Reborn with Infinity Skill Points, I Enslaved All Universes-Chapter 86 --Star Upgrade Quest Again?

As his body plunged rapidly downward, Daniel could clearly feel the environment around him changing at an accelerating pace.

The deeper he fell, the faster he seemed to descend, and an array of indescribable auras began to manifest around him. They weren’t necessarily hostile, but each carried an ominous, unfamiliar pressure—like the whisper of ancient beings buried beneath eternity.

More notably, Daniel noticed that his status screen had changed. A dark, shadowy border now framed his entire interface—an effect he had never seen before.

For most Awakeners, exploring the Abyss wasn’t just dangerous—it was practically suicidal. Those who dared to do so had to follow previously mapped-out paths, inching their way deeper step by step, always staying near the edges of known terrain. Only after extensive preparation and the establishment of temporary bases within charted underground labyrinths could they even begin small-scale explorations.

But that process was far too slow and cumbersome for someone like Daniel.

He didn’t have that kind of time to waste.

So he’d taken the most reckless and outrageous path imaginable: a straight dive into the Abyss, headfirst.

To the eyes of most Awakeners, that decision was akin to a death wish. And yet, Daniel had no regrets.

In just a few breaths’ time, he had already fallen several hundred miles into the depths. Even the Abyss-dwelling monsters—some of which belonged to sentient races—hadn’t reacted in time to intercept him.

But before long, Daniel began to notice something was wrong.

The environment was far more hostile than he’d anticipated. The deeper he went, the more violent the Abyssal pull became, as if invisible claws were trying to rip him apart, tearing into his very essence.

Waves of corrosive force surged at him, gnawing away at his defenses.

Still, for someone of Daniel’s level, these forces amounted to little more than a mild irritation. Not even his shield was breaking. His God Rank defenses absorbed the pressure like a rock in the wind.

But what concerned him more wasn’t the damage—it was the rules.

Daniel became increasingly aware that the Abyss was governed by an ancient, absolute law—likely forged by a primordial force beyond mortal comprehension.

This law dictated a singular command:

Once you enter the Abyss, you may descend, but never ascend.

In other words, trying to climb back upward was forbidden. Anyone who attempted it would be crushed by the very rules of the Abyss itself.

Suddenly, his status screen flickered again—and a familiar interface emerged:

[Star Upgrade Quest: Phase Three Activated]

Task 1: Acquire 100,000 Abyssal Cores

• Task 2: Prevent the resurrection of a Great Being (Completed)

• Task 3: Slay a max-level creature (Note: not a human-level cap)

Quest Reward: Unlock full Talent Star Upgrade, raise level cap, obtain the 9th-ranked God Rank Skill, and receive the Palace Keystone.

This was it. This was the real reason Daniel had come to the Abyss. His first objective—the acquisition of Abyssal Cores—could not be fulfilled through normal trade or raids.

Even the combined treasury of the entire Human Race didn’t have enough of them.

So the only path forward was self-reliance. He would have to go and collect them himself.

According to what the Human Emperor had told him earlier, Abyssal Cores weren’t simply monster drops or crafting by-products—they were mineral deposits, existing deep in the Abyss like rare ore veins.

If he could locate a proper mineral vein, he’d be able to gather them in large quantities.

The only problem? These deposits were exceptionally hard to locate, thanks to the convoluted and erratic geology of the Abyss. Complex rule fields twisted space, and normal mapping techniques were useless.

Still, Daniel remained optimistic. He might lose some time searching, but the task was far from impossible—especially with his arsenal of God Rank Skills.

As for the second task, the one labeled "Completed," Daniel found himself puzzled.

He didn’t even know how he had fulfilled it.

If he had to guess, it likely had something to do with that strange encounter he’d had with The Favored—a strange presence he had interacted with during a previous quest.

Back then, when he had absorbed divine blood, he’d felt an overwhelming entity gaze at him. But the moment it tried to lock onto his presence, the God Rank Skill [Mist] had activated and cloaked him from view.

If it could be thwarted by [Mist], Daniel reasoned, then it probably wasn’t as invincible as it seemed.

He shook his head, brushing the matter aside.

What mattered now was that the objective was marked as complete.

Had it still been pending, he would have had no idea how to proceed, and that would’ve been a disaster. Sometimes, luck really did favor him. By sheer coincidence—or fate—he had completed one of the hardest tasks without even knowing it. freēnovelkiss.com

That left only the final challenge: slaying a max-level creature.

He had once asked the Human Emperor about such beings—whether they truly existed.

The answer he received had been vague. The Human Emperor admitted that such creatures might exist, but if they did, they would be buried deep in the core of the Abyss, far beyond the reach of most.

How to slay such a creature remained unclear. But Daniel’s first step was simple: find one.

And when that time came, he still had [Time Stream], a God Rank Skill that allowed him to reset battles. He’d have as many attempts as he needed.

For now, his priority was efficiency.

Even while freefalling, Daniel had begun deploying his resources. With a single thought, he summoned his Spirit of Skills and activated [Divine Thunder Shield].

The area around him erupted in chaos as waves of divine lightning surged through the Abyss, slamming into every lurking monster that dared approach.

For a brief moment, even the eternal darkness of the Abyss was bathed in light, as explosions tore through the air.

Entire clusters of monsters—some that had remained hidden in the shadows for centuries—were annihilated instantly.

Of course, the Abyss was far from empty. Its population was limitless. New creatures continued to spawn without end, and many were already converging on his location.

Some even flew—abominations of wings and bone that flapped their way through the void.

Daniel quickly noticed something else: Abyss-born monsters weren’t bound by the same rules.

Only outsiders—like himself—were forced to fall endlessly. Native inhabitants could hover, move freely, or even climb.

But while the swarm grew around him, so did his power.

His passive ability, [Ode to Life], triggered every time he slew a creature. With so many kills piling up, his HP bar was ballooning at an astronomical rate.

Even after falling for a full hour, Daniel hadn’t even glimpsed the Abyss’s bottom.

But in that hour, his HP had already skyrocketed past 300 million.

Thanks to [Eye of Insight], he could see every creature nearby with precision. And the deeper he fell, the more formidable they became. The monsters were growing larger, fiercer, and more bizarre.

At one point, Daniel spotted a colossal octopus-like creature—its size eclipsed even that of a thousand stacked elephants.

Moreover, monster levels were climbing rapidly. Near the surface, they had hovered around Level 30. But now, all nearby enemies were at least Level 100.

And then it happened.

An invisible creature, one that couldn’t be seen by normal sight or magical detection, suddenly launched a stealth ambush against him.

But the instant it struck, Daniel countered with an instant-cast God Rank Skill, vaporizing the attacker before it could even squeal.

Even at Level 100, the creature hadn’t stood a chance.

After gathering the loot it dropped, Daniel began to ponder a simple question:

Just how deep had he fallen?

A glance at his health bar showed a stunning number: 600 million HP.

But it came with a catch.

The further he descended, the stronger the Abyssal corruption became.

Now, his HP was dropping by several million per second, and the decay rate was still accelerating.

Fortunately, his HP pool had grown thick enough to withstand the onslaught. With every second, his divine shield also expanded, layer upon layer of protection stacking like walls of steel.

The real journey into the Abyss had only just begun.