Chapter 10: Challenges and Gains
As Su Xiao activated the ability to summon Iron-Blooded Hounds, spatial ripples appeared around him. A total of 59 Iron-Blooded Hounds materialized. Among these hounds were large-bodied ones like Giant Bloodfang and small-bodied ones like Red Leech. The strongest among them was the medium-to-large-sized Fierce Prison, which appeared at the center of the cluster of hounds upon arrival.
The summoned Iron-Blooded Hounds were all stunned for a few seconds after appearing. They looked at each other, then finally acted as if nothing had happened. As long as none of them made a sound, the old-timers in the pack wouldn't know, and not knowing meant it was fine.
Why were the Iron-Blooded Hounds willing to take such a risk? Not only because they found this guy with negative charm attributes and a body full of blood energy pleasing to the eye, but also because he paid too well.
"Bai Ye, you summoned us all here. Who are we fighting?"
Red Leech, the smallest among the Iron-Blooded Hounds and one of the few capable of verbal communication, spoke up.
Su Xiao took out a piece of divine bone that looked like it had been burned by fire. This was the remnant of a mutated deity, discovered by Baha during reconnaissance a few kilometers away.
"Clear out all such beings in this area," Su Xiao demanded.
The Iron-Blooded Hounds didn't act immediately. They all knew the danger of such a task. Even if they split into ten teams, the risks they had to bear were still high. One wrong move and they would be permanently left here.
"After it's done, I'll pay you 590 dragon hearts."
"Roar!" A two-headed Iron-Blooded Hound, slightly smaller than Giant Bloodfang, roared in response. The other hounds shared the same attitude. This employer was paying too much this time. As for the danger here? The Iron-Blooded Hounds weren't stupid. 590 dragon hearts, even split evenly, would be 10 each.
Taking an Iron-Blooded Hound with mid-to-upper-tier Absolute Strength combat power as a standard, it could be summoned about 2 to 3 times a year. Excluding accidents, it could steadily harvest 2 strong hearts a year. For the Iron-Blooded Hounds, one dragon heart, with its larger and more vigorous life force, was equivalent to 20 to 22 strong hearts as a resource for strengthening. The Iron-Blooded Hounds didn't care whether the "Primordial Life Force" was easy to absorb. For them, the stronger and more violent the "Primordial Life Force," the greater the improvement it brought.
In other words, if this commission was completed, each Iron-Blooded Hound present would receive the equivalent of 105 years of their previous income. Wouldn't they risk their lives for that? Moreover, judging by the momentum, if this commission was done well, the reward might not be limited to just 10 dragon hearts. After all, during their first meeting, the Iron-Blooded Hounds had each received a few dragon hearts without doing anything.
Seeing that the Iron-Blooded Hounds all agreed to the commission, Su Xiao asked Yueshitu and Molei to provide buffs to these hounds. Molei took out a bundle of one-time buff scrolls and used them all. Various colors of light exploded, transforming into streams that entered the bodies of the Iron-Blooded Hounds. Yueshitu's buffs looked much more normal, like the buff skills of a healing type.
Soon, the Iron-Blooded Hounds, divided into ten teams, dispersed and began tracking down the mutated deities. As for the "Mutated Beast Deity," they decided not to provoke it for now. The power of this beast deity was too terrifying.
Speaking of which, among the three teams—Dusk Team, Shenfu Team, and Big Brain Team—Dusk Team had drawn the worst lot from the start. Among the three opening bosses—Beast Deity, Giant Tree King, and Bloodthirsty Beast—the Beast Deity was definitely the strongest.
In contrast, Dusk Team probably wouldn't have to go to the Dark Zone later. On the other hand, the "Raging Sun Beast" and "Undead Knight" that Shenfu Team and Big Brain Team had to deal with were both located in the Dark Zone. Although the goal of the three teams was to seize the "Sun Source Stone," and there was no requirement to defeat specific strong enemies, the key issue was intelligence. For example, Dusk Team's second boss was the High Tower Knight Commander. The other two teams didn't even know the general information about the High Tower Knight Commander, let alone how to reach the High Tower relatively safely. Therefore, trying to snatch the targets of other teams would definitely yield half the results with twice the effort.
The blazing sun scorched the yellow-brown Gobi desert. Su Xiao squinted slightly and looked up at the sun. Being roasted by the sun in this area gave him a feeling that his body's moisture was gradually evaporating. Once too much water was lost from his body, there would definitely be serious consequences.
There were still over 20 hours until the agreed meeting time with his two good teammates. Su Xiao took out a tracker. This device could be held in one hand and had a structure with the aesthetic of an alchemical creation. Its top had a circle of independent air holes. Whichever direction's air hole emitted a steam column as thick as a thread indicated the direction of the target to be tracked.
Su Xiao was in front, Baha crouched on his shoulder, Bubu Wang behind him, followed by the Apocalypse Sisters, and finally Amu. The group advanced toward the "God Exile Land."
After traveling for over half an hour, Su Xiao's body slowly emitted water vapor. Molei and Hao Mei behind him were still okay, but Yueshitu's expression grew increasingly solemn, or rather, she was inwardly swelling. She suddenly stopped and pondered on the spot.
"Hmm? Why aren't you moving?"
Yueshitu suddenly stopped. Molei, who was behind her to prevent a surprise attack, almost bumped into her back.
"I've figured it out."
Yueshitu spoke in a deep voice.
"Hey! Yueshitu, your vibe seems to have changed."
Molei couldn't help but complain, but Yueshitu ignored her and continued with her previous emotion. She said, "I've figured it out, Bai Ye. I want to duel you."
"??"
"??"
Molei, Hao Mei, Bubu Wang, and Baha were all dumbfounded.
Ignoring the bewildered group, Yueshitu used a hair tie she got from who knows where to tie up her warm white hair. Her eyes even seemed to darken. She suddenly charged at Su Xiao. As a summoner, she actually chose to fight Su Xiao in melee.
The next second, Yueshitu, who had charged fiercely, was stopped by Su Xiao with one hand on her forehead. Yueshitu didn't give up. She clenched her fists and swung a mighty windmill punch, but her hardware limited her output. With Su Xiao holding her forehead, Yueshitu's arms weren't long enough. The mighty windmill punch she swung with both arms couldn't reach Su Xiao at all. Moreover, with her melee attack power, she couldn't even break through his defense.
A pinky-thick Spirit Shadow Thread formed and bound Yueshitu. Su Xiao examined the suddenly "darkened" Yueshitu and realized that her sanity value had dropped significantly. It seemed that being under the blazing sun in the "God Exile Land" caused sanity to gradually evaporate.
After Su Xiao fed her a few potions, Yueshitu still stubbornly said, "If you have the guts, let me go! I want to duel you!"
Seeing Yueshitu's increasingly irrational gaze, Su Xiao first tried the friendly healing slap, but Yueshitu's eyes became even angrier. Seeing this, he frowned slightly. He was an alchemist, yes, but he was better at concocting potions that treated the body and soul.
Potions that restored sanity were generally the specialty of the nightmare system and weren't part of the alchemy system.
In the end, Hao Mei came up with a solution. She used her wine bottle to force-feed Yueshitu half a bottle. Yueshitu, who couldn't hold her liquor, immediately became dazed. After burping, she asked, "Why are you all surrounding me? And why does my face hurt a little? What happened to me just now? Why are you all showing double images?"
With Molei carrying Yueshitu on her back, the group continued forward. After traveling for another hour, they reached the predetermined location. This area was covered in enormous bones, likely left behind from battles between many giant beasts and giants. Looking into the distance, there was also an especially huge Ancient Dragon skeleton. All these bones shared a common feature: they had been baked by the blazing sun until they were half-melted, like candles.
Upon arriving here, the tracker in Su Xiao's hand emitted a large amount of steam. The steam drifted in one direction and gathered above a pit. Approaching the pit, Su Xiao saw the severely damaged "Silent Servant."
Not long after arriving in the Southern Continent, Su Xiao had released the "Silent Servant" to explore this exile land and search for mineral veins of sufficient rarity. Considering that from the First Era to the present, wild mineral veins in this world had basically never been mined, the mineral deposits in this exile land should be very rich.
Indeed, it was so. After arriving here, the Silent Servant discovered a "Dark Gold Mine." Mineral merchants generally called it "Uvakale Metal," named after a miner named Kujin Uvakale who popularized the refining technology for this metal. Before that, this metal could also be refined, but the cost was dozens of times higher than the metal's own rarity. This material was a dream-level material for crafting close-fitting battle armor.
To make a simple analogy: if a set of Immortal-rank inner armor was forged from "Uvakale Metal," it would have the softness of cotton fiber while possessing defense comparable to light armor. Sometimes, if you had enough "Uvakale Metal" and went to an armor master to forge inner armor, they might even help forge it for free. This material was too rare, and masters would also feel their hands itch.
In alchemy, this metal was called "1056 Liquid Metal," mainly used to fill gaps in high-precision alchemical items to make them seamless. In this regard, Su Xiao basically had no use for it.
In abyssal studies, this metal was called "Dark Gold." According to a 1:52.36 ratio, mixing this metal with pure gold and cooling it would yield metal ingots called "Dark Gold." When used, stable heating at 2300-2400°C for half an hour would produce liquid "Dark Gold." Pouring this onto sealing containers would make it difficult for over 70% of Abyss beings to escape.
With this stuff, one could catch an "Abyssal Creature: Hunger Bug." This was an Abyssal creature extremely difficult to imprison. It was harmless to all living beings, timid and afraid of light, could burrow into spatial crevices, and even slip through the gaps between sealing runes. Overall, it looked like an enlarged water bear.
The Hunger Bug had a trait: it loved to steal and eat precious trees. The Black Maple Tree was its favorite. However, when this greedy little thing quickly devoured 5 to 7 times its body volume in Black Maple Tree yield, it would enter a state similar to indigestion.
This would cause its body surface to secrete a fatty substance. This fatty substance was the main material for concocting "Life Soul Secret Medicine," and it was absolutely irreplaceable.
As for the effect of "Life Soul Secret Medicine," when one's Primordial Life Force withered to the point of near extinction, drinking this medicine would extend life by at least a thousand years. For the Absolute Strength and Supreme-level old immortals in the Void and the highest-tier worlds, this item was priceless. Some of them weren't afraid of death, but the problem was that if they could live another thousand years, the crisis facing their families would immediately turn from danger to safety.
Too many forces and families had perished because the Absolute Strength or Supreme-level old-timers in their clan died of old age, and their enemies immediately launched a large-scale attack, leading to the family's destruction.
The value of the "Dark Gold Mine" beneath their feet was beyond doubt. Su Xiao jumped into the large pit to check on the Silent Servant. It was quite severely damaged, having been attacked three to four times. Since the Silent Servant wasn't a living creature, after attacking it without getting any flesh and blood to devour, those monsters were too lazy to bother with it further.
"Directly below is the Dark Gold Mine."
"What mine?"
Molei looked confused. Seeing this, Su Xiao thought for a moment and said, "Uvaka..."
"You mean Uvakale Metal?"
"Yes."
Su Xiao had a slight understanding of mineral knowledge. The strange names of various minerals were only roughly memorized.
In just a few minutes, the dozens of summons Yueshitu had called out had already dug a vertical shaft downward. Half an hour later, the ground returned to its previous state. A hundred meters underground, various summons and mining robots were busy working.
Three hours later, over ten thousand meters underground, a thousand-square-meter underground space had been excavated. The walls here were coated with a layer of white chitin, isolating the underground's cold and dampness and giving the place a sense of warmth. Medium-to-high-power ventilation equipment delivered filtered fresh air, and an oxygen generator nearby regulated the air's oxygen content and humidity.
Above, bionic lights provided a soft, natural glow without the harshness of direct light. In the center of this thousand-square-meter, eight-meter-high space, a round plush carpet was laid out. Multi-person sofas and beds were placed on it. Various electronic devices were slightly messy. A large pile of game controllers and terminals sat on the coffee table. A refrigerator a few steps away was stuffed with snacks, and next to it was a food storage device.
Even more absurdly, at the edge of the carpet over ten meters away, there was a bathroom. The mine tunnel connected to this underground space was separated by soundproofing devices. Several mining robots were working, extracting rough ore. What Molei and the others had to do was deep mining—splitting large pieces of ore to find the naturally refined parts inside.
Every time a large piece of natural ore was split open, there might be a high-content refined part inside, leading to a windfall. Molei and the others' mining was a completely different concept from digging with a pickaxe in a mine tunnel. Of course, the Apocalypse Sisters had indeed mined that way when they were at lower ranks.
Ten thousand meters underground, there was naturally no need to worry about the blazing sun's scorching. Yueshitu, who had recovered, was eating cream puffs, holding a bottle of compressed nutrient drink in her other hand. If it were before, drinking several bottles of this stuff would either knock her out or cause her body's energy to go berserk.
But now, she was drinking it like water. The reason was that while simultaneously maintaining buffs for over 50 Iron-Blooded Hounds, she hadn't felt much in the first few hours, but now she only had the strength to sit. She had to replenish her stamina in a way without side effects, which meant constantly eating.
Previously, Su Xiao had promised that the Sun Gold Coins the Apocalypse Sisters obtained afterward would belong to him, and he would help them find a top-tier mineral vein. This "Dark Gold Mine" was the fulfillment of that promise.
Su Xiao also needed some "Dark Gold Mine." Originally, he planned to buy some after the Apocalypse Sisters finished mining. He didn't need much, about 5 to 6 ounces, which would last him a long time.
Molei proposed another deal: if Su Xiao was willing to teach her how to make the Silent Servant, she would give him 50% of her personal mineral income from this world.
For such a request, Su Xiao took out the manufacturing blueprint for the Silent Servant. Since the existing Silent Servant was severely damaged and needed repair, he let Molei study the blueprint while observing how he repaired the Silent Servant.
The result was that Molei felt she understood. When she actually tried to disassemble the Silent Servant, she studied it for a long time and ended up blowing up its detection device. The flying armor plate knocked Yueshitu unconscious. Molei frantically tried to save her for a while before finally waking up Yueshitu, who looked at her with tears in her eyes.
When Su Xiao tried to teach Molei how to manufacture the Silent Servant, a feeling akin to tutoring an elementary school student doing homework arose. Five hours later, Molei really couldn't learn and was even scratching her head in pain. Thus, the deal was canceled. However, Molei chose to give Su Xiao 30% of the "Dark Gold Mine" she obtained this time. This made Su Xiao, who had wasted over five hours, abandon the plan to hang Molei upside down in the adjacent mine tunnel.
Sitting on a single sofa, Su Xiao checked the kill notifications that had just appeared. After several hours of patrolling, most areas of the "God Exile Land" had been roughly scouted by the Iron-Blooded Hounds. A total of over 30 mutated deities had been locked onto. Dealing with all of them was unlikely. Some had particularly troublesome abilities. Additionally, the Iron-Blooded Hounds weren't an insect race; they would prioritize their own survival over the master's mental commands as everything.
Soon, Su Xiao received the first kill notification.
[Notification: You have killed the Sin God (Mutated Deity).]
[You have obtained 1350 Sun Gold Coins.]
[You have obtained 2.5% World Source.]
[You have obtained 1 piece of Corrupted Divine Bone.]
[Your title effect: God Hunter has been activated. This title has successfully hunted and seized the "Sin Divine Soul," and this "Divine Soul" has been sealed within the title.]
[Sin Divine Soul (Absolute Strength Divine Soul): When a deity-type unit of the same Absolute Strength rank without a "Divine Soul" absorbs this "Divine Soul," it can be enfeoffed as the "Sin God" and gain the corresponding deity traits and the exclusive abilities of this deity.]
The rewards were substantial, but there were no treasure chests among these kill rewards. Even if Su Xiao's luck wasn't very good, killing a boss unit like a mutated deity should have a 100% chance of dropping a treasure chest.
The [Corrupted Divine Bone] in the kill rewards should be the substitute for the treasure chest. Su Xiao checked its attributes.
[Corrupted Divine Bone]
Origin: Blazing Sun Star · God Exile Land (This is a world-specific item)
Quality: Special Item.
Effect: Go to Black Mist Island and place this item in a "Ritual Vessel" to exchange for a soul trait item.
Description: Doodoo... Gugu.
Seeing the description of this item, Su Xiao naturally thought of Doodoo Gugu. But there was a problem: this time, he had to go to Black Mist Island to find Doodoo Gugu.
Su Xiao still remembered that when he was in the underground city of the Northern Continent, not long after nightfall, the ground trembled for a while. According to the Dark Archbishop Berheva, it was the World Giant walking. It was a giant carrying an island, moving forward every night. The island it carried was Black Mist Island.
Based on Su Xiao's understanding of Doodoo Gugu, it liked to appear in relatively safe places within dangerous areas, and its specific location was random. But this time was different. Judging from the introduction of [Corrupted Divine Bone], it seemed that as long as he went to Black Mist Island, he would definitely find Doodoo Gugu.
This made one wonder: could a small area on Blazing Sun Star's Black Mist Island be Doodoo Gugu's home? Additionally, Doodoo Gugu was a neutral unit certified by the Void Tree. It could leave Blazing Sun Star and return, which was also very reasonable.
Su Xiao put away the [Corrupted Divine Bone]. He would likely go to the Northern Continent later. At that time, during the day, he would find the World Giant and board Black Mist Island.
Opening the title bar, Su Xiao checked the "God Hunter" title.
[God Hunter]
Origin: Reincarnation Paradise
Quality: ★★★★★★★★★
Limit Refinement: Once.
Category: Title · Highly Rare.
Title Effect 1: Deity Slaughter (Passive) — When fighting against deity units, deal an additional 30% to 40% True Damage.
Tip: The additional damage intensity depends on the strength of the deity unit.
Title Effect 2: Judgment Grip (Passive) — When you grip a heavily polluted "Divine Soul," you are qualified to crush it, allowing the deity traits of that Divine Soul to return to the Star Realm. Over time, a new "Divine Soul" of that system will form and appear at a random location in some world.
Tip: For each heavily polluted "Divine Soul" you crush, your maximum luck cap increases by 2% (originally 10%, but due to the vast scale of your Law-Destroying luck, it can only be increased by 2%. This is the maximum increase possible after certification by Reincarnation Paradise).
Tip: This ability is only a state boost for you personally, not a permanent increase to the Law-Destroying luck cap. When you die, this state's boost to the Law-Destroying luck cap will disappear.
Tip: After you successfully crush a heavily polluted "Divine Soul," other deity systems' deities (except Ancient Gods) will feel "strong fear" or "terror" when interacting with you.
Tip: Deity Unit: Deer God is exempt from this effect.
Title Effect 3: Hunt and Seize (Passive) — After killing a deity unit, you can seize its "Divine Soul."
Maximum Storage: 1/30.
Stored Divine Soul: Sin Divine Soul (Absolute Strength Divine Soul).
Description: Slay gods and punish evil, judge the wickedness of the gods.
Selling Price: Cannot be sold.
The "God Hunter" title had gained a rather remarkable ability: it could increase the Law-Destroying luck cap. Although this was only effective for Su Xiao himself after certification by Reincarnation Paradise, it was still an astonishing improvement.
But there was a problem: if the Law-Destroying luck cap increased, would Su Xiao's luck turn around? Or would the amplitude of his luck's electrocardiogram fluctuate more? Better luck when it's good, worse luck when it's bad?
This would need to be determined later. Heavily polluted "Divine Souls" were actually quite rare. Among all the mutated deities in the "God Exile Land," there might only be one or two whose "Divine Souls" were heavily polluted.
Due to the kill judgment certified by Reincarnation Paradise, a continuous stream of divine source energy drifted over and was absorbed by the Divine Judgment Ring. This was the divine source energy that should have dissipated after the "Sin God" was surrounded and killed by the Iron-Blooded Hounds.
Compared to Su Xiao's gains, the Apocalypse Sisters were all stunned. A few world progressions ago, the three of them had formed a small adventure group and set up a kill reward equal distribution authority through this group. Therefore, this time, their kill rewards were first aggregated through the adventure group and then equally distributed among the three.
The reason the Apocalypse Sisters were stunned was that their kill contribution came from the auxiliary traits brought by their buffs, accounting for about 10% to 15% of the kill rewards. This could be seen from the 80 Sun Gold Coins each of them received.
The problem was that among the kill rewards, Sun Gold Coins and World Source were within the reward scope certified by the Void Tree, while other additional rewards were given by Apocalypse Paradise.
Apocalypse Paradise's kill reward amplitude for Battle Angels was generally calculated as (Enemy's Comprehensive Combat Power - Battle Angel's Personal Combat Power) x (Current World Rank + Current Area Danger Level), and the resulting value was multiplied by the kill contribution ratio to get the reward amplitude.
Calculated this way, the combat power difference between Molei and the others and the Sin God was: Unbeatable.
The world difficulty for the three Ninth-Rank Molei and the others was equal to: Ultimate Nightmare Difficulty.
The current area danger level for the three was equal to: Ultimate Nightmare Difficulty.
Even if the final kill contribution ratio was only 15%, the preceding numbers were too high. The rewards for leveling up to fight monsters were already high, let alone leveling up to fight a boss.
Therefore, for this kill, each of the three obtained a Golden Skill Point Chest, a Recovery Potion Supply Box, a material chest from Apocalypse Paradise, various assessment potential improvements, and finally, a title reward.
Su Xiao had never heard of a "Recovery Potion Supply Box." But considering Apocalypse Paradise's nanny-like mission introductions, having such a potion supply box wasn't surprising.
No one expected that Sun Gold Coin acquisition wouldn't be boosted. According to past situations, the Soul Coins from kill rewards were certified by each Paradise faction.
The problem was that Su Xiao had already helped the Apocalypse Sisters find one of the highest-tier mineral veins, but he hadn't received the expected compensation. Regarding this, Molei mysteriously smiled, snapped her fingers with a "pop," and extended her hand to the side, signaling Hao Mei to place an item in her hand.
"Huh?"
Hao Mei looked at Molei in confusion. Molei, who had wanted to look cool with a tacit cooperation, kept her lips still and whispered, "Bring that over."
"Which one?"
Hao Mei was even more confused.
"The life-saving item: Time Clock."
"Just say Time Clock directly. Don't do these silly things. Let me find it."
Hao Mei rummaged through her storage space for a moment and found one of the top-tier life-saving items, [Time Clock], and placed it in Molei's hand.
"We can't give you many Sun Gold Coins. Use this to make up for your loss in the deal. Your bad luck... uh~, no, I... I didn't say you were particularly unlucky. Anyway, with this, you can resolve a particularly dangerous situation when you later face a strong enemy."
Molei handed over [Time Clock]. It could be said that this was one of the top-tier life-saving items.
[Notification: You have obtained Time Clock.]
[This item cannot be used immediately after acquisition. It requires 12 hours of adaptation before you can view its attributes and use it.]
Putting away this life-saving item, Su Xiao began to meditate and wait. The Iron-Blooded Hounds truly lived up to their reputation. A total of ten teams of Iron-Blooded Hounds had surrounded and killed over a dozen mutated deities. Judging by the progress, by evening today, most of the mutated deities in the "God Exile Land" would be eliminated.
[Notification: World Mission: God Hunter · Phase 1 has been completed.]
[Current available reward: Primordial Core x1.]
[You have chosen to temporarily not claim this mission reward. This mission reward will accumulate incrementally.]
[World Mission: God Hunter · Phase 2 has been completed.]
[Current available reward: Primordial Core x2, Primordial Source Matter x1.]
[You have chosen to temporarily not claim this mission reward...]
[World Mission: God Hunter · Phase 3 has been completed.]
[Current available reward: Primordial Core x3, Primordial Source Matter x1, Ascension Blood Core · Nourishment (Talent Item · Unique).]
[You have chosen to temporarily not claim this mission reward. If you successfully complete Phase 4 of this mission, i.e., kill a total of twenty distorted deity-type units (current kill progress 15/20), you can obtain the maximum reward benefit of this mission.]