There was no shortage of well-informed mission takers.
Beyond those speculating, there were also mission takers who made their living selling intelligence.
These intelligence brokers were the ones most interested in the mission conditions inside.
"What's the word?"
"They were actually wiped out? That doesn't seem possible."
"I remember they had death-substitution items, didn't they?"
"They did, but I heard the waters in there ran too deep. Death-substitution items aren't all-powerful."
Erasing a person's existence completely meant destroying not only their body, but their soul as well.
There were also all manner of karmic ties. They had only learned from other mission takers that a sufficiently powerful being could accomplish this through absolute, overwhelming superiority.
If someone could do that, it was only natural that death-substitution items would prove ineffective.
An item was still only an item. Expecting one to ward off an inescapable threat of death was far too absolute.
Unless they had no other choice, most mission takers rarely let themselves fall into such dire straits.
"Still, even though the casualties were so high, I heard the mission rewards were incredibly generous. That's why they kept unlocking that hidden mission, right?"
Someone else ventured a probing question.
"Yes. One of the rewards was a boon from Paradise."
After a moment of silence, someone spoke with envy written all over their face.
This was hardly an entirely secret piece of information. Before the world called the Longevity Banquet appeared, intelligence brokers had already been selling it.
"What was it?"
"How would I know? Anyway, it must be something one of a kind."
"But it looked like fewer than ten people made it out."
"Don't know much about it..."
The two figures from Sea-Crossing were bored out of their minds.
A day passed quickly.
But among those on this batch