The next morning we all wake up at the crack of dawn. Falling asleep early in the day gives us more than enough time to fully recover.

After a quick breakfast made by Chester, we all leave to start our daily assignments and agree to meet back before the sun goes down.

My 4 teammates head southwest back into the more dense parts of town to scope out the markets and get in training while Chester waves us goodbye from his porch. I make my way further north, bringing some extra food and water along as well as a detailed map of the region.

Chester promises me he'll have all the gear sorted with reasonable price tags that he'll be able to auction them for.

Knowing this, I leave with a smile full of energy.

Less than 10 minutes of walking through the thin region of the suburb-like residential area goes by before I'm met with the outer edge of Solara. The vast desert in front of me leads off only to the mysterious Abyss.

Although I can't see it from here, I can definitely sense its presence.

I step off the stone road onto the cool sand. Then, activate my wind magic to start propelling my steps forward to make my way northeast at double speed while gliding a few meters above the ground.

The sun is still rising, and the desert is still not too hot from the midday rays. However, the blue sky and yellow sun are slowly making themselves known.

It's just sand and rock with the occasional rolling hill and valley to spice up the landscape. After almost an hour of travel passes, the sand below my feet is getting hot and I'm actively using my new Ice Magic skill to keep my temperature regulated.

The rising and falling dunes of sand don't change much at all, and the far-off mountains hardly get closer the further I travel. One thing that drastically shifts is the amount of open desert between me and the eerie blank spot in my perception.

Just as the map lays out, I'm nearly 10 kilometers in and it's getting very near.

What I'd thought was just a blank region of the desert a few days back, now finally comes into view as I make my way over a hill of sand to look down into a deep valley. From over 800 meters away, it's very visible with the naked eye... A jet-black wave of fog looming far off in the distance is stopped at a halt just waiting to flood the desert.

I's edge is flat like a wall standing at least 25 meters high, but squinting off into the distance, it looks like the black matter gets thicker and taller even farther out.

I whisper under my breath.

"This is definitely refined Demonic Energy... but why is it acting like this?"

There's so much energy in such a wide open space that it doesn't make a hint of sense. Whatever being or planetary disaster expelled this energy is capable of feats my mind cannot comprehend.

My body lets out a reflexive shudder, but I take a deep breath and continue examining the landscape.

I take a few steps forward to walk down the valley, but my eyes drift downward at the even more fascinating sight in front of me.

Split in half by the edge of the wall of Demonic Energy, there are the remnants of an old town.

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It looks similar to the unnamed village my team stumbled upon when we first entered the Dark Continent. It was most likely home to just a few poor families sticking together as they're not welcome in neighboring cities for one reason or another.

The streets are sandy paths and the houses are made from leftover wooden building materials, cloth, and stone.

Less than 20 one-story homes are left sticking out from the black Abyss.

My heartbeats start to pound in my inner ear as my eyes scan the area carefully while moving forward on high alert.

"I've never seen anything like this."

Far off to my left, the valley curves upward with a single path leading to a rock-filled potion of desert. Its peak is only half a kilometer away. The orange rocky cliff hangs over to top of the black pool of darkness and a white dome-shaped building sits on top of it.

My eyes light up.

"That must be The Observatory."

I activate enemy detection and inspect from a distance to see if there is anyone inside or nearby. To my disappointment... no one's home.

There are hints of leftover mana residue inside from recent low-tier skills and item usage, but no actual people.

I scan the rest of the abandoned village to find small hints of similar mana reading remaining from weak magic items and most likely healers or merchant skills, it's impossible to tell. There isn't any sign of movement or life.

They must have all evacuated before the abyss got too close.

I decide to walk closer to the village. As I approach, the wall of black mass seems to get taller from my point of view, and the darkness within is even more ominous.

After a few quick sweeps through the streets and snooping through the open homes, I confirm to myself that it's really abandoned. From here, I can see the faint shadows of homes within the Demonic Energy. This is the other half of the town. The structures are not damaged at all, just engulfed in the energy.

I let out a sigh, walking along the edge of the barrier.

At closer inspection, it's clear to see that the energy is beginning to dissolve and float into the sky dispersing in the air just like the remnants of the energy I expelled while training in that cell.

The only difference is that more energy comes flooding in from what seems to be an unlimited undetectable source deep within the continent.

None of my perception skills can tell the actual scale of this phenomenon, all I have to examine this mass are my eyes...

After walking over 100 meters from the town, I make some distance between myself and the wall of black fog to take out my sword and attempt some tests of my own. I believe everything the old man said, I just want to see it with my own eyes.

Charging up a decent amount of mana into my sword, I swing it from a safe distance away and let the pink mana crescent collide with the black wall.

It pops and crackles on impact in a violent yellow and white display, but is eaten by the wall of black mass in a fraction of a second. The sparks stop just as fast like nothing happened.

The desert falls silent.

I can see some of the energy was displaced as the mana it reacted with mutually canceled each other out. Before I can blink, the damaged region is completely restored.

I pace back and forth, trying again and again with all of my elements. No matter what, the same instantaneous reaction occurs, and the mana is swallowed up into nothingness while the barrier heals.

"Great. This confirms it really is some variant of refined Demonic Energy. As expected... Now, let's see what's inside the Abyss."

I put away my sword and completely rid my body of mana before activating my Demonic Energy Manipulation skill.

The world around me turns to black and white. All perception of mana residue in the nearby settlement disappears from my mind, and the only thing left before me is the Abyss.

Most of it is hollow and empty, unable to be manipulated at all like toxic waste. However, to my surprise, there are small wisps of raw usable energy floating not too deep inside the black wave.

Less than 50 meters inside, there are nearly 10 units of Demonic Energy swirling around a central point.

I raise an eyebrow and step closer while attempting to pull the energy toward me. I can't visually see a thing, but my manipulation skill lets me feel that there is raw energy there without a doubt.

There's only 1 unit left in my core, so absorbing more when it's available in such high density is a great opportunity.

As I pull 1 unit toward me, the entire bundle of 10 drifts my way too. It starts spinning around a center point in an erratic fashion but is still manageable to control and manipulate while reeling it in.

I take another step forward, closer to the edge of the Abyss. Eager to absorb the energy, but now on guard because of the unnatural ease of extraction.

The energy I'm pulling in begins to move toward me at a faster and faster rate the closer it gets.

As I stare straight ahead into the darkness, two glowing red eyes appear staring right back.