"You kids are exceptionally strong because you have been defeating strong monsters since being very young, the Goblin Army, remember it? you killed hundreds, that also adds up into the progress of your Physiques and Magic Circles." Said Shade.
Huh, so it is not only my System, but certainly, my System is still a big factor of my growth and power, which is also even more ridiculous than the ridiculous growth of Aquarina and Zack.
"Is that so?" Wondered Zack. "So every monster we killed in the dungeon, did they also boosted our growth speed and strength?"
"A bit, yeah. Monsters inside Dungeons are exceptionally strong." Said my father. "Ah, that reminds me of the Dungeon Break, there was a Demon King Fragment there. But Faylen quickly managed to seal it, thankfully. However, we have yet to find the Chaos Cocoon, which might dwell on its depths, after they stop guarding the dungeon so much, we might get there to destroy that thing before it keeps enhancing monsters' strength or provoking Dungeon Breaks." My father said.
"Sounds good! I am in too!" I said. "I know I might not be that strong but I will help. I held on my own against that woman that was super strong, probably the leader of the group, so I think I can do it. Especially because my spirits had been growing stronger over time. Naturia and the Fire Spirit are bigger, did you notice, papa?"
"Yes I did, the egg finally hatched, it wasn't a salamander though, it looks like some fat lizard…" Said my father, inspecting Ignatius floating at my side.
"Who are you calling fat lizard?!" Ignatius roared, but father couldn't listen to his voice, only I could.
"And Naturia's getting bigger, I wonder if she'll become a Tree Spirit, maybe a Dryad?" Wondered my father. "But for that, a lot more of time will be needed."
"Maybe, I don't think so, she's growing fast." I said. "Also technically Yggdra is also my Familiar too, right? I wonder how she's doing." I sighed.
"I am sure she's oaky, Eden Apple Trees can live for thousands of years by merely bathing in the sunlight and absorbing nutrients from the floor. Cloudia is a continent rich in nutrients in their soil, so I'm sure she'll be alright." Father said.
"Well, I hope so." I sighed. "One day I'll be back to see her…"
"You'll surely be. When things calm down a bit, we'll come back to travel here. Hell, I can take you around the world." Said my father.
"Around the world…" I sighed, thinking about such a big journey. I guess my parents are capable of doing something like that if they really wanted.
For now, we continued walking across the forest, the day was rather beautiful, but as we moved forward, the environment began to get foggy, as if there was some sort of aura, or a strange essence floating around. However, this essence wasn't something abnormal, or rare to me. This was… Mana, big quantities of it.
As we followed a long river that was connected to the lake we came into just some minutes ago, this essence or fog of mana continued to get thicker, making it slightly harder to breathe.
"This amount of mana… We are getting to the Wolf Steppes." Said my father.
"It is not a Monster-infested Nest for nothing." Said Shade.
"Hm…" My father looked deep into the forest. "Haunts are really bad, if this Haunt continues to get bigger and bigger, the monsters might get out of control, these wolves, how come they had yet to attack the village all this time?"
"Must be a collective effort of the security of the city, the adventurers working hard, and the guards as well. I've heard they had made priests infuse holy light magic into the ground surrounding the forest, so monsters apparently don't approach the end of the forest too commonly." Said Shade.
"Huh, they're smart I guess." My father. "That'll only last them as much, we'll need to wipe out these wolves if we don't want these people to be wiped out in the next twenty years… This is getting a bit out of control."
"Papa, what's wrong?" I wondered. "What are Haunts?"
"Yeah, what are they?" Asked Aquarina.
"Haunts are special areas around the world that emerge by the infection of Miasma into the Landscape, they're another phenomenon similar to Dungeons, but worse. In dungeons at least the monsters are inside, but Haunts are big landscapes infected with monsters that reproduce at an abnormal pace due to being boosted by the miasma of the environment, they also often evolve into stronger subspecies and devour anything weaker than them, advancing almost relentlessly. Most monsters are just programed to attack people, so whenever a monster see a person, they fight, this is why Haunts are so dangerous, if people live near them, their villages often get eventually wiped out." My father sighed.
"Not only that, remember when we told you about the First Demon King?" Wondered Shade.
"What about it?" I wondered.
"Well, the Demon King Fragments are parts of his enormous body, when he was defeated, the majority of his body hit the ocean and turned into the Demon Continent, according to legends. However, several other pieces of his body crystalized and fell as meteors across the world, which infected the world with Miasma, bringing the birth of monsters…" Shade answered.
"Wait… You're telling me that the Demon Fragments that the Demon Lords had, and the one you found… they weren't from the previous Demon King you slain?" I asked.
"Eh? No, the previous Demon King in fact used these fragments himself. These fragments come from the first ever Demon King, the abomination some called the "First Evil God" or some just straight up call it "The Demon God"… We call it the "First Demon King" because calling that thing a God feels odd to us." Sighed my father.
"He's alive even now, these fragments, although lacking an Ego, infect the land and create monsters to seek our destruction." Sighed Shade. "It could be said our battle against the First Demon King never truly ended."
This was a massive reveal! How come they treat it as if it were nothing? They should had told me this beforehand…