Not far from the temple.
Yang Xin stared in disbelief at the temple, which had already been leveled to the ground. She couldn't help but swallow hard as she looked at the Empress, who was still floating in the Abyss sky. She wondered, "This... You're telling me this is Level 11? Oh, it's Level 13 now." Two more level-up flashes had just washed over Shen Fei's body.
Before meeting Shen Fei, if someone had told her that a Tier One Professional could unleash such terrifying power, she would have scoffed and told them to stop reading so many fantasy novels before their brains rotted. But now that it was actually happening right in front of her, her mind simply short-circuited. She wondered, "Bro, where did you buy these hacks?!"
"The experience is pretty good!" Shen Fei hadn't expected to level up twice in a row. It felt great. People always said that after Level 10, gaining experience would become significantly slower. Some might take a month to go from Level 1 to 10, but a whole year to get from Level 10 to 20. More importantly, he now had two more traits he could draw.
"These are all the dropped items."
With a flick of the Empress's hand, tentacles formed from the earth pulled out all the loot that had dropped. The variety of colors genuinely surprised Shen Fei. As expected, equipping the Empress with the Rolling Wealth trait was the perfect choice.
However, Demons were rather unique. To think they could actually drop Equipment—that was a characteristic exclusive to Abyssal Creatures. This meant that under the judgment of the Blue Star's consciousness, Demons were no longer considered Professionals of the Blue Star. Yet, they still retained the Professional system unique to the Blue Star. There was one key difference, though: they didn't possess an Abyss Core.
Shen Fei stuffed all the dropped Equipment and items into his inventory to sort through later. Reaching Level 10 had expanded his inventory by another forty slots, bringing the total to a very convenient fifty.
"Is that the Pollution Core?" Shen Fei asked, looking at the last remaining object in the temple ruins.
It was an altar. The structure appeared to be built from pitch-black stones, its surface carved with complex runes that formed an Array resembling a giant eyeball. Floating in the center of the altar was a twelve-sided crystal. It was as clear and translucent as quartz, but its core contained a dense, swirling mass of pure black energy.
The very first moment Shen Fei laid eyes on it, a deep sense of disgust welled up from the bottom of his heart—a literal physical revulsion.
"Yes, that's the Pollution Core," Yang Xin nodded. She now realized that the missing students had likely been used as sacrifices to raise the Tier of this Pollution Core and unlock even more Abyssal Power.
"How do we take it away?" Shen Fei asked.
"I... I don't know." Yang Xin looked a bit embarrassed. She had no idea how to retrieve the Pollution Core, primarily because this mission was never meant for her to complete in the first place. Or rather, it wasn't meant for students at all. Investigating this mission required a Tier Three Professional who had already undergone their first advancement awakening. It certainly wasn't a job for a college student like her, and not everyone could be a freak of nature like Shen Fei.
"Master, I feel like I can eat it..." the Vast Heaven Holy Spirit suddenly spoke up.
"Eat it?" Shen Fei shook his head in refusal. It was better not to casually consume things from the Abyss. Although he wasn't worried about the Vast Heaven Holy Spirit betraying him, what if it ended up being targeted by the Abyss? Furthermore, the Vast Heaven Holy Spirit was destined to be his main combat Summoned Beast. If it reeked of Abyssal Breath, who knew if someone would use that as an excuse to cause trouble?
He also had no idea what would happen if his Summoned Beast was tainted by Abyssal Breath. He thought, "I'll ask this Nizi Dusk Rain about it later." Shen Fei suddenly remembered that he had a Demon Warlock girlfriend. He felt that the Demon Warlock Profession probably had some connection to the Abyss.
For now, it was best to hand this thing over to the Breaking Abyss Army.
"Alright." The Vast Heaven Holy Spirit sounded a little wronged but obediently followed Shen Fei's orders.
Just then, several figures appeared in the distance. Shen Fei instantly went on high alert, but Yang Xin quickly recognized the man leading the group.
"It's Battalion Commander Liu!" Yang Xin had met Liu Wentao before, so she identified him immediately.
Hidden in the shadows, the Stabbing Immortal stopped coating its sword with the Power of the Void. High in the sky, the Empress dispelled the Mana gathering in her hands, and the Vast Heaven Holy Spirit calmed its surging vitality.
"This... this is definitely damage that only a Tier Four could cause!" Liu Wentao swallowed hard as he arrived and took in the sight of the scorched area that was still radiating waves of intense heat.
The Vast Heaven Holy Spirit gently lowered Shen Fei and Yang Xin from its shoulders. Naturally, Liu Wentao immediately noticed the altar and the Pollution Core. However, his attention was more focused on whoever had unleashed that massive phenomenon just moments ago.
"Did you guys see that Fire Lotus attack just now?" Liu Wentao asked, assuming that Shen Fei and Yang Xin had also just arrived. After all, considering the size of this settlement and the enemy numbers Shen Fei had reported, there was absolutely no way Shen Fei could have dealt with it himself.
But Yang Xin's next words made everyone present gasp in shock.
"We saw it. Shen Fei's Summoned Beast did it." Remembering that near-apocalyptic, Burning power, Yang Xin didn't even realize that her voice was tinged with sheer worship.
"Wait, Shen Fei did this?" Liu Wentao froze and abruptly turned to look at Shen Fei.
Knowing he couldn't hide his strength anyway, Shen Fei nodded and admitted to it. He would have to show his face in the future regardless. For instance, in the upcoming exchange match, he needed to prove step by step that he was worthy of standing beside Dusk Rain. After all, getting his future father-in-law's approval was bound to be a rather arduous task.
"Holy shit, that's badass!" Liu Wentao couldn't help but swear. He originally thought Fang Yuan had tossed him a burden, but who would have thought this kid was a genius—a genuine prodigy!
It had only been a few days, and he was already past Level 10. Moreover, he could unleash power at Tier Four, bordering on Tier Five.
Liu Wentao naturally didn't doubt him. There was simply no need to lie about something like this. Strength was hard to fake; it was easy to pretend to be weak, but pretending to be strong just made you a paper tiger that would be easily punctured. Not to mention, Shen Fei's strength was obvious to everyone. He had cleared a Hell Dungeon at Level 1. For someone like him, pulling off something like this didn't seem all that far-fetched.
The surrounding soldiers' eyes widened as they exchanged looks of utter astonishment. Shen Fei's youthful face naturally fell into their line of sight.
At first, they had assumed the attack was the work of a Tier Four or Tier Five Professional. Now they were being told that Shen Fei's Summoned Beast was the culprit.
Since they were heading here, they had asked who the discoverer was along the way. Liu Wentao had briefly mentioned Shen Fei—a high school student who had just awakened. They thought, "And now you fucking tell us his Summoned Beast can unleash a Tier Four attack?!"
"Ahem..." Liu Wentao suddenly coughed to clear his throat. "Student Shen Fei, are you interested in joining the Breaking Abyss Army?"
"I am." Shen Fei nodded. Truthfully, the very reason he had come to the Abyss Edge was precisely for this—because his parents themselves were once members of the Breaking Abyss Army!