Abyss: Was This the Start of an Infinite-Flow Adventure?

"Abyss... Where should I even begin?" Katheryne rested her cheek on one hand, sinking into thought.

"Forget it. I'll start with the initial speculation." Katheryne shook her head and decided to begin with the origins of the Abyss. She said to Ali and the others,

"This was a hypothesis proposed by Sumeru scholars, called the 'Abyss.'"

"Calling it a hypothesis isn't quite right, though, because more than half of its assumptions have already been proven."

"What was proven?" Ali asked curiously.

Hearing the Travelers' question, Katheryne smiled awkwardly and explained, "Strictly speaking, it wasn't the Sumeru scholars who proved it, but Mother Goddess."

"How did that happen?" Although the four Travelers did not ask aloud, Katheryne could see their near-explosive curiosity in their eyes.

"Ahem." Katheryne deliberately cleared her throat, speaking as though she were about to recount an epic tale.

"It's a long story. Sumeru is where the scholars of the continent's civilizations gather, and many academies have been established there."

"A long time ago, Sumeru scholars discovered through their research that the vast majority of the world's matter was produced from the Primordial Qi separated by Mother Goddess and the gods.

"But as Elven Civilization developed, its demand for matter grew ever greater, and the resources required by civilization became an obstacle on the path of development."

"And obtaining resources was nothing more than expanding sources and cutting expenditure."

"Thus, auxiliary professions such as forging, cooking, and alchemy emerged to process materials with greater precision. That was cutting expenditure."

At this point, Katheryne paused before continuing, "As for expanding sources, that was the origin of the Abyss hypothesis. It began when the Seven Archons of the seven nations broke through into the Immortal Realm and gained the ability to travel beyond."

"Only then did the Sumeru scholars realize that there were worlds beyond the end of the world. That world was said to be vaster, but also more desolate."

"It was also then that the Sumeru scholars realized that the Heaven-and-Earth Spiritual Energy of our world came from the Primordial Qi of that greater world beyond."

"And that outer world was called the 'Primordial World.'"

"Based on those discoveries, the Sumeru scholars proposed that beyond Primordial Qi, there were even higher-level and more inert elements, and that there were more worlds beyond the Primordial World."

Upon hearing this, the party chat erupted.

[ID Ali: Amazing. If I hadn't read the game's backstory, I never would have imagined that beyond the Primordial World was Chaos, and that above Primordial Qi was most likely Chaos Qi.]

[ID Young Mistress: It's just backstory. Why take it so seriously?]

[ID Tianhe Sheriff: To be fair, the backstory of World Tree is way too grand. It doesn't seem to have any paid services yet, so how is the game company supposed to make money? It would be such a shame if such a polished game suddenly shut down.]

[ID 'Dun Qu Qi Yi': Looking at the backstory this way, the Primordial World seems like it was just born.]

[ID Young Mistress: Let me guess. This Abyss might be a world, or perhaps another name for Chaos. We're players who have seen the backstory, but NPCs haven't.]

When Dun Qu Qi Yi saw Young Mistress's message, she raised an eyebrow, surprise flashing through her eyes. If Skadi and her elder sister had not mentioned it before, she would not have guessed it either.

Then Young Mistress's next message appeared.

[ID Young Mistress: Also, haven't you noticed that neither Skadi the Great Elf, Jiu Yue the foxkin woman, nor Katheryne in front of us is at all surprised that we come from another world?]

[ID Ali: What's so strange about that? Isn't that just part of the game's setting?]

[ID Tianhe Sheriff: It's not that simple. This game is so immersive; there's no way it would have such a huge loophole.]

[ID Ali: ⊙∀⊙! Uh... you're right. Let's just hear Katheryne's explanation.]

Katheryne continued, "As exploration of the Primordial World progressed, the Seven Archons also discovered lifeforms from beyond. They possessed formidable strength, but lacked intelligence to match it. Like beasts, they destroyed the Primordial World."

"Mother Goddess called such creatures 'Fierce Beasts.'"

"And they also discovered energy more advanced than Primordial Qi: 'Chaos Qi.'"

"Although the boundary of the Primordial World has yet to be found, the Sumeru scholars have also named what lies beyond it 'Chaos.'"

Everyone had the same thought: So that was how they tied it all together.

"And the 'Abyss' was also a conclusion inferred from research into Chaos Qi. Chaos Qi is a substance that exists between being and nonbeing."

"Chaos is like a sea, supporting the world known as the Primordial World. The Primordial World's energy comes from converting Chaos Qi. The world transforms formless Chaos Qi into Primordial Qi, which represents being."

"In other words, even though Primordial Qi is no longer violent now, we still cannot cultivate with it..."

"Primordial Qi represents being and contains the foundational informational laws of the Primordial World. We are too weak to refine Primordial Qi; only those in the Immortal Realm can refine it."

"That is why there are not many lifeforms in the Primordial World. Once lifeforms develop consciousness, they are easily assimilated by Primordial Qi."

"So the reason our world was able to develop is also thanks to weakened Primordial Qi, namely Heaven-and-Earth Spiritual Energy."

"Ahem." Ali cleared her throat, reminding Katheryne that she had strayed from the topic.

Without changing expression, Katheryne brought the topic back. "This is also the source of our world's energy. It basically comes from Chaos, and matter is born during this process as well, but extremely slowly."

"The conversion efficiency of Chaos Qi into Primordial Qi is infinitely close to one-to-one. During that process, the birth of matter is almost zero."

As she spoke, Katheryne sighed, as though she had become one of those Sumeru scholars herself.

"And this is Sumeru's greatest unresolved mystery at present: how did so much matter come into being in the Primordial World? Based on the conversion of Chaos Qi and Primordial Qi, the Primordial World should not have appeared. Yet it already exists—an indisputable fact—as though it was simply meant to exist."

"And thus came the speculation about the Abyss. Just as there may be several caves beneath the earth, could there be worlds like the Primordial World within Chaos?"

Hearing this, everyone imagined possible settings: countless realms and worlds, or perhaps game instances.

Seeing how shocked the Travelers were, Katheryne nodded in satisfaction and continued, "Then, with the arrival of you Travelers, you also became proof that worlds other than the Primordial World exist."

"Therefore, how to travel to other worlds to obtain resources for development, and how to open a passage leading to other worlds, became crucial."

Katheryne looked at the four Travelers before her and smiled. "I heard from Sumeru that because of your appearance, the search for certain worlds has accelerated. Before long, the first World Teleportation Array will be established at your camp."

Just as Katheryne was explaining the stars and the Abyss to the four Travelers inside the carriage, noisy voices came from outside.

Following the sounds, they lifted the carriage curtain and discovered that Jiu Yue, the foxkin woman driving the carriage, had followed the route indicated by Young Mistress and arrived at the Player Camp—the place NPCs called the Traveler Camp.