Chapter 40: A Breakthrough in Flight

The wind was no longer chilly but carried a noticeable heat and a sulfurous smell. Deep within the chasm, Neo saw a faint red thread—inactive, yet clearly a river of magma.

“The vertical distance from here to the surface must exceed 11,000 meters.” The repetitive, monotonous descent had dulled his thoughts. Neo took a few sips of water, poured some onto his palms, and wiped them over his forehead. He reminded himself that in such extreme conditions, calmness and vigilance were essential—any lapse could lead to irreparable loss.

Down, and down again!

A strong wind carrying upward momentum surged upward.

“Ugh…” A sudden severe dizziness hit him—his vision darkened, his limbs went numb, and he plummeted. Fortunately, the safety loop tied to the rope got stuck at a 30-meter mark, allowing Neo to grasp the rope tightly and avoid falling into the abyss.

“Deadly gases (carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and most deadly of all, hydrogen sulfide—just one breath can kill an ordinary person)…” Regaining his strength, Neo quickly grabbed a spare leather bag, took a few breaths from it, then soaked a cloth in water to cover his nose and mouth.

Deadly gases are invisible; by the time one smells them (hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs), it’s often too late. Fear surged in Neo’s heart. He knew it was no longer safe to continue descending vertically—he needed to find a passage and be careful of the rising winds.

Yet many things are hard to find when needed most. How easy could it be to locate an entrance in the cracked rock walls? Whether one even existed was uncertain. His pursuers were far away, but he was racing against death. His energy and stamina were exhausted. For Neo, the most difficult test had begun.

“Hold on, just a little longer. This is a dark place—there must be a way out, there definitely is!” Encouraging himself, he kept going, swinging and climbing again and again. The inflated leather bag grew increasingly deflated, and the winds grew stronger. Neo climbed the steep rock walls, jumped using the rope, and searched tirelessly, never giving up.

Eventually, instead of a direct path to the underground corridor, he found a deep crack—a true situation with no way out, surrounded by enemies. After wandering in the vast cracks for over 40 minutes, Neo finally found an entrance to a cave, ending his vertical descent along the chasm walls.

The moment his feet touched solid ground, even the usually composed Neo couldn’t hide his joy. His legs weakened, and he almost knelt. Those three-plus hours of physical and mental strain were undoubtedly among the most unforgettable tests of his life. Especially the latter part of the journey—the constant threat of invisible death had tormented his will, to the point where he bit his lips unconsciously. He couldn’t even imagine how he managed to get through it.

“Life offers few chances to fight—awesome!” There was no applause, no cheers, but Neo cheered himself on, letting out a loud shout to express his joy. This happiness quickly dispelled those negative thoughts, and Neo became energized once again. Forgetting the displeasures and focusing on achievements was his little secret to maintaining a proactive spirit.

Since ancient times, the Dark Regions have been divided into four layers: Shallow Darkness, Deep Darkness, Extreme Darkness, and Chaos. Neo was currently at the bottom of the Deep Darkness layer.

Theoretically, Neo could take a break, as his injuries, physical condition, and energy levels all suggested it. But considering the dead air that occasionally blew into the cave and the desolation of the place, he decided to persevere and travel a little further.

Neo’s knowledge of the Deep Darkness layer came only from books, mostly from so-called explorer’s notes—whether much of it was genuine still needed to be tested in practice. Fortunately, this mixed bag of knowledge gave him at least a general understanding of the region and instilled in him sufficient caution and awareness, which were essential for survival in such a place.

Following the only wide and relatively flat path, Neo soon entered a rocky forest area. Endless rows of rock pillars supported the vast space. If one didn’t look up at the rock ceilings twenty or thirty meters high, it could easily be mistaken for a world under the night sky, with no sense of the immense weight of stone and soil above.

Neo clearly felt that the air quality here had improved significantly—the sulfur smell was weaker, and it wasn’t as stale as in the areas he had passed through earlier. This indicated that one or more “sources” were helping to improve the air quality, and his exit might lie among them.

After observing his surroundings, Neo chose the top of one of the rock pillars as a landing spot. This pillar was about 15 meters tall, irregularly circular, with few protrusions, making it not easy to climb. But in Neo’s view, the effort was worth it, especially since the view from the top was even more impressive.

The top of the pillar resembled a giant bowl without edges, with nearly half of its surface covered by thick stone walls, while the rest was open. The flat top covered an area of about 7 square meters, more than enough for Neo alone.

After unloading his belongings, Neo moved his stiff shoulders and rummaged through his pack. The pack soon became a mess, no longer having a clear outline. At the same time, Neo had a small bundle of foldable, lockable wooden frames in his hands. The design idea for these came from an experienced adventurer; they could serve as the backbone of a pack or as a simple frame. By placing wet clothes from sweat and blood on top, they could act as a heat reflector for a campfire, help dry the clothes, and shield them from the flames—solving multiple problems at once.

Sacrificing two torch sticks, some rags, and kerosene, Neo started a small campfire. With limited fuel, he needed to hurry and complete some important tasks.

First was repairing the bodysuit. Neo felt that whether he was exploring the Dark Regions or trying to escape the pursuit of the Dark Claws, restoring the bodysuit’s functionality was extremely valuable. He used something similar to a hot glue stick to clean the damaged areas of the bodysuit, which had been roughly sewn up with needle and thread beforehand, applied a wax-like, melted adhesive, spread it evenly, and then heated it over a fire to fully fuse it—thus repairing the damage. With so many breaks, this task alone took nearly half an hour.

Next was cooking. Taste was secondary; the key was that after this journey, it was uncertain when they would eat hot food again, so Neo paid special attention. He simply put water and dry rations in a meal container and cooked them together. There was no secret to this process—just minimizing odor leakage.

While the food was heating, Neo used the firelight to sew his wounds with a hook and gut. Unless it was top-tier healing magic, wounds kept getting torn open and were hard to fully heal. Since Neo hadn’t had time before, he now had to sew the wounds and use the Pearl of Life to accelerate recovery. For the more severe injuries, he applied ointments and wrapped them in bandages. The members of the Light Church also emphasized using holy water and herbs alongside divine magic in treatment, showing that a combination of methods was the best way to heal.

Although water, especially drinkable water, was extremely precious in the Deep Layers, Neo still wet a towel and carefully wiped himself down. Normally, to satisfy his taste buds, he didn’t shy away from spices or strongly flavored vegetables and meats, so his body naturally smelled strong. Wiping himself down was still helpful.

After spending some time tidying up, two hours had passed by the time he was done. The firewood was exhausted, and Neo used an inflated leather bag as a pillow and fell into a deep sleep. At his current level of strength, nothing was as effective as a good night’s sleep. Only then could Nancy fully take control of his body’s functions, sorting through accumulated ailments and helping his body return to its best state as quickly as possible.

“Ah!” A shrill scream faded away as he fell rapidly. This was already the seventh Dark Claw to be sucked into death and plummet into the abyss. Before him, one Mutated One and five Corrupted Ones had died in similar sudden accidents. Even the stupidest person could realize how dangerous this place was.

“Lord, we can’t continue like this. We need to find a safer place to rest for a while,” suggested William, the Mutated One. Lacking tools, the Dark Claws spent over five hours struggling on the rock walls before entering the Stormy Zone where Neo had nearly lost his life earlier. The pursuit that followed was not only dangerous but also complicated by Neo’s earlier attempts to find an exit. Although the Dark Claws still had enough stamina, their energy was clearly depleted. William feared that if things continued like this, most of them would perish in this dangerous abyss.

Eirithus had been carried around by the Armor of the Dead, but he wasn’t so oblivious as to not understand the suffering of others—he had eyes and kept a close watch on the energy consumption of the Armor of the Dead. He also knew that his party had truly done their best and were mostly on the verge of collapse. Eirithus realized William’s advice was correct. Gritting his teeth, he said, “I really can’t accept this!”
“I can somewhat understand your feelings, my lord. But I believe that Neio is stronger than us this time because he was well-prepared and had convenient tools. However, this chasm is unique and unlikely to be repeated. We can definitely make up for the lost time during the pursuit. In fact, I think Neio’s forced retreat deep underground to avoid our pursuit already shows signs of defeat. Traveling through the deep layers of these dark regions is difficult; sometimes, there are no caves or tunnels connecting different areas, making it impossible to move from one place to another. To overcome these difficulties, many of the races living at these depths are skilled in building teleportation gates or digging tunnels. Moreover, the living conditions here are complex and harsh, with fierce creatures and intense conflicts. Places with food and water are often occupied by the strong or heavily guarded. As a pioneer, Neio must travel alone here, without a guide or any assistance—it’s absolutely extremely difficult. I believe that ultimate victory will surely belong to us.”
After hearing William’s analysis, Eirithus was impressed, but he wouldn’t admit that William was smarter than him. “Hmm, I’ve actually considered all of this. I just don’t want to disappoint Lord Fad. I hope to capture Neio as soon as possible… Ah, never mind. Let’s dig a hole and rest!”
“Yes!” William turned around and shouted, “My lord orders us to dig a hole and rest.” Then he took the lead and said, “Thank you, my lord, for your consideration.”
The Dark Claws hadn’t learned much else, but flattery was definitely the first skill they mastered. Hearing William speak like that, they didn’t hesitate to start shouting flattering words—things like expressing deep gratitude, claiming to cherish their soldiers like their own children, and wishing him a long life. They didn’t even consider the situation. Eirithus felt extremely frustrated, thinking about what kind of scum he had gathered around him! It was one thing to lack education, but even flattery was done poorly. He suddenly felt that the Dark Forces resembled some kind of welfare institution—otherwise, how could such worthless people who were good at nothing survive?…
While Eirithus was lost in his thoughts, a few Mutants and Magic Servants worked together to dig holes in the rock wall. It seemed their efforts paid off—after digging about ten meters, the sound became hollow, and after moving a few more meters, they connected to a hall of over a hundred square meters with other passages. They now had a place to rest, and the air improved. Some of the Dark Claws even thought they might be able to solve their problems with food and water…
Tired, exhausted, hungry, and thirsty, the Dark Claws couldn’t be satisfied just by sleeping for a while.

Eirwen became a necromancer later in life; before that, she was an outstanding shape-shifter mage specializing in water elements. It was already extremely rare to become a mage and reach level 5, and Eirwen, having reached level 8 before turning 50, certainly had reason to be proud. She ordered one of the shape-shifters to dig a pit in the ground, then used a precious artifact called a “Crystal Stone” to cast a spell, creating a pool of flowing water that briefly connected to the water element plane. Just this feat earned her praise and flattery from her dark minions for three minutes—mostly sincerely, as it was extremely difficult to obtain water at such depths; the native creatures here usually got their moisture from the blood of their prey and produced even less urine than camels.

After drinking their fill, the minions’ morale improved significantly. Without hesitation, some shape-shifters volunteered to go look for food. Eirwen agreed, telling them to bring more people and to be cautious. The shape-shifters left happily.

Next, Eirwen set up a magic circle to recharge the Soul Armor and cast the “Veil of Darkness” to seal off the sulfurous gusts outside the cave passages. She also reshaped the form of the Death Hound into that of a wall lizard to continue tracking, created three piles of campfires using flame-summoning spells, and deployed a poison-gathering magic circle outside the cave to collect death energy…

All these actions clearly demonstrated the value of her as the team’s core leader, inevitably drawing more praise and flattery. Although Eirwen considered herself a scholar-type, she enjoyed it greatly. Sitting at the center surrounded by others, she stroked her top feathers cheerfully and said to William, “Nio must be resting nervously on some cold rock right now! Compared to us, huh! Let’s see how long he can hold on!”

Of course, in reality, Nio’s life in exile was far more comfortable than Eirwen imagined—no worries about food or shelter. More importantly, during the chaos in Wurtzburg earlier, Nio had reaped a huge profit. Not to mention the benefits from defeating those dark minions, which came from dark energy, just the life force stolen from the battlefield by the Death Vines had brought his life force reserves close to their maximum limit. Including Valentina, the two of them had hardly ever let their life-related spells lose their effectiveness since the battle began. Even so, their life force reserves remained quite high.

After sleeping for about five hours, Nio’s ears suddenly twitched, and he opened his eyes, sitting up silently. Soon, he saw the Death Wall Lizard climbing up. The lizard had spent a lot of time finding the entrance out of the chasm and even more time to get here. After all, though wall lizards were good at moving along cliffs, they were far inferior to Bone Hounds when it came to normal walking.

It was the first time Neo had seen such a monster, but dark power was his core attribute. Anything related to dark power naturally had a tendency to disintegrate. With just one glance, he could tell this creature was a product of evil darkness. A simple tactic of luring it in before striking hard—Neo used “Life Siphon” to reduce it to dust. He had already learned from Nancy that this skill was vicious and ruthless; with just a slight adjustment in where it was applied, the target couldn’t even escape with its soul, as it would be transformed into energy for him to absorb. Given that among the dark minions were the spellcasters he feared the most, Neo acted with utter determination, destroying them completely to eliminate any future threats.

Meanwhile, Erulus, who had been in deep thought, suddenly opened his eyes. A green glow like that of a dark flame flashed in his eyes, followed by a ferocious smile. The evil corpse wall lizard had been killed, but it had left behind special markers along the way that could be used for tracking. The target remained firmly within his grasp.

Flap! Hoo… hoo-hoo…

Erulus’s immortal owl returned. He had sent it earlier to deliver a message to Fad and search for other exits to the surface. Now, it brought back Fad’s reply, indicating that the mission had been completed successfully.

Erulus snapped his fingers. The fully charged Soul Armor destroyed the magic circle beneath his feet, awakening the sleeping dark minions as well. Erulus then said in a sinister tone, “It’s time to act.”

A fewmagicalshapeshifters who had gone out to hunt returned disappointed. The dark minions went to sleep hungry, with the longest sleep lasting no more than 3 hours. Yet none dared complain, as they had often heard of the necromancer’s cruel methods of tormenting people. Compared to that, they preferred enduring visible and tangible punishment rather than being tormented by the necromancer.

Neo had originally planned to pack up and set off, but Nancy mentioned a meeting. Knowing it must be important, he ignored the environmental limits and quickly entered the world of consciousness.

At the Summit of Elements, not only was Nancy there, but Thorn and Frost (the Ice Spirit) were as well. Seeing him arrive, even Frost, who was usually playful and ignored others, smiled and nodded at him. This adorable little creature couldn’t speak, but sometimes its emotions could be conveyed through expressions. Neo could sense that Frost was congratulating him.

“Congratulations!” Thorn was also awkward with words, but his blessings were truly sincere.

“Congratulations!” Nancy bowed repeatedly, beaming with joy.

“What’s so special to celebrate? Why such a grand occasion?” Neo wondered, but he too became excited.

Nancy smiled and pointed at something. “Look over there!”

Neo looked up and saw a faint silver moon in the hazy sky. He was stunned.

After a long while, he turned around, his voice trembling slightly. “Is it really?”

Nancy nodded affirmatively. “Under the influence of the World Tree, your attribute has been officially defined—Power of the Moon, pure darkness, the source of combat power—has been born!”

“But I’m only level 4…” Neo was still incredulous.

Nancy explained to him that due to the dominance of the skill “Life Absorption,” combined with her help in analyzing power, a large amount of pure, concentrated dark energy had been gathered, allowing Neo to make significant progress beyond the hurdle of “Battle Energy Condensation.” Achieving this in one go, defining his path at once—this moon phase was perfectly suited to him.

Happiness came so suddenly and was so overwhelming that Neo’s mind went blank. No emotion could express what he was feeling at that moment. He stood there frozen, tears welling up unnoticed. After countless sleepless nights, hard work, and life-or-death struggles, this moment had finally arrived! All those efforts had transformed into this moon in the sky, and Neo felt his heart more open than ever before!

For any non-magical profession, “Battle Energy Condensation” is the most arduous process. Some describe it as the core snowball that brings everything together; others compare it to accumulating initial capital for business. Many waste precious years in this process, hindering their later development.

Of course, not everyone struggles with this hurdle. As the saying goes, some are born into wealth while others into poverty—life may not determine one’s status, but starting points vary. Neo had long heard that in Frey, Kales, or Ode, there were secret methods called “Energy Sowing” to help people overcome “Battle Energy Condensation” smoothly. Noble sons and grandsons who became level 5 professionals at a young age all had such support behind them: professional training, careful cultivation, favorable conditions, ample resources, and even well-organized practice opponents. Even a pig, following the rules, could learn decent skills, let alone those who were already determined to succeed.

Neo originally thought there was no way to bridge this gap. Otherwise, with his talent, he wouldn’t still be stuck at level 3 despite being over 19. He had lamented and felt disheartened over this, but driven by an unyielding spirit, he never gave up.

Now, he had finally established his own path, with strong momentum, seizing opportunities and gathering favorable conditions!

Now, he had the right to say this: Looking back, he felt he should be grateful for those difficult years. Yes, his current strength might still seem insignificant compared to the best among his peers, but he possessed many precious qualities that paved a smooth road to success. These qualities were truly priceless, and they were forged through perseverance through hardships. The more setbacks, the stronger! Never stop striving!

From now on, he could use battle energy. After a long silence, Neo clenched his fists excitedly, raised his arms high, and shouted hoarsely, “Glory begins now!”

Again and again…