# Chapter 3: Your Current Personal Fortune: 4200~5800 Points
[Due to your exceptionally high true luck attribute and personal fortune, you will gain a 195% high bonus to the "Punishment Reward Settlement"!]
...
Looking at this series of prompts, Molei was so stunned she thrust both hands into her pink hair. She reached out and pinched Yueshitu's fair cheek, causing Yueshitu to yelp in pain and slap her hand away. As for why she didn't pinch herself to confirm if this was a dream—pinching herself would hurt too much.
Molei wasn't blinded by the benefits, and she discovered something: the combination of this Hunter and Arbiter was even more terrifying in their operations.
In the past, these two used reckless props or abilities to operate. Now, these two experienced individuals were using conventional operations, with a few dirty tricks mixed in, like making an empty team slot the captain, while everything else was compliant but unreasonable.
These two were now so skilled that they could cause a conflict between the world's notarization authority and real-time judgment, exploiting this to achieve their goals with minimal risk.
[You have proposed to transfer 10% of the current "Empire Team" revenue rights to Hunter Kukulin Bai Ye.]
[The transferor has rejected. This transfer has failed.]
...
Seeing this prompt, Molei could only helplessly give up. She actually really wanted this seemingly astonishing benefit.
The problem was, she seemed to have done nothing, merely being manipulated by that Hunter. But the end result was that she could get this 10% revenue. A feeling of being completely controlled and thoroughly toyed with left Molei temporarily in a salted fish state. But don't underestimate this leg-breaking girl; after a period of absence, she would become very mischievous again.
As for why Su Xiao gave 10% to Molei, the reason was simple. In his consistent style of conduct, this was what Molei deserved. If he, with his charm and luck attributes, were to settle the "Empire Team's" punishment reward, even if the "Empire Team" performed well, the reward would be negligible. That would indeed be exaggerated.
But it would probably be just scraps. If such revenue was 2, then the current revenue was at least 6000 or more. Giving 10% to Molei left 5400, a profit of 5398. This was a complete blood profit. At any time, hoarding everything wouldn't last long.
If the subsequent "Empire Team" judgment really had problems, Molei would grit her teeth and take the initiative to step up, because she was already a beneficiary, not a coerced party.
"Bai Ye, is there anything I can help with in forming the 'Empire Team'?"
Molei spoke with a somewhat evasive gaze. She had struggled just now, but now that she was on the pirate ship, she took the initiative to lend a hand and become an accomplice, which made Molei a bit embarrassed.
After Molei and her two companions left, Su Xiao looked toward the corner of the office. There, a man wearing a black top hat, black gloves, a black clerical robe, small round black sunglasses, and holding a black cigarette between his fingers stood.
"Should I say, you really are a card the old king played when he was dying?"
The black clergyman took a drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled smoke.
"I'll give you three seconds."
"Mr. Bai Ye, you seem to..."
"Two."
"You seem to have misunderstood."
Boom!
Everything at the corner shattered. Su Xiao held the black clergyman's head in one hand, while the blood-spurting headless body thudded down, sitting slumped against the corner. The remaining half of the black cigarette in his hand was extinguished by blood.
The black clergyman's cheek trembled, his teeth grinding audibly:
"I am the Archbishop of the Mechanical Church..."
The dark blue smoke-like demon spirit was released from Dragon-Slaying Flash, climbing up along his arm and burrowing into the black clergyman's head through his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. Everything he subsequently said, and his claim of being ordered by Mechanical Pope Anger Man to deliver an ultimatum, became meaningless.
With a crack, the life core within the black clergyman's head shattered.
"Someone come."
The room was quickly cleaned. Behind the desk, after signing a few documents, Su Xiao began to enjoy his lunch. Vice Minister Tuo En'ta had arranged for two maids to take care of his daily needs. Since Su Xiao only needed meals, only one was kept.
At this moment, the maid, who appeared to be in her early twenties and had just graduated from the Royal City Maid Academy, looked somewhat dazed.
This was understandable. That morning, she received a notice from the academy that a particularly good position had fallen into her lap. She only needed to deliver three meals a day and clean up the utensils afterward. Her daily work would be done, and her monthly salary was eight times that of a senior maid who did daily chores.
If it weren't from the academy's notice, Moliya would have thought it was a scam to lure her to a lawless border region and turn her into a slave for the black market's profit.
After arriving at the "Imperial Special Affairs Department," Moliya felt she had been overthinking. This was the prime real estate of the South City District, and it was an imperial directly subordinate department. At that moment, Moliya, who had a few freckles on her face but was cheerful, felt that her life was about to change. Perhaps her wonderful adventure was about to begin.
The result was that on Moliya's first day of work, when she delivered her first meal, she knocked and opened the door, only to witness the logistics personnel cleaning up.
Moliya, of course, couldn't stay calm. Her greatest effort now was to keep herself from crying.
Su Xiao ate his lunch, frowning at the financial situation of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department." It was very grim. He would have to go to the old king later to get a fund approved.
Otherwise, within half a month, the "Imperial Special Affairs Department" would be unable to operate. Who knows how much corruption was involved, causing such a large financial deficit in this kind of violent institution.
A test.
Su Xiao was certain that the appearance of this maid was a test from the old king. The other party was testing his attitude toward the empire. Otherwise, in such a violent institution, how could there be a member who looked like she was about to cry at the sight of blood?
"No matter what, remain calm. Didn't you learn this at the academy?"
Su Xiao spoke. As for how he knew Moliya graduated from the Maid Academy, Bubu Wang's detection data clearly stated it. As for the academy teaching her to remain calm, that was, of course, nonsense. But given Moliya's current nervous state, she would subconsciously respond to whatever he said.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Bai Ye. I just graduated recently. My performance has disappointed you."
Moliya lowered her head. This time, Su Xiao was completely certain that this was a test from the old king. However, this test wouldn't cause any waves in their cooperation. The scale was very precise.
Su Xiao put down his utensils: "You did well. Go ahead."
"Okay, Mr. Bai Ye."
Moliya was no longer as nervous. She placed all the utensils back on the cart and pushed it away.
Picking up the communicator, a few seconds later, Vice Minister Tuo En'ta's voice came through: "Lord Bai Ye, please instruct."
"Go to the main entrance and welcome the people from the Mechanical Church."
"This... there doesn't seem to be anyone at the main entrance."
"They'll be here soon."
With that, Su Xiao hung up the communicator. He picked up two teacups, poured one for himself, and one for the guest who hadn't arrived yet. He casually pushed it, and the teacup slid to the opposite side of the desk.
Five minutes later, the tea was still warm. The office door was knocked on, and when it opened, Vice Minister Tuo En'ta led a slightly plump man with an unremarkable appearance and temperament, but also wearing a black archbishop's clerical robe, into the office.
Su Xiao didn't speak. He gestured for the other party to sit. The newcomer didn't stand on ceremony. After sitting down, he saw the hot tea in front of him. His gaze flickered slightly. The originally planned strategy of coming to accuse had already changed.
"Thank you for your trouble, Mr. Bai Ye. Oh, look at my memory. I am one of the archbishops of the Mechanical Church, Kayo."
Why did Archbishop Kayo thank him? The answer was that the black clergyman just now was sent to die. In other words, Mechanical Pope Anger Man couldn't conveniently deal with this high-ranking member of the Mechanical Church himself, so he used Su Xiao's hand to eliminate him.
The reason the black clergyman acted so arrogantly was that he came to die. He was a double agent for both the Soul Clock Tower and the Mechanical Church. Now, both sides wanted to abandon him.
He himself knew that if he died cleanly, his family behind him wouldn't be implicated. The elders in his clan must treat his family well; otherwise, no one would risk their lives for the clan in the future.
Of course, if Su Xiao hadn't been tough enough and hadn't killed this person immediately, the situation would have immediately developed in a direction particularly favorable to the Mechanical Church. At that point, the Mechanical Church would immediately convene a Royal Council, both to eliminate this new threat at the meeting and to torment the king who was barely alive but hadn't died yet.
"Mr. Bai Ye, I came this time to bring the goodwill of the Mechanical Church."
Archbishop Kayo showed a humble smile and continued:
"Mr. Bai Ye, your arrival here is nothing more than to seize the 'Star Heart.' Now, three parties are competing for this thing. Unfortunately, at this stage, our Mechanical Church doesn't have much advantage in this matter..."
Archbishop Kayo wasn't lying. At this stage, the most advantageous was the Rune Family. There were many reasons for this. First, the battle maniacs of the Rune Family completely didn't care about their own lives. Moreover, after they died, they would be perfectly resurrected under the Abyss's "Origin Clan Emblem" within a few days.
The Rune Family's resurrection was not like that of the Dukain Family. Here, the resurrection was perfect in all aspects, including body, soul, and existence.
And that wasn't all. What made the Mechanical Church and Soul Clock Tower even more headache-inducing was that the "Star Heart" was a Star Realm-level secret treasure with many unexplored and unknown secrets.
Known intelligence was that after the "Star Heart" fell into a world, only the world's World Child was qualified to strive for and obtain this strange object. Anyone else who dared to compete for and obtain it first would suffer intense causal backlash.
This was a treasure that could increase the success rate of advancing to the "Supreme Peak." The intensity of the corresponding causal backlash was imaginable.
The good news was that this was a semi-transcendent world, so there was naturally more than one World Child. At this stage, the Mechanical Church, Soul Clock Tower, and Rune Family each allied with one World Child. The problem was that the Rune Family's World Child had "Absolute Strong Limit" strength, while the Mechanical Church and Soul Clock Tower's World Children both had "Absolute Strong Peak" strength.
As for whether the World Child would keep the "Star Heart" for themselves after obtaining it, it was simple to understand. The "Star Heart" carried something like a causal curse. The World Child could be immune to this causal curse within the world that gave birth to them. When they obtained the "Star Heart," this causal curse would reach its limit and also be about to exhaust itself.
At that point, it would be the madmen's moment of contention. Of course, if operated properly, after the World Child completed the contention, the struggle for the "Star Heart" would basically be over.
The Mechanical Church provided this intelligence, representing that the Rune Family's chances of winning were already at 60-70%. The Mechanical Church urgently needed someone to stir things up.
Hearing about this characteristic of the "Star Heart," Su Xiao immediately had an idea: through reasonable operations, turn Leshma into this world's World Child. This empire's youngest Supreme, although just promoted last year and only a "Newly Promoted Supreme," was still incomparable to those Absolute Strong-level World Children.
Moreover, under Su Xiao's inducement, Leshma had stopped suppressing herself. Just thinking about it made one break out in cold sweat for those three World Child teams.
At that time, Leshma would lead the "Empire Team" to compete for the "Star Heart." Although the causality would spread to Su Xiao, the causal backlash certainly wouldn't spread this far. Otherwise, the Mechanical Church, Soul Clock Tower, and Rune Family would have found other ways long ago instead of continuing this contention.
Although Su Xiao didn't directly agree to wade into this muddy water, Archbishop Kayo knew that the purpose of this visit had been achieved.
Just as Su Xiao was about to have his subordinate see the guest out, Vice Minister Tuo En'ta knocked on the door again. Seeing this, Archbishop Kayo wisely took his leave.
As soon as Archbishop Kayo left, Tuo En'ta said in a deep voice: "Lord, someone from the royal family wants to see you."
"Is it the royal family or the Soul Clock Tower?"
Su Xiao's words made Tuo En'ta show a troubled expression. He lowered his voice further and said: "It's the Clock Tower."
"Oh?"
Su Xiao had originally planned to immediately recall Leshma, who had just set out. Now it seemed that letting her have fun first and come back tomorrow morning would be fine. This afternoon, he had to deal with the Soul Clock Tower.
Not long after, the representative of the Soul Clock Tower, a figure with a somewhat dull gaze, wearing a dark blue robe, bald, with translucent blue eyes, walked into the office. On his bald head were black holes the size of marbles. These were "Spirit Holes" opened through the "Ultimate Sublimation" secret method.
"Ultimate Sublimation (After successfully opening a 'Spirit Hole,' the comprehensive strength of one's soul-type abilities increases by 35%, including attack, function, auxiliary, and other characteristics. Moreover, for each subsequent 'Spirit Hole' opened, this bonus will multiply exponentially)."
According to records, the Ascension Sorcerer of the Soul Clock Tower had opened up to 12 "Spirit Holes," meaning a comprehensive strength increase of 143,325% for their soul-type abilities. After opening the 12th "Spirit Hole," this Ascension Sorcerer survived for a total of 6 seconds before dying from a soul explosion, which also caused all matter within 1,200 kilometers to be devoured by the soul impact.
Theoretically, opening five "Spirit Holes" was the limit for safely opening brain holes, meaning a comprehensive strength increase of 1,085% for one's soul-type abilities.
However, if the sixth "Spirit Hole" was opened, one would gain a +1,120% comprehensive strength increase for soul-type abilities. This was more than the total of the first five "Spirit Holes" combined, bringing the overall increase to 2,205%.
When the seventh was opened, it reached a +2,240% comprehensive strength increase for soul-type abilities, again slightly higher than the total increase from the first to the sixth "Spirit Holes." Moreover, reaching seven "Spirit Holes" meant being at the mentor level in the Soul Clock Tower, equivalent to an archbishop in the Mechanical Church.
The increase for the eighth "Spirit Hole" reached 4,480%, and the ninth "Spirit Hole" was even more exaggerated at 8,960%. This also meant that more than half of the Soul Clock Tower's strong died from opening "Spirit Holes."
Furthermore, any race that opened more than five "Spirit Holes" would start to become mentally unstable, because opening holes in the head was just the surface appearance. The true core was further externalizing the soul.
The current visitor had eight "Spirit Holes" on his head, most likely a Soul Mentor-level figure within the Soul Clock Tower. His arrival here necessarily represented the Tower Master.
The visitor was named Jeff Crane. From his expressionless face, he seemed like a serious and stubborn fellow. But don't be deceived by the surface appearance. After sitting down at the desk, a smile appeared on his face. This smile could be described as each facial feature having its own stubborn thought, giving the impression that this guy was so crazy that even a mental hospital wouldn't accept him.
"Kukulin Bai Ye, our Tower Master wants to make a deal with you."
Soul Mentor Jeff Crane spoke.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak, letting the other party continue.
"The [Soul Secret Treasure Box] you possess is our inheritance item. You can only open it to the second layer at most. Continuing to keep it is meaningless. Why don't we make a deal?"
Hearing Soul Mentor Jeff Crane's words, Su Xiao confirmed several things.