CHAPTER 900: BLACK DOG ABYSS

With Max’s current strength, even if he encountered a monster at the peak of Legend Rank, he had confidence in his ability to either kill it outright or retreat unscathed, so he advanced deeper without hesitation.

"Shua!" A flash of movement caught his eye, and soon, the little rat came bounding out of the underbrush, its tiny paws clutching a radiant herb shaped like a sunflower. The petals glimmered faintly like they were forged of gold itself, exuding a rich elemental aura.

Max recognized it immediately—the Golden Sunflower, a sixth-grade spiritual elixir.

He took the flower gently from the little rat’s mouth, feeling the metallic essence flowing within it. This elixir was precious, capable of being refined into high-grade pills or even used directly to comprehend the Metal Concept.

"Well done," Max said with a smile as he patted the little rat’s head before feeding it a small piece of flower as a reward. The little rat squeaked happily, its cheeks puffing up as it nibbled, while Max carefully stored the sunflower away for selling them away.

For three full days, Max had followed the same routine with near mechanical precision—he was responsible for luring monsters into traps or open areas, while the little rat scurried swiftly through the underbrush to pick spiritual herbs and miraculous drugs that grew nearby.

This simple yet effective partnership had paid off enormously, allowing Max to secure an impressive harvest of resources that might have taken months for others to collect.

However, the little rat, ever the glutton when it came to spiritual herbs, had indulged itself excessively. It had consumed no less than ten fifth-grade miraculous drugs and at least five sixth-grade ones during their excursions.

The little guy had stuffed itself until its tiny body practically glowed faintly with excess mana, and after its latest indulgence, it simply refused to touch another herb. It would shake its head or hide its nose whenever Max tried to hand one to it, as if even looking at another miraculous drug would make it sick.

Worse still, the little fellow had grown lethargic and drowsy, curling up whenever it had the chance and refusing to move for long periods. Its usual bright eyes and eager behavior had been replaced by a languid laziness.

Max had been puzzled, wondering if something was wrong, but then Blob’s voice explained the situation with ease: the little rat had simply eaten too many miraculous herbs, and the accumulated mana within its small body had reached the point where it could directly break through to the fifth level of the Legend Rank.

It was just like humans after a heavy meal—full and sleepy.

Understanding this, Max smiled wryly but didn’t push the little rat any further. Instead, he let it rest and recover in peace, curling up on his shoulder as he ventured on alone.

The bond between them was strong, and he was genuinely considerate of the little creature’s needs, knowing how much it had already contributed to his gains.

An hour later, Max found himself standing before a chain of dark mountains. These peaks were different from the vibrant forests he had passed earlier—here, the earth was bleak, the stones charred black as if scorched by ancient lightning, and sparse vegetation clung stubbornly to cracks in the rock.

The sky above was unnaturally dim, as though some unseen shadow shrouded the region, and the air carried a damp, suffocating chill. Thin strands of mist wove between the jagged rocks, moving like living things in the breeze.

The deeper he walked into this strange region, the darker the sky grew. The distant rumble of thunder rolled constantly in the background, and occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the horizon, revealing the silhouette of a chaotic thunderstorm swirling over the central region.

The air there was icy, dense with a heavy gloom, as though light itself struggled to penetrate.

Perhaps because of this oppressive environment, there were very few monsters wandering here, making the place unusually silent compared to the rest of the secret domain.

As Max pressed on, the rocky ground suddenly split ahead of him. A massive natural gorge, hundreds of feet across and thousands of feet long, appeared without warning. It wasn’t a simple cliff or canyon but a clean, unnaturally straight fissure, as though some colossal blade had once carved through the land.

From above, one could easily see it resembled a deep, perfect slash through the earth—an unnatural scar.

This was the entrance to the Black Dog Abyss.

Max stepped to the edge and peered down. A chill instantly crawled up his spine as he felt the strange energy rising from below. Surging waves of dark mana rolled like an underground sea, and a thick, biting cold spread from its depths, causing even his breath to mist in front of him. It was an ominous place, a region where even the wind seemed unwilling to blow.

Thinking of the infamous creature that dwelled here—the Black Dog, a special type of monster known for its cruelty and cunning—Max’s expression hardened. One mistake here could mean instant death.

To ensure absolute safety, Max activated his Blue Soul power, shrouding himself entirely, his aura vanishing as though he had ceased to exist. He took a deep breath, adjusted his footing, and then stepped forward, his movements light and soundless, like a phantom blending seamlessly with the darkness.

Without a sound or trace, Max slipped into the Black Dog Abyss.

The Black Dog Abyss was unimaginably deep, a vertical chasm plunging more than two thousand feet below the surface.

As Max descended, he noticed something peculiar—the deeper he went, the wider the space became, as though the earth had been hollowed out by some ancient power. After more than a dozen steady breaths, he finally landed lightly on the cold, uneven ground, his boots crunching against small fragments of stone.

He took a cautious step back and glanced left and right. Both directions stretched into broad tunnels large enough for several houses to stand side by side. The entire ground was littered with rocks, some as small as grinding plates and others as massive as houses, their jagged shapes casting eerie shadows in the dim light.