Just by appearing, I could notice the nervousness of those present, it was obvious that those present were my boys.
The difference was abysmal, forgive the redundancy, the first most obvious thing was our bio-armor, although it did not look much like one. It consisted of a suit extremely close to the body, leaving full mobility, just like being naked, the material was similar to latex, this suit was attached to a long trench coat that opened when it reached the knees, in addition to wearing a hood that covered the entire head and part of the face. Both the hands and any other part of the body was covered by the bio-armor and even formed a mask on our face.
The only visible part of us were three things, two horns on our heads, which protruded from the hood to the front, these being pure black except for the tips, which were bright blue. Our hair, depending on who had a different cut, but with the same similarity, all immaculate white and finally our tentacles, were the same as when we were abyssals, 5 for me and 3 for the rest.
Of course, now we also had legs with their feet and toes.
Another similarity in our bioarmor were the colors, these were not varied at all, a pure white for everything and all the tribal drawings in a more opaque and dark white, almost reaching a gray.
Our mask was the same, but with the difference that the drawing seemed to be our old big abyssal eyes and another extra tribal touch around them.
I have to say that our masks showed absolutely nothing of us, if someone saw them they would think they were missing the eye sockets or even the nose for breathing, but even missing them we could see and breathe normally.
Then I realized a point against me.... I was the shortest, except for one woman, who I dared to think it was Lilith, in her you could not see any protruding hair, like the men, it was not because it did not have, if not that it was shorter than the hood.
On the other hand Velona and Pele were easier to distinguish, some touches like Velona's chitinous spikes had disappeared, but she was even bigger than before, in reference to her hairstyle, Velona had two long braids that ended in a white ring and Pele had two thick and short braids, they ended in what seemed to be a ring.
Then I realized a point against me.... I was the shortest, except for one woman, who I dared to think it was Lilith, on her you couldn't see any hair sticking out, just like the men, it wasn't because she didn't have any, it was just that it was shorter than the hood.
On the other hand Velona and Pele were easier to distinguish, some touches like Velona's chitinous spikes had disappeared, but she was even bigger than before, in reference to her hairstyle, Velona had two long braids that ended in a white ring and Pele had two thick and short braids, they ended in what seemed to be a ring.
Gea on the other hand was letting her hair fall straight and Irina had it pulled back in a ponytail, which fell to her right.
At that moment, a piece of news shook the LAZ world and the real world.
[System announcement, the unique faction of the Abyss has appeared].
No one knew what this faction was about or if it was a player or reincarnate who had obtained it, but they did know that these unique factions were very powerful, all had the example of the mercenary nation.
More than one began to send their scouts and spies to discover the possessor and take it for their respective groups.
Back at the entrance of the abyss.
I asked how everything went after my departure. The result was a bunch of people talking at once and cursing a certain individual for asking stupid things and another certain individual for accepting them.
At that point Balthazar swam a little to the front.
With a second to get his intonation right, he said....
- My lord, I think I deserve an apology for the aggression of my brothers, in the end thanks to me you were able to obtain this unique faction, wait for me to do justice - His voice was that of the beggar, the voice of the innocent and the unjustly blamed.
To which I nodded and approached him, before he realized I gave him a strong punch in the stomach.
- There you have your apologies, the next time you put my life in danger or that of your companions for an experiment will be much worse - In truth he deserved it and at the same time not, I was the one who had accepted and with that I arrived much earlier to my target, but I had the anger and the impotence of suffering all that pain for the chains and he was the target who had more or less a sufficient accusation to use him as a punching bag.
At my blow he shot out for five meters and was in pain, but it didn't hurt him much, the others seemed to agree and he obediently got back in line.
Besides with the change of race his left arm was recovered, so this blow would not cause him many problems either.
That aside, it was time to move.
As I prepared to give the order, a system notification paused.
[I am required to leave a member at the entrance of the abyss, the other creatures have died as they are no longer useful once a guardian has appeared].
In that case who should take the post at the gate? Gal or Gaea, they could guard it for now, leaving Caronte would be a mistake and Balthazar, as much as I feel like it, I also need him by my side?
In that case to whom...?
Would someone not from my tribe be able to guard the door?
Demora as an example?
At the moment a system message caught my attention.
[In case you use your pet as a guardian of the abyss, you will get three times the experience gained while guarding the gate, plus you can eat the flesh of all the ancient demon class monsters, giving you a huge boost to the growth of the gate.]
It didn't seem like a bad deal, but I asked Demora before, he didn't seem to understand my words very well and it seemed that staying in solitude didn't like it, but he seemed to realize that if he became stronger it was better.
With the promise to come often to play, that's how it was.
And sure enough, before I tried to leave, again, the system sent me a notification, although in this case it was one I was looking forward to.
[You have completed the mission: search for the abyss. You will be awarded a prize from the abyss faction]
[You have started the quest: ascent in the abyss: To complete it you must ascend to the 9th stratum, each stratum will have a reward]
[A deferred reward has been obtained: Divine reward, being the first divine reward you have obtained another one].
[The reward of the abyss: Restraint condition]
[Restraint condition allows to temporarily break the curse of restraint from an extreme emotion: Anger, Despair, Fortune or Courage]
In that case I chose desperation, to my mind it is only when one is desperate that one really needs a boost in strength, at least having our original stats in a great time of need is truly a plus.
[You have been granted the first divine reward: You have been upgraded to divine space mastery.]
Right now this upgrade won't bring much, but in the future its potential is huge.
[The last divine reward has been bestowed on him: He has been granted enlightenment.]
At that moment I could feel as if my mind opened up and a new power surfaced.
[Learned how to create teleportation formations]
That was enlightenment, like when one gains wisdom, it gives you knowledge or ideas, but the point is that it allows you to gain concentrated knowledge of a much more distant process, like a higher ability without knowing the basics of the magic itself.
Out of everyone, the happiest of this round of rewards was Balthazar, he looked like he was dancing and the urge to give him another punch was overflowing out of me.
Apart from this we also received 5 wisdom points for discovering the abyss.