Chapter 46: Preparation
Su Xiao arrived before the Black Maple Tree and confirmed that the "World Mark" on it was fading. He left his Exclusive Room and headed to the Trial Grounds.
Unfortunately, during his trip to the Ancient Dragon Kingdom, the creatures there were generally eroded by Abyss Energy, so he didn't bring back any ingredients. He hoped the next world would have some decent food ingredients.
Walking slowly along the way, Su Xiao noticed that there were quite a few more Contractors in Reincarnation Paradise. Passing by the Trade Market, he paused to observe for a moment and spotted someone. Upon seeing him, that person was quite surprised and trotted over with small steps. When they got closer, they seemed a bit timid, as if worried about something.
"Long time no see, Youyou'an."
Hearing Su Xiao say this, Youyou'an's eyes instantly reddened.
This girl with off-white long hair, who liked to wear JK outfits, was so afraid that she had gotten used to others forgetting her. Because of this, she dressed quite freely. JK outfits, bunny girl suits, and the like were her daily wear. Frog suits, bear suits, etc., she also dared to wear outside. After all, a few minutes later, those who found her attire strange would forget her.
In other words, Youyou'an was the most top-tier assassination talent owner Su Xiao had ever seen. This talent was recorded in the Soul Library, named:
"Non-Existent Colorless Angel."
If Youyou'an could ascend to Supreme as a "Causality System," the terrifying aspect of this talent would fully manifest.
Time spent in Reincarnation Paradise was precious, so Su Xiao headed toward the Trial Grounds. Youyou'an was momentarily unsure whether to follow or what to do.
"Follow me."
"O-okay!"
Youyou'an trotted a few steps to catch up. As they walked, she put her hands behind her back, leaned forward slightly, and said with a beaming, proud smile:
"Mr. White Night, I'm already a Fourth Rank Contractor and am undergoing the Hunter assessment."
Youyou'an meant by this that the resources and potions Su Xiao had sponsored her with in the past were not wasted; she had been working hard all along.
Along the way, it was Youyou'an who did all the talking. She had grown to her current level largely because of sufficient resources. Otherwise, given the terrible side effects of her talent, she would have been killed by her own ability long ago.
Imagine this: a team exploring a dangerous environment rests for a night. The next morning, they find a completely unfamiliar person in their midst who claims to be a team member. If the other members don't gang up on them, it's only because they have a very rational leader.
When they reached the massive gates of the Trial Grounds, Youyou'an suddenly felt a bit reluctant. She hesitated for a moment and then asked:
"Mr. White Night, I'm a bit confused right now. Which system should I choose? I have at least six or more options."
"Perception System."
"Huh?"
Youyou'an was stunned. Among the systems she could currently specialize in, the Perception System seemed the weakest and the hardest to develop later on.
"Non-Existent Colorless Angel" could only unleash its power as a "Causality System," and the early stage of the Causality System was the Perception System. How weak this system was in the early stages was how strong it would be later.
Su Xiao was just giving a suggestion, and only because Youyou'an had asked proactively. He wouldn't interfere with whatever she chose. He stepped forward toward the Trial Grounds.
He had only taken a few steps when Youyou'an called out from behind, "Mr. White Night, then I'll specialize in the Perception System. I trust you."
"..."
Su Xiao stopped, tilted his head slightly, and said, "Choosing the Perception System will be very difficult."
Hearing this, Youyou'an laughed cheerfully: "Mr. White Night, what could be more difficult than being forgotten by your own parents and loved ones?"
"..."
Su Xiao didn't say anything more. He simply took out a Soul Coin savings card and tossed it to Youyou'an behind him, then stepped into the Trial Grounds.
Youyou'an caught the Soul Coin savings card and saw the amount written on it: 300.
"Soul Coins? What are these?"
At Youyou'an's current rank, she had no contact with Soul Coins at all. She could hold this card because the person who gave it to her had a top-tier authority of Lv.103. Derived from this authority, she was able to obtain and understand what this savings card was.
Otherwise, she would have received a prompt like "You have obtained ???" and only when she reached the corresponding rank and began to encounter Soul Coins would she learn the true nature of this item.
Soon, Youyou'an consulted Reincarnation Paradise about the use of Soul Coins. For her, at this stage, this hard currency had only one use: exchanging it for Paradise Coins. Today's real-time exchange rate was 1 Soul Coin = 151,800 Paradise Coins.
In other words, Youyou'an suddenly had 45.54 million Paradise Coins. This amount was so large that her imprint authority limit would take over ten days to exchange all these Soul Coins.
Why did Su Xiao invest in Youyou'an? A promising and quite likable low-to-mid-rank Contractor was worth investing in. Within the Paradise faction, not all low-rank items were useless to high-rank Contractors. This wasn't a game; it was the reality of the Star Realm, full of unknowns and randomness.
Games require logic and reason, but in the Star Realm, anything accidental could happen.
For example, a Second Rank Contractor, in a Second Rank competition world, picked up a [Primordial Core] and sold it to a merchant for a high price of 50,000 Paradise Coins. The merchant sold it to a blacksmith, who embedded it on top of a staff, thinking it was a gem of extremely high quality, even unviewable in attributes.
Later, a Supreme-level old-timer, bored, wandered into the Trade Market and found this staff, which had changed hands five times. The old-timer's eyes went wide.
In the end, he bought the staff for 350,000 Paradise Coins. It's worth noting that the old-timer hadn't used Paradise Coins in so long that when he tried to exchange them, he found that Paradise Coins were a currency for newcomers. At the Supreme level, of course, he couldn't exchange them. He had to ask a low-rank friend to complete the transaction.
On the teleportation array of the Trial Grounds, Su Xiao chose to go to the "Land of All Beings." Speaking of which, the "Land of All Beings" was actually just a part of the Trial Grounds.
Checking the difference between the Ninth and Tenth Layers of the "Land of All Beings," there was no essential difference. The efficiency of the Tenth Layer was about 7 times that of the Ninth, and the Ninth Layer was 5 times that of the Eighth.
The "Land of All Beings·Eighth Layer" could roughly increase training efficiency by 1500 times. Multiplying this efficiency by 5 brought training efficiency to 7500 times.
The "Land of All Beings·Tenth Layer" multiplied this by another 7 times, bringing training efficiency to 52,500 times. That is, training for one day in the Land of All Beings was equivalent to 144 years of non-stop, intense cultivation in the outside world.
Note that this wasn't just non-stop cultivation; it also required being in the peak state of cultivation the entire time to achieve 144 years of outside cultivation in one day in the "Land of All Beings·Tenth Layer." In reality, 200 years of hard cultivation might not even match one day in the Tenth Layer.
Su Xiao invested his remaining three days of stay in the "Land of All Beings·Tenth Layer," which was equivalent to over 600 years of cultivation progress. This was why, within the Paradise faction, strength didn't require time-consuming grinding but only life-and-death battles for tempering.
The teleportation array beneath Su Xiao's feet activated. When the teleportation shimmer faded, he stood on a dugout canoe. Looking around, he saw an endless ocean with clear blue water that felt familiar. He crouched down, scooped up some seawater, and let the slightly viscous liquid slip through his fingers. This was, astonishingly, an ocean composed of liquid Soul Energy.
It was hard to imagine the magnitude of Soul Energy here. Originally, he thought that one day here equaling 200 years of outside cultivation was exaggerated, but now, in this environment, such efficiency seemed perfectly reasonable.
Su Xiao stood up and slowly drew the longsword at his waist. As he did so, on the surface of the surrounding Soul Sea, countless Soul Shadows formed.
Their faces were different from Su Xiao's, but if one looked closely, they would be surprised to find that their features somewhat resembled Su Xiao's. Continuing to stare, they all took on Su Xiao's appearance. In fact, they were all Su Xiao himself. This was the myriad forms of all beings, yet the myriad forms had no form.
At the Eighth Layer of the Land of All Beings, one could form Soul Avatars to assist in cultivation. But to achieve the efficiency of the Tenth Layer, one needed to form 525,000 Soul Avatars. Not to mention whether so many Soul Avatars could exist simultaneously, if one actually cultivated this way, Su Xiao's Soul Origin would begin to deplete within half an hour at most.
Now, these 525,000 shadows all had the appearance of all beings. When needed, they were all Su Xiao; when not needed, they could be nothingness.
Su Xiao slashed out with his blade. Almost simultaneously, the countless shadows of all beings around him, stretching beyond sight, also slashed out with him in a virtual strike.
In that instant, Su Xiao felt as if he had suddenly expanded from himself into a massive shadow that enveloped all the shadows of all beings. Then, he experienced and felt every single slash made by the hundreds of thousands of shadows. This experience was wonderful and addictive.
Furthermore, the "Skill Effect 3: Increases 5707% of Technique Ability Development Speed" from the "Supreme Passive: Intelligence" further amplified this experience.
Su Xiao no longer needed to train in various messy blade techniques. After mastering the "Heavenly Blade Shadow Strike" ability, he only needed to train in "Extreme Blade."
"Skill Effect: Extreme Blade (Exclusive Passive). This characteristic is the 'Foundation of Techniques' for your current Technique Ability. All your Technique Ability skills used with your longsword will have their comprehensive power (including proficiency, development, skill power, range, activation speed, and all other characteristics related to Technique Abilities) determined based on this ability.
Current Extreme Blade·Foundation Strength: 55 points (This is the Foundation Strength obtained by integrating the cultivation progress of all current Technique Abilities)."
The best way to train a Foundation of Techniques like "Extreme Blade" was to simply slash forward in an unadorned diagonal strike and then feel whether the slash could be stronger and more perfect.
After one slash, Su Xiao felt a slight drain on his stamina, but after a few seconds of rest, he slashed again, almost identical but with a slight difference.
In fact, even with this most ordinary forward slash, each strike had a very subtle difference. To make two completely identical slashes in a row was impossible with his current level of blade techniques.
This "completely identical" didn't just refer to the angle or force of the slash, but the rhythm of the strike. Once the rhythm was grasped, Technique Abilities could achieve many incredible things.
So-called Technique Types referred to constantly breaking through oneself. When a Technique Type broke through oneself to a certain extent, they began to influence their environment, such as causing "time to slow," making space unable to heal after being cut, or even completely freezing the "Star Realm" within a small area.
On the first day of training, Su Xiao couldn't make two completely identical slashes in a row. But if the interval wasn't considered, he began to occasionally make slashes with exactly the same essence.
By noon on the second day, he finally broke through this problem. In fact, he didn't even feel much about it; he just subconsciously slashed, and then realized that the rhythm of this slash was exactly the same as the previous one.
Because the slash was in the same spot, a black mark appeared in the space where he struck. It was worth noting that the space in the Tenth Layer of the Land of All Beings had been reinforced.
If he needed to make these two completely identical slashes in actual combat—no, that was impossible. In combat, there was absolutely no such opportunity.
By the afternoon of the third day of training, Su Xiao had to rest for a few minutes after each slash. This wasn't just ordinary swinging; it required grasping the rhythm and resonating with over 500,000 shadows of all beings. If his four main attributes hadn't all broken through 2500 points, he wouldn't have lasted this long.
On the evening of the third day, at the main entrance of the Trial Grounds, Su Xiao sat on the back of a mechanical dog. This mechanical dog was over five meters long, built by Bubu Wang, and named "Dabu." It was still in the testing phase, mainly used to assist the Lord's Train.
In critical moments, it could be mounted on the train's roof. Originally, it was planned to launch K-type gravity bombs, but due to the high cost of K-type gravity bombs, this design was temporarily shelved.
At this moment, Su Xiao felt only exhaustion. He just wanted to sleep and completely relieve the fatigue. Speaking of which, human sleep was considered very useless in many power systems, but in reality, it was an innate divine skill of the race.
As long as humans didn't develop in a non-human direction on the path to strength, the ability to sleep would gradually strengthen with their own growth.
A more intuitive analogy: if sleep were "datafied" as an ability, when all attributes were 10 points, it would be "Sleep, Lv.1." When all attributes reached 500 points, the sleep ability would rise to around Lv.60 with the individual's growth.
Of course, not all races had this racial talent. Long-lived races, ancient races, etc., did not. When they were exhausted, they had to rest for half a year, or even sleep for decades or centuries.
Lying on the big bed in his Exclusive Room, Su Xiao fought off sleepiness and checked the current status of "Foundation of Techniques·Extreme Blade":
"Current Extreme Blade·Foundation Strength: 103 points (Increased by 48 points)."
This increase was very exaggerated, with many factors involved: the "Land of All Beings·Tenth Layer," which allowed focused training on one skill, "Extreme Blade"; the understanding and level achieved after his blade technique reached X; and the bonus from the "Supreme·Intelligence" ability on blade technique training.
Su Xiao tried to upgrade the "Heavenly Blade Shadow Strike" ability, and a prompt appeared.
[To upgrade Heavenly Blade Shadow Strike, Lv.1, requires consuming 1000 ounces of Space-Time Power, 10 Primordial Cores, and one "Primordial Source Matter."]
...
Good news: upgrading Technique Abilities no longer required ultra-high-quality Soul Stones.
Bad news: now Technique Abilities treated "Primordial Cores" like Soul Stones.
Even worse was the "Primordial Source Matter." This thing wasn't just precious; it was the kind of resource that completely relied on luck, with no stable way to obtain it.
[Ultimate Treasure Box]
Effect: Upon opening, you can obtain two of the following items (randomly drawn).