The abyss, a place both feared and yearned for.
From the outside, they appear as phantoms existing between the real and the illusory. Except for the entrances, touching any other part reveals a hard barrier.
Those phantoms are not the entirety of the abyss, but merely projections of the regions bordering the Blue Star.
No high-yield weapon can destroy them; instead, they expand the phantom’s area, occupying more of the Blue Star’s surface.
The failure of the Bright Silver Abyss expedition signals an impending upheaval, even though its area on the Blue Star’s surface remains unchanged.
A torrential rain pours down, weaving a thick curtain of raindrops that obstructs people’s vision.
Li Xinyue walks in from the street, places her umbrella aside after entering the guild gate, and exhales a deep breath.
A reception robot approaches, takes Li Xinyue’s umbrella, and she turns to the elevator, arriving on the third floor of the Trade Union Building.
The carriage doors open, and a noisy atmosphere instantly floods in. Li Xinyue smirks, stepping out of the cabin.
Many hunters crowd the hall, laughing and making a ruckus, occasionally hitting tabletops. Some conversations erupt into arguments and even physical fights.
In such an environment, spectators clap in applause, and some even place bets on who among the arguing parties will win.
Amidst this influence, even the once quiet and gentle Li Xinyue has changed somewhat.
"Pull your leg back, why stretch it out so far? Hoping someone will step on it and then sue for compensation?"
Walking toward her team’s spot, Li Xinyue encounters someone with their leg stretched into the aisle, angrily kicks it, and curses.
Still, she holds her manners; even in anger, Li Xinyue doesn’t utter profanities.
The hunter she scolds glances at her, chuckles, and retracts their leg slightly.
Li Xinyue snorts, pays no more heed, and continues walking.
As she nears her team’s gathering spot, out of the corner of her eye, Li Xinyue spots a familiar figure. She pivots and approaches Yan Luo from behind, tapping him on the shoulder with a smile, "Yan Luo, you’re here too!"
Whether it’s her imagination or Yan Luo is still growing, Li Xinyue thinks he seems much sturdier than when she first met him.
Yan Luo turns, sees Li Xinyue smiling, nods slightly, and then asks, "Glazed Group gathering?"
Li Xinyue has joined a combat group poetically named "The Glazed Ball under the Moonlight," or Glazed Group for short.
At his words, Li Xinyue gestures ahead, "Yo, right over there."
Following her direction, Yan Luo sees a group of young people at a large table, eating, drinking, and speaking loudly.
"I’m going over, bye~" Li Xinyue waves and heads toward her team, receiving a warm welcome upon arrival.
Yan Luo refocuses, continuing to hone his hearing and attention.
He has no friends on the Crimson No. 2, with Li Xinyue barely counting as an acquaintance.
Tapping his finger lightly on the table, Yan Luo opens his senses, trying to discern a clear conversation from the cacophony.
Since the Bright Silver Abyss expedition failed three months ago, Yan Luo undertakes an abyss hunt every ten days, not just for income but to enhance his strength.
In these three months, he hasn’t hunted deadly-level demons, and even now, encountering a dangerous-level demon could be life-threatening, let alone deadly-level ones.
Being categorized into two levels implies a significant gap between dangerous and deadly.
Yan Luo barely survived killing a silent hunting lizard before; dealing with a deadly-level demon now would yield a similar outcome.
In these three months, his physical condition has improved considerably; his grip strength reaches 180 kilograms, and his running speed with an exoskeleton approaches 12 meters per second.
Nowadays, even if he punches a rock with full force, his skin won’t break; at most, capillaries under the skin might rupture, a substantial improvement indeed.
Yan Luo has grown accustomed to eating raw meat; no matter how terrifying a demon looks, if its bodily fluids aren’t toxic, he’ll dare take a bite, even of spider and centipede-like demons.
Though his strength has progressed, his perceptual improvements are equally remarkable.
Now, Yan Luo can hear every conversation in the third-floor hall; his hearing tendrils even extend through glass, catching raindrops tapping on windows.
In the silent Crimson Abyss, he could easily hear demon activity up to eighty meters away.
Currently, Yan Luo is training his focus; extracting a clear message amidst the chaos is no easy feat.
Though sitting quietly alone, no one finds his behavior odd.
Many solo hunters are the same; after entering the abyss, they need to spend days alone in quiet places, seeing nothing but demons, rarely encountering other hunters.
Such isolation greatly ravages one’s spirit.
Thus, many solo hunters linger in the third-floor hall post-abyss hunts, even doing nothing, simply taking in the bustling environment, finding significant psychological solace.
[Protest! Protest! Major groups should release their private sequences! If the Bright Silver Abyss expedition members had powerful sequences, failure wouldn’t have occurred!]
A large screen on the wall changes channels, now showing a report on protests and demonstrations in White Castle, adjacent to the Bright Silver Abyss.
Onscreen, White Castle residents project massive black-and-white portraits, the faces of those who died in the Bright Silver Abyss expedition.
Yan Luo gazes silently, sighing inwardly.
Engraving is the source of hunters’ power, and "sequences" are growth paths built by layering compatible engravings.
Upon completing one engraving, an Engraver can bear a second one.
For example, the "Connection" engraving is the starting point for "Mechanic" and "Artisan" sequences.
Mechanics with the "Connection" engraving who choose "Magnetism" or "Extension" will become Sequence 4 "Iron Masters."
To follow the "Artisan" sequence, one must engrave "Guidance."
Could someone with "Connection" engraving proceed with "Gunpowder" or "Spirit Cat" engravings?
The answer is yes, but doing so risks engraving conflicts, and lack of compatibility means no nesting, preventing synergy or exceptional effects.
The purpose of sequences is to provide Engravers a correct growth path—indicating which engravings react chemically, producing extraordinary outcomes.
Beyond well-known ordinary sequences, major groups possess unique special sequences.
These sequences may not be overwhelmingly powerful but have distinctive functions.
Although the engravings are the same, major groups have their photon computers, eliminating trial-and-error costs; they input data and requirements, obtaining desired sequences.
Ordinary citizens, lacking such resources, risk irreversible consequences if they take wrong steps.
Under threat from the Bright Silver Abyss, White Castle residents stubbornly believe the groups’ sequences are superior. If the elite shared their special sequences, the Bright Silver Abyss expedition wouldn’t have failed.
The impact of the Bright Silver Abyss expedition’s failure extends beyond the abyss itself.