Chapter 28

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: penny

Chapter: 28

Chapter Title: Fog Mine (3)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Just like at the second point, Kaliune's forces were there as well.

"I'll enjoy a delicious meal here too~!"

Cheisi toyed with the wraiths while collecting Calium dust.

After shaking off the dust from both points, it was finally time for some maintenance.

"Let's head back to the mine cart."

Cheisi spread out the map and pinned the station where the mine cart was located.

And then she stepped into the fog...

"...Urk!"

"Grahhh!!"

...but she couldn't.

Cheisi groaned from the pain of bumping her forehead and checked the identity of the thing that had suddenly burst out of the fog.

"...Why are you popping up here?"

It was a knight in black armor.

This was already the second—no, third?—time they'd run into each other by chance.

"Believe me, I'd love to explain. Anyway, good to see you, Cheisi."

A metallic voice echoed from beneath the knight's helmet.

"How did you even get here?"

"After thirty-five noble duels with the Merman King, I claimed the necklace and pressed on through the fog."

"Impressive."

"It was. Quite impressive."

The knight puffed out his chest as he spoke.

"With an unbreakable will, through noble duels, I seized victory..."

A white sword slash erupted from the fog, slicing the knight.

"...Gaaah!!"

The knight let out a death cry before dissolving into particles of light without finishing his sentence.

An exit as abrupt as his entrance.

"......"

This wasn't the time to be stunned.

Cheisi reached for her dagger pouch.

For a split second, she'd glimpsed a flickering shape in the thick fog before it vanished.

An enemy was nearby.

I'm being targeted.

Realizing this, Cheisi scanned her surroundings warily.

In an instant, an unnatural sound like the fog splitting came from behind her.

*Twitch—*

The moment Cheisi heard it, she whipped around.

A white sword slash was coming down from above.

Cheisi raised her dagger to parry it.

"Ngh..."

Whatever the damage, even blocking it drained about a third of her health.

"...I heard the fog splitting from behind."

"It sounded... a bit unnatural!"

The fog-made sword slash flew at her again.

Instead of blocking, Cheisi chose to dodge, rolling backward.

Now she could see it.

A wraith riding a horse made of fog, sheathing its sword.

Elite.

The third elite monster Cheisi had encountered.

But its level and special abilities were on a whole different plane from the previous ones.

"...So its defense is amped up right now, then."

Since she'd blocked the ambush, its defense should be boosted.

In this situation, winning a fight against the knight seemed impossible, so Cheisi decided to retreat.

She fled from the knight wraith, boarded the mine cart, and only then relaxed, letting out a deep breath.

"An elite mob... who would've thought."

"It's a bit suspicious."

Recalling her memories: She'd defeated the Forest Giant and hit level 5 to reach Azelchen.

Defeated the Merman King and got the necklace to reach Megranaphe.

"There's definitely something there, right?"

There had to be some hidden reward for the Kaliune's Knight monster. Cheisi was half-convinced.

"Yeah, it's a bit tough right now."

Eat the ambush and instant death. Don't eat it and it's basically invincible.

What were they supposed to do?

"Still, there might be a way to counter the pattern..."

Inside the rattling mine cart heading to Megranaphe, Cheisi suddenly felt dizzy and trailed off.

Ugh—.

Seemed the rough jolting of the cart had made her queasy for a moment.

"...Who knows."

Cheisi finished her sentence and took a few deep breaths.

Feeling better now...

It persisted. No, it felt worse.

Cheisi blinked. The world went pure white. Foggier than in the actual fog.

On instinct, Cheisi turned off the broadcast screen and logged out of VR.

The viewers' confusion filled the chat from the sudden turn.

It hadn't crashed, but Cheisi didn't want to alarm the viewers, so she typed in chat.

The chat erupted in chaos.

Cheisi climbed out of the capsule and steadied her breathing.

Just like that, the dizziness faded away.

...What the heck?

She couldn't figure out why it only happened in VR. Calling it some unknown debuff felt too extreme. It was bad enough to make streaming impossible.

Cheisi checked her viewer count.

17,000. Down from 25,000 when she first entered the new zone, but still an incredible number.

Whatever the cause, she didn't want to slack off in a situation like this.

Cheisi decided to turn the stream back on.

Of course, if the dizziness returned, she'd have no choice but to quit.

Please no.

Cheisi prayed inwardly as she logged back into Ariant World.

"......"

She opened her eyes in the rattling mine cart, waited a bit. No dizziness.

Good.

"Right? I was shocked too. It crashed out of nowhere. Now I gotta go to the miner's shop for maintenance, yeah?"

Probably nothing serious.

After logging out and back in once, her head felt clearer too.

Cheisi headed to the miner's shop, bought a Canary necklace, net, and more jars, then boarded the mine cart again.

Collecting Calium ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dust went smoothly. No more dizziness.

And finally.

"All collected."

She'd obtained four jars full of dust.

Now to turn it into ingots.

Mining city Megranaphe.

At its center was a smelter that could turn any mineral dust back into ingots.

That was why the Fog Mine was called a mine in the first place. That was why miners existed to gather dust there.

Her gut told her strongly that smelting Megranel dust here was the key, so Cheisi headed straight for Megranaphe's smelter.

The smelter in central Megranaphe had a cage holding a massive worm. Its entire body was covered in pitch-black shell, scarred all over.

Hundreds of thin legs protruded from under the shell, and when it opened its mouth, tens of thousands of teeth appeared and vanished in clusters.

Its size rivaled the massive rock buildings of Megranaphe.

"...Didn't expect something like this."

Cheisi stared at the creature before her.

"Don't just stand there gawking. Get over here."

A miner covered head to toe in mineral dust hopped over the cage.

As the miner approached Megranaphe and handed over a jar of dust, the worm began crunching it eagerly.

The grinding noise filled the smelter.

Soon, the worm spat out a large, dull ore.

This was the 'smelting' at Megranaphe.

A method Cheisi never could have imagined.

Cheisi approached Megranaphe like the miner had and extended a jar of Megranel dust.

Megranaphe's red eyes turned to Cheisi. No reaction to the jar.

As she thought its gaze felt eerie and took one more step forward with the jar...

*Crunch—!*

Hundreds of teeth crushed the air from above and below.

Megranaphe had suddenly lunged forward to chomp her.

"Eek...!"

She dodged, thankfully.

But goosebumps erupted all over, and Cheisi quickly backed away from Megranaphe.

Another miner extended a jar toward Megranaphe.

Cheisi watched as it carefully took the jar in its mouth, crunched it, and spat out ore.

A clearly different reaction from when she'd offered it.

"Why... why's it only reacting to me differently?"

Feeling wronged, Cheisi glared resentfully at the worm.

Cheisi sighed as she watched Megranaphe purr contentedly under an employee's pets.

What exactly was its problem?

"Nah, I don't think so. Look, same thing."

"......I'll take other suggestions."

As Cheisi tried to harness the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠viewers' collective wisdom, the employee petting Megranaphe approached her.

"By any chance, do you have an item that might excite Megranaphe?"

That was the response after explaining the situation.

"...An item?"

Cheisi pulled out all her junk from inventory.

Ge. Starfish. And so on.

Junk picked up from the Falling Star Island scattered on the floor.

Even then, Megranaphe still attacked her, so Cheisi decided to discard everything she had.

The dagger.

The shell from Megranaphe's restaurant said to bring luck.

And.

When she pulled out the last item from her pocket and approached Megranaphe...

Unlike before, Megranaphe just stared blankly at her with red eyes.

"...Who knew this was the culprit."

Cheisi corrected her thinking with a hollow expression.

This massive worm was ridiculously cute and utterly instinct-driven.

It couldn't resist a tasty scent.

This was the cause. Whatever it was made of, this coupon had whetted Megranaphe's appetite wildly.

"If worms eat it, I'll reissue it for you. They keep trying to munch my coupons."

She could almost hear Nell's voice from the corner of her memory.

"...Never thought it'd react to this here."

Without the coupon, Cheisi approached Megranaphe and wasn't attacked anymore.

Finally, she succeeded in feeding it the dust jars.

The jar shattered between Megranaphe's teeth, the powder mixing into sticky fluid and clumping, until Megranaphe spat out a blue ingot.

After returning to Megranaphe via mine cart, Cheisi sold the Calium ingot at the exchange.

Maybe because it was small, she got 760 coins. Plus five bonus. Even combining with what she had, only 860 total.

Nowhere near enough for "Fog Cutter," so Cheisi grumbled.

"Gathering Calium dust doesn't seem great for making money."

It took tons of time, lots of prep, dodging annoying wraiths, not much coin per time invested, and it respawns after a wait.

And above all, she was hungry.

Too many downsides.

Cheisi wandered Megranaphe to fill her empty stomach.

A restaurant with a rock sign caught her eye.

Inside, the air was thick with stone scent; tables, chairs, menus—all black rock.

Cheisi picked up the menu.

"...Ack."

A dish with jaw-droppingly high price jumped out immediately.

"Pretty pricey..."

She couldn't afford it with her entire fortune. And since it gave no satiety, it wasn't meant for when you're hungry anyway.

Cheisi settled for compromise and looked for other options.

"10 coins..."

A reasonable price.

But Cheisi hesitated to order.

She was saving coins to buy fish. Was blowing 10 here right?

...You can fish in the fog?

Cheisi eyed the menu wistfully but left without ordering.

"Coins are precious, so let's go self-sufficient..."

The plight of the coinless.