Visiting the Abyss!

Alice’s POV:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We chose a direction randomly to find someone we can ask for information. Although the memory crystal had information about this school, but it didn’t tell us where to join it. Considering that cultivators at Tuchore planet looked at Genotin Academy as an enemy, it would be weird if they would hold information about such things...

Using our mind powers, we quickly found a group of elves. They were at the third stage of World Realm so we didn’t have to fear them either. “Hello, my name is Hiro. Do you have a moment?” Hiro questioned them with a small smile as he crossed his scale covered arms in front of his chest. It’s better if we show off our races at such times. The elves checked us out, especially me… I was getting used to it.

“Hello, yes we have a moment… or two,” one of them said and finished his sentence as he looked at me with a small smile. I knew what that smile hid, but I didn’t care, though Hiro did...

“Great, then could you tell us where are we supposed to join this academy?” Hiro questioned him with a not so happy and cold smile. His powerful and ancient aura was leaking out, which visibly terrified these weaklings.

“Y- Yes… we joined not long before. Just go towards that way”- he said as he pointed towards a flying island far away - “and enter the levitating island called Zumn Reef. There is only a single building in the middle of it so you’ll find it easily. That’s where you have to go.” The elf quickly explained with a small stutter. Poirlion’s face also turned into a smug one. I bet that he was thinking something like - Hmph. Kneel before the might of the dragons.

“Thanks for helping,” Hiro finished our conversation as he flew into the air with us in tow while waving his hand. When the elves turned around, he wrote ‘Fuck you’ into the air, using fire magic. We quickly flew towards the way they pointed. By the time they turned around to look after us, Hiro’s little present was nowhere to be seen. This Zumn Reef was a beautiful flying island.

But unlike what we made, this didn’t have any formation under it. This was the work of someone at the seventh level or above. The person in question probably elevated the earth and then using an Eternal Law, stuck it in place. That Zumn Reef was about twenty square kilometers with a huge pavilion on it. We appeared there in a flash and stopped in front of a counter. Behind it sat an elderly tiger-woman who was probably at the seventh level!

She was meditating before we came, but upon sensing us, she stopped and looked up. She was probably quite a beauty when she was young. Seeing her old body, I knew that she had millions of years behind her. I couldn’t help but think of how terrible it would be if I were to get so wrinkly. I must work hard to hold onto my eternal youth! I don’t want to turn into an old hag. My body is still young and taut!

How would I please Hiro with an old body? A shudder ran through my back, which was noticed by the elderly woman, but she only smiled upon noticing my reaction and said with a small laugh. “*Chuckle* Don’t look at me like that. I looked much better when I was at the fifth level, but it seems like this is how long I can reach. Pray that you have better talent than I have!” She finished her sentence with a small exclamation and then sighed tiredly.

I didn’t know what to say. I felt sorry for her. “So? Did you come to look at me? Hahaha!” She asked with a hearty laugh upon seeing us standing there all mute, like a group of idiots. I slapped my forehead as I closed my eyes for a moment and a smile slipped onto my face. After a small laugh, I said - “Haha~ Sorry, no, we didn’t. We are here to join Genotin Academy.”

She nodded upon hearing my words and appeared behind us in a flash. None of us were able to sense her, even though she didn’t even teleport! She touched our bodies and her face turned into a surprised one as she opened her mouth and eyes widely for a moment. She started nodding as she said. “Nice, nice! All of you are great! Especially you two!” She said while looking at us and then continued.

“I guess you don’t have to worry about your talents… I’ve never seen weak True Divine Beasts… *Sigh* It’s good for you. You have it much easier. We, normal cultivators, have to struggle so much to advance even a single stage, yet here you are, barely thirty years old at the fifth level. If others were to hear it, they would die on the spot out of envy!” She kept shaking her head sideways.

Somehow none of us were surprised that she knew of our race. To begin with, it’s quite unlikely that any other race would be at the fifth level at such a young age. “Alright, you are all way above the average. The thing is… that you’ll still have to go through an exam, like every other cultivator here.”

“It’s going to be two days later in the morning. Come back at that time and you’ll go with the other candidates. There are quite a lot of them this time so it might be harder than usually, though considering your talents, I’m sure that all of you’re going to succeed.” The elderly woman said as she released us and sat back at her place.

“And where should we go till then? Outsiders aren’t welcomed on Slore, I suppose?” I questioned her as I tilted my head to the side. This whole planet was under the control of Genotin Academy, so outsiders probably weren’t allowed to stay here for long. At most, we could travel through the planet. She nodded upon hearing my question and told us that there was a place which was kept up for those who occurred to take the entrance exam. We left towards where she pointed us and soon found ourselves in front of an island.

It had many houses on it, but almost all of them had people inside. If you were at the sixth level or above and ‘young’, then you could attend this school immediately, while if you were at the fifth level, you had to take this entrance exam. This was stated in a memory crystal, which was in one of the empty houses. No one said that we can’t enter them by ourselves, so we simply chose an empty one…

But trouble always followed us, so after spending a whole day inside, meditating, a group of newcomers appeared in front of our house and they started shouting - “Hey, you! Come out! There are no more free houses and since you are the weakest ones, you’ll have to leave!” What he said was indeed true, theoretically. Only we were at the first stage in this whole camp and he was able to sense only that much.

Poirlion, on the other hand, was probably too powerful for him to sense, so these idiots fell into the biggest trap ever. Out of curiosity, we checked it out and indeed every house had cultivators in them. At least they didn’t lie about that.

“Can you hear that, Alice? A group of fresh meat came for us! I was getting bored anyway!” Hiro said excitedly while lying on the sofa, with his head on my lap. I was caressing his hair in a good mood, but these bastards just had to come and interrupt us! I moved my tail in front of me and made a piece of metal appear in my hand as I started sharpening my tail with it. Unfortunately, the metal was much weaker than my tail and it was cut into two halves after two moves.

Creating matter was also an ability of cultivators above the fourth level. We could easily create metals such as Trinatimuz or any other ‘legendary’ metal we had before. Hiro raised his hand and grabbed onto my tits, which came as a surprise to me. “Auhn~ What are you doing? Sneak attacking me?!” I questioned him as I gave a kiss on his forehead. “Bluu-bluu-bluu” He wanted to say something, but my breasts were suppressing his voice because I was leaning forward and only muffled sounds left his mouth.

Poirlion appeared from his own world exactly at that time, only to see us in such a position. He smirked upon seeing us as he said with a grin - “It seems like you are enjoying yourselves. Should I take out the trash?”

I smiled evilly upon hearing his words, while they were still making a clamor outside, I answered him. “No~ We need to move our bodies. They are only at the third stage anyway. They are asking us to spill some blood. We can’t refuse such an offer now, can we?”

“Alright then. They are quite annoying…” He said with a clearly unhappy voice. Feeling curious, I couldn’t help but peek into his thoughts. Hmph! These bastards. Are they asking her highness to leave her territory? *Growl* I want to devour and shred them into pieces! I was hoping that they would let me go, but it seems like they like to take care of their own things… ARGH! I wanted to release my bloodlust and slaughter all of them! I’ll have to look for something to kill. Should I pick a quarrel with someone?

“Pfft- Hahaha, so that was what you were thinking about?” I laughed upon hearing his thoughts. He made a surprised face for a moment, which quickly turned into a stupid one as he started scratching the back of his head.

“Ehm- I was found out… but yes. Sorry, but I have a little problem with my bloodlust... My instincts are also screaming at me to kill and I can’t help but think about bullying someone who is weaker than me…” He explained his situation with his head drooped.

“So, my queen~ my question is, would you let me kill them in your place?” I nodded upon hearing his request to agree. I know how it feels. I was drowning in the same kind of feeling as well not long before.

Seeing that I agreed, his face turned into an elated one, which quickly turned into a mad and evil one as he released his bloodlust. I coiled a lock of my hair around my finger as I crossed my right leg over the other one. To be honest, I felt unhappy. I hated these guys and I wanted to kill them, but I felt obliged to let Poirlion release his bloodlust. He disappeared from the house in a flash, and all we heard was a roar and then the screams of these impudent beings.

[Like a good dog.] Hiro remarked jokingly, trying to turn my mood into a better one, but it was for naught, though his next try, which was a kiss on my lips worked just fine. I smiled at him feeling happy that he was beside me. I don’t know what would have become of me without him. I’d be probably sitting somewhere, all alone, with no one to support me or to love me. That would be so cold, but luckily, I don’t have to face such a problem because I get more love than a hundred percent of the cultivators; from him alone!

Upon thinking that far, I couldn’t help but spread my arms widely and hug Hiro with every ounce of strength in my body. “A- Alice! You are crushing me!” He started shouting upon feeling my strength. A snapping sound was heard as pain rushed through his right arm. Ehm… Oops? I quickly released him and thanks to his quick regeneration speed, his bone quickly snapped back and healed in a second.

He stood up in front of me and patted my head while he extended out his other hand to help me up as he said with a small laugh. “Hahaha~ You stupid girl. Don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you~”

“I know,” I said with a smile and took his hand. Exactly at that time, Poirlion came inside, with his body covered in blood, though that wasn’t his… “Ah! It’s so good! The smell of blood, this feeling! I love it!” He said happily with an entranced face and I swear that I accidentally saw a bulge in his abdomen... Like a fucking crazy, pervert.

“We should do something about you…” Hiro said with his brows furrowed while looking at Poirlion. I shot a ball of water on his body to clean him, which caused him to finally return to us.

“W- What!? A- Ah… Sorry. I think that I’ve lost my mind for a moment.” He said as his ecstatic face disappeared and turned into a sorry one, while he kept evading my glance.

Waaa! I- I screwed up. I’m so sorry! I know that they too are bloodthirsty, but I’m the only one who can’t control himself in this group. If you are reading my mind, then I’m sorry! I- I’ll try to learn the way of self-control! I promise! He thought in his mind. At least he knew of his mistake.

After a small sigh, I answered him - “*Sigh* Listen, I know how it feels and I was like that as well, but you have to be careful. Our instincts are very powerful and if you let yourself controlled by your instincts, then you are going to turn into an animal. A mindless dragon is not a true dragon! All of us have to learn the right way to become a true dragon, which can stand up proudly anytime! A dragon which can’t control itself is only an animal! That’s why I wanted to change on that as well! Thankfully, I was able to.”

“I- I’ll try hard!” He answered as he stood at attention like a soldier. I couldn’t help but laugh at his actions. The mood quickly turned into a lighter one after my laugh. The problem wasn’t that he killed them, that he loved blood, or that he wanted to kill. The problem was that he lost his mind afterward!

Only a little more could have easily turned him into a mindless killing machine! We, divine beasts, had only this single weakness. Our instincts. They were much stronger than the instincts of normal races.

If we were to let ourselves be controlled by these instincts, then we would turn into similar monsters than what we kill to get cores. That’s why, at a point, we always had to learn how to control ourselves. Self-control was the key to many things! Hiro was good at it anyway, so he didn’t have to learn it, but I had to, though thanks to him, it came easily for me as well.

These symptoms occurred usually only at these higher levels. Poirlion was at the ninth stage of World Realm, which was an ideal time for these symptoms to show. Since I was a True Divine Beast, it came earlier for me, but I was quick in overcoming that hurdle. Now that Poirlion realized his mistake and stepped on the right way, it was only a question of time for him to turn into a true dragon.

I don’t mean Dragon God… that’s impossible. There is only one of them! Or maybe two since this is a mix of two universes. Only divine beasts who defeated their own instincts could be called True! We spent our remaining time by playing around. Adding to that our nightlife with Hiro, it quickly turned into the next day. All of us left the house and flew towards the flying island. As we stopped there, we’ve gained many looks and quite a lot of them started whispering.

“Look, that guy! He is an Azure Dragon! Be careful with him, he almost lost his mind yesterday! I saw it with my own eyes! He is also very powerful, so you better not go near him!”

The poor Poirlion was getting such remarks all over the place and everyone except us stood at least fifty meters away from him. “I’ll indeed have to learn self-control…” He remarked in my mind by using his mind power. “Yes, you’ll have to, but it’s not so hard. Just try hard!” I encouraged him. His bad mood quickly turned into a more cheerful one as he started smiling. At this time, the same elderly cat-woman we met yesterday, appeared in front of us.

“Hello, younglings! My name is Aiko. It’s time for you to take your entrance exams.” She stopped for a moment and she also spotted us. After a small smile, she continued. “I haven’t told you anything before, but getting into this academy isn’t as easy as you might think. It’s very dangerous as well, so probably quite a lot of you are going to die, though it depends only on your own skills!” She stopped once again and waited for everyone to understand the gravity of her words. Worried looks appeared on some of the cultivators’ faces, but most of them only shrugged their shoulders with confident looks on their faces.

“On this exam, you’ll have to enter the Abyss…” as she finished her words, many faces turned into despaired ones and even some of the unbothered ones’ faces from before turned into a fearful one. We too were quite surprised, but we didn’t fear it, while Poirlion only shrugged his shoulders and almost started laughing. He has been living there before, why would he worry about such a thing?

“We have a relatively safe route, mapped out. Although the universe changed, but the Abyss is still the same. I’ll soon give all of you a memory crystal to learn of this route. Your task will be to reach the X point on the map and bring back one million World Crystals for the school. If you bring back more, then you can keep it yourself, but be warned, that the more you have, the bigger treasure trove you become for the monsters in the Abyss. In the Abyss, not even your storage spaces can hide the aura of your items, so once you have too much, you’ll be sure to get killed!”

Poirlion kept nodding while listening to her words, which made it clear that she wasn’t lying. Why would she? “That’s indeed like that. In the Abyss, your storage spaces are like glass houses. Your Abyss Panther's egg could be felt as well while you were inside, though I didn’t want to question you, so I didn’t ask about it at that time. Hoarding a million World Crystals is like inviting trouble for yourself. That route probably goes through the resting room, but that’s still very dangerous.” Poirlion explained while furrowing his brows.

Everyone started talking loudly with each other, which caused a clamor to break out. Aiko’s face was continuously turning into a more and more annoyed one. Seeing that she was about to explode, all three of us, swiftly and silently jumped out of the group and stood to the side. She smiled upon noticing our little escape and then turned back and looked evilly at the crowd which disrespectfully kept shouting while being in her presence, completely ignoring her.

Just because she was old looking, she was still a powerful cultivator and an elder of the school. These idiots disrespected the prestige of the school as well by doing this. Suddenly she swung her arm downward and the crowd was smashed into the ground with their faces pressed into the mud. Everyone was lying on the ground silently while they kept smelling the ground.

“It seems like all of you love the smell of the earth. Go ahead and smell it some more. Hahaha!” She said with a ridiculing laugh. Everyone here would be like a god for the mortals, yet here they are, smelling the earth. Even we started laughing at them, though that probably angered some of them… but we didn’t care. They can come at us, anytime when I’m not having sex with Hiro!

[You are even sticking out your chest proudly while thinking of perverted things? Alice… you are such a pervert!] Hiro started bullying me through our bond. [Hahaha~ You are one to talk you bastard!] I retorted upon hearing his words in a good mood. Aiko finally released these idiots and everyone quickly sprung up from the ground silently fearing to spend even one more second in such a shameful position. Some of them threw threatening looks towards us, but we only smiled at them provocatively. What? We aren’t afraid of trouble!

“Alright, I hope that you understand your positions. I’m sure that you were geniuses at other places, but here, you are only one of the many average cultivators. There are many monsters here, who are true geniuses!” She shouted seriously, crushing the pride of these newcomers in the process, but she also looked at us when she mentioned ‘monsters’ and ‘true geniuses’, which didn’t escape the attention of these cultivators. I… I don’t like those looks.

“Now follow after me, little hatchlings, hahaha~” She laughed heartily as she kept on ridiculing them. Everyone flew into the air and followed after her. A few thousand kilometers later, we found ourselves in front of a dark cave. We followed Aiko into it, only to see a portal into the Abyss. I couldn’t help but look at Hiro with mixed feelings. He simply held onto my hand, which immediately dispersed my uneasiness and turned my mood for the better.

Aiko threw one memory crystal for each person. They indeed contained a little map with a route. “Oh, yes, by the way… hand over all of your World Crystals from your storage spaces. Don’t worry, it’s only temporarily and I’m not going to forget how many did you give either. I’m not that old, alright? Hahaha~” She explained logically with a small laugh. It would be weird if we were to be let in with the amount we have. We could easily come back out and say that we collected it from the marked place...

I know that we could go behind someone other, but we all wanted to get past this thing quickly so all three of us put our World Crystals into a single storage ring and handed it over to her. After making an oath that we didn’t have more, we jumped into the portal. We were the first to enter! In front of us appeared a thin road. On our right was the wall of a cliff while on our left was a deep and dark nothing and even this narrow pathway was covered in mist.

At most three people could walk on this. Not wishing to go with others, we quickly rushed forward. We soon reached the first turn to the right, where we found ourselves in front of a chamber with numerous tunnels connecting to it. A few Horrorsnare Crocodiles rushed out of those tunnels and charged towards us with hungry eyes. Poirlion would turn into such a monster if he was to let himself be devoured by his instincts. That’s why he has to be careful.

These monsters were only at the third stage, which was easily manageable for us. In these last two days, we reached the peak of the first stage, thanks to the many World Crystals we have gained in the new sector, though we used up a lot of them… We had sixty-nine Crypt in our battle forms, which meant that we were equal in strength to someone who was at the early third stage. Considering our skills… we could quite easily beat even someone at the fourth stage.

I love being unfair~ Playing games by keeping the rules was also fun, but we weren’t in a game. We were living beings and any kind of unfairness or underhanded method was welcomed! Infinis, Necros, and Mortus automatically transformed into armors without us doing anything. Symbionts never joked around. They were clever beings which knew when to come out and when not to. If we were to meet with Yakine or Mariton, then these symbionts would hide as much into our bodies as they can.

It’s good that I have scales or I’d be left naked… Infinis turned into a staff in my hand, while Hiro stayed at using a spear at the moment, but he could turn it into anything else in a moment. Infinis hardened in my hand and on my body. It always felt weird when it climbed out of my body because I felt how it was creeping through my cells. A chill always ran through me upon feeling it. It was a funny feeling.

My whole body was covered in Infinis and I felt great power rushing through my veins, my cells, my muscles. I felt wonderful! So many feelings because of a single Symbiont, it was all worth it! I jumped forward and Infinis automatically activated its ability. All of these Horrorsnare Crocodiles charged towards us. I didn’t even defend myself as one of the stupid monsters tried biting my right leg, but its teeth broke into Infinis. Its movements were like a snail’s.

I intentionally let it bite me because I felt curious about how much Infinis and my scales can resist, but I had to laugh upon realizing that I was like a turtle, except that I was also strong and quick. I’m such a cheat!

When the first monster bit me, I barely felt anything because my double layered defense easily dispersed everything. I just had to defend myself against the soul force, which wasn’t that hard. I might seem like that, but I'm not careless and I'm not overconfident. I do things only if I'm sure of myself. I know about my boundaries and these monsters weren't outside of those!

Thanks to Infinis, I don’t have to concentrate on using my soul force because it would collect enough for my attacks automatically. I swung my staff downward while Hiro also arrived and thrust his spear into the head of a monster. My staff also crushed the head of this stupid crocodile at the same time. The best part was that thanks to Infinis, my tail also turned into a weapon which was as deadly as the staff in my hands!

Since I had numerous minds, I swiftly used my tail as well and beheaded another crocodile. We felt a strong bloodlust from behind us, which was coming from Poirlion. He had problems once again… but after a ball of cold water, he quickly returned. We also finished these trash of monsters at the same time. The group which probably entered after us, appeared in the cavern only to see this group of monsters lying on the ground.

Unexpectedly, all of them turned into a few tens of thousands of World Crystals and we quickly picked them up. The group behind us was a group of demons. Two of them were females, while the last one was a male. He was a harem holder, that was clear in my eyes. The guy was at the sixth stage while the women were at the fourth stage. After checking me out with wishful eyes, he ran past us, along with his little servants.

All three of us looked after them and after nodding at each other, we also continued on our way. We should get first place, shouldn’t we? Hehe~