Chapter 4096: Preparation

Su Xiao had never heard of an Astral alien existence called the "Mother of Mercy." Moreover, the bounty for the "Mother of Mercy" was very close to that of the "Eye of No Darkness," only 400,000 ounces of Space-Time Power lower.

One at 6 million and the other at 6.4 million—compared like this, the difference wasn't actually large. That is to say, the "Mother of Mercy," like the "Eye of No Darkness" and the "Three Fingers," was likely an ancient Abyssal existence.

As a peak Supreme, Su Xiao was qualified to challenge an existence of this level. The reason the bounty was so high lay in the bounty content: "Thoroughly eliminate the Mother of Mercy."

Facing such an existence, the difficulty of defeating and winning compared to "thoroughly eliminating" was incomparable. Even if Su Xiao did nothing else in this world and focused solely on eliminating the "Mother of Mercy," the probability of success wouldn't be high.

Su Xiao took out the 【Task Completion Certificate】. He had obtained a total of three, used two, and now only one remained.

【You have paid 20,000 ounces of Space-Time Power.】

【You have accepted Event Bounty 3: Mother of Mercy.】

【You have used the Task Completion Certificate to complete the target, Event Bounty 3: Mother of Mercy.】

【Evaluating...】

Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao waited intently for the follow-up. It didn't directly prompt that this permission couldn't be used for bounties, which meant there was truly such a possibility.

As for saving all three 【Task Completion Certificates】 to complete high-amount bounties, that was naturally the way to maximize gains.

The problem was, without the previous two 【Task Completion Certificates】 completing two Abyssal tasks—"Gift of Death"—the total gains at the end of the last world progress wouldn't have been enough to ascend to peak Supreme. Those two 【Task Completion Certificates】 had allowed Su Xiao to obtain nearly a million ounces of Space-Time Power.

Don't look at the fact that Soul Master wasn't attacking now; that was because Su Xiao had ascended to peak Supreme. If he were still a "Super-Top Supreme," no matter which Supreme world he entered, Soul Master would follow closely, and then his death date would arrive. As for the current situation, who would die was still unknown. This was the charm of constantly growing stronger and climbing toward the peak.

【Evaluation complete. The Hunter has the possibility of defeating the "Mother of Mercy," but the probability of eliminating it is low.】

【"Hunter Bounty" is different from "Task Judgment," but both are in the "Task Notarization Mode" in the initial regulations.】

【Event Bounty 3: Mother of Mercy, completed.】

Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao submitted the bounty without hesitation.

【You have submitted the "Mother of Mercy" bounty.】

【Due to the multi-fold bounty + bounty correction of the "Hunter List: Blood Pact," you will receive a total bounty reward worth 3,300,000 ounces of Space-Time Power (because this bounty was completed through unconventional means, you only receive 55% of the gains).】

【You have obtained Space-Time Stone Fragments × 330,000 (this is an equivalent, which can be sold to the Reincarnation Paradise at any time to obtain 3,300,000 ounces of Space-Time Power).】

【Because this bounty was completed in an unconventional way, there will be no item rewards with random characteristics.】

He didn't obtain 6 million ounces of Space-Time Power, but this 3.3 million was already very satisfying.

Su Xiao felt his own state. Subsequent series of plans were temporarily shelved. He currently had to ensure the Eye Princess didn't die, which meant he had plenty of operational time.

First, he couldn't take the Eye Princess to the safe zone notarized by the Tree of the Void, as that would cause the main quest's protection time to immediately reset to 24 hours. He took out the map Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang had drawn and began choosing a location.

First, stay far away from the "Eternal City," the center of this world. That was the headquarters of the Underworld God Temple. It wasn't suitable to fight the Underworld God yet. Fighting peak powerhouses like the Deer God or the Demon Old Hag didn't have to be life-or-death, but with the Underworld God, once a fight started, there was a 90% probability it would be life-or-death.

Stay away from Innsmouth, away from the Cathedral of Mercy, away from Dream Castle. Suddenly, a place caught Su Xiao's eye. That's right, Beast Town.

Beast Town was an alien existence as a whole. In essence, it was no different from Reshma in the last world. But if he had to choose, Su Xiao preferred to cooperate with Beast Town, because only Reshma knew what Reshma would do in the next second.

Beast Town was willing to exist in the form of a building, which showed that the stability in its characteristics was far higher than its eeriness. Moreover, it constantly spread beastliness to the town residents—those guys who were parasites in Beast Town, appearing human but being blood lice in essence.

The problem arose: why would Beast Town be willing to let a Law-Extinguisher who would attract many dangers stay here? The answer was: World-Eater.

By now, Su Xiao was no longer that wary of World-Eater. It was indeed a world-destroying existence, but if it faced the current Su Xiao, eliminating World-Eater was impossible, but beating it into weakness and sealing it again was still doable.

Su Xiao had entered Beast Town and clearly felt that Beast Town was still a step away from the peak an alien existence could reach—that is, corresponding to a peak powerhouse. Of course, if a powerhouse wanted to eliminate Beast Town, it was still very difficult. Conversely, it was hard for Beast Town to influence a peak powerhouse.

Peak powerhouses, Astral alien existences, ancient Abyssal existences, and extra-boundary existences were all very powerful, but their combat power couldn't be compared. Their life systems, existence systems, and causality systems were all different.

For example, comparing who could live longer with an Astral alien existence—who could compare to them? It was possible that even ancient Abyssal existences didn't have the lifespan of Astral alien existences. No, that could no longer be called lifespan, but the Power of Existence.

However, when it came to destruction within a certain range, that was the forte of peak powerhouses. The area where Su Xiao had fought the Deer God was still full of space cracks, and the World Power was extremely chaotic. Even if explorers dared to enter that area hundreds of years later, they might be suddenly waist-cut or lose a body part by the residual slashing power in the space fissures.

The biggest difference between peak powerhouses and ordinary Supremes, besides peak abilities, was the influence of their own systems on the world environment they were in.

As an extra-boundary existence, Beast Town naturally wanted to climb to the highest point. The problem was that while it grew, it produced intense beastliness, which affected its continued growth. Those blood lice were the means Beast Town used to devour beastliness.

One didn't need to think to know that this efficiency wouldn't be high. Fortunately, Beast Town was very patient. But what if it used the "World-Eater" that constantly split while shrouded in beastliness? As long as it could master the balance, no matter how much beastliness there was, "World-Eater" could eat it all.

The train speed decreased. A somewhat familiar scene came into view: the central square of Beast Town. The bonfire was still there, but the old mayor and the townspeople were nowhere to be seen.

Stepping off the train, Su Xiao crouched halfway and pressed a hand to the ground. A crystal formation formed. The structure was very similar to the sacrificial ritual formed by the "Endless Ring." He didn't need to perfectly replicate it; since he was already in Beast Town, this level was enough to communicate with it.

Dull and obscure mental information came from the formation. The blood vessels on the back of Su Xiao's right hand pressing on the formation appeared bulging. This was the influence of beastification. It showed how much beastliness Beast Town had accumulated. This was still Su Xiao communicating with it as a peak powerhouse; anyone a level lower would have been affected by this beastification.

After a moment of communication, many fireflies appeared out of thin air in Beast Town. These fireflies emitted white light, representing that this place welcomed Su Xiao. Moreover, if other powerhouses approached within a thousand kilometers, Beast Town would give a warning.

The "Book of Original Sin" appeared in Su Xiao's hand. All the surrounding buildings seemed to tilt to a certain degree, as if subconsciously moving away from the "Book of Original Sin." Turning to the seventh page, the "World-Eater," like a metal flying insect, was located on the page like a specimen.

In the past, "World-Eater" would release intense malice toward Su Xiao. But at the "Dawn Ruins," he discovered that "World-Eater's" malice toward him was weakening. In the Ancient Dragon Kingdom, "World-Eater's" malice toward him was even lower.

And now, entering the "World of Gods," World-Eater had basically no malice toward him. Now entering the "Meteorite Star," no matter how Su Xiao felt, "World-Eater" had no malice toward him at all.

Come to think of it, "World-Eater" was sealed in the Eternal Light world and was still sealed, for a full five world progresses. According to 30-40 days per world progress, plus the time spent in the Reincarnation Paradise, the time spent in the present world, and the time spent in the Void or the Heavenly Ren Star, it had been about half a year.

Recalling, the "Laughing Ghost Face" was locked inside for two minutes and started a painful mask, while "World-Eater" had been locked for half a year. This... where was the reduced hostility toward Su Xiao? This was "World-Eater's" consciousness dying out. To this day, "World-Eater's" previous consciousness seemed to have completely kicked the bucket.

Su Xiao manipulated the "Book of Original Sin" to release "World-Eater." The peanut-sized metal flying insect floated in mid-air. He released some of his own aura to touch "World-Eater," and the feedback he got was malice.

Very unfamiliar, different from the malice of the past.

This confirmed one thing for Su Xiao: "World-Eater's" shell and consciousness were indestructible, but indestructibility didn't mean it couldn't be eliminated. It was eliminated and then quickly revived. And what "World-Eater" produced now was very much like a brand-new consciousness.

The reason Su Xiao discovered this was because now "World-Eater" treated him and the surrounding Beast Town with equal malice. Especially when the hand-claws spreading from Beast Town grabbed toward "World-Eater," "World-Eater's" malice toward Beast Town completely surpassed that toward Su Xiao. In fact, it soon stopped surging with malice toward Su Xiao and, in a weak state, resisted Beast Town with all its might.

To put it simply, "World-Eater" had been formatted by Su Xiao...

This was undoubtedly good news. Although with Su Xiao's current strength, he no longer worried about revenge from World-Eater, having one less mortal enemy was undoubtedly a good thing.

A downward passage appeared in front of the central square. Su Xiao manipulated the Lord Train to drive into it. A few minutes later, the train stopped in an underground space. This underground space was about a thousand square meters, with a height of over ten meters. It was pitch black inside, but half an hour later, it was bright as day, set up by Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, and all kinds of warning devices were installed properly.

Su Xiao pressed a hand on the petrified ground. A crystal formation formed a space formation. After this space formation started, it began to resonate. This resonance lasted for a few minutes...

Thud!

After a loud ringing sound, Bennie spiraled out from the spatial formation; if Su Xiao hadn't caught her with one hand, Miss Bennie would certainly have landed face-first.

This was a space ritual carried by Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, Benny, and Baja. Its function was that if they encountered danger, Su Xiao could instantly teleport them back using the Law-Extinguisher teleportation array. To put it simply, it was similar to summoning followers.

Actually, summoning followers was a basic skill for everyone who had summons/followers. As for why Su Xiao didn't have it—with -36 points of real charisma, it would be strange if he had this summoning ability.

Benny took a good while to recover. A moment later:

"Meow, ugh—"

Benny vomited uncontrollably. When summoned, she felt like she had entered a high-speed spin dryer. Moreover, her resistance to the Law-Extinguisher teleportation array wasn't as good as Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's, Amu's, or Baja's.

Summoning Benny was for subsequent operations. This time, there was one thing only Benny could do, and it could save a massive amount of soul coins.

Ding—

Su Xiao flipped a soul coin. The soul coin flipped in mid-air and was caught by a hand halfway down. The thumb of this hand rubbed the bumps on the back of the soul coin, and a smile couldn't help but appear on the face. That's right, naturally, it was Caesar.

"My dear friend, the feeling you give Caesar is so unfamiliar."

"What."

"You seem to have become very wealthy."

"..."

One could only say, worthy of Caesar, his sense of smell for wealth was sharper than reason.

"My dear friend, what is the matter that you found Caesar this time?"

Caesar showed a somewhat lewd smile, his hands habitually clasped together and rubbed, and the greed in his heart gradually surged.

"Send Benny back to the Great Gathering Place."

"Hmm?"

Caesar was very surprised. His eyes turned slyly, and then he suddenly realized.

"If it's Benny, it might really succeed. She rarely receives task-related judgments with you. If I remember correctly, after entering the world, Benny spends 99% of her time traveling alone?"

"Yes."

"In that case, hmm—that might really succeed. After she enters the world, if she stays very far away from you, she needs a separate notarization judgment. Maintaining this temporary notarization once or twice is nothing, but maintaining this temporary notarization for a long time is considered a waste of resources in the Reincarnation Paradise's judgment.

At most, Benny can be temporarily notarized three times. Afterward, Benny will be given a separate traveler notarization. Has Benny traveled alone more than three times?"

The prerequisites Caesar proposed had all been exceeded. Let alone traveling alone three times, Benny had traveled alone thirty times.

To put it simply, after entering the world, every team has notarization. And when a team member temporarily leaves the team, a temporary team notarization is split. If this member stays away from the team, the "temporary team notarization" that requires a small amount of Space-Time Power to maintain is considered a waste of resources in the Paradise faction's judgment. After evaluation, this target will be given a separate notarization that fits their current behavior.

Besides this, Su Xiao also needed to make this place a "notarization environment" for the Reincarnation Paradise. The reason for this was that the activation of the "Skill Upgrade Warehouse" required a notarization environment of at least 2000+.

This world was notarized by the Tree of the Void, and the basic notarization environment was between 2 and 5. If he wanted to increase the notarization environment of a large area, it was very difficult. But if he only increased the carriage containing the "Exclusive Skill Upgrade Warehouse," it wasn't a big problem.

Hearing Su Xiao say this, Caesar was clearly stunned and asked: "My dear friend, do you have the permission to purchase an 'Exclusive Skill Upgrade Warehouse'?"

"I've had it for a long time."

"Exchanged it?"

"In the exclusive room, I can summon it by consuming permission."

"You haven't tried summoning your 'Exclusive Skill Upgrade Warehouse' to a native world."

"No."

"The 'Exclusive Skill Upgrade Warehouse' has a notarization attribute. When the owner's permission level is above Lv. 100, when it leaves the owner's exclusive room and enters the Void/Native World/Underworld, etc., it will carry an 8000+ notarization environment, but it's not free. You need to continuously pay Space-Time Power."

Although Caesar was greedy, he never cheated. This was one of the reasons Su Xiao chose to cooperate with Caesar all along.

Su Xiao traded 10 ounces of Space-Time Power to Caesar as a consultation fee. This made Caesar immediately beam with joy, his smile even brighter than when he obtained a treasure. Clearly, a consultation fee obtained through verbal expression was the most beloved way for the greedy Caesar to profit.

The ultimate purpose of Su Xiao setting up all this was to purchase "Supreme Passive" skill scrolls, then upgrade them to the max using the "Exclusive Skill Upgrade Warehouse," and finally enhance himself using the "Peak Ability: Source of Power." That's right, after a fight with an opponent of the Deer God's level, he could again enhance his Supreme body attributes.

Su Xiao's subsequent strategy was very clear: swallow 4-5 types of "Supreme Passive" at once, then go find the Deer God for another fight, or simply use the surrounding terrain to enter the Abyssal area for battle.

When the enhanced strength was thoroughly 'digested,' he would return to Beast Town and continue the above process.

By then, the Deer God would be surprised to find that the opponent he encountered this time was getting stronger the more they fought, stronger every time they met than the last.

As for the risk of dying in battle if he wasn't the Deer God's match—"Extreme Realm: Astral" + "Charged Straight Kick" + "Law-Extinguisher Teleportation Array" were extremely outrageous life-saving means.

As for why Benny had to be sent back to the Great Gathering Place, this involved the purchase of "Supreme Passive Skill Scrolls." Actually, he could also find the Gnome Chamber of Commerce, which definitely had cooperating Paradise faction employees. The problem was, finding the Gnome Chamber of Commerce to 'purchase on his behalf,' the worst "Supreme Passive Skill Scroll" would likely be marked up to 5 million to 6.5 million soul coins.

But if Benny returned to the Great Gathering Place and contacted a skill scroll merchant to purchase, she could take down the worst "Supreme Passive Skill Scroll" for only 2.05 million to 2.1 million.

Su Xiao didn't care about the effect of the "Supreme Passive Skill Scroll." It was used to trigger the effect of "Source of Power" anyway. As long as it was a Supreme Passive, it would do.

Su Xiao was executing the main quest. No matter how he operated, it was impossible for Benny to return to the Reincarnation Paradise. But the Great Gathering Place was notarized by the Tree of the Void, a public area that all Paradise faction contractors/hunters/combat angels, etc., could enter once they reached a certain tier.

Ultimately, this belonged to a public, high-notarization area. Caesar studied it for a while, scratching his head, and finally decided to use teleportation to send Benny back to the Great Gathering Place.

The problem was, what were the spatial coordinates of the Great Gathering Place?

This core question was when Caesar could exert his influence. This guy pondered for a while, and a smile appeared on his face: "My dear friend, this matter is not easy to handle. It will take at least 20,000 ounces of Space-Time Power."

"50."

"Impossible, at least 19,999."

"80."

"15,000 cannot be less."

"3,000."

"Deal!"

Caesar clapped his hands, indicating a final decision. Su Xiao immediately knew he had given too much. 2,500 to 2,700 ounces would have been enough for this guy to take the business.

"My dear friend, you have to provide the teleportation array, otherwise, it won't be this price."

Caesar's smile was quite treacherous. Su Xiao crouched halfway and pressed a hand on the ground. Aoguo crystals spread, and a World-level Law-Extinguisher teleportation array formed. Benny, who had just recovered, glared at Su Xiao with meow eyes, as if saying: Pooper scooper, look at me straight, look at your conscience straight!

Although her meow eyes glared like copper bells, Benny still stepped onto the teleportation array. Her gaze scanned everywhere, looking for Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang. It seemed she wanted to scratch Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's dog face to vent her anger before being teleported away. Alas, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang had long since slipped into the train bedroom and was sleeping soundly.

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang wasn't being lazy. After entering a deep sleep, it would achieve a deep state of "You can't see me." At the same time, all the warning devices it had set up would enter this state with it, commonly known as "intelligent synchronization."

Caesar came to the formation node. After the "Deception Hand" + "Endless Greed Old POS Machine" + "Filthy Foot Wraps" deception trio, Caesar covered his head with the Abyssal Jar.

To put it simply, if the power of the normal deception trio was 30, then after wearing the "Abyssal Jar" on his head, the power would increase to about 6000. If the "Abyssal Jar" completely covered his head, the deception trio's power would soar to 90,000+.

Caesar tried his best for this deception. He gripped the teleportation core node with both hands. The deception content was to "deceive" the current spatial node into the spatial node of the Great Gathering Place for 2 seconds. As for why it was so short—the Law-Extinguisher teleportation array was like a cannonball fired out. As long as it was aimed well, there was no need for subsequent correction, nor was it possible to correct it.

"3, 2, 1!"

Caesar's eyes turned into a dim yellow representing extreme greed. He pressed the space formation back to its original position. Almost simultaneously, Su Xiao activated the Law-Extinguisher teleportation array.

"Meow meow meow!"

Benny's meow eyes widened. She truly hadn't expected that her solo travels all along would play such an important role in this world.

Thud!!

The teleportation array activated. The Eye Princess, Loris, who had been watching the fun, was sent flying several meters away by the teleportation. After sitting on the ground, she was stunned for a few seconds, then held her eyes:

"My eyes!"

The Eye Princess, Loris, arched her body. However, upholding the heart of a melon-eater, she opened an eye on the back of her hand while holding her eyes.

Pop—

The space debris sent flying exploded with strong light.

"Ah—"

The Eye Princess, Loris, was both embarrassed and funny. Beside her, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, wearing pilot sunglasses, sat calmly.

After teleportation, it was a long wait. Benny took away 300,000 "Space-Time Stone Fragments." According to the plan, the first thing she did after teleporting there was to put a "Space-Time Stone Fragment" and 1 "Soul Coin" in the team storage space. If she couldn't transmit materials through the team channel, the value of going to the Great Gathering Place would be greatly reduced.

【Warning (Tree of the Void): Detected that the Hunter used unconventional means to teleport a follower to the Great Gathering Place. This time, a warning is issued. If such a warning is ineffective, the corresponding amount of reputation will be deducted.】

Clearly, going to the Great Gathering Place midway was allowed; the key was the teleportation method used, which was warned by the Tree of the Void. One didn't need to think to know that entering the Great Gathering Place during a task should be some kind of one-time permission, just like "emergency assistance" or other teleportation permissions.

Looking at the Tree of the Void reputation, it was still 1 point. It seemed the Tree of the Void reputation was still very firm. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't drop wildly. As for sliding to -????, that was purely an accident.

After waiting for more than an hour, a "Space-Time Stone Fragment" and 1 "Soul Coin" appeared in the team storage space one after another. This represented that the notarization tier of the team storage space was high enough. But thinking about it, it was reasonable; the Dawn Adventure Group was the highest-level SSS-tier adventure group.

Everything was ready. The next step was easy to handle: get stronger the more you fight!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 4097 =====