Chapter 11: Power
Inside the underground shelter, the fresh air was refreshing for both body and mind. It had to be said that while the Apocalypse Sisters weren't particularly skilled at growing stronger, they knew how to survive more safely in dangerous mission worlds until a world progress ended, obtaining the highest gains through minimal combat.
Of course, this "not particularly skilled at growing stronger" was a conclusion drawn from comparing them with Su Xiao, Solomon, Shenfu, and others. In reality, within the Apocalypse Paradise, the three of them—Molei, Yueshitu, and Hao Mei—were quite famous. Was the reputation of "Big Sister Molei" earned for nothing?
Thinking back to the Sand World back then, Molei was still chasing down violators alone. Unfortunately, Big Sister Molei encountered Su Xiao, and after meeting him, she began getting beaten to the point of doubting life.
Normally, in such a situation, Molei should have held a deep grudge. The problem was that Big Sister Molei's "persona" was itself hyped up by those of the same rank. This wasn't Molei's true nature; at that time, she was living with a bit of an "idol burden."
Later, after being beaten by Su Xiao until she doubted life, and after being extorted... ahem, after undergoing the Soul Coin Transfer Technique, Molei's "Big Sister Molei persona" collapsed in her own heart. She completely let herself go and then discovered—this was way too much fun.
Before, entering mission worlds always made her feel repulsed internally. But after letting herself go, she actually began to enjoy her time in mission worlds. Sometimes, when a world progress was about to end, she would feel a bit down. She would find a large enough strange rock in a scenic spot, carve a simple smiley face on it, and take a commemorative photo.
Speaking of which, if Molei had continued to maintain her "Big Sister Molei persona," Yueshitu and Hao Mei wouldn't have become her close friends and permanent teammates. The reason was that the drunkard Hao Mei actually disliked "Big Sister Molei" quite a bit. Hence, the two had been on opposing sides before. But later, Hao Mei discovered that this scatterbrained Molei had been pretending all along—or rather, "Big Sister Molei" was more like a fake persona used for self-protection during the mid-to-low ranks.
After Hao Mei was forced to cooperate with the unleashed Molei, she found... this person was incredibly trustworthy.
Sometimes, when Molei, Yueshitu, and Hao Mei were together, the funniest thing was that Yueshitu often got injured for no apparent reason. Every battle, she hid the best, but even so, there was a time when Molei kicked and broke the handle of a boss's weapon. The broken handle ricocheted between buildings over a dozen times before accurately hitting Yueshitu on the head, knocking her unconscious.
Another time, in the real world where the three of them were, Molei and Hao Mei were sulking at each other. Under Yueshitu's mediation, they successfully went from sulking at each other to Molei and Hao Mei fighting barehanded. The result was that Molei and Hao Mei made up that same afternoon, their bond stronger than ever, while Yueshitu, who got caught in the crossfire while trying to separate them, ended up in the hospital for nearly half a month.
A more fitting description of the Apocalypse Sisters would be: Scatterbrain, Unlucky Soul, and Drunkard.
It was this combination that had now obtained the highest Ninth-Rank evaluation potential in Apocalypse Paradise's history. The reason was that the team they were in had nearly cleared out the dangerous areas of a top-tier Absolute Strength level world.
As the instigator of all this, Su Xiao didn't care about judgments like "evaluation potential." Besides, the Reincarnation Paradise didn't have such judgments. The Reincarnation Paradise's standard for measuring contractors and hunters was simple: either become strong, or die.
Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the carpet, meditating. Although the proficiency of his "Heart Meditation Lv.97" ability was now 20,800,000/52,000,000 points, as long as he persisted, improving his meditation ability would still be fast, especially with the basic bonus from "Origin Stone: World."
When Su Xiao finished his meditation, there were only 2 hours left until the agreed time with his good teammates. Once the time came, they would have to deal with the "Aberrant Beast God." Although this big boss's physical strength was absurdly high, they had to face it head-on.
Checking the summoning contract list, the original 59 contracts were now only 35 left. Most of the Ironblood Hounds that had interrupted this summoning were because they were too heavily injured and had returned to the Nether Realm to recover. Among them, four Ironblood Hounds had died. If these were other summons, this would be unlikely, but some Ironblood Hounds had extremely violent tempers, even to the point of dying together with their enemies.
This was a rare situation among summons, but not uncommon among Ironblood Hounds. In fact, most Ironblood Hounds died from mortal combat with their own kind. When an Ironblood Hound entered its old age, it would never think of finding a safe place to hide and spend its remaining time. Instead, it would seek out the strongest Ironblood Hound of its same batch and fight to the death. The scars it left on the opponent's body were its most satisfying tombstone.
Therefore, one could imagine the combat strength of the strongest Absolute Strength level Ironblood Hound, Xiongyu.
Through the intelligence brought back by the Ironblood Hounds, Su Xiao learned that over 90% of the aberrant gods in the "God Exile Grounds" had been surrounded and killed. The remaining ones were either too well-hidden or the cost of surrounding them was too great. For example, an evil god named "Filth Evil God" had abilities with intense filth erosion. Even if they surrounded and killed it, the Ironblood Hounds would pay a huge price.
So-called summoning contracts didn't mean that once the Ironblood Hounds were summoned, they would obey unconditionally. More than 30% of new summoners died because of this misconception—thinking that once a summon was called, it was their personal property. When encountering danger later, they would unhesitatingly order it to die, which would immediately result in backlash.
If Su Xiao ordered the Ironblood Hounds to surround and kill the "Filth Evil God," given their violent nature, they might actually go and do it. But afterward, the Ironblood Hounds that suffered severe filth erosion would naturally come to Su Xiao. If Su Xiao didn't compensate them equally for their losses, Su Xiao would be their next target for a siege.
For this reason, Su Xiao had never thought of having the Ironblood Hounds help surround and kill the "Aberrant Beast God." He had never treated these summons as fools. Using Dragon Hearts as payment, no matter how many Dragon Hearts, it wouldn't be enough to make the Ironblood Hounds bear such a risk.
Fighting the "Aberrant Beast God" had a death probability of over 95%, to say the least. Unless Su Xiao paid enough Soul Crystals, the Ironblood Hounds would only then ignore this mortality rate.
Currently, with four Ironblood Hounds dead and nearly clearing out the enemies in this high-risk area, it was already an astonishing achievement. Su Xiao came to an open area, overlapped all the summoning contracts, and pressed them down to the ground with one hand.
With a bang, the surrounding space fluctuated. As the spatial gray mist dissipated, Ironblood Hounds appeared one by one. Su Xiao took out a large number of Dragon Hearts. According to the prior agreement, each Ironblood Hound got 10. Considering that the situation in the Exile Grounds was more dangerous than expected, each Ironblood Hound received an additional 3 Dragon Hearts.
These Ironblood Hounds, injured in the Exile Grounds with fierce eyes, had their gazes clear up a bit after receiving such payment. They each devoured their own Dragon Hearts and then left one by one. Finally, only the largest Ironblood Hound, Giant Blood Fang, remained. It had actually finished devouring its Dragon Hearts long ago, but Su Xiao had kept it with a mental command.
Su Xiao took out over 100 Dragon Hearts and gave them to Giant Blood Fang. As for why he favored this big guy so much, it was because Giant Blood Fang was quite straightforward. Among the other Ironblood Hounds, more than half had spent their hunting trips loafing around all morning, participating in one fight in the afternoon, and then finding a place to wait. As for the divine blood Su Xiao had asked them to collect, not a single portion was brought back—clearly, they had devoured it all.
Xiongyu and a few other Ironblood Hounds that had a closer relationship with Su Xiao had helped him collect a total of 6 portions of divine blood. Although Xiongyu had also devoured some divine blood, he chose to give Su Xiao face—devouring 20% and leaving 80% for Su Xiao. In return, Su Xiao gave him corresponding Dragon Hearts as payment.
Only the straightforward Giant Blood Fang, after being summoned by Su Xiao and told the commission, barely rested at all. Therefore, he participated in the most battles, a total of over a dozen.
As the thick-skinned, large-bodied Ironblood Hound, with Giant Blood Fang tanking the attacks of the aberrant gods, the other Ironblood Hounds were naturally happy to let him join the battles. As a result, after participating in over a dozen battles, Giant Blood Fang brought back 16 portions of divine blood for Su Xiao.
Such an honest Ironblood Hound deserved sufficient rewards. After devouring over a hundred Dragon Hearts, Giant Blood Fang was so full he let out a burp. As Su Xiao dissolved this temporary summoning contract, Giant Blood Fang returned to the Nether Realm.
Su Xiao observed his surroundings. Sensing upward, he found layers of perception-blocking barriers enveloping this underground space of over a thousand square meters. Combined with the fact that this place was ten thousand meters underground, its safety level was even higher than the inner city of Twilight City. If he needed to recuperate from severe injuries later, this would be an excellent choice.
Su Xiao found an open area. A crystal layer spread under his feet, forming a teleportation array. This array should last for about a month.
Returning to the single sofa and sitting down, he began to organize this batch of gains. Since there were nearly two hundred kill notifications, he chose to integrate them into just a few. The total was as follows:
[You have successfully killed 32 aberrant gods.]
[You have obtained 43,290 Sun Gold Coins.]
[You have obtained 72.83% World Source.]
[You have obtained Tainted Divine Bones x28.]
[Your God Hunter title effect has been activated. Currently stored "Divine Souls" have reached 30/30.]
...
[Your equipment "Divine Judgment" has been promoted to Eternal Rank.]
[Divine Judgment]
Origin: Reincarnation Paradise
Quality: Origin Rank
Category: Ring
Durability: 160/160 (Increased by 55 points)
Equipment Requirement: Has slaughtered 10 extremely evil gods (Greatly exceeds equipment requirement)
Equipment Effect 1: Soul Life (Core, Passive), each point of the wearer's Soul Strength will increase Life Value by 200 points.
Current Soul Strength: 1130 points.
Increased Life Value: 210,000 points (This equipment can increase Life Value by a maximum of 210,000 points).
Note: When this equipment is destroyed, the source energy within it will perform a life nourishment on you, permanently increasing your Life Value by 210,000 points.
Equipment Effect 2: Break Limits (Core, Passive), as this equipment has reached its theoretical limit, but because you have hunted many powerful gods, causing this equipment to grow, it has gained the potential to break through its limits. However, due to the material properties of this equipment, it cannot break through its limits. Therefore, this equipment has produced a unique characteristic. When you activate this ability, you can consume this equipment to enhance a new piece of equipment that is sufficiently compatible with it, granting it some of this equipment's characteristics.
Rating: 6000 (Eternal Rank equipment rating is 3000~6000 points).
Introduction: Hunt, hunt more evil gods, until this equipment reaches saturation.
Price: Cannot be sold.
...
The Divine Judgment Ring had grown to its limit, but this was not the end for this equipment. Su Xiao tried to activate the Divine Judgment Ring's Equipment Skill 2 and found that among his current equipment, only two could be enhanced by the Divine Judgment Ring. The first was Dragon-Slaying Flash, and the second was the Abyss equipment [Endless Ring].
Of course, he couldn't use the Divine Judgment Ring to enhance Dragon-Slaying Flash. Their characteristics didn't match. Dragon-Slaying Flash was a weapon, with characteristics of attack power and sharpness, while the Divine Judgment Ring was a ring, with characteristics of vitality and devouring.
Regarding the Abyss equipment "Endless Ring," Su Xiao had already gained some understanding of it. First, when he traded with Thunder God Ai Ge and Nightmare Ghost Kai Yin, the other party had quoted a price of 2 million Soul Coins, but that was an exorbitant demand. The actual value of the "Endless Ring" was hard to judge.
After Su Xiao invested a large amount of Space-Time Power to improve his Abyss studies, he roughly determined the origin of the "Endless Ring." This item was man-made + naturally formed. More precisely, during the First Era of the Star Realm, a top-tier craftsman wanted to create an item capable of devouring massive amounts of Abyss energy. So, he forged the "Endless Ring."
This craftsman's idea was that when a world was invaded by the Abyss, the "Endless Ring" would devour the invading Abyss energy in large quantities. This way, even if it couldn't solve the Abyss invasion, it would buy more time for the world's inhabitants—either to resolve to resist the Abyss or to escape using a world-level teleportation array.
As for the specifics, this craftsman didn't want to interfere. So, after forging the "Endless Ring," he placed it in a world that was being invaded by the Abyss. When the native powerhouses of that world discovered that the progress of the Abyss invasion had slowed, they gradually found the source—the "Endless Ring."
The result was that these natives moved the "Endless Ring" near the Abyss Passage, intending to use it to completely halt the Abyss invasion. Faced with this situation, the craftsman still chose not to interfere. He didn't belong to this world; he was a drifter in the Star Realm.
The final outcome was that the "Endless Ring" was sucked into the Abyss Passage. Due to this reverse suction, the passage gradually closed. The "Endless Ring" fell into the depths of the Abyss. In the darkness and submersion, it gradually transformed into a treasure within the Abyss.
[Endless Ring]
Origin: Abyss.
Quality: Abyss Rank.
Type: Enhancement Equipment.
Equipment Effect 1: Thriving Life (Core, Passive), while carrying this equipment, Life Value +120,000 points (each point of this equipment's rating provides an additional 20 points of Life Value bonus).
Equipment Effect 2: Slow Absorption (Core, Passive), can slowly devour equipment or special items. Before completely devouring the equipment, the "Endless Ring" will temporarily gain its characteristics, and based on the "Endless Ring's" current rating, enhance the temporarily obtained ability.
Note: This ability's effect has reached its maximum.
Equipment Detriment: Dark Submersion (Passive), while carrying this equipment, you will gradually be invaded by the darkness of the Abyss (due to your Abyss Resistance being 85 points, you can currently exempt the invasion effect brought by "Dark Submersion").
Rating: 6000 points (Abyss Rank equipment rating is 1~6000 points)
Introduction: Darkness is always silent. Silence breeds precipitation, precipitation brings decay, decay transforms into nutrients, nutrients nourish life. At the very center of darkness, the purest and most thriving life source matter is nurtured.
Selling Price: Cannot be sold.
...
Su Xiao decided to activate the Divine Judgment Ring's effect to enhance the [Endless Ring]. The next second, the Divine Judgment Ring on his hand exploded. A surge of life energy entered his body, nourishing his source life force. The fragments of the Divine Judgment Ring were all swallowed by the [Endless Ring].
The [Endless Ring] looked like a slightly enlarged ring. Su Xiao tried to equip it in a special equipment slot, but a prompt appeared:
[It has been detected that you are attempting to equip "Abyss Equipment," and your Abyss Resistance has reached over 80 points. Do you wish to open an Abyss Equipment Slot (maximum of one can be opened)? Opening this Abyss Equipment Slot requires payment of 12,000 ounces of Space-Time Power.]
...
Su Xiao currently had 7,040.5 ounces of Space-Time Power. He would need to complete at least one Blood Pact bounty other than Bounty 1 to gather 12,000 ounces of Space-Time Power. He simply put away the [Endless Ring].
As a result, his Life Value increase wasn't significant. This time, it seemed to have permanently increased by 210,000 points, but don't forget that the Divine Judgment Ring had previously increased Life Value by 85,000 points. So, the actual increase this time was 125,000 points. Since he couldn't activate the [Endless Ring]'s effect for now, he temporarily lost the 120,000-point Life Value bonus. In the end, his Life Value only increased by 5,000 points, reaching 2,150,000 points.
Compared to the prerequisite of being able to stably equip the [Endless Ring] later, this current cost was nothing. Moreover, the upcoming battle against the "Aberrant Beast God" wouldn't be decided by whether he had an extra 100,000 or 200,000 Life Points to tank one more hit.
According to Zuiyasi, who had witnessed the "Aberrant Beast God" tearing apart other evil gods with its bare hands, even if Su Xiao had a strong physique, he didn't have an undead-type ability. Even with life-saving abilities like "Blood Spear Grandmaster: Blood Controller," which was an ultimate life-saving ability, he could only withstand three hits.
Once the "Blood Spear Grandmaster: Blood Controller" ability was triggered, Su Xiao at full health could only withstand two hits from the "Aberrant Beast God." Even with an additional 120,000 Life Points, it would still be two hits. The Beast God's power was too terrifying.
[Prompt: World Mission: God Hunter, Fourth Stage has been completed.]
[The rewards for this mission have been accumulated to the maximum. You have obtained the following rewards in total.]