The Mist Vol 3 Chapter 2

Vol 3 Chapter 2

"Ouch ouch. You're really merciless. Don't go ahead, Kap!"

Right. This was just like Kran, chasing after him like that. It was stranger that Kapros had worried unnecessarily. More important to him now than such things was the third memory quest that was right before his eyes.

'The third Superior quest...'

To find this quest, Kapros had crossed the Desert of Death, which was said to have not yet been confirmed by anyone what lay at its end. This was because the red dot on the map window indicating the quest location was blinking at the edge of the desert. However, when he realized that to cross the desert, he would have to face the sun's curse that drastically reduced stamina even with brief exposure, even Kapros couldn't help but feel quite perplexed.

No potion could maintain enough stamina to walk for more than a minute in the desert, and moreover, Kapros didn't have enough money to cover the cost of those potions. After numerous attempts, they discovered that Kran's holy protection skill halved the damage, but the problem was that the skill was single-target.

In the end, with only the hint that borrowing holy power might offset the curse of the sunlight, they ended up setting foot in the desert city of Bala Monyak to find a way. This was about a month after they had left Zagreb, the central city of MIST, in MIST's time.

Kran looked quite disheveled from rolling around here and there with Kapros for a month. The fortunate thing was that because of this, he had become somewhat adept at handling the Golden Gauntlet he had obtained in Zagreb. Kran pointed ahead with a bright expression.

"That's Bala Monyak right there! Kap! Can you see it?"

As they approached the majestic shadow that looked like a mirage, the city soon drew near. Passing through the city gate large enough for ten people to pass through hand in hand simultaneously, a city entirely in the color of sand filled their view.

"Ooh. It's amazing!"

With sand-colored houses, sand-colored city walls, sand-colored ground, and even many people wrapped and covered in cloth to block the sand wind, it felt like they had stepped into an Arabian fairy tale Kapros had read as a child.

Kapros's gaze was drawn to the items placed on colorful cloths spread out by street vendors. There were countless strange items whose purpose he couldn't even guess, making it impossible not to stare. Kran looked at the same place and said "What's this?" with playfully sparkling eyes.

"As expected, there are many interesting items. I heard Bala is famous for having a lot of those things. There might even be rare magic books mixed in, so it might be good to take some time to look around. Want to go together?"

"That's fine, but where do you know all this from?"

Suddenly curious about where all of Kran's in-game knowledge, which Kapros had been comfortably relying on, came from, as Kran explained as if familiar with Bala despite it being his first visit too.

"Hm? Well, there are over thousands of articles, reviews, and information posted by people in writing or broadcasts every day. If you properly check just one or two MIST-related communities, you can know pretty much anything."

By the way, I recommend the 'MIST Bay World Community'! It's really good! ...Kapros half-ignored Kran's excited chatter, but it was still quite useful information.

Until now, Kapros had mostly only checked the official homepage, so he hadn't even thought of searching unofficial communities. But it seemed there were limits to the information one could obtain from just the posts on the official homepage.

'Maybe I should look into it too.'

While he was thinking this, Kran, who had already run ahead, shouted loudly that he had found a suitable inn. Kapros sauntered towards Kran.

To create a safe place to connect to each time they logged in, they had to register as guests at an inn. The real search for a way to cross the desert would start after that.

"Let's go to the information guild first."

Kran said, bringing his face close with a very serious look. Pushing him away as it felt burdensome, Kapros asked, "Information guild?" Kran pouted but nodded.

"It was originally operated secretly among NPCs, but for some reason recently, they've been setting up buildings in each city and operating. They say there's no better place when you don't know where to start. Unlike the limited information of users, it's based on information from NPCs who know the deeper parts of this world well, so there's a lot of very useful stuff."

"Hmm..."

As Kran said, Kapros was currently unable to grasp where to start.

"Then let's go take a look."

"Good choice. As for the way... we can just grab anyone passing by and ask, right? Excuse me, can I ask for directions?"

Watching Kran wave his hand towards passing female users with a self-proclaimed charming smile, Kapros wondered what he would do if it backfired, but he didn't bother to stop him. After all, the information Kran would bring back would soon be his information.

After chatting for a while, melting the initially wary users with his flowery speech, Kran bid a regretful farewell and came running back with a bright face.

"I found out. It's closer than I thought. We just need to turn right over there. They said there's a sign with a scroll and shoes drawn on it, so it should be easy to spot."

As Kran said, finding the information guild was very easy. The building with a large scroll and shoe sign that appeared after walking a short distance had its doors wide open, and people were constantly coming and going.

Inside the information guild, numerous people were busy with their own tasks. When they stood in front of one of the NPC receptionists sitting in a row on the first floor, a pink-haired one wearing antique glasses, they were immediately greeted with a kind smile.

"Yes, what brings you here? Selling information? Or searching?"

"Searching."

"Searching... Hmm."

The receptionist, who had pulled out an incredibly thick ledger from under the desk, lowered their head so deeply that their nose almost touched the paper.

"What kind of information are you looking for?"

"The desert. We need information on how to cross the Desert of Death."