Chương 529: Chapter 531: Security

The mist palace had changed again. This time, the walls, floors, and ceilings had become much closer to material objects. There was a lot more definition to each floor, decoration, and ceiling. Before, the mist palace had still looked like it was made out of fog. Everything inside had been ethereal, wispy, and had a dull grey undertone to it. Now, the palace of fog looked as if it had been made out of normal, tangible construction materials.

If I only used my regular vision to observe our surroundings, I wouldn't have even been able to tell that the palace was made out of mist. There was almost no trace of essence still present in the objects, and when I tried touching one of the walls, it felt exactly like a normal wall made of brick and mortar. I could even feel very faint traces of dust cling to my fingertips when I pulled my hand away - as if I had just touched an old, worn-out wall from a long-forgotten palace.

Of course, while my physical senses couldn't detect any traces of fog and mist in this palace, that didn't mean the rest of my senses were similarly deceived. Through the eldritch side of my existence, I could still feel the concept of fog underlying the nature of the palace. It lurked in every wall, ceiling, brick, and piece of flooring. Even more strange was the fact that the concept of fog was almost a physical presence now.

It bore down on me like an invisible weight as we walked through the halls of the fog palace, and to my eldritch half, it felt like I was walking through the maw of a giant, cavernous beast. The palace itself wasn't just built from the concept of fog and mist - it was built from such an advanced and developed understanding of the concept in question that it was almost like I had stepped into another dimension, made entirely of the concept of fog and mist.

I could even feel little bits of my body fighting back against the laws of physics in this palace - because I was made of flesh and blood, it felt as if I was slightly biologically incompatible with the reality of this place. Of course, it was very subtle, and I could feel that the laws of fog here were actively trying not to harm me. Since the laws of physics usually weren't sapient in a given dimension, it was a decidedly strange feeling. I had no idea what I was looking at.

However, I knew that this was a sign of how powerful the pillar truly was. It wasn't even fully recovered yet, but I was now certain that in a fight, even a dozens of my clones working together wouldn't stand a chance. I felt like I was observing something from a higher plane of reality. I couldn't help but admire how refined the fog pillar's grasp of the concept of fog was as we continued walking. It didn't take us long to return to the fog pillar's core room.

"I see that you have returned, and with the final pieces of my body," said the fog pillar. It hummed happily at us, and I could see a row of lights and iridescent shapes flare in and out of its body for a few moments as it spoke. I blinked in surprise, as I realized the fog pillar was a lot more expressive than before. Perhaps it was because it was truly excited this time?

"We have. Thank you for the assistance of your children, and the materials," said Felix.

"I trust that the final part of our deal will still be valid?"

"I always honor my deals," said the fog pillar.

"Now, give me the final pieces of my body. I will need about a month to assimilate them, and then I will go to the nearest island and check for the monster species I mentioned earlier. Assuming nothing has changed, it should take me a week to fetch them, bring them here, and get a decently sized group set up to populate the island with level-rich monsters. I will give you a detailed breakdown of how to kill them with minimal damage and mana costs once I confirm that the species still exists.

Oh, you should refrain from hunting them for a few months - they will need some time to reproduce. If that monster species has died out during the time I was imprisoned, I will notify you, then discuss follow-up options. Is that sufficient for our deal?" Veritum nodded.

"That will be sufficient for our settlement." After that, Veritum grabbed the containers from Felix which contained the fog monster's body, and handed them over to the fog pillar. The fog pillar hummed in response. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What are your plans for afterwards?" asked Veritum.

"After I complete my deal with you, I think that I will spend some time wandering and exploring. It has been too long since I last had freedom. After a decade or two, perhaps I will return, and relax for a while. I'll have to see what catches my interest after that," said the fog bank. The fog pillar was planning to leave the area soon? It was a bit of a shame - the fog bank had been a potentially useful ally, and I had been hoping it would stick around to protect the settlement in the future.

Still, I couldn't exactly begrudge it for its intended actions. It was free to do whatever it wanted, after all. Then, a new thought struck me. I had already thought that this palace was unusual, because it displayed a level of control and understanding of fog that was well beyond what I was used to seeing. I had already been debating the idea of learning a bit from the fog pillar. If it was going to leave soon, wouldn't I miss my chance? I cleared my throat.

The fog pillar had shown a strong willingness to abide by deals, at least so far. Perhaps it would be open to another, final trade before it left?

"This isn't related to any of our previous deals, but I was wondering if you could teach me more about the conceptual side of reality," I said.

"I've seen that the concept of fog is deeply tied to this island, and this palace as well. I find it exceptional, and if possible I'd like to learn a little bit from you."

"Hmm… I had not considered taking in a student, since I plan to leave soon. That being said, from teaching that little pink haired boy - errr… girl, that's right. Ahem. Teaching that little pink haired girl wasn't bad. I am also quite grateful to all of you for returning my body to me. How about this - on principle, I cannot accept a deal where the other party provides me with nothing. Do you have any fog bank cores or valuable materials remaining in your storage?"

"We do," said Veritum, although he was giving me a rather strange look.

"I do as well. I don't need to take from the village's supplies," I said. I still had some rewards left over from previous battles. I had originally been saving them in hopes that Felix would find some kind of use for them, but this was an opportunity I didn't want to miss.

"Then I will accept two fog cores. In exchange, I will teach you, but only during the one month that I will need to spend reabsorbing the old parts of my body. After all, while I won't be able to move much during the reabsorption process, it won't disrupt my ability to speak or make small demonstrations. How much you manage to learn during that month is your own problem, since I will be departing afterwards. Once I'm ready to leave, we will consider the deal finished. Does this sound fair to you?" I happily nodded.

Two fog cores was indeed a good deal for a month of teaching related to the framework of how conceptual abilities and existences work. More importantly… as we moved through the fog palace, I had developed a sneaking suspicion about what I was looking at. Back in the Market, we had seen a few detailed records about skill levels. In total, there were twenty levels to skills and abilities. Based on my memories, there were a few major 'break points' in which one's skill and abilities would become much stronger.

First, was the breakthrough from Master to Heroic, in which one would gain the ability to internalize some laws of reality. But more relevant to the fog pillar, at least as far as I could tell, was the breakthrough from Primordial to Law grade 1, in which one would gain the ability to externalize a law of reality and create a domain based around it. I hadn't thought to connect it to this world until now…

but it seemed that we were currently standing right in the middle of a giant palace made entirety of the fog pillar's understanding of the concept of fog. Furthermore, this concept was literally interfering with the laws of physics. I had a strong suspicion that I was getting my first up-close look at a 'domain.' In other words, the fog pillar sitting in front of us might have at least one skill that it had pushed to the Law-1 grade.

Two fog cores to get a month of training from a Law-1 or stronger entity was an incredible bargain.

"Very well. I will need the rest of the day to get the process of absorption started. Come back tomorrow around noon, and we can start our training. Thank you all for your assistance, and I wish your village all the best in the future," said the fog bank. With that, it dismissed us, leaving me with a churning mixture of excitement and hope for the future. The fog pillar sounded like it was more than happy to honor the final loose ends of our deal. Which meant that at long last, our village was secure.

We had escaped the universal tree's clutches and found a way to keep most of the survivors alive. And I had secured some incredibly valuable training for the next month, at least.