"I will personally feed it to the deeper abyssal creatures."
This blatant threat made the atmosphere extremely oppressive.
Ron noticed that several weaker explorers had already started to tremble slightly.
"Very well, it seems everyone understands the rules."
Uther’s tone returned to calmness: "Now, let’s begin this pleasant journey."
With the old professor’s operation, the runes around the platform began to flicker violently.
The souls fused within them let out silent screams, their agony transformed into energy to maintain the shield.
"Anchor current coordinates... detect abyssal airflow... adjust diving trajectory..."
Uther’s voice became formulaic:
"During the rapid descent, you may see things you shouldn’t see. Do not try to understand, do not try to remember, let them flow naturally through your consciousness."
The platform began to slowly descend, and the surrounding reality started to distort.
......
Upon entering the first layer of the abyss, Ron once again felt that indescribable sense of oppression.
Through the translucent shield, he saw an eerie scene:
An endless bloody shallow extended around, the crimson liquid not ordinary blood, but the materialized fear and despair of countless creatures at the moment of their death.
The "blood" was flowing slowly, occasionally distorting faces would surface.
There were humans, alien races, and some unrecognizable alien creatures.
These faces all bore expressions of despair from their final moments, mouths opening and closing silently, as if telling something.
"Every time you see this scene, it’s always shocking, right, Ralph?"
A somewhat familiar male voice sounded beside Ron.
He turned his head to see that it was actually Maxim talking.
This wizard with a somewhat frightful appearance was the adjudicator who recognized his professional modulator qualification back at the Black Mist School.
"Master Maxim?"
Ron was indeed surprised, but quickly adjusted his emotions: "Didn’t expect to meet you here."
Compared to the time at Black Mist School, Maxim’s abyssal contamination was noticeably worsened.
Silver scales spread from the hands to half of his cheek, those fine scales shimmering with ominous metallic luster under the shield’s glow.
Most unsettling was that these scales were slowly wriggling, as if something was crawling beneath the skin.
"Haha, it’s a small world indeed."
Maxim laughed heartily, but with a hint of bitterness:
"I remember back at Black Mist School, you were just an apprentice curious about the abyss. Now..."
He carefully perceived Ron’s magic power fluctuations, and his eyes showed obvious shock:
"My gosh, your magic power almost surpasses mine? How much time has really passed... Deservedly the runner-up of the New Star Plan."
What Maxim sensed was Ron’s suppressed magic power fluctuation, probably only less than a third of the actual total magic power.
"Just lucky." The young wizard answered humbly while observing the mutated scales on Maxim’s face.
Under the "Extraordinary Recognition" vision, these scales were actually a type of parasitic abyssal spore, slowly transforming the host’s physiological structure.
Though the process was painful, it indeed brought an increase in power.
"So, what brings you to the abyss this time?"
Maxim asked curiously: "With your current status, you shouldn’t need to take risks in places like this, right?"
"Collecting some special materials to prepare for breaking through to the Moon Level in the future." Ron didn’t completely tell the truth:
"And you?"
Maxim sighed softly and subconsciously touched the scales on his face:
"I came to completely merge with these damn things."
He shook his head with a bitter smile:
"Though abyssal contamination is painful, it is the best catalyst. If I can’t master them before the contamination spreads completely, I’ll just have to wait to slowly turn into a monster."
His tone became more serious:
"Honestly, I originally thought I would stop at the Morning Star Level in this lifetime. But Cassandra’s conquest plan has brought new hope to those of us with exhausted potential."
Mentioning Cassandra, a fervent light ignited in Maxim’s eyes:
"I have personally seen the active minerals brought back from the ’Crystal Civilization.’ Those things can interconnect and iterate themselves, possessing stronger analytical capabilities than ordinary wizards!"
Ron listened silently, gaining a clearer understanding of Cassandra’s influence spreading.
This conquest’s allure was indeed strong, attracting even half-retired explorers like Maxim to be drawn back into their old profession.
As the two conversed, the platform entered the second layer.
Here, the bloody shallow had become even more distorted and dangerous.
Countless broken space bubbles floated in the blood sea, each containing different space-time environments.
Some bubbles burned with eternal flames, some covered by absolute ice, others filled with wriggling tentacled creatures.
Most terrifyingly, these bubbles would randomly merge and split, creating an even more chaotic environment.
Occasionally, a bubble would burst, its contents spilling into the blood sea, immediately triggering a violent reaction.
"Second layer..." Maxim’s voice became tense, "From here on, even with the Void Remains protection, we can feel the edge effects of the Abyssal Curse."