Chapter 26: Honor Store
Light red blood dripped down the metal arm. Inside the Procreation Hall, broken bones littered the ground everywhere. The Progenitor Mother·Eve was reduced to only her giant beauty portion, or rather, only a single head remained.
At this moment, in the eyes of Progenitor Mother·Eve, there was nothing but fear.
"You... are not... the Primordial Origin..."
Progenitor Mother·Eve spoke with difficulty.
"Shh~"
A metal index finger was placed before black lips, and a hint of a smile appeared on those black lips.
Impersonating one's own disciple was very difficult, especially when the world they were in still had a top-tier diviner.
'Primordial Origin·Harrota' gradually increased the force in his hand. Progenitor Mother·Eve's massive head creaked and cracked, eventually shattering completely.
A ring appeared faintly at the chest of 'Primordial Origin·Harrota,' appearing and disappearing. He pressed one hand against his chest, his three eyes narrowing. The binding of the 'Causal Lock Ring' on him was growing stronger.
In truth, Clock Tower Master·Shirgov and Ancient Clan Chief·Hatu were unaware of one thing: if the binding force of the 'Causal Lock Ring' was 100, then 'Primordial Origin·Harrota' alone bore 80 of it. The one the Second Era Alchemists truly wanted to seal to death was 'Primordial Origin·Harrota.'
As for Clock Tower Master·Shirgov, the Ancient Clan Chief, and Reshma, they were simply dragged into it, trapped together in this cage.
'Primordial Origin·Harrota' looked at the mutilated eyeball in his hand—this was the core part of Progenitor Mother·Eve. He stepped onto the metal skeleton and re-entered the shell that was humanoid in form, draped in a dark red, flowing metal-like cloak, with six arms.
Within the shell once called the Leader of Gods·Primordial Origin·Harrota, the one truly controlling everything was an even more terrifying existence.
...
On the sea surface, Su Xiao sat atop a water creature resembling a whale, looking ahead at the 'Crawling Giant Thing' that had shrunk to the size of a fleshy slime.
"So, it was captured here by the alchemists? Whenever the gods entered this sea area, they would immediately ring the ancient bell?"
After Su Xiao finished speaking, Bubu Wang translated this to the 'Crawling Giant Thing.' Heaven knows why this 'Crawling Giant Thing' couldn't understand common languages like Void Language, but could understand Dog Star Language.
"Woof, woof woof woof..."
Bubu Wang began negotiating. The more the 'Crawling Giant Thing' listened, the more it nodded its lantern-fish-like eye dangling from its head.
After a while, Bubu Wang replied to Su Xiao, saying that because the ancient clock tower was covered in metal and flesh, forming a fused pillar that could no longer be rung, it had decisively abandoned this agreement. After all, the ancient clock tower was destroyed first, and it had no responsibility to guard that tower. The sea spirit responsible for guarding that tower had died suddenly many years ago.
"..."
Su Xiao looked toward the distant pillar reaching into the sky. The alchemists had built the ancient clock tower clearly to target the gods. The question was, since the three giants were all trapped here, why were the gods more specifically targeted? Were the gods stronger? Yes, that objective factor did exist.
Su Xiao stood up, a spatial formation forming beneath his feet. With a booming spatial tremor, he disappeared. The 'Crawling Giant Thing' mutated flesh wings and fled into the distance. As for why he hadn't slain the 'Crawling Giant Thing,' a contract had been quietly formed during the previous negotiation. When needed, Su Xiao could use the 'Crawling Giant Thing' as a spatial coordinate.
The surrounding space calmed. Su Xiao returned to the 'Foul Land' where the Godslayer had been. Without the Godslayer's aura suppressing it, a strong stench of decay surged from the bottomless circular pit at the center. He checked the notifications that had just appeared.
[Notification: You have slain Godslayer·Golz.]
[You have obtained 51.87% World Source.]
[You have obtained ??? Chest·Godslayer (Permissions not yet unlocked; cannot open this chest).]
[You have obtained 30,000 Hunter Gold Coins.]
[Notification: The Hunter Gold Coins you have obtained have reached the maximum obtainable limit. You will be unable to obtain further Hunter Gold Coins.]
[Because you cannot obtain further Hunter Gold Coins, after completing the exchange of the last Hunter Gold Coin, or thirty natural days after your Hunter Gold Coins fall below 100, the Title Store will close.]
[You have entered the second stage of Hunter rewards. The 'Old Hunter' title has undergone relevant changes.]
...
One good news and one bad news. He could no longer use Hunter Gold Coins to obtain title chests and synthesize top-tier titles like 'Limit Forge·5 Times.' The good news was that the 'Old Hunter' title had changed.
[Old Hunter]
Origin: Reincarnation Paradise
Limit Forge: Four Times.
Title Potential: 100%.
Category: Rare·Title
Title Effect: Hunter Honor (Passive) – When killing an enemy, gain Honor Experience corresponding to their comprehensive combat power/danger level. When Honor Experience reaches 100%, you can use this to increase the current Honor Store level.
Current Honor Experience: 0/400% (Due to the 'Old Hunter' title being Limit Forge·4 times and full title potential, the Honor Experience cap is increased by 300%, and Honor Experience gain rate is increased by 2.65 times).
Current Honor Store Level: 16 (Standard maximum level is 15. The highest level record ever achieved by a Hunter is 48).
Notification: Due to the particularity of this title, you only need to possess it, not equip it, to activate the 'Old Hunter' effect.
Description: The Hunter with the highest personal Honor Store level in Reincarnation Paradise can receive a precious personal reward.
Price: Cannot be sold.
...
The origin of the 'Old Hunter' title was from when Su Xiao first executed Hunter missions. Hunters in Reincarnation Paradise universally agreed on one thing: after becoming a Hunter, if you didn't obtain the 'Old Hunter' title, you should voluntarily downgrade your authority to Contractor. Otherwise, you would eventually die on a Hunter mission.
Therefore, the 'Old Hunter' title was both a display of strength and a representation of Hunter identity. The 'Honor Store' was Reincarnation Paradise's privilege for Hunters. It was only natural that the two would have linkage later on.
Su Xiao had previously thought that having an Honor Store one level above the cap was quite high. But today, he saw that someone had reached level 48. As for who achieved level 48, the first person that came to mind was Tuanzhang. However, upon second thought, perhaps not. If it were Tuanzhang, he would have shared a screenshot with Su Xiao long ago.
The relationship between Su Xiao and Tuanzhang had evolved from their initial intersection as a powerful being and a Law Destroyer to now occasionally sharing super high-quality goods with each other—of course, just showing each other the attribute screenshots.
In truth, Tuanzhang, standing at the peak, had few friends. Before Su Xiao, the possessor of 'Origin Stone·World,' appeared, Tuanzhang had a sense of solitude.
But after learning that Su Xiao had gained the recognition of 'Origin Stone·World,' Tuanzhang seemed much more relaxed—at least that was Su Xiao's feeling. Some ideas that Tuanzhang had previously refrained from trying for safety reasons had recently been attempted, a departure from his former attitude.
Of course, this was also related to the impending Abyss Calamity. But the sense of fate between Tuanzhang and the previous Lord of the Abyss was too strong. It seemed Tuanzhang had won, yet not completely. The two seemed to be locked in a stalemate of mutual destruction, eventually leading to the emergence of a new Lord of the Abyss.
If this level 48 Honor Store wasn't Tuanzhang's, then there were indeed formidable people among the 'Supreme Peaks' of Reincarnation Paradise. Although the Void only had those 'Supreme Peaks,' the 'Supreme Peaks' of the Six Paradises were different from those in the Void. Powerhouses in the Paradise faction generally didn't like developing factions.
After all, powerhouses from Reincarnation Paradise were famously lone wolves, becoming even more so in the late stages. Without developing factions, they naturally weren't as conspicuous. Moreover, some of them needed to execute long-term missions, such as guarding unstable but highly valuable resource areas in certain high-level worlds.
These long-term missions weren't published; Contractors/Hunters had to actively accept them. After advancing to Supreme, they could be accepted at the mission commission machines in the Guild Hall. Furthermore, these missions were highly sought after due to their extremely high returns.
How high were the returns? Even Tuanzhang would accept a top-tier long-term mission when he had nothing to do. As for the difficulty of grabbing these missions, the hardest few had few takers.
Aside from the changes to 'Old Hunter,' Su Xiao was also very concerned about another matter: obtaining the '??? Chest·Godslayer.' This was clearly a chest of a higher grade than Eternal Rank. Yet, for some reason, after obtaining it, the corresponding permissions weren't triggered.
Su Xiao estimated that this should correspond to the chest grade for 'Supreme Peak.' However, the relevant notarization clearly stated that Eternal Rank was the highest traditional grade. If a higher traditional system grade existed, the notarization would be contradictory.
He couldn't figure this out for now, but this ??? grade was undoubtedly very special.
In terms of permissions, Su Xiao had already reached Lv.103, so that wasn't the issue. This ??? grade was most likely triggered specifically. Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.
Was it that advancing to Supreme Peak automatically granted the permissions for this ??? grade, and therefore, these permissions didn't need to be actively obtained?
The 'Causal Lock Ring' in this world wasn't a targeted suppression; it was an all-around suppression that didn't distinguish friend from foe. Otherwise, the three giants would have broken it long ago. Therefore, the Godslayer's former peak combat power was definitely 'Supreme Peak.' This was even more absurd. Imagine five... no, six Supreme Peak Godslayers—what a terrifying enemy that would be.
In contrast, the combat responsibility of the friendly faction's gods, Deer God, had its strength value further elevated.
Killing the Godslayer allowed Su Xiao to obtain a chest that he would only encounter after advancing to Supreme Peak.
Su Xiao used his current brand authority level to consult Reincarnation Paradise for relevant information. As a result, he did gain something.
First, the method to unlock ??? grade permissions was indeed advancing to Supreme Peak. Another method was to upgrade any existing equipment to the 'minimum rating' of ??? grade. Apart from these two methods, there was no other way.
Such matters couldn't be manipulated. The risk was absurdly high, leaving only the second path.
The rating for Eternal Rank was 3000 to 6000 points. Between this ??? grade and Eternal Rank, there was a rating interval, meaning a buffer zone between 6000 and ? points.
As for the minimum rating for ??? grade, Su Xiao felt he had not only seen it but also possessed it—that was the 15,000-point rating of 'Endless Ring.'
'Endless Ring' had devoured so many rare treasures and various powerful equipment. Its upgrade margin should have been greater than it was now. The problem was that Su Xiao hadn't obtained the corresponding permissions for ratings above 15,000 points. Moreover, the notarization authority of 'Endless Ring' was separated by a layer of Abyss association.
Simply put, the relationship between Endless Ring X Abyss X Su Xiao wasn't tightly connected. Therefore, even though 'Endless Ring' had reached 15,000 points, it didn't trigger the ??? quality authority notarization.
Currently, Dragon-Slaying Flash's rating was 13,500 points, only 1,500 points short of triggering the notarization. If he could feed Dragon-Slaying Flash a few legendary-level top-tier weapons, breaking through to 15,000 points was quite possible.
Su Xiao currently had three copies of 'Star Source Matter,' which he could exchange from Saintess Seat for three legendary-level weapons. He could also try to break through Dragon-Slaying Flash's enhancement +16. He had now accumulated 32 rare Origin Stones.
If he successfully enhanced +16, combined with devouring three legendary weapons, then upgrading Dragon-Slaying Flash's rating to 15,000 points would be almost certain.
Having confirmed this, Su Xiao walked to the innermost door of the 'Foul Land.' The alchemical maid stood there dazedly. The deeper she went into this place, the more confused she became.
Pushing open the innermost door of the 'Foul Land,' the scene before him was a vast, endless laboratory. This laboratory had a strong alchemical system style. The ceiling, dozens of meters high, had rows of metal pipes. Dozens of glass columns, each dozens of meters tall and seven or eight meters thick, stood upright, filled with various colored solutions. Some contained a large number of eyes.
Most of the solutions in the glass columns were emerald green, containing various biological samples. After a quick glance, Su Xiao confirmed that this was an alchemical biology + poison characteristic laboratory.
[You have arrived at 'Life Workshop.']
Due to the numerous devices and pipes, only a few paths were passable. Su Xiao placed one hand on his sword hilt and proceeded along the main passage. Before he had gone far, he saw a personal laboratory. Inside, on the test bench, various instruments and record notes were arranged.
Taking a seat, Su Xiao picked up the notes to examine. This was the work of a top-tier alchemy master, with extreme and dangerous ideas. If this person's ideas were followed, then the Second Era Alchemical Civilization would become the Third Era's Arcane Eternal Star, eventually dragging the entire Star Realm into disaster.
Not to mention anything else, just this alchemy master's relatively conservative plan...