One With The Abyss

I walked slowly, eventually finding myself in yet another safe room. I was barely cognisant, yet still knew I was most likely going to die from the wound on my side, either that or my ribs.

"QUICK! Meditate!" The distant voice of Abby rang in my ears, she had lost the glee I had heard before. I must have been in grave danger. Like the previous 2 floors I made my way over to the fountain and drank from it, not caring about the nagging voice telling me what to do. Only when my thirst was quenched did I decide to sit, back against the fountain edge, and try to meditate.

The mantra I had been taught loosely fell from my lips and I soon found myself back on the platform, suspended in space. 

"Absorb the energy. If you don't you'll die!" Even here I felt drowsy, my head not having cleared even though my soul was disconnected from my body.

"Hehe. Calm it lady." I giggled, "I'll do it, so just shut up."

I made my way towards the centre of the room and began the process. My body was bathed in abyssal energy as I felt my body increase in strength, however, unlike before when the abyssal energy just entered my body it now followed a specific path. The strengthening of my cells became so much more efficient and powerful, power rushed through me and my head cleared. Now feeling revitalised, I opened my eyes that had been drooping to see my body covered in purple lines, feeling the power of the abyss run through them.

"Abyss Veins..." I muttered, continuing to fill my body with power until I felt I could contain no more, "I feel so much stronger."

"Hell yeah you do!" Abby cheered.

I remembered her being extremely excited about this talent and asked her why. The reason she gave was that it was one of the best talents to cultivate my growth, the technique I used to absorb energy would now be directed down only the most efficient paths to rapidly increase my ability, not to mention it was a talent with the potential of evolution.

"Evolution!" I exclaimed, "Talents can evolve?!"

"Of course. But only some of them." She said, as if it was obvious, "Although it almost never happens because of the effort needed to achieve it, talents can evolve, most can but not all. Abyss vein becomes an abyss heart and begins naturally moving abyssal energy around your body on its own, this improves natural energy recovery. To evolve a talent you need to first get it to max level, then after meeting a condition it will evolve."

"I assume you can't tell me the condition?" She agreed, but assured me it wouldn't be hard for me to complete it, "Well, it doesn't even really matter. It's not like it'll reach max level soon anyway."

"Of course it will idiot." Abby laughed, her giddiness returning, "Normally, mana vein, from which abyss vein is derived, is incredibly difficult to level due to the need for high amounts of mana, but for you... You have direct access to the source of all abyssal energy in existence! The perfect talent!"

It clicked in my mind instantly. Right next to me was a gateway into the abyss, surely gaining levels in [Abyss Vein] would be as easy as just wanting the levels to appear. The means of improving talents was practising what abilities they gave you, [Abyss Vein] granted the ability to manipulate and sense abyssal energy, I would be able to master this quickly with the most abundant source of abyssal energy right next to me.

"It's more than that really." Abby said, her tone becoming more solemn, "This dungeon is highly abnormal, compared to what I know about dungeons, which is a lot-"

"Actually, how do you know so much anyway?" I interrupted, this had been a point of confusion for me for a while now.

"It's very convoluted and hard to make sense of, so I won't explain in great detail." Abby sighed, "But in essence, I am the abyss part of you, manifested as a personality, however, since abyssal energy - and therefore the abyss - exists around the universe, I can gather a large amount of information on some topics."

(\\Author// Felt like I hadn't given the best explanation for why Abby knew as much as she did, so here it is)

"Anyway, back to my concerns." Abby continued to explain the possible dangers and positive parts of having found such an anomaly: Firstly, there was a high chance of time dilation; this could be either good or bad. Either, I could spend a large amount of time here and little time would pass outside; granting a great opportunity to gain power and still exact my revenge. On the other hand, I could spend a small amount of time here and a lot of time could go by. She explained that it was possible for some dilations to stretch a single minute into a full year, by the time I leave, the world outside may have turned to ash and dust. 

"Well, I need power. So, even if everything does turn to 'ash and dust' at least I can probably still survive." I said, asking for the next thing to worry about.

The second worry was the abnormal ordering of the strength in the dungeon. Dungeons came with varying floor numbers, each floor presenting a gradual increase in power - but here this was not the case. Both bosses had been a bit too powerful for their respective floors: The Gris Wolf was only a minor issue so Abby didn't bring it up at the time, but with its talent it could have easily been a 3rd or even 4th floor boss. The real problem was the Screech Bat; this was on a completely different level to the Gris Wolf: A Screech Bat, especially one with a [Mana Vein] talent (albeit quite low in level) should have been much higher than the 2nd floor. Abby explained that in a normal dungeon a monster with an advanced talent and an affinity to a superior element could have easily been above the 20th floor. 

"The strength of that boss implies that the dungeon has either been abandoned for so long it is undergoing an extinction burst, where it rapidly mutates to try and survive." Abby explained the most probable reason for the abnormal power scaling, verifying she had information of other dungeons doing this, "Or the third problem..."

Abby explained that dungeons were actually living beings, though barely sentient and even lower in intelligence than most beasts, and therefore needed mana to sustain themselves. This came from the creatures that wandered into it, it would gradually syphon of energy from them and absorb them should the invader die. But when a dungeon is abandoned, it cannot feed and so resorts to rapidly mutating to expel more mana and attract possible food sources.

"The third problem is that this... Isn't a dungeon at all."

"What do you mean by that? I asked, not understanding what she meant.

"It could simply look and act like a dungeon, but serve some other purpose. My best guess.... It's some kind of prison." She sighed, "It would explain why the bosses are so weirdly arranged, if it was merely designed to keep people from reaching the prisoner."

Her explanation made some sense but I decided not to put much thought into it. This place, whatever it was, gave me the opportunity to amass power and the deeper workings of its purpose didn't truly matter, so long as I could achieve my goals.

"Yeah, you're right." Abby once again became jovial, "Now then, since things are different I'll teach you something you'll need. It'll only take a minute to go over the basics."

The technique was something I had not expected, something greatly useful. She told me the real power behind shapeshifting: Formless. Shapeshifting was the key that would unlock one of the gates to the abyss; once I met the requirements I would be able to evolve the talent and open the gate, losing the rigid structure of a physical form and becoming a being unbound by shape or size. It sounded like an exceptional ability and Abby assured me I could set 1 appearance as a 'base' that I would be able to revert to without any energy cost, but any other transformation would be as easy as water flowing down a river, consuming extremely little energy.

"To become truly formless, you must not only shape your body; but also your soul" Abby's lecture sounded intense but it was only the wording she used.

The flowery and fanciful words were in reference to talents and skills. Both talents and skills being part of a being's soul, that makes it stronger and more powerful, hence why I can still use my talents here by the gates of the abyss, even though I am detached from my body.

To sum up the lesson: [Shapeshifting] would allow me to fuse compatible talents together, they would then become a singular piece; gaining the maximum potential of the highest potential talent.

This was beneficial for 3 reasons: Firstly, it would prevent the list of my talents from becoming overcrowded. Secondly, I would now be less likely to get a talent and completely ignore it, even though it may be useful. Finally, it would increase the ways in which I could upgrade my talents. For example, if I had 3 talents that I then fused; before I would need to do 3 things to upgrade the 3 talents; but after I would only need to do 1 of the 3 things to upgrade the power of 3 talents. A clear upgrade in efficiency, and I'm all about efficiency baby.

Now with 2 ways of powering myself up I went into action; if this dungeon was truly out of wack, like Abby said it was, I would need to increase my power to keep diving, or risk drowning under the monster's superior strength. My first priority was [Abyss Vein] and just as I had suspected it rockettes up in power. It shot almost immediately from 0/6 to 2/6; the result of having an abundant amount of energy to sense, Abby told me to focus of sensing the remaining wisps that had been left behind by my cultivation, as sensing smaller particles of abyssal energy would improve my mastery over the talent.

And when I did, it shot up another 2 levels. This was not as quick as only trace levels of abyssal energy were still floating outside of the gate, so it took me a few hours to even be able to see them, and another few hours to sense them reliably. The next part of the training would be manipulation, I practised moving the small particles in the air, at first they resisted me but soon they were moving as I pleased. Abby then instructed me further, having me pull more abyssal energy from the gate and manipulating it in higher concentrations, I could now see it even when my [One With The Abyss] talent was not active and saw how the 'black' streams of energy moved and flew as I pleased.

Eventually, after a long time of this I heard the dinging of the system I had been expecting but only saw 1 level increase after this. I had expected it to increase in 2 like it had previously and was wondering what the last level was. Abby refused to tell me how to proceed, one of her learning moments I suppose, so I sat in order to meditate. I thought about what other aspects of manipulation there were, I had the abyssal energy flying around me, making shapes in both 2D and 3D but even then I couldn't fully grasp that last level.

I wanted to abandon my introspection but I felt as if the answer was so close, right at the precipice of discovery. It was then that I felt it, moving inside me was abyssal energy; the last level was mastery over my own native energy. This was much harder, even more so than the task of discovering the tiny particles of energy floating in the air, it was honestly surprising that this only amounted to a single level of master as no matter how I tried it would not budge.

"Let the energy flow within you, run it along your entire body and let it infuse your very being." Abby instructed, having realised the way to grow she continued teaching me how to grow.

Her words were cryptic but I think I understood. Instead of simply trying to move the energy within me, I guided it. Slowly along the lines of power that had been carved within my body, feeling the way it moved. It was still difficult but now it was actually moving, progress was happening. 'let it infuse your very being', what did that mean?

Should I not simply be moving it through my body, but something else as well. As it moved I felt more refreshed, more alive, but that was it; this would certainly allow me to keep fighting for longer but not much else. 'Let it infuse your very being', like diffuse into me?

Based on the knowledge I have from the novels I read, it sounds like body strengthening. If I empowered my body using abyssal energy then it would ultimately just be body strengthening. I had a plan to max the talent, but first it would require the stable movement of abyssal energy within my body; so that is what I did.

An hour later, energy flowed through my body like water flows through a river - still with no level increase - and now ready I started my plan.

Instead of allowing the energy to simply pass through the body I instructed it to enter me, go from the lines of power and extend outwards, to infiltrate the rest of my body. Like water that evaporates through a plant I felt the energy move, small at first, struggling to bypass the physical barriers that blocked it. Abby claimed this was due to its nature; bound energy (like what was within me) was much more rigid that the free energy that existed outside of our bodies, like a wild untamed beast.

Soon enough however, my body began to rise in strength. Abyssal energy flooded not only through my blood, but my muscles and organs and even my eyes. I felt a dramatic increase in my ability across all facets of my body's capabilities. And yet no level increase.

Why? Why was this not enough? What was I missing that I could still not complete the talent? Perhaps simple strengthening was not enough. My goal was to manipulate abyssal energy, when I had gained the level for doing so previously it was only when I could form complex shapes and give complex orders that I gained a level, so maybe simple diffusion was not enough. My body is being strengthened, but it's chaotic, what if I make order within it.

This was my next goal, specific strengthening; first I tried simply moving it from all over my body to just my arms. Again I met resistance. Pushing through I accomplished my goals and I felt myself reach the edge, moments away from gaining the proficiency level. So, I kept at it, changing what was strengthened. My arms, legs, eyes, ears, hell even my tongue and soon it was enough:

[Abyss Vein (6/6)]

[You have gained mastery over ♋︎♌︎⍓︎⬧︎⬧︎♋︎●︎ ♏︎■︎♏︎❒︎♑︎⍓︎: +<♋︎♌︎⍓︎⬧︎⬧︎♋︎●︎ Master> Title]

"Yeah!" I cheered. It took longer than I could tell but I had done it. Abyssal energy moved as easily as I wanted it to, I was significantly stronger and could boost my strength by a significant amount.

"What the hell is that title?" I wondered aloud, the lettering felt familiar and for a moment I thought it would become clear to me exactly what it was.

"It's abyssal energy." Abby said, cutting my thoughts short, "The system acts based on achievement but it doesn't actually know what abyssal energy is. So, it kind of bugs out."

"Anyway, you should begin fusing talents. With your mastery it should be pretty easy." 

I checked the title to see what it did before doing as Abby said, finding that it was quite a useful title to have.

[♋︎♌︎⍓︎⬧︎⬧︎♋︎●︎ Master]

[Proof of having mastery over ♋︎♌︎⍓︎⬧︎⬧︎♋︎●︎ ♏︎■︎♏︎❒︎♑︎⍓︎. Increases resistance to energy drain attacks]

"I suppose I should get to work with my talents then..." I muttered, "At least I don't have to worry about draining attacks as much... Not that I was facing any."

Abby was right, with my new found mastery shapeshifting was much easier and by following her instruction each of my talents came together where they could. It was like putting pieces into place in a puzzle. Soon, along with another level to shapeshifting, I only had 5 talents: [One With The Abyss], [Shapeshifting], [Soul Weapon], [Abyssal Vein] and [Exalted Physique (Incomplete)]

The last one was new, coming from the fusion of all of my body strengthening talents. Even [Tight Fit], [Predatory] and [Night Vision] came to form this one:

[Exalted Physique (Incomplete) (2/2)]

[Extreme increase to all body capabilities (Incomplete)]

It sounded incredibly powerful, except the 'incomplete' part. Abby told me that it was simply waiting for me to fuse more body strengthening abilities into it, currently the talent only did what the previous talents did, but soon it would be so much more. Or so she told me. Supposedly, if I kept increasing the body strengthening abilities within the talent it granted me incredible physical power, with 'extreme' being the greatest possible increase I could get. 

Unfortunately it didn't tell me what it needed to become 'complete'. So I just put it on the back burner for now and left the realm of the abyssal gate.

"The what?" Abby asked.

"That's just what I'm calling this place." I responded to her. She didn't say anything after that.

When I came back to my body I noticed some things. Firstly the cut along my side was now replaced with a long and cool looking scar, my shirt was ripped but everything else was otherwise okay. Next I looked at what I had gotten from the bat boss: A large green crystal, a large bat wing and a big chunk of meat that I quickly devoured to ease my hunger. I was happy with this, not having expected much to begin with, the important thing was the chest reward.

And finally, after days of wandering around in the dungeon: Pants! I had pants to wear. I stripped down quickly and pushed myself into them. They were a very comfortable leather, clinging tightly to me - showing off my assets that I lacked upstairs...

Other than the ripped shirt I looked good: Boots, pants and bag. All making me look like a real adventurer. However, there was on other reward I had gotten from the chest.

Shaxin D'Or

That was the only thing on the label of the red liquid in the glass. Apprehensively I opened the cork and took a whiff.

"...It's wine." I said, breaking out in laughter at how I had acted, "I'll keep you here for when I want to celebrate." 

I placed the wine by the fountain, still amused at how I had reacted to the treasure and headed to the safe room's exit. Now rested and prepared I headed further into the dungeon.