The Ashen Desert. It did not take long for me to arrive here, having access to the Telekinesis flight exploit.

And after arriving here, there were only two things I could say about this area: It just goes on and on and on. To the point where I can't see the end of it, even when I'm flying in the air. That, and the fact that the land is covered in nothing but ashes. Hence, the name.

Which is also why within the darkness, all I could see is a depressing grey landscape as I continue to fly further.

I can't tell which is worse. Sand or ashes?

Curious about how it's like to walk on a desert full of ashes, I descended and landed on the ground. Storing my Eye of the Accursed staff away into my inventory as I proceed to walk from here on out, holding Assault Charges in hand.

Let's see how it performs as my new staff.

I soon encountered my first test subjects; monsters called Ashfallen, which seem like a sort of undead-like creature made out of clumps of ashes. In other words, ash zombies. Their levels average to around 28.

I can't really say reduce to ashes since they are already that, so...

"Return from whence you came! Explosion!"

I blasted them away with my favourite attack spell as an opener. However, while the move was flashy and all, the Ashfallens were still alive and got up.

Damn... They tanked it, huh?

Either my new staff is weak which can't be it since my INT is more now, or the Ashfallens were just resistant to fire-attribute attacks.

"Let's try another spell then. Multi-Aqua Lance!"

I launched multiple water lances at the mob. The spell move at a high speed which ended up piercing through the Ashfallens like they were made of paper, leaving a large gaping hole in their bodies as they all then fell and crumbled.

All except for one, as I casually walked up to the last Ashfallen remaining, dragging my bat— I mean, my staff along the ashes as I excitedly moved closer to it.

"Well well well... Looks like we have a volunteer!"

The Ashfallen came charging at me, and I countered with a heavy wide swing of my bat to its head, causing the monster to die with its head bursting apart like a watermelon.

"Well dang...! I got to give Diego credit. This thing actually did quite a lot of damage."

Also, they were weak to water-attribute attacks, I'm assuming.

I smiled in glee. For I have decided to do a bit of grinding while traversing further into the Ashen Desert.

I have used fire-attribute spells so regularly that using Explosion became somewhat of my go-to move. However, my character is a Magician. And Magicians shouldn't simply rely on one attribute.

Therefore, it's time to train my water-attribute!

And so, I toggled my Night Walker skill off, allowing enemy encounter rate to go wild as it did not take long for me to face another group of Ashfallens.

Perfect.

"Come on, you lots! I'm about to make you all wet!"

And once I have obtained the advanced water-attribute spell after Aqua Lance, I'll go into earth next. Then, lightning!

But first, I shall be focusing on water!

"Multi-Aqua Lance!"

If I recall correctly, I needed to use Firebomb five hundred times to acquire Explosion. In that case, it should be the same for Aqua Lance.

So, it's time to start blasting.

"High Wisdom. Magic Booster. Magic Amplification. Multi-Mirror Make."

With my buffs applied, I drank a MP potion and then... began.

"""Multi-Aqua Lance!!"""

...

...

...

Later...

I don't know how much time has passed. I don't know how many Ashfallens I have killed. But! I have acquired it.

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Condition cleared: [Use Aqua Lance 500 times.]

Skill Acquired: [Aqua Laser]

Cost: 150 MP (+ 10 MP for each second of continuous usage)

An advanced water-attribute skill. Fires a continuous stream of highly pressurized water at enemies. Has a high chance of penetrating enemies' defenses. Or just straight up blast them into oblivion.

IMMA FIRIN MAH LASER!

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YES! Finally got the skill. And based on the description, it seems kind of wicked.

All that's left is to test it. But I will need to find another enemy first.

That aside though... Where am I right now?

I have travelled further into the Ashen Desert while grinding with the mobs here. But not only have I yet to see anyone from the Red Legion or Bug Legion, I have not seen any other player at all since entering this area.

Am I... lost?

As there was no way to discern where I am on the ground, I decided to do that in the air and took out Eye of the Accursed from my inventory.

"Telekinesis."

And up we go again!

But even as I took to the sky, all I could see was more ashes in the desert.

This area is just too big, isn't it?

Even when I looked behind me, I was only able to barely make out the Creeping Forest off in the distance. But in any case, at least I know that I am moving further into the desert area and was not wandering about blindly.

So, I flew forward, hoping to find someone out here.

And not long after, I did.

Well... not a "someone", but more of a "something", popping out of the ground.

"Kkkkooooorrraaaawwwwwwrrrrr!!!"

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Area Boss: Ash Burrow Worm King

LVL: 36

A giant worm monster that buries itself beneath the ashes, waiting for a prey to enter its area of ambush where it will swallow them whole and retreat deeper under the ashes. Should its prey manage to escape, however, it will get mad and emerge from the ground to give chase to the prey that escaped.

That's right. There is no escaping Gary!

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So its name is Gary, huh?

I must have accidentally enraged it since I entered its area. But I was flying up in the air, so it couldn't get me in an ambush and thought that I "escaped" from its grasp which led it to emerge from the ground.

But even when it has emerged from the ground, I am still high up above it.

However, that doesn't mean that I am out of its range as Gary proceeded to spit some sludge at me. I maneuvered out of the way and evaded the attack. That resulted in Gary to spit some more sludge attacks at me. So, I continued dodging them with skillful maneuvering of my ride in the air.

Whew... Dodging in the air is harder than I thought.

At this rate, I would likely be hit by one of the sludges.

In that case, I have to simply attack.

And so, avoiding the last sludge spit at me, I swooped in and charged straight at Gary, winding up my Assault Charges staff for an attack.

And BAM! Home run shot! I whacked Gary hard as I flew past it.

And then, again! BAM! I dunked Assault Charges on Gary's head.

Once again... BAM! A third home run shot to Gary's body. This one dealt a Knockback effect which caused Gary to be slammed into the ground.

"KKKKKOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"

Gary was clearly pissed as it got up and swung its entire body at me like a whip.

"Moon Walk!"

Unfortunately for Gary, I teleported out of the attack and moved right above it, where I proceeded to aim my staff at its big body frame.

It's time to test it out.

"Aqua Laser!

A sharp stream of water was launched at Gary like a water jet cutter.

"KKKKOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWRRRR!!!"

Gary screamed in pain as my attack pierced through its defenses, whereby I proceeded to drag the stream along its flesh, leaving a gashing wound on its body.

My goodness. This spell is amazing!

Although it did use quite a lot of my MP, the damage left on the boss was significant to make it cry.

Then... A thought came to my mind.

What if I Multicast it?

"High Wisdom. Magic Booster. Magic Amplification. Destroyer."

After applying buffs, I chugged down some MP potions to replenish my MP. Then, before Gary could recover and launch a comeback at me, I attacked it first.

"Multi-Aqua Laser!"

At that moment, the jet stream of water turned into a Kamehameha as a continuous large beam of water blasted Gary into oblivion.

It has no way of fighting back, nor can it retreat. And because water-attribute seems to be its weakness, just like with the Ashfallens, Gary soon perishes as its corpse disintegrates into air. But I didn't notice it did.

Because I was still firing my Aqua Laser at it.

I only stopped when the window popped up, notifying me of my victory.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Congratulations! You have defeated the Area Boss: Ash Burrow Worm King.]

Exp gained: 12,512

Gold earned: 1,150,000

Item(s) acquired: [Ash Burrow Worm King's Teeth × 5], [Ash Burrow Worm King's Gullet], [Undigested Human Remains × 7]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh... It's already dead...?"

Well... I am level 42 while it's level 36. So I supposed it makes sense that it would be fairly easy even though it was an Area Boss.

But, why is one of the boss drop human remains?

"What the heck, devs...?"

What kind of an item are the Human Remains anyways?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Item: [Undigested Human Remains]

Item Type: Crafting Materials

Recommended Use: Cooking, Potion Making.

Description: Some poor bloke got swallowed up whole by a monster and died. But the good thing is their remains are still fresh. Bon Appetit~ •ᴗ• (Note: This is called dark humour.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"..."

Without saying a word, I took the Undigested Human Remains out of my inventory and tossed it away before leaving.

...

...

...

We are not going to talk about what we just read...

Anyways, time to explore further into the Ashen Desert and find either the Red Legion or the Bug Legion or both!