Infinite System Inheritor Return From The Abyss

"Hmm, it seems others are making progress as well," he muttered. Sui bounced happily next to him, its little eyes glancing up at the notification as if it understood what had just happened.

---

In the sanctuary center of Skylands, the judges, along with Gideon and Thomas, were left in shock, trying to process the massive explosion they had just witnessed. The screen monitoring the participants had briefly gone blank, making it impossible to see the status of the three people in that area.

"What just happened there?" Thomas murmured, leaning forward to squint at the screen.

"Could it be an attack?" another judge speculated, still reeling from the force of the explosion.

One of the judges suddenly pointed at the screen. "Look! It's back!"

The feed came back on, showing Lila and Andrew lying unconscious on the ground, motionless.

"What was that explosion? And where is number 601?" one of the judges asked, glancing around in confusion.

Just as they were about to investigate further, the global system's hourly announcement echoed throughout the sanctuary.

[Announcement: 30 participants have successfully formed a contract with their beasts.]

Thomas, still gazing at the screen, hummed thoughtfully. "Hmm, seems like we have a lot of potential beast doctors in this batch."

Then one of the judges spoke up again. "Number 601's camera has been fixed. He just formed a contract with... a dark slime?"

"A dark slime? He formed a contract with a monster?" another judge echoed in disbelief.

"Yeah, but slimes are the weakest of all creatures," scoffed a different judge. "He wasted his mana. He should've gone after something stronger. It's a joke."

Gideon, however, didn't join in the mockery. Instead, he frowned as he studied the screen. "Wait a minute... Last time I checked, there were no dark slimes in Skylands. Where did that one come from?" he thought to himself, flipping open his folder to check participant profiles.

He scanned the file for Number 601 and muttered, "His name... it sounds familiar."

One of the judges chuckled and spoke up, "He's the F-rank returnee, Mr. Gideon. The one who's friends with the Ford twins."

One judge scoffed, shaking his head looking at Seojun folder. "His rank rise, He managed to rise to E-rank, but it looks like he still can't break through. Forming a contract with the weakest creature possible? A slime?"

Another judge leaned back in his chair, smirking. "Yeah, it's like he's stuck. Sure, he's E-rank now, but he's not showing any potential to go higher. Wasting his time with a weak monster like that? What's he thinking?"

A third judge chimed in, laughing under his breath. "Number 602 is better than him," He said staring at Andrew that slowly waking up.

The judges watched the screen displaying Seojun's progress. Unlike the others, his screen flickered in and out, the connection unstable. Occasionally, static interrupted the feed, and even when the picture returned, the sound remained absent.

"What's with his screen?" one of the judges grumbled. "Every other participant's feed is fine, but this one... it's been unstable from the start."

"Yeah, and we still can't hear a thing," another added, glaring at the display. "It's like it's purposely cutting us off from seeing what's happening with him."

Gideon frowned as he stared at Seojun's flickering screen. "Strange... It's only his screen. None of the others have this problem."

One of the tech team members approached, nervously adjusting his glasses. "We've checked the system multiple times, sir. It's not a technical issue from our side. For some reason, Number 601's screen is the only one experiencing interference."

The judges exchanged looks, some shrugging, others unimpressed.

"Well, maybe there's just nothing important happening with him," one judge sneered. "What do we need to see? He's only bonded with a slime."

Another laughed. "Right. It's not like he's going to do anything groundbreaking. Meanwhile, the others are showing real progress."

The screen flickered again, and a judge sighed. "At this rate, it's not even worth watching him."

But Gideon remained silent, his eyes narrowed in thought. Something about Seojun's situation seemed off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Meanwhile, outside in the real world, a group sat on a bench outside a convenience store, watching the entrance exam on their screens. Hannah, sipping on her drink, tilted her head and asked, "Eh, why did he choose a slime, though? There are so many stronger beasts out there."

Min-seok, with his eyes glued to the screen, nodded. "Yeah, Master's screen is so unstable. It's hard to follow what's happening."

Kaeri, leaning back and sipping her milk tea, scoffed. "Why are you calling him 'Master'? You should be focusing on Number 1. Look, he just formed a contract with a red serpent. That's amazing."

"Wow, his beast is the biggest among the 30 participants," Jin-hyu commented, sounding impressed.

Hannah glanced at Kaeri and asked, "By the way, where's your brother? Haven't seen him lately."

Kaeri sighed and crossed her arms. "Hmph, ever since we got back from the US Beast Sanctuary, he hasn't returned. Last I heard, he joined another guild."

Min-seok smiled lightly. "Well, at least he's not making life difficult for us anymore, right?"

Suddenly, Jin-hyu pointed at the screen excitedly. "Look! Look! Someone just formed a contract with a Skyfire Mane Lion! That's a another A-class beast!"

The group turned their attention back to the screen, momentarily forgetting about Seojun's unstable feed, as they marveled at the enormous, fiery lion that appeared beside another participant.

Back in Skylands, Seojun stood still, watching the dark slime bouncing happily around him.

[Congratulations! You have successfully formed a contract with the Dark Slime, Sui.]

Another notification immediately followed:

[

New Task:

Train your contracted Dark Slime to unlock its hidden potential.

Task Requirements:

Complete at least 3 training sessions to evolve the Dark Slime into its next form.

Rewards

: Increased strength, new abilities, and bond strengthening.]

Seojun raised an eyebrow and muttered, "So now I need to train Sui, huh? I wonder what kind of potential it has."

The dark slime bounced around his feet, excitedly repeating, "Kyuu!" Seojun couldn't help but smile at the little creature's enthusiasm.