Grey Ashes

As soon as Kim Jae-hoon finished procuring some gun-powder out of the orange orb, his attention shifted towards the direction where the smoke was coming from. When looked closely, the bornfire that he created back then had already been extinguished within a few hours.

According to Park Sun-jae, the ashes from the fire was a precious treasure and lethal poison to defeat beasts in one go.

These grey ashes which were produced from the burning wood had the combined properties of the relaxant flowers and turned into a powerful drug that can incapacitate most of the beasts in the blue zone. (Level Two Area changed to Blue Zone)

After it was cooled down to a normal temperature, Kim Jae-hoon collected the ashes and was ready to leave the green zone since the two most important things for his survival were acquired.

With a nod to each other, he packed all of his things including water and food before walking towards a certain tree by the riverbank. The tree was gigantic and enormous in length, along with branches that grew long enough to reach out the other side of the river. Apart from that, the tree contained prop roots that arise from branches of the stem that grew vertically downwards, eventually touching the ground.

Since the water level was too deep for him to swim over and cross the river, Kim Jae-hoon had no choice but to go through a different route. He grabbed one of the nearest roots of the tree he could find and swung it before letting it go to hold onto another root.

While repeating the same process again and again, the young man was able to reach the opposite side of the river in no time.

Following him from behind, Park Sun-jae also flew his way towards the entry point of Blue Zone almost quickly.

"Finally, we're here." Kim Jae-hoon said with a satisfied look on his face.

"Indeed." The ghost replied with a smile.

"Let's go then."

"Be careful though! In this area, all types of beasts roam around. Both harmless and violent. So, its hard to tell which ones are dangerous and which ones are not until they attack." Park Sun-jae warned him as they were about to enter the second most dangerous place on the island.

"Understood." He nodded.

The young man knew the risks and dangers that followed after entering this place full of beasts as he experienced their strength beforehand. Therefore, he was alert at all times, even though he was excited to venture the unknown once again and meet unique beasts along the way.

"Also, one more thing. The-"

But before Park Sun-jae could finish speaking, the young man already went inside the forest and was advancing forward stealthily while hiding behind the bushes.

"What are you doing!?" The ghost asked with a confused look on his face.

"Can't you see? I'm trying to avoid them as much as possible by moving stealthily."

"Like that would work!" He said rolling his eyes. "Just so you know, every beast in the forest has a keen sense of smell and they can recognize a human scent from miles away. So, hiding behind the bushes or moving stealthily is pointless."

"What!?" The young man panicked. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"I was trying to tell you but you didn't listened since you were in an excited mood." He said.

"Okay, okay. Let's say they do sense my presence through smell. So, how are we gonna get past them?"

The boys were already halfway through their journey to reach the city and they can't back out right now. Hence, it was important that Kim Jae-hoon doesn't encounter any troubles while he was traveling. Moreover, Park Sun-jae had the responsibility to take care of his friend and protect him.

"You don't need to worry about that. I got it all covered." The ghost replied confidently as he continued to speak. "Take out the ashes that we acquired from the fire and rub it all over your body."

"Huh? You want me to put this grey substance on my body? Is that what you are saying, right?"

"Yes, once your body is all covered by the ashes, most of the monsters won't come near you."

"Why is that so?"

"Like I told you before, they have a sensitive nose that can sniff out anything from afar. Once your body is coated with the ashes that has relaxant properties and fragrance of the flowers, they'll try to avoid you at all costs. In addition, your human scent will be overshadowed by the strong smell of the flowers. Therefore, monsters won't be able to tell the difference between you and the flowers."

"Oh, smart move." Kim Jae-hoon was impressed by his partner's strategy to use the relaxant flowers this way.

Due to this method, it killed two birds with one stone. Firstly, he can move freely in the forest without worrying about running into beasts on his way. Secondly, he don't have to worry about fighting them for a while. Considering the past injuries he got from battling a low-level monster, he still needed time to recuperate. So, it turned out well in the end.

As Park Sun-jae suggested, he smeared the grey ashes all over his body and moved forward without any worries.

As he walked deep into the forest, he saw many types of monsters in the vicinity. But not even one of them came near Kim Jae-hoon as soon as they smelled the strong scent surrounding him.

Unlike the green zone, the blue zone was more of a crowded area where one could see lots of beasts roaming around everywhere. Some were pleasant to see and looked harmless while some were too scary to make even eye contact. Just like previous monsters, these ones were also keeping their distance with the young man.

As a result, the journey was smooth for hours until he encounter a peculiar situation into an open space where two monsters were in the middle of a fight and didn't seemed to care about the scent Kim Jae-hoon was exuding which surprised him.

"What is going on!?"