360 Exploring the nether realm
A warm breeze brushed past Liam's face as he silently watched the calm after the storm.
He walked over to the spot and gazed at the numerous voidings lying lifelessly on the purple desert sands.
"Eh? No other drops? So stingy. Tch Tch. Well, whatever. I will just take these."
Liam quickly gathered all the voidlings that had dropped on the ground. They had a weird metallic texture and were very porous.
Other than that, he couldn't figure out any more details. He simply tossed them into his inventory space and ran back to the black-colored portal.
This time there was nothing guarding it, revealing the entire portal.
Liam took one more look at the purple desert and sighed in relief before touching the portal and entering the nether world.
The first part of what he wanted to accomplish was now done, and the second part awaited him.
He couldn't help but anticipate just how much he would be able to achieve.
Liam's figure disappeared into the portal, and when he reappeared, the familiar warm nourishing breath of fresh air filled his lungs.
Just as Liam opened his eyes and took a deep breath, two figures, a fox and a girl landed on top of him, one after the other.
Kyuuuu!
"Brother, what happened? Are you ok? Did you get hurt? Did you die?" Mei Mei panicked as she hurriedly checked the man.
With a shove, she even pushed the fox aside who was now sulking and growling at her.
Liam was speechless. "I am fine. No need to check all the places." He chuckled, and he flicked the little girl's forehead.
The little girl immediately became bright red, and she stepped back with a huff. "Stupid brother! That thing should have shocked you some more!"
"He He. It actually did. Anyways, how is everyone else doing?" Liam smiled and looked at the rest of the group.
His gaze landed on Mia, who looked particularly pale and sickly as if she had viral fever.
Even Alex looked a bit stiff, but the others seemed energetic enough. For instance, Shen Yue and Mei Mei seemed as jolly as ever.
Shen Yue in fact looked even more charming than usual which forced Liam to quickly look away.
"Sir, after arriving here, we received some minor debuffs. We came across a group of monsters, and we just managed to clear them." Derek briefly explained.
Liam nodded. He already expected everyone to receive the nether realm debuffs. "Good job." He patted Derek.
"Brother, what happened to that thing, by the way? Did you kill it, or did you escape?"
Mei Mei remembered that nightmare lightning shooting machine and asked anxiously.
"Ya, I took care of that," Liam answered. The bitter taste of not getting any drops still lingered in his mouth.
He did not want to lose face by revealing this as he knew what the next question was going to be so he quickly changed the subject.
"Alright, so we are the first guild to step foot in the nether realm. You guys should make yourself busy."
"Explore the place, get more achievements, the sky is the limit. No one has stepped foot here, so there will probably be a lot of treasures for the taking."
"Ahem. Ahem. Work hard! Good luck! Play as if your life depends on it." Liam awkwardly smiled.
He knew that he was not good at giving motivational speeches. So he stopped after just these few words.
However, unexpectedly everyone seemed super hyped even after hearing this nonsense.
Since it was a new unexplored place, it was not efficient to travel in a big group, so people split into smaller more convenient groups and started leaving one by one.
Now that the guild recruitment was open and more people were about to pour in, no one wanted to lose their place in this inner circle.
Moreover, after having known Liam for these past several hours, everyone was clear about one thing.
Unlike other guilds, there wasn't going to be any partiality or bias here, but that also meant that they had to work that much harder.
So everyone quickly departed in their own way to try their luck.
"Remember if you encounter any dangerous situation, always ask for help in the guild chat."
"Also, watch out for demon settlements. Here, this world is the home of demons and beast hybrids. For them, we are the intruders."
"So watch out and don't get caught in the middle of a demon settlement. There will be hundreds of demons there. Then no one can save you."
Liam said the last few words of warning and then almost everyone left. Only Alex and Mia hung back to talk to him because they had something on their mind.
"What? Are you feeling extremely ill? Got a huge debuff?" Liam smiled.
Mia also smiled in response, albeit tiredly. "Yes, it looks like you are already aware of it. I doubt that I would be of much use here with a 90% debuff."
"Wait. Did you say 90%?" Liam was startled.
The high he meant was 50%, maybe even thinking that was a stretch, but now Mia mentioned 90%! This was simply unbelievable!
"What did you get?" Liam then turned to ask Alex.
"50%" Alex helplessly shrugged.
"So the divine affinity is this severely punished in the nether realm." Liam mused.
He now had no doubt that he would be in the same situation if the situation was reversed.
This was good to know before he stepped into a territory like that. At least now he could make some sort of preparations beforehand.
"Liam, the two of us are planning to return back to the Xion realm. I don't think we would be of much help here."
"Also, both of us have quests at the divine temple. What do you think? Shall we leave or do you need us here for something?"
Liam nodded. He also agreed with this. "I think that is a good decision. Good luck with your quests."
"Ok. Thanks. I will also keep an eye on the guild activities."
Mia and Alex bid farewell and then tapped the air in front of them to select the return portal on their interface.
It was a one-use portal so after they used it they would not be able to return to this world without doing another spatial rift.
Seeing the two of them disappear, Liam also prepared to leave. "Let's go, Luna. We have a lot to do."
The little fox who was sulking on the side quickly perked up after hearing his voice and hopped onto his back readily.
Kyuuuu…
It nuzzled its head onto Liam's warm and comfortable back.
"Say, are you not getting debuffs any longer?" Liam picked up the fox by her scruff and dangled her in front of him.
Luna smiled happily and shook her head. She was no longer being affected because of the presence of nether.
"It must be because of all those herbs you swallowed!"
Liam smiled bitterly, but the next instant his expression changed as he remembered something significant that he should have probably thought about sooner.
"Hey! You also ate something else from that necromancer's cave! You ate that blue-colored frame fragment!"
"Luna! Tell me quickly. Can you use that flame? What happened to that?"
***
Bonus chapter~~
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