"So how did you die?" The middle-aged man asked. It's his favorite question to ask newcomers. Every newcomer would tell his or her own tragedy. The man loved to gossip in his original world as dramas surrounded his life.
After knowing the background behind Nether Realm, Bruce came up with his own tragedy.
"I was going to marry the girl of my dreams but then I got murdered by my own brother" Bruce raised up his fist in anger.
"That bastard has been planning this ever since he saw my fiancée"
"What happened during the wedding day?" The man grabbed some popcorn out of nowhere and began to immerse himself in Bruce's story.
"As I was waiting to meet my bride, my brother called me out to the storage room for some reason"
"Then he stabbed me right in the heart!" Bruce's face began to turn red.
"Oh my!" The middle-aged man exhaled.
The middle-aged man then asked more questions about Bruce's tragedy. Bruce cursed his luck for meeting someone like him in the Nether Realm.
After several hours of relentlessly asking questions and reacting to Bruce's story, the man finally stopped.
"Young man, it's likely that your fiancée will be stolen by your brother now" The middle-aged man sighed.
"Worry not, you can take your revenge on that bastard if you rise in ranking!"
"What do you mean?" Bruce finally looked at the man again because he was very close to beating the crap out of him.
"If you manage to reach The Void and earn a spot in the Nether Army, you can travel to any realm and claim your vengeance!" The man explained.
"I thought beings from the Nether Realm would be expelled by other realms"
"The ruler of the Nether Realm is a being capable to transcend the laws of the universe. If you join his army, he'll help you ignore the laws of the universe"
"I see" Bruce nodded. The Nether Realm was much more powerful and mysterious than he realized.
"Due to the special characteristics of the people who migrate to the Nether Realm, the Ruler created a pipeline to train the best talent for his army."
"When you kill someone in the Nether Realm, you can absorb their death energy and grow stronger"
"The more people you kill, the stronger you get"
"However, there are neutral zones such as this city where no one is allowed to attack others"
"Oh, is that why no battles have occurred in this city?" Bruce looked around and found the city to be relatively peaceful. Arguments were happening in the city but no one was fighting.
"Correct, if you fight in the neutral zone, the Ruler will expel you from the Nether Realm and your existence will forever vanish"
Bruce gasped when he heard the penalty. No wonder no one dared to fight in the city.
"Outside of the neutral zones, there are no rules. So, you may do anything and kill anyone"
"There are several factions that exist in the abyss to make things easier for everyone"
"I belong to the Eastern Faction. You're more than welcome to join the faction with my recommendation" The middle-aged gave his token to Bruce.
"Do I have to join a faction?"
"You don't have to, but you should in order to increase your chances of survival" The middle-aged man showed Bruce a map of the Abyss.
"As you can see, The Abyss is split into four regions, East, West, South, and North. Each faction occupies each of the regions."
"If you don't belong to a faction, then you will be targeted by everyone"
"If you do belong to a faction, you'd only have to worry about the other 3 factions"
Bruce nodded and agreed to join the East faction. Since the factions have already established their influences in the Abyss, any rouge cultivator would just be asking for death.
"My name is Bonta, what about you?"
"My name is Bruce, it's very nice to meet you Bonta" Bruce smiled.
"Hehe, I'll take care of you from now on. Just follow my lead and you'll survive The Abyss"
Bonta led Bruce around the city and showed him where to buy materials and medicine. The Nether Realm is like any other realm except everyone's staring point is different.
In other realms, any being would start out as a baby. In Nether Realm, every single being started out as who they were before they died.
It took Bruce a while to wrap his head around the concept of the Nether Realm before he finally accepted the reality in front of him.
"Bonta, who is the leader of the East Faction?" Bruce asked.
"The leader of the East Faction is called X" Bonta got serious when talking about his leader.
"As you know, the Nether Realm works like a well-oiled machine. Since the strongest people in the Abyss are Divine Emperors, once someone becomes a Great Emperor, he or she would be promoted to The Depth starting at the bottom"
"Since the leadership positions have been exchanged so many times over the past millions of years, we just call our leader X"
"Likewise, many people die in the Nether Realm every day which creates a culture where no one asks for your name and only refers to you as a number"
"What a cutthroat place this entire realm is" Bruce sighed.
"Bruce, you must remember to restrain your arrogance. Many prodigies and geniuses are reborn into the Nether Realm every day." Bonta advised.
"I saw your earlier battle against those Divine Emperors demons and you're truly something else"
"But there are also many like you in the Nether Realm that can fight across cultivation stages"
"I see…" Bruce suddenly became even more interested in meeting the prodigies of the Nether Realm. He never had a rival before.
"We need to move to the Eastern Faction branch in this city before we can go to the faction headquarter"
Bonta led Bruce to the branch to register as a new recruit to the Eastern Faction.
"Hello, I recommend this young man to be the new recruit for our faction" Bonta took out his token and signed the recommendation letter.
He handed the letter to the receptionist and the latter looked at Bruce.
"Mid Stage Divine King at the age of 16, you're quite talented" The receptionist praised.
"Thank you very much" Bruce politely smiled. The receptionist was a bit surprised to see how well-manner Bruce was. Most prodigies would be haughty whenever they join the faction.
"I'll send his application to the branch manager immediately" The receptionist left to inform the manager about the recruit.
"Congratulations Bruce looks like you'll be a recruit" Bonta laughed heartily.
"Is it hard to join a faction?" Bruce asked.
"Yes, it is very difficult to join a faction if your talents are insufficient. It took me 20 attempts before they accepted me" Bonta lightly coughed.
"How did you get stronger without joining a faction?" Bruce thought Bonta must be an expert in survival to survive this long in the Nether Realm without significant talent.
"I happen to have a likable face and know a lot of people" Bonta slightly blushed and looked away.
"Huh?" Bruce stared at Bonta with wide eyes as he imagined different things Bonta had to do to survive.
Before Bruce could interrogate Bonta, the branch manager who looked like a dwarf came out.
"Congratulations young man, you are now officially a recruit of the Eastern Faction" The manager announced in an indifferent tone. It seemed that he had seen far too many recruits like Bruce.
"Here is your uniform and you may wait in the branch while the ark is prepared"
The manager then walked away back to his office. The entire interaction was quite robotic.
"Bonta, why do we have to wait for the ark?"
"It's the safest way to travel in the Nether Realm. If you travel on foot, then there's a very good chance that you'll die before you make it to your destination" Bonta explained.
'This world is truly a dog-eat-dog world' Bruce mused.
Bruce silently cultivated while waiting for the ark. The ark was finally ready after two days and the duo headed directly to the headquarter of the East Faction.