Chapter 58: Harrowing Sight

TMP! TMP!

The dull sounds of my footsteps permeated the space as I marched through the blinding fog, completely oblivious to whatever it held within its maws.

FLAP! FLAP!

The rags of my school uniform were wrapped around my neck, covering part of my face and billowing in the wind. I had summoned it to guard against the annoying nature of the fog of sand.

This fog kinda reminds me of Dubai's sandstorms...

Dude...Dubai isn't this bad.

My inner voice commented.

True enough.

I replied.

Indeed.

The thick sand fog couldn't be compared to even the worst of Dubai's sandstorms.

It brought one's visibility and spatial awareness to absolute zero; bringing me a painful reminder of the dark cavern.

Tsk...

I walked through the thick fog, heavy with silence – only a mere whisper of gale could be heard but then again, those whispers would only exist for a fleeting moment before they're swallowed by the silence.

Since my gruesome battle with the Lone Fomorian, I hadn't encountered any other creatures, it seemed as if the land was barren; bearing no life.

After all, I had been walking for nearly three hours and hadn't run into any mythical beasts, a fact that both calmed and unnerved me.

Stats.

[Name:] Alex

[Title:]???

[Level:] 6

[EXP:] 33/200

[Skills:] Oversaturation, Mind Palace, Reverb Mapping, Art of Learning, Body Constitution, Battle Arts, Anti-Lip Sync, Invisibility, Manipulation, Vast Knowledge Base, Pickpocket, Panoramic Vision, Resistance, Fear Inducement, Thousand Tongues, Death Darting Eyes

[Aliases:] The Mastermind, The Fool, Skeleton Horror, Feral Connoisseur

[Debuffs:] Partial Hearing, Myopic Vision, Anti-Lip Sync, Rizzless

[HP:] 96/100

[Achievements:] Flash of Power, Combat Novice, Beat the Odds, Wild Chef

I called upon my stats interface and skimmed through it before settling on a part of it.

Death Darting Eyes.

[Skill:] Death Darting Eyes: When the ancient cockatrices reached the Verdant Mount, they encountered Medusa, the Queen of Snakes. They gazed upon her alluring figure and forever had her image plastered in the depths of their eyes, now who ever gazed within them would witness Medusa's figure and become stone. This skill gives the user infrared vision and the power of Paralysis at a cost.

Death Darting Eyes was the skill I gained after killing the Profane Cockatrice. It granted the user heat vision and the power to paralyze whoever the user locks eyes with.

Earlier when I attempted to figure out how to use it, I was lost. It wasn't until the sudden epiphany I had before teleporting that I figured it out.

SHIFF!

I came to a halt and summoned the Goblet and Stone Gallon; pouring myself a cup of water and downing it before dismissing the items and continuing my voyage.

Right before I teleported, I discovered that the strain of the Effect 'Teleportation' was too powerful to be contained by the mundane item I had created, yet, I still managed to activate the Effect and teleport.

Why was that?

It was because at the last moment my body forcefully injected the item with the World Energy stored in it, forcibly activating the Effect and destroying the vessel in the process.

In other words, I had actively used the World Energy in my core, instead of having it passively sucked out.

It was like infusing a body with mana!

My previous proposition on how to use the Death Darting Eyes was manually creating neural pathways through my brain to the nerve cells that held the skill.

It was a good suggestion, except the problem with it was that it was near-impossible.

To actively create neural pathways in the brain, one would need to have an extremely high Kinesthetic Awareness and a deep understanding of the human brain.

Sure, I had decent knowledge about the brain, but it was all surface-level and then again, I had no solid Kinesthetic Awareness skill.

'Solid' in the sense that my kinesthetic awareness was merely theoretical...it couldn't serve practical uses, until it was developed.

Being able to sense the World Energy in my core was a step in the right direction but that was all it was – merely a step.

If I just relied on this one step, realizing the practical aspect of the Kinesthetic Awareness skill will merely just be a distant dream and I will probably never be able to use the Death Darting Eyes.

That was why the realization that occurred to me was so beneficial.

In layman's terms, if I wanted to use the Death Darting Eyes then I simply had to infuse my eyes with the World Energy.

That way the neural pathways in my brain will automatically link the nerve cells associated with the skill to the activation action of infusion!

I smirked in conclusion, seemingly pleased at myself.

"Hehehehe...this will definitely work!", I spoke as I walked through the fog.

The first hurdle to clear is being able to control the World Energy...to complete that I have to recall the sensation I had before I teleported...that feeling of sudden release...

Sudden release?

My inner voice spoke in a cheeky voice.

My eyes suddenly twitched and I screamed inwardly.

Oi! Context!

Hehehe...so you can't even last a couple of seconds? You suddenly release? Pathetic!

My inner voice spoke in playful contempt, yet I flared up.

Shut up, already! Am trying to think straight here! If you only have shit to say the-

Suddenly, I went silent.

SWHOOSH!

The fog of dust which previously moved slowly suddenly began to swerve faster, causing several particles of dust to go flying in my direction.

Immediately, I braced myself and shielded my eyes from the torrent.

"Wh-what's going on?!", I exclaimed as the torrent suddenly grew stronger and stronger the more, I advanced.

It soon became powerful enough to knock me off my feet.

"W-woah!", I cried out as I was suddenly sent flying in a different direction.

Shi-shit! Is it a monster?

I thought with a panicked expression once I crashed to the ground, my free hand was already outstretched ready to summon Silver Lining but I remembered.

The system had announced no bloodlust detection.

Slowly, I uncovered my hand which shielded my eyes and stared at the fog.

Huh?!

Before me was a world devoid of the fog of sand, free of the thick brown mass that previously kept me in suspended terror.

It was supposed to be a sight that brought relief yet my heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

Holy shit...

Reflected on my retina was a massive horde of deformed creatures all feasting and preying on the body of a massive beast who from its monstrously large nostrils, breathed forth the thick fog.

It was truly a harrowing sight.