After waiting for a while, Althaea finally arrived. She had a severe look on her face as if something dire happened. "Is there something bothering you, Master?"

"Nothing that you have to worry about now." She said, trying to get rid of the tension in her eyes. "Let's leave this island. Our next destination is going to be much more interesting." After saying this, she turned in a random direction and walked away.

Even though she was trying to hide it, I could see the tension in her shoulders. Something did happen, and she wouldn't tell me. Getting rid of these thoughts, I walked after her.

We arrived in a grass field, and Althaea whistled. Flamy descended from the sky in all its glory, but after seeing the dragon, its majestic aura lost some of its shine in my eye.

Althaea hurriedly got on Flamy back, and I did the same, after a moment, we were flying away from the island.

"Where are we going now, master?" I asked her with eagerness.

"You need some practical experience, and no place is better to get it then..."

"The abyss."I completed.

She looked at me with a puzzled face and asked. "How did you know?"

"Well, there are no wars currently happening on the continent. The monsters were subdued or created their domains where no man dares to enter. The only current threat to the continent is the abyss. although it is sealed, the weaker abyssal's can still go through the fissure." Ullach said with scholarly disposition, keeping a straight back and his nose up.

Seeing her disciple acting smug, Althaea slapped his neck and said. "Hum. Act more humble in front of me."

I bowed my head to her and said. "Yes, supreme and most powerful master." with a grin on my face.

"You little piece of…."

"AHHHHHHH"

She sent me flying from Flamy again…

***

After getting up in flame again, I was finally relieved. It seemed that my little stunt had relaxed her a little.

I didn't know what was burdening her, but I would do my best to see her happy. In my entire life, the only person that cared for me and taught me with sincerity was her. Even those teachers at the clan that taught me theory always acted as if I was beneath them, and they were teaching trash.

For me, the only family that I had was Tiomnach and her.

We flew for only three days this time. I could see dark clouds on the horizon, and a giant fortress surrounding a deep and dark abyss.

Even looking at the abyss gave me chills. I knew that this place almost destroyed the continent in the distant past. The history of how the abyss appeared was well known all over the continent, and is used as an example of why some experiments could not happen.

Many years ago, an experiment on how to contact other dimensions was being conducted here. The mage responsible for it was a legendary existence that dominated the laws of space and time. He was well known all over the place and was considered a mage who had no equal. What everyone didn't know was that besides the laws of space and time, he also was a specialist in using the aspects of life and death. His objective was to connect to the plane of death, and get the soul of his loved one back to resurrect her.

After years of researching planes, he finally discovered a coordinate where death energy was strong, very strong. After getting the coordinates of that plane, he continued with the experiment and used a core created from a dragon heart as a source of mana.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

The first phase of the experiment was a success. The portal to the other dimension was open and stable. The group began to explore it slowly, extracting the unique mana that emanated from it, but unfortunately, not everything went so well. The abyssals, the race that lived in the Abyss, discovered the portal and plotted to expand it to dominate our dimension.

The lord of the Abyss connected the two dimensions and began the invasion. The continent was devoured by war. It was the last stand made by all of the races that expelled the abyssals and sealed the portal.

The portal could not be completely closed, and some weaker abyssal's could still come over, because of that, the fortress was built around it, and many youngsters came to here to train against the abyssals.

The fortress was organized in levels. The levels were according to tiers of power. The closer to the surface, the weaker the demons were.

Special seals were put in place to stop the stronger demons from coming to the surface. During the years, the levels expanded many times, and they were genuinely gigantic constructions now.

The place was known as the nine circles of hell or underworld. Although it is organized in levels, many believed that there was no abyssal above the sixth tier in there, after all, an abyssal of the seventh tier was a powerful creature in the abyss, and he didn't need to eat any puny human souls to gain more power, a few humans would make no difference to them.

Seeing the fortress in the distance, he could feel the darkness of the place.

This time, Althaea didn't stop and flew directly to the fortress. The closer they got, the more he was amazed by it.

The fortress stood at 200 meters tall. It's walls were full of runes and formations to reinforce the structure. Even the natural mana in the area was affected by the formations.

Flamy flew to the top of the fortress and landed. Many soldiers were already around them, and a mage came out of a gate leading into the fort. When he saw Althaea, his face froze.

The mage quickly came toward us and said. "My lady Althaea, it's been many years since you were here. I humbly welcome you into this fortress." The man bowed to her.

After seeing the mage acting like this, the soldiers realized that the woman must be someone important and instantly lowered their weapons and bowed as well.

Althaea waved her hand and said. "There is no need to act like this. I am here to train my pupil. lead us to the fortress."

The mage gave me a good look and said. "As you wish, my lady." The mage said to the soldiers. "Go back to your posts." The soldiers quickly dispersed.

The mage guided us into the fortress and said. "It's good to see you again after so many years my lady, the records that you made in here are still unbroken."

"Oh, no one in these new generations was capable of breaking them? A pity." She said while shaking her head.

Althaea maintained a straight face all the time since we arrived here. She was a bit cold to me when I first met her, but she quickly showed affection and care for me. Althaea was more of a mother for me than my biological mother, and seeing her with a cold face like this again was strange.

I dismissed this from my mind and listened to what the man was saying. "In these past years, some capable youths have appeared, but nothing compared to you."

After taking the magic elevator, we finally arrived at the entrance to the first level. When the doors of the elevator opened, the sight amazed me.

Many strange people were coming out of multiple elevators and walking toward a line beside a massive gate. The gate was golden colored and full of formations inscribed in it. There was a small gate beside the big one where the people were entering after registering with some soldiers. From time to time, some exhausted people came out of it as well.

What truly amazed me was that there were not only humans here!! Many people had never seen the other races, and I was one of them as well. Humans governed the city that I had come from, and no other races went there.

I could see the Adhar's, Troich's and even Dionach's in here.

The Adhar's were a race humanoid beings that were known for their beauty and grace. They lived amidst the clouds and could fly since the day they were born. They looked mostly like humans but had elemental wings and some lines that glowed in their bodies.

The Troich's were a legendary race that lived underground and rarely came to the surface. They were 3 meters tall and had different kinds of skins. Some had stone skin, and others had metal skin. They looked like golems that were built by some mages, but had a much more complicated body structure and could move freely despite the stone or metal skin. They varied in types, just like the books said.

Even the Dionach's looked different to me. The ones that I had met some years ago had brown bark skin with green lines in it, but some of them in here had red-colored bark-like skin and flaming leaves as hair.

The sight intrigued me, I turned to Althaea and asked. "Why are people from so many races reunited here?"

Althaea looked at me as if I was a fool and asked. "Who sealed the entrance to the abyss?"

After her question, it finally dawned upon me. The races that lived in the continent sealed the Abyss together, so now they shared it to train their youth. I nodded my head to her and said. "I understand."

"Ok. Now it's on you. I have to take care of some business; you stay here and train." After saying this, she turned away and left. The mage bowed to me and followed after Althaea.

I looked at the hall full of people. I only had my clothes, a backpack with some things, and my sword.

I walked toward the line to enter the first level and saw that some people were looking at me. I could feel their probes. They probably had felt that I had no cultivation and threw glances at me.

"Even weakling come to the underworld nowadays, what a waste of time."

I looked at the source of this voice and saw a fierce man, surrounded by what looked like his team. He was emanating a third-tier Ki and had an ax strapped to his back.

I took a deep breath and decided to ignore him. I walked to the line and waited until it was my turn.

***

There were now only two teams in front of me. It felt a little strange to be the only person in here that was alone. Everyone else was in groups of 3 or more people. They had varied professions and weapons.

One of the teams in front of me finished the procedures, and the other one began to register.

I felt someone looking at me and saw that the fierce man was coming in my direction. He arrived before me and said. "Hey, weakling, thank you for keeping our place in the line. Now, get out of my sight." After saying this, he bumped at me, intending to throw me on the floor.

I sidestepped and avoided him.