Chapter 64: A Unique Method for Title Enhancement
Pushing open the window, the fresh morning air surged into the bedroom, dispelling the faint tangerine fragrance used to aid sleep, broadening one's mind to welcome a beautiful day.
However, for Molei, a day that was originally meant to be spent lazing around suddenly became exciting. She had only felt that taunting through a communication channel couldn't lead to a beating, but she never expected to meet face-to-face the very next day.
At this moment, Molei was so "excited" she almost burst into tears. But being who she was, adhering to the principle that good things must be shared with two close friends, and that suffering should also be shared, Molei decided to let her two friends experience the feeling of being caught offline as well.
"Someone…"
The little maid desperately tried to shout for help, but as soon as she spoke, Molei was already behind her, covering her mouth.
"Shh~!"
Molei made a silencing gesture. The little maid, already scared witless, subconsciously nodded. Speaking of which, this little maid's experience had been quite bumpy. She was initially assigned to the miscellaneous department under the Third Princess, but because she was a bit slow-witted, she was fired by the head maid under the Third Princess. Her fate afterward wouldn't be good, as she was originally a slave from the Eastern Federation, bought at a young age into the palace of the Atlan Empire.
The little maid was very lucky. When she was being scolded and fired by the head maid, a 15-year-old Molei, wanting to eat wild fruits she had picked herself, gathered a group of her little friends to go up the nearby mountain. On the way, she found a beehive and poked it, getting her right hand stung until it looked like a bear's paw. Just as she was being dragged along by her angry and worried head maid, she happened to see the little maid being scolded.
The world is wonderful. Some people, though seemingly silly, are born to inadvertently redeem others. For example, the silly girl, Molei.
From then on, every time Molei was scolded by her father or the head maid, the little maid behind her was scared out of her wits. As for Molei, even when being scolded, her face clearly said, "I'll do it again next time."
"Don't be afraid, this is my good friend. He came from very far away to see me."
Molei tried to calm the little maid, but the little maid, who had witnessed her troublemaking abilities since childhood, didn't believe it. Besides, even if he were a friend, who would sit by the bed waiting before someone had even woken up? The little maid guessed that it was highly likely that her young miss had made an enemy outside, and now that enemy had come for revenge.
"Hmm? You're going to secretly tell the head maid, aren't you?"
Over the years, having been secretly reported by the little maid many times before doing bad things, which prevented her from causing trouble, Molei keenly sensed the little maid's thoughts.
"No… no."
The little maid's gaze was evasive.
"…"
Su Xiao took out the memory erasure device. Seeing this, Molei immediately said, "No, I can handle it myself."
"…"
Su Xiao didn't speak. He placed the heavy-feeling memory erasure device on the table. He hadn't come this time to offline-kill Molei, but for the title.
For a long time, obtaining titles had been Su Xiao's weakness. Well… let's call it a weakness. The nine-star titles in his title slots, and even those that had been limit-refined once beyond nine stars, were all obtained through unconventional means.
Before temporarily swapping luck with Molei in the last world, Su Xiao truly didn't know that killing powerful enemies could yield such title rewards.
He had previously thought that nine stars were the limit for titles. Later, he discovered that limit-refining five times was the true pinnacle of titles. So-called limit-refining meant using one nine-star main title plus five nine-star secondary titles for refining. After refining, the main title would be upgraded to: "Limit Refine 1 time."
Each refining of a title was a qualitative change. The first time, as long as you filled the secondary title slots with five nine-star titles, this limit-refining would have a 100% success rate. For the second time, even if the secondary slots were filled with five nine-star titles, the success rate would drop to 80%. The third time, 20% success rate. The fourth time, 5%. The fifth time, the final limit-refining, the success rate was less than 0.1%.
[Deep Blue Shadow]
Origin: Reincarnation Paradise
Quality: ★★★★★★★★★
Limit Refine: Once.
Category: Title · Highly Rare.
Title Effect 1: Adaptive Power (Passive), all damage ranks +2.
Title Effect 2: Deep Blue (Core · Passive), your overall body speed increases by 58.76% (this bonus is boosted by the hunter's own true agility attribute, base bonus 20% + true agility attribute × 6%, this enhancement has high priority).
Title Effect 3: Wrath Shadow (Core · Passive), when fighting against world-destroying level beings and Abyss system enemies, an additional 20% true damage will be dealt.
Description: This is the shadow of wrathful slaughter within the deep blue.
Selling Price: Unsellable.
…
Su Xiao always felt that if this title could be further upgraded, it would play a crucial role in the future, perhaps even more powerful than War Lord.
But to continue limit-refining, he needed many nine-star titles. Moreover, when Su Xiao attempted Limit Refine 2 for [Deep Blue Shadow], would he really gamble on that 80% success rate? No matter how he looked at it, with only an 8% success rate, it was too reckless.
Su Xiao had always firmly believed in one thing: you must have self-awareness. Never get cocky just because you've become powerful. His usual principle was: if the probability isn't enough, use quantity to make up for it.
First, he needed to understand why the success rate for impact limit-refining 2 was only 80%. In Su Xiao's view, the problem must lie with the secondary titles. Normally, five nine-star titles were used as secondary titles. So, if he replaced them with five titles that had been limit-refined once, would the success rate for this synthesis reach 100%?
In Su Xiao's opinion, all five title limit-refinings could achieve a 100% success rate, but one condition had to be met: the five secondary titles surrounding the main title must have the same number of limit-refinings as the main title.
Why didn't anyone try this stable enhancement method? The reason was: taking Su Xiao's current [Deep Blue Shadow] title as an example, if he wanted to upgrade it to Limit Refine 2, he would first need to obtain 25 nine-star titles to create five "attribute-free secondary titles" that had been limit-refined once. The calculation for limit-refining values was as follows:
Limit Refine 1 to 2: Requires 25 nine-star titles.
Limit Refine 2 to 3: Requires 125 nine-star titles.
Limit Refine 3 to 4: Requires 625 nine-star titles.
Limit Refine 4 to 5: Requires 3125 nine-star titles (completing this limit-refining would yield the strongest title).
…
Calculated this way, Su Xiao would need a total of 3900 nine-star titles to upgrade [Deep Blue Shadow] to the strongest title. This was why, even though there was a 100% success rate method for limit-refining, no one tried it. The required number of nine-star titles was simply too absurd.
Su Xiao had originally given up on this idea, but after experiencing the "kill reward trial card" version of Molei, he had an inspiration. He had the strength to kill ultra-powerful bosses. Molei, Hao Mei, and Yueshitu had luck + high charm attributes. As long as Su Xiao led the Apocalypse Sisters trio to form a team and enter an ultra-high-level "dungeon," he could rely on their ultra-high title acquisition efficiency to obtain a large number of high-star titles.
The Apocalypse Sisters trio wouldn't be without gains either. On the contrary, in the boss kill rewards distributed through team formation each time, besides the title rewards, other aspects of the rewards were also very considerable.
An even greater benefit was that in Apocalypse Paradise, there was a mechanism called the resource tilt mechanism. Those contractors or battle angels who were stronger, more promising, and braver could obtain more rewards. One of these was that during world settlement, various rewards would be greatly enhanced.
Imagine this: other people in Apocalypse Paradise fought high-level big bosses in groups of dozens, or even hundreds. But for Molei, Yueshitu, and Hao Mei, their team treated big bosses like small fry, and in the ultra-high-risk world "Blazing Sun Star · Chilia," their three "resource tilt hidden scores" would skyrocket linearly. As for the risk of going to Blazing Sun Star, don't mind the details.
As for why Reincarnation Paradise didn't have this mechanism, if you listed the absolute strong and supreme level hunters of Reincarnation Paradise, you would immediately understand that this mechanism was simply unnecessary. Moreover, this mechanism couldn't even judge the hidden contributions of these guys.
Currently, the key to obtaining a large number of high-star titles was how to make the Apocalypse Sisters trio "willingly" join the team.
After a mix of coaxing and threatening, Molei finally calmed the little maid who kept wanting to inform the head maid. She asked her to prepare two more breakfasts, as she was indeed hungry.
Molei relaxed and lay flat on the bed, letting out a long sigh. She groped under her pillow for her personal terminal, but after searching back and forth for a long time, even sitting up to search, she still couldn't find it.
"Huh? Where's my terminal? I used it to play music before bed last night, how did it disappear?"
Molei scratched her head. Su Xiao didn't speak. He looked at the personal terminal hanging on the chandelier above. It seemed she must have been kicking around in her sleep like she was playing football to send the terminal flying that far.
A moment later, Molei took a sip of milk to wet her throat. She first signaled Su Xiao to be absolutely quiet, then dialed Hao Mei's number. But no one answered for a long time. She was probably drunk again and sleeping soundly. As for Hao Mei's true identity, she was the granddaughter of the most senior governor among the four governors of the Islands Alliance.
Molei switched to dialing Yueshitu's number. After more than ten seconds, Yueshitu's confused voice came through: "What's up~"
"What time is it, and you're still sleeping?"
"You haven't woken up this early in months. Which time we went out to play, wasn't it me who called you and Hao Mei?"
"Ahem~, don't mind the details. Come out and have some fun. Don't always stay cooped up at home."
"Oh ho~, your father allowed you to go out?"
"Of course. Where I want to go is my own decision. My father doesn't interfere with me. He's busy every day."
"Heh~, I saw in the newspaper about you beating up your tenth sister a while ago. It said you were grounded for two months. By the way, why did you hit your own sister? And you deliberately suppressed your physique to that of an ordinary girl to ambush and hit her. You're a ninth-rank battle angel, and you have to ambush to hit your own sister. How embarrassing."
Yueshitu was noticeably more lively in the real world than in the mission world.
"Details determine success or failure, okay? I'm going to stage a comeback story in the future, so of course I have to disguise myself well now."
"Give it up. You're just naturally lazy and a slacker."
After saying this, the Yueshitu on the other end let out an undisguised laugh between close friends.
"You're full of shit!"
"You still haven't told me why you hit your sister."
"She destroyed the beehive I was raising! Every single wasp there had its own name! She had one of her subordinates fire mages barbecue them all! It pisses me off!"
Hearing this, the Yueshitu on the other end was silent for several seconds, then said, "When you hit your sister, she must have cried, right?"
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"If I got beaten for something like that, I'd cry too."
"That wasn't an ordinary nest of wasps! I went to great lengths to get a species of wasp that could feed on spirits, and they wouldn't breed uncontrollably and destroy the ecology. Recently, there have been a lot of ghosts appearing in the royal city. Dozens of innocent civilians have lost their lives because of it. Those transcendents go out every day to hunt evil spirits, but it's just treating the symptoms, not the root cause. This wasp species that feeds on evil spirits would definitely solve the problem perfectly! And my sister had her subordinates roast them! I spent over 80,000 soul coins to get everything set up!
That little brat! If I hadn't secretly dealt with the assassins sent by my second brother two months ago, she would have been either dead or permanently disabled! And she roasted my Soul Devouring Wasps! Aaah!!"
Molei was scratching her heart and clawing her liver on the bed. Don't let her daily laziness and silliness fool you. If she wanted to, she could definitely become the next queen of this empire. However, Molei would never do such a thing. Making her queen would be a torture worse than death.
After hearing Molei's words, Yueshitu couldn't help but laugh again on the other end.
"Anyway, are you coming out or not? Today, the head maid personally made me some pastries. I'll bring some for you?"
"Okay, see you at the usual place."
Getting this reply, Molei hung up the phone. She pressed one hand to her chest, her expression pained.
Seeing this, Su Xiao frowned, not knowing what Molei was up to now.
"My conscience hurts so much. I actually betrayed my close friend. People really do fall."
After saying this, Molei waited for an hour, then hummed a tune and dialed Hao Mei's number. This time, it took half a minute to connect. On the other end came Hao Mei's groggy voice, and the shouts of Hao Mei's sister, the content roughly being that as a lady, she shouldn't drink heavily, and even if she did drink, she shouldn't chug it straight from the bottle.
Actually, it wasn't Hao Mei's own bad habit. She couldn't help it. This was an unavoidable cost of her inherited profession, Female Sword Hero: "Alcoholism."
"Gulp gulp gulp, pfft, what's up?"
"Come out and play."
"No."
"Our friendship has faded."
"Faded my ass. 24 hours ago, we were acting together for over half a month. You're not getting your orientation changed by Bai Ye's beating, are you? I'm warning you, I'm much stronger than you in melee. If you're going to make a move, go after Yueshitu."
"Shut up! You shameless drunkard! I'm perfectly normal! I stole a good bottle of wine from my father, and I felt it would be a shame to drink it alone, so I wanted to find you and Yueshitu to secretly drink it together. Since that's the case…"
"See you at the usual place."
Hearing this, Molei suddenly fell silent. Her close friend trusted her so much, and she was selling her out. This made her grit her teeth and decide that even if she got beaten up later, she had to tell Hao Mei the truth immediately. But just as she was about to speak, Hao Mei on the other end said:
"Oh, by the way, I just got a message from Yueshitu. She said the nest of Soul Devouring Wasps you spent 80,000 soul coins on was roasted by your sister. Are there any pupae left? Give me some to go with my drink. I haven't had a meal worth 80,000 soul coins yet…"
Molei, who was about to "risk her life" to tell Hao Mei that this trip wasn't simple, heard Hao Mei's words and said in a firm tone: "You must come. See you at the usual place."
After saying this, Molei hung up the communication. She was so angry she was gnashing her teeth and flailing her limbs at the air in front of her for a while before letting out a long sigh. She, Yueshitu, and Hao Mei were close friends, but they were also mischievous friends to each other.
At noon that day, in a cold drink shop called Lemon Cat on the royal city's commercial pedestrian street, Molei was drinking a cold beverage and editing a message on her terminal. She then posted a video of her beating her sister on her personal social account.
In the video, the esteemed Ninth Princess was pressing the equally esteemed Tenth Princess onto a sofa, muttering to herself while hitting the Tenth Princess with a pillow in her other hand.
The already crying Tenth Princess tried to fight back, but because her neck was being held, the noble self-defense techniques she had learned were useless. Around them were servants and guards who didn't dare to step in to break it up, anxiously running around like ants on a hot pan.
After Molei posted this daily update, it didn't cause much of a stir, because people were already used to it. This princess broke her leg chasing a wild rabbit at ten, fell off a horse riding backwards at twelve and had her left forearm broken by the horse's hoof, was bitten on the calf by a hunting dog at fourteen, and secretly made a crystal energy weapon in an unmanned small tree nest at sixteen, only to blow herself up into the treatment hospital's emergency room…
"Your Highness, where are your friends?"
The shop owner, a woman in her early thirties, spoke. She was mysterious and intellectual, but Molei could sense that this shop owner was not a contractor from Apocalypse Paradise.
"They're here."
As Molei spoke, Yueshitu and Hao Mei walked into the cold drink shop together. After they sat down, Hao Mei asked, "Where's the promised fine wine?"
"Let's put the fine wine aside for now. This time, I'm introducing a friend to you two."
"A friend?"
Yueshitu looked puzzled. Seeing this, Molei smiled mysteriously. She pointed to the shop window right beside them, getting Yueshitu and Hao Mei to notice Su Xiao, who was standing on the street outside the window, less than three meters away from them.
"This is him. Surprise? Unexpected? Happy? Your brilliant idea of sending memes to taunt him."
Molei looked at Hao Mei. At this moment, Hao Mei couldn't even notice Molei's gaze. She stared blankly at the window, and after a few seconds, she said:
"Let me tell you something interesting. I saw someone who looks 100% like Bai Ye."
"Don't escape reality."
Molei couldn't help but tease. Hao Mei, on the other hand, scoffed, firmly believing that the person outside wasn't Su Xiao, but someone who looked 100% like Su Xiao.
"Don't… don't be afraid. This is our real world, the place where Apocalypse Paradise recruits contractors. Bai Ye is a hunter from Reincarnation Paradise. How could he possibly make a move here? How could Apocalypse Paradise allow it?"
As soon as Yueshitu said this, Molei was stunned. The straw she was holding in her mouth even fell out. She ran her hands through her hair. She hadn't thought of what Yueshitu had just said. To be precise, as soon as she saw Su Xiao, she had unconsciously brought herself into the mindset of being in a mission world.
Su Xiao sat down. The waitress placed a cup of light tea. Yueshitu was a bit flustered, while Hao Mei was exceptionally calm. However, the faint smile on her face seemed to say, "One-on-one, come on." Perhaps this was the real reason Yueshitu was a bit flustered.
"Bai Ye, answer me one question."
Molei spoke with an expression that seemed to question life itself.
"…"
"After you got here, you can't actively make a move, can you?"
"Mm."
"Say no! Quick, I want to hear the word no!"
Molei was feeling terrible. Hao Mei beside her teased, "Don't escape reality."
Interestingly, this was exactly what Molei had said to tease Hao Mei just moments ago. The Apocalypse Sisters trio truly lived by the rule that smiles don't disappear; they just transfer to someone else's face.
"So, Bai Ye, you came to invite the three of us to Blazing Sun Star? We actually want to go, but it's too dangerous there."
Hao Mei spoke in a low voice. When it came to serious matters, the Apocalypse Sisters trio all put on serious expressions.
"Do you know about the mechanism of Apocalypse Paradise, the resource tilt hidden contribution?"
Although Su Xiao couldn't make a move, since he chose to come in person, he naturally had a way to trick… ahem, persuade the Apocalypse Sisters trio to get on board.
"Of course we know. We even know how much hidden contribution we have."
Molei took a new straw and continued, "My hidden contribution points are 150 to 160 points, Yueshitu's are 100 to 110 points, and Hao Mei's are 130 to 150 points. What, going to Blazing Sun Star this time can increase our hidden contribution points?"
"Yes."
"How much can it increase?"
"I commissioned Kaisa and Storm Rat to calculate. Based on the particularity and danger of Blazing Sun Star, and the difference in your combat power, it can probably increase by 35,000 to 50,000."
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Molei, Yueshitu, and Hao Mei were choked by their drinks. They raised their hands to say something, but Su Xiao didn't speak. He just placed a calculation report on the table.
Molei: "This…"
Hao Mei: "I kind of… want to go."
Yueshitu: "Me too…"
The three exchanged glances, and then Molei, as the representative, said, "Since Bai Ye has so sincerely invited us, for this chance to change our fate, the three of us have decided to take a gamble. We're on board."
"Mm. 100,000 soul coins each for the ticket."
"Huh?"
Molei was completely stumped. She said urgently, "Weren't you inviting us to join the team before?"
"Yes, but you refused."
This left Molei, Yueshitu, and Hao Mei at a loss for words. After further discussion, of course, getting on board didn't require payment. But since it was a cooperation, each side had to show some sincerity.
Su Xiao was responsible for providing recovery potions, Molei for buff items, Yueshitu for life-saving items, and Hao Mei for various high-power disposable items.
After the cooperation details were settled, Su Xiao went to the location indicated by this mission. When he arrived at the mission location, he took out several supply crates that could be retrieved from his storage space and placed them in an empty warehouse. Not long after, a man with a face covering walked over.
The man with the face covering walked slower and slower. When he was more than ten meters away from Su Xiao, he stopped, carefully looked Su Xiao up and down, and then turned and fled.
"…"
Before Su Xiao could react, the man had already run out of sight. The reason for this was that Su Xiao had accepted a mission from Reincarnation Paradise to invade a world of Apocalypse Paradise once. During that time, he had even acted as a boss. The Apocalypse Paradise contractor who had come to meet him now was one of the few survivors from back then. When the man with the face covering saw Su Xiao in his own real world, he was completely freaked out. The terrifying memories of being chopped up like vegetables by this boss came flooding back.
Su Xiao waited for half an hour. Only after multiple prompts and warnings from Apocalypse Paradise did the man with the face covering return to the warehouse trading point, trembling with fear. He took the supply crates and quickly left.
Su Xiao checked his remaining stay time. There were still three days. He boarded a train. He didn't know where the train's destination was. Sitting in the train traveling through the fields, the scenery outside the window was as beautiful as a painting.
Three days later, in a crystal forest in the Atlan Empire, Su Xiao was sitting on the back of a rhinoceros beast. The rhinoceros beast, similar in size to an elephant, was using its thick, soft mouth structure to gnaw on the moss plants on the crystal rocks. It didn't mind Su Xiao sitting cross-legged on its back to meditate. On Su Xiao's shoulder, a squirrel holding a fruit was using this height to look around.
[Prompt: Your Heart Meditation ability has been upgraded to Lv.97.]
[You have obtained "Nature's Language · Passive." If you listen carefully, you can sense from large plants the changes they have perceived to the surrounding environment in the last 72 hours.]
Su Xiao opened his eyes and jumped down from the rhinoceros beast's back. He came to a towering ancient tree and placed one hand on it. The next second, centered on this ancient tree, only the world within a hundred meters around remained. Everything was rewinding. Whether it was the rodents that had passed by nearby or the carnivorous beasts, everything around was like a tape playing in reverse.
This ability was very good. As long as there was vegetation the size of a tree, it could be used to activate this ability. If he were tracking an enemy, this ability would be even more useful.
Su Xiao opened his eyes. The grayish-white scene around him disappeared. The crystal forest was still full of birdsong and the fragrance of flowers.
[Prompt: Your stay time in this world has reached its limit.]
[A new world progress is about to begin. You are about to return to Reincarnation Paradise.]
[It has been detected that you submitted a World Key 4 natural days ago. Your current world progress will enter: Blazing Sun Star · Chilia.]
[As the holder of the "Sun Lord" title, if you enter this world, you will definitely trigger the world mission: God Hunter / God Slayer (only one can be chosen).]
[Prompt: This world contains a large number of divine system units that have been severely distorted and thriving due to mutated solar power.]
[If you choose God Slayer, you need to hunt three distorted divine system units to perfectly complete this world mission.]
[Comprehensive difficulty of this world mission: High.]
[If you choose God Hunter, you need to hunt at least five distorted divine system units to meet the minimum requirement for completing this mission. In subsequent hunts of ten, fifteen, and twenty distorted divine system units, there will be high rewards.]
[Comprehensive difficulty of this world mission: Extremely High.]