Monster Integration

The grey mist has started to appear around as I entered quite deeper into the forbidden zone, the deepest anyone had entered since the strangeness of this Forbidden Zone has begun.

The Cosmic Energy in this part is quite dense, and it covered me fully, trying to drill inside me, but the sealing of my armor is too tight for any energy to seep in.

On the way, I observed how this energy applies to pressure directly dependent on the level, not one's battle power. Ashlyn and Me are at Duke Stage, but we could easily kill above-average Prince Stage powerhouses.

It made me think; there may be a sentient thing involve in whatever is happening, but this sentient thing is not intelligent. Even dumb monsters could identify aura but not the battle power; as I said, to measure battle power, one requite intelligence.

It is my hypothesis alone and one of the theories mentioned in the report that the academy made. Seeing all proof, one would be an idiot not to come to this conclusion.

There is another contradicting theory in the report too, which many people will be more inclined to believe that this is just the Cosmic Energy nature.

Cosmic Energy could be said on the weirdest energy out there, and its nature depends on the layer in which it is filtered.

I say space gap; it does not imply an actual space that would be catastrophic if real Cosmic Energy enters the world. Space Gap usually imply to place where the fabric of the world is a little thin.

The world's fabric had hundreds of thousands, millions of layers, and through which energy of the cosmos filtered by the world. The mana we used is also one type of Cosmic Energy, filtered and refined by the world to suit the organisms that live with it.

Sometimes the fabric became thin, to which lessor filtered energy came out, which is cosmic energy, and what property it will have is depend upon the layer it is being filtered. This is not the perfect theory, but it is close to one, and most people accept it.

"Boy, let me tell you, the strangeness your are experiencing is not a work of filtered Cosmic Energy but something else." 

A voice within me rang out, the voice which I hadn't heard for quite a while and had not thought, I will hear it for a few more years, and honestly, I had nearly forgotten about a powerful being living inside me.

"It is sentient being then?" I asked, keeping spiked heartbeat steady. When its voice rang out inside me, I had gotten quite shocked and barely stopped myself from yelping out like a little girl.

"No, the strangeness is neither a work of Cosmic Energy nor of any sentient being; it is work of something in between." It explained, and I could hear a faint excitement in its voice, which it is trying very hard to control.

"And what is this in-between?" I asked back, "Hehe, you will know about it when you see it." It said. I wanted to ask it back again, but I know it will not answer, so I calmly walked deeper.

The thing must be great to arouse the powerful beings interest, till now I have come across many amazing things including miracle fruits and treasures of the same level but it had never slightest, this is its first time reacting after so much time.

"Boy, you should count your luck that you have met me; I have sealed your real constitution; if not for that, you would have died the minute you have come contact with this energy." It said.

"It is also searching for the body, but you said whatever responsible is not alive?" I asked back immediately, using the word 'alive' in place of 'sentient.'

I perfectly aware of my 'Perfect Host Body' is very alluring to some bastards; I barely saved myself from some instances where I got caught due to this Perfect Host Body constitution.

"Boy, your definition of one Sentaint and Alive is too narrow; you will understand their real meaning when you see the vaster world." It said before falling into silence again.

Time passed by, and soon the evening came, but I continued heading deeper without slowing my speed. 

The energy has become extremely; it is far thicker than it recorded before the strangeness happened. Everywhere I see, it is grey; the whole area is covered in grey mist, which made it look quite ominous, and bones and withered trees didn't help much in changing the scenery.

The small ecosystem, which was built after hundreds of years of specific Cosmic energy, had all but been destroyed. If this continues, it will take a few hundred more before flora and fauna get used to this energy and start to flourish inside it.

I continued walking and getting deeper and deeper where the energy got even denser. Its density had reached near what I had experienced in the crown tree.

This forbidden zone never had such dense cosmic energy; if it had, then it's grade would have been much higher, and it is right now, and this is not its real energy density.

I have quite some distance to walk; I am sure when I get deeper; the energy density will be much greater than it is right now.

I was right; by the time midnight have come, the energy density had reached above what I had experienced in the Castello runes. Seeing the energy reaching very dangerous density, I had activated the rest of the sealing formations that inactive.

Small stream of this extremely dense energy could turn me into dusk within a second. The strong body which I am started to get proud of will wither within a second.

By the time morning came, the cosmic energy had become so dense that it felt like I am getting attacked from every corner and reinforced my armor with defensive runes.

My destination is now very close; I have to walk two hours before I reach the space gap and see what the hell is causing the cosmic energy to act such strangely.