Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Chapter 100 The Underground World (Seeking First Subscription)

The Demon Hunter Jade Token trembled slightly in my arms, sending a warm sensation through me.

Ian looked down and saw new information appear next to the small characters on the back of the jade pendant.

[Sixth Cleanup Team, proceed immediately to the entrance of the teleportation zone. Coordinates: Teleportation Array No. 2 on the east side of the basin. Time limit: 15 minutes.]

The information is concise and carries an unquestionable tone.

Ian looked up at the eastern side of the basin. There stood more than ten towering metal arches, each twenty meters high.

The door frame was inlaid with dense spatial runes, which were now emitting halos of different colors.

Crimson, ice blue, emerald green, and dark purple—these correspond to different war zone numbers.

The halo around Entrance No. 2 was dark cyan, matching the color of the jade plaque.

"Let's go, hahaha." Ian telepathically said to himself, and started walking towards the east.

Gaga poked its head out of the pocket, its little eyes scanning the surroundings warily.

"There are so many people—and a lot of them look a bit off."

Indeed, the closer one gets to the teleportation zone, the more tense the atmosphere becomes.

When senior apprentices from different teams brushed past each other, most of them had cold eyes, even with a hint of hostility and scrutiny.

Once you enter the underground world, anyone can become a rival for resources or a stab in the back.

Ian remained silent, the hood of his grey apprentice robe pulled low, obscuring most of his face, his aura subdued to the mid-level of a senior apprentice.

It is neither too conspicuous nor too weak to be bullied.

More than sixty people had gathered in front of the second teleportation entrance.

The leader was a formal wizard with a scar on his left cheek that ran from his brow bone to his jaw. Dark red energy flowed around the edges of the scar, as if it were a mark left by some kind of curse or special power.

He crossed his arms, closed his eyes to rest, and the energy field around him caused the surrounding air to distort slightly.

Beside them were a man and a woman, both of whom had reached the threshold of the first rank. They wore standard battle robes with silver-white trim and black edges, and badges with silver rings on their chests.

The man was a tall, thin young man who looked to be no more than twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

He was toying with a blood-red die in his hand; instead of numbers, the six sides of the die were engraved with different expressions of pain.

Crying, madness, despair —

The witch apprentice was about thirty years old, with regular features but little expression.

Two short staffs hung at his waist. One was made of wood with natural runes, while the other was cast in metal with a blue light like electricity constantly flashing across its surface.

Ian silently stood at the end of the line, glancing at the other senior apprentices in his team out of the corner of his eye.

Including himself, there were a total of sixty-eight people, with varying degrees of aura strength.

Some looked tense, constantly checking their equipment; others appeared experienced, their eyes sharply observing the surrounding environment and their teammates; and a few clearly knew each other, talking in hushed tones.

"Quiet."

The scarred middle-aged wizard opened his eyes. His voice was not loud, but it had a certain penetrating power that silenced everyone instantly.

"I am Calem, the captain of the sixth cleaning team, a first-level wizard."

His gaze swept over the crowd like a blade. "These two are the vice-captains, Rod and Kelly."

Rhodes grinned at the crowd, revealing his gleaming white teeth, while the witch Kelly merely nodded slightly.

"Our mission area is the western side of Ironspine Canyon," Calem continued, speaking steadily. "Remember three things."

"First, the underground world is not a playground. The environment, creatures, and even the rules there are different from those on the surface. Any underestimation, carelessness, or foolish behavior will lead to your swift demise."

Second, the team must follow orders. Anyone who leaves the team without permission or acts on their own will be killed on the spot.

Third, regarding the distribution of spoils, the jade token will automatically record the number and rank of monsters you kill, as well as the materials found on their corpses.

Abyss Crystals are obtained first by whoever kills the enemy.

If multiple people are involved in the kill, they should negotiate among themselves. If the negotiation fails, they can apply for arbitration, but I cannot guarantee that the arbitration result will satisfy everyone.

He paused, his gaze lingering for a moment on the faces of several apprentices who harbored their own thoughts.

"Now, check the equipment and prepare for teleportation."

Everyone sprang into action. Ian also pretended to check the dimensional bag, though he had already checked it several times.

"Gah, that dice game feels so weird—" Gah Gah muttered to himself.

"Stay away from him," Ian replied. These two were probably close to being first-level wizards to be vice-captains.

About five minutes later, the runes on the second teleportation arch suddenly lit up, and the dark blue halo contracted inward, forming a constantly rotating light curtain like water waves.

The light screen displayed a dense array of spatial coordinate runes, which resonated with the jade tablets in everyone's arms to prevent them from being teleported to the wrong location.

"Line up and enter in turn." Kelham took the lead and stepped into the light curtain.

His figure rippled like water for a moment, then vanished.

Rod and Kelly followed closely behind.

The advanced apprentices began to enter in an orderly fashion. When it was Ian's turn, he took a deep breath and stepped into the rotating light curtain.

Buzz————

It wasn't the sound, but the entire body and soul that felt the tremor simultaneously, as if being stuffed into a narrow pipe, the body twisting and stretching like noodles.

All around were turbulent spatial currents of light and color, with countless blurry fragments of images flying past.

Twisted rock formations, flowing lava, a gigantic shadow writhing in the darkness, mountains of white bones—

The teleportation process lasted only three breaths.

tread.

The sensation of solid ground beneath my feet came over me, and at the same time, an indescribable aura wafted towards me.

Ian immediately opened his eyes, his mental energy spreading out like a spider web as he warily surveyed his surroundings.

"This is the underground world."

His first feeling was one of oppression; above him was not the sky, but a dark dome that stretched endlessly into the distance.

Faintly visible dark red veins, like blood vessels, spread out, occasionally flickering and casting a sickly halo.

Countless enormous stalactites hang from the dome, some of which drip viscous, fluorescent liquid from their tips, accumulating into small puddles below, where something slowly wriggles.

The air was filled with a smell that was a mixture of sulfur, rotting flesh, mold, and a certain sweet, fishy odor.

The dim lighting mainly comes from the fluorescent moss that grows naturally on the rock walls, emitting unsettling glows of dark purple, pale green, and dirty yellow, making the entire space appear bizarre and surreal.

In the distance, countless caves of all sizes are densely packed on the rock walls like a honeycomb.

Deep within some caves, faint rustling sounds, gnawing sounds, or whispers of unknown meaning could be heard.

The "rules" of space also seem to be different from those of the Earth's surface.

Ian could feel that when his mental energy spread here, it encountered invisible resistance, as if it had sunk into a viscous substance.

The flow of elemental energy also appeared chaotic and turbulent, with fire element mixed with violence, earth element exuding decay, wind element carrying a shriek, and water element full of filth.

Madness, distortion, darkness.

It was as if the whole world was being eroded and polluted by some kind of morbid force.