Mist and Ash

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Artificial Human Blood, Quality: Junk, Rarity: R (Rare Class)

The blue blood that flows through Artificial Humans created through alchemy.

Imitating humanity is nothing less than reproducing God's work.

Its quality is extremely poor, and it is nothing but harmful to a normal Artificial Human.

Artificial Human Bone, Quality: Junk, Rarity: R (Rare Class)

The greenish-blue bones found in Artificial Humans created through alchemy.

Imitating humanity is nothing less than reproducing God's work.

Its quality is extremely poor, and it cannot serve as the skeleton of a normal Artificial Human.

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These were the two things we obtained by stripping the Failed Homunculi. Although we could obtain only low-quality items, this suggested, paradoxically, that if we obtained or created higher-quality materials, we ought to be able to create a complete Homunculus.

Given the existence of the Failed Homunculi, there was a strong possibility that someone who had created them existed beyond the Black Wall. If we could find equipment or technical books that made even incomplete creations possible, our work would progress considerably.

The problem would be if whoever possessed that technology wasn't friendly, but... Since such a person would be feared by the inhabitants of the continent, including the Nadeus clan, we could simply defeat that person if it came to a fight. We'd already engaged in opportunistic looting during the War Event, so it was too late to start hesitating now.

As I was thinking about that, I heard a pinging electronic tone. It had to be a notification from the operators.

"Oh! It looks like a new event has been announced."

"'Verdant Mountains, Azure Sea'... It seems to be an event set on a fairly large uninhabited island."

"Come to think of it, isn't it almost summer vacation for students?"

One way or another, it was already early summer in the real world, and in another week, the students would be starting their summer vacation. It had nothing to do with me, now that I was a working adult, but there were surely people who would take this opportunity to start playing.

In fact, the announcement also said that a new batch—either the fourth or fifth, I forget—would be put on sale. It said the event would offer benefits both to players starting now and to those who had been playing since release, so they were clearly aiming to attract new players.

"An event at this point in time, huh... Fortunately, it seems we'll be free to come and go, so let's go if we feel like it."

"It doesn't look like NPCs are involved this time, so monster players should have an easier time participating. And it seems PK will be disabled too."

"They'll be able to reach a lucrative area from the start without being targeted by players... That's completely different from how things were for us."

Although their numbers had increased since the beginning, monster players still made up a very small percentage of the player base. The difficulty immediately after starting the game was probably the main reason, but if they could get past that, many players would choose to play as monsters. Even if they didn't like their choice, they could change it through the reincarnation system Mikelo had uncovered. Compared to before, choosing one had become much easier.

"Setting the event aside, I can see the dense fog Muno-dono told us about. Our destination is inside it."

Talking about the event was fine, but our current destination had finally come into view. In the center of the Ashen Hills stood a low hill, and dense fog had formed over it, completely covering it. Beyond the fog stood a black wall—the place known as the Black Wall.

The wall seemed to enclose something, but apparently even the Nadeus clan's legends did not reveal what lay inside. Their brave ancestors had evidently decided that climbing over the wall was simply too dangerous.

'Report. Magic power detected in the dense fog ahead. Entry deemed dangerous.'

"Magic power in the fog... 【Smoke Mist Magic】? I can't say for certain, but I take it that going in like this would be dangerous, correct?"

'Affirmative.'

When we drew quite close to the dense fog, Shiratsuki issued a warning and stopped in midair. Apparently, flying Shiratsuki into this fog would be dangerous. We could force our way through the fog and enter the Black Wall's territory, but it would be foolish to push our luck and have Shiratsuki break down. From here on, we would have to proceed on foot.

"Understood. Let's land here. Please announce our landing over the ship's intercom."

'Understood.'

In any event, landing here took priority. While listening to Shiratsuki's intercom announcement, I considered how we would tackle the fog.

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"I see... So this is ash."

After Shiratsuki landed, we went outside and saw a strange sight: ash had piled up directly beneath the dense fog. At that moment, we finally understood why this field was called the Ashen Hills.

I had wondered about it because ash had not been falling anywhere in the regions where we had been active until now. Even now, no ash was falling at all where Shiratsuki had landed. However, only beneath the dense fog had it piled up all the way to my ankles. Anyone who saw this would be convinced that the fog and ash were closely related.

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Death Miasma Ash, Quality: Inferior, Rarity: S (Special Class)

Something formed when miasma sand weathered under powerful undead magic.

Strictly speaking, it is not ash, but it is called ash because of its texture and color.

It has the effect of slightly restoring undead monsters.

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Death Miasma Ash, huh? Apparently, it could serve as a healing item for Undead like me and Kanna. To test it, I lightly cut myself with a sickle and sprinkled some ash over the wound. It slowly restored the wound little by little. It was completely useless as an emergency healing method, but it seemed to have various potential uses under normal circumstances.

Besides, if we had Shiitake process it, it might become a fast-acting healing potion. If so, that would be excellent news for Undead, who had few means of recovering. There were probably some kind of drawbacks, but that couldn't be helped.

"If you look closely, this fog is slowly spiraling. That's probably why it isn't spreading, but... how does it work?"

"The possibility that it's merely an effect is pretty low, right? In FSW, even meaningful-looking effects have meaning. That's just how things work."

It was common knowledge that seemingly innocuous effects and flavor text often contained information that pointed toward the truth. Therefore, there was probably some reason why this fog was spiraling as well. What could that reason be? We would have to investigate while exploring.

"Hey, brother! Aren't you coming in soon?"

"You're such an impatient one... All right. Let's form parties and begin exploring."

We split into four parties, taking into account our combat strength, Skills such as detection, and our proficiency at coordinating with one another. The first was a five-person group consisting of me, Karu, Jigorou, Iris, and Shiitake. My Magic Sonar was our only means of detection, but Jigorou and Karu's combat power would make up for that. The reason I didn't choose Gengorou, who rivaled Jigorou, was simply that no one but me could control Jigorou. I've said this many times, but he wasn't a bad guy. He just wanted to fight more than necessary.

The second was Ruby, Shio, Gengorou, Shishu, and Uru. In addition to Ruby's proven detection ability, it was the most well-balanced party, capable of handling both close- and long-range combat. I was certain they would be the ones to achieve the most notable results.

The third was Eiji, Toji, Nanakou, Mossan, Mikelo, and Nenercy. Mossan's detection ability with 【Ultrasound】 went without saying, and although the party leaned slightly toward close combat, its balance was not bad. With Mikelo, who specialized in healing, they would probably be able to conduct the most stable exploration.

The fourth was Sei and his tamed monsters, Kanna and Raga—the fastest group on the ground. They all shared the specialized tactic of mounted combat, and often acted together even normally. Of the four parties, they would surely be able to cover by far the widest area in the same amount of time.

"We received an unexpected request before setting out, so stop exploring whenever you deem appropriate."

The rescue of young Kilde had led to our investigation of the Black Wall becoming our primary objective, but because of that, we had considerably less time available for exploration. We would stop before anyone became sleep-deprived.

And so, we began exploring. Since our party's exploration ability was low, we decided to walk around the outside of the fog. Jigorou seemed a little dissatisfied, but he accepted that interesting enemies would probably appear even outside it.

"...Izamu's the only one who can make him see reason, isn't he?"

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"You must be imagining it. More importantly, we need to gather plenty of ash. We'll do alchemy with it, right~? Growing medicinal herbs in soil mixed with ash could be interesting too! There's so much to look forward to~"

"Haha. Indeed. It seems there are all kinds of ways to use it."

"Grrr...?"

The two crafters happily gathered ash and packed it into containers. As expected, unfamiliar materials made their hearts race.

Karu seemed interested in the ash as well, albeit for different reasons. Karu had been poking it with the tip of the tail and the claws on the forelegs, apparently baffled by its unusual texture. However, Karu did not stop, so perhaps the ash was actually appealing.

"Grrr... Gyaaaaaaaaaah!?"

"Karu!?"

When Karu lowered the snout toward the ground this time, the situation changed abruptly. The fog near the ground transformed into the shape of a huge human hand and grabbed Karu's head! What on earth was happening!?

"An enemy!? Where is it!?"

"Where could it be? I can't see anything, but..."

"Magic Sonar... There! Iris, extend your tentacles toward two o'clock!"

"...There's something there! Hyah!"

I hurriedly used Magic Sonar to search for the enemy's position. It detected a single presence in the fog, so I asked Iris to restrain it. Her tentacles caught something and dragged it out.

The enemy had an extremely strange appearance. It was a gray sphere with a rough surface, about one meter in diameter. Aside from that, it had no distinctive features, like some filthy balance ball, and floated in the air wrapped in tentacles. What was this thing?

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Race: Mist Ball Lv. 71

Job: Mist Controller Lv. 1

【Intelligence Enhancement】

【Mental Enhancement】

【Water/Ice Magic】

【Fire Magic】

【Smoke Mist Magic】

【Mist Manipulation】

【Mist Detection】

【Mist Adaptation】

【Soft Body】

【Stealth】

【Silent Step】

【Surprise Attack】

【Assassination Arts】

【Blunt Resistance】

【Wind Vulnerability】

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"It seems like a monster specialized for fighting in fog, huh~"

"Indeed! Wind Blade!"

Agreeing with Shiitake, who had used 【Appraisal】 just as I had, I quickly cast 【Storm Magic】. The Wind Blade cut through the fog arm gripping Karu's head. Apparently, it had lost the power to control it, because the arm could no longer maintain its shape and literally dispersed into mist.

"Gwooooooooo... Ooh?"

"What!? Even though I'm using a Martial Art!?"

Karu trembled with rage and attacked with murderous intent, but the Mist Ball slipped through the gaps between Iris's tentacles, causing the attack to miss. It had escaped despite Iris using a restraining Martial Art, probably thanks to 【Soft Body】.

Although it was not explicitly listed among its Skills, restraining the Mist Ball would probably be difficult. Now free, the Mist Ball began wrapping itself in fog like a robe. That fog was probably both its weapon and its armor. We had encountered a troublesome opponent, but we would just have to take it on!