Spectral Forest

…

Four hours since their departure from Napre Kingdom...

The mainland was no different than Areda Island regarding its monsters. There were demonic yet monstrous creatures living in the open grounds of this continent.

Talking about continents, there were actually two continents separated side by side. The one that Marco and his friends are right now is the eastern continent, while the western continent houses the ghost city, where the Dragonians presumably had resided.

So far, their journey has no significant trouble, yet. Indeed, monsters tried to attack them, but somehow, in Marco's hands felt like they're weaker than he expected.

"Hm? What's the matter? You look like you haven't seen your lover for years," said Sean while looking forth on the road.

"Haaaah..." Marco sighed. "Don't give me a damn 'haaah' fool! Tell me what troubles you, dammit!" Sean retorted.

"Well, how am I supposed to put it, eh…" Marco wonders. Nina then offers to explain, which easily welcomed by Sean, "Go on," he said. It looks like even a vanguard like him requires some entertainment.

"Well, as you can see, we felt like monsters that are attacking weren't as powerful as they looked like…"

"Hey, hey, seriously, now? You don't even know about 'that' particular thing? I question your edibility as a fighter."

"Well, I'm not a fighter type, though… I'm more into a healer mage."

"Is that so? Anyway, I'm pretty surprised that some tough arses like you guys don't know about leveling up."

"Oh, you mean grinding?" Marco asked. "Correct! Huh, I thought you fools don't know."

"We don't know anything about that, unfortunately. We're not from 'your' world, Sir Sean." Nina stated coldly.

"HAH?! W-What are you talking about? 'My world'?! What are you coming up with, Miss Nina?!" he suddenly shrieked out of nonsense.

After trying to cover it up, although useless, he finally realized that the people from the 'other world' had no idea about the grinding system in their world. Sean then revealed that he was indeed not from the same world as Nina and Aily, but from the same as Marco and Scias. The party simply nodded since they knew it earlier from General Rhun.

The Grinding system is when an individual fought an opponent tougher than him/her, and when won or survived against his/her opponent, they will quickly gain strength and power. However, killing monsters and demonic creatures don't grant that much of power, but still favorable to be done by many explorers and adventurers.

In this case, Marco and his friends had fought countless monsters and even human enemies, making them quite powerful than that of a simple human being. Owning magic spells also increase their power and proficiency in using them too when leveling up.

"Eh… so that's why I felt like those monsters felt like a small fry." Nina stated her amazement of such existence of system. "But, Sir Sean… won't THAT type of system might induce deadly wars all around the globe?"

"Well, in our world, it doesn't have to be concerned with. Since there are a treaty signed by all of our world leaders that massacring humans are completely disallowed."

"And monsters not?"

"In our world, monsters spawned from the underground infinitely. That's why killing them won't do any change at all to the ecosystem."

"I see…"

…

..

.

The sun sets beneath the horizon, now it's night time. The skies are quite clear with a breeze of winds. The party is preparing to build a camp as the wagon stops near a building that looks like a checkpoint of some sort.

"Oi, lads. *knock* *knock* We're going to enter a forest, so I'd expect you guys be ready." said Sean suddenly. "Hah?"

Marco checked outside the carriage, "Huh.." he subtly wondered. Beside their wagon, a lavish-looking house flying the flag of Napre can be found filled with sturdy vanguards guarding the path.

Sean picked something from beneath his armor. A paper, that is. He showed it to one of the guards. Few minutes later, the guard lets them through.

Marco returns on board the carriage and seated near a window behind the coachmen and Sean Williams.

"Hey, hey, Sean..." Marco called.

"Hm..? What?" Sean replied unwillingly.

"What the hell's that house, man? That looked like it could dry one's wallet if bought." said Marco curiously.

"Heh, first time?" The vanguard replied mockingly. "It's a border checkpoint, idiot. That's what it is."

"Yeah, well... I'm new around here. So yeah."

"Instead of wailing on a uselessly, you might want to see what's in front of us right now." Their wagon moves slowly into the forest, but the wagon's not speedy as an 18th century wagon.

"Oi, Sean… why didn't you stop for camping, man?" Marco asked. His eyes are already weighed a ton.

"I don't know."

"Hah? Why wouldn't you know?"

"It's because I don't know! Beat it!"

"Now, now, you two…" Nina jumps into their conversation. "Marco, I just remembered that the forest we're going through is an… unfriendly place."

"Yup, the little lassie's right. The forest ain't a good place for wanderers like you folks." The coachmen joined the talk. "It is said that the best time to enter the forest is between after sunset and before sunrise."

"It's really s-scary, sis, I'm really scared." Aily gets behind Nina. The temperature of the forest area begins to lower down as the wagon gets deeper. "The reason for entering the forest at night time is that the demons are not awake at this particular time, making it the safest possible time to go through…"

"Yeahahahay, you know quite much, lassie. If only you're a coachman like me, I'll marry you fer sure! Gyahahahaha!"

"Ahahaha… yeah, right, but no," Nina ended the conversation.

An hour later…

Anyway, Marco looked outside through a window beside him. It's been an hour since they entered the Spectral Forest. There's a strange sensation whenever their ride moves deeper into the forest.

"Uuugh..." Marco got goosebumps. "Say, you guys feel anything? It feels kinda funny in here…"

"U-Uh..." Scias nodded lightly. "It's... really unnerving in here…" said Scias agreeing while checking his surroundings. "Not to mention the coldness in the middle of this forest…"

Scias appeared to have his hand lifted a bit facing upwards. He casted a tiny fire to warm himself from freezing, which makes everyone else gather around him.

Seeing that makes Sean boasts his invulnerability, "Hmph, you guys can't stand it in here? Hah, you're making me doubt your skills!"

"Like hell you wouldn't, Mr. Grass-hair." Marco retorted. "W-WHA-?!" Sean frowns after hearing the explorer's ramble. "Hmph! I won't be bothered by these oddities." he conveyed.

"Old man, do you feel cold, too? You can join us if you want," asked Marco hurrily.

"Ueh...? Ah, no thanks. I'm fine in this 'mist'," said the white-bearded coachmen with a heavy voice. "Whew, you Napreans were filled with so many tough elders, huh...?" Marco replied back in surprise. "Wait a sec… did you say mist?"

"Yup, didn't you youngsters see it?"

Marco and his friends looked around. Sean also looked around. "Now that you've said it… the mist made everything far more unsettling, don't they?" Sean wondered while viewing his surroundings.

"Welp, time to use the lights Sir Sean," said the coachmen. "So this is why you welcome me along, huh?" Sean replied while standing up beside him.

"Ayup, that's right. You're in fact a 'Holy Elementalist' right?"

"Indeed. I'll get our road back," said Sean assumingly. He then raises his hand high and casts:

"Orb of Light!"

Shortly, a sphere that lights up in bright white emerges from his hand. He then used it like a flashlight, even though the size of the lighting is overly great.

"Who-hoo! This is just amazing, Sir Sean. All right, let's proceed onwards!"

…

..

.

The wagon goes through the forest road with ease, but that effortlessness shall no longer viable. "What the—what in the world is going on here?" said Sean in suspicion.

The mist thickens unusually. Marco and his friends realized it, too. Marco and Scias swings onto the roof of the wagon to see what's happening.

"Sniff, sniff… sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff…"

"Marco, what are you doing?" Scias asked. "Hmm… what? Oh, it's just… I realized something. I bet you realized it, too, Scias."

Scias got the air of understanding. He realized that the temperature rises unevenly. Not only that, the air somehow feels damp. "What's the meaning of this…?"

"Allow me to help." Nina called from below. "What are you gonna do, Nina?" Marco wondered.

"Have you forgotten, Marco? Well, you'll remember when I do it,"

Nina then looked outside the window of the moving wagon and opens her eyes wide. It hurts a bit for the warm damp air to invade her eyes. But nevertheless, she uses her skill:

"Mana Perception!" *ZRRING*

Her vision views the area like a thermal vision. The brighter and redder the color the hotter it gets, that's how it supposed to work if it's a thermal vision. In her skill, whoever had brighter and redder color means that he/she has high mana energy.

She looked around for a while, seeing nothing but the mist showing a pale red color. Nina stops her Mana Perception to give everyone the results she found.

"So? What did you find?"

"You won't believe it. This mist…

…this dampened mist… is an elemental magic attack!"