He didn''t know how far he would have to travel, but the monotony of the endless terrain only heightened his unease.

    Every so often, he summoned small bursts of Phoenix Flame to test the ground, but the result was always the same — no reaction, no heat transfer, no damage. It was as though the terrain simply ignored his flame''s existence entirely.

    Hours passed – or so it felt in this timeless place.

    Alex''s stamina was endless thanks to his constant upkeep of energy, but even he began to feel the mental strain of the endless void around him.

    But just as doubt began to creep its way into his thoughts, he spotted something in the distance.

    A break in the monotony.

    His heart quickened as he approached cautiously. The ground finally gave way to a vast chasm. It was a jagged opening in the ground that seemed to stretch on endlessly in either direction. The edges of the chasom were sharp and uneven, clearly contrasting against the previously smooth terrain he had been walking on the whole time.

    Alex crouched near the edge, peering into the depths below.

    His eyes naturally couldn''t make out a thing thanks to the lack of any light, so he relied entirely on his spatial perception once again.

    However, unexpectedly, he didn''t need to.

    The chasm wasn''t completely dark. There was a faint, pulsating blue light emanating from its walls. It reminded him of bioluminescence, but it wasn''t quite the same.

    "Is it alive?" Alex questioned, feeling a sense of intrigue and caution.

    Before he could delve deeper though, a faint noise reached his ears.

    Click!

    Clack!

    A clicking, skittering sound that sent a shiver down his spine. Experience new stories on empire

    He stood up rapidly, gripping Virtue''s Edge as the sound grew louder, multiplying rapidly until it became an orchestra of skittering.

    Still, Alex couldn''t shake the unease gnawing at the back of his mind.

    This horde didn''t feel like it was an attack against him, it felt more like a defence mechanism, triggered by his proximity to the chasm...

    When the last wave of creatures eventually fell silent, Alex extinguished his flames, stepping forward cautiously toward the edge of the chasm once more, this time unimpeded by a sea of insects.

    He gaze into its depths with his Spatial Perception, but found that even further beyond the first kilometre was still just empty air.

    ''Just how deep does this place go?'' Alex felt both confused and bewildered.

    He felt like he''d already traveled deep enough to come out on the other side of the planet by now, as the planet''s diameter wasn''t very large.

    But gravity hadn''t even flipped for him yet, which meant he was still on the same side of the planet he came in from. But how could that make sense if he''d fallen so far into its depths?

    ''Whatever, I came this far, so I may as well investigate further.'' He thought to himself, not thinking more on the topic to save his dwindling brain power.

    He felt more reassured that the danger wouldn''t be too high since the horde of creatures that filtered out of the chasm were only D rank at best. Still, he kept his vigilance up. You can never be too careful, as they say.

    But despite the vast darkness below, Alex felt no hesitation. He had faced far greater horrors than this in his life, and his body was more than capable of withstanding the impacts that would obliterate lower ranked awakened.

    Without a second thought, he leaped into the abyss.

    Just like last time when he was involuntarily thrown down into this mysterious place, the air rushed past him as he descended.

    His spatial perception mapped out the immediate area, but it could only extend so far before being overwhelmed by the sheer size of this place.

    The fall lasted for longer than he anticipated. He braced himself, ready to land on solid ground and assess the situation the moment he landed.

    However, instead of the anticipated hard impact, he plunged into something entirely unexpected.

    Splash!

    Alex''s descent was abruptly interrupted as he crashed into a vast ocean of liquid.