too intense, and he only gained a temporary learning ability, not a direct permanent acquisition of power. This caused the "Abyss Contract" to only provide a buff to him, not bind with him.
This was exactly what Su Xiao wanted. Directly gaining power through the "Abyss Contract" had risks and costs that were too high.
Su Xiao immersed himself in mastering Sealcraft. With the dual learning ability enhancements from the "Mysterious Scholar" title and the "Abyss Contract," as well as the supervision of five "strict teachers," his Sealcraft improved rapidly.
When the 5 natural days of secondary stay time were down to only 10 minutes, Su Xiao closed the last Sealcraft ancient text. He stood up and activated the teleportation. After returning to his Exclusive Room, he felt dizzy and collapsed into sleep. When he woke up, it was already noon the next day.
He opened the emails sent by Kaisa. There were two in total. The first email had blank content but included half of a [Sun Mark]. This was the World Key to enter "Blazing Sun Star: Chiriad."
The content of the second email was very interesting. This email captured the headline reported today by the most famous magazine guild in the high ranks of Apocalypse Paradise. The content was:
'Breaking News: The "Origin Stone: World" Appears on Blazing Sun Star: Chiriad.'
Below was a picture of a palace. Various rare treasures were piled on the ground. On the only wooden stand was placed the "Origin Stone: World."
This photo was real. The shooting location was not "Blazing Sun Star: Chiriad," but "Sacred Land: Chiriad" on the Demon Spirit Star. To be precise, it was a small area of "Blazing Sun Star: Chiriad" that had fallen to the Demon Spirit Star, thus assimilating into "Sacred Land: Chiriad."
Essentially, Kaisa really did take the "Origin Stone: World" to an abandoned palace in Chiriad, snapped a couple of pictures, click, click.
However, after the Black Maple Tree rumor from the Source: Dead Silence City, the strong individuals from various Paradises and the Void Myriad Realms were very cautious about such a situation where a supreme treasure suddenly appeared in an ultra-high-danger world. There were simply too many old yinbis in this era. So, diviners from all sides came out in force.
The problem was, this time they were divining the "Origin Stone: World." Even the most top-tier diviners got very vague results.
It was under these circumstances that all the top diviners got a similar divination result: the "Origin Stone: World" really had appeared in "Blazing Sun Star: Chiriad"!
Why was this? The answer was that Su Xiao, who had already obtained the World Key to "Blazing Sun Star: Chiriad," was about to take the "Origin Stone: World" to this world. It could only be said that the prophecy's result was very accurate.
This very accurate prophecy result made those strong individuals who were still hesitating make up their minds. That was the "Origin Stone: World"! They had to compete for it!
At this moment, in the Doom Star, the Night Faction Base Camp, inside a dim church, Zuiyasi looked at the intelligence in his hand, a strange light appearing in his eyes.
Meanwhile, in the Void, the Demon Clan's territory, in the courtyard of a luxurious villa, Wude, who was lounging in a recliner enjoying a sunbath, looked at the intelligence material in his hand. The flame in his pupils condensed. This familiar feeling that hit him in the face made him sit up.
"Wude, are you tempted?"
A half-hidden succubus, a mix of Demon Clan and Devil Clan, spoke from the shadows.
"I'm not tempted. I've seen an old friend."
Wude didn't deliberately hide it. This mixed-blood succubus was his half-sister.
"Talking nonsense again. But I feel this matter is purely a rumor, just like the Black Maple Tree in Dead Silence City last time."
Hearing the mixed-blood succubus say this, a hint of a smile appeared on Wude's face. He said:
"You just don't understand my friend. Do you think we didn't find the Black Maple Tree in Dead Silence City last time? It's just that the Black Maple Tree withered and died. My old friend... he is a 'prophet.'"