What Is the Difference Between Not Courting Death and Being a Salted Fish

The prompt faded, and the room fell into a deathly silence.

"Heh, I don't believe I'll be trapped here until I die."

Su Xiao simply sat down and began to play a game of attrition with Reincarnation Paradise.

He now understood one thing: the World Tree Ring inside his Storage Space was an incredibly precious item.

Judging by the ??? rating of the World Tree Ring, it was clear that Reincarnation Paradise seemed unwilling to reveal the true value of this item.

[Please sell the World Tree Ring so that Reincarnation Paradise may absorb the World Power.]

The prompt appeared again. Su Xiao pondered for a moment and asked:

"What is your true purpose in sending me to a Derivative World, and what exactly is this ring?"

Unexpectedly, Reincarnation Paradise actually provided him with an answer.

[Reincarnation Paradise and the Hunter share a 'symbiotic' relationship. When the Hunter or other Contractors enter a Derivative Plane to explore and obtain World Source, Reincarnation Paradise requires World Power to evolve and maintain its normal operations.]

[The World Tree Ring contains a massive amount of World Power. Please sell it immediately, Hunter.]

[The following content cannot be viewed due to insufficient clearance.]

Although the hints provided by Reincarnation Paradise were limited, Su Xiao grasped the most crucial point.

The reason Reincarnation Paradise sent him to the Derivative World was to obtain World Power through him.

This so-called World Power was likely extracted via World Source, which explained why Reincarnation Paradise granted him rewards based on the amount of World Source he collected.

Reincarnation Paradise must be following a set of rules; otherwise, it would have forcibly confiscated the World Tree Ring instead of asking him to sell it.

His status as a Hunter indicated one thing: under normal circumstances, Reincarnation Paradise could not directly execute a Contractor.

As long as a Contractor did not violate the regulations of Reincarnation Paradise, it could not punish them. This applied not only to him but to all other Contractors as well, which was precisely why the role of the Hunter existed.

The so-called Hunter was there to deal with those 'rule-breakers' who acted against the spirit of the system but had not technically violated the explicit regulations of Reincarnation Paradise.

For instance, if a Contractor discovered a loophole in the rules of Reincarnation Paradise and used it for personal gain.

That was the moment for Su Xiao to step onto the stage.

Needless to say, those 'rule-breaking' Contractors were likely very strong and extremely cunning.

Su Xiao remained seated on the floor, nonchalantly fiddling with Dragon Slayer Flash.

He had a bold idea: he would blackmail Reincarnation Paradise.

Although it seemed like a death wish, given his status as a Hunter, Reincarnation Paradise wouldn't do anything to him.

Su Xiao was gambling, betting on whether his status as a Hunter was truly significant. If it wasn't, then all his efforts in the nightmare-difficulty world would have been for nothing.

Time ticked by, second by second. Finally, two hours later, a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared before his eyes.

[Special Mission: Choice]

Difficulty Level: ???

Mission Briefing: Hand over the World Tree Ring to Reincarnation Paradise.

Mission Info: None

Mission Duration: Five minutes.

Mission Reward: A legacy with an extremely high compatibility rate with the Hunter's talent.

A smile appeared on Su Xiao's face. It seemed his status as a Hunter held more weight than he had imagined; Reincarnation Paradise had actually issued a mission.

After considering it, Su Xiao chose to accept the mission.

He had no leverage against the cold, unfeeling Reincarnation Paradise, and he still had to survive within it in the future.

[Special Mission: Choice, completed. Preparing to distribute rewards. Please prepare, Hunter.]

Prepare? It seemed this reward was not simple.

As soon as the prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared, a beam of light manifested in the room, enveloping Su Xiao.

Su Xiao sat motionless, staring straight ahead. His eyes lost focus, and flashes of blue light flickered within them from time to time.

At this moment, Su Xiao's consciousness had arrived in a vast, grand hall.

The hall was exceptionally expansive, so much so that its boundaries were invisible.

Su Xiao scanned his surroundings and discovered six stone statues, each over a hundred meters tall, standing before him. They were statues of humans, simply magnified many times over.

"Successor..., step forward."

A majestic voice echoed. Su Xiao's body tensed; the voice had actually come from one of the stone statues in front of him.

"The time has come to fulfill the original agreement."

Another stone statue spoke. Su Xiao's arrival seemed to trigger a chain reaction, and all six stone statues began to speak one after another.

"You are the final successor. From here on, our legacy ends."

"Whether it is we who should vanish into the long river of time, or those spellcasters, that is for you to verify."

"Spellcasters disrupt the balance of the world and matter; that which is called magic consumes the power of the rules."

"Foolish spellcasters, even if our bodies are destroyed, our consciousness remains eternal."

Su Xiao stood where he was, his scalp tingling; the stone statues speaking before him were all far more powerful than he had imagined.

Moreover, these stone statues were not living beings, but merely consciousnesses left behind by some extremely powerful existences.

"Destruction, birth, annihilation, and revival, all reside within this Sanctuary of Birth."

"Inheritor, remember the name we share; we are the Shadow of Law Destruction, the natural enemy of all spellcasters!"

The six stone statues opened their eyes in unison and looked at Su Xiao. He felt a violent surge of energy pour into his body, followed by a sensation of the world spinning and a ringing in his ears.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo~."

Su Xiao woke up in the room, gasping for air.

He was still in his Exclusive Room; the scene from before felt as if it were an illusion.

[Reward concluded, Exclusive Room activated]

Following the prompt from Reincarnation Paradise, a door appeared on one of the walls of the Exclusive Room, signifying that he could finally go out.

But Su Xiao could no longer concern himself with that; he felt his body filled with an energy that threatened to burst him apart.

"What... is happening?"

Su Xiao could no longer speak normally; the energy within him was rapidly altering his body.

His blood flowed at high speed. That unknown energy was not destroying his body, but rather strengthening it, though the method was exceptionally brutal.

His cells were undergoing a metamorphosis. The most obvious change was his hair; his black hair had begun to turn slightly gray, though the change was minimal and very difficult to detect.

Collapsing to the ground with a thud, Su Xiao felt he could barely hold on. If this continued, he would soon die.

[Detected abnormal life signs in the Hunter, preparing to initiate recovery function. This function will consume the Paradise Coins held by the Hunter. Initiate? Yes/No]

The voice of Reincarnation Paradise, usually cold, now sounded like music to Su Xiao's ears.

"Ini... tiate."

Agonizing pain flooded his body, gradually swallowing his consciousness.

As soon as Su Xiao finished speaking, a verdant green light enveloped him, and at the same time, his Paradise Coins began to decrease rapidly.

In less than five seconds, the recovery function had consumed over a thousand Paradise Coins.

A dozen seconds later, the energy within his body vanished, having been completely absorbed by his physique, and the recovery function shut off simultaneously.

Su Xiao sat up and tried to move his body; he immediately noticed something unusual.

"This is?"

He looked at his hands in disbelief. After absorbing that energy, he seemed to have become a bit stronger.

No, he had become much stronger.

However, this strengthening was not achieved through the help of Reincarnation Paradise, so Reincarnation Paradise did not provide a prompt.

Opening his [Personal Information], Su Xiao stood there stunned.

The reward obtained in exchange for the World Tree Ring was far more astonishing than he had imagined.

It's so hot today~, I feel like trying to stick my tongue out to dissipate the heat.