Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Ian hovered above Deeprock City, the wind whipping his robes through the air.

His eyes were slightly closed, and an immense, suffocating mental perception silently spread downwards.

Rocks, soil, veins... the complex structure of the underground world was clearly visible to him.

Two thousand meters, three thousand meters, four thousand meters... perception continued to penetrate downwards.

Finally, at a depth of about five thousand meters underground, his "vision" touched a vast "emptiness".

It was a vast underground cavern spanning hundreds of miles, surrounded by a semi-transparent barrier that flowed with silver starlight.

Like an inverted giant crystal bowl, it tightly encloses the entire cavity.

Starlight swirled across the barrier, forming a complex defensive array that kept the pollution from the abyss at bay.

Ian opened his eyes, a glint of intense light flashing deep within his pupils.

"interesting."

The strength of this barrier is almost at the level four threshold, and the energy fluctuations...

"The power of starlight?" This is a power different from that of the wizarding system.

His spiritual power continued to spread silently, like the finest thread, penetrating the smallest gaps in the energy flow of the barrier without causing any energy disturbance.

Soon, the scene within the barrier unfolded in his perception.

A massive city, built upon a combination of natural caverns and man-made excavations, came into view.

The streets are crisscrossed, and dwellings are carved into the rock walls, with a small ecological zone in the center built using geothermal energy and fluorescent plants.

Roughly estimated, there are more than 100,000 people living here, most of them with weak breaths, carrying the fatigue of long-term repression.

In the heart of this underground city, inside a castle built of gray-white rocks, he detected an energy fluctuation that was significantly stronger than others.

She was a woman, with an aura strength of about a third-tier wizard. Her energy core was permeated with pure starlight power, which originated from the same source as the outer barrier.

"It seems she's the leader here," Ian thought to himself.

My senses swept over every stone house, every passageway, and every corner.

An old man was coughing, a woman was mending tattered clothes, and children were helping out. Some of the children were limping and had obvious dark purple markings on their bodies.

Pollution is present in everyone.

There were about 120,000 to 130,000 of them, crammed into this underground city like a group of ants forgotten in the dark.

Having roughly grasped the situation, he withdrew his senses.

A dozen or so mutated beasts were slowly approaching, their scarlet eyes filled with greed.

Attracted by the mental energy fluctuations Ian had just released, they surrounded him from all directions.

"Let's clean this up while we're at it."

Ian raised his right hand, palm down, and the laws of gravity spread silently.

Within a radius of 100 kilometers, all the mutated beasts roaming on the surface and in shallow caves, regardless of their twisted forms or strength, suddenly froze.

The next second, his body collapsed and exploded instantly under the sudden surge of terrifying gravity!

Bang!Bang!Bang!

Dull, crackling sounds echoed sporadically across the ground before fading into silence.

All the mutated beasts turned into pools of purple flesh, which then evaporated completely in the purifying golden light.

After doing all this, he stepped forward, and a silver light appeared beneath his feet.

The light extended downwards, like an invisible knife cutting through the rock layers, creating a straight downward passage.

After three steps, he was already standing in front of the star barrier five thousand meters underground.

He did not intend to conceal his whereabouts and slightly released a trace of his aura.

hum!

The mere leak of a breath was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake.

The solid star barrier suddenly lit up with a dazzling silver light, trembled violently, and emitted a hum that seemed unable to bear the strain.

In the central castle of Deeprock, Lumina was suddenly jolted awake from her meditation, her heart feeling as if gripped by an invisible giant hand, making it hard to breathe.

Something's here, something's coming.

An immense and incomprehensible pressure pierced through the star barrier and descended directly upon her spiritual sea.

That oppressive aura carried the gravitational pull of stars, blazing light, and a pure aura that made all filth instinctively tremble.

"An enemy attack?! No... this level..."

Lumina's heart pounded, and cold sweat instantly soaked her back.

She burst out of the meditation room, screaming fiercely through the communication array within the castle.

"High alert! All combat personnel in position! An unknown, super-sized entity is approaching the barrier!"

They charged recklessly toward the barrier's control center.

However, as soon as she issued the order, she saw a horrifying scene reflected in the control center crystal.

Outside the barrier, a young man with black hair and black eyes, dressed in a golden robe, calmly "walked" into the barrier.

The star barrier, which was strong enough to withstand the continuous bombardment of a level four aberrant beast, seemed to exist in front of him as if it did not exist.

The moment his body touched the barrier's light membrane, the membrane rippled outwards like waves.

Without resistance or attack, he simply "passed through" and landed in the air above the center of the square.

Lumina was ice-cold all over, and her hands and feet were stiff.

She saw the gaze he cast at her—calm, profound, yet it made her soul tremble.

She gritted her teeth, forced herself to leap into the air, and met the uninvited guest, while waving to signal the assembled guards to retreat.

The closer Lumina got, the more she could feel the starlight around her trembling, like a rabbit encountering its natural enemy, desperately shrinking back.

She wanted to turn and run away, but her body wouldn't obey her commands; she wanted to speak, but her throat felt blocked.

That was an instinctive fear triggered by the disparity in life status.

"S-senpai."

Lumina stopped a hundred meters in front of Ian, bowed in mid-air, her voice dry and hoarse from extreme tension.

"I am Lumina, the current guardian of Deeprock City. May I ask what brings you here, senior? What are your... orders?"

She observed Ian carefully.

The other party did not possess the corrupting aura of this world, nor the frenzied chaos of those powerful mutant beasts; instead, there was an incongruous sense of "cleanliness" about them.

Ian sized up the middle-aged woman in front of him. She was wearing a worn-out star-patterned robe, and her face was resolute but could not hide her exhaustion.

Deep in his eyes lies the vigilance and vicissitudes left by years of struggling to survive.

"My name is Ian, and I come from beyond this world," Ian said, his voice calm and unwavering.

"Passing by this place, I sensed a human gathering below, so I came to take a look. I need to understand the cause of this world catastrophe, as well as some other knowledge, especially records related to the 'Floating City,' the 'Starry Empire,' and high-level runes and energy cores."

"Visitors from another world?!" Lumina's pupils shrank, her shock growing even greater.

But the other party's honest attitude and unfathomable strength made her realize that any concealment or resistance was meaningless.

Any extreme actions could lead to utter destruction.

Her mind raced, and she made a decision in an instant. She took a deep breath and tried to keep her voice steady.

"So it was Senior Ian. Deeprock City did indeed preserve some ancient books and fragments of knowledge from before the Great Cataclysm, but after the calamities, less than one-tenth remained, and many were incomplete."

"The knowledge you require may be more completely preserved in the depths of the former imperial capital, the 'Eternal Starry Sky'."

"The Eternal Starry Sky?" Ian's eyes flickered slightly; the old leader had mentioned this place before.

"Yes."

Lumina nodded, a hint of pain and longing flashing in her eyes, and began to speak slowly.

The Eternal Sky is the center of the old empire, and legend has it that it preserves the most complete knowledge base and the most precious heritage.

This includes a large amount of 'Star Essence' used to build the Sky City.

However, at the very beginning of the cataclysmic outbreak, the Eternal Starry Sky was occupied by several powerful, despair-inducing mutant beasts.

According to the survivors who escaped, the leader of these survivors was probably stronger than the strongest in the empire and possessed complete intelligence.

Deeprock City alone, and indeed all the known underground survivor strongholds, are insufficient to reclaim their homeland.

She paused, looked up at Ian, and her eyes became extremely complicated.

There were pleas, there were longings... and there was a resolute determination to gamble everything.

"Senior's strength is extraordinary. If you are interested in that knowledge and resources... Lumina dares not ask you to risk your life for us."

"But as a token of our sincerity, you may consult and copy all existing copies of knowledge in Deeprock City at any time."

After saying that, she took out a metal token without hesitation and presented it with both hands.

"This is the highest-level access token for the Deeprock City Treasury. All the books, research notes, and ancient fragments are open to you."

This action caused the faces of several elderly people looking up below to change drastically, but no one dared to voice their opposition.

They knew full well that their leader was fighting for a slim chance of survival and opportunity for Deeprock City.

Ian took the token and glanced at Lumina with some surprise.

This decisiveness and courage are especially rare in such desperate situations.

He nodded: "Okay."

For the next few days, Ian stayed in Deeprock City, his mental energy scanning every scroll and every stone slab in the secret vault.

A wealth of knowledge flooded his mind, including much about ancient stars, complex rune arrays, and parts of the structure of floating cities.

For example, the general description of the anti-gravity rune set and the energy conduction network.

This knowledge is like a jigsaw puzzle, corroborating what he had previously acquired.

His mental model of the complete floating city has taken another step forward, and many previously ambiguous aspects have become clear.

However, the two most crucial elements were not recorded: the energy core structure diagram and the high-level control intelligent array.

To support a city's long-term levitation and interdimensional travel, a super-giant energy core called the "Heart of the Starry Sky" is needed.

It also requires a high-level soul to match it, bound to the control array, forming a complete intelligent center.

The records in the secret archives abruptly end at crucial points, or are defaced or destroyed.

The mental deduction came to a standstill once again.

"As expected, the key lies in that 'Eternal Starry Sky'."

Ian put down the last incomplete sketch of the energy circuit and sighed inwardly. (Note: The last sentence appears to be an unrelated advertisement and has been omitted from the translation.)

During this time, he was not idle either; Lumina once cautiously made a request.

Those were lifelines that the remaining forces of the Starshine Empire frantically dug during the early stages of the Abyss invasion in order to support each other and evacuate the people.

A thousand years have passed in the blink of an eye, yet it has become a tomb that buries hope and connection.

"Sure," Ian agreed; it was a small matter for him.

He didn't need to leave Deeprock City; he simply sat quietly atop the castle, his mental energy deeply merging with the rules of gravity, spreading out in all directions.

The perception, like an invisible ley line, instantly covered the vast underground region centered on Deeprock City, spanning tens of thousands of kilometers.

All the intricate network of tunnels, whether intact or collapsed, was clearly visible in his "eyes".

"Clean first, then connect."

With a single thought, the rules of gravity begin to operate with exquisite precision.

The massive boulders blocking the tunnel were crushed and compacted into walls by an invisible force, and the polluted water that had seeped into the ground was instantly evaporated.

The mutated beasts lurking in the collapsed section, no matter how deep they are hidden, are crushed into the most basic particles in the twisting force field of gravity.

The purifying starlight flowed by, completely erasing all impurities.

The entire process was like an invisible divine hand performing a precise civil engineering project.

The underground passage between Deeprock City and several large survivor settlements in the surrounding area, which had been severed for nearly a thousand years, has been reopened and reinforced.

Some smaller outposts were also incidentally connected to this revitalizing network.

Lumina didn't know what Ian was going to do, so she waited quietly on the side.

Suddenly, with a buzzing sound, the ground shook.

Immediately afterwards, a deep rumble came from afar.

The sound came from all directions, growing closer and louder, like countless giant beasts roaring from the depths of the earth.

Screams and cries came from behind her. The children burrowed into their mother's arms and closed their eyes tightly.

The roar lasted for ten breaths, then stopped.

Ian withdrew his senses and opened his eyes.

"All the collapsed passages within a radius of 10,000 miles have been cleared, and we can try to contact other shelters."

Lumina's eyes widened, her heart trembling: "Ten thousand miles in radius?"

She hurriedly ran into the room, picked up an ancient resonating crystal, and infused it with a ray of starlight.

A moment later, the crystal trembled slightly, and an unbelievable message came from the distant "neighbors".

"Thank you so much, senior!" Lumina's voice choked with emotion, and tears silently streamed down her face.

Isolated on this underground island for nearly a thousand years, no one knows when Deeprock City will perish—perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in the dead of night…

This mental torment nearly drove her to a mental breakdown.

Gratitude and reverence silently permeated my heart.

However, Ian altered the Earth's crust and cleansed the abyss pollution on such a large scale.

The resulting ripples of order and fluctuations of pure energy eventually disturbed a terrifying being slumbering deeper underground.

An angry roar came from the far distance.

The sound penetrated the rock strata, the cavities, and everyone's eardrums, like a knife stabbing into the brain.

Lumina screamed, covered her ears, and blood seeped from between her fingers.

Large numbers of people in Deeprock City collapsed, clutching their heads and rolling around, uttering painful howls.

Ian turned his head toward the direction from which the sound came, and a glint of light appeared deep in his pupils.

"Level four...and the kind that possesses full intelligence and knows how to hide and hunt."

Alright, I'll take you as my congratulatory gift for my promotion!

He looked at Lumina: "I have something to take care of, I'll be right back."

After saying that, he flashed away and disappeared from Deeprock City, heading in the opposite direction from the source of the malice.

We sped away from an abandoned mine tunnel, thousands of meters deep, far from all the survivors' hideouts.

He wanted to set up the battlefield properly and didn't want to attract too much attention from Level 4 players for the time being.

The mutated beast was indeed aroused, and a dark purple energy tide surged wildly underground, relentlessly pursuing it.

A moment later, at the end of the abandoned tunnel, in an incredibly spacious underground cavern, Ian stopped.

Almost at the same moment he stopped, two crimson lights shone in the darkness ahead, filled with cruelty and greed.

A colossal creature slowly "flowed" out of the darkness.

It resembles a monitor lizard, but its entire body is covered with a thick, obsidian-like shell, from which a dark purple, lava-like glow seeps out.

It has a long tail that ends with a mouth that keeps opening and closing and is full of sharp teeth.

The most terrifying thing is its head, which looks like an enlarged combination of an insect and a lizard, with compound eyes and mouthparts that constantly drip corrosive saliva.

The aura it emitted was clearly at the mid-stage of level four, and its spiritual power was solid.

His scarlet eyes stared at Ian, not with the madness of a beast, but with a calm scrutiny.

Ian stood with his hands behind his back, calmly watching the mutated beast.

"I've smelled you, and it's... disgusting, but your powerful soul... will be delicious..."

Intermittent mental fluctuations were directly transmitted to the mind.

Ian raised an eyebrow: "You beast, you're the first person who dares to talk to me like this."

Before he finished speaking, he had already made his move, his hands clasped together in front of him.

Gravity, heat energy, and purification—the three core rules he had mastered were instantly mobilized to their limits, frantically converging, compressing, and fusing in his palm!

The air inside the cave was instantly sucked out, creating a vacuum, which was then filled with endless light and heat.

A point of pure white light shone in Ian's palm.

It started out as small as a pinhead, but expanded into a miniature "sun" in a fraction of a second!

This "sun" is only a meter in diameter, yet it emits a chilling aura.

Its core is composed entirely of highly condensed purified starlight, while the outer layer is high-temperature plasma at billions of degrees.

The outermost layer is an absolute binding field composed of the laws of gravity, which prevents energy from leaking out and compresses all the power inward.

Fourth-Order Rule Secret Technique: Eternal Blazing Sun!

"roar!!!"

The mutated beast roared in terror and fury, sensing a deadly threat.

The obsidian shell on its body instantly lit up with countless twisted defensive runes, and dark purple abyssal energy surged out like a volcanic eruption, attempting to construct a domain for resistance.

But it's too slow.

Ian gently pushed forward with both hands.

The miniature "sun" transformed into a stream of annihilating light, instantly traversing thousands of meters and crashing into the purple domain that the mutated beast had been desperately trying to maintain.

Sizzle... Boom!!!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a strange humming sound as space was scorched and purified.

The dark purple area instantly melted and vaporized.

The eternal blazing sun continued its relentless advance, imprinting itself directly onto the mutated beast's thick chest armor.

The obsidian shell, which was strong enough to withstand the bombardment of level four sorcery, turned crimson the moment it came into contact with the target.

Then it exploded with a bang!

The blazing white light poured into its body, carbonizing flesh and vaporizing bones wherever it passed, and forcibly igniting and purifying the energy of the abyss!

"No!!!" A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the cave.

Under the crushing force of the Eternal Sun's rules, the physical body of this level-four aberration beast could only withstand less than three seconds before completely disintegrating and turning into ashes.

However, at the Morning Star level, the essence of life has undergone a leap.

Even if the physical body turns to ashes, it is not considered true death.

At the very moment the physical body was annihilated, a wisp of soul, as black as ink and extremely solid, suddenly burst out from the ashes.

It vanished in a flash, attempting to escape through a spatial rift.

"Trying to leave?" Ian's eyes turned cold; he was prepared.

The rules of gravity were activated, and the space around that wisp of black soul was instantly solidified and locked.

Like an insect trapped in amber, no matter how much it struggles, its speed drops a hundredfold.

Immediately afterwards, the thermal energy transformed into an invisible flame, enveloping and burning it.

The purification rules transformed into golden rain, seeping into its soul essence and beginning to peel away and dissolve the abyssal imprint within.

"The abyss...undying...my lord...eternal..."

The black soul emitted a venomous shriek, its resistance exceptionally tenacious.

That wisp of energy, connected to the origin of the distant abyss, was incredibly tenacious, like a leech, twisting and writhing in the purifying fire, and could never be completely eradicated.

Ian could sense that unless its distant source was destroyed, this wisp of soul essence would be difficult to completely purify.

"Do you really think I have no way out?"

hum!

Deep within Ian's mental sea, the mysterious panel trembled silently.

At the edge of my field of vision, pale gold lettering quietly appeared.

[High-purity contaminated soul detected. Forced purification initiated...]

An invisible and intangible, supreme power extended from the panel, gently sweeping over the bound black soul.

"ah!!!"

After a desperate scream filled with endless fear, that stubborn aura of the abyss vanished without a trace.

The intense heat and purifying light gradually faded away.

Within the gravitational field, the dark and evil souls were gone, leaving only a gem suspended in mid-air.

It is about the size of an egg, a perfect dodecahedron, and crystal clear, just like the purest crystal.

It emanates a gentle yet vast spiritual energy, pure, powerful, and without any impurities.

[Obtained: Pure Level 4 Soul Gem]

Ian reached out and took the warm, smooth gem into his palm.

Feeling the vast and gentle power of the soul's origin within, a look of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.

"This is the core material of the Tower Spirit... almost the best kind."

He put away the Soul Gem and turned his gaze toward the direction of the Eternal Starry Sky.

The knowledge and resources there, as well as potentially stronger adversaries, await him.

No rush, let's collect all the resources from the other human settlements first.

The latest work by author Seven Degrees Sunset Red, "Wizard: My Skills Can Break Through Infinitely", is exclusively published on Cola Novels!