Chapter 43: The "Nightmare" Goddess
Soon, Kaiser walked out of the kitchen holding a bowl of soup. Indeed, it was that concoction brewed from a mixture of the excretory and urinary systems, meant to boost virility.
Su Xiao rarely disliked anything, but this soup had been blacklisted by him.
"This is a freshly made 'Gerham' soup. Have a bowl, my dear friend."
The tone of Kaiser's words 'dear friend' noticeably rose in pitch.
[Prompt: Special plot character Nicholas Kaiser invites you to drink 'Gerham Soup'. If you refuse this invitation, your favorability with special plot character Nicholas Kaiser will be reset to zero, and you will lose access to the Battle Merit Shop.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao's mouth twitched.
"Last time we discussed the main components of green phosphorus..."
As soon as Su Xiao finished speaking, that 'choice' disappeared. Kaiser, with a lecherous grin on his face, held the bowl and listened intently to the alchemical knowledge Su Xiao was imparting.
The alchemy Su Xiao mastered was far beyond what Kaiser could match. Kaiser listened with rapt fascination.
"In most cases, materials containing fire attributes share a common property."
Su Xiao suddenly fell silent. Kaiser, who had been listening intently, was stunned. The point where Su Xiao stopped was too precise—it was exactly halfway through an alchemical formula. Su Xiao had let Kaiser understand the power of this formula without fully revealing it.
"What comes after? What's next!"
Kaiser hopped around in agitation, his current feeling best described as an unbearable itch. This was Kaiser's weakness—his obsession with alchemy.
"What comes after what?"
Su Xiao's conscience ached again, because he could understand how miserable Kaiser felt. It was like spending months chasing a great show, only to reach the climax and see a line of text on the screen: 'Due to insufficient funding, this series has been discontinued.' The feeling went far beyond wanting to smash a computer.
"The formula after that!"
Kaiser's eyes were bloodshot, his features twisted, as if he wanted to devour Su Xiao alive.
"I haven't used alchemy in too long; I forgot. Maybe if I'm in a better mood, I'll remember."
Su Xiao's reply left Kaiser speechless. After hesitating for a moment, he ran to the test bench, grabbed the supply list, and handed it to Su Xiao.
"Hurry up. I can only buy you a few seconds at most."
Kaiser walked toward the door. As he opened it, Su Xiao received a notification from Reincarnation Paradise.
[The Dragon Soaring Empire's Iron Blood Legion has successfully stationed itself at the Black Soil Fortress. The faction shop is now open.]
The door swung open, and a graceful figure rushed into the room first—Nasha.
"Buff: Stone Skin."
A low shout rang out. A layer of gray stone skin appeared on Nasha, who was in the lead. This was a muscle-enhancing state that increased defense but reduced speed.
Nasha's pace slowed, and the fire mage behind her charged into the room. He spotted the supply list in Su Xiao's hand at a glance.
"Hold it."
The fire mage stared at Su Xiao with a predatory gaze. Su Xiao didn't bother acknowledging him.
[Prompt: You have successfully exchanged for 'Sacred Oak Branch'. Deducting 9000 Battle Merit.]
With the Sacred Oak Branch in hand, Su Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. A branch about the length of a little finger appeared in his hand. It was cylindrical, with tiny wormholes visible on its surface. The whole branch radiated vitality, shimmering with a golden-green light.
A scent of rain-soaked earth filled his nostrils. Su Xiao took a deep breath, then stored the Sacred Oak Branch in his storage space.
Once something was in his possession, unless he died or willingly gave it up, no one else could take it.
The fire mage stepped forward, his hand touching the supply list. Two seconds later, his expression darkened. Four seconds later, the golden-quality staff [Duncan's Call] was exchanged.
"You're called Bai Ye, right? I've heard of you. You've got skills."
The fire mage let out a long breath.
"What, you're not going to ask me to hand over the Sacred Oak Branch, are you?"
Su Xiao had already obtained what he wanted. Once his mana and endurance attributes reached his expected values, he would use the Sacred Oak Branch.
"If threats worked, getting stronger would be meaningless. I'm more curious about how you got in touch with the quartermaster. A threat from someone outmatched is just a dog's bark. I'm off. If there's a chance later, we can cooperate."
The fire mage walked out of the room without issuing any threats. Instead, he proposed future cooperation—very magnanimous.
"Sure."
Su Xiao replied casually, though both knew the likelihood of future cooperation was slim.
The other three leaders rushed forward. When they saw that the Sacred Oak Branch had been exchanged, their expressions varied.
"You had the Sacred Oak Branch in your hand just now, didn't you?"
Gu Xiaosheng stared at Su Xiao.
"Who knows."
Su Xiao yawned. He really wanted to get a good night's sleep.
"Name your price. You're probably a melee type. That thing's greatest value is increasing mana, which means..."
Before Gu Xiaosheng could finish, Su Xiao waved his hand. For him, mana was very important.
"No chance. It's first come, first served. I got here first, so I got it."
Su Xiao had no intention of transferring the Sacred Oak Branch to anyone else.
"No possibility at all?"
Gu Xiaosheng had clearly put a lot of effort into getting the Sacred Oak Branch, and giving up like this was hard to swallow.
"You're not satisfied?"
"Yeah."
Gu Xiaosheng was clearly not as magnanimous as the fire mage; he was unwilling to admit defeat.
"Since you're not convinced, you can try to kill me."
Su Xiao looked at Gu Xiaosheng with a smile. Without a mission forcing his hand, he wouldn't actively provoke others. But if someone provoked him, he never backed down.
Life and death meant nothing; if you're not convinced, fight. That was Su Xiao's consistent creed.
At that moment, Gu Xiaosheng had two choices: make an enemy of Su Xiao or accept his bad luck.
"You're tough."
Gu Xiaosheng wasn't some brain-dead passerby. How could someone who had climbed this far in Reincarnation Paradise and formed an adventure group be an idiot? The item was already in someone else's hands; making an enemy now would be a loss.
"Really no chance for a trade? Of course, I mean a fair trade."
Gu Xiaosheng made one last struggle.
"No."
"Fine then. Tch, what connections did you use?"
Gu Xiaosheng flicked away his cigarette and started exchanging items with his battle merit.
Su Xiao set the supply list aside and looked at Nicholas Kaiser.
"My dear friend, you should be in a good mood now, right?"
Kaiser eagerly handed Su Xiao a glass of water.
"Yeah, I'm in a good mood."
Su Xiao had finally gotten the upper hand over Kaiser, which made him feel even better.
After more than a dozen contractors finished exchanging items, they hurriedly left. The reason was that seeing Kaiser made them furious, and what was worse, they couldn't hit or scold him—they had to treat him like a lord.
Once the contractors were gone, Su Xiao explained the second half of the alchemical formula to Kaiser, who was finally satisfied.
Just as Su Xiao was about to leave, his gaze inadvertently swept over the test bench and was drawn to a tube of blood.
"Is that... blood?"
Su Xiao walked toward the test bench.
"Wait."
Kaiser blocked Su Xiao, his expression serious.
"You can't touch that. If that blood issue isn't resolved, a crazy woman will kill me."
Kaiser's face didn't look good.
Although Su Xiao was some distance from the tube of blood, he sensed a familiar energy within it—something akin to demonic power.
"Whose blood is that?"
Su Xiao stared at the tube of blood.
"This..."
Kaiser began to hesitate.
A few minutes later, Su Xiao walked out of Kaiser's room.
"Carlos's blood contains demonic power? Interesting."
Su Xiao arrived at the fifth floor of the fortress and found an unoccupied room. As a squad leader, he had the right to choose an empty single room on the fifth floor.
The room was only about a dozen square meters, sparsely furnished with a wooden bed and an iron cabinet.
Su Xiao locked the door, deployed his Apostle's Eye for surveillance, and collapsed onto the wooden bed to sleep. He was utterly exhausted, too tired to move a single finger.
He didn't know how long he slept when he suddenly sensed an unfamiliar presence approaching. Strangely, the Apostle's Eye didn't issue a warning. There was only one possibility: what was approaching wasn't a living creature.
Su Xiao sat up with a start. A silver-haired little girl in a white dress appeared in his room, floating in midair like a ghost.
"Indeed, doing what I do best is so satisfying."
The floating silver-haired little girl spoke. Her body was somewhat translucent.
"Hello, Blade Man. I'm Liuli, your 'Nightmare' Goddess for the time to come."
PS: (Let me tell everyone, the author of Dead Mosquito and Ghost God Tomb is just a friend. The previous mutual chapter promotions were purely commercial mutual flattery.)