Wizard: Unlimited Profession Slots Chapter 801 - 361: Familiar Face (2)

"I will personally feed it to the deeper abyssal creatures."

This overt menace turned the ambiance suffocatingly heavy.

Ron saw that a few frailer explorers were already quivering faintly.

"Very well, it seems everyone understands the rules."

Uther’s voice regained its composure: "Now, let’s begin this pleasant journey."

As the elderly professor activated the controls, the runes encircling the platform flared up wildly.

Souls bound inside them emitted wordless wails, their torment converted into power that sustained the barrier.

"Anchor current coordinates... detect abyssal airflow... adjust diving trajectory..."

Uther’s words turned mechanical:

"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 started sinking gradually, while the nearby reality warped.

......

As they plunged into the abyss’s first layer, Ron felt once more that ineffable pressure.

Peering through the see-through shield, he beheld a haunting vista:

Boundless crimson shallows sprawled everywhere, the red fluid no mere blood but the congealed terror and hopelessness of myriad beings in their dying instants.

The "blood" crept along lazily, with twisted visages occasionally emerging.

Humans appeared, along with foreign races and bizarre unidentified beings.

All these faces carried the anguish of their last breaths, lips moving mutely as though whispering secrets.

"Every time you see this scene, it’s always shocking, right, Ralph?"

A vaguely recognizable man’s voice rang out next to Ron.

Turning, he realized it was Maxim speaking.

This sorcerer with a terrifying look was the judge who had validated his profession modulator credentials at Black Mist School.

"Master Maxim?"

Ron felt genuine astonishment but soon composed himself: "Didn’t expect to meet you here."

Since Black Mist School days, Maxim’s abyssal corruption had clearly intensified.

Silvery scales crept from his hands up to half his face, those tiny plates gleaming with a sinister metallic sheen in the shield’s light.

What disturbed most was their subtle twitching, like creatures slithering under the flesh.

"Haha, it’s a small world indeed."

Maxim chuckled loudly, yet laced with sorrow:

"I remember back at Black Mist School, you were just an apprentice curious about the abyss. Now..."

He keenly sensed Ron’s magical aura, eyes widening in clear disbelief:

"My gosh, your magic power almost surpasses mine? How much time has really passed... Deservedly the runner-up of the New Star Plan."

Maxim had detected Ron’s restrained magical fluctuations, likely under a third of his true reserves.

"Just lucky." The youthful wizard replied modestly, eyeing the altered scales on Maxim’s cheek.

Through "Extraordinary Recognition" sight, those scales proved to be parasitic abyssal spores gradually reshaping the host’s body.

The transformation hurt terribly, yet it granted enhanced strength.

"So, what brings you to the abyss this time?"

Maxim inquired with interest: "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 held back the full truth:

"And you?"

Maxim let out a quiet sigh, fingers instinctively brushing his facial scales:

"I came to completely merge with these damn things."

Shaking his head with a wry grin:

"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 voice grew graver:

"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."

At Cassandra’s name, zeal flared in Maxim’s gaze:

"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 absorbed it quietly, sharpening his grasp of Cassandra’s expanding sway.

The conquest’s pull was potent, luring even semi-retired adventurers like Maxim back to the fray.

While they chatted, the platform descended into the second layer.

There, the crimson shallows twisted further into peril.

Innumerable shattered spatial bubbles drifted across the blood sea, each enclosing unique space-time realms.

Some blazed with unending flames, others encased in total ice, and more brimmed with twisting tentacled monsters.

Even more horrifying, these bubbles fused and divided at random, spawning utter pandemonium.

Now and then, a bubble would explode, unleashing its contents into the blood sea and sparking a savage chain reaction.

"Second layer..." Maxim’s voice turned strained, "From here on, even with the Void Remains protection, we can feel the edge effects of the Abyssal Curse."