The room was silent, with no sounds at all.
"Heh, I don't believe I'll be stuck here to die."
Su Xiao decided to sit down and hold out against the Reincarnation Paradise.
He now understood one important thing: the World Tree Ring in his storage space was a very valuable item. From the rating of the World Tree Ring, it seemed that the Reincarnation Paradise didn't want to show its true value.
"Please sell the World Tree Ring to the Reincarnation Paradise so it can absorb the power of the world."
The prompt appeared again, and Su Xiao thought for a moment before asking, "What exactly do you want by sending me to the derived world, and what is this ring?"
Surprisingly, the Reincarnation Paradise actually gave him an answer.
"The Reincarnation Paradise and the Hunters have a 'symbiotic' relationship. Hunters or other contractors enter derived planes to explore and obtain the source of the world. The Reincarnation Paradise needs the power of the world to evolve and to maintain its normal operations."
"The World Tree Ring contains a large amount of world power. Please sell it immediately."
"The following content cannot be viewed due to insufficient permissions."
...
Although the Reincarnation Paradise didn't provide much information, Su Xiao grasped the most crucial point. The reason the Reincarnation Paradise sent him to the derived world was to obtain the power of the world through him.
This so-called world power should be extracted from the source of the world, which is why the Reincarnation Paradise would reward him based on how much of the world’s source he obtained.
The Reincarnation Paradise must be following some kind of rules; otherwise, it wouldn't let him sell the World Tree Ring but would forcibly take it instead.
His identity as a Hunter indicated that, under normal circumstances, the Reincarnation Paradise couldn't directly execute contractors.
As long as he didn't violate the rules of the Reincarnation Paradise, it couldn't punish him, and the same goes for other contractors. That's why Hunters exist.
Hunters deal with those contractors who 'violate' rules but haven't actually broken the Reincarnation Paradise's regulations. For example, if a contractor finds a loophole in the rules to gain benefits, that's when Su Xiao comes into play.
Without a doubt, those 'violating' contractors would likely be strong and very cunning.
Su Xiao continued to sit on the ground, casually playing with the Dragon Slaying Flash.
He had a bold idea: to blackmail the Reincarnation Paradise.
Though it seemed a bit reckless, with his identity as a Hunter, the Reincarnation Paradise wouldn't do anything to him.
Su Xiao was taking a gamble, betting on whether his identity as a Hunter was important. If it wasn't, then he would have gone through the nightmare difficulty world for nothing.
Time passed slowly, and finally, two hours later, a prompt from the Reincarnation Paradise appeared before him.
"Special Task: Choice"
Difficulty Level: ???
Task Summary: Hand over the World Tree Ring to the Reincarnation Paradise.
Task Information: None
Task Deadline: Five minutes.
Task Reward: A highly compatible inheritance with Hunter talent.
...
A smile appeared on Su Xiao's face. It seemed his identity as a Hunter was more significant than he thought; the Reincarnation Paradise actually issued a task.
After some consideration, Su Xiao chose to accept the task.
He felt uncertain about the cold and unfeeling Reincarnation Paradise, as he still needed to survive in it.
"Special Task: Choice has been completed. Preparing to issue rewards. Please get ready, Hunter."
Get ready? It seemed this reward was not simple.
After the Reincarnation Paradise gave the prompt, a beam of light appeared in the room, enveloping Su Xiao.
Su Xiao sat there, motionless, staring ahead, his eyes losing focus, occasionally flashing with blue light.
At that moment, Su Xiao's consciousness arrived in a vast hall.
The hall was exceptionally large, with no visible boundaries.
Su Xiao looked around and noticed six stone statues over a hundred meters tall in front of him. They were human figures, just magnified many times.
"Successor... step forward."
A majestic voice came, and Su Xiao's body tensed. The voice was actually coming from one of the stone statues in front of him.
"The time has come to fulfill the agreement made long ago."
Another statue spoke, and Su Xiao's arrival seemed to trigger a chain reaction, as all six statues began to speak.
"You are the last successor; our inheritance ends here."
"Whether we should disappear into the river of time or whether those spellcasters should, you will verify."
"Spellcasters disrupt the balance of the world and matter; so-called spells consume the power of the rules."
"Foolish spellcasters, even if our bodies are destroyed, our consciousness remains."
Su Xiao stood there, feeling a chill run down his spine. The stone statues before him were far more powerful than he had imagined.
Moreover, these statues weren't living beings; they were just remnants of consciousness left by extremely powerful entities.
"Destruction, birth, annihilation, revival, all happen in this sacred place of birth."
"Successor, remember our shared name; we are the Shadows of Annihilation, the natural enemies of all spellcasters!"
The six statues opened their eyes simultaneously and looked at Su Xiao. He felt a violent energy surge into his body, followed by a spinning sensation and a buzzing in his ears.
...
"Ha, ha, ha..."
Su Xiao woke up in the room, gasping for breath.
He was still in his exclusive room, and the previous scene felt like a dream.
"Reward complete. Exclusive room activated."
After the prompt from the Reincarnation Paradise, a door appeared on one of the walls in his exclusive room, indicating he could finally go out.
But Su Xiao couldn't care about that anymore. He felt a surge of energy filling his body, threatening to burst him apart.
"What’s going on?"
Su Xiao could barely speak normally; the energy within him was rapidly changing his body.
His blood was flowing at high speed, and that unknown energy wasn't destroying his body but rather strengthening it, albeit in a very rough manner.
His cells were undergoing transformation, and the most obvious change was in his hair, which was subtly starting to turn gray, though the change was very slight and hard to notice.
With a thud, he collapsed to the ground, feeling he couldn't hold on any longer. If this continued, he would die soon.
"Detected abnormal life signs of the Hunter. Preparing to activate recovery function. This function will consume the Hunter's Paradise coins. Yes/No to activate?"
The voice of the Reincarnation Paradise now sounded warm and welcoming in Su Xiao's ears.
"Activate."
Severe pain filled his body, gradually consuming his consciousness.
As soon as Su Xiao finished speaking, a green light enveloped him, and his Paradise coins began to decrease rapidly.
In less than five seconds, the recovery function consumed over a thousand Paradise coins.
After several seconds, the energy within him vanished, completely absorbed by Su Xiao's body, and the recovery function also shut down.
Su Xiao sat up and tried to move his body, quickly realizing something was off.
"What is this?"
He looked at his hands in disbelief. After absorbing that energy, he felt like he had become stronger.
No, he had become much stronger.
However, this increase in strength didn't come from the help of the Reincarnation Paradise, which was why it didn't issue a prompt.
Opening his personal information, Su Xiao was stunned.
The rewards from the World Tree Ring were far more astonishing than he had imagined.
It was a hot day; I even feel like trying to stick my tongue out to cool off.
(End of Chapter)