Chapter 37: Invitation
The soldiers and superpowered individuals pursuing Su Xiao retreated. He walked on foot toward the outermost edge of Academy City, leaving two lines of bloodstained footprints along the way.
Su Xiao pried a bullet from his shoulder with his fingers. Given his physical defense, the bullet hadn't penetrated deeply.
He had just fought a fierce battle with Accelerator earlier, and now he was besieged by the scientific side's forces. Although the Counter Shield could easily block bullets, when the number of bullets reached a certain level, a qualitative change occurred. Moreover, the firearms developed by Academy City were astonishingly powerful, far surpassing the cutting-edge technology of the outside world.
Casually tossing aside the bloodstained, slightly deformed bullet, Su Xiao headed straight for the checkpoint at the edge of Academy City.
To Aleister, Su Xiao was now a plague god. He wouldn't allow him to stay in Academy City for even a moment longer.
This gave Su Xiao a headache. Heaven knew if he would ever enter the Magic Index world again. Although the probability was low, it wasn't impossible.
If he came here next time and was burdened with a main storyline mission, then he and Aleister would likely have to fight to the death. The grudge from burning down District 2 was almost irreconcilable.
With his current strength, Su Xiao was not yet capable of challenging Aleister. He had been clear about this from the start, so he wouldn't actively provoke the other party. But if the other party came knocking, Su Xiao wouldn't just surrender.
His mana was down to 153 points, health at 19%, and recovery items were completely depleted. In this state, it was best to leave the Magic Index world as soon as possible.
Fighting his way out of Academy City, he had some unexpected gains. For example, he killed many members of the Hound Dog squad blocking his path, and the Soul Devourer had been fully fed. During the process, he also killed a few Lv.3 superpowered individuals from the Dark Division, gaining a small amount of World Source.
Su Xiao and the limping Bubu Wang smoothly passed through the layers of checkpoints on the outskirts of Academy City. Bubu Wang had taken a bullet in the rear, which pissed him off quite a bit.
The path was unimpeded. Before Aleister confirmed that there were no incendiary bombs in District 7, he wouldn't fall out with Su Xiao again. Once confirmed, what awaited Su Xiao was an overwhelming pursuit force.
Leaving the range of Academy City, Su Xiao arrived at a seaside town near the city. He immediately completed the promotion mission.
[Tip: The Hunter has completed the Third Rank promotion mission. About to return to Reincarnation Paradise.]
A teleportation sensation appeared. Su Xiao felt drowsy, a result of massive blood loss. Light flickered before his eyes, and he was teleported out of the Magic Index world.
[Teleportation complete. The Hunter has returned to the Exclusive Room.]
[The Exclusive Room is an absolute safe point. No one may enter except with the Hunter's permission.]
[The Hunter has returned to Reincarnation Paradise. Beginning settlement of derivative world rewards.]
Derivative World: A Certain Magical Index
Difficulty: Lv.15～??? (Third Rank Semi-Open World)
World Source Obtained: 31.54%
Number of Tasks Completed: 2 (Promotion Task ×1, Hunt Task ×1)
Comprehensive Evaluation: B+ (Note: Evaluation ranges from E- to S+. Comprehensive evaluation is calculated based on total World Source obtained and number of tasks completed.)
Beginning collection of World Source...
World Source collection complete. Beginning reward calculation.
Rewards Obtained: 11 Attribute Points, 16,000 Paradise Coins.
Settlement complete. Rewards have been automatically deposited into the Hunter's Mark.
...
Seeing only a B+ evaluation, Su Xiao wasn't surprised. Just as he was about to check the items he had gained, another prompt appeared.
[Tip: The Hunter has completed the Third Rank promotion mission.]
[The Hunter has successfully been promoted to Third Rank.]
[The difficulty of the Hunter's future derivative worlds will be Third Rank.]
[The Arena has been upgraded. From now on, the Hunter will compete with Third Rank Contractors.]
[No Arena Champion title detected for the Hunter. Arena rankings have been cleared.]
...
Su Xiao checked his personal information. Sure enough, the rank column had changed.
Level: Lv.20 (Third Rank). Every 10 levels is one rank. Level increases provide no attribute bonuses; they correspond to the Hunter's permissions in Reincarnation Paradise, world difficulty, task difficulty, etc.
Successfully promoted to Third Rank. Overall, the Third Rank promotion went smoothly.
Su Xiao's promotion speed was much faster than that of ordinary Contractors. There was no helping it; his comprehensive evaluations were consistently high, which accelerated his promotion.
Of course, high comprehensive evaluations also meant that Su Xiao gained a lot of benefits. The advantages outweighed the disadvantages.
Su Xiao's only thought now was to first recover from his physical injuries and then get some sleep. Just as he was about to activate the recovery function, a small red dot appeared in his vision. Looking closely, it was a very small red envelope.
[Your name has been written on the game list of Demon Castle.]
[Come, complete this game between life and death, and you will be the undisputed strong.]
[Despair, anger, suspicion... In the game of Demon Castle, no one can be trusted, except Alice.]
[However, Alice is the one most likely to kill you. She is the queen of Demon Castle. There, her power is nearly that of a deity.]
[Do not try to please Alice. Only a fair game can make her smile. Remember, you must make Alice smile. If she is angry or sad, hehehehe...]
[Tip: The Hunter is expected to participate in the Demon Castle game in 56 hours and 28 minutes.]
[Tip: Upon successfully completing the game, the Hunter will receive the Proof of the Strong.]
[Tip: The Hunter's progress on breaking through the 80-point attribute barrier is as follows.]