Chapter 6: Mission and Friends
Inner Palace of the Royal Palace · Secret Chamber.
The skill upgrade pod before him appeared somewhat aged, with deep-sea rust stains on its surface. It seemed that when it fell into this world, it had sunk to the ocean floor, where it was fortuitously obtained by the Three Elders. They had studied it extensively but were never able to activate this Paradise facility.
Su Xiao pressed one hand against the pod's door. As the notarization of Reincarnation Paradise began, the skill upgrade pod showed signs of operation, and the door slowly opened. Compared to its worn exterior, the inside was in much better condition. On the right wall of the pod, a line of small text was engraved:
'Xiketo, my beloved, we will surely win, even if our opponent is the regimental commander. The dawn will guide our way.'
Su Xiao had previously thought that this skill upgrade pod was damaged, which was why it hadn't been notarized as spoils of war by the Void Tree. Now it seemed that this was the exclusive skill upgrade pod of a certain Dawn Paradise contractor.
This didn't affect Su Xiao's use of it. The only difference between an exclusive skill upgrade pod and a universal one was slightly evident when using it to enhance abilities. What he needed was simply the notarized environment inside the pod.
Su Xiao attempted to activate the skill upgrade pod, and relevant prompts appeared.
[Prompt: Detected that your current area is not an internal Paradise environment. Activating a Paradise facility in this environment will consume a "massively" increased amount of Space-Time Power, at a rate of 216 ounces per hour.]
The unique environment within a Paradise faction was not surprising. Even so, maintaining the operation of so many infrastructure facilities would require a massive amount of Space-Time Power daily.
Reincarnation Paradise could certainly bear this consumption. In fact, Reincarnation Paradise gave the impression that Space-Time Power was a specialty of that faction. Winning world conquest battles time and again granted Reincarnation Paradise the notarization rights to more worlds.
As these worlds operated naturally each day, they generated surplus Space-Time Power. Normally, this Space-Time Power would dissipate into the lifeless zones of the Star Realm. When a world was notarized by a Paradise faction, the Space-Time Power that would have dissipated into those lifeless zones was instead stored by that Paradise faction.
In fact, each world conquest battle, though appearing to be eight battles from Rank 2 to Rank 9, was not quite so. Every rank had simultaneous world conquest battles. The lower the world rank, the more simultaneous battles there were. For example, in Rank 4 world conquest battles, each round of Rank 4 battles typically involved 120 to 140 simultaneous matches.
Given the vast number of contractors in the lower and middle ranks of the Paradise factions, supporting this many battles at Rank 4 was practically routine. It was just that at lower ranks, one lacked the relevant permissions to understand this aspect.
With so many simultaneous matches at Rank 4, the numbers for Rank 2 and Rank 3 were predictable. However, each Rank 9 world conquest battle was usually just one or two matches, mostly one, with rare cases of two simultaneous matches.
After all, over the years, most Rank 9 worlds that could be contested already had notarized parties. The newly promoted worlds from Rank 8 were the main targets of Rank 9 conquest battles.
Additionally, not all worlds notarized by the Paradise factions were accessible to their contractors. For instance, in the Reincarnation Paradise faction, at least 21.85% of its notarized worlds were prohibited from contractor entry.
These worlds either had unstable world systems or fragile ones that couldn't withstand the antics of trouble-making contractors.
To put it more intuitively, the number of worlds notarized by each Paradise faction was as follows:
Reincarnation Paradise notarized worlds: 175,236 (Rank 1 to former Transcended Realms).
Death Paradise notarized worlds: 106,430 (Rank 1 to former Transcended Realms).
Apocalypse Paradise notarized worlds: 86,220 (Rank 1 to Rank 9).
Sanctuary Paradise notarized worlds: 75,400 (Rank 1 to Rank 9).
Holy Light Paradise notarized worlds: 38,662 (Rank 1 to Rank 9).
Watchful Paradise notarized worlds: 7,260 (Rank 1 to Rank 9).
...
The daily consumption of Space-Time Power by the Paradise factions was unimaginable to contractors. However, there was a question: among the six major Paradises, how did Watchful Paradise maintain its Space-Time Power consumption?
Holy Light Paradise, ranked second to last, was barely maintaining itself, occasionally needing to trade materials for Space-Time Power with Reincarnation Paradise. Moreover, the number of contractors in Holy Light Paradise was only about one-third of that in the upper-tier factions like Reincarnation Paradise, Death Paradise, and Apocalypse Paradise.
By the time one reached Sanctuary Paradise's level, the income and expenditure of Space-Time Power were relatively balanced. At least there was no need to trade materials for Space-Time Power with Reincarnation Paradise.
Apocalypse Paradise's wealth was well-known, though its Space-Time Power was weaker than Reincarnation Paradise's. In some resource aspects, it surpassed Reincarnation Paradise.
Death Paradise was the eternal second place. Although the title wasn't pleasant, its number of notarized worlds, contractor count, and Space-Time Power income/expenditure ratio were all quite formidable.
Su Xiao sat cross-legged inside the skill upgrade pod. As he paid 216 ounces of Space-Time Power, the pod began to operate.
[Prompt: The current skill upgrade pod is damaged. It is not possible to enhance your mastered abilities by paying Soul Coins.]
Su Xiao didn't mind this. He opened his skill list and navigated to the Law-Destruction faction skills. At the top was:
[Law-Destruction Skill Points: 17 points.]
First, one needed to understand how Law-Destruction Skill Points were formed. They were derived from the exclusive talent of the Law-Destruction Shadow.
[Hunting Shadow]
Category: Law-Destruction Shadow · Exclusive Talent (Unawakened)
Level: S (Upon completing one awakening, it can reach SSS level).
Talent Effect (Passive): After killing an enemy, your Devouring Core will absorb the enemy's undispersed Primordial Energy, converting it into Soul Energy. When Soul Energy reaches 100%, you will gain 1 Law-Destruction Skill Point.
Tip: This skill point is manifested after notarization by Reincarnation Paradise and can be used to enhance Law-Destruction abilities.
Current Law-Destruction Skill Points: 17 points.
...
Su Xiao could gain 80 Law-Destruction Skill Points per world progress. This wasn't because he could only hunt that much "Primordial Energy." Just thinking about it made it unreasonable. In his last world, he had defeated the Beast God, High Tower Knight, Nun, Divine Avatar, Last Blazing Sun King, and First Sun King. No matter how one looked at it, it was more than 80 points. Even 160 points would seem too few.
The reason lay in the storage limit of Law-Destruction Skill Points. If stored in Su Xiao's own body, the limit was 30 points. After obtaining the [Primordial Container], he used this exclusive equipment to absorb Primordial Energy, then converted it into Soul Energy via the Devouring Core ability, forming Law-Destruction Skill Points stored within.
The maximum capacity of the [Primordial Container] was 80 points. As for why he didn't store them in his own body, Law-Destruction Skill Points were a type of permanent self-enhancing Primordial Energy. Storing them in one's body risked triggering extremely severe and irreversible chain reactions if something went wrong.
If storing Law-Destruction Skill Points in one's body were safe enough, the Ancestral Law Destroyers wouldn't have painstakingly created the [Primordial Container]. Although the Ancestral Law Destroyers didn't use skill upgrade pods to consume Law-Destruction Skill Points, each time they entered areas where the Abyss had spread, they had to wait a long time before returning to the Law-Destruction Hall. The [Primordial Container] was also insufficiently large at times.
There was no helping it. The materials for the [Primordial Container] were expensive, and the manufacturing process was absurdly difficult. Both the Ancestral Law Destroyers and the Slintez Dwarves had worn pained expressions over this.
For now, Su Xiao had temporarily solved this problem by using Law-Destruction Skill Points as he obtained them. This approach made him feel that during this conquest battle, he could raise the "Azure Shadow King" ability to max level.
Currently, "Azure Shadow King" was at Lv.19. Considering this was the ultimate skill of the Law-Destruction system, if max level was 100, then it was Lv.100 + Lv.10 from [Origin Stone: World] raising the cap, making it Lv.110 - Lv.19 = Lv.91.
Raising "Azure Shadow King" by 1 level required 3 Law-Destruction Skill Points, totaling 273 points. In the first round, "Plant Kingdom: Yagowa," there was certainly no chance to obtain that many Law-Destruction Skill Points. The second round, "Lord's Continent," held great promise.
Given the known first three rounds of "Conquest," "Legion," and "Survival," the current first round was conquest. The second round's legion theme would require a change in original thinking. One must not forget that Shenfu knew about Su Xiao's Demon Insect Race and would certainly take precautions against it.
Additionally, after the Eternal Light World experience, the Demon Insect Race's strength had undergone a qualitative change. However, the insect race's mother nest was permanently fixed in the Eternal Light World. This was the price for surviving the impossible trial of Eternal Light, and it was also a crucial hidden trump card for facing absolute desperation in the future.
Su Xiao attempted to enhance the "Azure Shadow King" ability. A familiar feeling emerged. The Law-Destruction Skill Points stored in the [Primordial Container] were rapidly consumed, leaving only 2 points after a moment.
[Azure Shadow King ability has been raised to Lv.24.]
After checking the enhanced Azure Shadow King and confirming the enhancement's strength was fine, he tried to pause the current activation of the skill upgrade pod. He found that once activated, it couldn't be stopped. It seemed he should accumulate more Law-Destruction Skill Points before activating the pod again to make it more worthwhile.
Opening the pod door, Su Xiao attempted to store the skill upgrade pod into the team storage space. Just then, a knocking sound came from outside. It was Fenny at the secret chamber door. Baha glanced at Su Xiao, asking if he should open the door.
After Su Xiao signaled to open it, Amu opened the secret chamber door. Fenny wasn't wearing her gold-white robe but instead a lighter summer outfit. Seeing the tall machine ahead, she looked puzzled and asked:
"This machine looks very familiar."
Fenny frowned slightly, certain she had seen this tall machine before, but couldn't remember what it was. Suddenly, she thought of something and said with some surprise:
"This looks like... a skill upgrade pod?"
"Correct. Want to give it a try?"
"Really?"
Fenny's eyes lit up. She had never enhanced her abilities within a mission world before.
"Of course, but this thing requires self-funded activation. It costs 216 ounces of Space-Time Power per use."
Hearing this number, Fenny immediately lost her curiosity: "That's robbery! I've never saved up that much Space-Time Power. I can't help but spend it whenever I save a few dozen ounces, and that's after saving for a long time."
Fenny puffed out her cheeks. It was clear that compared to her wariness when first joining the team, this was her usual demeanor. Although cautious by nature, she had a measured curiosity about everything.
Ignoring Fenny as she examined the skill upgrade pod, Su Xiao finally had time to check the rewards from killing the Three Elders. These were three rather unique boss-level units.
[You have killed the Three Elders.]
[You have gained 6,800 Soul Coins.]
[You have gained 0% World Source (World Source cannot be obtained in the current world).]
[You have gained Eternal Rank Chest: Twisted Parasitic Soul.]
[You have gained Eternal Rank Chest: Rotten Giant Tree Soul.]
[You have gained Eternal Rank Chest: Resentful Curse Poison Soul.]
[Having obtained all three chests simultaneously, you may choose a directed reward opening. By choosing this method, opening the above three chests will guarantee obtaining "Twisted Parasitic Soul," "Rotten Giant Tree Soul," and "Resentful Curse Poison Soul," allowing for a crude synthesis, or you may seek a synthesis method on your own.]
...
Obviously, defeating the Three Elders triggered the prerequisite for some mission. In the notarization, the Three Elders were treated as a single boss unit, as evidenced by the Soul Coin reward. The 6,800 Soul Coins also carried some prestige.
Looking at the three chests floating before him, Su Xiao opened them all.
[You have gained Twisted Parasitic Soul.]
[You have gained Rotten Giant Tree Soul.]
[You have gained Resentful Curse Poison Soul.]
Su Xiao didn't choose the default synthesis method. He took out the [Ring Holy Mark], an item from the Soul Library and the strongest synthesis method he possessed. As the [Ring Holy Mark] closed in, the three negative souls gathered together. After half an hour of synthesis, a prompt appeared.
[You have gained Curse Index Finger.]
[Curse Index Finger]
Origin: Curse Land.
Category: Curse Object/Index Finger.
Effect: Opens the mechanism of Curse Land · Decaying Blood Sea · Secret Island... ???
Description: There are always those who luckily believe that as long as they escape the Curse Land, they can escape the price equal to the power they gained, unaware that they themselves have become the key to unlocking the curse.
...
Compared to the result of this synthesis, Su Xiao was more interested in the prompt from Apocalypse Paradise when he obtained the three negative souls. Its content was:
[Prompt: You have obtained three negative souls. You have activated the hidden mission: Curse Origin.]
[Hidden Mission: First Ring: Synthesis Secret Art.]
Difficulty Level: Lv.92.
Mission Briefing: Travel to the "Rain Land" in the southern region, find the Great Shaman of the Elk Horn Tribe, Narsank, and complete the synthesis of the three negative souls to obtain the Curse Finger. Details of the Curse Finger are as follows:
Curse Finger · Little Finger: 20% probability to open the mechanism of Curse Land · Decaying Blood Sea · Secret Island.
Curse Finger · Ring Finger: 50% probability to open...
Curse Finger · Middle Finger: 70% probability to open...
Curse Finger · Thumb: 90% probability to open...
Curse Finger · Index Finger: 100% probability to open...
Tip: Which Curse Finger you ultimately obtain will depend on the amount of compensation you give to the Great Shaman Narsank and your method of negotiation with this neutral unit.
Mission Duration: 3 natural days.
Mission Reward: Curse Finger · ??
Mission Penalty: -650,000 Soul Coins.
...
Seeing this penalty, Su Xiao's eyes showed some doubt. This was the first time he had seen a penalty that deducted Soul Coins, and the amount was quite high.
However, the mission briefing above immediately made one feel that this penalty wasn't high at all. This wasn't a mission briefing; it was essentially the mission's completion process. Su Xiao estimated that if this were a mission notarized by Reincarnation Paradise, the briefing would simply be "Complete the synthesis of the negative souls."
As for the southern region, Rain Land, Elk Horn Tribe, and Great Shaman Narsank, if Reincarnation Paradise's mission briefing didn't include "complete synthesis," that would already be considered sufficiently clear.
Opening the team list, Su Xiao shared this mission with Fenny. Up to now, Fenny had shown a desire for their team to win and had done her best. When surrounded by the plant race earlier, she hadn't used her life-saving props to escape, proving she was a reliable healing type, not high-level cannon fodder.
Under such circumstances, it was only right to share the mission. When teaming up, the more members who accepted the same mission, the richer the mission's rewards.
Fenny studied the mission information for a moment. The rewards from this mission were certainly substantial, but the corresponding risks made her a bit worried. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but this time they were dealing with a large group of violators. In her understanding, their team had no spare capacity to complete other tasks. However, saying this directly felt inappropriate, so she tactfully said:
"Bai Ye, this mission..."
[Prompt: Detected that you have obtained Curse Finger · Index Finger.]
[Hidden Mission: Curse Origin · First Ring (Completed).]
[This mission is a multi-ring hidden mission. You may claim the mission reward after each ring, or accumulate the mission rewards and claim them upon completing the final ring.]
[Warning: This accumulation characteristic differs from Reincarnation Paradise's related notarization. Each time you choose to accumulate rewards, the difficulty of the next ring mission will increase.]
...
Su Xiao looked at Fenny beside him: "What were you saying?"
"Uh... I was saying..."
Fenny was stunned. This was normal. Not just in Apocalypse Paradise, but even in Reincarnation Paradise, only a very few people completed missions this way.
[Hidden Mission: Second Ring: Preliminary Purification.]
Difficulty Level: Lv.94.
Mission Briefing: Travel to the central water source of the Dense Forest Royal Capital. Dive to the very bottom of the central water source to obtain a sufficient amount of "Primordial Water." Find ???, and with the help of ???, perform a preliminary cleansing of the curse power within the "Curse Index Finger."
Mission Duration: 2 natural days.
Mission Reward: Accumulating...
Mission Penalty: -850,000 Soul Coins.
...
This was a reward delivered to his doorstep. Normally, this mission did have a difficulty of Lv.94. The problem was that Su Xiao had just slain the Three Elders. The new leader of the plant faction, upon seeing him, looked as if they had met a living King of Hell. Therefore, going to the plant faction's forbidden area, the central water source, was as easy as going to a morning exercise plaza.
Su Xiao had a habit. He never just looked at a mission's briefing and then blindly followed it. Thinking and summarizing before executing a mission was a habit he had developed from long hours of doing missions in Reincarnation Paradise. After all, Reincarnation Paradise's mission information was too sparse, requiring sufficient thinking and expansion.
First, the framework of this hidden mission wasn't complex: 1. Trigger the prerequisite to obtain the key, 2. Forge the key, 3. The final ring to find or defeat something in "Curse Land · Decaying Blood Sea · Secret Island."
First was the key-finding ring. Based on Su Xiao's experience, this required a starting NPC. This NPC would be the mission's opening. They would vaguely tell the mission executor about the curse, decay, and secret island, without going too deep, to facilitate subsequent development.
With the groundwork laid, the main act would begin. The starting NPC would tell the protagonist team how evil the Three Elders were, who occupied the water source, and that each possessed something related to the world's fate, etc. After some persuasion, the protagonist team, either awakened by a sense of justice untainted by the world's dangers or driven by profit, would decide to deal with the Three Elders.
When the protagonist team defeated the Three Elders and obtained the three negative souls, the starting NPC would likely appear. After some more persuasion, they would send the protagonist team on the journey to synthesize the Curse Finger.
"Bubu, observe any suspicious targets moving within a few kilometers."
"Woof."
Bubu Wang released a swarm of insects, totaling over a hundred thousand mobile detection units. In less than five minutes, they locked onto an old man dressed in tattered gray clothes, leaning on a wooden staff wrapped in rags. The old man had dull, blind eyes. On his right ear hung an ornament that emitted sound patterns as he walked, clearly using the echo of sound waves to determine the surrounding terrain.
Su Xiao was certain this was the starting NPC. The other party had already noticed the detection but remained calm, walking slowly but steadily out of the detection range.
"This is...?"
Fenny curiously leaned in to look.
"The starting NPC for this mission."
"How... did you determine that?"
Fenny's knowledge of strange things was growing rapidly today, leaving her expression somewhat dazed.
"Baha."
"Boss, I'm here."
"Go kill this old bastard."
"Got it."
"??!!"
Fenny nearly cracked. This was the starting NPC for this hidden mission. Who would kill the starting NPC while doing the mission?
"Wait... wait, shouldn't we be steady?"
Fenny knew that Baha wouldn't listen to her, so she spoke to Su Xiao. She had already gained a preliminary understanding of this team leader. Simply put, although this leader was violent and ruthless, as long as one sincerely assisted him and didn't court death or act presumptuously, the leader would consider and adopt effective suggestions from team members.
Unfortunately, Fenny's suggestion wasn't adopted this time. A few minutes later, she began receiving a series of warning prompts. The general content was that a member of her team was attacking an important NPC for her ongoing mission. But Fenny could only say she had no choice; she was also desperate.
As for why Apocalypse Paradise didn't issue a large number of warning prompts to Su Xiao, it was both because he was a Reincarnation Paradise hunter and because it was useless. Su Xiao would definitely not heed them.
When Fenny finally received the notification that the current mission NPC had been killed, she could only force a smile. She really couldn't find the appropriate expression to describe her current mood.
Su Xiao sat down on a crystal seat, looking at the "Curse Index Finger" floating before him. The reason he killed the starting NPC was that the old bastard's initial goal was to deceive others.
This brought up the mission's second phase: purifying the curse power within the "Curse Index Finger." From the mission process, a single purification wouldn't achieve this. This content should extend to the third, fourth, or even fifth ring of the mission.
The starting NPC's goal was most likely to absorb the curse power washed out of the "Curse Index Finger." When absorbed to a certain degree, this guy would reveal his true form, using the power gained from absorbing the curse to ambush the protagonist team executing the mission, thereby seizing the purified "Curse Index Finger."
First, consider the order of this conquest battle: Plant Kingdom → Lord's Continent → Curse Land → Undead Kingdom → Dawn Periphery (Ruins Periphery) → Dawn Ruins.
It seemed that one had to go through four worlds notarized by Dawn Paradise to enter the Dawn Periphery. However, judging from this hidden mission's situation, Plant Kingdom, Lord's Continent, and Curse Land were medium-sized worlds connected to each other. The fourth round's "Undead Kingdom" didn't seem capable of standing alone as a medium-sized world. It was likely a buffer zone before entering Dawn Paradise.
Thus, the actual formal worlds in the first few rounds were only Plant Kingdom, Lord's Continent, and Curse Land. This also corresponded to the hidden mission's content.
In Plant Kingdom: Complete the fusion and preliminary purification of the "Curse Finger."
In Lord's Continent: Complete multiple comprehensive purifications of the "Curse Finger."
In Curse Land: Use the "Curse Finger" to welcome the final ring of this mission.
From this perspective, the most time-consuming part of this mission was the purification process of the "Curse Finger." During this period, one might have to contact several mission NPCs, run errands for them, help them solve inexplicable troubles, and so on. If this step could be skipped, it would save over 90% of the mission's execution time.
To be honest, purifying the curse within the "Curse Finger" was very difficult. If Su Xiao were alone, he really couldn't do it. But if an old friend could assist, then...
Moreover, this time, the violator faction they were dealing with was indeed troublesome. Plus, the team still had two slots. Wasn't one of them reserved for the old friend, Nicholas Kaiser? However, he didn't know what would happen when Apocalypse Paradise's notarization encountered Kaiser.
Thinking carefully, facing Reincarnation Paradise's notarization, Kaiser would bounce three feet high from his lying position. If temporarily notarized by Apocalypse Paradise, Kaiser... wouldn't he take off!
There was one problem: this team could only have Su Xiao as the Reincarnation Paradise hunter/contractor. Although Kaiser was an arbiter, he was still from the Reincarnation Paradise faction.
Su Xiao looked at Fenny beside him, who had 42,860 points of Apocalypse Paradise reputation and 41,990 points of Void Tree reputation. Fenny, who was thinking about the subsequent plan, suddenly shivered. Then she found her team leader looking at her with a smile. This scene made Fenny numb, scared numb, even though her leader's smile was relatively kind.
"I... I suddenly have urgent business to attend to outside. I'll be back in a moment."
Just as Fenny was about to get up and slip away to avoid her leader's kind plan, a hand pressed down on her shoulder.
"Fenny, you've disappointed me. You've actually become a violator."
"???"
Fenny was completely confused.
"But since you've abandoned evil for good and are willing to reform and become a temporary arbiter of Reincarnation Paradise to atone for your sins, I am very pleased."
"Ah?!!"
Fenny nearly burst into tears. She didn't know what was about to happen, but she felt it would "massively" increase her strange knowledge.