Chapter 34 Chapter 32 The Descent Begins, The Abyss of Asterism_1

Translator: 549690339

After the Model Zero Mecha repair was completed, Jiang Chen could undertake the promotion trial at any time.

However, Jiang Chen didn’t rush to start the promotion trial but took out his personal terminal and opened the interface of the Alliance Forum.

He planned to first look at other people’s suggestions and strategies to make final preparations.

Yet when he flipped through the pages, he saw many recent posts related to himself.

[The ninth SSS-class rookie clears the Nightmare Abyss solo, potential realized!]

[The fastest record from basic trials to Nightmare difficulty level broken by an SSS-class rookie!]

[Insider news, the ninth SSS-class rookie has joined the Alliance.]

[Welcome, SSS-class rookie!]

Jiang Chen clicked and glanced through a few posts, and found that his record of clearing the Endless Demons Realm at Nightmare difficulty level solo had caught the attention of some mecha pilots, sparking intense discussions.

Some praised the rookie as a monster for clearing Nightmare so quickly.

Some said that the clearance rating was low and the rookie’s talent was average, not much stronger than SS-class.

Opinions were varied, with all the topics centered on this SSS-class rookie.

As the center of discussion, Jiang Chen casually browsed through a few posts and then closed them.

He had understood that once he knew the abyss would record everything, it was impossible to keep hiding his genius.

Even if he didn’t clear the abyss, he was an SSS-class rookie on the same level as the Symbol of the Alliance, attracting considerable attention with every move.

That’s why he no longer cared about these things.

Others knew he had cleared the Nightmare Abyss solo?

This was just the beginning!

One day, the little rookie would clear the Abyss difficulty level for you to see.

As for now, happily farming attributes, do not cue.

Jiang Chen directly ignored these discussion posts and clicked into the featured posts.

As expected, he found posts regarding the promotion trial.

These featured posts thoroughly analyzed the promotion trials from various angles such as background, difficulty, ratings, secrets, and rewards.

They aimed to ensure that every mecha pilot who wanted to attempt promotion had a comprehensive understanding of the trial.

And again and again, they stressed that without sufficient confidence, it was better to be stuck at a bottleneck than to attempt promotion rashly.

Because the promotion trial only had two outcomes.

Breakthrough success, or eternal fall into the abyss.

There was no such thing as trying again after failure.

Of course, the trial from 0th Rank to 1st Rank was the most basic promotion trial and not so perilously extreme.

As long as one didn’t make foolish mistakes and acted cautiously, even an ordinary mecha pilot had a breakthrough probability of over ninety-nine percent.

Jiang Chen was not an ordinary mecha pilot, but in pursuit of a higher rating, he would definitely “act recklessly,” so he took the strategies very seriously.

Especially the ones about settings and secrets, he committed firmly to memory.

Next, he made another trip to Xuntian City, where he sold all the modules and materials he didn’t need to the materials shop and exchanged them for ten 1st Rank repair tools.

These repair tools were effective for repairing mechas below 1st Rank.

And when repairing a 0th Rank mecha, it only required seven hours of repair time.

The time limit for the promotion trial was even longer than the basic trial, reaching a staggering ten days.

During this process, if the mecha broke, Jiang Chen might not have time to repair it himself, so having repair tools ready in advance was safer.

As for why not prepare even more tools…

If the armor exploded ten times, and he stacked attributes ten times, yet still couldn’t push through the promotion trial,

Then it could only suggest that the difficulty level of the trial was truly formidable.

After completing all the preparation work,

Jiang Chen returned home.

Bai Ying couldn’t help but speak up.

“Master, are you really going to start the promotion trial now?”

“Isn’t it a bit too hasty?”

“How about preparing for a few more days…”

It had only been a little more than a day since Master completed the basic trial,

At such times, some rookie mecha pilots with weaker bodies were still exhausted from the basic trial, in a deep sleep, yet to awake.

Yet, the Master had already conquered Nightmare and was ready to advance.

This astonishing speed was unheard of even for Bai Ying, a 7th Rank mecha pilot.

Jiang Chen, however, felt nothing special.

“I’m already fully enhanced, fully loaded with modules, and fully endowed with traits.”

“Continuing to prepare, at best, would mean grinding the Nightmare Abyss to accumulate some contribution points or something, which isn’t very efficient.”

“It’s better to break through earlier and unlock the upper limit.”

“That way, model Zero would also have the chance to be sublimated.”

Even if I have to farm the abyss, it’s better at the 1st Rank level.

What’s the point of farming 0th Rank Nightmare? It’s just a garbage instance where you can’t even get a Supercharge Module!

Jiang Chen looked at Bai Ying, and another thing came to his mind.

“Right, Bai Ying, if I undergo the rank-up trial, I won’t need your protection.”

“During this period, there shouldn’t be any charges, right?”

Bai Ying was at a loss for words for a moment.

Could it be that the adult is in such a hurry to improve his strength because the employment cost is too high, and he wants to repay the commission as soon as possible?

“There will be charges.”

“The contract took effect the moment I came over to protect you.”

“No matter whether you are in the abyss or the current world, as long as I haven’t completed my mission and returned to my master’s side, the contribution will continue to accumulate.”

“… How about you go back for a few days? Once I finish the rank-up trial, you can come back?”

Jiang Chen looked at Bai Ying’s blank expression and sighed.

“Never mind, you better wait here for me.”

“Damn, leveling up is really expensive…”

Jiang Chen clenched his right fist and touched the Abyss Rune.

Transformation, begin descending into the abyss!

The surging abyss atmosphere erupted from the Abyss Rune.

Part of it enshrouded Jiang Chen, generating tendrils and white rock, forming the model Zero Mecha.

Another part materialized into rows of text before his eyes.

[Descent into the abyss will begin shortly]

[10, 9, 8…]

The countdown reached zero.

This time, no abyssal rift opened under Jiang Chen’s feet.

In his perception, time seemed to have stopped flowing.

The expression on Bai Ying’s face, the dust in the air, even his own movements, all froze at this instant.

An invisible force seemed to pull him out of his body, transforming into a viewpoint made of spiritual energy.

His viewpoint punctured the ceiling, pierced through the floors, blasted through the high-rise building, and kept rising upward—

To be precise, it was not rising.

It was falling.

Heaven and earth appeared inverted, the endless sky turned into a boundless sea of blue, and the white clouds became islands.

Jiang Chen felt the gravity from the sky pulling him upward, plummeting faster and faster.

Piercing through the clouds, through the sky, until he completely broke free from it all.

The earth turned into a blue planet before his eyes.

Jiang Chen then fell into the profound darkness, arriving at an infinite starry space.

In the boundless starry sky, black was the absolute dominant color; no matter how many bright stars there were, radiating light and heat, they couldn’t light up the darkness.

Instead, against the backdrop of darkness, it was as if one was in a bottomless abyss.

Only able to emit fragile, easily extinguished light.

The farther away, the fewer the lights, the more dim.

The deeper the darkness.

Under the influence of “gravity,” Jiang Chen drifted away from the stars and plunged into the deepest abyss.

Until he broke through some sort of barrier, the infinite starlight suddenly dimmed by a great deal.

His falling speed then gradually slowed, heading toward a particular star, a particular galaxy, a particular planet, through the atmosphere, into the high-rise building.

Until…

He fell back into his own body.

Jiang Chen opened his eyes and saw through the mecha’s visor an unfamiliar planet, an unfamiliar land.

[Welcome to the abyss]