Abyss Overture, Mage Class Trial!

"Abyssal Aura eruption, a Mage Trial?"

Lin Yi was puzzled.

What was this all about?

Zuo Qian continued to explain: "This knowledge isn't in your textbooks, so it's normal that you don't understand."

"But you should know, a thousand years ago, what was the root cause of the mutation on our Blue Star, right?"

Lin Yi nodded: "It was the Abyss Invasion, the Plane Overlap."

Zuo Qian: "Right! The Abyss, the Abyss—that's a term you've probably heard often."

"You can think of the Abyss as a parallel world, an alternate dimension."

"That's the source of all disasters and crises on Blue Star."

"There are endless terrifying monsters there, and they even have their own civilizations, their own social systems, just like us!"

"But dangerous places are often where the richest opportunities and rewards lie."

"Some of the true powerhouses in our Great Xia became strong only because they gained key skills, talents, Exclusive Equipment, and other extremely rare rewards after training in the Abyss."

"The Abyss is a terrifying plane that encompasses everything. It moves and shifts like a universe, and inevitably, there are times when it gets particularly close to our Blue Star Plane."

"When that happens, the two planes clash, and it's easy for a rift to form between them."

"Those rifts are what you know as dungeons."

Lin Yi listened as the Old Principal filled in the gaps for him.

It was an eye-opener.

He'd never thought about how those dungeons actually came to be.

So that was how.

"This morning, a new limited-time dungeon appeared in the Eastern Suburbs of Jiangcheng."

"That dungeon was tainted with a trace of Abyssal Aura, causing the monsters inside to mutate."

"The spatial structure of this kind of dungeon is very unstable; it disappears after a certain period."

"So you need to enter early to claim the rewards!"

"And this particular dungeon is special—it's a trial dungeon."

"Specifically, a Single-Class Trial Dungeon, only allowing Mage Class Users inside!"

Lin Yi pondered for a moment, then asked: "Principal, if I clear this trial, what's the benefit?"

Zuo Qian chuckled: "Kid, you really don't let go until you see the rabbit, but I'm the same, haha. Aren't we all running dungeons for the rewards?"

"The reward for this trial is a title."

"That title is called: Abyss Challenger!"

"The title has no stats, but you can think of it as a key, or a qualification!"

"The qualification to enter the true Abyss!"

Lin Yi understood.

From the Old Principal's explanation, truly valuable equipment, rare skills, and rare talents

all required entering the Abyss to obtain.

And Class Users who couldn't clear this kind of class trial had no qualification to enter the Abyss!

Without a doubt, that meant they could never become true powerhouses in their lifetime.

No wonder it was said to affect his future prospects.

"Based on past patterns, every time a class trial dungeon appears on our Blue Star, it's different. Before entering, the trial tells the challenger the clear conditions, and once those conditions are met, they gain the qualification to enter the Abyss!"

"Our Jiangcheng got lucky this time. The Mage Class Trial that appeared has very simple clear conditions—just survive for three hours inside the trial dungeon. No requirement to kill a certain number of monsters, and no requirement to kill the boss."

"So, Lin Yi, seize this opportunity!"

"Because if you miss this, who knows when you'll encounter another class trial, and it might be even harder!"

Actually, the difficulty wasn't a big deal for Lin Yi. At least with his current strength, he wasn't just overpowering Class Users of the same level—it was a Dimensional Strike.

No matter how hard this trial was, it couldn't be that tough.

For Lin Yi, the real challenge was probably the true Abyss.

What Lin Yi feared most was missing out, not knowing when he'd get another chance to participate in a trial.

As the two chatted, even with the Four Unlike flying slowly, they had already left Jiangcheng.

"You did well. Back when I was a teacher, I took a few students flying at high speed, and they were all terrified."

Lin Yi: "..."

He had a complaint he didn't know how to voice.

You call this high-speed flight?

I could say that if I used my own skills to fly, I'd be ten times faster than this turtle-paced mount.

The outskirts of Jiangcheng were almost entirely surrounded by lush, beautiful grasslands.

Even the eastern suburbs were no exception.

The two left the city and flew east for a while. Soon, Lin Yi spotted a spot on the grassland where a dark and dense crowd had gathered.

"Word spreads fast. As soon as this Mage Class Trial dungeon appeared, people from several nearby base cities around Jiangcheng caught wind of it and rushed over."

"This morning, when I had your homeroom teacher find you, there weren't many people yet. Quite a few from our school who'd turned into mages had already formed teams and gone in. They should be inside by now."

"Something's wrong—this might get tricky..."

Zuo Qian's expression shifted as he looked down at the packed crowd below.

Lin Yi noticed the problem too.

There were so many people that the dungeon entrance was completely hidden, and clearly, they were all lining up!

What was going on? Did dungeons require queuing to enter?

Four Unlike landed, and Zuo Qian recalled his mount. Relying on the connections he'd built up over the years, he led Lin Yi and identified themselves to all the Military Professionals from Jiangcheng maintaining order on-site.

Perhaps out of favoritism for their own, these soldiers turned a blind eye to Zuo Qian and Lin Yi cutting ahead through the crowd, not stopping them.

Soon, Zuo Qian and Lin Yi reached the central area surrounded by the crowd.

Lin Yi also saw a spatial rift flickering, exuding a dark and oppressive aura.

Clearly, this was the entrance to the Limited-Time Trial Dungeon.

On either side of the entrance, many professionals in Mage Robes and formation mages were working to stabilize the dungeon entrance, trying to prolong its opening time.

"President Jiang, it's me, little Zuo!"

Zuo Qian put on a humble, ingratiating expression and immediately spotted Jiang Xian, the president of the Jiangcheng Professional Alliance, standing in the middle of the crowd.

Jiang Xian was beaming with delight.

Having so many schools, loose organizations, and guild members from other base cities come to Jiangcheng made him look good.

At that moment, a group of people in the uniforms of some professional college—powerful, mostly above Fourth Turn—were chatting with Jiang Xian about something.

For Lin Yi's sake, Zuo Qian could only steel himself and call out.

But his tone was extremely deferential.

Jiang Xian was a bit displeased at having his conversation with important VIPs interrupted.

Still, since this was a public occasion, he couldn't lose his temper.

He could only turn around to look.

Zuo Qian gave an awkward smile. "President Jiang, it's like this. Our school still has one student who successfully turned into a mage but hasn't been able to join this trial yet. With the sea of people here, could you...?"

"Lin Yi, come here. This is President Jiang Xian of our Jiangcheng Professional Alliance, a Fourth Turn Great Mage!"

Before Lin Yi could speak, Jiang Xian said in surprise, "So you're Lin Yi?"