Is this really a Game?!



Upon reaching the deepest parts of the depths that they had ever reached, Reign and the others stared ahead as there were curiously no monsters there at all. It was all barren, the fog was denser, but there was nothing there.

No trees, no plants, no monsters, nothing at all. They could actually barely see 20 meters ahead of them, which was significantly lower than usual as the eyesight that Reign and the others had was much superior to a normal human and they would be able to spot things from more than a mile away usually.

The suppression that they were facing was also quite significant as almost 10% of their strength was being suppressed and unusable.

Reign and the others glanced at each other and channeled mana to their eyes so they could see further ahead. It didn't work, there was no benefit at all.

"The Ominous Klinchor Vitality Draining Fog of the Mad God Plosarkon isn't just any normal fog you fool, at its most powerful, even gods will be suppressed in it, let alone you that are merely in the leveling realm," Aethion said as he scoffed at the actions of Reign and the others.

"Only Saints can use their powers to alleviate the true suppression of the fog, and even they can only alleviate a bit of it, what you are facing right now is a much inferior version of the fog, but it is still not something you can alleviate with mere mana, I'm afraid that at the very least, world energy is needed to do that here."

"So, we're screwed?" Reign asked Aethion who chuckled.

"No, just like I said, the system will still use its powers to suppress the fog itself, otherwise it would have already spread throughout the entire mountain range and more, the only chance you have to get to the bottom of this and get rid of it is now."

"The system has stopped with the suppression, the barriers have been lifted, and the fog will become much more powerful soon, so you have to get to the center and deal with whatever it is that is summoning it, otherwise I'm afraid that you will not only have to run as far away from the mountain range but even the entire region you belong to."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the fog ends up swallowing the entire planet in the end, of course, with the Will of the planet being how it is, I doubt it would allow for such a thing, but you don't need to worry about that, just go to the center and do your best to get rid of the fog, I have full faith that you'll be able to do it," Aethion said with a smile as Reign and the others glanced at each other as they had heard everything.

"Well, thanks for the pep talk, I guess," Shadow said with a nervous smile as he and the others ventured deeper inside.

They moved slowly this time as they had no idea what could appear in front of them, but even after walking for 5 minutes, nothing happened, no monsters appeared.

"This is weird."

"Yeah, do you think all the monsters left the center and went somewhere else?"

"But it doesn't make sense, didn't Aethion say that the center would always be well guarded?"

"I did say that, and I'm afraid that I have no idea what is going on, it could be that the fog isn't afraid of you, it might be much weaker than I realized, or it is confident that it has enough power to defeat you guys," Aethion said as Jared appeared next to him.

"I'm afraid that whatever is going on isn't good, I have looked through the archives, and if the fog is acting like this, it usually means there are a couple of powerful monsters in the center, or it has created something else to defend itself against the intruders."

"Well, this keeps on getting better and better." Reign said with a sigh as they continued walking ahead, until after 10 more minutes, something changed.

Further ahead, they were able to see a bright blue light.

"That is probably the center, the reason as to why the fog exists here," Aethion said as Jared looked at the bright blue light with interest.

"Interesting, that light, it's … familiar to me, somehow," Jared said as Aethion glanced at him before looking ahead.

As Reign and the others continued walking, the bright light became stronger and stronger until, finally, they were able to see an outline of some sort of object. Whatever it was, it was huge, as large as a hill.

The nearer they got, the more nervous they became, until they all took a step forward and left the fog. They were out, the area in front of them was completely devoid of any fog at all. It was as if there was some sort of barrier preventing it from getting closer to the object, which they were now able to see in its entirety.

All of them gulped as they stared at the giant object, unable to even comprehend why it was there, or how it was even possible.

"This … is this truly real?"

"Ah, that was why it was familiar to me!" Jared said excitedly as he stared ahead.

"Master, can I scan it, please, can I scan it?!"

"Go … go ahead." Reign said absent-mindedly as he simply continued staring ahead while a bright light came from his hand and started scanning the object. It was a ship, well, a spaceship like the one you would see in a sci-fi movie or TV show.

It was about 340 meters long and over 50 meters tall. The bright light they were able to see from afar was coming from the center of the spaceship, which seemed to be the deck of the ship. 

"Didn't … didn't you say that the system prohibits such technology?" Wolf asked Aethion who merely nodded and grunted in response.

"I have heard that there exist some races that are hostile to the system, they have developed their technology to be much different from ours and are constantly fighting against the system."

"But!"

"They are weak, physically, they can barely fight against the other races that are working with the system, hell, they would be slaughtered if they went on a full-on war with any race."

"Their giant spaceships and weapons are interesting, and do give them some great power, but even the most powerful amongst their weapons can only reach the power level of a Low-God, at least that is what I have heard."

"So … why hasn't the system annihilated them, shouldn't it be able to easily give a mission to the people of the universe if it truly hates those races so much?"

"It tried, and I don't know the specifics, but nothing happened," Aethion said as Jared suddenly perked up.

"Something did happen, a war was started, but it ended on the same day, with no casualties." Jared suddenly said as Aethion stared at him in shock, as did everybody else.

"A third party intervened, and the two sides left without even fighting, the system itself had been forced to abort the mission as well."

"Wait, somebody actually forced the system to go against what it wanted to do?!" Aethion asked Jared in shock.

"Well, not against what it wanted to do, just to stop what it initially wanted to do, but yes, there truly does exist such a person," Jared said with a sigh before his eyes suddenly shone green for an instant.

"Master, my scan is complete."

"Oh, so, did you learn anything?"

"Yes, the technology here is different from the one my creators used, but, in essence, it is still similar, so I can fill the gaps in my knowledge with some of the things I know from my creators."

"This ship is a transportation vessel, it probably housed over a thousand people, and it has quite a powerful device at its back, from my scan, it seems the device has malfunctioned, potentially even been destroyed."

"The field around us is a barrier that is created by the ship in order to keep it safe, and I think the fog is after whatever is in it, perhaps the device on it was what summoned it here in the first place as it seems that that part of the ship is indeed shrouded by fog, at least a bit of it."

"So, there are no enemies here?"

"Not at the place where there is no fog, but there is no telling what the fog will do, perhaps it will be able to break through the barrier now thanks to the system changing the rules, but it might have already done so from the back and is trying to slowly cover the entirety of the ship, it could also be baiting you and your allies, perhaps trying to use you to break through."

"Alright, so what do we do next, how do we eliminate the fog?"