Pillar of Yita

He descended the final step.

Fang Hong couldn’t help but look back. There, the heavy giant door stood silently in the darkness, making no sound, while the flickering light from the raised torches only illuminated a corner of it.

Above the dark reddish-brown stone gate, patterns were mottled, and texts were barely visible, old-fashioned and silent, as if an era’s time visibly flowed over it.

The texts had no sound, but they only narrated the long-lost stories of the past.

Only then did Fang Hong turn around.

Sophie, looking at him, spread her arms by the window, acting as though she owned the place and half-jokingly said to him, ”Well then, Mr. Ade, welcome to the eighth level, Andrett Underground World—”

And a magnificent world was unfolding behind her.

Fang Hong looked at her, then couldn’t help but look up.

Behind him indeed lay a vast underground world—

The sturdy greyrock formed the vault of this place, towering columns and caves made up the circular enclosed spaces, but it was not shrouded in dimness, only a monotonous color. From the light-emitting pale blue crystals growing downward from the distant ceiling, the caves were given ample light, from afar to near, layers of vivid and gradually changing blue hues.

It was like a thin mist.

Below this mist, layers upon layers of fiery red fungi grew, some tall, like ancient trees. This red mushroom forest, like a spilled palette merging into the pale blue main hue, added a bright touch.

Fang Hong saw from a distance—

Several giant underground bats were circling around the distant cave ceiling, their squeaking noises even reaching here.

But he looked away, somewhat speechless, as he looked ahead at the Silver Weslan Princess by the window, asking, ”Why are you still here?”

Sophie tilted her head, ”Hmm, is there a problem?”

”I mean, do you plan on just watching like this?”

She nodded.

”Video communications are expensive.”

”I can afford it.”

Well, a rich little princess, he thought, rolling his eyes—though that wasn’t really what he meant: ”But you don’t need to be here with me. I’m not one of you, Silver Weslan people. Isn’t Miss Xi over there?”

”Because I need to supervise you,” Sophie laughed slightly, ”These are my subordinates, I’ve entrusted them to you, I have to be responsible for them, is there a problem?”

Of course, there is a problem. He too had personal privacy, like Dragon Soul, like α Crystal. Although she had already seen the Hailin Crown, there were still some secrets she might not know. Moreover, who would feel comfortable with a beautiful woman staring at you motionlessly?

Fang Hong honestly responded, ”But I will be uncomfortable.”

Sophie kindly suggested, ”On the lower left of your Invoker interface, there’s an option to cut off communications, do you see it? You really don’t need to mind my feelings.”

As if he didn’t really need to mind, Fang Hong looked at this woman, using his secrets as leverage, appearing upright but actually quite manipulative.

”Then will you keep my affairs confidential?”

”Eh, what did I guarantee?” the girl pretended to be innocent.

Fang Hong had no choice but to shut up.

Let her watch then; if she, a girl, doesn’t mind, why should he, a grown man, care? Fang Hong even had a slightly dark thought, wondering whether this Silver Weslan Princess would follow him even when he went to the bathroom—

Others had already gathered ahead, just waiting for the two of them to catch up. Fang Hong walked over, while Sophie, still looking through the window behind her, suddenly asked, ”By the way, do you know about the ruins below the eighth level?”

Fang Hong shook his head; he had looked at the documents before, which mentioned very little about the underground world below the seventh level. There was one section that mentioned this underground world named Andrett Caverns, but the description was sparse, merely stating that this place was a vast network of underground caves.

Clearly, few had made it to this level in the Trial.

Except for this Silver Weslan Princess—she had broken the record by passing the seventh level on her first Trial.

”Then let me tell you about this place—”

Sophie began, ”Starting from the eighth level of the Trial Grounds, it’s different from the previous seven levels. After we pass through that giant door, it’s less about reaching the eighth level and more about leaving the first seven levels of Dragon’s Nest.”

”What do you mean?” Fang Hong was puzzled, not understanding how this was different.

”Because the first seven levels were created by Toragotos as a closed trial space, but below here lies a real Underground World,” Sophie explained while looking out the window, her long, thick eyelashes flickering lightly, ”There are no fixed ’rules’ here, nor do we need to kill Lords to move to the next level. The natural entrances leading to the next level are hidden deep within this vast underground world.”

”Our goal is to find them.”

”That’s it?” Fang Hong was surprised by the simplicity, ”Then do we have a detailed map to the next level?”

”Detailed? Map?” Sophie laughed, seeing through what Fang Hong was thinking, ”Did you think it would be simpler here than above, not quite fitting the difficulty of the levels beyond the eighth?”

Fang Hong glanced at her, not avoiding her gaze, and nodded. He had originally thought that the difficulty below the seventh level would far exceed the difficulty above, but merely exploring the Underground World didn’t seem as challenging as before.