# Chapter 2: Hellish Start and Digestion
The good news was that upon entering the world, he already had a reputation foundation with one of the core factions of this world.
The bad news was that due to his astonishing Charm attribute, his starting reputation value was -58,600 points. More importantly, the faction reputation of Sanctuary City·Duan was directly related to the world settlement of this world, or rather, this faction reputation was equivalent to World Source in other worlds.
Su Xiao had just been promoted to Supreme Rank, and the world evaluation of his first world was absolutely crucial. He needed to improve as quickly as possible within the Supreme Rank tier.
Either he didn't ascend to Supreme Rank, but once he did, those former Supreme Rank enemies would swarm in. Within three world progressions, if he couldn't reach Supreme Peak, he would die.
However, the foundation for this Supreme Rank promotion was laid out. What would be impossible for others—reaching Supreme Peak within three world progressions—was still possible for Su Xiao. Moreover, he was currently in the Ancient Dragon Kingdom, the territory of the Abyss Descendants·Dukain Clan.
An enemy of an enemy is a friend? Not always. The Dukain Family was extremely xenophobic, second only to the Bronze Family in their exclusivity. Therefore, they would likely be hostile toward the arrival of a Supreme Rank from Arcane Eternal Star.
[Entering World: Ancient Dragon Kingdom·Eberath.]
World Difficulty: Lv.86～Lv.99.
Location: The Last Sanctuary City·Duan.
World Source: 0% (Unobtainable).
Faction Reputation: -58,600 points.
World Introduction: End this blood feud spanning an era, you undying insect!
[Huanghun Era·1185: Yes, even the immortal ancient dragons had their day of raining blood, and the Sun God Clan, symbolizing the supreme sun, likewise welcomed their dying embers. The ancient dragons and the sun ultimately fell.]
[Huanghun Era·1650: Without the rule of ancient dragons and the deterrence of the Sun God Clan, the Star Realm welcomed its first chaotic era. But all this was reaching its end. The era of the Law-Destroying Shadows was about to arrive.]
[Arrival Era·First Year: The descendants from the Abyss quietly occupied this "Eberath" that belonged to the ancient dragons. No one could stop them. Even though after the ancient dragons perished, the humans here allied with the giants to establish the Dawn Empire, how could a newborn empire withstand the endless darkness from the Primordial Era?]
[Arrival Era·03: There was no tragic resistance, no passionate epic century-long war. Darkness descended, corruption followed. The powerful ones of the Dawn Empire faced true despair. They didn't even have the qualification to face their enemies directly.]
[When they charged into the darkness to fight their enemies to the death, the darkness corrupted their bodies, minds, wills, souls, and even their causal existence. Nothing was more despairing than charging furiously to the enemy's front, only to uncontrollably prostrate on the ground, forehead pressed against the earth, welcoming the enemy's foot stepping on the back of their head. Even warriors who dared face life and death would weep in despair at such a fate.]
[Arrival Era·109: Humans were shackled. Their bodies were corrupted, their minds eroded. They served and labored for the "Dukain Clan" day and night, fulfilling their final value. When exhausted, they were thrown into "Breeding Pools" to be decomposed. The Abyss Descendants weren't worried about the slave population decreasing; "Nurturing Factories" continuously produced human slaves. Of course, giants whose heads were pierced received negligible attention, as their "Nurturing Factories" had much higher operating costs than humans.]
[Arrival Era·1080: If living beings still had hope, it might only be the final imperial capital·Duan. This was the last sanctuary of refuge. The formations established before the Dawn Empire's collapse were still effective. The alchemy masters invited at great expense hadn't deceived them.]
[Arrival Era·3559: Passive defense would eventually be breached. Even if the Dukain Family didn't attack "The Last Imperial Capital·Duan," the daily and nightly erosion of darkness made the outer formation defenses precarious.]
[Arrival Era·4282: The power of flame brought renewed hope to Duan's people. They believed those dark descendants feared this power, otherwise they wouldn't have withdrawn the darkness, allowing nearly half of "Eberath" to reappear under sunlight.]
[Arrival Era·4399: Led by the current King of Duan, Duan's army marched out. This was a powerful army possessing the power of flame. Everyone was certain this was the beginning of welcoming back the light.]
[Arrival Era·4399: Half an hour. Just half an hour. When the army advanced before the Raging Sea, they saw a dark descendant sitting atop a dark monolith. This being had messy, woody horns on its head, was humanoid in form, over ten meters tall, with thick arms covered in many eyes. This was the last scene most warriors of Duan's army saw. Facing this terrifying existence, they lasted less than half an hour. Ultimately, the King of Duan was grabbed by the head, lifted with one hand, and casually crushed.]
[The power of flame was still insignificant before the power of the Abyss Descendants. The only reason "The Last Imperial Capital·Duan" existed until now was that the "Dukain Clan" was locked in a death struggle with the Law Destroyers and had no time to bother with these harmless weaklings.]
[Arrival Era·5062: No need for the Abyss Descendants to destroy it. The last imperial capital began to collapse. Facing enemies they couldn't possibly resist, some Duan residents chose final madness, others took their own lives. In this madness, the empire born on the mutilated corpses of ancient dragons ultimately self-destructed. The remaining brave ones couldn't have imagined that the danger they would face was their former kin. Those whose hearts had collapsed were already beginning to be corrupted by darkness, becoming the lowest servants of the Abyss Descendants—the Corrupted.]
[Arrival Era·5068: On the torch tower of High Wall City, flames burned fiercely. The survivors held this final city. In the years of fighting the Corrupted, they truly gained the courage to live in darkness. They would defend this last home, this last patch of land where crops could still be planted and a little clean water existed underground. Thus, Sanctuary City was born.]
[True power never comes from the supernatural, but from one's own courage—Sanctuary City·Duan·First City Lord·Wen, Taiyumaz.]
[Darkness Era·01: Darkness once again shrouded this ancient dragon's remnant kingdom "Eberath." But the people of Sanctuary City were no longer the blind and arrogant fanatics of old. They united closely, bravely walking beyond the high walls' protection, venturing deep into the darkness to explore.]
[To explore the endless darkness and find the lost light within it, the Sanctuary City residents were willing to pay any price, even to torment themselves, seeking power from pain, seeking miracles from suffering. Ultimately, they succeeded. From their own pain, they birthed divine miracles.]
[Darkness Era·05: The "Pain Divine Cult" was established. The priests voluntarily took on the burden of venturing out for exploration. Though they found nothing, they never gave up, and in the darkness, they continuously strengthened themselves through pain.]
[Darkness Era·106: A hundred years of venturing out for exploration by the priests seemed to yield nothing, but no one in the city complained. In this lightless Sanctuary City, each return of the priests was the people's hope. Losing this final hope, even if Duan's residents were strong enough, they would still collapse.]
[Darkness Era·519: Several hundred years of exploration. Generation after generation of Pain Divine Cult leaders·Pain High Priests died in the darkness. But the priests never once thought of giving up. Even if they were occasionally questioned, the support of more people, and their souls' unwillingness to be enslaved by the Abyss Descendants, kept their exploration never ceasing.]
[Darkness Era·644: An exploration team of 1,280 people, only five members returned. The residents of Sanctuary City were in an uproar. Of the five returning priests, two were mentally abnormal. It was hard to imagine what they encountered that could cause those who used their own pain as power to fall into a state of collapse. Of the remaining three, one died of severe injuries that same day. Fortunately, the other two were normal except for their injuries.]
[Finally, there was a gain. One priest pulled a beating mechanical heart from his bosom. It was the source of power, the peak of mechanical power, the power of... the gods! One must know, in the First Era, the gods were powerful existences that contended with ancient dragons and the sun. Even if they lost, it wasn't because they were weaker than the ancient dragons or the sun.]
[Twelve years later, the second major force of Sanctuary City, the Mechanics School, was established. Members of the Mechanics School began to appear in the venturing out exploration teams. They called themselves Ascendants, but people more often called them Mechanical Apprentices. Those strong enough were Mechanical Mentors. The few strongest were honored as Mechanical Masters.]
[Darkness Era·1244: In yet another exploration, the team leader discovered a very interesting ritual. Upon activating it, he summoned some madmen who worshipped the Abyss and darkness. They called themselves the Dark God Cult.]
[Darkness Era·1253: Members of the Dark God Cult began appearing within Sanctuary City. These guys were like cockroaches in the sewage—once they appeared, they were particularly hard to eliminate. But the Sanctuary City residents were both angry and puzzled. How could anyone worship the Abyss and darkness? Hadn't they seen the Abyss Descendants?]
[Darkness Era·1305: The Dark God Cult, with tenacious vitality, successfully took root within Sanctuary City. When they reached a certain scale, they quietly left the city, preparing to contact the Abyss Descendants, whom they believed in their hearts must be friendly powerful allies.]
[Five days later, only one half-mad Dark God Cult member escaped back to Sanctuary City and was rescued by other cult members. The world's first Dark Bishop used his soul ability to view this half-mad believer's memories. He clearly saw that after these Dark God Cult members found an Abyss Descendant who was only an ordinary clansman, the strange shadow standing in the darkness let out a mocking laugh.]
[The result was that the male Dark God Cult members who went to find powerful allies were pierced through and fixed with death shackles. The females were sent to "Nurturing Factories," melted onto cultivation production positions. Until they died and mildly rotted, they couldn't hope to break free from these terrible flesh cultivation positions.]
[After seeing all this, the world's first Dark Bishop knew—this was not the Abyss darkness descent they had hoped to see. This was simply not their darkness.]
[Darkness Era·1366: Sanctuary City's third major force received recognition from the current city lord. The Dark God Cult became one of the three major forces within Sanctuary City. Exploration teams began to have dark believers among their members.]
[Darkness Era·1552: The death struggle between the Law Destroyers and the Dukain Family ended with the Law Destruction faction losing to Arcane Eternal Star. The Dukain Family didn't rejoice. They too had suffered heavy losses. Only then did they have the energy to consolidate this "Eberath" they had occupied for many years. The result was that the Sanctuary City was no longer so easy to eliminate. However, it also seemed unnecessary to eliminate it.]
[World, Begin.]
...
Seeing this world introduction, Su Xiao felt the danger of this world. It was a world so dangerous that even the Dark God Cult had reformed.
Just as Su Xiao was contemplating subsequent strategies on how to turn around the faction reputation, the "Hunt List: Blood Pact" related prompt appeared.
[Bounty Activated...]
[Your current Space-Time Power: 9,999 ounces.]
[Your current world: Former Transcendent Primordial World·Eberath.]
[Based on multiple information sources, determining events related to you...]
[Determination complete. You can use "Hunt List: Blood Pact" to place bounties on the following matters.]